This is not your father’s roller coaster. Catapulted out of the station at a speed of 0-84 mph in 3.5 seconds, Furius Baco takes control and never gives up. Designed for speed, and nothing but speed, the roller coaster makes a giant loop around the Mediterrania section of PortAventura. With no hills and virtually no items save for a turn, to lessen its momentum, the ride maintains its insane speed until its brakes thankfully slow it down just before it returns to the station.
- Excitement scale (0 = Wimpy!, 10 = Yikes!): 8.5
- No reversals, but with incredible speed and extremely positive g-forces. As one of the fastest roller coasters in the world, the speed is as intense as it gets.
- Roller Coaster Type: Hydraulic Launch and Roller Coaster
- Height and first fall: N / A
- Top speed: 84 mph
- Runway length: 2789 feet
- Travel time: 0:55
- Minimum height restriction: 1.40 m (55 ″)
- Maximum height restriction: 1.95 m (6 ft 5 ”)
Barrels of fun
There are plenty of other coasters thrown around, but none like the Hillless Furius Bacchus. A look at their trains gives an idea of the unique journey. Instead of sitting on top of its chassis, the roller coaster seats are located on the sides of the track. Each row of four seats has two on the left side of the train and two on the right. The ride, therefore, leaves the riders’ feet dangling with nothing below them. The layout is similar to fourth-dimensional roller coasters, like the X2 at Six Flags Magic Mountain, but unlike those rides, the seats don’t rotate regardless of the train.
In the middle of the train are wooden barrels, presumably wine barrels. (“Baco” is the Spanish word for Baco, the god of the grape harvest.) While it is not clear what the ride is about, there is a curious pre-show in which an animatronic monkey pedals through the tightrope and interrupts A machine in a factory (a winemaking plant, perhaps?). The travel designers who presented the short show may have had too much wine. Once the monkey causes chaos, the trains leave the station.
Wild and disorienting
The launch is incredibly intense. Hitting 84 mph in just seconds, drivers are trapped in the seats by powerful positive Gs. Instead of climbing a top hat hill like the hydraulically launched roller coaster, Kingda Ka, or any hill, Furius Baco falls into a shallow ditch. Buzzing past the sides of the ditch makes the speed seem much more intense. The roller coaster then enters a short tunnel above ground for a brief moment of darkness.
The train leans to the left and continues to turn in line (essentially a corkscrew reversal). With no tuning brakes and nothing to check your speed, taking that turn at such a breakneck pace is wild and disorienting. When the train straightens and the passengers regain their bearings, it rises almost to the edge of the picturesque “port” of Mediterranea, a nice touch for passengers dangling from their feet.
And that is. There’s a little twist in the brake section and a return to the charging station. The trip time is shown as 55 seconds, but that must include the silly pre-show. The actual travel time is probably closer to 30 seconds. But what 30 seconds!
For fans who crave speed, Furius Bacchus is like the wine of the roller coaster gods.
