Pacific Park to reconcept its steel roller coaster to celebrate Historic Route 66

By | February 5, 2020

SANTA MONICA, Calif., — Get your Route 66 kicks while riding the Route 66 West Coaster roller coaster at Pacific Park on the Santa Monica Pier, set to debut in Summer 2020.

The reconcepting of Pacific Park’s steel roller coaster that races 55 feet above the Santa Monica Pier and provides unparalleled views of the Southern California coastline will cost more than $1 million and include an all-new guest experience starting with the roller coaster’s loading station that will be enhanced by an automotive décor with oldtime gas pumps, license plates and maps of Route 66, and specialty memorabilia. The guest experience along the length of track that runs throughout the Park will feature vintage-themed billboards that highlight the unique roadside attractions, landscapes and towns that link the historic “Mother Road.” The all-new roller coaster has been designed from the wheels up as the new ride cars feature design elements of classic American touring cars that harken back to a bygone era of automotive excellence and beauty. 

“The Route 66 enthusiast can get hip to this timely tip to celebrate its namesake roller coaster at the western end of Route 66. Guests are sure to revel in the authenticity of the reconcepted roller coaster,” said Nathan Smithson, Director of Marketing and Business Development at Pacific Park on the Santa Monica Pier. “Route 66 presented travelers with an open road from Chicago to Los Angeles that offered unique mom and pop dining spots, first-of-its-kind motor lodging and one-of-a-kind roadside attractions; all facets represented in the new Route 66 West Coaster roller coaster.”

Route 66 was completed in 1938 and the two-acre amusement park will honor the historic landmarks and small-town Americana enjoyed by millions of drivers along the 2,200-mile highway including icons that best represent the cities such as the Chicago Theatre Sign, the St. Louis Gateway Arch, an Oil Well Derrick, a Saguaro Cactus and the Santa Monica Pier Arch. 

Pacific Park’s custom Route 66 West Coaster roller coaster is designed by Pacific Park’s design and operations team and built by Chance Rides in Wichita, Kansas; it will take approximately six months to complete.