Specific Type: Wild Mouse
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With the loss of Perilous Plunge at the end of the 2012 season, Knott’s Berry Farm was left with a big void in their park. Not only did the closure of Perilous Plunge mean the end of one of park’s more popular rides, but it also literally left a huge hole in the park’s Boardwalk section. With so much newly opened space in an area by the waterpark and themed to a boardwalk, Knott’s had to do something to fill it back in.
Clues for what was coming actually came several weeks before the September 3 closure of Perilous Plunge, when enthusiasts found that Cedar Fair Entertainment Company had filed a trademark for “Coast Rider.” No indication was given as to what kind of ride “Coast Rider” might be, but generally speaking when a company files for a trademark it is to use with merchandise, which usually means a fairly major ride or roller coaster. On November 1, Knott’s announced its new additions for 2013, which included Surfside Gliders, the Pacific Scrambler, and the Coast Rider roller coaster. Built by Mack Rides of Germany, Coast Rider is a wild mouse roller coaster that features the classic tight twists and turns and sudden dips and drops the model of coaster is known for. The particular model at Knott’s is a clone of the model used at numerous Legoland parks worldwide, as well as Fly at Canada’s Wonderland and Ricochet at Kings Dominion. On the site of the former Perilous Plunge, the new roller coaster sits directly behind the park’s Boomerang coaster along with the new scrambler and glider attractions. It is definitely the right kind of coaster to stick in a “boardwalk” themed area, as the wild mouse and boardwalks seem to be synonymous with each other and always go well together. A ride on Coast Rider begins with a small u-turn and climb up the ride’s 52 foot lift hill. Once over the apex, the car dips down and turns sharply to the left, heading straight into a big drop all the way to the ground and back up again. Past the big hill, the mouse zips through a quirky S- curve series, making a leftward u-turn into a sharp right and into another u-turn left that leads into the classic wild mouse switchbacks. Five times from here riders are hurled around tight turnarounds, gradually picking up speed through the progressively longer switchbacks. After the last switchback, the track dips and undulates slightly as the train veers to the right, popping up slightly before dropping down and up a low hill. After another block section, the track turns riders back around again, dropping through a sharper hill up into another block. To finish the ride, the mouse whips through two final switchbacks into the final brake run. |
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