The Pacific National Exhibition (PNE), owners of Playland Amusement Park, announced the purchase of Canada’s fastest launch coaster, supplied by Zamperla. This $9 million CDN project caps off nearly a decade of growth since the Thunderbolt opened and highlights the development of the Roller Coaster Business Unit: today Zamperla has a dedicated team of engineers and its own steel fabrication facility for track and columns.

“This is an incredibly exciting day,” said PNE President and CEO Shelley Frost. “Despite the financial effects of the COVID pandemic, the PNE has displayed its resiliency and innovation by not only surviving the pandemic but by pivoting our business throughout it to emerge in a place to invest in this spectacular ride and into Playland’s future. We know that the new coaster will be an impressive addition to Playland’s ride roster, and we look forward to introducing it to our guests in 2024.”

“We’re very excited to work with the Pacific National Exhibition on one of their largest investments. This LSM (Linear Synchronous Motor) coaster will be the fastest launch coaster in Canada,” added Michael Coleman, Zamperla’s North American Sales Manager. “Playland and Zamperla have a long partnership, and their team started discussions with us over a year ago about their long-term planning and helping them grow the park’s offerings. This year we opened a Gryphon (Skybender at the park), which was a huge success and allowed Playland to market the first ride of its type in the world.”

This new LSM launch coaster will occupy the previous location of the retired Corkscrew coaster, and its experience will perfectly complement the park’s current line-up of rides and attractions.

The attraction will catapult forward riders at speeds of up to 72 km/h (45 mph) over 380 m (1,246 ft) of the track. It uses LSM’s to accelerate the train in seconds. In addition, this project will feature our brand-new Lightning train.

“The Lightning represents the next step of roller coaster design and we will unveil the vehicle at IAAPA EXPO in Orlando, the most important trade show for the attractions industry.” said Adam Sandy, Zamperla’s Roller Coaster Sales and Marketing Director.

“Our engineers have worked to make sure this is the best roller coaster train in the world. We thought about every square centimeter of the Lightning, from the bottom of the wheels to the top of the seat. The Zamperla engineering team kept our core design values at the forefront: safety, ergonomics, the total cost of ownership…and of course pure fun for thrillseekers!”

Get ready for an attraction that takes thrills to the next level at Playland and joins the many Zamperla projects opening in the next two years!

Lightning LSM Coaster

• Total Track Length: 380 metres (1247 feet)
• Maximum Height: 18 metres (59 feet)
• Train Length: 8.2 metres (27 feet)
• Number of Trains: 1
• Vehicles per-Train: 3
• Passengers per Train: 12
• Launch Acceleration: 1.3 G

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