Matugani

Matugani is a steel accelerator roller coaster located at Lost Island Theme Park in Waterloo, Iowa, United States. Manufactured by Intamin, it originally opened at Liseberg amusement park in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 2005 as Kanonen ("the cannon"). The ride features a hydraulic launch and two inversions. The coaster was built with a tightly packed layout because of the limited area that was available at Liseberg. On December 30, 2016, Kanonen closed permanently at Liseberg and was replaced by Valkyria, a Bolliger & Mabillard dive coaster. The coaster was dismantled and sold in 2018 to Lost Island Water Park, where it was rebuilt.

Matugani
Matugani when it operated as Kanonen at Liseberg
Lost Island Theme Park
Park sectionYuta Earth Tribe
Coordinates42°26′19.33″N 92°18′32.79″W
StatusOperating
Opening dateMay 20, 2023
Liseberg
Coordinates57°41′35.76″N 11°59′43.49″E
StatusRemoved
Opening dateApril 23, 2005 (2005-04-23)
Closing dateDecember 30, 2016 (2016-12-30)
Cost50,000,000 SEK
Replaced byValkyria
General statistics
TypeSteel – Launched
ManufacturerIntamin
DesignerWerner Stengel
ModelAccelerator Coaster
Lift/launch systemHydraulic Launch
Height79 ft (24 m)
Length1,444 ft (440 m)
Speed47 mph (76 km/h)
Inversions2
Duration1 min 13 sec
Max vertical angle90°
Capacity930 riders per hour
Acceleration0 to 47 mph in 2 seconds
Trains2 trains with 4 cars. Riders are arranged 2 across in 2 rows for a total of 16 riders per train.
Matugani at RCDB
Video

A video of the ride at Liseberg.

History

Liseberg

In 2002, Liseberg's only looping roller coaster HangOver, a Vekoma Invertigo model, was removed. The park contacted several roller coaster manufacturers with the aim of introducing a new looping ride, with the winning bid coming from Swiss company Intamin. Lars-Erik Hedin, technical director of Liseberg said "Due to the good experiences with Balder and the impressive catapult launch we decided to mandate Intamin again with the project".[1]

In 2016, Liseberg announced that Kanonen would close to be replaced by a B&M dive coaster called Valkyria in 2018.[2] December 30, 2016 was Kanonen's last day, it was then dismantled and sold afterwards.

Lost Island Theme Park

On July 19, 2018, the roller coaster was sold to Lost Island Water Park located in Waterloo, Iowa.[3] It was planned to be included within a theme park expansion of the complex that was planned to open in 2022[4] and was initially set to be placed on the park's lake shore before soil stability concerns resulted in it trading places with the Yuta Falls flume ride.[5] Located in the Yuta Earth Tribe realm, the coaster was renamed Matugani,[6] with a green track repaint and snake themed trains.[7] Matugani did not open with the rest of the park in June 2022,[8] as the new brake motor parts were delayed by supply chain issues.[9][10]

Within the attraction's backstory, Matugani is a giant emerald serpent that prowled the jungle of the Yuta Realm and was considered a menace until it rescued the Yuta people when their civilization became trapped in their mines in a landslide by guiding them back to the surface through one of their burrows. This act lead the Yuta to begin living in balance with nature and Matugani was celebrated as a wise protector. The coaster's station is themed as the Yuta's former mining headquarters, now converted into a temple to honor Matugani.

Track layout

After departing the station, Matugani's 16-person trains are accelerated to 72 km/h straight into a 24 metres (78.7 ft) high top hat element. This is immediately followed by an air time hill and a 20 metres (65.6 ft) high vertical loop, the first inversion of the ride. After a highly banked turnaround, the trains pass through a heartline roll before entering the brake run, bringing the ride to an end.[11]

Rollbacks

On June 8, 2009, a train got balanced at the top of the top-hat with 14 riders on board.[12]

References
  1. Peschel, Jochen. "Kanonen - great firepower at Liseberg". Coasters and More. Retrieved 11 October 2007.
  2. "Fartfyllda nyheter på Liseberg". nwt.se (in Swedish). 27 September 2016. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
  3. "Kanonen finds new life". CoasterForce. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
  4. "Pandemic doesn't phase Lost Island Theme Park plans". Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier. Retrieved 5 May 2020.
  5. "Placing Lost Island". InPark Magazine.
  6. Mitchell, Bea (June 14, 2022). "Iowa's new Lost Island theme park gets opening date". Blooloop. Retrieved August 17, 2022.
  7. "Lost Island Themepark on Facebook". Facebook. Archived from the original on 2022-04-30.
  8. "Lost Island Theme Park to open Saturday, some rides not ready". KWQC. June 17, 2022. Retrieved August 15, 2022.
  9. "Lost Island Themepark experiences low customer turnout in opening weeks". The Gazette. July 7, 2022. Retrieved August 15, 2022.
  10. Reinitz, Jeff (May 12, 2022). "WATCH NOW: Lost Island Themepark is ready for crowds". Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier. Retrieved August 17, 2022.
  11. "Kanonen". Liseberg. Archived from the original on 13 December 2016. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
  12. Fredriksson, Elin; Sahlberg, Anders; Höglund, Jan; Svensson, Björn (8 June 2009). "Lisebergsdramat över". Göteborgs-Posten (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
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