Galaxyland
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| Location | West Edmonton Mall |
|---|---|
| Website | here |
| Opened | 1981 |
| Previous names | Fantasyland |
| Operating season | Year-round |
| Rides | 24 total
|
Galaxyland is an indoor amusement park situated in the West Edmonton Mall in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It is home to the world's tallest (14 stories), and longest, indoor roller coaster, Mindbender. It's also home to the Space Shot (which repaced the Drop Of Doom ride, which is a totally different ride. The Drop Of Doom was a first generation Intamin Freefall ride shaped like a backwards "L." The car would move up to the top of the ride, and drop, ending riders on their back. The Space Shot keeps riders in an upward position the whole ride, and is taller and provides a totally different ride than Drop Of Doom), the world's tallest indoor tower ride (12 stories).
Galaxyland was originally known as Fantasyland. However, the name Fantasyland was already used for the "themed lands" existing at Disneyland and other theme parks owned by the Walt Disney Company. A lawsuit eventually forced the mall's owners to change the park's name in 1995, though they were allowed to continue using the name "Fantasyland Hotel" for a hotel in the mall.
Contents |
[edit] Rides
[edit] Roller coasters
| Ride | Year Opened | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Autosled | 1985 | A small but fast family roller coaster with a series of sharp turns and high speeds. This ride was designed by Tivoli. |
| Mindbender | 1985 | A fast, triple loop roller coaster. It is the largest, fastest and tallest indoor roller coaster in the world. This ride was designed by Schwarzkopf, a roller coaster company. |
| Dragon Wagon | 1993 | A small, dragon-themed kiddie coaster. |
[edit] Advanced thrill rides
| Ride | Year Opened | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Cosmo's Space Derby | A bumper cars ride. | |
| Swing of the Century | A giant swing set with individual swings that moves in a circular, swinging motion. | |
| Space Shot | A 120 foot tall S&S Power double shot vertical pneumatically-powered tower ride. This is the world's largest indoor freefall ride. This ride is a newer, updated version of the first generation Intamin Freefalls. The Drop Of Doom [what Space Shot replaced] was a first generation Intamin Freefall ride shaped like a backwards "L." The car would move up to the top of the ride, and drop, ending riders on their back. The Space Shot keeps riders in an upward position the whole ride, and is taller and provides a totally different ride than Drop Of Doom | |
| Sonic Storm | A hydraulic tilt-a-whirl that goes backwards. | |
| Solar Flare | A swinging ride, flipping and spinning in all directions as the riders control the flips and spins. It replaced a swinging inverter ship. |
[edit] Intermediate rides
| Ride | Year Opened | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Cosmic Bounce | A Moser Spring Ride. | |
| Flying Galleon | A swinging pirate ship. | |
| Quirks in the Works | An animatronic shoot 'em up laser ride. | |
| Rockin' Rocket | A rocket that slides back and forth and twists and turns. Also known as a Rockin' Tug, themed to a boat. |
[edit] Gentle kiddie rides
- 35th Aero Squadron - A merry-go-round with airplanes that can be raised and lowered automatically by riders.
- Balloon Race - A Ferris wheel with cars in the shape of hot air balloons.
- Galaxyland Express - A little miniature railroad that winds through the amusement park and an animatronic filled tunnel at about 5mph.
- Galaxy Carousel - A classic merry-go-round with horses and organ.
- Galaxy Kids Playpark - A maze of colourful plastic tubes, tunnels, slides, platforms, and trails similar to McDonalds' Playplaces.
- Galaxy Raceway - Slow moving electric go-karts driven through an "Indy" style racetrack.
- Cosmo's Space Bump - children's bumper cars
[edit] Park layout and design
Since its name change to Galaxyland in 1995, the park has been designed with scenery, rides, artwork, and modelling to give it an extraterrestrial, outer space, rocket and spaceship theme. The park's mascot (also the mascot of West Edmonton Mall) is Cosmo, a friendly yellow alien with green polka-dots.
Galaxyland is divided into two halves. The smaller half is connected to the main phases of West Edmonton Mall, and it has a jumping fountain. Though this half mostly contains beginner rides (such as the merry-go-round and Cosmic Space Bounce), three rides, Cosmo's Space Derby, The Flying Galleon, and The Swing of the Century, are classified as advanced and intermediate.
The larger half of Galaxyland contains most of the rough and tough rides, such as Mindbender and Spaceshot. This half doesn't have as much alien theming, but one ride, Quirks in the Works, contains lots of animatronics that are alien themed.
As in interesting fact, only one ride goes through both sections of Galaxyland - the Galaxyland Express, which departs from the smaller section of the park, goes through an anamatronic filled tunnel, loops around in the larger area, and then returns to the station in the one end of the park.
