Epic Attractions

In his ongoing quest to find the world's newest, biggest and best attractions, amusement park expert Chris Perry shows just what it takes to build a record-setting roller coaster from the ground up. Chris heads to Carowinds in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they plan to take their park to the next level with Fury 325, the world's tallest and fastest gigacoaster. A gigacoaster is a roller coaster that is between 300 and 399 feet. Since Charlotte's nickname is the "hornet's nest," this ride is designed to capture the look and feel of an angry hornet. With its sky-high lift hill and switchback turns, Fury 325 will be an eye-popping, adrenaline-pumping ride. But what does it take to create an epic coaster of this caliber? First stop is the track factory in Cincinnati, Ohio to watch them make the ride's 6000-foot track. More than two thousand tons of raw steel is cut down to size, welded and assembled into the rails the coaster will ride on at a hundred miles an hour. Then the track is shipped out to the work site, where Chris is on hand to see how it goes together. The hardest part of this real-life jigsaw puzzle is the 325-foot lift hill, which slopes down at a heart-stopping eighty-one degrees. Everyone watches closely as workers "top out" the track, using three massive 360-foot cranes. Then Chris checks out another impressive feature, the tunnel that will bring Fury 325 soaring right under visitors' feet at a newly created park entrance. With opening day getting closer and closer, Chris gets a special insider's look at the high-tech computer system that controls the coaster's trains. Then he gets behind the controls of a three-ton hoist, which helps load the coaster cars onto the track. Before anyone rides, water dummies take more than a hundred test rides in order to fine-tune the experience. Finally, Chris joins Fury 325's creative team as the very first humans ride to ride this exciting, record-breaking roller coaster. At last, it's opening day-and Fury 325 is r