Playland opens this weekend, but new ThunderVolt roller coaster won't launch until July | CBC News

· Posted: May 18, 2024 9:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: May 18

Playland is set to open this Saturday, May 18, but its new electromagnetic roller coaster won't be ready for riders until July.

Shelley White, CEO of Playland and the Pacific National Exhibition (PNE), says for some, the amusement park's opening marks the beginning of summer, and for some teenagers, the start of a first job.

"I get really excited about, you know, those first jobs for people," she said.

Playland, located in Vancouver on East Hastings Street near Boundary Road, hires between 400 and 500 people to operate the rides and the rest of the amusement park. In August, when the PNE Fair opens, the non-profit organization will hire between 1,700 and 1,800 additional temporary employees.

While most of Playland's rides will be open this weekend, including the wooden Coaster, fair-goers will have to wait until July to ride the brand new ThunderVolt. While some may have expected the ride to be available this weekend, White says a July opening date has been the plan for a few years.

"Commissioning a brand new coaster is a really complex thing; we've got to work with lots of different engineers and regulatory bodies," she said.

Those involved with the project claim ThunderVolt is Canada's "fastest electric-launch roller coaster."

Most roller coasters use a mechanical process to take the ride cars up to a high spot on the track before dropping them, explained White. The ThunderVolt, however, uses an "electromagnetic push" to get the cars up a steep incline, before the track descends 18 metres.

"There's magnets and stuff also on the track, and it pushes you out, right from the start of the ride, at about 100 kilometres an hour," she said.

"You get a thrill right from the moment that you sit down in the train."

The ThunderVolt was designed by an Italian company and carries 12 passengers at a time. White says the ride will last about one minute and takes riders upside down several times.