A Slightly Pared-Down Goliath for Montreal's La Ronde

The news just keeps getting better for coaster fans as parks continue to add to the impressive roster of wild, new thrill machines that will be rolling out for the 2006 season. La Ronde, the Six Flags-operated (but not quite ready for the primetime Six Flags name) park in Montreal, will unleash Goliath, an out-and-back coaster that is so long, it will travel outside the perimeter of the park to the edge of Sainte-Helene Island before turning around and whisking riders back to the loading station.

Here are the stats for Goliath:

• Type of coaster: Steel out-and-back
• Height: 175 feet (53 meters)
• First drop: 171 feet (52 meters)
• Top speed: 68 mph (110 km/h)
• Length of track: 4039 feet (1,231 meters)
• Duration of ride: Over 3 minutes
• Height requirement: 54 inches (1.37 meters)
• Cost: According to Six Flags, $18.7 million Canadian dollars (approx. $16 million USD)

Six Flags is calling the ride a hypercoaster, but at 175 feet tall, and with a first drop of 171 feet, Goliath will fall a bit short of the generally accepted 200-foot threshold that defines a hypercoaster. Its speed, while impressive, will also lag behind most hypercoasters. Still, its classic out-and-back layout, which will essentially consist of a huge drop followed by a series of successively smaller hills, should translate into an air-filled scream-a-thon of a ride.

A similar coaster, also called Goliath, is planned for Six Flags Over Georgia. The two circa-2006 coasters will share the same manufacturer (Switzerland's wonderful Bolliger & Mabillard), but will not have the same layout (thank goodness) or manufacturer of the existing Six Flags Magic Mountain coaster that's also known as Goliath. The Southern California hypercoaster includes a punishing helix feature that nearly caused me to pass out.

When it opens in 2006, Goliath will be the tallest, fastest coaster in La Ronde--and in Canada.
More What's New at Theme Parks for 2006?
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