Canyon Blaster (Six Flags Great Escape) Explained

Canyon Blaster
Previousnames:
Rock n' Roller Coaster at Opryland USA (late 1970s-1997)
Location:Six Flags Great Escape and Hurricane Harbor
Locationarticle:Six Flags Great Escape and Hurricane Harbor
Section:Ghosttown
Type:Steel
Type2:Mine Train
Manufacturer:Arrow Development
Model:Mine Train
Lift:Chain lift hill
Status:Operating
Opened:June 27, 2003
Extend:
Location:Opryland USA
Section:Doo-Wah Diddy City
Status:Relocated to Great Escape
Opened:1972
Closed:1997
Height Ft:56
Length Ft:2036
Speed Mph:45
Inversions:0
Duration:2 min. 30 sec.
Restriction In:42
Rcdb Number:2214
Coordinates:43.3519°N -73.6916°W

Canyon Blaster is a steel roller coaster located at Six Flags Great Escape and Hurricane Harbor in Queensbury, New York.

History

Canyon Blaster originally opened as Timber Topper at the now-defunct Opryland USA theme park in Nashville, Tennessee. Manufactured by Arrow Development, the ride opened with the park in 1972 and remained its only full-size coaster until Wabash Cannonball opened in 1975 as part of a major park expansion. It carried a rustic mine train theme, though unlike many similar coasters at other parks, it did not enter a tunnel or travel underground. In the late 1970s, the coaster was renamed Rock n' Roller Coaster, when its park area was rethemed to "Doo-Wah Diddy City", paying homage to the doo wop music of the 1950s. As part of the re-theming, its trains and buildings associated with the ride were repainted in bright pastel colors.

After Opryland closed in 1997, the coaster was disassembled and sold to Premier Parks. After being stored at the Old Indiana Fun Park in Thorntown, Indiana for several years, the ride was relocated to The Great Escape in Queensbury, New York and renamed Canyon Blaster in 2003.

On May 30, 2013, Great Escape announced that their Canyon Blaster roller coaster would be running backwards for the first time ever during 2013 season for a limited time during the summer.[1]

Ride experience and theming

The Canyon Blaster is a gentle family-style coaster designed as a runaway mine train featuring two lift hills and a double helix. The ride has a red track with beige supports. It has three trains, blue, brown & red, but in the past few years only the brown train has been used. When the roller coaster was brought to the Great Escape, the system was modified to only accommodate one train due to a change in design features to fit the Great Escape.

In keeping with the Old West theme of the Ghosttown section of the park, the coaster is decorated with broken and crumbling artifacts from the era including a stagecoach, a broken steam train and the fake bones of dead animals. The outer fence is painted with mine blast warnings and notices of when the last (again fake) accident was. Many of the decorative artifacts were once part of the defunct Ghost Town Railroad route that Canyon Blaster replaced. The broken steam train is one of the engines from the Ghost Town Railroad.

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Screamin' Eagles Have Landed at The Great Escape. Great Escape. May 30, 2013. July 2, 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20131114190800/http://www.sixflags.com/greatEscape/info/news_screamineagles2013.aspx. November 14, 2013. dead.