The first modern wooden shuttle roller coaster Switchback has been sold and will be headed to a new home. ZDT’s Amusement Park in Seguin, Texas closed a year ago and the coaster along with it. The owners have been trying to find a home ever since and have announced a year later that it has finally happened. No details at all about the new location are known yet. Hopefully this is both encouraging and calibrating for fans of the recently closed ArieForce One at Fun Spot Atlanta. It’s encouraging to show there is a market for coaster relocation, but also calibrating in that it took a year to happen.
I remember at IAAPA last year that the old brochure below about the ride was circulating in an attempt to sell it. Switchback is a highly unique ride and everyone from original manufacturer The Gravity Group to ZDT wanted to see it continue elsewhere. It is sort of an odd fit though in that it has relatively low capacity for a big park, but the relatively high maintenance costs for a wooden coaster may be cost prohibitive for a smaller place.
Switchback takes inspiration from the LaMarcus Thompson’s Switchback Railway, the first modern roller coaster which opened at Coney Island in 1884. It had a similar shuttle ride, but operators manually switched and pushed the car back up for the return trip rather than relying on just gravity. Switchback is a really unique coaster that invokes a bunch of history and nostalgia. It’s great for enthusiasts that this coaster will continue elsewhere and great for ZDT to recoup some of its investment. Hopefully there’s a similar outcome for ArieForce One!
BGT Safari 