Loop 033 printable

Volume 2, No. 9. May 24, 2002

New Arrivals

It’s a prototype coaster!
Six Flags Elitch Gardens in Denver, Colorado, announces the arrival of The Flying Coaster, May 18, 2002. Measurements: 1,253 feet long (380 meters), 66 feet high (20 meters), 26 mph, six four-passenger gondolas. Delivered by Zamperla.

Talk about convergence. Saturday was THE day to be at Six Flags Elitch Gardens. The waterpark opened for the season. High school bands and choirs came in from across the state. The Christian group Audio Adrenaline performed a concert. A charity walk for Cystic Fibrosis ended at the park. And the deadline for season pass holders to get their bonus free buddy tickets was Sunday. Oh, and the weather was “absolutely gorgeous,” said the park’s public relations manager Eric Curry. “Saturday was a busy day,” he understated.

Amid all this, the industry got a new ride, Zamperla’s entry into the flying coaster field. Despite only a two-week heads up, the park’s PR efforts got enough word out that The Flying Coaster was the first destination for most guests entering the park Saturday, the first 500 receiving wing pins. The queue for the ride reached three hours shortly after. “Judging by when those gates opened and the hordes of people who ran in that direction they obviously knew about the ride,” Curry said.

Boosting attention was a media onslaught the day before. A local radio station concluded a two-week contest for preview riders who turned out that Friday for their free rides. Local newspapers gave the coaster front-page coverage and supplements, a local television station devoted its entire morning news show to the ride and the coaster merited a mention on Good Morning America. A satellite uplink received a viewership of 19 million people Saturday outside Colorado; Curry didn’t have the in-state reports yet.

All this coverage helped get the industry's newest flying coaster off to a flying start, a convergence that bodes well for the Zamperla product’s future.