Monte Makaya was a steel, looping roller coaster manufactured by

Intamin Intamin Amusement Rides is a design and manufacturing company in Schaan, Liechtenstein. It is best known for creating thrill rides and roller coasters worldwide. The Intamin brand name is a syllabic abbreviation for "international amusement ins ...

and located at

Terra Encantada Terra Encantada was an amusement park in Barra da Tijuca, Barra da Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which operated from 1998 to 2010. The 200-sq. kilometer park was themed to the people and festivals of Culture of Brazil, Brazilian culture, as we ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. When it opened in 1998, Monte Makaya's eight inversions tied the world record previously set by

Dragon Khan Dragon Khan is a steel sit-down roller coaster located in the PortAventura Park theme park in Salou and Vilaseca (Tarragona), Catalonia, Spain. Dragon Khan boasts eight inversions, which was a world record until the opening of the ten-inversion ...

. It was located in the Terra Africana section near the rear of Terra Encantada in the northwest corner prior to the park's closure. Its location is now in the newly relocated Mirabilandia amusement park under construction in

Paulista Paulista is a municipality in Pernambuco, Brazil, with a population of 334,376 as of 2020. It has the highest Human Development Index (HDI) of the Recife metropolitan area. It is the birthplace of footballer Rivaldo and is also famous for its beac ...

Pernambuco Pernambuco () is a state of Brazil, located in the Northeast region of the country. With an estimated population of 9.6 million people as of 2020, making it seventh-most populous state of Brazil and with around 98,148 km², being the 19 ...

, Brazil as of 2017.

Layout

After ascending the 121-foot

lift hill A lift hill, or chain hill, is an upward-sloping section of track on a roller coaster on which the roller coaster train is mechanically lifted to an elevated point or peak in the track. Upon reaching the peak, the train is then propelled from th ...

, the train turned 180 degrees and crested the first drop, which was directly followed by a

vertical loop The generic roller coaster vertical loop, where a section of track causes the riders to complete a 360 degree turn, is the most basic of roller coaster inversions. At the top of the loop, riders are completely inverted. History The vertical ...

. Coming out of the loop, the train passed over a small airtime hill next to the station and then navigated a

cobra roll Roller coaster elements are the individual parts of roller coaster design and operation, such as a track, hill, loop, or turn. Variations in normal track movement that add thrill or excitement to the ride are often called "thrill elements". Comm ...

. The fourth and fifth inversions, two consecutive corkscrews, followed after the train exited the cobra roll. After another turnaround, the train passed through a triple heartline roll (three consecutive

heartline roll Roller coaster elements are the individual parts of roller coaster design and operation, such as a track, hill, loop, or turn. Variations in normal track movement that add thrill or excitement to the ride are often called "thrill elements". Com ...

s), a downward helix, and a short banked hill, which turned them around one last time before the final

brake run A brake run on a roller coaster is any section of track meant to slow or stop a roller coaster train. Brake runs may be located anywhere along the circuit of a coaster and may be designed to bring the train to a complete halt or to simply adjust ...

. Although Monte Makaya had eight inversions, its layout was still short, nearly 1500 feet more so than Dragon Khan, another coaster with eight inversions.

Similar coasters

Monte Makaya has paved the way for similar coasters around the world. Monte Makaya was Intamin's first roller coaster with eight or more inversions; since its opening, Intamin has built two clones of Monte Makaya (in

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

) and two ten-inversion coasters which have a similar layout to Monte Makaya. In 2013, the first "Revision B" of their 10 inversion model opened in China, featuring the same basic layout with a different first drop and more modern rolling stock. Four additional "Revision B" models have been built. In 2002, the first clone of Monte Makaya, Avalancha at

Xetulul Xetutul is a theme park in Guatemala. It is located in the Retalhuleu Department in the southwest of the country. Opening in 2002, Xetutul is the third largest amusement park in Latin America, after Beto Carrero World in Penha, Santa Catarina, Br ...

, and the world's first ten-looper,

Colossus Colossus, Colossos, or the plural Colossi or Colossuses, may refer to: Statues * Any exceptionally large statue ** List of tallest statues ** :Colossal statues * ''Colossus of Barletta'', a bronze statue of an unidentified Roman emperor * ''Col ...

at Thorpe Park, opened. In 2006, exact replicas of Monte Makaya (Flight of the Phoenix at Phoenix Mountain's Happy Park) and Colossus ( Tenth Ring Roller Coaster at Chimelong Paradise) opened at parks in China. The ten-inversion coasters differ from Monte Makaya in that they feature two more inversions instead of a helix and a final banked hill. Instead, they pass riders through four consecutive heartline rolls, followed by a banked turn to the left and one more heartline roll, which ends just before the brake run.

References

{{reflist

External links

Monte Makaya page at Terra Encantada's official website
(in Portuguese) Roller coasters in Brazil