IG news Update,
The Mindbender roller-coaster, a fixture for decades at Galaxyland at the West Edmonton Mall, has come to the end of its triple-looped track.
In a news release this week, the mall confirmed the closure of the “iconic” roller-coaster that has thrilled riders since it opened in 1985.
Lori Bethel, WEM’s Vice President of Parks, said, “While Mindbender will be missed, we are excited to announce that we are working on new plans for family adventures that will provide our guests with an out-of-this-world experience.” Will drown.” and attraction, said in the release.
The mall said redevelopment of the area has begun and the roller-coaster will be dismantled and removed.
The Mindbender, said to be the world’s largest indoor triple-loop roller-coaster, was closed to the public from 2020.
The ride gave thousands of thrill-seekers an adrenaline rush over the years, but its reputation was tarnished by a 1986 accident that killed three people and seriously injured another.
Self-proclaimed WEM historian and creator of the Best Edmonton Mall YouTube channel Matthew Dutzak said he was shocked to learn the ride was closing permanently.
He told the CBC, “I heard the rumors like everybody has over the years, and I was the biggest, most outspoken opponent of the idea of ​​it closing.”
“I never in a million years thought they would pull it off.”
Dutczak recalls being too scared to ride Mindbender when he was younger. But when he plucked up the courage to try it as a teenager, he was hooked.
“And now I’ll never be able to ride it again, which is very sad,” he said.
From a tourism perspective, the roller-coaster made for one of the mall’s most iconic images, right after the pirate ship and indoor waterpark, Dutzk said. He said it was featured in most of the tourist photos he saw of the mall.
The ride was a favorite of roller-coaster enthusiasts such as Andrew Cunningham from San Francisco, who has been on 717 roller-coasters around the world.
radio active6:07the mindbender is no more
We talk to a roller coaster enthusiast from San Francisco about Edmonton’s famous indoor attraction.
Cunningham told the CBC radio active Mindbender Monday was popular among enthusiasts because of its intensity.
“It’s a very long ride time and it’s a very aggressive ride,” he said.
“It goes upside down three times—extremely powerful loops; they’re not just like little floating things. You’re really pushed down into your legs the whole ride.”
Roller coasters are ranked No. 4 on Coasterpedia, an online resource about roller coasters and other amusement rides, for highest G-force—short for the force of gravity.
Cunningham said that in his experience, most roller-coasters exit at high G-forces to give riders a chance to breathe and recover.
“But the thing about Mindbender is that it was just relentless [in] That’s how long it holds those G-forces, and it really pins you in the seat the whole ride,” he said.
1986 fatal accident
On 14 June 1986, the ride’s last car derailed at approximately 100 kilometers per hour, hitting a concrete pole and throwing four passengers onto the concrete floor below.
Three people on board were killed and the fourth was seriously injured. Nineteen other riders were treated for minor injuries.
The ride was closed for over a year and underwent safety modifications.
A provincial investigation blamed the accident on a defunct West German company for design and construction flaws. The investigation found that four bolts had come loose, causing the wheel assembly to fall from the roller-coaster car.
Edmontonian Brian McMorran was on a ride with his friends the day before the accident.
“It really shocks me,” he told CBC on Monday.
McMoRan never rode a roller-coaster again.
“It could have as easily been me and my friends,” he said.
Dean DiBenedetto, who was 15 when he worked at the amusement park in 1987, remembers that Mindbender was the funnest ride in Edmonton, but also the scariest.
Referring to the accident, he said, “I remember thinking about it a few times.”
“When you’re on a ride, you’re just like, ‘We just hope this thing stays together.’”
Many of De Benedetto’s associates at the amusement park — then known as Fantasyland — were around his own age and rode most of the rides, he said.
But Mindbender was supervised by adult staff.
“It was one of a kind, a ride you had to have a little bit of technical expertise to ride, that’s what I remember,” he said.
edmonton am6:40Mindbender Rollercoaster is closing for good
The Mindbender rollercoaster at West Edmonton Mall is closing for good. The ride has been out of service for months, but mall officials confirmed that it is being removed and replaced. Looking back at 37 years of memories, there is something in the news. With more feedback on the closing, we’re joined by Matthew Dutzak. He is the creator of Best Edmonton Malls and a mall historian.
