What is: Wildfire
Wildfire is a wooden roller coaster located at Kolmården Wildlife Park in Östergötland, Sweden.
The ride opened to the public as Europe’s tallest, steepest and fastest wooden roller
coaster, and also features the longest drop and most inversions on any wooden roller coaster
in Europe too. With these impressive statistics, the park dubs their attraction ‘The World’s
Best Wooden Roller Coaster’ - but what’s the alleged world’s best wooden coaster
doing in the middle of Kolmården, a zoo?
The history of Kolmården dates back to 1962 when Ulf Svensson proposed the idea of building
a leisure park, with a zoo, as a way to attract attention to the area of Kolmarden. He wanted
a location in which hundreds of animals could roam around freely, and in 1965, they bought
210 animals from Denmark and opened the newly built zoo to the public. Kolmården was an
instant success and saw further expansion soon after. In the years following, the leisure
park was home to one of the largest Polar Bear facilities in Europe, a dolphinarium,
a drive through safari, and a Tropicarium. Kolmården continued to expand, opening Europe’s
longest circular cable car in 1967; The Forest Farm, a rescue facility for injured animals
in 1982; and The Wilderness Hotel, onsite accommodation for guests in 1984. However,
at this point, the park was still very much a zoo. Though Kolmården's direction changed
in 2001 when it was acquired by Parks and Resorts Scandinavia, the current operators
of theme parks such as Grona Lund and Skara Sommarland. With their leadership, the park
began to expand at a quicker rate. In 2007, they debuted Tiger World, a large tiger exhibit;
the year after saw the expansion of the dolphinarium into Marine World, a distinct section of the
park. While in 2009, Kolmården took its first step towards becoming more than a wildlife
park by constructing their first roller coaster, Delfinexpressen, a Vekoma Junior Coaster in
the Marine World area. The following year saw the closure of the drive-through safari
to make way for a new, unique attraction. In 2011, The Safari Gondola opened to guests,
a 2.6 km (1.6 mile) long cable car that carries visitors over the safari, providing them with
an aerial view of five different landscapes each with their own assortment of animals.
Following the opening of Marine World, Kolmården opened a second themed area in 2014, this
time themed to the cartoon character Bamse. The land saw the debut of multiple new attractions,
including the Zierer Force coaster Godiståget in 2015.
Then, just a single year later, in 2016, Wildfire opened to guests. But why then, why a thrilling
roller coaster, and why wood?
The modern roller coaster renaissance began in the early 1970s, and in the following decades,
huge progress and innovation flooded the industry. However, this was mainly focussed on steel
roller coasters which began to outshine their wooden variants. Still, wooden roller coasters
did evolve, just at a much slower pace. This changed with the turn of the new millennium.
In 2001, Heide Park constructed Colossos, an innovative ride which became Europe’s
tallest, steepest and fastest wooden roller coaster at the time. Colossos was Intamin’s
first Prefabricated Wooden Coaster, a new type of ride which was fabricated off-site
using precise machinery, allowing for it to be slotted together at the park. Prior to
this, wooden roller coasters were traditionally built entirely at the park, with wood being
cut, bolted and secured into position onsite. The accurate nature of prefabrication allowed
for much larger and extreme rides to be built. Fast forward a decade, and a different company
were revolutising the wooden roller coaster industry. Rocky Mountain Construction, referred
to as RMC, began working on a brand new concept for the next generation of wooden attractions
in 2010. Dubbed the Topper Track, the concept altered the design of traditional wooden roller
coaster track, making it stronger and more durable. Three years later, in 2013, RMC built
Outlaw Run at Silver Dollar City, the first roller coaster to utilise the new topper track.
Due to its added strength, Rocky Mountain Construction was able to incorporate elements
that had never been done on wooden coasters before, including heavy banking, the world’s
steepest wooden coaster drop at 81º, and multiple inversions.
At roughly the same point in time as the development of the topper track, Kolmården were hoping
to expand in a new direction. Johan Tidstrand, the principal owner of the park, wanted to
construct a world class coaster - one which would be able to mold to the landscape and
atmosphere provided by the park. It was hoped that such a big addition would contribute
towards making Kolmården one of the top destinations in Sweden. Like many theme parks, they sent
out various members of staff to experience other rides around the world, to find something
suitable for their park. It was at this point that they came across Rocky Mountain Construction.
The twisted and exciting nature of RMC rides was perfect for Kolmården’s rocky landscape.
Fortunately, in 2013, RMC had entered a deal with Vekoma for them to act as a broker, selling
their products to European and Asian markets, thus giving the company the opportunity to
build roller coasters outside of the United States. After several meetings between RMC
and Kolmården, the new ride was agreed on, and in 2014, the park announced Wildfire,
a 110 million SEK (12.7 Million USD) investment slated to debut in 2016. From the start, the
park wanted a world class roller coaster - one which would set the benchmark for the industry.
RMC designed Europe’s tallest, fastest, and steepest wooden roller coaster, located
132 meters (433 ft.) above sea level with fantastic views of the nearby Braviken bay.
Kolmården chose RMC for the project as they had the technology to pull off such a large
scale ride, and the ability to take wooden coaster design to the next level. The attraction's
name, Wildfire, was inspired by the wildfires that the region had experienced in the past.
Those fires shaped the biodiversity and landscape of the park, the same landscape the ride would
become embedded into. Vertical construction of their new ride began
in September of 2015, and under 10 months later, in early June, the ride was complete.
Finally, on the 28th June 2016, after years of planning and construction, Wildfire opened
to guests. Featuring three inversions and 12 airtime hills, it certainly seems like
a fantastic roller coaster on paper. But what does a ride on this record breaking ride look like?
To begin, guests walk for what seems like miles to the very back of Kolmården where
Wildfire is located. At this point, they come face to face with the huge lift hill structure.
Visitors pass underneath the ride’s entrance sign, and join the short queue. They then
enter the attraction’s station building, which has been designed to resemble a sawmill.
Saw blades, axes and other machinery can be found scattered around the station, some of
which moves above guests heads. It’s here that they then come face-to-face with the
ride vehicles. Guests board one of the roller coasters two trains, each of which has been
styled as a locomotive. Each vehicle features 6 cars, which seats visitors in 2 rows of
2. This leads to a total of 24 riders per train; and a capacity of 960 riders per hour.
Once boarded, the experience begins. Guests immediately turn right out of the station
and begin to climb the 45 degree lift hill. Riders ascend 56m 184ft high, up the rocky
landscape. Due to the terrain, the lift hill and drop are supported by four steel towers,
rather than a traditional wooden structure. Once at the top, the trains complete a 270
degree right hand turn, giving guests fantastic views of the scenery around them. They then
pass beneath the lift hill, and climb up into the rides first drop. Before they can absorb
the view, riders plummet 49m 161ft, at the maximum vertical angle of 83 degrees. It’s
here that the trains reach their top speed of 115kmh 71.5mph. Guests dive beneath other
parts of the ride’s structure, before entering the first of three inversions. The trains
flip 180 degrees to the right and complete a zero-g stall. They then dive to the left
and enter an outward banked airtime hill. The trains plummet back towards the ground,
fly through a shed structure, and complete a twisted airtime hill. A second airtime hill
later and riders enter wave turn, immediately followed by a second inversion, a heartline
roll. The train then banks left, enters a twisted airtime hill, and begins to climb
the side of the terrain. A whip to the right brings visitors back towards the ground and
into the attraction’s third and final inversion, a second heartline roll. The trains pop into
a banked airtime hill, climb right up the rockface, all before diving beneath the first
drop. The ride comes to an end with a final twist to the left, right, and left again - leading
guests into the final brake run. During the entire experience, guests navigate
1265m 4150ft of track, most of which takes place within the 60 seconds of ride time,
measured from the top of the lift hill to the final brake run..
So there, that’s why Kolmården Wildlife Park, a zoo in Sweden has Wildfire, arguably
one of the world’s best wooden roller coasters. But, Wildfire’s existence was nearly short-lived.
In October of 2016, the ride closed to the public due to a permit dispute. Mis-communication
about the documentation required for the new roller coaster led to the Swedish government
revoking its permit - citing environmental concerns, such as noise levels and effects
on the park’s wildlife. At the time, rumours circulated about the ride’s demolition.
Fortunately however, Wildfire still stands to this day. The attraction was given a new
permit in summer of 2017, allowing for it to return to normal operation.
Naturally, this impacted ridership. Year-on-year attendance wasn’t changed greatly by Wildfire’s
debut. Though, the ride certainly caught the attention of regular theme park goers. Many
theme park enthusiasts have since travelled to Sweden, to visit Kolmården and experience
their fantastic wooden roller coaster - one of those was me! Those who get to ride Wildfire
love it for the unique setting, airtime filled layout, and fantastic first drop. Though,
it does lead to the question: does Parks and Resorts Scandinavia have more in store for Kolmården?
Let us know what you think, or hope, they’ll build next in the comments down below.
Thank you for watching, and we’ll see you all next time.