Sequoia Magic Loop at Gardaland is one of the weirdest coasters ever built. Picture
a wild mouse rotated on its side. So instead of navigating hairpin turns chalk full of laterals,
you instead dive beneath the track for hangtime. S&S only built three of these Screamin’ Squirrel
coasters and is there a reason for that? Find out in this review of Sequoia Magic Loop.
S&S premiered the Screamin’ Squirrel model in the early 2000s and the prototype was
installed at Gardaland in 2005. The coaster originally opened as Sequoia Adventure.
A second model went to China’s Mysterious Island in 2006 and that’s the only one currently
operational. A third model went to Russia’s Wonder Island in 2007, but it was removed in 2016.
Gardaland’s version closed in 2017 due to mechanical issues. The ride would remain
closed for two years until reopening in 2019 with a new name, Sequoia Magic Loop.
That is the year I experienced the attraction. But the coaster closed again in 2021 and has
since been removed from the park’s website and maps, so it’s future is unclear.
When it was open, this ride had awful capacity. The ride runs single car vehicles,
each seating up to 4 riders. You have 2 rows of 2, much like a wild mouse. The day I visited,
the park would only have one vehicle on the course at a time,
so it was only dispatching a vehicle every 1.5 minutes. That gave the ride an hourly capacity of
roughly 160 riders. That’s wretched for any park, but especially for a park as big as Gardaland.
I was lucky to have the park’s skip-the-line pass to avoid the nearly hour wait for this coaster.
Before delving into the experience, I want to talk about this ride’s appearance.
It looked bizarre. The entire ride was slanted like the Leaning Tower of Pisa
and seeing cars slowly flip underneath the track looked very unnatural. This ride also had a cool
entry archway with this giant tree since the ride had a hybrid theme combining trees with magic.
The restraints are identical to Indiana Beach’s Steel Hawg if you’ve ridden that attraction.
You have a lap bar that swivels from the side and lowers onto your lap.
This part is identical to a screamin’ swing. Then you had shoulder pads that were lowered from above
that would firmly press against your shoulder. I honestly had no problem with the restraints.
Once dispatched, you rounded this weird hairpin turn with no cross-ties.
You then ascend the super steep 98 foot or 30 meter tall lift at a brisk pace.
This lift reminds me of the El Loco coasters. Once you clear the top, you head
down a straightaway and see the track just disappear. It’s one of the freakiest visuals
on any coaster. I braced myself for what I thought could be one of the wildest elements
on any coaster flipping below the track. Instead, I got one of the dullest and most
awkward inversions out there. And this is coming from someone who typically loves hangtime.
The flip beneath the track, which is known as a saxophone, is uber controlled. I’ve heard some
argue this drop has a case as the world’s steepest drop, but I hesitate to call it a drop. You brake
before, during, and after the maneuver. So you take it with less speed a Zamperla Fiesta Express.
You just slowly rotate upside-down. You then continue forwards while inverted.
It was a cool visual, but it was downright awkward hanging upside-down
in the same position for that long. The half loop back upright is the fastest
part of the coaster. This part has no force, but at least you aren’t braking through it.
You then charge towards the second saxophone and before hitting it,
you slam on the brakes. The saxophone is rinsed and repeated from before.
Way too slow into the element and then uncomfortable hangtime.
The half loop has a trick this time as it’s immediately followed by a hump upwards. I
thought it would give airtime, but it oddly didn’t despite it’s compactness.
You then move forwards into the final saxophone, yet again being braked all through the flip.
After another extended sequence of hangtime, you navigate the final half loop back down
to ground level. You hit the brakes and navigate a hairpin turn back to the station.
It’s weird the only turns on this ride exist outside of the main layout.
In terms of the tracking, this coaster is actually smooth.
What plagues this coaster is the abysmal pacing. You just repeat the same boring element 3 times.
So what would I rate this coaster? I would give Sequoia Magic Loop a 2 out of 10.
This is a bad roller coaster. The ride looks funky and I was intrigued how it would ride,
but the experience was controlled and clumsy. The lack of speed sapped the ride of the thrills.
It’s weird I have an issue with this ride because I love slow inversions like jojo rolls,
but something about this attraction just doesn’t work.
And the fact only one of the three screamin’ squirrels are still in operation says a lot.
I have no clue if Sequoia Magic Loop will ever open again, but it’s no loss if it doesn’t.
So those are my thoughts on the bizarre Sequoia Magic Loop coaster at Gardaland.
What are your thoughts on this messed up coaster? Have you ridden one of the screamin’ squirrels?
Let me know down in the comments. If you enjoyed this review, I’d appreciate it if
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roller coaster and amusement park videos here at Canobie Coaster. Thanks for watching!