The Jester 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 ...
located at the abandoned
Six Flags New Orleans
Six Flags New Orleans is an abandoned theme park located near the intersection of Interstate 10 and Interstate 510 in New Orleans. It first opened as Jazzland in 2000, and a leasing agreement was established with Six Flags in 2002 following the ...
amusement park in
. Built and designed by
Vekoma
Vekoma Rides Manufacturing is a Dutch amusement ride manufacturer. Vekoma is syllabic abbreviation of Veld Koning Machinefabriek (Veld Koning Machine Factory) which was established in 1926 by Hendrik op het Veld.
History
The company originally ...
, the ride originally opened at
Six Flags Fiesta Texas
Six Flags Fiesta Texas, formerly known simply as Fiesta Texas, is a theme park located in Northwest San Antonio. It opened on March 14, 1992, in the La Cantera, San Antonio, La Cantera master-planned development and district as the first busines ...
in 1996 as The Joker's Revenge. After its closure in 2001, the coaster was sent to Six Flags New Orleans where it became The Jester. The ride opened to the public at Six Flags New Orleans on April 13, 2003. Following the devastation to the amusement park in August 2005 by
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...
, the roller coaster ceased operation following the park's closure but remains standing.
History
Six Flags Fiesta Texas (1996–2002)
The ride was originally planned to open with the park in 1992. The ride was then canceled until 1993 when the ride was announced to open in 1996 to be called "The Wacky Twister". When Fiesta Texas in
San Antonio
("Cradle of Freedom")
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, mapsize = 220px
, map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = United States
, subdivision_type1= U.S. state, State
, subdivision_name1 = Texas
, s ...
,
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
was bought out from
Time Warner
Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States.
It was originally established in 1972 by ...
in 1996 (the owner of
Six Flags
Six Flags Entertainment Corporation is an American amusement park corporation, headquartered in Arlington, Texas. It has properties in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Six Flags owns the most theme parks and waterparks combined of any amu ...
at the time), they helped rebrand the park into
Six Flags Fiesta Texas
Six Flags Fiesta Texas, formerly known simply as Fiesta Texas, is a theme park located in Northwest San Antonio. It opened on March 14, 1992, in the La Cantera, San Antonio, La Cantera master-planned development and district as the first busines ...
.
Time Warner saw the opportunity to advertise and promote their latest movies through their Six Flags parks, so they added ''The Joker's Revenge'', the first ''Vekoma'' ''Hurricane'' roller coaster in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
and the first Vekoma roller coaster to run backwards a full circuit. It would be placed towards the back of the park in the ''Fiesta Bay Boardwalk'' section next to the
quarry wall.
Construction of Joker's Revenge began in late 1995 and was completed in April 1996. On May 10, 1996, the ride officially made its debut. It was the park's first roller coaster to be themed to a
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery.
DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...
character and feature inversions. During the opening week, park employees were dressed in yellow jackets and green colored hair. One defining feature of the ride was its funhouse queue line, which featured flashing lights and upside down furniture. It had magenta track, magenta supports and light yellow trains manufactured by
Arrow Dynamics
Arrow Dynamics was an American manufacturing and engineering company that specialized in designing and building amusement park rides, especially roller coasters. Based in Clearfield, Utah, the company was the successor to Arrow Development (194 ...
.
While it was one of the best rides at Fiesta Texas when it opened in 1996, Joker's Revenge would not fare well by the early 2000s as guests would complain about how rough the ride experience had become. Plus, the ride was facing mechanical issues. The coaster was closed down in 2001 and did not operate at all during the 2002 season. Then in late 2002, it was dismantled and moved to
Six Flags New Orleans
Six Flags New Orleans is an abandoned theme park located near the intersection of Interstate 10 and Interstate 510 in New Orleans. It first opened as Jazzland in 2000, and a leasing agreement was established with Six Flags in 2002 following the ...
. The funhouse queue line was reused for the park's Brutal Planet Haunted House during
Fright Fest Fright Fest or FrightFest may refer to:
*Six Flags Fright Fest, a Halloween event at Six Flags parks.
* FrightFest (film festival), a British film festival, also known as Film4 Fright Fest.
*"FrightFest", a Halloween event at the Elitch Gardens Th ...
that year.
In 2007,
Pandemonium opened in the former spot of Joker's Revenge. The attraction would reuse its predecessor's queue bridge and funhouse. The latter was used as an extended indoor queue area.
Another Joker-themed attraction opened in 2019 called The Joker: Carnival of Chaos. It is a
Zamperla
Antonio Zamperla S.p.A. is an Italian design and manufacturing company founded in 1966. It is best known for creating family rides, thrill rides and roller coasters worldwide. The company also makes smaller coin-operated rides commonly found in ...
Giant Discovery
frisbee ride that features a funhouse queue just like the original attraction.
Six Flags New Orleans (2003–2005)
Six Flags
Six Flags Entertainment Corporation is an American amusement park corporation, headquartered in Arlington, Texas. It has properties in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Six Flags owns the most theme parks and waterparks combined of any amu ...
took over the lease of Jazzland in 2002, operating it as "Jazzland" for the 2002 season, before changing the park's name in 2003 to
Six Flags New Orleans
Six Flags New Orleans is an abandoned theme park located near the intersection of Interstate 10 and Interstate 510 in New Orleans. It first opened as Jazzland in 2000, and a leasing agreement was established with Six Flags in 2002 following the ...
for the 2003 season. Before the 2003 season, the park opened a whole new selection of rides including moving ''The Joker's Revenge'' roller coaster from Fiesta Texas in San Antonio to the park in New Orleans and renamed it ''The Jester'' in the Mardi Gras section of the park.
The coaster, which still ran backwards, was given a new color scheme of Green and Blue.
When
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...
hit the park on August 29, 2005, the park was severely flooded, causing Six Flags New Orleans to permanently shut down. It is now owned by the city of New Orleans.
![Six Flags New Orleans - Jester](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/Six_Flags_New_Orleans_-_Jester.jpg)
In 2007 ''Six Flags'' began the process of moving rides from the park to their other properties. While ''
Batman: The Ride'', ''
Bayou Blaster'', ''
Sonic Slam'' and ''
Road Runner Express'' had all been removed by 2009 and sent to other Six Flags parks, ''The Jester'' still stands abandoned at the New Orleans park, along with ''
Mega Zeph'' and other coasters and attractions. Some of the Jester's green and blue paint is peeling away, revealing the old
Joker's pink paint scheme.
Ride experience
Once riders would board one of the Jester's two trains, a train would then take riders up a tall
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 ...
. After the train went up the lift hill, it would then loop around and drop at speeds up to through 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 ...
and then the train would loop around over the station to the ride's double
corkscrew
A corkscrew is a tool for drawing corks from wine bottles and other household bottles that may be sealed with corks. In its traditional form, a corkscrew simply consists of a pointed metallic helix (often called the "worm") attached to a hand ...
. Once the train passed the double corkscrews it would then take riders through a double helix's before entering the
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 ...
that took rides back to the station.
There are two Vekoma Hurricane's in the world and ''The Jester'' was the only one to take riders backwards throughout the whole course of the coaster. The other Vekoma Hurricane is located at
Walygator Parc as
The Comet which only travels riders forwards and not backwards.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jester, The (roller coaster)
Roller coasters operated by Six Flags
Six Flags New Orleans
Roller coasters in Louisiana
Batman in amusement parks