ThunderVolt is a new roller coaster opening at Vancouver’s Playland at the PNE. After months of waiting, we finally have an opening date! In this post, we’ll review some of the history of this coaster, photos/videos that the park has shared, as well as some thoughts and commentary.
Playland at the PNE is a theme park located in Vancouver, British Columbia, and has been in operation since 1910. The park boasts 3 roller coasters, including their famous and historic wooden coaster. Aside from that, the park is relatively small, with a handful of flat rides and kiddie rides, and operates each year during the summer months. For the 2024 season, Playland announced they would be adding a new compact launched coaster called ThunderVolt.
But this isn’t technically a “new” roller coaster. Instead, this was formerly located in the Miragica theme park in Italy, which closed back in 2018. Under the name “Senzafiato”, this was essentially a small version of Xcellerator at Knott’s Berry Farm: a custom-layout Intamin hydraulic launched coaster with a top hat element and a few tight banked turns before hitting the brakes. And when we say “smaller”, we aren’t exaggerating – a max height of 60 feet vs. Xcellerator’s 250 feet. Indeed, not the most massive of coasters, but a great fit for a small regional park like Playland. It will be the first and only launched coaster to grace the Northwest thus far. Here’s a video of the ride testing from a couple months ago:
Timing is everything, and that sure seems to be the case for the story of ThunderVolt. The closure of Miragica no doubt paved the way for Playland to get a great deal on acquiring the ride, as well as Zamperla offering the ability to make a few upgrades. The coaster was relocated to Vancouver, and given an overhaul by Zamperla. New trains, an LSM launch through a lighted tunnel, and a fresh coat of paint with a new color scheme. Sound a bit familiar? It should. Way over on the other side of the country, another Intamin hydraulic launched coaster was also given a very similar makeover by Zamperla with new trains and a modified launch system. If you’ve been following the news related to that one, you’ll understand why we were a little worried we might not see ThunderVolt make it’s debut this year after all.
Thankfully, such is not the case! Playland has officially announced that ThunderVolt will open to guests on Saturday, July 6, 2024. Most likely, the fact that this ride is much smaller than Top Thrill 2 is why it’s not experiencing the same challenges. So even if we may wish we were getting a bigger version, it’s probably for the best!
In terms of commentary – as we’ve stated many times, the Pacific Northwest is theme park and roller coaster starved. So anything new is cause for celebration in our book. We’re thrilled that this is the second year in a row that we’re seeing a significant new roller coaster added to our neck of the woods. Condsidering Playland hasn’t had a major new coaster like this in decades, it’s fantastic that the opportunity presented itself for them to bring this coaster to B.C. It may be small, but we know from experience that a coaster doesn’t have to break records to still be fun. We’re optimistic this will be just the crowd-pleaser that this park needs – intense enough to satisfy the thrill-seekers, but still mild enough to be approachable by a wider audience.
And for those of you outside the PNW who may be reading this, the news should be a glimmer of hope for Top Thrill 2. If Zamperla can get their new trains and launch to work properly on a smaller scale at Playland, then that makes it all the more likely that it’ll eventually work out at Cedar Point. Suffice to say, the opening of ThunderVolt should be cause for celebration all around. We’ll be making the trek up north to Vancouver this summer to check it out, and will be sure to post our full trip report and ride review here, so stay tuned!
Are you excited for ThunderVolt? What are you most looking forward to out of this new ride? Let us know what you think in the comments!
The official Silverwood Theme Park website can be found at: www.silverwoodthemepark.com. All business-related questions should be directed to this site.
