Parks M&Ms Land: My first timeline park in Planet Coaster

[fraroc]

Hey guys, so after having Planet Coaster for a few months and playing it to near obsessive levels, I've decided that it's time to start a long-term project with this game! Cascadia Park was mostly a method for me to get used to the mechanics of PLC, so now it's time to do a little something more...

And now, without further ado...I present to you, the story of M&M's Land!

Year: 1980

We all know the two major chocolate/confection companies in the United States...Hershey Foods Corperation and Mars Incorperated.....Mars may not ring a bell immediatley, but without them, we woudn't have one of the most famous and beloved chocolate candies....M&Ms...For decades, Mars and Hershey have been duking it out in a bitter rivalry to see which candy company reigns supreme...In Hershey's homeland of Hershey, Pennsylvania, there lies a sprawling amusement park themed after Hershey's candies. Hersheypark appeared to be a massive one-up against Mars....

But then, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Mars decided that two can play at that game....

In 1979, Mars Incorporated bought a large plot of desert land in the Reno, Nevada area to be home to their own amusement park, which they named after their most famous confection, M&Ms....

After purchasing several flat rides and two roller coasters....the newly christened M&Ms Land opened May 1st, 1980....

At first, M&Ms Land wasn't a massive thrill seeker's paradise....Rather it was a small, family oriented park...However, that was to change.... and very soon.

Among the first flat rides to open at M&Ms Land was the Wave Swinger and the Whirling Dervish.

From the beginning, the Dodgems were a very popular attraction!

As a money saving measure, instead of building two ground-up roller coasters. Mars Incorperated decided to buy two used roller coasters from the recently closed Americana Park in Wisconsin and relocated them to Reno to be a part of M&Ms Land!

The first of the two roller coasters was Americana Park's claim to fame, John Allen's "Roller Coaster"! Although when Roller Coaster was moved to M&M's Land, it's very generic moniker was dropped and was renamed Screamin' Eagle Screamin' Eagle/Roller Coaster was known for is high amount of airtime, a strange and forceful "S shaped drop", and a helix incorperated in it's layout.


SCREAMIN' EAGLE STATS
Type: Wooden Out and Back Coaster
Height: 74 feet tall
Length: 1,886 feet long
Top Speed: 45 miles per hour
Tallest Drop: 70 feet
Ride Time: 1:30
Inversions: 0
Height Reqirement: 42 inches tall

The second roller coaster from Americana Park was an Arrow-Huss Loop+Corkscrew model formerly known as "Revolution". When it was moved to M&M's Park, it became known as "Comet". From the beginning, this name has been the subject of a minor controversy, as people viewed it as a direct rip-off of Hersheypark, as their classic wooden coaster also had the same name. As a result, Mars had begun to reference their coaster as "The Comet" to avoid confusion with Hersheypark's Comet.

As for the coaster itself, Comet is your standard basic Arrow Loop and Corkscrew model. Pretty much the same as the standard corkscrew model, but with a vertical loop after the first drop. Comet is the first steel coaster at M&Ms Land and the first with inversions.

COMET STATS
Type: Steel Looping Coaster
Height: 65 feet tall
Length: 1,635 feet long
Top Speed: 42 miles per hour
Tallest Drop: 58 feet tall
Ride Time: 1:20
Inversions: 3 (Loop and Double Corkscrew)
Height Requirement: 48 inches tall

Located adjacent to the theme park is M&M's Market, a precursor to the modern M&Ms World stores. Basically, this place is a museum which shows patrons exactly how M&Ms are made and a superstore selling various items of M&Ms merchandise and of course, lots and lots of M&Ms Candies!

Overall, M&Ms Land might not look like much now....but that definitley is subject to change!

 

[fraroc]

1984

Four years had passed since M&Ms Land opened in Reno, Nevada....So far, the small park had become a rather popular tourist attraction among thrill seekers and candy lovers alike! By 1984, the park had received it's first major expansion to the right of it's entrance which included a themed area with a steel roller coaster and two new flat rides.

The first of the flat rides was a HUSS pirate ship named The Voyager....

The second was an Eli Bridge Scrambler ride named Scizzer. Both rides proved to be a favorite among thrill seekers and families!

On the right edge of the park laid the newest major addition to M&M's Land, a cowboy/western themed area named "Dodge City"....

Dodge City was home to several gift shops and food stalls themed after old west style saloons and several historical reenactors, however the main attraction was a brand new Arrow Dynamics steel non-looping roller coaster named Dynamite Run!

Dynamite Run, while it has a train that looks like a steam locomotive, is not considered to be a part of Arrow's "mine train" models. Instead, Arrow labeled it a "Special Coaster Systems" ride. Dynamite Run features a large first drop and several swooping and twisting helixes and turns, making it a very fun ride for adrenaline junkies and yet, gentle enough for families.....

DYNAMITE RUN STATS
Type: Steel Non-Looping Twister Coaster
Height: 95 feet tall
Length: 1,919 feet long
Top Speed: 49 miles per hour
Tallest Drop: 87 feet
Ride Time: 1:20
Inversions: 0
Height Requirement: 44 inches tall


Even after the addition of these new attractions appeared to be, Mars Incorperated has not rested on their laurels at all....I don't want to give away too much information on future updates....but let's just say that the left side of the park is due to get something new soon....

 

[fraroc]

1987

After the park expansion to the left of the entrance was deemed a formidable success, Mars knew that it was time to take things to the next level with a park expansion to the right...Over the next few years, several rides and the park's fourth roller coaster were put into place....

In 1985, the first of the new attractions was built, a long-overdue classic ferris wheel named Candy Wheel. This gentle ride gave great views of the entire park!

1986 brought another thrill ride to M&M's Land, a Huss Enterprise named....well, Enterprise! This ride definitely appealed to the thrill-seekers of the park with it's high amount of G-forces.

1987 brought the biggest of the new attractions, the park's fourth roller coaster, Scorpion. Scorpion is a rather interesting specimen. On the outside, the track looks similar to an Arrow Dynamics or a Vekoma roller coaster, but Scorpion was really designed by a Japanese roller coaster company named Meisho. At the time, Scorpion was considered to be a rather cutting-edge coaster featuring several elements that were very unique at the time...

For example, Scorpion was the first roller coaster to ever feature a "Dive Loop", a rather commonplace coaster element today.

Also, Scorpion was the first roller coaster that wasn't a Togo Ultra Twister to feature heartline rolls, another element that's commonplace today.

Overall, Scorpion was considered by many to be one of the first "modern" looping roller coaster with it's unique elements and it soon became one of the most popular attractions in the park

SCORPION STATS
Type: Steel Twisting/Looping Coaster
Height: 106 feet tall
Length: 1,978 feet long
Top Speed: 44 miles per hour
Tallest Drop: 68 feet
Ride Time: 1:19
Inversions: 4 (Loop, Dive Loop, Double Heartline Roll)
Height Requirement: 54 inches tall

M&Ms Land had grown from a small tourist attraction with rides in the middle of the Nevada desert to a full-blown theme park in a span of only seven years...and it has no signs of stopping growth any time soon!

 

[fraroc]

1989

For the past several years of M&Ms Land's operation, they have recieved an assortment of new attractions on the left hand side of the park, the most recent being Scorpion. As the park's tenth anniversary neared, Mars Incorperated knew that it was high time to add something new to the western-themed Dodge City area....After about a year of hype and anticipation about "the largest attraction to date at M&Ms Land"....

Rustler, a large Arrow Dynamics suspended swinging coaster opened on May 5th, 1989....Rustler was the sixth Arrow suspended roller coaster to be built and at the time, was the tallest and fastest Arrow suspended coaster ever built, with a maximum height of 140 feet tall and a top speed of 57mph.

Unlike Iron Dragon at Cedar Point, Rustler is a fast-paced Arrow suspended coaster, filled with high speed turns and drops and several occasions where the cars make large swings.

The focal point of Rustler was after the second, 140 foot tall lift hill where the train turns and suddenly plunges down a steep, 100 foot drop reaching its top speed of nearly 60mph!

Afterwards, the train suddenly goes straight into an overbanked turn, a highly unusual element on a suspended coaster before turning back to the station.

RUSTLER STATS
Type: Steel Suspended Coaster
Height: 140 feet
Length: 4,322 feet
Top Speed: 57 miles per hour
Tallest Drop: 100 feet
Ride Time: 2:40
Inversions: 0
Height Requirement: 48 inches tall

From the moment it opened, Rustler almost instantly became a fan favorite among coaster enthusiasts with its very intense layout. All throughout the 1989 season, full queues were not an uncommon sight to see on Rustler!

 

[Joël]

Nice park!

I like what you did there with the park and the story that you provide with the screenshots! [happy]

 

[Bullethead]

Very nice park. I like the story, too, but the coaster designs and how they all fit together in the park.

 

[fraroc]

1991

The year 1990 brought a VERY long overdue attraction to the park. After hearing several complaints of guests how there aren't any ways to cool you down in the heat of the Nevada summer, M&Ms Land listened....And brought Snake River Falls, an Intamin AG "Shoot The Chutes" ride to the park.

Snake River Falls was not a large log flume, however the main drop did it's job in cooling down guests in the blazing summer sun!

The following year brought a surprisingly controversial attraction to the park. Originally, M&Ms Land had plans to build a large ground-up roller coaster at the park, which led coaster fans to speculate the possibility of a new large wooden coaster or a possible Arrow Dynamics hyper coaster...However in 1991, they got Python, a Vekoma Boomerang. This caused a lot of controversy as several coaster fans accused M&Ms Land of blatantly ripping off their main competitor, Hersheypark by building a Vekoma Boomerang at the same time they were building theirs...

However, despite the bit of bad press M&Ms Park got for Python, it still was a moderate success as it drew a pretty large crowd, despite being a cloned coaster.

PYTHON STATS
Type: Steel Track Looping Shuttle Coaster
Height: 116 feet
Length: 935 feet
Top Speed: 48 miles per hour
Tallest Drop: 110 feet
Ride Time: 1:48
Inversions: 6 (Cobra Roll, Loop) (traversed twice)
Height Requirement: 48 Inches Tall

Soon, it became apparent that the hopes of a new ground-up coaster were not totally dashed....I can't give away too many details...but lets just say that this quarry wall will never look the same way ever again.....

 

[fraroc]

1993

1992 was a rather quiet year for M&Ms Land, they had just recieved Python which was a moderate success....However, halfway through the season, large billboards were placed in various parts of the park bearing three words and a year...."Storm Is Coming-1993"

Despite the fact that there were no details surrounding the context of the billboards, one could reasonably assume that a new, large scale attraction was coming for the following year. To impact this further, this coincided with a large amount of land clearing in the northeast corner of the park....

So...what is the "storm" that is coming?

THUNDER CANYON, a brand new gigantic Curtis D. Summers wooden roller coaster! Throughout the early 1990s, market research had shown a demand for a newer, more modern wooden roller coaster, and so in 1993, the park delivered on the customer's demands! When Thunder Canyon was built, it was the tallest attraction in the entire park at a maximum height of 150 feet, ten feet taller than the previous title holder, Rustler.

The first drop of Thunder Canyon was downright puny compared to the rest of the ride at only 50 feet....

However, it's not long before the train enters the much larger second drop, measuring in at 97 feet tall and bringing the train to a speed of 52mph!

The train then goes through several moments of ejector airtime as the track snakes around the quarry wall...

Then, halfway through the course, the train enters Thunder Canyon's signature element, a 110 foot tall "Canyon Dive", the tallest drop on the coaster! The "Canyon Dive" bears down very high Gs to the riders as well as a top speed of 56mph!

Shortly thereafter, the train goes through an "oval" section, consisting of several twists, turns, and floater airtime hills before turning to the final brake run!

When Thunder Canyon opened to the public, it nearly instantaneously became an overnight legend with coaster fans noting its speed, its large amount of G-forces and airtime moments.

The Canyon Dive had become one of the most photogenic elements of any roller coaster, seeing the train dive down the massive drop and seeing rider's reactions to the drop was for some, a picture perfect definition of what a roller coaster is.

 

[fraroc]

1998

By now, you are all aware of the backstory and history of M&M's Land in Reno, Nevada...From the point of conception in 1980 to the building of one of the famous wooden roller coasters in the world by 1993. By the mid to late 1990's the internet had slowly started to become a household phenomenon. As more people started to use the internet in their daily lives, websites about people's interests started to open up left and right. Roller coasters were no exception to this. Coasters4U.com opened around 1998 as a small blog/message board about roller coasters and theme parks.....

The story of this park will now be told from the point of view of Coasterfreak133, one of the first users of Coasters4U.com who made a post about his very first trip to M&M's Land.


7/12/1998

Hello everybody! I will be using this website to document my first ever trip to M&Ms Land! But first, let me introduce myself! My name is Ryan, I'm 18 years old and I have been interested in roller coasters and theme parks my whole life. Especially ever since the first time that my parents took me to Six Flags Magic Mountain when I was only 5 years old.

I live close to Las Vegas, and despite the fact that there are NUMEROUS activities on the Vegas strip, roller coasters aren't that much of a thing. We have a few that are worth pointing out, such as High Roller at the Stratosphere Tower and the Manhattan Express roller coaster that was built last year. Also, we can't forget about Desperado at Buffalo Bill's Resort in Primm, which is by far the best out of those three.

Reno is a good 6 1/2 hour drive away from where I live, quite a ways away...I hoped that the park was worth the long drive away from home....and it was...oh MAN it was!

I arrived at M&Ms Land at around 11AM on July the 12th. The park had a decent crowd inside of it, which probably meant the roller coasters had pretty long lines....

Upon entering, I was taken aback at just how large the crescent shaped park was. As far as the eye could see were various rides and roller coasters....I decided to start exploring the left half of the park first.

The first coaster I chose to go on was Comet, a small Arrow Dynamics looping coaster. It had a very short, five minute wait!

Comet was a pretty good ride. A little short, but good. This kind of ride is perfect for a kid who is just starting to ride the "big coasters." I also found it to be pretty smooth for an Arrow coaster.

The second coaster I decided to go on was Screamin' Eagle, the old John Allen woodie that was relocated to the park when it first opened!

Screamin' Eagle was a fantastic old woodie filled with many moments of airtime and high speeds!

The "S-drop" was a pretty unique and funky element for a wood coaster...

Next, I decided to go on one of the park's many flat rides. Enterprise is a pretty nice Huss Enterprise with a long and thrilling ride cycle!

Many parks have installed these Vekoma Boomerangs and M&M's Land is obviously no exception. Python's line was much longer than the other coasters and I've already been on the Boomerang coaster at Knotts Berry Farm a few times. I decided to skip it.

The one I was really curious about was Scorpion. While it looks like an Arrow or a Vekoma from the outside, in actuality, it's the only roller coaster in the U.S that was designed and manufactured by Meisho of Japan.

Long story short, this coaster sucks. It just flat-out sucks. Right off the bat, you are greeted to vicious headbanging on the first drop (by very hard, under-padded shoulder restraints, I might add.) and througout the entire ride, the headbanging just does not stop.

The worst was when your head slams full-force into the side of the restraint during the dive loop. Overall, Scorpion is definitley the worst coaster here. It's full of jerky transitions and headbanging. To make matters worse, due to the fact that the coaster only has two four-car trains, capacity on this ride is actually worse than Python and lines can get pretty long. Believe me, it's NOT worth the wait. You'll be hard-pressed to find anything positive about this coaster.

It looks cool, I guess...but that's about it.

By mid afternoon, I decided to tackle the second half of the park. The addition of a kid's area in 1996 served as an excellent "express route" to the second half. This kid's area is themed to the new M&Ms "spokescandies" that they introduced in '95. You know, the red M&M and the yellow M&M that get in all kinds of mischief in those commercials? This area so far is home to smaller rides such as "Yellow's Whirly Rig", a mini ferris wheel, and "Red's Flyer" a hot-air balloon themed ride.

They even built a small Vekoma junior coaster named "M&M's Minis Express" in this area!

The path eventually deposited me right in the middle of Dodge City, the western themed area of the park! This section of the park, as I have been told is home to the best coasters in the entire park. First, I decided to do Dynamite Run, the Arrow mine train coaster.

I gotta say, for a family mine train, this is a very thrilling ride with a very cool first drop and tons of twisting turns! Unfortunatley, this trip might be the only time I'll ever be able to ride it, as I have been hearing rumors that they are going to be removing this ride before the new millennium.

Rustler had been experiencing down time all day until I finally got to the ride, therefore the line was pretty long....However, I knew I couldn't skip it after the several things I've heard about Rustler, how it's the best Arrow suspended coaster ever built....The only other Arrow suspended coaster that I had been on was Ninja at Six Flags Magic Mountain, and I happen to enjoy that ride very much, so I had to see how Rustler measured up.

Oh MAN is it a good ride! Rustler blows Ninja away! The amount of swinging action you get on this ride is outstanding! And the layout is full of these amazing swooping drops and turns! The drop after the second lift hill is absolutely amazing and even the slow, wide turn back to the station has some good swinging at some parts!

Rustler is by far the best steel coaster at M&Ms Land, Every other steel coaster here is mediocre to good at best. Rustler, in my opinion, is the only great one at M&Ms Land.

There was one ride where I intentionally waited for darkness to fall upon the park for....And that is the coaster that I have been told is one of the greatest wooden roller coasters of all time. Curtis D. Summers' Thunder Canyon...which is rumored to give night rides that rival only The Beast's.

This is hands down, the most insane wooden roller coaster I have EVER been on. It's slightly rougher than Screamin' Eagle, but not by much. The second drop was filled with ejector airtime and the small hills on top of the quarry wall had tons of floater air! Being nighttime, I wasn't sure what direction we were going, all I knew is that I was going FAST!

Then came the best part of Thunder Canyon, the train reaches the top of a hill at the quarry wall and you see the lights illuminating the rest of the park.....suddenly, you plunge downward HARD and immediatley turn into what I can describe as a jumbled mess of airtime hills and tight turns...Thunder Canyon is one of the most insane, the most intense, and probably the BEST wooden roller coaster that I have EVER been on.

All in all, I found M&Ms Land to be a very good, well rounded park. The paths were clean, and I found the atmosphere to be very family friendly. My one complaint was that there needs to be another good steel roller coaster at this park. With Dynamite Run possibly being removed soon, Rustler will be the only great steel coaster at the park.

Personally, I believe that for the next millennium, M&Ms Land should look in the direction of Intamin or Bolliger & Mabillard for their next big steel coaster.

 

[wowman]

The park looks nice, but other than the one store...I would expect there to be more M&M, candy, or something like theme details???

 

[DisneylandFreak]

The park looks nice, but other than the one store...I would expect there to be more M&M, candy, or something like theme details???

Yeah you should do some themes,like a pirate area or a fairytale one,that's what seperates theme parks from a funfair.Well,if you are going for a real theme park of course[blah]

 

[fraroc]

COASTERS4U.COM NEWS REPORT: M&Ms LAND TO ADD NEW FLAT RIDE AND COASTER IN 2000!

The first year of the new millenium is looking to be an absolutley fantastic year for us roller coaster fans. As of now, many major parks around the US have announced new, record breaking roller coasters to open in the year 2000, such as Son of Beast at Paramount's Kings Island, Goliath at Six Flags Magic Mountain, FOUR new coasters at Geauga Lake (now known as Six Flags Ohio), Millenium Force at Cedar Point (which is going to be the tallest and fastest coaster in the United States!) and the big daddy of them all, Steel Dragon 2000 at Nagashima Spa Land in Japan!

Now we can add another park to the list! M&Ms Land in Reno, Nevada has announced the opening of a new sci-fi themed area located in the rear of the park. This expansion will link the small "Adventure Alley" area with the "Dodge City" area, which will bring the formerly U-shaped park full circle!

The THRILL SECTOR has arrived.....to host only M&Ms Land's most thrilling attractions....

The first of the two new attractions is Razor, a HUSS top spin that is capable of many loops and spins, leaving riders not knowing which way is up!

However, the main attraction....is the tallest and fastest roller coaster at M&M's Land....MARAUDER, a brand new Intamin AG hyper coaster! The monstrous Marauder is the first coaster at M&Ms Land to break the 200 foot tall and 70mph ceilings!

After the 220 foot tall lift hill, riders will plunge down a giant 205 foot tall drop, reaching a top speed of 73mph!

Throughout it's course, riders will experience copious amounts of floating airtime...

As well as several harrowing twists and turns at high speeds! Marauder is expected to be a major success when it opens to the public in May of 2000!

MARAUDER STATS
Type: Steel Track Hypercoaster
Height: 220 feet
Length: 3,846 feet
Top Speed: 73mph
Tallest Drop: 205 feet
Ride Time: 2:40
Inversions: None
Height Requirement: 48 Inches Tall

Thrill Sector and Marauder are slated to open May 11th, 2000! Hopefully we will see you all there!

 

[fraroc]

M&M’s Land: History from 2000 to 2017

Marauder, the Intamin hyper coaster opened in May of 2000 to rave reviews, with coaster fans pointing out its large amount of floater and ejector airtime throughout the layout.

And as rumored, Dynamite Blaster was removed and ultimately scrapped that same year.

In 2002, M&Ms Land decided to build a follow-up coaster in the Thrill Sector. The result was M&M Land’s first B&M coaster, a floorless by the name of Toxin. Toxin is known for being uncannily smooth and having a good variety of inversions.

TOXIN STATS
Type: Steel Floorless Looping Coaster
Height: 130 feet tall
Length: 3,701 feet long
Top Speed: 64 miles per hour
Tallest Drop: 127 feet tall
Ride Time: 2:23
Inversions: 7 (Loop, Dive Loop, Zero G Roll, Cobra Roll, Loop, Corkscrew)
Height Requirement: 54 inches tall

In 2003, M&Ms Land made it’s biggest investment yet, a huge, beach themed park expansion with two new roller coasters and a new flat ride! The new area was called X-Treme Island and was now home to X-TremeScreamer, a S&S 4D Roller Coaster, and Power Surge, a standard Intamin Twisted Impulse coaster. This area is also home to Gauntlet, an Chance Rides Revolution.

X-TREMESCREAMER STATS
Type: Steel Multi-Dimension Coaster
Height: 160 feet tall
Length: 2,880 feet long
Top Speed: 68 miles per hour
Tallest Drop: 144 feet tall
Ride Time: 1:15
Inversions: 2 (Inside Raven Turn, Inside Raven Turn)
Height Requirement: 54 inches tall



POWER SURGE STATS
Type: Steel LIM Launched Inverted Shuttle Coaster
Height: 180 feet tall
Length: 704 feet long
Top Speed: 70 miles per hour
Tallest Drop: 170 feet tall
Ride Time: 1:10
Inversions: 0
Height Requirement: 50 inches tall

In 2005, the much maligned Scorpion, the only Meisho looping roller coaster in the US, which has become infamous for being one of the worst roller coasters in the world, finally met its end midway through 2005, much to the joy of roller coaster enthusiasts everywhere.

2006 saw the opening of Scorpion’s replacement, the much superior Wrath Of Osiris, a medium sized B&M inverted roller coaster with four inversions and a long layout filled with twists and turns.

WRATH OF OSIRIS STATS
Type: Steel Inverted Coaster
Height: 105 feet tall
Length: 2,935 feet long
Top Speed: 54 miles per hour
Tallest Drop: 98 feet tall
Ride Time: 1:30
Inversions:4 (Loop, Batwing, Corkscrew)
Height Requirement: 54 inches tall

However in July of that same year, an accident occurred on Thunder Canyon, the park’s large Curtis Summers wooden coaster. A wheel had separated from one of the trains, causing the ride to suddenly and violently loose speed through the oval section and ultimately valley, causing riders to have to be evacuated from the train. All of the passengers on board the train suffered from injuries from minor cuts and bruises, to severe whiplash and concussions. Two had to be rushed to the hospital.
Thunder Canyon was ultimately closed and remained SBNO for the rest of 2006, causing speculation that the ride would be removed from the park.

Thunder Canyon re-opened in 2007, but not after receiving what is known as one of the most infamous neuters of any coaster currently operating. Park officials found that the famous Canyon Dive, arguably the signature element on Thunder Canyon caused unprecedented stress on the wheels of the PTC built trains. Unfortunately, this resulted in the Canyon Dive being shortened by 50 feet and given trim brakes on both the top and the bottom of the reprofiled section, completely killing the momentum of the first half of the ride, and making Thunder Canyon a shell of it’s former self.

The only positive aspect of this retracking was that the coaster was now less rough, however it’s pacing was absolutely repugnant in the oval section, must like the large helix on Six Flags Fiesta Texas’ Rattler.

In 2009, M&Ms Land contacted the same company that was ultimately responsible for the neutering of Thunder Canyon, Great Coasters International. A plan was proposed to build a third wooden roller coaster at the park, to make up for what they did to Thunder Canyon. The result was The Lynx, a medium-sized GCI wooden twisting coaster filled with swooping drops and turns, airtime, and lots and lots of headchoppers, making this one of the most popular rides at the park!

THE LYNX STATS
Type: Wooden Twister Coaster
Height: 85 feet tall
Length: 2,271 feet long
Top Speed: 49 miles per hour
Tallest Drop: 80 feet tall
Ride Time: 1:21
Inversions: 0
Height Requirement: 48 inches tall

2010 brought a ride that many said was missing from M&Ms Land. A gigantic 290 foot Intamin gyro drop tower named Apollyon (greek for “destroyer”). At the time of it’s opening, Apollyon was the tallest ride in the entire park.

In 2011, the Thrill Sector section got it’s first new coaster since 2002. Many rumors surrounded this coaster before it opened, speculation was abound that it was either going to be a B&M Diving Coaster, a B&M Flying coaster, or a large Gerstlauer Euro-Fighter. The new coaster, Virus, turned out to be neither of them, rather it was a small Intamin accelerator coaster. While Virus had an exhilarating 0-75MPH in 2 second launch, the ride was criticized for being simply too short and a bit of a “one trick pony.”

VIRUS STATS
Type: Steel Launched Twister Coaster
Height: 150 feet tall
Length: 1,967 feet long
Top Speed: 75 miles per hour
Tallest Drop: 144 feet tall
Ride Time: 0:50
Inversions: 1 (Zero G Roll)
Height Requirement: 54 inches tall

In that same year, M&Ms Land decided to put one of their least popular roller coasters, the Vekoma Boomerang Python up for sale and at the end of the year, it was bought by a small family owned amusement park looking to build a “thrilling attraction” to replace their old Pinfari Zyklon.

Python was ultimately replaced in 2012 with Tropical Tornado, an absolutely massive HUSS Giant Frisbee.

In 2013, it was announced that Dodge City was going to get it’s first new roller coaster since 1993 in the same spot once occupied by Dynamite Blaster. The result was Steel Stallion, a Maurer-Sohne extended Skyloop roller coaster similar to Abismo at Parque de Atracciones de Madrid in Madrid, Spain. The first of it’s kind in the United States. This coaster features not only a massive “sky loop” inversion, but also an airtime hill and a cutback before the train makes two passes through the station, forwards and then backwards before going back into the station.

STEEL STALLION STATS
Type: Steel Twister Coaster
Height: 151 feet tall
Length: 1,476 feet long
Top Speed: 65 miles per hour
Tallest Drop: 144 feet tall
Ride Time: 1:20
Inversions: 3 (Skyloop, Cutback)
Height Requirement: 54 inches tall

In 2014, it was announced that the now infamous Thunder Canyon, was going to be demolished by the end of 2014 and urged parkgoers to take their final rides of the coaster before it goes on the chopping block. Surprisingly, many coaster fans were upset at this news. While many people did not enjoy Thunder Canyon for the fact that it was so badly neutered in 2007 and the fact that it has become incredibly rough and uncomfortable, many viewed that if the park were to completely demolish Thunder Canyon, it would be a loss of an incredible opportunity for the world famous manufacturer known as Rocky Mountain Construction or RMC to completely rehab the ride with steel track and new exhilarating elements.

Initially, the plan was to tear down Thunder Canyon entirely to make way for a completely new coaster, however after doing research into RMC and seeing their track record for rehabilitating old, decrepit wooden coasters into masterpieces…Park officials made their decision...

In 2015, Thunder Canyon became Steel Stampede, an RMC Iron Horse coaster! Steel Stampede brought about many new elements to the former Thunder Canyon. The first drop was changed to a 96 foot tall Barrel Roll Downdrop and the first floater airtime hill was changed into a massive Zero G Stall. Then the train snakes around the quarry and into a Zero G Roll before an ejector airtime hill. Also, Steel Stampede saw the triumphant return of the 110 foot tall Canyon Dive in it’s full length and steepness! The painful and long oval section was completely removed and replaced with a giant floater airtime hill and an overbank before the final brake run!

STEEL STAMPEDE STATS
Type: Steel Hybrid Twister Coaster
Height: 155 feet tall
Length: 2,585 feet long
Top Speed: 58 miles per hour
Tallest Drop: 110 feet tall
Ride Time: 2:30
Inversions: 3 (Barrel Roll Downdrop, Zero G Stall, Zero G Roll)
Height Requirement: 54 inches tall

Then…in 2017, M&Ms Land became home to possibly one of the most intense roller coasters known to man. It took the record of the tallest and fastest roller coaster at the park and the second tallest complete circuit roller coaster in the world…In 2017, Berzerker Rage, an absolutely immense Intamin Winged Giga coaster was built at M&Ms Land. This coaster has been described as the perfect love child of Skyrush at Hersheypark and Intimidator 305 at Kings Dominion. Only one word describes Beserker Rage, unrelenting. It’s layout is fast paced from the beginning to the end and is absolutely just FILLED with tons of ejector and floater airtime. The outer winged seats give riders a sense of impending danger as they are going through these intense elements outside the confines of the track. Riders have been known to grey out several times throughout the ride’s layout. This roller coaster is NOT meant for the faint of heart…

BERZERKER RAGE STATS
Type: Steel Giga Coaster
Height: 315 feet tall
Length: 5,571 feet long
Top Speed: 93 miles per hour
Tallest Drop: 310 feet tall
Ride Time: 2:53
Inversions: 0
Height Requirement: 54 inches tall

By 2017, M&Ms Land has become known as an absolute coaster Nirvana rivaling that of Cedar Point and Six Flags Magic Mountain with a total of fourteen unique and thrilling coasters! M&Ms Land is known for also having one of the most extensive varieties of coaster at any park….

A classic out and back Woodie (Screamin Eagle)
A classic family friendly looping coaster (Comet)
A suspended coaster (Rustler)
An inverted coaster (Wrath of Osiris)
A modern looping coaster (Toxin)
A modern wooden coaster (The Lynx)
A 4D coaster (X-TremeScream)
An RMC conversion of a crappy woodie (Steel Stampede)
A launched coaster (Virus)
A hyper coaster (Marauder)
And finally…
A giga coaster (Berzerker Rage)

 

[Bullethead]

Those are some nice-looking coasters. I hope you do POVs . Nice story, too.

I'm curious, though. The landscape seems a bit stark, with no variety. Just red dirt and a scattering of trees. Maybe you could add some patches of different colors, say by putting very low-intensity spots of some other texture on top of the red, just to give some variety. And maybe some rocks and underbrush, too.