The giant inverted boomerang is one of Vekomas
most intense coasters. This ride takes the layout of a boomerang, gives it inverted trains, adds
vertical spikes, and scales it to nearly hyper heights. While this ride is action-packed,
it is highly problematic, which is why so few were built. This review will discuss this ride’s
complicated history and the on-ride experience.
In the mid-1980s, Vekoma developed the boomerang
model. This was an -compact looping coaster where guests would travel backwards up a lift and
be released forwards into a layout with a cobra roll and vertical loop. They would
then hit a second lift and this time be released backwards into the layout they just
experienced, hence the name boomerang. This ride wasn’t the smoothest, but it was highly
marketable. So nearly 5 dozen installations were added to parks around the globe.
In the mid-1990s, Vekoma debuted the Invertigo model. This took the layout of a
boomerang, but turned it into an inverted coaster. The first installation was supposed
to open at Liseberg in 1996, but it was delayed until 1997. The ride was originally meant to
have an LIM/LSM lift hill, but difficulties with the technology led to the ride having a
standard chain lift like the regular boomerangs.
Three other Invertigo coasters would be built.
One went to California’s Great America in 1998, one went to Six Flags America in 1999,
and one went to Kings Island in 1999. The latter is the only one still operating
in its original home. The others were removed due to a series of issues. This included
valleying and most notably on Two Face in 2007, a hydraulic fluid leak that sprayed passengers.
Rather than correcting the Invertigo model first, Vekoma ambitiously started offering the giant
inverted boomerang. This ride would feature 2 vertical spikes and far greater heights,
as it would stand a whopping 194 feet or 59 meters in height.
Six Flags immediately purchased four of these coasters.
Three would be installed stateside in 2001. They were fittingly named Déjà Vu. One went
to Six Flags Magic Mountain. One went to Six Flags Great America. And one went to Six Flags Over
Georgia. These rides were supposed to be ready early in 2001 season, but they were plagued
with issues and didn’t open until the fall.
The fourth opened with the brand new
Warner Bros. Movie World in Spain in 2002. And it would be named Stunt Fall. The ride was
originally supposed to be given a Twister theme, but it was instead given a generic stunt theme.
It would be nearly a decade until additional giant inverted boomerangs were built. Jin Jiang
Action Park in China added Giant Inverted Boomerang in 2011. Then Sochi Park in Russia
added Quantum Leap in 2014. None have been built since. And the ride currently isn’t listed
on Vekoma’s website under available products.
None of the ones that started in the Six Flags
chain are still operated by them. Six Flags Great America’s Déjà Vu was removed in 2007. It’s a rare
hand-me-down that this park didn’t give to Six Flags America. It instead was sold to Silverwood
and reassembled as Aftershock for the 2008 season. Silverwood reportedly spent $3 million on this
ride to acquire it, reassemble it, and have it refurbished to run more reliably. And assuming
the weather is cooperative, the ride has less mechanical issues than it did at Great America.
Six Flags Over Georgia’s Deja Vu was removed in 2007 as well. This one was
sold to Mirabilandia in Brazil, where it has been sitting in storage for years.
But the park still has plans to reassemble it.
Six Flags Magic Mountain’s Deja Vu was removed
in 2011. It was sent across the country to Six Flags New England where it operated as Goliath.
This move always shocked me for two reasons. One, this park already had a normal boomerang in
Flashback. And Goliath was placed right next to it no less. Two, this ride has issues in low
temperatures, which happen quite frequently in New England. Ultimately, this ride operated
intermittently through the 2019 season. It was then left standing but not operating
in 2020 and 2021 before being scrapped.
Stunt Fall still operates in its original
park, but Warner Bros. Movie World was eventually sold to Parques Reundios, who now
operate the park as Parque Warner Madrid.
So why the game of hot potato with this ride?
While they were impressive from a statistical, on-ride, and marketability perspective, these
rides are temperamental and mechanical nightmares. The Six Flags ones were so problematic that it
helped drive Vekoma towards bankruptcy in 2001. Fortunately, the Dutch manufacturer is still
in business today and doing better than ever.
So what were the issues with these rides?
The biggest issues seemed to be related to the catch car. The older boomerangs and Invertigo
coasters used a chain lift to haul the train up the second spike. The giant inverted boomerang
used a far more complex catch car. For the train to properly latch onto it, the catch car
needs to be in motion to catch the train. If the timing is off, the train can valley.
I had trouble finding a source to verify this, but I remember hearing back when Stunt Fall
opened that the front row was deliberately kept empty to improve catch car engagement.
I believe the catch car is the main reason these rides cannot operate in the rain. The
cable driven system is prone to slipping.
But that’s not the only place this ride can
valley. It can also stall in the cobra roll. That is why there’s a giant evacuation platform up
there. I think that’s one of the reasons this ride cannot operate in high winds nor low temperatures.
Speaking to the one that used to be at Six Flags New England and Aftershock at Silverwood, these
rides need it to be 60 degrees Fahrenheit minimum to open. And as you may suspect, this is an issue
at the start and end of the season for these parks. Aftershock isn’t even on the available ride
list for the park’s Scarywood Halloween event.
Six Flags New England would try to
get their’s open in spring and fall, but it couldn’t consistently run outside the
summer months. I imagine some of the other installations have had less issues in this
department, particularly the one in Spain. But I’m curious how often the one in Russia
is able to run given that country’s climate.
These rides also do not have the best
capacity. These are shuttle coasters and they operate with just one train. This
is a sizable train at least, as it seats 32 riders with 8 rows of 4. Beyond that, the
ride doesn’t have the most convenient loading.
The Vekoma trains have staggered V-shaped rows.
There are two seats in the middle side-by-side. Then the end seats are on each side, raised back a
bit. To access the end seats, you have to cross in front of the middle seats. This is confusing for
guests. And it can be a tight squeeze fitting past the middle seats once someone is already seated.
To mitigate this issue, Six Flags New England hired Premier Rides to give Goliath a new train.
This was another perplexing decision. Not only was it not one of their rides, but Premier had
never even made an inverted coaster. This train did admittedly simplify the load procedure, as
all seats in each row were now side-by-side. But they caused some major issues with the
ride experience and I’ll get to those later.
These trains also rectified another issue. I
believe they sat lower. On the Vekoma trains, early testing revealed taller guests
could reach up and touch the track. To prevent this metal bars were added on the side
that stopped riders from raising their arms.
Both the Premier and Vekoma trains feature bulky
over-the-shoulder harnesses. These aren’t my favorite. They are firm and get really close
to your ears, so any headbanging really hurts on this ride. For this reason, this is one
of the few coasters where I willingly choose to remove my glasses for comfort reasons.
But I’ll talk more about that later. Then there’s an external seatbelt for redundancy.
Loading is particularly slow on Aftershock because it has an additional seatbelt across the
lap of all guests. This cannot be checked after the restraint is lowered. Therefore, the
employees need to first perform a seatbelt check before restraints are lowered. As
a result, the line for this one can take a bit if you visit on a busy weekend.
I believe this lap belt was on all the US versions, but it is not present on Stunt
Fall. I’m not sure about the remaining two.
Speaking of lines, you definitely want to avoid
Stunt Fall at Parque Warner immediately after the Police Academy stunt show ends. The exit for this
show is right next to the entrance of Stunt Fall, so people flood into this ride’s queue.
It’s a similar effect to what you see at a SeaWorld park after a big show ends.
Stunt Fall has the most theming of any giant inverted boomerang, but there isn’t much. There’s
just some signage in the queue about stunt work. You won’t find any theming on the others though.
These rides do look imposing. No one can argue that. The scale of these rides is unbelievable.
And those vertical spikes are monstrous.
Stunt Fall has blue track and yellow
supports. It’s an ok paint scheme. I prefer the colors of the ones that have been
in the US. These ones have all had bright green track and blue supports. It’s a bold
choice, and I love how eye-catching it is.
Once checked, you are pulled backwards up the
vertical spike. This cable lift is swift. And it’s quite frightening too. You lean forwards,
staring at the ground. Your body weight is fully supported by the harness. Once you reach the top,
you are immediately released. And this drop is incredible. It feels more akin to a drop tower.
You get a great freefall sensation while also getting floater airtime. You float a bit more
on the versions without that extra lap belt.
This drop is better further back
in the train since you’re hoisted higher up the tower. This is the main reason
I prefer to ride most of these in the back.
The transition out of this element is intense.
The pullout into the station is super sharp. You are thrown back into your seat pretty
violently, experiencing crushing positive Gs.
Then you get an incredible sense of speed flying
through the station. This is exciting off-ride too since you are pummeled by a gust of wind.
You then have a large cobra roll. The entry into it offers another strong dose of positive
Gs. Then there are two snaps. The first is more abrupt in front, but the second is
snappier in the back. That’s especially true on the edge seats. You are pulled down
so sharply that you get a little airtime.
These two flips are my biggest issue. Each
transition can cause a light bash to the head. They’re joltier on the edge seats. The
headbanging isn’t plentiful, but the combination of the hard restraints and intensity make it
more uncomfortable than it would otherwise.
The subsequent pullout offers
another nice dose of positives.
Next comes a vertical loop. The front is pushed
through it, holding the positive Gs. The back is yanked down the second half of it. And again,
they will lightly get lifted out of their seat.
The pullout maintains the positive Gs.
Then comes the second spike. There’s a slight hitch as the train engages the
catch car. Then you’re smoothly pulled to the top as you stare into the sky.
Towards the top, you slow down ever so briefly. Then you’re released
backwards. It offers some floater, but it doesn’t offer the freefall sensation. I
find the forwards drop more effective overall.
The pullout is equally as intense
as the first, as you slam back into the seat from the high positives.
The vertical loop is more intense this time, as you have more speed. It has great
positive Gs the whole way through.
The cobra roll doesn’t offer any airtime this time
around, but the natural back is pushed into it. You really crawl through the middle portion. But
the train regains speed after the second flip, and the natural front is pulled downwards. But as
with the forward direction, you can hit your head here and it’s similarly unpleasant, especially
with the dizziness of traveling backwards.
You then whiz through the station and climb
halfway up the initial spike. The catch car grabs on, noticeably jolting the train. You then pause
for a second or two high in the air, helplessly dangling in your restraint. You then slowly lower
back down to the station, ending the coaster.
These rides are powerhouses. They are
forceful and disorienting start to finish.
The experience I described applies to the giant
inverted boomerangs running Vekoma trains. As a whole, the ride tracks well minus the flips on
the cobra roll. But what about Six Flags New England’s Goliath with the Premier trains?
The forces I described through this review still hold true, but add in a whole lot of
roughness. I absolutely loved the vertical drops, but everything else was an endurance test.
The initial pullout could squash your nuts from the restraint profiling. The valleys would
jitter profusely causing additional headbanging. Then the train would jolt around the cobra
roll, adding some back slams along with the headbanging. The front wasn’t nearly as bad, but
the roughness increased significantly further back in the train. And unfortunately, seating
was assigned on this coaster, so you only had a 1/8 chance not coming off in major pain.
So what would I rate the Vekoma giant inverted boomerang? I would give the versions running
Vekoma trains a 6.5 out of 10. This is a wild coaster. The vertical drops are fantastic.
Then the inversions and valleys offer strong positive Gs. I just don’t find it the most
comfortable experience when you combine those restraints with the intensity and few
bits of headbanging. I admittedly am not as high on these coasters as other enthusiasts,
but I respect them for what they are. And I would take them over a regular boomerang.
As for Goliath at Six Flags New England, this one earned a 2 out of 10 with the Premier
trains. It’s a shame how rough the ride got with the new trains. It spoiled an otherwise fun
ride experience. I still genuinely loved the vertical drops, but I dreaded everything else.
So those are my thoughts on the Vekoma giant inverted boomerang. What are your thoughts on
this coaster model? Are you a bigger fan of it than me? Let me know down in the comments. If
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