I always like to look up information about the coasters I write about and the Roller Coaster Database is one of my biggest resources.



While looking up information on the Screaming Eagle I took a look at the parks press release announcing the Screaming Eagle that they have on RCDB.  Amusement park public relations departments sometimes really stretch the truth in promoting their new rides and they had some fun making the Eagle sound pretty extreme for 1976's standards.  Here's what it says:

"The roller coaster is a gravity ride and riders will spend about one-minute of the two-minute ride being lifted 400 feet from the station to the top of the coaster."

A 400 foot tall coaster back in 1976 sounds like if someone built a 1,000 foot tall coaster today.  In reality there is 400 feet of track between the station and the top of the rides 110 foot tall (By the way it was the tallest, fastest and longest coaster in the world when it opened) lift hill but hey just like another park in the chain who turned two loops and a helix into "three loops" it's just a little stretching of the truth to build up some excitement about a ride.



If you get the chance to walk around under a coaster here is a little tip.  Make sure you watch out for low beams because Elizabeth was having so much fun chatting it up with Bond that she didn't notice the beam and ended up taking a bit of a fall as a result.



Speeding around the Screaming Eagle at speeds over 60 miles per hour it is hard to appreciate how hilly of a terrain the ride sits on but on foot you really get a workout going up and down as many hills as the Screaming Eagle's riders do.




There's nothing like one more warm summer day as the year comes to an end with a bunch of friends, family and coasters to make you really appreciate how amazing life is and how blessed you are.


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Paul B. Drabek