The Texas Tornado 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
Wonderland amusement park in
Amarillo, Texas
Amarillo ( ; Spanish for "yellow") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of Potter County. It is the 14th-most populous city in Texas and the largest city in the Texas Panhandle. A portion of the city extends into Randall County ...
. It is the first coaster to be designed by North American water ride company
Hopkins Rides. The design for Texas Tornado was scribbled on a napkin at a cocktail party at a trade show.
During testing, the loops were reprofiled while retaining their original structures due to the trains being unable to complete the loop. During the park's 2009 winter off-season, the all-white coaster was repainted red, white and blue.
Ride Layout
Riders begin by climbing the chain lift hill beside the highway to the coaster's highest point of 80 ft (24.4 m) before it heads down the first drop. Immediately after the drop, the train powers through a 72 ft (21.9 m) tall vertical loop before heading along an elevated section nearly level section of track with a slight dip to the right. The train turns downwards and left and then back up and left towards the second 52 ft (15.8 m) tall vertical loop. After the second loop, the train heads down and through a 13 ft (4 m) deep, 200 ft (61 m) long tunnel before climbing back to the brake run.
The Texas Tornado's famous double loops do not occur in a row, but are lined up to appear that way.
External links
Wonderland Park website
References
{{Reflist
Roller coasters introduced in 1985
Roller coasters in Texas
1985 establishments in Texas