Yas Water World - Featuring New Vekoma Suspended 'Splash Party' Coaster

[BigAl]

I was going to post it in the 'Strange Coasters' topic, but I found more and more stuff about the ride I'm focusing on, as well as the park in which it has been built in, so it's be better suited here.

Just found a new variant of the Vekoma Suspended coaster here. They call it the 'Splash Party' and it's an interactive roller coaster with tanks of water and water cannons. This ride is called Bandit Bomber and is located at Yas Water World in Abu Dhabi. The park will open for the first time in December, apparently. Take a look:

Vekoma’s Interactive Suspended Coaster at Yas Waterworld Abu Dhabi Waterpark

Yas Waterworld Abu Dhabi will be the first waterpark to feature Vekoma’s interactive suspended family roller coaster, the “BANDIT BOMBER”.

Vekoma Rides Manufacturing, one of the largest roller coaster manufacturers in the world, has supplied a “SPLASH PARTY” interactive suspended family roller coaster to Yas Waterworld, Abu Dhabi. This fun and interactive coaster has been custom designed for Yas Waterworld as the “BANDIT BOMBER”.

The “BANDIT BOMBER” is a 515 meter long coaster with a capacity of 700 guests per hour. After a 23 meter lift, the coaches dive down a series of drops and over splash zones reaching speeds of up to 50 km per hour.

Guests ride in single 4-passenger coaches which incorporate Vekoma’s new seat design. The ride is interactive - each coach equipped with laser guns and also water bombs which passengers can release at specific points in the ride!

A press release from Atkins (designers of the Yas Water park) which includes some nice art:

Atkins’ innovative water park design wins international award - October 11, 2012
Atkins’ innovative design for Yas Waterworld, an innovative water park under construction in the United Arab Emirates capital city of Abu Dhabi, has won a Leading Edge Award at the recent World Waterpark Association (WWA) Annual Symposium in Las Vegas, Nevada. The inaugural Leading Edge Award recognizes those who have brought a project to fruition and demonstrated industry leadership and innovation. Yas Waterworld is the first water park of its kind, evolving from a purely water-based park into an “adventure” attraction complete with roller coasters. Judges highlighted Atkins for its design work and were impressed with Atkins’ architectural ingenuity, theme, and original storyline. WWA chairman Jim Basala said, “Each year the World Waterpark Association polls its membership in search of projects that stand at the forefront of the water attractions industry. Yas Waterworld in Abu Dhabi has been recognized for demonstrating this leadership and innovation through its storyline, park and ride design, theming, and attention to every detail.”Based on themes of Emirati heritage and history supplied by the client, Aldar Properties PJSC, Atkins’ architects have designed the park to pay tribute to the country’s pearl-diving traditions. The park follows the adventures of Dana, a young Emirati in search of a legendary lost pearl that will return prosperity and fortune to the people of her fishing village. Along her journey, Dana is joined by a cast of characters inspired by Atkins’ architects that manifest themselves in the zones and rides throughout the park, bringing the story to life and immersing guests in the experience. Kevin Johnson, Atkins’ design manager for the project, picked up the award on behalf of the Atkins team in Las Vegas last week. Yas Waterworld, situated in the Persian Gulf on Abu Dhabi’s Yas Island, will open to the public later this year and will feature 43 rides, slides, and attractions for all ages.

So why is the ride special? Well...

On-Board Laser Guns (one per seat) triggering ground effects (Geysers, jets, etc.), On-Board Water Drop 20L per Seat, and On-Ground Effects (Water Cannons, Jets, Geysers, Waterfall).

Some construction images from its RCDB Page:

A video of construction:

NEW roller coaster "Bandit Bomber" under construction at Yas Waterworld Abu Dhabi (full HD)



A fantastic animation of the park, for anyone that's interested:

Yas Waterworld, Abu Dhabi



Images of the ride nearly completed, courtesy of ParksMania:

And another random image I found (from a website that doesn't want to work, so I can't post a source link) of what looks like a finished ride and surroundings:

This ride is very similar to Hershey Park's Roller Soaker:

Roller Soaker Front Seat on-ride HD POV Hersheypark

Roller Soaker off-ride HD Hersheypark


Except Vekoma's offering looks 100 times better. It's also 5.5ft taller, 389.7ft longer and 10.6mph faster than Hershey's... thing. The Bandit Bomber has a decent capacity of 700 riders per hour too, thanks to the fact that it's a proper roller coaster with trains, a mid-course brake run and two lifts.

Sorry, Setpoint and Hershey!


Anyway, it looks like a great ride in a place where it's probably going to be really appreciated as well. However, the whole park looks stunning and I'm glad that it hasn't turned into one of the many parks out there that never get going properly.

 

[Alastair]

Let's hope those upstop wheels are still touching the track in about 5 years time! Looks an excellent concept though, the sheer scale of that place looks incredible!

 

[BigAl]

Haha! And yes, it certainly does look great. What makes it even better is the fact that Ferrari World is literally across the road from it:

Here's an interview with Mike Oswald, Park Manager for the park, and a video of Vekoma's Splash Party Coaster Concept:


Mike Oswald, Park Manager, Yas Waterworld, Abu Dhabi


Vekoma Splash Party




Edit: This video of the ride being tested was uploaded literally an hour ago...

Yas Waterworld Bandit Bomber Roller Coaster Testing Abu Dhabi UAE


It looks like good fun! I'm glad it doesn't crawl around like Roller Soaker does.

 

[Alastair]

I see they're trying incredibly hard to attract a new market of visitors to a place that they perhaps otherwise wouldn't consider going to. I have to admit it does look very tempting, however the main attraction of Ferrari World would be Formula Rossa which although the fastest coaster in the world also looks just about one of the worst in terms of layout and trims.

Maybe if they invested in a few more big coasters then I would be inclined to visit in the future

 

[Islander]

An interesting discovery! One of these was on the table for Legoland Windsor at one point, so will be very interested to see how it turns out...

 

[BigAl]

An interesting discovery! One of these was on the table for Legoland Windsor at one point, so will be very interested to see how it turns out...

Oh no! Not another water ride!?

 

[BigAl]

Update time! These images are from Theme Park Guy, courtesy of Yasfan:

 

[DiogoJ42]

"Splash Party"?

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