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Blue Fire

Coordinates: 48°15′45″N 7°43′06″E / 48.2624°N 7.71847°E / 48.2624; 7.71847
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For the military term, see friendly fire.
Blue Fire Megacoaster
Europa-Park
LocationEuropa-Park
Park sectionIceland
Coordinates48°15′45″N 7°43′06″E / 48.2624°N 7.71847°E / 48.2624; 7.71847
StatusOperating
Opening dateApril 4, 2009
General statistics
TypeSteel – Launched
ManufacturerMack Rides
ModelLaunched full-circuit dark ride / roller coaster
Lift/launch systemLSM launch
Height124 ft (38 m)
Length3,464.6 ft (1,056.0 m)
Speed62 mph (100 km/h)
Inversions4
Duration2:20 [1]
Capacity1,450 [1] riders per hour
Acceleration0 to 62.1 mph in 2.5 seconds
G-force3.8
Height restriction51 in (130 cm)
Trains5 trains with 5 cars. Riders are arranged 2 across in 2 rows for a total of 20 riders per train.
WebsiteOfficial website
Single rider line available
Blue Fire Megacoaster at RCDB
Video

Blue Fire is a launched roller coaster at Europa-Park. The coaster opened in 2009 as part of a new Iceland-themed expansion to Europa-Park. As the first launched coaster built by Mack Rides, Blue Fire was the park's tenth roller coaster and the first to feature inversions. Originally, the ride was sponsored by Gazprom, until the invasion of Ukraine launched by Russia on 24th February 2022. The ride's tagline is "Discover Pure Energy".[2]

Layout

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Blue Fire is a combination of a dark ride and a launched roller coaster. The ride begins with a dark ride portion lasting roughly 45 seconds.[3] The train is then accelerated to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 2.5 seconds using a linear synchronous motor launch, along an 80-metre (262 ft 6 in)-long launch track.[2]

The launch propels the train over a turn that peaks at 38 metres (124 ft 8 in) high.[4] Then, the turn leads into a vertical loop 32 metres (105 ft 0 in) high, which is the tallest loop on any launched roller coaster in Europe. One turn culminates in a mid-course brake run; and, exiting the brake run, the train completes a twisted horseshoe roll that partially passes over a lake. One airtime hill follows, and the ride ends with a heartline roll and final brake run.

Blue Fire's twisted horseshoe roll was the first on any roller coaster in Europe and the first on any Mack roller coaster. The element itself had only previously appeared on one other roller coaster, making its debut on Maverick.

Construction

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Blue Fire opened as part of the first phase in a new Iceland-themed area of Europa-Park, which expanded the park's overall area from 70 to 85 hectares.[5] Europa-Park's directors, Roland and Jürgen Mack, broke ground on the new Iceland area in June 2008.[5] Europa-Park started posting teasers for Blue Fire on their website in July 2008. The teasers made reference to the coaster's acceleration, inversions, energy, and Iceland theme.[6] In August 2008, the park released an animated teaser, again showing the Iceland theme, along with the train traversing part of the ride's layout.

Construction of Blue Fire's track commenced in early September 2008,[7] and the park issued a press release about the new ride on September 18.[3] The press release confirmed that the park was expanding by 15 hectares and gave further details about Blue Fire's launch system and trains. It also mentioned that Blue Fire had the tallest loop of any roller coaster in Europe at 32 metres, which Screamscape blogger Lance Hart pointed out was incorrect because the first loop on Dragon Khan at PortAventura Park reaches a height of 36 metres.[3] The park has since clarified that Blue Fire's loop is the tallest on any launched coaster in Europe.

The builders of Blue Fire topped off the ride on October 1, 2008,[8] and completed the track's layout in mid-December 2008.[3]

The construction effort required that Europa-Park cut the Fjord-Rafting river rapids ride in half to allow construction workers to access Blue Fire's site. The removed part of Fjord-Rafting was restored as a tunnel section and reopened before the 2009 season.[3]

Trains and colour scheme

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Blue Fire has five trains with five cars each. These cars accommodate two rows of two riders, for a total of 20 riders per train. However, the ride can only operate 4 trains on the circuit at any given time, with the 5th acting as a spare. With a two-minute, 20-second ride and separate loading and unloading stations, 1,450 riders can ride Blue Fire per hour.[1] The trains use lap bar restraints rather than the over-the-shoulder restraints employed on Maverick and other Intamin Accelerator coasters, and stadium-style seating like that of Millennium Force. As opposed to more conventional lap bars found on most wooden roller coasters, the lap bar on a seat on Blue Fire is above the seat when the train is not occupied. However, the restraint itself rests in the rider's lap instead of across the rider's chest.[9]

Carrying on the Iceland theme of its section of the park, Blue Fire has blue track and light gray supports. The attraction's theming was designed by P&P Projects.[10]

Sponsorships

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From 2010 to 2019, Blue Fire was sponsored by the Russian energy corporation Gazprom.[11] The sponsorship saw the construction of the 1,300 square meter GAZPROM Theme World - The Wonder of Energy exhibition hall. For the 2020 season, the sponsorship was switched to Nord Stream 2, the then-ongoing extension of the existing Nord Stream 1 natural gas pipelines.[12] The sponsorship was suspended when the Russian Federation invaded Ukraine on the morning of February 24, 2022, and the Nord Stream 2 project was cancelled by Chancellor Olaf Scholz.[13] All references to the sponsorship were quickly removed online and the Nord Stream exhibition hall was simply renamed to "Blue Fire Dome".[14]

Height restriction

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Europa-Park has set height and age restrictions for Blue Fire. No one under 1.30 metres (51 inches, 4 feet 3 inches) or 7 years of age may ride.[2]

Awards

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Golden Ticket Awards: Top steel Roller Coasters
Year 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2021 2022 2023 2024
Ranking 34[15] 32[16] 21[17] 17[18] 17[19] 14[20] 18[21] 19[22] 23 (tie)[23] 30[24] 33[25] 39[26] 34 (tie)[27]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "blue fire Megacoaster powered by Nord Stream 2". Europapark. Retrieved 28 June 2021.
  2. ^ a b c "Europa-Park". Discover pure Energy!. Archived from the original on 21 April 2009. Retrieved 12 April 2009.
  3. ^ a b c d e "Screamscape". Europa-Park. Retrieved 6 January 2009.
  4. ^ "Roller Coaster DataBase". Blue Fire (Europa Park). Retrieved 6 January 2009.
  5. ^ a b "World Leisure Jobs & News". Work begins on Europa-Park expansion. Retrieved 6 January 2009.
  6. ^ "Europa-Park". Die neue Achterbahn 2009: Weitere Informationen in Kürze. Archived from the original on 1 August 2008. Retrieved 6 January 2009.
  7. ^ "EPFans". Start frei für Runde 2 - 09.09.2008. Retrieved 6 January 2009.
  8. ^ "EP-Board". Die neue Achterbahn 2009 (2). Retrieved 6 January 2009.
  9. ^ "Coasterfriends". Europapark 2009 - Neuer Coaster & Themenbereich - TEIL 4. Retrieved 6 January 2009.
  10. ^ "Our Projects". P&P Projects. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
  11. ^ Fischer, Klaus (October 15, 2009). "Europa-Park gibt Gas". Badische Zeitung (in German). Retrieved February 24, 2022.
  12. ^ Maik (February 18, 2020). "Blue Fire im Europa-Park nun Powered by Nord Stream 2". themepark-central.de (in German). Retrieved February 24, 2022.
  13. ^ Riley, Charles; Horowitz, Julia (February 23, 2022). "Germany halts Nord Stream 2 and Russia responds with a stark warning". CNN Business. Retrieved February 28, 2022.
  14. ^ Balzinger, Camille (February 25, 2022). "Guerre en Ukraine. Europa-Park rompt sa collaboration avec une entreprise russe : ce que l'on sait". actu.fr (in German). Retrieved February 28, 2022.
  15. ^ "Top 50 steel Roller Coasters" (PDF). Amusement Today. 15 (6.2): 38–39. September 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 19, 2013.
  16. ^ "Top 50 steel Roller Coasters" (PDF). Amusement Today. 16 (6.2): 36–37. September 2012.
  17. ^ "2013 Top 50 steel Roller Coasters" (PDF). Amusement Today. 17 (6.2): 34–35. September 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 19, 2013.
  18. ^ "2014 Top 50 steel Roller Coasters" (PDF). Amusement Today. 18 (6.2): 46–47. September 2014.
  19. ^ "2015 Top 50 steel Roller Coasters" (PDF). Amusement Today. 19 (6.2): 49–50. September 2015.
  20. ^ "2016 Top 50 Steel Coasters". Golden Ticket Awards. Amusement Today. September 2016.
  21. ^ "2017 Top 50 Steel Coasters". Golden Ticket Awards. Amusement Today. September 2017.
  22. ^ "2018 Top 50 Steel Coasters". Golden Ticket Awards. Amusement Today. September 2018.
  23. ^ "2019 Top 50 Steel Coasters". Golden Ticket Awards. Amusement Today. September 2019.
  24. ^ "2021 Golden Ticket Award Winners". Golden Ticket Awards. Amusement Today. September 2021. Archived from the original on November 15, 2021.
  25. ^ "2022 Golden Ticket Award Winners". Golden Ticket Awards. Amusement Today. September 2022. Archived from the original on September 12, 2022.
  26. ^ "2023 Golden Ticket Award Winners". Amusement Today. 27 (6.2): 66–70. September 2023. Archived from the original on September 10, 2023.
  27. ^ "2024 Golden Ticket Award Winners". Golden Ticket Awards. Amusement Today. September 2024. Archived from the original on September 9, 2024.
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