Furius Baco

Furius Baco
Location PortAventura
Park section MediterrĂ nia
Status Operating
Opened June 5, 2007
Cost €15,000,000
Type Steel - Launched - Wing Rider
Manufacturer Intamin
Designer Werner Stengel
Model Accelerator Coaster
Lift/launch system Hydraulic Launch
Height 46 ft (14 m)
Length 2,788.75 ft (850.01 m)
Max speed 83.9 mph (135.0 km/h)
Inversions 1
Duration 55 sec.
Acceleration 0-83.9 mph (0-135 km/h) in 3.5 seconds
Max G force 4.7
Furius Baco at RCDB
Pictures of Furius Baco at RCDB
Amusement Parks Portal

Furius Baco is a hydraulically-launched steel Wing Rider roller coaster located at PortAventura in Salou, Catalonia, Spain. Manufactured by Intamin, the ride opened on June 5, 2007 as the 2nd fastest roller coaster in Europe at 83.9 mph, which the ride reaches in 3.5 seconds. It is the shortest (in height) Intamin Accelerator Coaster, at 46 feet tall.

It features several large turns, with a long inline twist, and a finale turn over the lake. The ride also features a different seating arrangement to other Intamin Accelerator coasters, where the seats are attached to the side of the barrel themed trains. This gives the riders the ultimate floorless feeling, with no track beneath or above them. This arrangement has now been commonly dubbed as 'wing rider' trains.

Furius Baco is 850 meters long, lasts 55 seconds and cost 15 million euros to build.

Since opening, the ride has experienced some technical problems, and as a result has had to shut down for varying periods of time during opening hours.

The ride

Once all the riders have been loaded onto the barrel themed side cars the train will slowly advance out of the station area and into the pre-show area; a laboratory style area with many whirling cogs and running machinery. The sound of a bike bell goes off which cues the entrance of the professors assistant, a monkey which cycles over the left hand side of the lab on a skybike. A video is shown, revealing a machine which is supposed to collect grapes for wine, and the professor is seen climbing down a ladder and removes a large spanner out of his lab coat. At this point the monkey appears to the left, holding a lever whilst the professor adds the finishing touches to his machine. The professor then notices the monkey, and shouts "No, No!" However, it is too late and the monkey pulls the lever, sending the professor flying into the cog machine; he is thrown around the laboratory, trapped in the cogs of the machine. At this point, the machine explodes, flooding the screen with wine. The cars then vibrate move forwards then back again, and on the screen the professor dives through the wine and then the ride launches without warning up a small hill before navigating a series of tight turns through the vineyard and through some tunnels. The ride then dives into an inline twist before dropping and twisting through a turn very close to the lake before rising up and going into the brake run where the monkey is hanging on the ceiling holding some grapes. Then the riders are let off the ride and into the shop where they can purchase an onride photo or a video of their ride. As the seating style (being off the track, not above or below) differs from many roller coasters the outside seats can be somewhat rough. However this ride is fast, lasts a good amount of time (in comparison to most roller coasters that accelerate from 0- 83.9 miles an hour). The theme for this ride is rustic and the queue area is also entertaining with funny sketches of the ideas behind this ride. During summer holidays the queue can get busy (upwards of 3 hours on some occasions); however most other times the wait is considerably shorter due to a very good passenger turnover.

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