Furius Baco is a hydraulically-launched steel

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...

 Wing Rider roller coaster

Wing Rider roller coaster

A Wing Rider is a type of steel roller coaster where pairs of riders sit on either side of a roller coaster track.-History:The Wing Rider was derived from John F. Mares' 4th Dimension roller coaster concept from the 1990s. However, unlike 4th Dimension roller coasters, cars on a Wing Rider train do...

 located at PortAventura

PortAventura

PortAventura is a theme park and a resort in Salou, Catalonia, Spain; on the Costa Daurada , approximately an hour drive south of Barcelona. It attracts around 3 million visitors per year making it the most visited theme park in Spain. PortAventura Park is also the 6th most visited theme park in...

 in Salou

Salou

Salou is a municipality of the comarca of Tarragonès, in the province of Tarragona, in Catalonia, Spain. The city is approximately 10km from Tarragona and Reus on the Costa Daurada and 112km from Barcelona...

, Catalonia

Catalonia

Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...

. Manufactured by Intamin, the ride opened on June 5, 2007 as the 2nd fastest roller coaster in Europe at 83.9 mph, which the ride reaches in 3.5 seconds. It is the shortest (in height) Intamin Accelerator Coaster

Accelerator Coaster

The Accelerator Coaster is Intamin AG's term for their hydraulically-launched roller coaster model. These models are the tradename for some of the fastest rides on earth....

, at 46 feet tall.

It features several large turns, with a long inline twist, and a finale turn over the lake. The ride also features a different seating arrangement to other Intamin Accelerator coasters, where the seats are attached to the side of the barrel themed trains. This gives the riders the ultimate floorless feeling, with no track beneath or above them. This arrangement has now been commonly dubbed as 'wing rider' trains.

Furius Baco is 850 meters long, lasts 55 seconds and cost 15 million euros to build.

Since opening, the ride has experienced some technical problems, and as a result has had to shut down for varying periods of time during opening hours.

The ride

Once all the riders have been loaded onto the barrel themed side cars the train will slowly advance out of the station area and into the pre-show area; a laboratory style area with many whirling cogs and running machinery. The sound of a bike bell goes off which cues the entrance of the professors assistant, a monkey which cycles over the left hand side of the lab on a skybike. A video is shown, revealing a machine which is supposed to collect grapes for wine, and the professor is seen climbing down a ladder and removes a large spanner out of his lab coat. At this point the monkey appears to the left, holding a lever whilst the professor adds the finishing touches to his machine. The professor then notices the monkey, and shouts "No, No!" However, it is too late and the monkey pulls the lever, sending the professor flying into the cog machine; he is thrown around the laboratory, trapped in the cogs of the machine. At this point, the machine explodes, flooding the screen with wine. The cars then vibrate move forwards then back again, and on the screen the professor dives through the wine and then the ride launches without warning up a small hill before navigating a series of tight turns through the vineyard and through some tunnels. The ride then dives into an inline twist before dropping and twisting through a turn very close to the lake before rising up and going into the brake run where the monkey is hanging on the ceiling holding some grapes. Then the riders are let off the ride and into the shop where they can purchase an onride photo or a video of their ride. As the seating style (being off the track, not above or below) differs from many roller coasters the outside seats can be somewhat rough. However this ride is fast, lasts a good amount of time (in comparison to most roller coasters that accelerate from 0- 83.9 miles an hour). The theme for this ride is rustic and the queue area is also entertaining with funny sketches of the ideas behind this ride. During summer holidays the queue can get busy (upwards of 3 hours on some occasions); however most other times the wait is considerably shorter due to a very good passenger turnover.

External links

• Rides Construction Website
• Entry in CoasterForce New for 2007
• http://www.pazonefanclub.com/pag/elpark/fichas/1.html (in Spanish)
• http://www.factoriaurbana.com/parques/guiamontanasrusas.php?id=18 (in Spanish)