On November 12th 1999, the roller coaster with the longest drop in
the world was announced. It would hold the title for just 3 months,
with the company that made it going bankrupt just a couple of years later. A company that would
independently, only make 3 roller coasters but have a huge impact on the industry.
“The extreme smoothness of the ride experience was designed by coaster makers
Giovanola of Switzerland. Goliath, a top rated steel coaster, reaches 240 feet into the air
and drops 255 feet.The sheer size of Goliath instill fear in these veteran rail junkies.”
In the early 1980s, when Giovonola started making roller coasters for other companies, such as
Intamin, first with Vertigorama in Argentina, and later with multiple Bobsled coasters.The
nearly 100 year old company would set out on a brand new path, one that ultimately would lead
to its downfall. For 95 years the steel manufacturing company had built power stations,
water storage tanks, ski lifts and even submarines but this new direction would prove challenging.
After Z-Force opened Giovanola continued to have success as a subcontractor for Intamin.
With the nearly 10 coasters they had manufactured as a subcontractor,
many of which would include firsts for the coaster experience. With the help of two of
Giovonolas engineers they designed the box style track that would become famous later
for a different coaster design duo. B&M. Wait wrong B&M. that Joke was for the UK watchers.
Even when Walter Bolliger & Claude Mabilard left the company to form their own in 1987,
and use that Box Type track designed at Giovanola with slight modifications for themself,
that track would continue to remain a staple for Giovanola subcontracted roller coasters.
After Z-Force the track would be seen on multiple Stand up Roller Coasters like Shockwave and the
company would continue to create rides such as Disney’s Indiana Jones roller coaster at
Euro Disney, Skull Mountain at Great Adventure and Lightning Bolt at MGM Grand Adventures.
Not only did they provide parts for coasters but also entire flat rides.
Business was going well and they wanted to forge their own path, rather than just subcontract for
Intamin who were working on creating their own track without the need for Giovanola. In 1998,
Gionvola Amusement Rides Worldwide was founded to sell, design and manufacture
their own attractions. With a new in house design team the company would offer the full package,
design, fabrication and construction. They got started straight away announcing they
would be working on two roller coasters for 1999.
Their very first to open would take inspiration from the breakout hit for B&M.
An inverted coaster debuting in 1999 at South Africa’s Gold Reef City.
The very first Giovonola sold roller coaster - Anaconda. The largest roller coaster in Africa.
The park was hoping that by adding more coasters they would broaden the appeal for international
visitors. Giovonola offered both a 2 seat and 4 seat version of the Inverted coaster and each
could use a traditional chain lift or a launch. Gold Reef City opted to go for the 2 seat version
with chain lift. The trains would feature 2 riders side by side, in longer trains than the normal B&M
4 across versions. While Batman The Ride mostly featured theming during the queue, Anaconda would
weave through scenery and theming throughout. Anaconda’s ride experience begins with the
drop taking a left hand dive through a boulder, which looks like you will barely fit through,
the track flies over water and sits atop the park's river rapids ride. While Similar to
Batman the roller with the exact same inversions, there were some differences. It began the same
with a loop followed by zero g roll, though this one is more spread out than the B&M version,
offering a lengthier span of weightlessness. A second loop follows but from here on out the
ride would differentiate itself from Batman. The track coils around a large rock and mining cabin
like err you guessed it snake. The downward spiral continues through the rocks,
right into the double corkscrew heading into a final counter clockwise helix.
The first coaster made solely and sold by Giovonola was top quality,
a forceful smooth ride that no matter where you sat offered incredible views. A beautiful
roller coaster in a beautiful park. Giovonola had taken Batman the ride to the next level.
The second roller coaster planned for 1999 would be in the US.
A different kind of beast, a hyper coaster, located at Six Flags Magic Mountain.
“Six Flags Magic Mountain set out to build Goliath.
The Steel Giant. That would be the first coaster to bring in the new millennium.
It would tower 255 feet above the earth with one of the world's tallest drops.
To be designed by the Swiss ride manufacturing company Giovanola. This 85 mile per hour scream
machine, would become one of the fastest traditional coasters anywhere in the world.”
Originally planned to be called Millenia, it would be the worlds tallest, fastest and longest roller
coaster. And would be painted many different colors to appear to be many different coasters as
it ran through different themed areas of the park, each with elements specific to the surroundings.
However the park delayed the ride to 2000, Giovonola warned they would not be able to
guarantee it would still keep its records as they were working on other coasters that
would beat it themself, rumored to go to one of the Kings Parks. It didn’t matter though,
because Intamin and Cedar point were working on something that would be much bigger. Millennium
Force, not only a coaster that would take the records but force Millenia to change its name.
Millennium Force by Intamin would be announced on July 22, 1999 and when opened would become
the complete circuit tallest rollercoaster in the world. In November 1999 at Iaapa,
Magic Mountain would announce their new megacoaster, now called Goliath. This
would be the park's 13th roller coaster With it reaching heights of 255 feet,
Giovonola’s warning was right, however Goliath would be the tallest roller coaster in the world,
along with the fastest at 85 miles per hour when it opened, well…. for 3 months.
When asked why it would be called Goliath the park stated because its the name of a legendary giant
and this ride would be a legendary giant. Oh and also because alot of people call large
coasters Goliaths. A name that would go on to be reused by Six Flags at Multiple parks.
“We started planning Goliath in 1998 to add to our collection of unique ride experiences here”
The park hoped the new attraction would boost attendance to the record levels set in 1994.
With a loose mayan ruin theme, located in the Goliath Plaza the ride designed with
help from Werner Stengel, opened on February 11th 2000. Originally the ride had an issue
when Giovanola had made the final track piece a few inches too short but this was quickly
fixed with a replacement track. The 3 month longest and fastest complete circuit coaster
would leave the station, up the 235 foot high lift hill before heading down the 255’ drop into a 120
foot long tunnel reaching that top speed of 85 miles per hour before heading through multiple
turns and hills on the 4500 feet of track. Even though the ride was short lived in its records,
it became iconic standing, above the previous highest drop roller coaster in the park Colossus.
On February 10th, Six Flags invited as many people
named David as they could to come and get unlimited free rides on Goliath.
In the biblical account of David and Goliath it took a slingshot and stone to slay the mighty
giant. Pelting rain couldn’t stop the 100’s of Davids who showed up from conquering goliath.
At Magic Mountain in celebration of the new millennium, a huge wedding was hosted on February
14th 2000 (Valentines Day) for 1000 couples, most of them were married in the parking lot though a
select few exchanged vows by taking the plunge down the drop of Goliath. With two ministers
standing on the catwalk. Newspapers reported that the wedding reception included.. cake. When asked
how they felt before saying i do and taking the drop, one of the couples said aw… man…. Yeh…
Goliath was a huge success and while it only held the records for 3 months it increased the parks
attendance, was hugely popular and well received. Before the end of the year even came Six Flags and
Giovonola announced what was next, this time for Six Flags Over Texas 40th anniversary. A Titan.
“From the Texas of old.. To todays Texas pride. From the smile of a child… To the thrill
of a ride. This is the start….Where the original Six flags was born… This is six flags over Texas”
The third Giovonola coaster would be very similar to Goliath,
with the same drop height but a slightly taller lift hill. Reported to cost 12 million dollars
and using half a million pound of steel, it begins just as Goliath did but one thing sets it apart,
the extra 600 feet of track featuring not one but now two intense helixes. These helices can be so
intense that many people report blacking out on the section. The ride opened in the Texas section
of the park on April 27th 2001. At this point though, Giovanola was struggling. Once again
they had opened an iconic, fun and intense coaster. Titan however would be their last,
and the cause for the company's final struggling years and demise.
The three rides that opened by the company were not all that was originally planned. Giovanola
had aspirations much bigger and offered a full selection of coaster types for sale
and even introduced brand new ones such as the Tilt Coaster called the Terror Tilter , this
was shown at the IAAPA Expo in the year 2000. Sadly none of them were ever made.
They were also involved in the creation of a second coaster at Gold Reef City, Tower Of Terror.
This coaster had so many problems the company denied even being involved making it. I am sure
this did not help the company financially either. We have a whole expedition on that ride though.
The company's troubles would begin in the year 2000 while constructing Titan. They
had underestimated the cost of adding an extra helix to the ride, which six flags had requested.
This resulted in Giovanola amusement division losing as much as 7 million francs.
The loss caused the company to struggle to pay its 220 employees wages.
The same year due to faulty welds a hydraulic penstock created by the non amusement division
of Giovanola at a power station failed causing more financial issues and what was worse another
tragic incident, when an armored well broke resulting in the death of 3 people, these
failures added another 2 million to the already 7 million debt. Along with the incidents tarnishing
the image of the company. The separate Giovanola Amusement Rides Worldwide division of the company
ended in 2001, filing for bankruptcy, The same year that the mega coaster had opened in Texas.
The parent company would restructure and file for bankruptcy protection.
With some new leaders in place the company was confident they could recover. They did not.
From February 7th 2002 the company was now a restructured real estate and equity company,
owning the land of their factory and now known as Giovanola Technologies.
All remaining assets were moved over to the new company or liquidated. In 2004 Giovanola Tek,
officially declared bankruptcy and ceased to exist. Ending a 116 year old history,
citing a tough economy, failure at a Texan theme park along with the well incident as the reasons.
Old fashioned management, financial issues and mis calculations lead to the demise of
what could have been one of the most competitive ride companies in the world. The three rides they
opened were a huge success, along with being just great attractions, that regularly featured
in the top lists of coasters. Bringing many people to visit their parks. Creating great
rides though was not enough and a future with many more Giovanola coasters never came to be.
That isn’t to say the impact they left on the industry was small however. From a modest
blacksmith shop in 1888, they had evolved over the years and created many coasters for Intamin,
without really getting any of the credit, they had introduced the box style track to the world,
they were the place Walter and Claude began their journey and went on to create B&M,
they also worked on the world's largest travelling inverted coaster. Today when you look at the
many record breaking B&M roller coasters around the world, stand back and remember that it all
started at the bankrupt Giovanola. For a short time Giovanola were a Titan in the industry.
Who knows how the industry would look today if Giovanola were still in it.
For a company that existed for over 100 years, they paved the way for bigger and better things.
Thank you so much for watching this episode of Expedition Extinct. If you enjoyed it make
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We will see you next time.
“From the Texas of old.. To todays Texas pride. From the smile of a child… To the thrill of a
ride. This is the start….Where the original Six flags was born… This is six flags over Texas”