The long-awaited reincarnation of an iconic Magic Mountain roller coaster has finally been completed, and the first riders got to experience Twisted Colossus on Wednesday.
The ride, called world-record-breaking by Six Flags Magic Mountain, replaces the wooden roller coaster Colossus, which closed last August after some 36 years of thrilling its fans.
The four-minute-long new ride spans about 5,000 feet of track, making it the longest hybrid wood-steel roller coaster in the world, according to the Valencia amusement park. It opens to the public on Saturday.
“This one just does things that no other coaster does,” said Tim Baldwin, editor of RollerCoaster! magazine. “The fact that we have the first in North America where the trains lean into toward each other — everyone just wants to high-five … they’re just amazing maneuvers.”
It’s also the first coaster that allows riders to go down the first drop — 12 stories at 80 degrees — twice, he said.
“One out of five star rating? I give it a thousand stars,” said one youngster who took the ride Wednesday.
Another rider who had been on Twisted Colossus nine times already called it the “best roller coaster in California, by far.”
Twisted Colossus features two inversions, 18 “airtime hills” and two “hill lifts,” according to Magic Mountain.
The ride is in a new area of the park called the Screampunk District.