Xcalibur was a spinning thrill ride located in

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Six Flags St. Louis Six Flags St. Louis, originally known as Six Flags Over Mid-America, is an amusement park featuring characters and rides from many Warner Bros. films and tv shows such as, Looney Tunes, DC Comics, and formerly Scooby-Doo. It is located in Eureka ...

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. The ride was manufactured by

Ronald Bussink Ronald A. Bussink has been a leading designer of giant Ferris wheels and similar structures for over 25 years. Bussink entered the amusement industry market in 1985 and designed, manufactured, and delivered more than 60 giant observation wheel ...

, and opened in the spring of 2003.

History

Xcalibur was built in 1992 and debuted at the 1992 Munich Oktoberfest as Evolution. Evolution traveled across Europe until 1998 when it was purchased by Six Flags.

Six Flags Great Adventure (1999-2002)

''Xcalibur'' was announced at ''Six Flags Great Adventure'' as ''Evolution'', for the 1999 season along with 24 other attractions, known as ''War on Lines''. Evolution was supposed to be built in ''Movietown'' but later the ride was built where ''Fantasy Fling'' was located in the ''Fantasy Forest'' section of the park. Before it opened the ride went through rigorous testings and state inspections. Since Evolution opened the ride faced multiple problems with operations on the control panel that few can operate. Just after four seasons at the park Evolution was removed and relocated to ''Six Flags St. Louis''. Fender Benders (bumper cars) was constructed at the former site of Evolution and opened in Summer 2012.

Six Flags St. Louis (2003-2022)

''Evolution'' was relocated to ''Six Flags St. Louis'' and opened at the

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park in Spring 2003 as ''Xcalibur''. During the relocation Xcalibur received a better control panel than before and enhanced

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theme elements. Also each of the 16 gondolas received a sound system where the ride operator can talk during the ride and play theme music. Xcalibur was closed for the 2018 season for an extensive refurbishment reopening for the 2020 season. The ride was removed during the 2023 offseason.

Ride

Unlike Pirate ship rides that let gravity control the ride, ''Xcalibur'' motion was controlled. Xcalibur's speed and direction was determined by servos located in the hub of the ride at the top of the leg supports. Xcalibur was manufactured by ''Nauta Bussink & Baily''. The spinning ride was tall. It had 16 gondolas and could carry 64 people per ride.

References

Primary sources

*Great Adventure History
''Evolution''
full of information and facts of Xcalibur when it was at Six Flags Great Adventure as Evolution. {{Six Flags Great Adventure Six Flags attractions Amusement rides introduced in 2003 Amusement rides that closed in 2022 Six Flags St. Louis Amusement rides manufactured by Nauta Bussnik Baily