Wake up and wipe the winter sleep from your eyes. It is time to feel the thrills of a trip to an amusement park once again. And what bigger thrill could there be than a ride on one of the world’s tallest and fastest wooden roller coasters – Everland’s T-Express? From Feb. 11, the T-Express ride is operating once again after its winter break, and other exciting attractions are opening one after another as the weather warms up.
Wooden you know it
Despite some late winter cold snaps, the transition to refreshing, verdant spring is just around the corner. That means that Korea’s premier theme park Everland is preparing to welcome a new group of thrill-seekers keen to test their mettle on fun and scary rides. Some of the most popular rides take a break during the colder months, but they are starting to awaken from their hibernation one by one.
The biggest drawcard is the T-Express rollercoaster, which already began operations again on Feb. 11. Unlike many modern roller coasters around the world, the T-Express harkens back to the earliest coasters in that it is made almost entirely out of wood (except for the wheels and rails, of course).
During a T-Express ride, passengers experience something close to weightlessness a total of 12 times when their cars go into a near free-fall on the steep downward slopes. The roller coaster reaches a top speed of 104 kilometers per hour, and the biggest drop is from a dizzying height of 56 meters at an almost vertical angle of 77 degrees.
Safe at every speed
Staff at Everland understand that safety is of critical importance for thrilling rides like the T-Express. That is why every effort is made to inspect the facilities to give park visitors a safe but still hair-raising experience when they ride this wooden roller coaster. Each morning, safety engineers climb the rails and carefully check each bolt one by one. Also, before restarting the ride for passengers on Feb. 11, the staff performed repeated test runs with empty cars to make sure of safety.
Two other fast rides, featuring rushing rapids and big watery sprays, are also starting again: the Amazon Express and Thunder Falls will make their first splash on Feb. 24 and March 1, respectively. Amazon Express is raft ride along a 580-meter-long waterway, while Thunder Falls offers is six-minute-long flume rude with a total of two steep falls, one forwards and one backwards, from great heights.
The operating times of T-Express and other rides can change from time to time depending on weather conditions and other factors, so visitors are advised to check the Everland website before going to the theme park.
