Pandemonium (roller coaster)
Encyclopedia
Pandemonium is a Gerstlauer
Gerstlauer
Gerstlauer Amusement Rides GmbH is a German manufacturer of stationary and transportable amusement rides and roller coasters, located in Münsterhausen, Germany.-History:...

 steel
Steel roller coaster
A steel roller coaster is a roller coaster that is defined by having a track made of steel. Steel coasters have earned immense popularity in the past 50 years throughout the world...

 spinning
Spinning roller coaster
A spinning roller coaster is a roller coaster with cars that rotate on a vertical axis.- Virginia Reel :The first spinning roller coaster was the Virginia Reel, first built in 1908 by Henry Riehl. Instead of trains, the ride had "tubs" with seats built around the perimeter facing inward...

 roller coaster
Roller coaster
The roller coaster is a popular amusement ride developed for amusement parks and modern theme parks. LaMarcus Adna Thompson patented the first coasters on January 20, 1885...

s located at several Six Flags
Six Flags
Six Flags Entertainment Corp. is the world's largest amusement park corporation based on quantity of properties and the fifth most popular in terms of attendance. The company maintains 14 properties located throughout North America, including theme parks, thrill parks, water parks and family...

 theme parks including Six Flags New England
Six Flags New England
Six Flags New England , formerly Riverside Amusement Park, is a Six Flags theme park, named for the New England region, in which it is located. Located off of Massachusetts State Route 159, Six Flags New England is located less than from the major City of Springfield, Massachusetts, in the nearby...

, Six Flags Fiesta Texas
Six Flags Fiesta Texas
Six Flags Fiesta Texas is a seasonally operated theme park located on approximately of land in San Antonio, Texas.Six Flags Fiesta Texas is the major entertainment component of USAA's La Cantera, a 1,600 acre master-planned development in northwest San Antonio...

, Six Flags St. Louis
Six Flags St. Louis
Six Flags St. Louis , is an amusement park owned by Six Flags, Inc. It is located in Eureka, Missouri, USA . Opened in 1971 as the third theme park of the Six Flags chain, this was the last park that was built under the Six Flags name...

, Six Flags Over Texas
Six Flags Over Texas
Six Flags Over Texas is a major amusement park located in Arlington, Texas , east of Fort Worth and about west of Dallas. It is the oldest park of the Six Flags chain. The park opened on August 5, 1961 following just a year of construction and an initial investment of US$10 million by real estate...

 and Six Flags Discovery Kingdom
Six Flags Discovery Kingdom
Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, formerly Six Flags Marine World, Marine World, The New Marine World Theme Park, and Marine World Africa USA, is an animal theme park located in Vallejo, California. The park includes a variety of roller coasters and other amusement rides, along with a collection of...

. Its design consists of several cars holding four riders each. While the cars traverse the track, they spin around according to the angle of the track and the shifts in the riders' weight.

History

The original Pandemonium opened at Six Flags New England on April 14, 2005 as Mr. Six's Pandemonium (Six Flags dropped the "Mr. Six's" prefix one year later). It was the only spinning roller coaster at a Six Flags park until 2007 and 2008 when Six Flags opened another 4 spinning roller coasters — all named Tony Hawk's Big Spin. The rides were originally billed as the "total Tony Hawk experience" and were designed to have the look and feel of giant red-and-black skatepark
Skatepark
A skatepark is a purpose-built recreational environment made for skateboarding, BMX, aggressive inline skating and scooters. A skatepark may contain half-pipes, quarter pipes, spine transfers, handrails, funboxes, vert ramps, pyramids, banked ramps, full pipes, pools, bowls, snake runs stairsets,...

s. They offered a full "extreme sport
Extreme sport
An extreme sport is a popular term for certain activities perceived as having a high level of inherent danger...

s" experience, with monitors in the queue lines displaying highlights of the history of action sports and a large spinning Tony Hawk
Tony Hawk
Anthony Frank "Tony" Hawk , nicknamed "The Birdman" is an American retired professional skateboarder and actor. Hawk gained significant fame for completing the first 900 as well as his licensed video game titles distributed by Activision...

 figure crowning the rides. Tony Hawk's Big Spin merchandise was also available at the rides' exits. They were named after the skateboarding trick of the same name, which is a body varial with the skateboard rotating fully once, or 360 degrees. Prior to the opening of the rides, Tony Hawk's Boom Boom HuckJam
Tony Hawk
Anthony Frank "Tony" Hawk , nicknamed "The Birdman" is an American retired professional skateboarder and actor. Hawk gained significant fame for completing the first 900 as well as his licensed video game titles distributed by Activision...

 toured through several Six Flags parks in 2006 and 2007. In late 2010, Six Flags
Six Flags
Six Flags Entertainment Corp. is the world's largest amusement park corporation based on quantity of properties and the fifth most popular in terms of attendance. The company maintains 14 properties located throughout North America, including theme parks, thrill parks, water parks and family...

 began the process of cancelling licensed intellectual property deals they had with various brands including Tony Hawk
Tony Hawk
Anthony Frank "Tony" Hawk , nicknamed "The Birdman" is an American retired professional skateboarder and actor. Hawk gained significant fame for completing the first 900 as well as his licensed video game titles distributed by Activision...

. The 4 Tony Hawk's Big Spins were originally renamed to Big Spin before being renamed and rethemed to Pandemonium.

After January 1, 2012 (the end of the 2011 season at Discovery Kingdom), Pandemonium at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom will be removed to make room for the park's newest coaster Superman: Ultimate Flight
Superman: Ultimate Flight (Six Flags Discovery Kingdom)
Superman: Ultimate Flight is a steel Premier Rides roller coaster currently under construction at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom.-History:On August 21, 2011, Six Flags Discovery Kingdom posted on their official website a picture of a man in front of the building, stating "Can you keep a Secret?"...

for the 2012 season.

Layout

The layout consists of several "segments" separated by brakes. The first segment comprises a swooping drop and climb into the second segment, which is a series of S-shaped turns. The third segment is a heavily banked figure-8; the fourth is a series of hills that form a semicircle; the fifth is a pair of small hills; and the sixth is a helix into the seventh segment; a long loop, which leads to a massive hill, and finally into the brake run.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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