Huracan at Belantis is one of the most-maligned modern steel coasters out there.
This Gerstlauer Euro-Fighter has a strong and action-packed layout, but the consensus
among coaster enthusiasts was that this coaster was horrifically rough.
Eurofighters are a mixed bag in the smoothness department.
Some are glossy smooth.
Some have a shuffle.
While others can rattle your head around.
I went in expecting the worst out of Huracan, so imagine my shock when I came off the ride
with a smile.
I actually liked Huracan.
Find out why in this review!
The story of this coaster begins at the cancelled F1-X Dubai amusement park.
This park was slated to open in 2009 and one of their signature rides was to be a custom
Gerstlauer Euro-Fighter.
The red track for this coaster had supposedly been delivered, but the F1-X amusement park
was delayed and ultimately cancelled.
In 2010, Belantis opened Huracan, which curiously had the same color track and exact same layout
as Dubai’s cancelled Euro-Fighter.
The strong rumor is that Belantis purchased this Gerstlauer coaster for a discount and
it immediately became the park’s signature roller coaster.
Huracan dominated Belantis’s skyline, as it stood 105 feet or 32 meters tall and featured
5 inversions, the most of any Euro-Fighter at the time.
The bright red track was a bold choice for Belantis and the coaster contrasted mightily
with the park’s other theming.
But this coaster does have some theming of its own.
The coaster is themed to the Mayans.
The trains are colorful and detailed with a cool looking face on the front.
And then the station looks pretty good too.
It’s themed to look like a Mayan temple.
It’s a bit boxy from the outside, but the detailing and hieroglyphics look great.
One quirk I had to deal with on my visit was that multiple birds had built nests in the
station’s rafters.
And every once and a while, they would…defecate.
So guests waiting in line had to watch out or get covered with bird poop.
But that’s not the only crud you have to deal with.
People have describe this ride’s trackwork as cruddy to say the least.
From day one, reports surfaced that this coaster was rough.
And we’re not talking about a shimmy.
Many enthusiasts said this coaster was horrifically rough and near unridable, particularly in
the back rows.
The belief is that the ride’s track endured the harsh conditions of Dubai before coming
to Germany, but there’s another variable with this coaster.
This was the first Gerstlauer Eurofighter to feature the company’s single 6 passenger
car.
Gerstlauer had used this vehicle design on Lynet and Anubis the Ride, two coasters the
company didn’t consider Eurofighters.
But this vehicle is probably the worst on any Eurofighter for several reasons.
First, the 6 passenger vehicle was all one car and articulated as one continuous unit.
All the Eurofighters that had been built previously featured 8 passenger trains comprised of 2
rows that could articulate separately, which helped them turn.
Second, the vehicles feature over-the-shoulder restraints.
Gerstlauer didn’t introduce the lap bar on their Euro-Fighters until the year after
Huracan was built.
The over-the-shoulder restraints can be a source of headbanging during jerky transitions
and by all accounts, I had heard Huracan had several of these.
Third, the vehicles have 33% less capacity than the standard EuroFighter train.
To make matters worse, the coaster was only running two vehicles with less than stellar
dispatches.
Usually, the employees hadn’t even started the restraint check by the time the prior
train returns to the station.
The biggest reason for the slow dispatches was this ride’s strict loose article policy.
Guests had to put all their belongings in bins on the opposite side of the platform.
That even included glasses secured by a strap.
And new guests weren’t admitted until the prior train load of guests had emptied the
station.
I visited on a summer weekday and Huracan had a 45-60 minute wait.
Since I only had a half day at the park, I only had time to ride it once.
So I made sure to get the front, which by all accounts was the smoothest seat by far.
The park thankfully did allow guests to wait for specific rows.
The rows towards the back flare outwards.
This gives riders towards the back more space and makes it so their view is only partially
obstructed by the seats in front of them.
Once dispatched, Huracan rounds a corner and ascends the vertical lift hill.
One weird thing this Eurofighter does, is when you crest the top of the hill, you nearly
come to a stop.
You get roughly 15 seconds to admire the view of Belantis as anticipation mounts for the
first drop.
And that drop is pretty good.
It’s a beyond vertical drop with a 97 degree angle.
Because the lift inches you over the drop, you don’t quite get the same oomph as the
other EuroFighters, but it still offers some decent ejector airtime.
The pullout was quite forceful and it was also the first instance of Huracan’s rattle.
So how rough is this ride really?
Now keep in mind I only rode this coaster up front.
And I’ve seen a few fan sites mention this coaster had some trackwork done prior to the
2020 season, so it is possible the coaster rides more smoothly than before.
The ride had a dull and persistent rattle throughout for me.
I definitely felt it, but it wasn’t violent enough to cause any headbanging.
Then the coaster’s transitions themselves tracked well enough that they mostly didn’t
cause headbanging.
I heard from others who also rode Huracan in 2021, but they rode it in the back of the
car and said it was still awful.
So my biggest takeaway is to ride this coaster in the front row.
Back to the layout.
After that drop, Huracan flies through a very snappy zero-G roll.
It was too fast to offer any hangtime.
It just had whip and some laterals, which was a fine alternative.
That’s followed by a rare cobra roll for a EuroFighter.
The entry into this element pulled some good positive Gs and the first inversion was snappy.
This transition was the only one on the ride that caused any headbanging for me.
The second part of the cobra roll was smoother and milder in the force department.
Huracan then flies over a tiny speed hill that you can’t see coming from off-ride.
You take this hill with a ton of speed and get some solid floater airtime.
You then rise into the mid-course brake run, getting a quick pop of airtime, and then you
lose some speed on the brakes.
The second half starts with this mundane drop that twists down and to the left.
Huracan then borrows an element made famous by B&M- the interlocking corkscrews.
Both corkscrews were taken rather slowly, so each offered a little hangtime.
And the sharp turn in between the two corkscrews was fairly forceful as a contrast.
Huracan then rises into the brake run, ending the 1840 foot or 560 meter long coaster.
So what would I rate Huracan.
Going off of my front row ride only, I’d give Huracan a 7 out of 10.
I genuinely liked this coaster.
While it had a rattle in the front row, it wasn’t enough to cause a headache or headbanging.
That allowed me to appreciate this coaster’s dynamic layout.
The beyond vertical drop was the highlight, but there were also 5 enjoyable inversions,
and a few surprise airtime moments mixed in for variety.
I purposefully avoided the back row and if the accounts of other riders are correct,
you should as well.
That way you have a chance of enjoying this coaster like I did.
So those are my thoughts on Huracan at Belantis, which ended up being a pleasant surprise for
me.
What are your thoughts on this coaster?
Did you get an enjoyable ride on this Eurofighter or do you think it’s painful?
I would love to hear what you think 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!