New Roller Coaster Slated To Open On Coney Island
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Coney Island is getting its first new roller coaster since the Cyclone was built in 1927.
Move over Cyclone, here comes the Thunderbolt.
"It's a steel coaster, much faster, much sophisticated and with a complete, nice, smooth experience," Luna Park president Valerio Ferrari told WCBS 880's Marla Diamond on Tuesday. "The coaster's going to be approximately 2,100 feet long. It's going to have a vertical lift with stadium-like seating and it's going to have a full reversal and a loop."
New Roller Coaster Slated To Open In Coney Island
The original wooden Thunderbolt opened in 1925 and was immortalized as the coaster above the childhood home of Woody Allen's character in "Annie Hall," but it was torn down in 2000 to make way for Keyspan Park.
The new coaster will be 125 feet tall and will reach speeds of 65 mph, according to the New York City Economic Development Corporation.
Its reincarnation is a sign of Coney Island's resurgence, Ferrari said.
"In order to go to the next level we really needed to do something, another anchor piece like the Cyclone is," he told Diamond. "It will make the roller coaster experience in Coney Island something to be seen."
The coaster will open for the 2014 season.
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