The Escape of Novgorod (german: Flucht von Novgorod), formerly Curse of Novgorod (), is a
steel roller coaster
A steel roller coaster is a roller coaster that is defined by having a track made of steel. Steel coasters have earned immense popularity in the past 50 years throughout the world. Incorporating tubular steel track and polyurethane-coated whee ...
at
Hansa-Park
Hansa-Park is a seasonal amusement park in Sierksdorf, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany off the Baltic Sea. It was opened on May 15, 1977 under the name Hansaland and renamed Hansa-Park in 1987. It currently spans and includes more than 125 attracti ...
,
Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sch ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
manufactured by
Gerstlauer
Gerstlauer Amusement Rides GmbH is a German manufacturer of stationary and transportable amusement rides and roller coasters, located in Münsterhausen, Germany.
History
In 1982, Hubert Gerstlauer, a former employee of the Anton Schwarzkopf-o ...
.
Ride experience
![LEF Hansa Park 9950](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/57/LEF_Hansa_Park_9950.jpg)
The train departs from the station, and travels through a small indoor dark ride section filled with special effects. The train then drops down a small dip which leads onto the launch track. The train is then accelerated to 100 km/h in 1.4 seconds, immediately into a hard banked turn to the right, curving upwards, and out of the building. The train passes a top-hat which provides a moment of airtime, before dropping back down. The train then travels through a large overbanked turn to the left and into a pretzel-turn. Following the pretzel-turn, the train travels through a heartline-roll
and onto a brake run which slows the train to a halt before entering the show building once more. The train then climbs a 90 degree vertical lift hill with more special effects in complete darkness. The train crests the top of the lift hill and drops down a 97 degree, beyond vertical drop. The train then moves into a quick banked turn to the left, and onto a straight track (which is alongside the launch track), which has brakes to slow it down. The train then rises up a small hill, and onto the final brake run, which leads back into the station.
The 97° drop makes the ride the steepest dark ride rollercoaster in the world, and the steepest roller coaster in Germany.
It is the first combination of a
Euro-Fighter
The Euro-Fighter is a type of steel roller coaster developed by Gerstlauer. First launched in 2003, the trademark feature of the roller coaster is its beyond-vertical drop, which reaches an angle greater than 90 degrees. Although the majority of E ...
and a
Launched roller coaster
The launched roller coaster is a modern form of roller coaster. A launched coaster initiates a ride with high amounts of acceleration via one or a series of linear induction motors (LIM), linear synchronous motors (LSM), catapults, tires, chains ...
.
Name and background story
The roller coaster is named after the
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
n city of
Veliky Novgorod
Veliky Novgorod ( rus, links=no, Великий Новгород, t=Great Newtown, p=vʲɪˈlʲikʲɪj ˈnovɡərət), also known as just Novgorod (), is the largest city and administrative centre of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is one of the ol ...
. The train travels through an replica of the
city's Kremlin while narrating the story of the disappeared Heinrich Oldendorp who traveled over the
Lake Ilmen
Lake Ilmen ( rus, И́льмень, p=ˈilʲmʲɪnʲ) is a large lake in the Novgorod Oblast of Russia. A historically important lake, it formed a vital part of the medieval trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks. The city of Novgorod - wh ...
from
Gotland
Gotland (, ; ''Gutland'' in Gutnish), also historically spelled Gottland or Gothland (), is Sweden's largest island. It is also a province, county, municipality, and diocese. The province includes the islands of Fårö and Gotska Sandön to the ...
to Veliky Novgorod, but never arrived at the city. His son Peer traveled to Russia in 1365 to meet
mendicant
A mendicant (from la, mendicans, "begging") is one who practices mendicancy, relying chiefly or exclusively on alms to survive. In principle, mendicant religious orders own little property, either individually or collectively, and in many inst ...
Alexej Baitova. Alexei's father reported: it was Volkov. According to the story of Novgorod,
Prince
A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...
Rurik
Rurik (also Ryurik; orv, Рюрикъ, Rjurikŭ, from Old Norse '' Hrøríkʀ''; russian: Рюрик; died 879); be, Рурык, Ruryk was a semi-legendary Varangian chieftain of the Rus' who in the year 862 was invited to reign in Novgoro ...
had Volkov
hanged
Hanging is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck.Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Hanging as method of execution is unknown, as method of suicide from 1325. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that hanging in ...
in front of the city gates between two scarecrows. But even 400 years later, it seems that the dark
magician
Magician or The Magician may refer to:
Performers
* A practitioner of magic (supernatural)
* A practitioner of magic (illusion)
* Magician (fantasy), a character in a fictional fantasy context
Entertainment
Books
* ''The Magician'', an 18th-ce ...
is still alive. Only the walls of the Kremlin under Rurik's ghost offer protection. Out of curiosity, they follow the wolf's seal and meet Volkov. He leads Peer Oldendorp out into the woods through a fire. There his father appears to him and he learns that Volkov is still up to mischief as a
waterwolf
Waterwolf, or Water-wolf is a Dutch word that comes from the Netherlands, which refers to the tendency of lakes in low lying peaty land, sometimes previously worn-down by men digging peat for fuel, to enlarge or expand by flooding, thus eroding th ...
.
References
External links
*
{{Hansa-Park
Roller coasters in Germany
Roller coasters introduced in 2009
Enclosed roller coasters