Flight of the demons

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Flight of the demons
A train on the Camelback

A train on the Camelback

Data
Location Heide Park Resort
( Soltau , Germany )
Type Steel - seated
model Wing Coaster
Drive type Chain lift hill
Manufacturer Bolliger & Mabillard
costs € 15 million
opening March 29, 2014
length 772 m
height 40 m
Departure 39 m
Max. speed 100 km / h
Max. acceleration 4 g
Travel time approx. 3 min
capacity 1060 people per hour
Trains 2 trains, 6 cars / train, 1 row of seats / car, 4 seats / row of seats
elements Dive-Drop ,
Camelback ,
Immelmann ,
Corkscrew ,
Demonic Knot
Inversions 5
Subject area Transylvania
Theming Demons

Flight of the demons at Heide Park Resort ( Soltau , Germany ) is a steel roller coaster from the Wing Coaster model by the manufacturer Bolliger & Mabillard , which was officially opened on March 29, 2014. The 772-meter-long route reaches a height of 40 meters, from which the trains are accelerated to a top speed of 100 km / h, and has five inversions . The total investment was 15 million euros .

The track is the first Wing Coaster in Germany and one of 15 deliveries of this model worldwide.

history

Construction and test drives

Station and final brake during construction

The first indications of a new roller coaster were confirmed when the park's flume II was closed on September 1, 2011 after 21 years of operation with the announcement that visitors could look forward to the 2014 season. For the thematic embellishment of the site fence, several spray artists were sought in March 2012 who were finally able to spray the site fences on April 13th. During the 2012 season, most of the Wildwasserbahn II was dismantled. A sign in the park also announced the new attraction. In March 2013, the dismantling of the railway was largely completed, so that the pouring of the foundations could begin in May 2013. The station building was erected in June 2013. The construction of the lift hill and the final brake began in early August 2013.

On September 18, 2013, the last piece of rail was used on the Immelmann, connecting the railway after eight weeks of construction. The two trains were delivered to the park on October 10th and 24th. On October 19th, the public was informed for the first time about the exact topic of the attraction as part of a short stage show during the Halloween Nights organized by the park . It was announced that the railroad theming would be about demons. At the same time, the finished steel structure was illuminated in different colors by different spotlights in the darkness.

Test drives began at the beginning of November. The first TÜV approval in the park took place from November 18 to 21 , so that manned test drives could then be continued. On January 8, 2014, the name of the railway was announced in a press release. In the course of this, the first travel and aerial photos of the railway were published.

Marketing and opening

In mid-March 2014, a similar marketing concept was pursued for the announcement as for the roller coaster The Smiler in the sister park Alton Towers . For this purpose, the logo of the railway was projected onto the facades of various sights in Hanover ( opera house ) and Hamburg ( Elbphilharmonie ). On March 15th, a flash mob was held in Hamburg Central Station.

There was already a pre-opening event on March 20, to which representatives of the press and media personalities such as Manuel Cortez , Lukas Sauer , Melanie Müller , Claudia Effenberg and Christian Tews were invited. As a further advertising medium, the English game developer matmi developed a smartphone game about the train.

As part of the season opening, Flight of the Demons was officially opened on Saturday, March 29, 2014.

Theming

The dive-drop
The dive loop of the Demonic Knot

Flight of the demons is in the Transylvania theme area. This is one of four in the northern part of the park and borders on the themed area Bay of Pirates in the south and on the land of the forgotten in the east . It also consists of the Suspended Looping Coaster Limit , the Scream free-fall tower , the child-friendly Screamie vertical ride and the bobsleigh run as well as various shops and restaurants and is based on the theme of the creeps .

Flight of the Demons itself is said to tell the story of a village where demons were summoned by the villagers. These now need energy, which they should receive by sacrificing the souls of the park visitors.

Since the run was built in the area of ​​the mountain that was backed up for the Wildwasserbahn II in the 1990s, between the bobsleigh run and the Big Loop, there is, in contrast to the attractions of the rest of the park, a terrain interaction of the entire system.

The start of the queue, which borders on a small forecourt on which a test seat is also installed, is near the entrance to the themed area when coming from the direction of the Pirate Bay . It first leads through the southern of the two queuing tunnels of the former flume, which are designed as mine paths, with the northern one still functioning as an emergency exit, into the inner valley of the facility, where the last descent of the flume could previously be found. In several zigzag fields without any further theming elements, in which a small shop for refreshments is integrated, the queue leads around the element of the Demonic Knot to the vicinity of the station building. There it splits into two separate queues that represent each side of the train. The passenger can thus choose which side of the train he wants to sit on.

In order to ensure the maximum capacity of the system, people from the individual lines are only allowed into the station building in the rear part under the supervision of an employee who counts the number of people. However, there is no fixed allocation of the rows. The people who want to sit on the left side of the train have to cross a bridge inside the building that leads over the route. The luggage of the passengers can be deposited directly at the final grid in a rotating gyro system, which rotates further by a third per trip and thus stores the luggage without making it accessible to other people.

The building itself is designed in the style of an old castle despite its rectangular construction . Ancient lanterns hang from the ceiling and the railway logo is burned into the wooden ceiling. The walls are designed as if they were already cracked and mold was spreading.

The exit of the train is for each side of the train in the front part of the building and leads over stairs and bridges over the beginning of the lift hill to a shop where the photo taken during the journey can be purchased. The shop, which finally borders the small forecourt and the beginning of the queue, itself serves for the ride interaction, as the train enters the Immelmann under it and the ride photo is taken.

In addition to the queue for normal visitors, there is a separate queue for single riders to occupy individual spaces that would otherwise remain empty, and another queue for people who use the express butler system introduced by the park for a fee and thus shorten the waiting time can. These lead directly from the forecourt on one side of the shop via the beginning of the lift hill to the entrance to the station building. Controlled admission into the building ensures that this is taken into account.

The journey itself also contains some theming elements, such as a wooden bridge under which the train dips when exiting the Wing Over Drop. This is followed by the tunnel under the shop, the floor of which is studded with sharpened wooden stakes and, together with the shop above, gives the passenger the impression that the passage is too small. A near-miss element is created.

Broken parts of the wall that the train passes by in the Demonic Knot are other topics on the route. These represent another near-miss element and are intended to give the passenger the impression that he is going to break through the wall himself.

In addition to these haptic elements, there are also a few speakers that play sound effects when the train passes through. These can be found, for example, at the exit of the panorama curve and at the lowest point of the Demonic Knot.

The park commissioned the team of music producer IMAscore from Paderborn to compose and produce the background music for the roller coaster. This generated audio material of approximately one hour in length can be heard in the entire “Transylvania” topic.

journey

The layout of Flight of the Demons
A move in the dive loop of the Demonic Knot

Since Flight of the Demons is a wing coaster , the specialty of the ride consists in the fact that the seats are arranged next to the rails in contrast to classic trains. Therefore, the passenger feels eponymous, as if on the wings (Wings) would ride. Furthermore, this arrangement ensures that the driving experience on both sides of the train is very different, as there are, so to speak, two individual heart lines and thus rotations and the resulting forces are perceived differently.

After the train has been loaded, it leaves the station under the control center of the system. After a right-hand bend with a slightly smaller angle than 90 °, the train arrives under one of the two bridges for the disembarking guests on the 45 ° steep lift hill , which is operated by a chain. This takes the train to the starting height of approx. 40 meters, from which the train covers the rest of the distance by gravity. This is followed by a short straight line to which the typical wing coaster element of a dive drop is added . The train only travels through it at the low speed it receives from the chain lift, initially turning counterclockwise by 180 ° until it is upside down. The right side of the train is initially raised relative to the basic alignment, with the left side falling. This turn of the train is followed by a half loop, which forms the actual descent and accelerates the train to its maximum speed of 100 km / h. This element, which can be found in almost every wing coaster, was christened “Wing Over Drop” by the manufacturer Bolliger & Mabillard.

After the dive drop, the train drives through a small hill on which the passenger theoretically has the feeling of being lifted out of the seat. The last section of this hill ends in a passage under the shop, where the driving photo, which the guest can purchase, is taken. Furthermore, a near-miss effect is to be created here by sharpened wooden pegs in the ground that protrude in the direction of the passenger. The train then passes through an Immelmann . The passengers first come up in half a loop, only to be turned back to a normal position at the highest point from the overhead position in a simultaneous descent. The rotation is again counterclockwise. This element enables another 180 ° turn in the course of the journey and the train initially drives back in the direction of the dive-drop . The descent of the Immelmann, however, ends in a 45 ° right-hand bend that leads under the hill. The next element is an elongated corkscrew , which Heide-Park calls the Revolution Roll . The train first travels upwards and begins to turn clockwise. At the apex of the driveway, the train is upside down, only to complete an almost 360 ° turn in an easy descent.

This is followed by a 270 ° left curve over the panorama terrace at the bobsleigh run exit, which ends in a descent that leads over the queue in the valley of the former wild water run. After this descent, the train enters a completely new type of element on a roller coaster called the Demonic Knot . The train first travels through an inclined ( tilted to the side ) dive loop , which is directly followed by an inclined Immelmann . The train first travels upwards, turning counterclockwise by a little more than 180 ° and descends in a half loop that is slightly offset to the right from the original direction of travel and thus also has the character of a banked curve. The train then travels up half a sharply tilted loop, only to turn clockwise back to its starting position during a descent. The element looks similar to a pretzel from the side , which is why the park also calls the element a pretzel.

The descent of the Demonic Knot ends under the final brake. This is followed by a long 315 ° left curve, in combination with a small hill, before the train pulls into that final brake and is braked with the help of eddy current brakes. The final brake is directed downwards so that the train rolls slowly towards the station without using electric motors with friction wheels. Only shortly before this does the route become straight. The movable track with access to the siding is also located here.

A journey takes about 3 minutes. A maximum of 4  g act on the passengers.

technology

rail

A train in the exit of the Demonic Knot

The track made of 650 tons of steel is 772 meters long and the lift hill is approx. 40 meters high. The rails are white and the supports are dark green.

The type of rail that is used on the demons' flight is the Bolliger - & - Mabillard standard boxing rail. It consists of a massive rectangular steel body. Starting from this body, the actual guide tubes are connected by individual struts, slightly offset to the outside above.

In addition to the main line, there is a siding in an external maintenance hall behind the station, onto which a train can be pushed by a movable platform in the final brake.

Trains

When the demons fly , two cables made of fiberglass and steel are used. Each of them has six carriages with four seats per row of seats, two of which are on the left and two on the right of the rail. A train therefore holds 24 passengers and is approx. Five meters wide. The capacity is 1060 people per hour. Flexible shoulder straps are used as a restraint system. In addition, the passengers are held in their seats by a seat belt. Since the seats are to the side of the rail, they are also supported by a cantilever beam . The train is approved for passengers aged 10 and over and between 1.40 and 1.95 meters tall.

The trains are black and the ironing pads are white. At the front, in the middle of the train, is the head of a demon as a disguise . The special cladding of the car was designed by the graffiti artist Markus Genesius.

particularities

Flug Der Demonen is Germany's first wing coaster and , according to the Heide Park Resort , unofficially the fastest and highest wing coaster in Europe, with 6 cars per train. Flight The Demon has a new element with the Demonic Knot , a slightly inclined "Norwegian Loop". The theming of the trains is similar to that of The Swarm trains.

Web links

Commons : Flight of the Demons  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Flight of the Demons - Heide Park Resort (Soltau, Lower Saxony, Germany) . RCDB entry, accessed March 24, 2014
  2. ↑ a b Facts ( Memento of the original from January 11, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Official website for the railway, accessed on August 23, 2013 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.xn--flug-der-dmonen-9kb.de
  3. ↑ a b c Baublog ( Memento of the original from January 11, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Official website for the railway, accessed on August 23, 2013 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.xn--flug-der-dmonen-9kb.de
  4. ↑ a b FLIGHT OBJECTS OVER NORTH GERMANY: THE YEAR OF THE DEMONS BEGINS! . Heide-Park press release, January 8, 2014, accessed on January 8, 2014
  5. ↑ Flight of the Demons - Heide Park Resort (Soltau, Lower Saxony, Germany). In: rcdb.com. Retrieved October 30, 2016 .
  6. ↑ Goodbye Wildwasserbahn II - The End of an Era ( Memento of the original from January 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Article on Heide-Park-World.de, accessed on August 11, 2013 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.heide-park-world.de
  7. ↑ Design of the site fence ( Memento of the original from January 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Article on Heide-Park-World.de, accessed on August 11, 2013 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.heide-park-world.de
  8. ↑ About Vampires, Bats and Transylvania ( Memento of the original from January 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Article on Heide-Park-World.de, accessed on August 11, 2013 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.heide-park-world.de
  9. ↑ New attraction 2014: Construction site update ( Memento of the original from January 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Article on Heide-Park-World.de, accessed on August 11, 2013 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.heide-park-world.de
  10. ↑ Construction site update, May 19, 2013 ( Memento of the original from January 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Article on Heide-Park-World.de, accessed on August 11, 2013 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.heide-park-world.de
  11. ↑ Construction site update, June 17, 2013 ( Memento of the original from January 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Article on Heide-Park-World.de, accessed on August 11, 2013 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.heide-park-world.de
  12. ↑ New item 2014 ( Memento of the original from January 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Article from worldofcoasters.de, accessed on August 11, 2013 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / worldofcoaster.de
  13. ↑ a b LAST RAIL FOR GERMANY'S FIRST WING COASTER . Heide-Park press release, September 18, 2013, accessed on November 1, 2013
  14. ↑ 2014 DEMONS TAKE OVER GERMANY'S FIRST WING COASTER . Heide-Park press release, October 19, 2013, accessed on November 1, 2013
  15. ↑ GERMANY'S FIRST WING COASTER STARTS ON MAN TEST FLIGHTS . Heide-Park press release, November 22, 2013, accessed January 8, 2014
  16. ↑ a b The Wing Coaster demons become real in Heide Park. Airtimers.com, January 14, 2014, accessed February 10, 2014 .
  17. ↑ a b DANCE FLASHMOB AND DEMONIC SYMBOLS FROM ELBPHILHARMONY TO STATE OPERA: FLIGHT OF DEMONS MAKES A STOP IN HAMBURG AND HANOVER . Heide Park press release, March 15, 2014, accessed April 6, 2014
  18. ↑ Flight of the demons makes northern Germany unsafe. Airtimers.com, March 15, 2014, accessed April 6, 2014 .
  19. ↑ Heide Park Resort: Flight of the Demons Dance . Heide Park Resort's official video on Youtube, March 16, 2014, accessed on April 6, 2014
  20. ↑ CELEBRITY CREW OPENS THE FLIGHT OF THE DEMONS, GERMANY'S FIRST WING COASTER . Heide Park press release, March 20, 2014, accessed April 6, 2014
  21. ↑ GAME PREMIERE: “FLIGHT OF THE DEMONS - THE GAME” WITH ROUTE ELEMENTS FROM GERMANY'S FIRST WING COASTER FOR THE SMARTPHONE . Heide-Park press release, March 26, 2014, accessed April 6, 2014
  22. ↑ PARK PLAN ( Memento of the original from July 14, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. des Heide-Park, accessed April 6, 2014 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.heide-park.de
  23. ↑ Flight of the Demons - Germany's first Wing Coaster ( Memento of the original from July 14, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Data sheet on the official website, Heide-Park Soltau GmbH, accessed on May 16, 2014 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.heide-park.de
  24. ^ Mathias Arp . Park history website, accessed August 6, 2012
  25. ↑ Flight of the Demons Heide Park Resort (Soltau, Lower Saxony, Germany) - building . Image from RCDB, Rik Engelen, March 30, 2014, accessed on July 4, 2014
  26. ↑ Heide Park Resort Wing Coaster - Maneuver 7: Brezel (Official). Retrieved August 24, 2019 .
  27. ↑ Soundtrack for Flight of the Demons at Heide Park Resort. IMAscore, March 16, 2014, accessed March 19, 2014 .
  28. ↑ Heide Park Resort Wing Coaster: Onride Video (official) . Official video on Youtube.com, Heide Park Resort, March 21, 2014, accessed July 4, 2014
  29. ↑ Unknown - Heide Park Resort (Soltau, Lower Saxony, Germany) - cross section of the rail . RCDB photo, Benjamin Schulze, accessed November 10, 2013
  30. ↑ Exclusive test drive . Report from RTL Nord, March 14, 2014, accessed on March 15, 2014
  31. ^ Nicole Dyer: Wing And A Scare. Popsci.com, March 5, 2013, accessed August 28, 2013 .
  32. ↑ BREMER GRAFFITI ARTIST SPRAYING CARRIAGES OF GERMANY'S FIRST WING COASTER . Heide-Park press release, October 29, 2013, accessed on November 1, 2013

Coordinates: 53 ° 1 ′ 34.3 "  N , 9 ° 52 ′ 46.7"  E