The Thrillseeker was 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 Sea World on the

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. Designed by S.D.C., the Galaxi model opened to the public in 1982. The ride is now a traveling roller coaster owned by Shorts Amusements of Victoria known as Taipan.

History

In 1982, Sea World opened the park's first roller coaster, the ''Wild Wave Rollercoaster'', along with the ''

Pirate Ship Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

'' and ''

Carousel A carousel or carrousel (mainly North American English), merry-go-round (List of sovereign states, international), roundabout (British English), or hurdy-gurdy (an old term in Australian English, in South Australia, SA) is a type of amusement ...

''. The ''Wild Wave Rollercoaster'' was later renamed to the ''Thrillseeker''. In May 2002, the Thrillseeker was closed and removed from Sea World. It now operates as a traveling roller coaster owned by Shorts Amusements of Victoria, known as Taipan. Following the ride's removal, proposals were made for the area it once occupied. These included a seal exhibit named Seal Rocks and a hippopotamus attraction was proposed for the site. From 2006 to 2008 the site was home to the temporary Sea World Eye. In September 2008, work began on the site for a yet-to-be-named ray exhibit. By October, the name of the exhibit was announced to be

Ray Reef ''Ray Reef'' is a ray exhibit located at the Sea World theme park on the Gold Coast, Australia. The exhibit opened on 14 January 2009. History Following the closure and removal of the Thrillseeker roller coaster in May 2002, several propo ...

. It was originally scheduled that the exhibit would open on Boxing Day 2008 (26 December 2008), however, a number of delays forced it to open on 14 January 2009.

Ride

The Thrillseeker had a track length of , with a ride time of two minutes and a maximum speed of . The track is

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...

, and the

trains In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and transport people or freight. Trains are typically pulled or pushed by locomotives (often know ...

consist of two four-seat cars per train, for a train capacity of 8 passengers. The ride began with the right turn out of the station. After ascending the

chain 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 ...

riders were sent in a course of quick dips and spiralling helixes.

References

External links

* Roller coasters in Australia Roller coasters operated by Village Roadshow Theme Parks 1982 establishments in Australia 2002 disestablishments in Australia {{amusement-ride-stub