Grottenblitz
Specific Type: Powered Coaster
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Upon the foray of Heide Park into the world of roller coasters with Big Loop, they laid the groundwork for their future coaster installations to come. Two seasons passed, and for their second coaster they decided to provide guests with a milder family ride. Mack Rides of Germany was recruited to design and construct an attraction that was fun on its own merit but not overly intense. The perfect solution was a powered coaster that would rely on banked turns as opposed to drops for its thrill. The locomotive trains were to travel through switchbacks surrounded by stunningly themed buildings before barreling into a grotto tunnel. The ride was completed, and opened for Heide Park's 1985 season. Guests were thrilled to have a coaster that the whole family could ride, and Heide Park would later go on to add another family coaster, Indy-Blitz, a Zierer Force One. Mack themselves would return to the park to build Schweizer Bobbahn, a bobsled coaster, eight years later.
Grottenblitz is settled into the park's Wild Wild West section in a spot right next to Colossos. Much like other powered coasters,Grottenblitz is operated by means of an electric rail that propels the train through the track. This method of propulsion is also seen on such coasters as Schwarzkopf's Jet Star 2 model. Grottenblitz is themed around a grotto (another word for cave) that the train traverses through and around. The park's monorail also runs through the grotto, passing below one of the coaster's helices. The station, like Schweizer Bobbahn, is done in an Alpine style that blends in perfectly with the surrounding theming. The one thousand, two hundred and thirteen feet long track is adorned in a rocky brown scheme as if it were a railroad track. The train likewise is patterned after a locomotive, brown with green highlights, and is able to accommodate thirty eight people in its ten cars. The cars themselves, with the exception of the very front, hold four people each. And after guests board that very train and secure their lap bars, the ride begins. Because the coaster is powered, there is no need for a lift hill. Therefore, the train immediately enters a steeply banked right turn, rising up into the first helix. Briefly passing by the Monorail, the train banks to the left and negotiates said helix while rapidly picking up speed. No sooner the train reaches inches above the ground do riders find themselves hurtling into the grotto tunnel. The train then whips to the right, and spirals down a right helix. The helix then turns into a right turn that puts the train smack out of the tunnel and back at the station. But the ride is isn't over yet. The train whisks through the station to go through the course a second time. Storming through the left turn at a much greater speed, the train then negotiates the left helix. The now familiar grotto tunnel strikes again, sending the train hurtling through the final right helix and turn before slowing down into the station, concluding the seventy eight second ride. Grottenblitz is a shining example of a coaster that is thrilling but not too intense, providing a spectacular adventure that the entire family can undoubtely enjoy. |
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