News Gerstlauer Infinity Coaster coming to Circuit of the Americas in 2022

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Zachary

Zachary

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GERSTLAUER TO BUILD ONE-OF-A-KIND INFINITY ROLLER COASTER IN THE UNITED STATES

STEVENSVILLE, MD (October 25, 2021) – Gerstlauer Amusement Rides, GmbH, a proud partner of Ride Entertainment, has signed an agreement to manufacture a one-of-a-kind Infinity roller coaster for a soon-to-be-named customer in the United States. The attraction, which is scheduled to open in late 2022, will be formally announced at the IAAPA Expo in Orlando next month.

“I am constantly amazed at how the team at Gerstlauer conquers unique challenges thrown their way,” said Ed Hiller, CEO and Founder of Ride Entertainment. “This new Infinity coaster will have guests racing to it in order to be the first to ride as it is being installed at a high-profile location.”

Ride Entertainment’s world-renown Installation team will construct the ride for the client.

“This project will once again showcase the ingenuity and creativity of Gerstlauer,” added Hiller. “In addition, our outstanding Installation team will be able to show why they are the gold standard of the attractions industry.”

GERSTLAUER TO BUILD ONE-OF-A-KIND INFINITY ROLLER COASTER IN THE UNITED STATES | rideentertainment.com

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Late 2022 would imply a year round park, right? Since seasonal parks don't open coasters in the fall that would rule out cedar fair and six... That severely narrows down the potential customers.
 
Jahrules said:
Late 2022 would imply a year round park, right? Since seasonal parks don't open coasters in the fall that would rule out cedar fair and six... That severely narrows down the potential customers.
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I mean we haven't heard anything recently on Draconspire. Just saying
 
Jahrules said:
Late 2022 would imply a year round park, right? Since seasonal parks don't open coasters in the fall that would rule out cedar fair and six... That severely narrows down the potential customers.
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Isn't Knott's year-round? Magic Mountain too, but Six Flags and Gerstlauer don't have a good relationship.
 
So, uh, I think I have a solid guess as per where this mystery Gerstlauer Infinity Coaster might be headed.

Back in 2019, Unicorp expressed a desire to build a large thrill ride on the site of their huge new shopping and entertainment development in Orlando named O-Town.

Whittall said O-Town predominantly will be an entertainment destination and not a mini-theme park, but he believes a single centerpiece attraction could add to the appeal of the property. "The Starflyer has created such an energetic atmosphere [at Icon 360], so we thought a single ride would be synergistic with this project, especially right there on the corner of Interstate 4. We don't know what it will be yet, but we are talking to some ride designers and I want the world's tallest, coolest, funnest question mark — because I don't know what it is yet."
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For those of you who don't know, Unicorp is the same team behind ICON Park in Orlando, so they're not strangers to running major thrill rides at similar developments in the region.

They didn't just express desire for a thrill ride though. The concept Whittall described in that interview with BizJournals sounded a lot like something that could be accomplished with an Infinity Coaster.

One concept he's been discussing is an attraction that could have eight riders and simulate something similar to a space shuttle being launched, with guests looking vertically in their seated positions.
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Specifically, the new ride be similar to a vertical launch tower with some kind of roller coaster-style influences that have some vertical or inverted aspects to it, Unicorp President Chuck Whittall told Orlando Business Journal.
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The eight riders bit especially stands out to me as a good fit.

I know, with statements like "roller coaster-style influences," many of you may be doubting that this is a coaster project at all—I would be too. That said, I only know anything about this O-Town project because I leaked something about it already.

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That information is a few months out of date, but, in a way, timeline-wise, even that matches with the fact that we now have an announcement of an announcement.

Furthermore, as many others have already pointed out, the late 2022 opening would be very odd for a park. It's no where near as odd for a shopping development in Florida though, you know?

Adding even more fuel to this fire, an Orlando, non-park location makes sense for two other reasons as well. It is being announced at IAAPA in Orlando, yes, but also, Ride Entertainment stated that the attraction's final destination was "a high-profile location." Right along I-4 in Orlando sounds like a mighty high-profile location to me.

Lastly, the interview referenced above was conducted pre-COVID in 2019. At that time, O-Town was saying that the attraction was on track for a mid-2021 opening. You know what late 2022 amounts to for that project? A year to a year and a half delay. Sounds pretty COVID-y to me.

So yeah, again, this isn't based on any inside information beyond the knowledge that the O-Town project was slated to be a coaster as of a few months ago. I do think this is a solid theory worth sharing though! Fingers crossed!
 
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SLC Headache said:
Isn't Knott's year-round? Magic Mountain too, but Six Flags and Gerstlauer don't have a good relationship.
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KBF already has a new Gerstlauer with Hang Time. Also, I don't see where they could fit a new coaster in there without them removing something else. Besides, the big park chains like Cedar Fair, Six Flags, SEAS, etc. do their own marketing and press releases for their new attractions. So if this was gonna be at KBF we'd be hearing from Cedar Fair, not Ride Entertainment or Gerstlauer.
 
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Livestream from Amusement Insider.

This coaster will be located at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, TX.

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