The Joker is a

spinning Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...

roller coaster A roller coaster, or rollercoaster, is a type of amusement ride that employs a form of elevated railroad track designed with tight turns, steep slopes, and sometimes inversions. Passengers ride along the track in open cars, and the rides are o ...

located at

Six Flags México Six Flags México is a amusement park located in the Tlalpan forest and borough, on the southern edge of Mexico City, Mexico. It is owned and operated by Six Flags, and is the most visited theme park in Latin America with 2.8 million annual visi ...

, a theme park in Mexico. The ride was designed 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 ...

and

Werner Stengel Werner Stengel (born 22 August 1936, in Bochum) is a German roller coaster designer and engineer. Stengel is the founder of Stengel Engineering, also known as Ingenieurbüro Stengel GmbH (or Ingenieurbuero Stengel GmbH). Stengel first worked on a ...

. The Joker opened for the public on March 7, 2013. The Joker's design consists of several cars holding four riders each. While the cars traverse the track, they spin around according to the angle of the track and the shifts in the riders' weight.

History

At the end of 2007,

Six Flags Discovery Kingdom Six Flags Discovery Kingdom (formerly known as Six Flags Marine World, Marine World, The New Marine World Theme Park, and Marine World Africa USA) is a 135-acre (55 ha) animal theme park located in Vallejo, California, off of Interstate 80 ...

announced a new roller coaster billed as the "Tony Hawk experience" and was designed to have the look and feel of a skate park. It offered a full "extreme sports" experience, with monitors in the queue lines displaying highlights of the history of action sports, and a large spinning Tony Hawk figure crowning the ride. Tony Hawk's Big Spin opened to the public on May 28, 2008 in California, in the Sky section of the park where

Zonga Tsunami was a steel roller coaster manufactured by Anton Schwarzkopf and located at the San Marcos National Fair in Mexico. The coaster was previously located at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom as ''Zonga'', Six Flags AstroWorld as "Texas Tornado", ...

was previous located. In November 2010,

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 ...

began the process of terminating several licensing deals they had with various brands that they deemed unnecessary, including the one they had with

Tony Hawk Anthony Frank Hawk (born May 12, 1968), nicknamed Birdman, is an American professional skateboarder, entrepreneur, and the owner of the skateboard company Birdhouse. A pioneer of modern vertical skateboarding, Hawk completed the first documen ...

to use his brand and likeness. Six Flags Discovery Kingdom's 2010 season operating schedule lasted into January 2011 for

Holiday in the Park Holiday in the Park (known as Christmas in the Park at Six Flags México) is a Christmas event that takes place at several Six Flags parks. The event features Christmas lights along with live entertainment, and usually follows Six Flags Fright Fes ...

, so the park quickly removed Tony Hawk's name from the ride and any other memorabilia associated with him and operated the coaster as "Big Spin" for the remainder of the season. At the beginning of the 2011 season, Big Spin was officially renamed to Pandemonium like the other versions of the coaster at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom's sister parks. In late 2011, Superman: Ultimate Flight was announced to be built at Discovery Kingdom for the 2012 season, which would replace their installation of Pandemonium. The ride permanently closed at the park on January 1, 2012. As Pandemonium was a relatively new coaster, Six Flags decided to move the coaster to the headquarters of Larson International and Roller Coaster Museum, which are both located in

Plainview, Texas Plainview is a city in and the county seat of Hale County, Texas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 22,194. Geography Plainview is located at (34.191204, –101.718806) and is located on the Llano Estacado. According ...

, to keep in storage. In mid 2012, Six Flags México announced ''The Joker'' for the 2013 season. Freshly repainted and recolored track of the former Pandemonium roller coaster was later moved from Texas to Mexico, where it was reassembled and reopened on March 7, 2013.

Layout

According to the Gerstlauer website, there are two different versions of its spinning roller coaster model, as well as a customization option for a park to fit its desires. The Joker is the only 400 model in operation, as the rest are the 420 model. The 400 model is shorter at , more compact and has a lower capacity. The layout consists of several "segments" separated by brakes. The first segment includes a swooping drop and a climb into the second segment, which is a series of S-shaped turns. The third segment is a heavily banked figure-8; the fourth is a series of hills that form a semicircle; the fifth is a pair of small hills; and the sixth is a helix into the seventh segment, which is a long loop that leads to a massive hill and finally into the brake run. For most of the ride, the cart is spinning around rapidly.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Joker, The (roller coaster) Batman in amusement parks Roller coasters operated by Six Flags Steel roller coasters Six Flags México Roller coasters in Mexico Joker (character) in other media Warner Bros. Global Brands and Experiences attractions