S&S adding air launch coaster at Changsha Window of the World
By amusementtoday | March 15, 2021
AT: Tim Baldwin
CHANGSHA, Hunan, China — Window of the World is the largest theme park in central China and is the most important base of travel, film, television, culture and entertainment in the area. Changsha Window of the World was established in 1997 and contains around 50 replicas of the most famous tourist attractions in the world in its park.
Utah-based S&S-Sansei Technologies has been tasked to deliver the property’s newest draw. The park had already worked with S&S previously on an installation of a double tower. Now, the company will be supplying its fifth Air Launch Coaster to China.
“The park has gone through a plan of renovation,” said Preston Perkes, executive director of administration, S&S. “This particular site had a coaster that was removed, and our coaster will not be the only addition to this [renovated section], but it is the last one to go in. They went through a process of contract signing, and our ride was slated to be the last one installed.”
The new coaster will be the anchor ride for the renovated area.
“It’s situated on a hilltop in a very forested area,” noted Perkes. “You’ll be able to see the ride from quite far, particularly the top hat element that follows the launch. It will bring people up to it. When you get right next to an Air Launch Coaster, people see just how exhilarating it is.”
With a maximum height of more than 131 feet and a track length just over 2,723 feet, the coaster will include 10 exciting elements with multiple inversions launching at a max speed of 60 mph. The new coaster at Window of the World will be the first Air Launch Coaster in China by S&S to have inversions.
“One of the reasons they came to us is because they wanted an Air Launch Coaster,” said Perkes. “Before this contract was signed, we had built and installed three large-scale Air Launch Coasters in China and a fourth in the works. They were able to see those coasters and experience them. They came to us wanting [that experience] but told us they didn’t have a lot of space to work with. That led us to be a little bit creative. We put a lot in a small space.”
The designer of the ride is Joe Draves of Ride Centerline. He feels this new coaster will be the coolest and one of the most dynamic attractions at the property.
“It was a small footprint and [the park management] wanted more maneuvers,” he told Amusement Today. “They wanted a multi-looper this time around.”
The compact nature of the ride creates several close clearances that coaster fans are sure to love. Following the launch, the layout rises into an upright top hat element. Following that maneuver, the intertwined layout snarls through tightly banked turns, airtime pops, three inversions and overbanked turns at exhilarating speed.
“It’s a super mix of airtime, quick horizontal transitions from left to right, and some variety of inversions,” said Draves. “I love the top hat element when taken right side up.”
The coaster captures attention with fiery red track atop light gray supports. Trains feature four-across seating like the other S&S launched coasters in China. This ride will sport two trains. Each seats 20 passengers.
“One is a melon yellow and the other is light blue,” said Perkes. “They have been delivered and are on site in storage.”
The new, as-yet-unnamed coaster replaces a former loop-and-corkscrew coaster from 1999. That coaster was manufactured by Hebei Zhongye Metallurgical Equipment and had not operated in several years.
When asked by AT if the extremely compact nature of this particular project provides a selling point for future installations, Perkes said, “I’d be of the opinion that every launched coaster from S&S has an extreme amount of action. There’s really not a time where you can take a break — you come to the end and say, ‘What just happened? I don’t know what happened, but it was amazing.’ Through the years we’ve continued to do that with the Air Launch Coasters. This one packs the punch like the others, but in this situation the launch and crazy elements are just on top of each other in a tight spot. Each of those coasters has a unique part of it; this coaster is super tight with a couple of zero-G rolls in the middle of it.”
Draves laughed, “The entire ride is a spaghetti bowl in the old footprint of the looping coaster that used to be there. They wanted it to fit that space, and we told them this is the length of launch we can give you, but we can jumble up everything else on the footers. There is significant structure sharing on it.”
If not for the global pandemic, the ride would have been completed last year. Following the Lunar New Year holidays, the S&S team weas not permitted to return to China and construction came to a halt. The track and structure were more than half completed. This March, construction can resume once again.
“We’re going to finish it as soon as we possibly can,” said Perkes. “Our team is going to have to make some sacrifices. Our employees have to quarantine 30 days before they can even enter the park. We’re looking for a late summer timeframe.”
“It’s going to be really good. I can’t wait to ride it,” said Draves.
Window of the World is one of the most visited destinations in the area and is open year-round.
This article appears in the MARCH 2021 issue of Amusement Today.
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