Announcement month in the amusement industry began with a bang today. Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri officially unveiled it is building what is sure to be one of the most anticipated new roller coasters for the 2013 season. At 81 degrees, Outlaw Run will boast the steepest drop on a wooden roller coaster in the world, will be the second fastest, and will have not one, not two, but THREE INVERSIONS! The 2,937 feet of track will include an outside banked turn and a double barrel roll finale. Whew!
This will be Rocky Mountain Construction’s first full roller coaster designed and built from the ground up (they did the awesome revamp of the New Texas Giant). Outlaw Run utilizes Rocky Mountain Coaster’s “topper track” system which essentially replaces the top two layers of wood found on a typical wooden roller coaster track with steel. This steel still sits on a 6-8 piece wooden stack unlike the Texas Giant’s I-box track which replaces the wooden stack with steel too.The manufacturer of the trains is unclear at this time.
Who thought we would see an inversion on a wooden roller coaster so soon after the demise of the only other looping wooden roller coaster in recent history, the Son of Beast at Kings Island in Mason, Ohio. In fact, Son of Beast also held a record for longest roller coaster with a loop, a record now held by California Screamin’ at Disney California Adventure. After numerous problems, the vertical loop was removed after the 2006 season and the ride itself has been standing but not operating (SBNO) since 2009 (and thirty something million dollars down the drain) and will be removed this year. One of the key differences between the two rides is that the Son of Beast loop was made completely out of steel while Outlaw Run’s inversion elements look to be made completely out of wooden supports making it the first true looping wooden roller coaster.
For more information check out Outlaw Run’s website. We will be following construction on this ride very closely as this looks to be one of the top roller coasters for 2013.
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