Vipère (roller Coaster)
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Green Lantern: First Flight was a
steel roller coaster A steel roller coaster is a type of roller coaster classified by its steel Railway track, track, which consists of long steel tubes that are run in pairs, supported by larger steel columns or beams. Trains running along the track typically rely ...
formerly located at
Six Flags Magic Mountain Six Flags Magic Mountain, formerly known and colloquially referred to as simply Magic Mountain, is a amusement park located in Valencia, California, northwest of downtown Los Angeles. It opened on May 29, 1971, as a development of the Newha ...
in
Valencia, California Valencia is an unincorporated community in northwestern Los Angeles County, California, United States. The area, west of Interstate 5, is expanding with residential development and already includes major commercial and industrial parks. It stra ...
, United States. The ZacSpin model from
Intamin Intamin Amusement Rides is a design and manufacturing company in Schaan, Liechtenstein, best-known for designing and constructing Amusement ride, thrill rides and roller coasters at dozens of international theme parks, amusement parks and other e ...
was the first of its kind in the US when it opened on July 1, 2011. Its debut allowed Magic Mountain to reclaim its status of having the most roller coasters in the world. Green Lantern closed abruptly in 2017 and remained inactive until its removal in 2019. It was moved to La Ronde amusement park in
Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
,
Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...
, Canada, where it was set to reopen as Vipère in 2020. As a result of extended closures and limited park operation due to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, Vipère's opening was indefinitely delayed. In 2022, La Ronde made the decision to cancel the coaster's installation.


History


Six Flags Magic Mountain (2011–2019)

On October 20, 2010, six days after a leaked video revealed plans for a new roller coaster at
Six Flags Magic Mountain Six Flags Magic Mountain, formerly known and colloquially referred to as simply Magic Mountain, is a amusement park located in Valencia, California, northwest of downtown Los Angeles. It opened on May 29, 1971, as a development of the Newha ...
, Six Flags officially confirmed that ''Green Lantern: First Flight'' would open in spring of 2011. The new coaster, a ZacSpin model from
Intamin Intamin Amusement Rides is a design and manufacturing company in Schaan, Liechtenstein, best-known for designing and constructing Amusement ride, thrill rides and roller coasters at dozens of international theme parks, amusement parks and other e ...
, would be the first of its kind in the United States. According to the press release, it was scheduled to be built in a "newly themed section" of the park, later revealed as ''DC Universe'' in place of ''Gotham City Backlot''. Reports surfaced in February 2011 that portions of track had arrived on site. The ride vehicles also arrived at the park during this time. After delaying the ride's opening multiple times, Six Flags eventually settled on an opening date of July 1, 2011. Park officials clarified that the delays were due to unplanned design changes to the loading station and not because of mechanical issues. Primary construction was completed in May 2011. In addition to Green Lantern's premiere on July 1, other rides in the DC Universe themed area made their debut as well, including ''The Flash: Speed Force,'' and ''Wonder Woman: Lasso of Truth''. The coaster had a mechanical flaw where the trains would reportedly get stuck upside down. As a solution, Green Lantern received modifications to the trains to reduce the spinning. This, however, resulted in unnatural, painful and shaky movements which caused the ride to receive negative reviews from those who experienced the coaster. After a fatal incident on ''Inferno'' at
Terra Mítica Terra Mítica (, ) is a theme park located in Benidorm, Comunitat Valenciana, Spain. The park is divided into five themed zones: Egypt, Greece, Rome, Iberia, and the Islands (of the Mediterranean). The park opened in 2000. In 2001, a year after ...
in
Benidorm, Spain Benidorm ( , , ) is a municipality in the province of Alicante, Valencian Community, on the Mediterranean coast of Spain. Known as the “New York of the Mediterranean”, Benidorm has been a tourist destination within Spain since 1925, when it ...
on July 7, 2014, and because the two rides share several similarities, Six Flags Magic Mountain had ceased running ''Green Lantern: First Flight'' pending investigation findings from the European park. A week and a half later, Six Flags Magic Mountain reopened the coaster.


La Ronde: cancelled opening

In July 2017, Green Lantern closed unexpectedly for unknown reasons. It remained inactive at the park, and in March 2019, Six Flags announced that Green Lantern would not be reopening. The coaster was removed later in the year and relocated to La Ronde in
Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
, where it was originally set to reopen as Vipère in 2020. Green Lantern's loading station left behind was reused in 2022 for its replacement roller coaster,
Wonder Woman Flight of Courage Wonder Woman Flight of Courage is a Rocky Mountain Construction roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California. The roller coaster opened on July 16, 2022, as the world's longest and tallest single-rail roller coaster. It feat ...
. Due to the growing impact of the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, Six Flags suspended operations across the company on March 13, 2020. This included La Ronde's construction of Vipère. While the park resumed normal operations in August 2020, Vipère's construction remained on hold. Six Flags had begun taking steps to improve its financial standing by deferring capital projects during the pandemic. A park spokesperson stated that Vipère's debut was being pushed to the 2021 season. In 2021, La Ronde extended the postponement indefinitely. The Vipère project was eventually cancelled in February 2022.


Ride

Green Lantern: First Flight was an
Intamin Intamin Amusement Rides is a design and manufacturing company in Schaan, Liechtenstein, best-known for designing and constructing Amusement ride, thrill rides and roller coasters at dozens of international theme parks, amusement parks and other e ...
ZacSpin roller coaster where riders zigzagged along a track at speeds of up to . Riders flipped head over heels several times throughout the ride in a somewhat uncontrolled manner, but due to the way the ride vehicles were loaded, it sometimes didn't flip at all. The ride has the same layout as
Insane Insanity, madness, lunacy, and craziness are behaviors caused by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity can manifest as violations of societal norms, including a person or persons becoming a danger to themselves or to other ...
at
Gröna Lund Gröna Lund (, ), or colloquially ''Grönan'' (), is an amusement park in Stockholm, Sweden. Located on the seaward side of Djurgården Island, it is relatively small compared to other amusement parks, mainly because of its central location, which ...
in
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
. Green Lantern was similar to X2, which is also a 4th Dimension roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain that opened in 2002. The difference between the two roller coasters was based on the spinning or rotation of the vehicle. On X2, the seat rotation is controlled by the position of two rails on the outside of the track, resulting in a "choreographed" rotation that is identical on every ride. On Green Lantern, the rotation of the vehicle was controlled by the unequal gravitational pull on different sides of the rotational axis. This uncontrolled spinning resulted in a slightly different ride experience every time.


Theme

When located at Magic Mountain, Green Lantern: First Flight was themed to the
DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...
superhero,
Green Lantern Green Lantern is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. They fight evil with the aid of rings that grant them a variety of extraordinary powers, all of which come from imagination, fearlessness, ...
. Its opening was preceded by
Green Lantern Green Lantern is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. They fight evil with the aid of rings that grant them a variety of extraordinary powers, all of which come from imagination, fearlessness, ...
at
Six Flags Great Adventure Six Flags Great Adventure is an amusement park located approximately southeast of Trenton, New Jersey, Trenton in Jackson Township, New Jersey. Owned and operated by Six Flags, the park complex is situated between New York City and Philadelph ...
as well as the ''
Green Lantern Green Lantern is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. They fight evil with the aid of rings that grant them a variety of extraordinary powers, all of which come from imagination, fearlessness, ...
'' film. The ride's name also appears as a title for a DC Animated Universe film, '' Green Lantern: First Flight''. Each of the ride's five cars were themed to resemble
shuriken A is a Japanese concealed weapon used by samurai or ninja or in martial arts as a hidden dagger or '' metsubushi'' to distract or misdirect. History The origins of the ''bo-shuriken'' in Japan are still unclear, despite continuing researc ...
. The entrance of the ride was marked by a -tall lantern icon that glowed green at night. The Green Lantern battery was located at the entrance of the ride.


References

{{Intamin La Ronde (amusement park) Roller coasters in California Roller coasters introduced in 2011 Amusement rides that closed in 2017 Roller coasters operated by Six Flags Six Flags Magic Mountain Former roller coasters in California DC Comics in amusement parks Green Lantern in other media