Knott’s Berry Farm, Buena Park, California, will open HangTime, the first and only dive coaster in California, on Friday, May 18.
From Gerstlauer, the ride will tower 150 feet (46 m) over the Boardwalk area of the park and will showcase gravity-defying inversions, mid-air suspensions and twisting dive tracks. HangTime will send riders up a vertical lift hill into a 15-story 96º drop, the steepest drop in California. The coaster’s train will come to a halt once at the highest peak, and will leave riders suspended at the crest for several seconds at a 60º angle, giving the illusion of a disappearing track. Then the train will suddenly descend in a beyond-vertical drop, through 2,198 feet (670 m) of steel track and five inversions.
The coaster pays homage to California’s beach culture by incorporating elements of surfing to the ride throughout the queue and on the ride itself. The surf themed coaster will only be the second roller coaster in the Western Hemisphere to feature a negative-g stall loop, which gives riders the sensation of floating. Monster in Adventureland, Altoona, Iowa, was the first.
