Mumbo Jumbo (roller coaster)

The roller coaster's maximum vertical angle is 112 degrees,[1] making it the world's steepest roller coaster from 4 July 2009 until 16 July 2011. The official park press release stated that the Mumbo Jumbo opening will be attended by representatives of Guinness World Records. Andrea Banfi of Guinness World Records said: "We will be in attendance at the opening of Flamingo Land's new roller coaster and look forward to this new Guinness World Records record in the 'Steepest roller coaster made from steel' category".[2]

This record was previously held by another S&S El Loco, Steel Hawg in Indiana Beach. On 16 July 2011, a Gerstlauer Euro-Fighter roller coaster opened in Fuji-Q Highland named Takabisha featuring a 121 degree drop.[3] This record was once again taken by TMNT Shellraiser at Nickelodeon Universe a clone of Takabisha with a 121.5 degree drop. [4]

The ride is often compared with SAW: The Ride at Thorpe Park, a Gerstlauer Euro-Fighter with a beyond-vertical drop that opened shortly before Mumbo Jumbo in March 2009. It is often erroneously reported that Mumbo Jumbo surpassed this roller coaster as the world's steepest roller coaster, however SAW: The Ride never held this record (The coaster with the steepest drop before Mumbo Jumbo was Steel Hawg with 111 degrees, whereas the drop on SAW: The Ride is 100 degrees). The distinction is that SAW: The Ride's beyond-vertical drop has no trim brakes, whereas Steel Hawg, Mumbo Jumbo and most other El Loco models do. Therefore, SAW: The Ride instead held the record for the world's steepest freefall drop on a roller coaster upon opening.

The park owners said the name "Mumbo Jumbo" is a tongue-in-cheek description of how other parks boast about their new roller coasters.

On 3 May 2010, one of the cars got stuck on an inverted section of the ride due to a poncho blowing into the wheels. Two female passengers were trapped upside down for 20 minutes before being safely removed from the ride by parks operations team.[5]