Welcome back to another installment in our “A-Z Coaster of the Week” series, where each week we feature a different coaster starting with a different letter of the alphabet. This week, we head to upstate New York for our “C” coaster, which is Canyon Blaster at Great Escape (a Six Flags park).
Canyon Blaster is a steel Arrow mine train roller coaster introduced to Great Escape in 2003. But the coaster initially opened in 1972 as “Rock ‘n Roller Coaster” at the now defunct Opryland USA theme park in Nashville, Tennessee:
Special thanks to Stephen W. Phillips, author of Opryland USA: Images of Modern America, for allowing us to use these photos of Rock ‘n Roller Coaster at Opryland USA!
According to the Great Escape website, Canyon Blaster is marketed as a family-friendly coaster for “daredevils in training” and is themed as a runaway mine train.
It stands 56 feet tall, reaches a top speed of 45 mph and features 2,036 feet of track. The coaster’s layout includes two lift hills and a sweeping double-helix finale.
Each of Canyon Blaster’s two trains feature five cars each seating six riders, for a total of 30 riders per train. The total ride time is 2 minutes and 30 seconds.
All Photos © Great Escape
Great Escape did a tremendous job landscaping the ground-hugging coaster.
Watch an on-ride POV video of Canyon Blaster below:
Have you ridden Canyon Blaster at Great Escape or at its former home in Tennessee? Share your thoughts about the mine train in the comments section below.
We’ll be back next Monday for the “D” coaster in our A-Z Coaster of the Week series! See the other coaster in this year’s “A-Z Coaster of the Week” series here.
Recent Discussion