PortAventura will be decidedly more adventurous in 2012 when the Spanish park unleashes Shambhala, a huge new roller coaster. How huge.When it opens, it will be the highest (and one of the fastest) in all of Europe. Shambhala is among a group of especially wild new roller coasters set to open in 2012.
Shambhala Coaster Stats
- Location: in the Chinese section of PortAventura in Salou, Tarragona, Spain, approximately one hour south of Barcelona.
- Mountain type: Hypercoaster.
- Height: 249 feet (76 meters)
- Length of first drop: 256 feet (78 meters)
- Top speed: 83 mph (134 km / h)
- Cost: 20 million euros, or about $ 27.6 million.
Tunnel vision
tallest roller coasters in the world
The new ride will also be a speed demon. Unlike Furius Baco, the unique coaster launched at Port Avenutura with slightly faster stats, Shambhala will use a traditional roller coaster lift hill and gravity to deliver its nervous speed.
How, you ask, Shambhala will rise 249 feet, but have a first fall of 256 feet? At the end of the fall, you will enter an underground tunnel. Other roller coasters, like Bizarro at Six Flags New England, use early drop tunnels to great effect. Running headlong to the ground from such a height, the tunnel opening will seem incredibly small to passengers on board the new voyage. The “we are not going to make it!” The illusion will add to the excitement.
As you exit the tunnel, the roller coaster will rise in a series of five airtime hills, the smallest of which will be 21 meters (70 feet). The tour will follow a sweep and reverse course that will keep twists and turns to a minimum. With no reversals and few twists, the raison d’être of the roller coaster will be speed and transmission time.
Head to the mountains
Intimidator
The Spanish name for a roller coaster is “roller coaster”, literally “roller coaster.” The name derives from the ride’s origins as a 17th-century winter sport in which daredevils dragged an ice slide on a St. Petersburg mountain and raced down a snow-covered wooden frame embedded in the slope of the Mountain.
The name montana Rusa is particularly apt for the new PortAventura ride, which will have a mountain climbing expedition as its theme. Shambhala is a mythical Tibetan kingdom surrounded by mountains of ice. For mountaineers, the thrill is climbing the peak and reaching the summit. For the roller coaster, the thrill is sure to race down the mountain after reaching its peak.
