Everything will be bigger — and faster and taller — at a Texas theme park next year.
Six Flags Entertainment Corporation has announced a rather intense-looking new roller coaster that’s set to break six world records, according to the theme park group.
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The Tormenta coaster coming to Six Flags Over Texas will be the tallest, fastest, longest and first-ever “giga dive coaster” in the world when it opens in 2026 (watch the computer-animated coaster preview video below).
The broken records will include: Tallest dive coaster (309 ft), highest 95-degree beyond vertical drop (285 ft), fastest dive coaster (87 mph), highest Immelmann inversion (218 ft), tallest vertical coaster loop (179 ft) and longest dive coaster (4,199 ft). A “dive coaster is a steel roller coaster with a vertical or beyond-vertical first drop (“It’s not straight down, it’s on the other side of straight down,” as the press release puts it).
The ride will be found in the park’s new Spanish village, called Rancho de la Tormenta, with the coaster inspired by the Running of the Bulls.
“Tormenta Rampaging Run introduces a completely new ride category, blending giga coaster heights with the fun and thrill of a dive coaster,” said Sophie Bolliger, president of Bolliger & Mabillard, consulting engineers and designers of the coaster, according to TravelPulse. “This level of innovation sets new standards for the theme park industry and our company is honored to be part of this historic moment with Six Flags.”
The roller coaster will launch as part of Six Flags’ 65th anniversary at a time when the theme park chain is undergoing some economic hardship, with shares down 53 percent this year amid attendance slumping 9 percent year over year, even as rivals Universal and Disney have posted gains, with attendance at the latter up 10 percent this year.
Tormenta also represents the latest in the race to create immersive and sometimes even rather extreme, new theme park experiences. Universal enjoyed plenty of buzz over the summer due to its new Epic Universe park in Orlando (which has been credited with its attendance bump), while Six Flags is constructing another massive record-breaking coaster called Falcon’s Flight at Six Flags Qiddiya City in Saudi Arabia.
Yet Universal also faced a tragedy on one of its coasters recently. A rider on the Stardust Racers coaster at Epic Universe died last month after reportedly sustaining “multiple blunt impact injuries” on the coaster. According to CNN, Universal Orlando Resort’s president has said the ride functioned as intended and that employees “followed procedures.” The ride remains closed while the death is being investigated.
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