Let’s park hop to two under-the-radar places that recently debuted new roller coasters. First, we head to potts park (for whatever reason, the lack of initial capitals letters is intentional) in Germany, which debuted Braus & Saus, a family launch shuttle coaster. Located in the park’s Wild Stone Age land, the ride has a fun theme.
It begins by entering a small show building designed as a prehistoric car wash. After a brief encounter with lumbering animals that apparently power the auto cleaning business with their flatulence (!!), the train launches backwards and peters out on an incline. It then rolls forward, launches through the car wash scene into a series of twists and turns, and loses momentum as it climbs a spike. For its final act, the train rolls backwards and launches to retrace the entire circuit in reverse. After one more pass through the fart-filled car wash, Braus & Saus comes to a halt in the station.
Built by the German manufacturer, ART Engineering, the coaster appears to be engaging and accessible to a wide swath of visitors. Its height is listed as 62 feet, although I believe that is the tallest point of the spike, which the train doesn't actually reach. Its top speed is 31 mph. Potts park opened in 1969 and is geared to families with young children. It has four other coasters, all of which go easy on the thrills. The new Braus & Saus is the most aggressive of the bunch.
Malaysia’s Sunway Lagoon welcomed the Wild Chase Water Coaster to its midway. After a small first drop, single-car trains navigate a modest 984-foot, neon-green track and meander through some banked turns. For its finale, the cars drop into a “splash track,” a small pool that shoots sprays of water as passengers pass by.
While its name designates the ride as a “water coaster” and Sunway Lagoon refers to it as Malaysia’s first hybrid water coaster, it’s something of a misnomer. In industry parlance, water coasters are typically found at water parks, such as Krakatau Aqua Coaster at Universal Orlando’s Volcano Bay. Rafts that are powered uphill by blasts of water or magnetic motors cruise through water-filled flumes. There are true hybrid rides, like Journey to Atlantis at SeaWorld Orlando, with vehicles that double as both coaster trains that travel on tracks and boats that float through flumes. But Wild Chase Water Coaster never travels through a channel of water. It doesn’t appear that the cars, which don’t create a plume of spray when they drop into the splash track, even touch the water.
The long-delayed ride first began construction in 2016. In addition to the amusement park, Sunway Lagoon offers a water park, a zoo, and X Park, which lets guests get behind the wheel of an all-terrain vehicle, go bungee jumping, and take aim at targets using paintball guns. It also rebrands the park as Captain Quack Land at night with a separate-admission ticket.
What is your favorite family coaster? Have you experienced any water coasters?