T Express

Everland conducted market research and decided to construct a wooden coaster.[1] After developing the concept and plans for three years,[1] and with a budget of 28 billion Korean won,[1] the park began construction on the ride around February 2007.[2]

It was constructed by Intamin, a Swiss manufacturing company, and designed by Ing.-Büro Stengel GmbH, a German roller coaster design company.[3] Everland first announced the ride in a March 12, 2008 press release, which stated that that the ride would help the park "compete with other theme parks such as Universal Studios".[4] The ride opened on March 14, 2008.[5] The roller coaster replaced a snow slope attraction that was previously in the area that T Express was in.[1]

T Express is named after T World, the SK Telecom-owned Korean phone company that sponsored the ride's construction.[3][21]

The ride is located in the European Adventure section of Everland, which is based on a European aesthetic.[22][23] It is themed as a scenic railway in an Alpine village;[24] the area around it was further decorated before the ride's opening.[24] The ride closes its operations in the winter and reopens in the spring.[25][26]

It is 56.02 metres (183.8 ft) tall,[17] and has 1,641 m (5,384 ft) of prefabricated tracks that are made of nine layers of compressed and laminated Finnish fir wood.[4][18][27] The total materials used to create the ride include 670 tons and 45,000 blocks of wood, as well as 50,000 bolts.[4][28][29]

It has three trains made of steel and fiberglass. Each train can seat 36, as they each have six cars that have three rows of two seats.[3] Per hour of operation, the ride seats 1,500 people.[30] Riders experience airtime twelve times throughout the ride, with the largest drop being 45.99 m (150.9 ft).[2][21] The ride has a top speed of 103.9 km/h (64.6 mph).[8][20][11]

When the train leaves the station, it slowly climbs up a 56.02 m (183.8 ft) lift hill using a cable lift system, then curves slightly to the right.[6] It then falls to the ground on 77-degree slope. It then goes back up 46 m (151 ft) and turns gently to the right before dropping again. It then turns right, left, goes on an airtime hill, turns right, then goes back towards the ground. There is one more airtime hill, a right turn, two airtime hills, a left turn, another airtime hill, and then a right turn. Finally, there is a camelback section, a left turn, a series of camelbacks, a left turn, and then the ride concludes at the same spot where it started. It runs for about 3 minutes.[31][32]

There have been three instances where the ride has stopped while running. The stops were all caused by sensors on the ride detecting unusual activity, such as leaves or objects dropping.[33][34][35] In 2008, a train stopped for about 10 minutes while 50 meters above the ground,[33] and resumed normal operation around 6 pm that same day.[36] In 2017, a train stopped again on the lift hill,[34] and was evacuated within 20 minutes.[37] Similarly, in 2022, a train stopped 20 m (66 ft) above the ground.[35] Riders were evacuated after 10 minutes and the ride resumed operating after 4 hours.[38]

In 2018, a group of 6 visitors, including 3 visually impaired people, were prevented from riding the roller coaster because park employees were concerned it would be less safe for them.[39] The visitors filed a disability discrimination lawsuit and won the case. The judge stated that there was no evidence or statistics to demonstrate that blind people were in more danger on the rides.[40]

Riders on a drop in June 2011

The ride caused more people to visit Everland. According to a 2009 press release, the number of teenagers who visited the park increased by 73% and the number of college students by 14%. That same press release noted that three out of ten visitors to Everland rode T Express.[41]

It had more than one million total riders within six months, more than 1,758,800 within its first year,[41] around 3,000,000 within two years,[42] and close to 5,000,000 by 2011.[43] In 2010, it was reported that an average of 4,500 people rode the roller coaster each day.[42]

In June 2022, T Express, as well as the rest of Everland, opened in the metaverse.[55] The ride and park are based in PlayDapp Land, a Roblox-based metaverse blockchain platform. Everland and PlayDapp announced in 2022 that it would also open NFT services.[56] The metaverse version of Everland was designed to make users interact with the system instead of simply looking at the virtual theme park.[57]

• Media related to T Express at Wikimedia Commons
• T Express official Homepage (Korean)