Last August, Canada’s Wonderland officially revealed Yukon Striker, which would be the longest, fastest and tallest dive roller coaster in the world when completed for the 2019 season. Guests watched during the 2018 season why a mysterious underwater tunnel was dug during the 2017-2018 off-season in the lagoon surrounding the Vortex roller coaster.
The Yukon Striker roller coaster would integrate the massive roller coaster into the Canada’s Wonderland landscape with existing rides in a new themed Frontier Canada area of the park.
The last piece of roller coaster track for Yukon Striker was just installed at Canada’s Wonderland, marking the completion of what will be the fastest, tallest and longest dive roller coaster in the world.
The construction project began in January 2018 with the excavation of Yukon Striker’s underwater tunnel and finished with the last piece of track just installed on the highly anticipated 360-degree loop. Yukon Striker will dive 90 degrees, 75 metres down, soaring past neighbouring coaster Vortex and hitting a top speed of 130 km/h through the tunnel. Yukon Striker spans just over 1,100 metres in length and consists of 107 track sections which weigh a total of 1,213 metric tonnes. It requires 42 support columns and will feature floorless trains with stadium-style seating in three rows of eight.
“Our talented team has worked for more than a year to bring this complex project to completion,” said Peter Switzer, Director of Construction and Maintenance at Canada’s Wonderland. “At times it’s like solving a puzzle as we integrate a massive roller coaster into the park’s landscape with our existing rides, park utilities and underground infrastructure.”
Next, the trains will be installed while the loading station and landscaping are completed. After that, the park will begin a thorough ride testing process, which includes running each train through hundreds of cycles around the track; the initial passengers are water dummies that simulate rider weight.
Find more on Yukon Striker here:
• Yukon Striker Homepage
• “9 ways the Yukon Striker roller coaster is going to rock your world”
• “Building Yukon Striker is like building a ship in a bottle”
• “Constructing a world-record breaking dive roller coaster”
* If you liked this post, join other readers who have signed up to for our free Newsletter…because then you will never miss another update!
