Poltergeist (roller coaster)

Poltergeist
A view of the compact "Spaghetti Bowl" coaster.
Location Six Flags Fiesta Texas
Park section Rockville
Status Operating
Opened May 28, 1999
Type Steel - Launched
Manufacturer Premier Rides
Designer Werner Stengel
Model LIM Spaghetti Bowl
Track layout Steel
Lift/launch system LIM Launch
Height 78 ft (24 m)
Length 2,705 ft (824 m)
Max speed 60 mph (97 km/h)
Inversions 4
Duration 1:15
Max vertical angle 60°
Acceleration 0 – 54 in 3 seconds
Max G force 4.5
Height restriction 4 ft 6 in (137 cm)
Flash Pass Available
Poltergeist at RCDB
Pictures of Poltergeist at RCDB
Amusement Parks Portal

Poltergeist is a steel roller coaster located at Six Flags Fiesta Texas in San Antonio, Texas. It has been open since 1999 and received a fresh coat of paint in 2009.

Contents

Ride Layout

Poltergeist is located in the Rockville section of the park.

After boarding Poltergeist, riders are launched through a narrow launch tunnel into a "spaghetti bowl" of track which contains a cobra roll, a sidewinder, and many twists and turns. This coaster doesn't have a mid-course brake run like at Kings Island and Kings Dominion, Flight of Fear has, or like rings at Joker's Jinx at Six Flags America. After that riders spiral downward and to the left, and after more twists and turns they pass through a corkscrew before arriving at the ride's final brake run.

Premier Rides built several of these LIM Catapult roller coasters from 1996 to 1999, although, of those, only the two Flight of Fear rides are indoors. The other outdoor LIM Catapult coaster in the United States are Joker's Jinx at Six Flags America; that opened in 1999. In addition, a LIM Catapult coaster called Mad Cobra operated at Suzuka Circuit in Japan from 1998–2003; Mad Cobra was moved to China and reopened at Kingdoms of Discovery in 2006. [1] [2] The five Premier LIM catapult coasters share a similar layout and have the same technical specifications.

Poltergeist uses a LIM launching system instead of a traditional lift hill to propel riders into its first inversions. Initially, the ride had over-the-shoulder restraints, but due to numerous reports of pain and discomfort, these were replaced in 2002 with more traditional individual ratcheting lapbars..[3]

Ride Elements

Similar Rides

Poltergeist opened in the same year as The Joker's Jinx at Six Flags America (1999), three years after the world's first LIM-launched coasters, Flight of Fear, opened at Kings Island (1996) and Kings Dominion (1996).

In other media

Poltergeist is also featured in Barnes and Noble's Roller Coasters: A Thrill Seeker's Guide to the Ultimate Scream Machines.[4]

References

External links