AT: Tim Baldwin

NAGASHIMA, Mie, Japan — On January 28, 2018, Nagashima Spa Land’s gigantic wooden coaster, White Cyclone, gave its final rides. Built in 1994, White Cyclone was one of only a handful of wooden coasters in Japan, but also the nation’s largest at 139 feet in height and more than a mile in length. In that quarter century, maintenance demands and lower ridership were a couple factors in closing the ride (but not the only ones).

Enter Hakugei. The transformation of the former wooden coaster into a Rocky Mountain Construction IBox track creation is Japan’s first venture into the latest trend. The height of the coaster has grown to 180 feet, but the length has been shortened slightly to just over 5,000 feet — still a substantial length. Top speed hits 66 mph. Now named Hakugei, the name change translates to White Whale.

“I have to comment on the structure. The massive wall of white wood with the blue track, it looks great. The track just pops,” says Jake Kilcup, COO, Rocky Mountain Construction.

The journey of White Cyclone to Hakugei is an interesting one. Officials at Nagashima Spa Land visited Six Flags Fiesta Texas (San Antonio) to experience the first S&S Worldwide 4D Free Spin coaster, of which they purchased one and installed in 2017. During that visit, they also took opportunity to ride the park’s Iron Rattler, a Rocky Mountain Construction project that transformed a giant aging wooden coaster into a new smooth thriller. The mindset was that the ride was impressive, and they wanted that experience for Nagashima Spa Land as well.

As reported to Amusement Today, Nagashima Spa Land could not contract with RMC directly, but had to go through a Japanese company, which is how Sansei Technologies became involved. Officially the ride contract is with Sansei although various companies took part.

“Sansei subcontracted to us for some of the engineering and we subcontracted to RMC,” said Tim Timco, president and CEO, S&S Worldwide. “RMC was responsible for the manufacturing of the track and the vehicles and supervision of those at the park itself, S&S was responsible for the mechanicals — the lift, the brakes and the engineering that went with that and the installation oversight of those on site, and Sansei was tasked with the dismantling of White Cyclone and the installation of the new [structure] as well as engineering to put matters to Japanese code.”

“This was an added layer of complexity, but with more individuals involved came more areas of strength,” said Kilcup. “Every group was able to shine in different areas of the project which led to a pretty amazing ride.”

The coaster currently has a more dynamic profile with a first drop now taken at 80 degrees and three new inversions (a zero-G stall and two zero-G rolls).

“True to his legend, the master track designer, Alan Schilke (of Ride Centerlaine) did not waste a single running meter of track,” said Quin Checketts, general manager, design planning, Sansei Technologies. “There was never a moment wasted. You never feel like you are between maneuvers. The pacing was absolutely perfect.”

Following on the heels of another giant coaster, Steel Vengeance at Cedar Point, RMC was asked by AT if gigantic coasters came with any challenges. Kilcup replied, “The challenges of the IBox remodels are less connected to size and more connected to the difficulties of working on and manipulating an old structure.

“I think we’ve done about 12 of these now, so we’ve really worked through quite a variety of issues. There were a couple of firsts for us on this project though,” said Kilcup. “This was our first IBox remodel project that was done through a separate company: S&S. It was also our first project in Japan. Both of these facts presented different challenges, but in the end, there were several different entities working together with a common goal. I think we succeeded.”

“It was, by far, the most incredible roller coaster I’ve ever been on,” said Checketts. “This is the kind of coaster that you want to ride again and again. It is seriously fun.”

“The ride is subtle, which I like. No gimmicks, just a fun theme and a great ride,” said Kilcup.

This article appears in the JUNE 2019 issue of Amusement Today.
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