| Snoopy's Racing Railway | |||||||||||||||
| Location: | Canada's Wonderland | ||||||||||||||
| Section: | Planet Snoopy | ||||||||||||||
| Year: | 2023 | ||||||||||||||
| Previousattraction: | Dinosaurs Alive! | ||||||||||||||
| Rcdb Number: | 20343 | ||||||||||||||
| Extend: |
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| Type: | Steel | ||||||||||||||
| Type2: | Family | ||||||||||||||
| Type3: | Launched | ||||||||||||||
| Manufacturer: | ART Engineering | ||||||||||||||
| Model: | Family Launch Coaster | ||||||||||||||
| Height Ft: | 29.5 | ||||||||||||||
| Length Ft: | 803.8 | ||||||||||||||
| Speed Mph: | 31.1 | ||||||||||||||
| Capacity: | 480 | ||||||||||||||
| Restriction In: | 36 | ||||||||||||||
| Trains: | 1 | ||||||||||||||
| Carspertrain: | 7 | ||||||||||||||
| Rowspercar: | 1 | ||||||||||||||
| Ridersperrow: | 2 | ||||||||||||||
Snoopy's Racing Railway is a pair of steel, family launched roller coasters located at Canada's Wonderland in Vaughan, Ontario, and Carowinds in Charlotte, North Carolina. The former first opened in 2023 while the latter is expected to be ready for 2025.
In 2021, ART Engineering developed and opened Fridolin's Verrückter Zauberexpress (English: Fridolin's Crazy Magic Express) at Fantasiana in Straßwalchen, Austria. Although it featured multiple accelerated launch sections, the coaster had been tailor-made towards younger riders and sported a low 90cm (40inches) height requirement, rendering it suitable for children of all ages.[1] [2] Canada's Wonderland – which already had a working relationship with ART Engineering on Wonder Mountain's Guardian and other maintenance equipment – monitored its development and eventually commissioned a copy of the layout for their own park.
Snoopy's Racing Railway was formally announced on August 11, 2022, set to replace the former Dinosaurs Alive! attraction in Planet Snoopy and open in 2023.[3] The attraction would debut alongside Tundra Twister, a Mondial thrill ride also set to be constructed that offseason. The original coaster had been designed with a far lower park attendance in mind; Canada's Wonderland opted to expand its train with an extra car and initially planned to run it for only a single lap cycle (Fantasiana's coaster ran for two).[4] The latter idea was scrapped and Snoopy's Racing Railway was programmed to cycle the layout twice.
Construction picked up in late 2022, with ground cleared and the first pieces of rebar planted. Track for Snoopy's Racing Railway began arriving in January 2023, and the coaster trains delivered the following month.[5] [6] The coaster opened to the public on May 18, 2023. For its first year of operations the park restricted access to adults, requiring all riders taller than 54inches to be accompanied by a child; the policy was removed in 2024 as part of a wider corporate directive.[7]
With the Canadian installation completed, ART Engineering was formally introduced to Carowinds in September 2023.[8] Carowinds first filed permits with York County on March 5, 2024, codenamed Project Sparrow and situated on the South Carolina side of the park.[9] Sparrow's contents were leaked by means of a FOIA request later that month, depicting multiple new attractions in the park's Camp Snoopy area and Snoopy's Junction miniature railway being removed to make way for Racing Railway.[10] The train route was ripped out in June and was expected at the time to be rebuilt on a portion of the former Dinosaur's Alive site; these plans have seemingly since been scrapped.[11]
Teasing began in late July, when Carowinds posted a graphic online heralding "Funner. Faster. Splashier" novelties.[12] Carowinds officially announced Snoopy's Racing Railway on August 7, 2024 alongside other attractions and upgrades within Camp Snoopy.[13] The first anchor baskets for foundations were imported in June, with coaster track scheduled to be delivered by the end of 2024; Snoopy's Racing Railway is expected to be ready for the beginning of the 2025 season.[8] [14]
Snoopy's Racing Railway consists of a short layout with two enclosed launches and multiple set pieces, which guests complete two laps on during the ride. Both attractions pit Conductor Snoopy against troublemaking from Woodstock and his friends, but feature revised storylines; the Canada's Wonderland version sees the train outrunning Woodstock's Bad Seed Gang through town before they're captured by RCMP Officer Charlie Brown, while the Carowinds attraction will be set around Snoopy delivering root beer and pizza to Camp Snoopy's Mess Hall.