OPINION

MASTERSON ONLINE: Travelin’ through time

Hysterical screams and hollerings rang through the forested hollers of Silver Dollar City last week as many among the 300 attending media preview day braved inaugural rides on the highest, steepest and fastest spinning roller coaster on the planet.

That’s how the park’s CEO of amusements Brad Thomas described the revolutionary Time Traveler in remarks to the anxious crowd before they lined up to board the circular cars, each holding eight safely-restrained riders seated back-to-back.

“This coaster’s state-of-the-art controlled spin provides a unique thrill experience while still appealing to families,” Thomas told the crowd.

The chilly morning began beneath a pastel blue sky as Lisa Rau, who manages publicity for the 61-acre park, and senior publicist Martha Hoy Bohner organized, directed, chatted with and somehow corralled the excited throng in ways akin to veteran wranglers herding cats chasing mice.

And the festivity was set to continuous background melodies such as “Time After Time,” “Time in a Bottle” and “Rock Around the Clock.” Those Silver Dollar City folks always cross all their i’s and dot the t’s.

Even the entryway leading to the Time Traveler is identified by an enormous tick-tocking clock that poured smoke as the ride officially opened.

Everywhere we looked around us were tripods, cameras, members of the press toting notebooks and others documenting the festive inaugural event on cellphones. Even fresh-faced students from the nearby College of the Ozarks had been invited.

Members of the Herschend family, owners of the park, were there to board the first cars on this long-awaited, $26 million experience that lasts about two minutes. In the process, riders enjoyed a 10-story drop out of the station soon followed at 53 miles an hour by a climb to 100 feet, the industry’s first triple-inversion loops (vertical, dive and Zero-G roll), including the world’s tallest loop at 95 feet, and the first spinning coaster with double launches, one of zero to 47 mph in three seconds and again from 30 to 45 in 3.5 seconds.

Such a metallic, looping behemoth nestled amid the hills and hardwoods is a gleaming marvel of engineering worth admiring in itself.

The CEO of German coaster manufacturer Mack Rides, Christian Von Elverfeldt, was on hand for the debut. He told the crowd his company’s cars are the most advanced in the industry and “the most beautiful ones we’ve ever made. We could not have made them any better.”

He also noted that the free-spinning rotations on this roller coaster have “an on-board magnetic brake that limits the rotation speed, which allows for the most enjoyable ride experience.”

The Guinness Book of World Records even sent a representative.

Jefferey Seifert of Amusement Today magazine was quoted in a press release saying nothing like this machine has ever been achieved. “Time Traveler is a complete package of the latest innovation in steel coasters. What makes it unique is spinning vehicles combined with a vertical drop, double launches and multiple inversions.”

At this point, valued readers might rightfully be wondering if I dared to board the machine and pass time 100 feet up before twisting and plunging and such. Well, I considered it, but concluded that pesky hangnail on my left pinkie was too painful to risk further injury.

I did, however, visit afterward with some who did, well, take a spin. Many said they’d been apprehensive beforehand. Uncertainty has an understandable way of triggering butterflies in humans.

Dr. David Swift, a pilot and clinical psychologist from Springfield who actually treats those with phobias, rode Time Traveler … three times. “That experience cannot be matched,” he said. “It was so breathtaking and exhilarating, something that truly can’t be experienced anywhere but here. Those who love coasters can’t afford to miss this. I say get here any way possible — plane, train, car, even parachute in if necessary.” Sounded to me like doctor’s orders.

Swift said he compared notes afterward with the Herschend family, who talked about how proud they were to have this record-setting coaster in their park. “They all rode and enjoyed it a lot,” he said. “That family is simply the best. They truly are so down-to-earth, golden folks.”

Like everyone I spoke with, the most frequent shared description was how unexpectedly smooth their rides had been.

Paige Light of Fayetteville, who teaches at Walker Elementary in Springdale, said, like many others, that she was somewhat nervous before being locked into her seat. But she ended up enjoying the experience, particularly the continually twirling cars that provided so many different views of the surrounding hills.

“It was very smooth. And it goes so fast you don’t really have time to think much about it,” she said.

Her friend, Claire Valentine, a University of Arkansas student also from Fayetteville, said she loves all coasters, and the Time Traveler is now her favorite. “I had a little drop in my stomach, which passed. But in a way I found it peaceful and sure have no complaints. It was more than I’d hoped for.”

Twelve-year-old Trot Kinear said he was anxious to board beforehand. Afterward, he just looked at me with an ear-to-ear grin and shot me two thumbs-up.

Other adjectives I heard most often from those who filed out were “awesome,” “cool,” “epic,” and “it was great.” Not a negative review could I find to offer some kind of balance anyway.

So if my danged hangnail heals by this summer, I do believe this full-growed man may be physically able to take his own spin at time traveling.

Mike Masterson is a longtime Arkansas journalist. Email him at [email protected].

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