Wagons roll!
Wagons roll!
Theme Park | OK Corral |
---|---|
Type | Rollercoaster |
Audience | Families |
Opened | 2 June 2018 |
Manufacturer | Zierer |
Model | Elevated Seating Coaster |
Inversions | 0 |
Duration | 1½ minutes |
Set high up on the hillside at OK Corral, Pioneer is a family rollercoaster which evokes the era of stagecoaches travelling between frontier towns in the Wild West.
Unusually, Pioneer allows riders to select from two types of seating which lead to very different ride experiences. The first three rows of the train feature horses which visitors ride straddle seating style, whereas the back three rows look like wagons with more traditional seats.
The track itself is a custom layout of Zierer's ESC (Elevated Seating Coaster) design. It's a mix of banked curves and sweeping hills, which don't look much from the ground but feel plenty wild enough onboard, especially sat up high on the horses. If it really was a horsedrawn wagon through the Prairies, the passengers would be well and truly bouncing about in the back! The undulating hillside landscape is used to good effect, with much of the track hugging close to the ground which helps add to the realism.
It is clear that OK Corral worked very hard to design Pioneer to fit with the park's Wild West theme, while managing to create a family ride appealing to a wide range of audiences. Including the two different styles of seats is a fantastic idea, and allows for younger (and/or more timid) riders to enjoy the coaster from the safety of the back seats, while taller and more adventurous riders have the option of a wilder horseback ride.
Pioneer station
Queueline
Horses and wagons have different height requirements
Wagons in the back
Horses in the front
Lift hill
Brake run
Returning riders