Time Traveler at Silver Dollar City is a revolutionary coaster.
Some could even say ahead of its time.
This was the world’s first Mack Extreme spinning coaster and it was a record breaker.
When it opened in 2018, this was the world’s tallest, fastest, and steepest complete circuit
spinning roller coaster.
It also had the most inversions of any spinning coaster with three in total.
Many of those records are going to be broken by Plopsaland De Panne’s Ride to Happiness,
which is another Mack Extreme spinning coaster, but Time Traveler is still a fantastic ride.
And in this video I will explain what makes Time Traveler so great.
Time Traveler represents the final stage in the evolution of the spinning coaster.
And in many ways it was a litmus test.
The early spinning coasters weren’t particularly intense.
You had Virginia Reels in the early 1900s, which were wooden wild mice.
Almost all of these coasters became extinct and today, only one remains in the Tyrolean
Tubtwist in England.
The spinning coaster seemed dead for a while until multiple manufacturers revived it in
the 1990s.
These included Zierer, Intamin, Reverchon, and for the sake of this story- Mack.
Their first spinning coaster was Euro Mir at their own Europa Park in 1997.
Unlike the other spinners that had free spinning cars, Euro Mir had a controlled spin that
would only take place during the ride’s slower sections.
The spinning would cease before the large drops and fast twists.
Throughout the 2000s, more companies started developing spinning coasters including Zamperla,
Fabbri, Maurer, and Gerstlauer.
These manufacturers offered spinning coasters that were either spinning wild mice or comparable
in size.
And in 2007, Mack built their first free-spinning coaster in Sierra Sidewinder which was similar
in size.
But the next major development in the push for a thrilling spinning coaster was Gekion
Live Coaster at Tokyo Joypolis.
This was an odd Gerstlauer spinner that combined a motion-based dark ride in the first half
with a spinning coaster in the second half.
And that second half started with a launch into an inline twist, making it the first
spinning coaster to invert riders.
But it did so with an unimpressive top speed of just 24 mph or 38.5 kph.
Meanwhile, Mack had bigger and bolder plans.
In late 2015, Mack decided to try one of their free-spinning cars on Europa Park’s Blue
Fire.
And it was certainly intriguing to see what a spinning coaster would be like on a coaster
with launches and full-sized thrill elements.
Mack was clearly impressed and began offering the Xtreme Spinning Coaster model.
And the first buyer was Silver Dollar City, a park who clearly was not afraid to take
risks with brand new ride concepts.
Just look at how they installed the first Premier Rides liquid coaster in Buzzsaw Falls
in 1999 or the first Rocky Mountain Construction topper track wooden coaster in Outlaw Run
in 2013.
But there would be one key difference with Time Traveler compared to the other spinners.
I commonly hear Time Traveler’s spin referred to as a controlled spin, but I don’t quite
think that’s the right term.
Some other spinning coasters control your exact position at each instance on the ride.
That’s what Euro Mir did.
On Time Traveler, you have what I call a regulated random rotation.
The cars can still rotate randomly and freely, but the rate of spin is regulated by a brake.
Unlike some spinning coasters where you can spin like a top, that can’t happen on Time
Traveler.
The ride won’t let you spin fast enough.
But when you have an exciting layout like Time Traveler, that’s all you need.
And it adds a unique twist to the ride- literally.
This coaster has a bunch of elements we’re familiar with such as launches, overbanks,
vertical loops, and airtime hills, just to name a few.
But we are not familiar with taking these elements sideways or backwards.
And it’s random which direction you’ll face for all these elements.
This makes them quite disorienting and it can result in some odd sensations.
And since no two rides are identical, it gives Time Traveler a lot of reride value.
Now as a coaster enthusiast with an iron stomach, I do hope to try an extreme spinner with a
free spin one day, but that’s just a pipe dream of mine.
I know how much vomit that would cause for the average guest.
Along with the records and innovative ride system, Time Traveler is also noteworthy for
its theme.
As you can probably tell from the name, Time Traveler is themed to time travel.
Normally you’d expect a theme like this to have a futuristic or sci-fi aesthetic,
but Silver Dollar City found a way to tastefully incorporate the theme into their 1880s theme.
And the park also wanted to continue upon their mentality that the good guys always
win.
The ride’s premise is that Charles Henry, an inventory and clock-maker, becomes fascinated
by the passage of time.
He views every passing second as another chance to make the world a better place.
So with the motto Dream Big, Do Good, Henry sets out to build a time machine to make the
future a better place.
Now the ride itself, doesn’t really have any theming.
But the build up to the ride does.
It starts with the elaborate ride sign.
It dominates the ride’s entrance plaza with its spinning petals and loud ticking sounds.
The queue brings you into Henry’s watch factory, which is a massive three story building
that houses the ride’s queue and station.
The first level is an endless series of switchbacks, but I’ve never had to wait in that section
of the queue thankfully.
The second level has a lot to look at.
You have blueprints on the wall and a series of ornate watches hanging from the ceiling.
And these visuals are matched by a neat sound-track that plays slow, country renditions of popular
songs with time in the name such as Time After Time or If I Could Turn Back Time.
But whenever a train dispatches, this sound track is interrupted by a booming ding dong.
And then all eyes will peer out the window at this wonderful ride.
Time Traveler is an elusive coaster and your best view of it actually comes from the windows
in the queue line.
And one of the most striking things about this ride is how compact it is.
The ride crosses over itself over a dozen times and the track keeps threading itself
over-and-over again.
The end of the second floor has a grouper who will batch riders and assign you a row.
Silver Dollar City will take seating requests though and I cannot emphasize this enough.
Request the back.
Every time.
You’ll thank me later.
The third floor is home to the station and it looks incredible.
You have giant, working gears on the ceiling and they compliment the ride vehicles perfectly.
These vehicles have a steampunk vibe with their styling and the dazzling light up display.
Once seated the ride automatically lowers and checks your restraints at the press of
a button.
It’s a really efficient system for the operators and often leads to fast dispatches.
If you’re familiar with any of the Mack launch coasters or mega coasters, Time Traveler
basically has those seats and restraints bolted to a spinning car.
And I love these trains.
They’re super comfortable and the lap bars are great.
They do come down tight, but they don’t hurt and because your upper body is free,
you’re still able to experience the hangtime and airtime that this ride offers.
And the airtime starts right away.
Time Traveler’s maximum height is 100 feet or 30.5 meters and you actually achieve this
height in the station itself since the station is perched atop a hill.
So when you’re dispatched, you start with a 95 foot tall vertical plunge down the hillside.
And this is one of the single greatest drops on any roller coaster.
This drop is the main reason why you want to be sitting in the back.
Because of the extremely tight crest, you are violently thrown over this drop if you’re
in the back car.
And you don’t catch up with your seat until you hit the ground.
This is some of the best sustained ejector airtime anywhere.
And that would be the case even if you took this drop forwards, but usually you take it
on your side.
Time Traveler starts spinning once you’re dispatched and you usually have a half rotation
by the time you crest this drop.
And the spin continues as you’re freefalling.
So that ejector airtime feels even crazier.
If you’re in row 7, you will turn away from the direction of travel so it will feel like
you’re dropping on your back.
If you’re in row 8, you turn into the direction of travel so you are also thrown forwards
a bit while experiencing that incredible airtime.
This drop always leaves me breathless and it’s one of the best drops in the world
because of the strength of the airtime and the bizarre orientations in which you experience
it.
This drop leads into a slow dive loop.
You get some great hangtime at the top of this element and you’re vehicle is usually
continuing the spin from the first drop, so it’s extremely disorienting.
For a long time, I thought this element was a zero-G roll since I couldn’t tell which
direction you left the element.
The pullout from this dive loop pulls some decent positive Gs and then you twist towards
the first launch.
But before you launch, you come to a dead halt.
Now this is one of the more controversial parts of Time Traveler.
The rumor is that there was supposed to a theme show scene, but the park ran out of
money since this ride cost a whopping $26 million, making it the park’s largest investment
ever.
While it does disrupt the pacing of the ride, it does promote spinning.
When you brake the deceleration often causes your vehicle to slowly start turning.
And then when you launch, you tend to continue that spin.
So while the launch itself is weak in terms of power- this is a typical Achilles heel
of Mack launch coasters- the spin causes some centripetal force.
That’s followed by a giant overbank.
You really slow down at the top, so you get some lateral hangtime if you’re facing the
ground or on your side.
You then dive back down the hill and traverse a giant vertical loop.
Like the prior element, you travel through the top of this loop in slow-mo, so you get
some hangtime.
And the elongated nature of this element almost guarantees you’ll rotate through it, which
is a really disorienting feeling.
The base of the loop offers a solid dose of positive Gs and then you are yanked over an
S-hill.
This is a very violent burst of ejector airtime, especially since there’s a good chance you’ll
experience it sideways or backwards.
And at the same time, the twist on the hill offers a jolt of laterals too.
This element is the most underrated part of the ride.
As a whole Time Traveler is an immaculately smooth ride, but I have noticed this one element
has a shuffle to it with the aggressiveness and quick change of direction.
This S-hill is followed by a high-speed, low-to-the-ground turn with some sustained positive Gs and then
you soar through a zero-G roll.
These are usually one of the slower and more graceful inversions out there, but this is
oddly the fastest inversion on Time Traveler.
You don’t get as much hangtime as the first two inversions and in many ways.
And you lose all sense of direction since there’s a good chance you’ll spin through
it from the momentum of the prior turn.
You then bank up the hill getting some faint Gs before popping down into the brake run.
If you’re in the back, you’ll get a quick pop of airtime here.
You then hit the second launch, which feels like a speed boost.
It’s really there just to get you back up the hill and back to the station.
Like the first launch, it’s not forceful on its own, but it can offer centripetal force
if you spin through it.
You then go through another overbank and much like the first one, it gives some nice lateral
hangtime if you’re on your side or facing downwards.
And then you cruise into the brake run, ending your journey through time.
One thing I want to touch on is the ride’s pacing.
I think it’s strong overall.
The one dead spot are the turns after the dive loop and the pause before the first launch.
The ride’s intensity is uneven though, as it spikes significantly higher on the first
drop and s-hill than the rest of the ride.
That last part doesn’t bother me, I could see it being an issue for others if the lateral
hangtime on the overbanks or centripetal force based launches aren’t your cup of tea.
I also want to mention night rides on this coaster.
Many of Silver Dollar City’s coasters are revered for giving pitch black night rides.
While the night rides on Time Traveler are great, they don’t get significantly better.
The launch tracks are illuminated and since most of the ride wraps around them, the course
is brighter than the park’s other coasters at night.
So what would I rate Time Traveler?
I would give this coaster a 9 out of 10.
This is easily my favorite spinning coaster.
This coaster has some amazing elements that are made even better by the spinning.
I love the first drop, s-hill, and inversions in particular.
This ride also has a unique layout and the bizarre sensations make it an extremely enjoyable
experience you can’t get on other coasters.
Plus the theming is just icing on the cake.
While Outlaw Run is my favorite ride at the park, Time Traveler is a great sidekick and
I can’t wait to see more of these extreme spinning coasters open.
So those are my thoughts on Time Traveler, the fantastic spinning coaster at Silver Dollar
City.
What are your thoughts on Time Traveler?
Have you ridden this coaster?
I would love to hear your thoughts down in the comments.
If you enjoyed this review, I’d appreciate it if you gave this video a like and you considered
subscribing since there will be a lot more roller coaster and amusement park videos here
at Canobie Coaster.
Thanks for watching!