Playland’s newest roller coaster ThunderVolt is ready to launch

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At Playland’s new ThunderVolt roller-coaster, you are clamped firmly into your seat by an overhead bar with a thick foam rubber pad that digs into your lap.

It takes less than a second to learn how necessary that is.

A short, recorded jet-engine whine is the only sign ThunderVolt is winding up before you are jolted down the track, the force of 1.3 times the force of gravity pushing you further into your seat.

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Almost instantly, you’re rocketed 18 metres up the coaster’s near vertical first incline, staring straight into the clear blue of a summer morning.

When the car rolls over the top, the force lifts you out of your seat against that thickly padded lap bar. You’re then taken around tight corners, up and down a handful more breath-stealing hills before slowing to a gentle stop back at the ride’s pavilion.

The ride itself doesn’t last much more than 30 seconds. But the shrieks of guests taking off from the start line during a sneak peek of the coaster on Friday at the PNE fairgrounds attest to ThunderVolt’s ability to generate thrills.

ThunderVolt opens to the public Saturday morning, but the PNE invited media to preview the gleaming yellow-and-pink ride’s capabilities.

Built by the Italian manufacturer Zamperla, the ThunderVolt is billed as the fastest electric-launch roller-coaster in Canada, and for the PNE it represents an $18-million bet on renewal of Playland’s attractions.

“It’s got a lot of speed at the beginning and there’s a lot of pops of air time,” said Matthew Jones, my front-row seatmate during Friday’s preview ride. “It is a little bit short, but at least it goes by quickly.”

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“I would definitely put it in my Top 10,” added Jones, an eclectic local YouTuber, magician and Twitch streamer with a sub-specialty in theme park ride reviews.

He guessed that ThunderVolt won’t draw the thrill-seeking super-coaster aficionados, but it now stands out “as a fun addition to Playland.”

Putting in a fun addition was the point of making the investment to add ThunderVolt to Playland, according to PNE spokesperson Laura Ballance.

“It’s very significant to building the next generation of Playland.”

Ballance said most people probably don’t know that the PNE is a non-profit organization, which operates the City of Vancouver-owned attraction that includes Playland and the annual Pacific National Exhibition.

“We operate without annual government subsidy,” Ballance said. “(So) we need to make sure that we’re putting together a well-rounded ride offering.”

ThunderVolt was secured to replace Playland’s old Corkscrew coaster, a mini-roller coaster that reached the end of its service life and was decommissioned in 2017.

Ballance added that the PNE lucked into this particular Zamperla roller-coaster, which used to operate at an amusement park in Italy.

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Zamperla also built Playland’s Skybender Gryphon ride, which was the park’s previously newest ride, so Ballance said they had a good relationship to strike a deal to bring it to Vancouver.

“We knew we wanted a substantive ride that could be the anchor of our park,” Ballance said. “And a juxtaposition to our wooden coaster (that fits) very nicely into Playland and what we currently have.”

ThunderVolt sits almost in the shadow of Playland’s iconic 1958 wooden roller-coaster, a sort of instant-hit-of-adrenalin yin to the slow-build-adrenalin yang of its older, bone-rattling cousin known simply as The Coaster.

“The nice thing about (ThunderVolt) is that it has a wide demographic of riders,” Ballance said. “So, heights, ages and level of aggression on rides.”

Some people aren’t into the extremes of super coasters that are “excessively tall or excessively spinning,” Ballance said.

PNE president Shelley Frost called ThunderVolt “the most significant single investment into a ride in the history of the park.”

The expense, Frost added, “is also an indication of our commitment at the PNE into making a strong, vibrant and bright future for Playland.”

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Ballance said the PNE’s attendance targets are to draw “in excess of 300,000” guests through Playland and the PNE in a given season, which ThunderVolt “will help us maintain and grow our annual visits.”

She added that it is “very on-brand that Vancouver has Canada’s fastest electric coaster.”

depenner@postmedia.com

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