By: Benyamin Davidsons
Coney Island has a new thrilling roller coaster, which hopes to defy not just gravity but also the pandemic.
As reported by the NY Post, the new coaster, known as “The Phoenix”, is opening up for July 4th weekend at Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park. The new ride cost $6 million to build, a risky endeavor for a family-owned adventure park, particularly following all the uncertainty and closures associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Phoenix is “the most expensive investment we ever made,” said DJ Vourderis, whose family owns and operates the park. He said the ride is his family’s high-speed love letter to this city. “We wanted to do something that would sit under the Wonder Wheel [the iconic Ferris wheel] and be worthy of it — and be worthy of Coney Island. We didn’t want a cookie-cutter coaster,” said DJ.
The new ride was inspired by the Dragonflier roller coaster at Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tenn. In fact, the family tapped the same concept engineer, Tonny Schonewille of Dutch amusement-ride manufacturer Vekoma. The Phoenix is a suspended ride which travels up to 34 miles per hours, and soars to a height of 68 feet. The Cyclone at the neighboring Luna Park goes faster and higher, but the Phoenix boasts some powerful twists and turns of up to 115 degrees, with legs dangling. “I haven’t seen tight turns like this in a family coaster, ever,” said DJ, adding that “it feels a lot faster than 34 miles per hour, with all the near-misses” — noting that the ride includes a near miss collision with the Wonder Wheel.
“You’re very close to the ground and you really feel the intensity of the speed. In the end, the sensation of speed isn’t about the number, it’s about the experience,” said the designer, Schonewille, describing The Phoenix. “The first drop is almost 25 feet — you feel the G-force. You feel the weightlessness,” he added.
The Vourderis family chose to name the coaster “The Phoenix”, recalling the mythical bird which rose from the ashes, as we have all just wrestled the worst pandemic in a century, and hope for a new beginning. “This is [a] place for us to heal,” said DJ, referring to the park, and noting that the 101-year-old Wonder Wheel was built after the Spanish Flu. “There was a lot of risk back then, too, to build during a pandemic, but [people] believed in Coney Island . . . This is going to be the start of our Roaring ’20s.”
