Following on the heels of posts from Joel about speculation regarding Carowinds’ 2019 mystery project (as well as the recent announcement of Steel Curtain posted by Jon), I decided to write up some interesting facts about what’s coming to the Cedar Fair park north of the border.
(photo courtesy of Eric S)
Dark brown track was spotted nearly 6 months ago that’s almost identical in width to that of Valravn (pictured above), the record-breaking dive coaster at sister park Cedar Point (even the colors are the same, though it’s possible Canada’s Wonderland may re-paint the track before opening). It’s all but 100% certain that this will be a Dive Machine from B&M, similar to SheiKra and Griffon, but likely larger than either of them.
Based on current construction, the yet-to-be-named ride will be located adjacent to the park’s Arrow suspended coaster, Vortex. They’ve already built a tunnel that goes underwater and the land clearing in the above photo is substantial.
Here’s where it gets interesting: a teaser was posted at Cedar Point recently mentioning all sorts of clues about things at “an all new northern mining facility”, implying Canada’s Wonderland. The plot thickens with several numbers, including “3,215ft”, “3,501′”, “137 MCBR”, and “#17”:
(photo courtesy of reddit)
What’s my take? Well, one of them is obvious: “#17” would make this the park’s 17th coaster. Pretty simple. “137 MCBR” could allude that the new ride’s mid-course brake run is at a height of 137ft. But wait…..
137mph surely can’t be the top speed. This is Canada we’re talking about….they use the metric system. 137KPH = 85MPH. Now that seems a bit much for max speed on a dive coaster, but bear with me.
The larger two numbers are tricky. One could obviously be the overall track length (by comparison, Valravn is 3,415ft long), but what about the other figure? Try this math for size: 3,501′ – 3,215′ = 286′. A 286ft drop would be ridiculous, but what about an overall elevation change of 286ft? Coasters with similar stats get up to — you guessed it — 85mph. Coincidence or not?
So what do YOU think? Are we looking at a B&M Dive Machine that will shatter records at Canada’s Wonderland, or is all this speculation just a crazy fantasy? Share your comments below!