Sea Viper

Annaliserocks217 06:17, May 7, 2015 (UTC)

The Sea Viper was a steel corkscrew rollercoaster located at Sea World. It's name was originally 'Corkscrew ' for 27 years before the ride got a redesign and changed its name to 'Sea Viper'. The whole ride, however is currently shut down and dismantled. The orange ride tracks stood 28 metres (92 feet) high and had 600 metres (2000 feet) of track length. The ride's maximum speed was 70 kilometres per hour (43 miles per hour) and its duration was 1.35 minutes. It had 3 inversions and a white and orange chain-mail lift. Corkscrew and its redesign Sea Viper, is one of the most iconic rides in Australia, and was a symbol of the Gold Coast. at the current time the area that the sea viper took up is being used as a helicopter refuelling area.

## Requirements

* Riders must be 130cm to 200cm tall 7 and 10ft to ride
* Riders who are pregnant or have any particular medical conditions cannot ride.

* Some riders cannot ride due to size of the seat.
* All loose items such as phones, hats etc are not permitted on the ride.

## Queue/Waiting experience

The queue area for Sea Viper was fenced off by a metal gate, as the chainmail lift was right infront of the ware house and the start of the ride went under the queue's entrance path. The only area that was not fenced off, was around the stairs which was the entry of the queue. The queue would start upstairs on the wooden path lead by the entry, equipped with timber safety fencing around it. Attached upon this platform was a large metal pole with an Australian flag. The wooden path lead to a small wooden warehouse, with concrete floor, that had metal poles in which separated lines leading to the ride station. The ride station was located on the right side of the warehouse (from entrance point of view). Upon arrival of the ride station, riders must stand behind the automatic metal gates, with two riders allowed per gate. Playing on loud speakers near the station, is an instructional voice informing "Please keep your head back against the seat with your arms and legs inside the carriage at all times. Hold on and enjoy the Sea viper.". Once a new train of empty carts arrived at the station, the automatic gates would open so each rider can sit in the seats in their row. Riders were allowed to put any of their loose items in the orange boxes, on the far side of station. They must proceed in pulling their lap bar down before the ride will even commence. Staff would also must check if lap bars are secure.

## Ride Experience

The ride starts as the train leaves the station and dips off the platform. The train then eventuates a long right curve towards the chainmail lift, with white maintenance stairs attached on the left outside side. Upon arrival at the top of the hill lift, the train will go down a tiny bent that follows along a short straight track. The train will then proceed in a short and slow right turn that leads to the ride's main hill. The ride speed that occurs on this hill continues as the train goes through its first inversion. This is followed by escalating up a slope and going down a right tilt again. The tilt leads towards the ride's famous triple corkscrew (hence its original name before renovations). After the loop, the train follows along another lengthy right curve before hitting the brakes back towards the station and queue area.

## Manufacturing History

Sea Viper was first opened with the name, 'Corkscrew', and was the second major rollercoaster in Australia, whilst raising the number of visitors to the theme park rapidly by 20%. Corkscrew originally, unlike its redesign Sea Viper, was painted white with red carriges. To this day people say it was a piece of Gold Coast history and are extremely sad to see even its redesigned version go into retirement and be dismantled. Corkscrew opened on the 17th of September to compete against Dreamworld's Thunderbolt ride. This ride featured only 2 inversions, however Corkscrew featured 3 and was the first ride in Australia to do so. Thunderbolt closed in 2003, leaving Corkscrew still operating for 27 years, making it one of the most iconic rides in Australia. After that 27 years, Sea World and guests of the park might of noticed the ride's performance wasn't running as smoothly as it used to, so Sea World asked a Dutch ride company, Kumbak, to establish a new ride train to replace the one built by the well known American company, Arrow Dynamics. In 2009, a sign was being placed outside of the Corkscrew with the text saying that a "new ride experience" would be released that Summer. The ride began being painted orange and changing into the Sea Viper-featuring a new cartoon logo. Sea Viper had a good run and operated for 5 years. Near the end of those years, it didn't quite gain the amount of attention as the Corkscrew because of Storm Coaster's release, whilst queues didn't seem to be as filled up, apposed to previous years of the ride's run. The Sea Viper's retirement was announced roughly around August 2014. It was announced on the internet and even the radio that it was being demolished forever, leaving many people filled with disappointment and sadness as a piece of Gold Coast's history was disappearing.

## Trivia

* Sea Viper is currently the only ride that has been at Sea World to feature inversions (loops and corkscrews).
* The removal of the Sea Viper has even changed the skyline of Sea World and it's resort next door, due to it and the Storm Coaster's location both being able to be seen a long way away. The skyline of Sea World and Sea World Resort is now just the Storm Coaster, which easily stands out.
* The reason is not exactly clear for why Sea Viper was removed. It is also not clear if perhaps the ride's performance was decreasing in quality was the reason that led to the update of the ride.