Call it a sneak peek. Steve Phillip was dropping off his truck in Acheson two weeks ago when something colourful caught his eye. Tracks. For a roller coaster. In bold hues. Sitting under tarps in an industrial yard, some of them uncovered. The Edmonton man was certain of what he saw as he happens to be a roller-coaster enthusiast. Phillip has been closely following and participating in the online discussion over what would replace the city’s most famous amusement park ride: West Edmonton Mall’s Mindbender, the roller coaster that reached speeds of 96.5 km/h on a 1,280-metre-long track that was decommissioned almost three years ago and removed from its longtime space inside the shopping attraction’s Galaxyland. “I was driving down the road and saw the track. We had some rumours about the colour, and the tarp was blown off,” Phillip told CTV News Edmonton on Wednesday. “I was able to identify the colours, and instantly I put two and two together, ran over and took pictures.” The “we” to whom Phillip refers is the roller-coaster community, both locally and globally, who he says have been piecing together reasonable speculation over the last three years about what West Edmonton Mall will install in the 15-storey space made famous by its iconic former ride. He said they knew what kind of roller-coasters the owners of West Edmonton Mall were putting in their other mega-malls – the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn., and American Dream in East Rutherford, N.J. – “so we were able to narrow down the style and what would fit in that footprint for manufacturing.” They determined the manufacturer of the track is Vekoma, a Dutch amusement ride manufacturing firm. “We can see it by the track; it’s identifiable,” Phillip said. “They’ve got attractions all over Disney and Universal (Studios), so it’s going to be pretty good.” In a statement Wednesday to CTV News Edmonton, the mall’s vice-president of parks and attractions, Lori Bethel, said that staff are “thrilled to see the excitement from fans and the community around our upcoming rollercoaster” and promised “to unveil full details as we get closer to opening.” Phillip said he expects the new roller coaster will offer a different experience than the Mindbender given how Galaxyland, which has been sponsored by toy-and-games company Hasbro for the last five years, has evolved to become a more family-oriented experience – “a whole different class of roller coaster with different features, different modes to cater to both the family and the thrill mode.” The mall is also replacing another of Galaxyland’s former rides – the Swing of the Century, which had been a part of the amusement park since it opened in 1983 – promising on its website that an “exciting new ride is coming soon.” “None of this is confirmed yet, but based on what we’ve seen ... they’re trying to take down the intensity factor in the whole park,” he said. “The Mindbender was one of the most intense roller coasters in the world, with the forces that it pulled, so they’re trying to shy away from that, hopefully, and get more people on it but also cater to the thrill market as well.” With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Miriam Valdes-Carletti
