Giant Inverted Boomerang

Déjà Vu
Déjà Vu at Six Flags Over Georgia was one of four Giant Inverted Boomerangs
Manufacturer	[[Vekoma]]
Capacity	500 riders per hour
Duration	1 min 34 sec

Déjà Vu is a steel roller coaster located at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California. The ride is a modified version of Vekoma's popular Boomerang roller coasters. Slated to open for the 2001 season at three Six Flags parks, sudden errors and malfunctions occurred during testing. Often, the trains would "valley" between segments of the rides, and the vertical lift hill was not reliable. The rides finally opened in August, September, and October 2001. As of 2008, Deja Vu is only open at Six Flags Magic Mountain in California.

The chevron seating shown on the Great America ride

Déjà Vu is a departure from Vekoma's earlier Boomerang designs. These versions of the ride feature a vertical cable lift hill that slowly lifts the train up a vertical spike. Also, these rides are bigger than previous Boomerang designs. Another modification was using 4-across seating, similar to Bolliger & Mabillard's inverted roller coasters. However, the seating on Déjà Vu is "staggered" such that the outside seats are pushed back slightly behind the middle two seats in each row.

The coaster design was not a success for Vekoma. Six Flags purchased four of these rides in 2001 (the three Déjà Vu coasters in America and Stunt Fall at Warner Bros. Movie World Madrid in Madrid, Spain), but the rides suffered reliability issues. Due to theses issues, the product was considered a flop for Vekoma compared to the success of the base-design Boomerang.

When Six Flags ordered their four Giant Inverted Boomerangs (GIB's), Stunt Fall was the last to be installed. When Six Flags saw the issues that the first three had, they allowed Vekoma to go and work out all of the problems before installation. This is why Stunt Fall ran on a more consistent basis. Vekoma has since implemented this system on their other three GIB's. All of these coasters were then able to run on a regular basis.

During initial testing on Six Flags Over Georgia's Déjà Vu, the catch car (a small device that catches and holds the train) on the first tower derailed, breaking parts and destroying the components of the train beyond economical repair. The ride received a replacement train, the one that was originally supposed to go to Stunt Fall.

Because of the problems with Déjà Vu at the three parks, Six Flags has stopped purchasing rides from Vekoma. The rides were also so costly for Vekoma that they temporarily drove the company into bankruptcy.

Deja Vu at Six Flags Magic Mountain

Layout and Experience

The ride begins when the train slowly backs out of the station and up the vertical lift hill, pulled by the catch car. Once reaching the top of the lift, with riders facing straight down, and the rider's legs dangling in the air, when the train is released and zooms through the station heading into the cobra roll (also sometimes called a butterfly roll or boomerang) inversion. This element contains two of the three inversions found on the ride going forward. After twisting through the cobra roll inversion, riders then go through a single (one) vertical loop and hit the second vertical spike of the ride. Then, a catch car there pulls the train up the second vertical tower, this time with riders facing the sky when they're at the top of the tower. After the train reaches the top of the tower, it is released to coast backward through the layout. The train then goes through the station and heads up the first vertical lift hill again, where it is caught once more and then very slowly lowered back into the station.

Removal and Relocation

In 2007, Six Flags announced the removal of Déjà Vu from both Six Flags Over Georgia and Six Flags Great America. Six Flags announced that the Six Flags Over Georgia ride would be replaced with a new Thomas Town section after the ride was closed for the season in October. [1] [2]. The Six Flags Great America ride gave its last rides on October 28 2007, and confirmed the ride's closure at an enthusiast event. Deja Vu at Six Flags Great America was replaced with the new Buccaneer Battle ride. [3]

In January 2008, Silverwood Theme Park in Idaho announced on its website that it would install the Déjà Vu from Six Flags Great America with a projected opening date of July. [4] On March 26, Silverwood announced Deja Vu will be renamed Aftershock and the ride officially opened July 21, 2008.

Criticism

Déjà Vu at Six Flags Great America, with passengers waiting mid-ride after emergency brakes engaged.

Problems were discovered after the first three rides were built. One problem was clearance between the riders and the track overhead. After the trains were mounted to the track, it was quickly discovered that riders could reach and touch the track while the train was in motion, posing the risk injury. Vekoma had to improvise, adding new bars to the original shoulder restraint to prevent guests from reaching up too high.

During tests it was discovered that trains would stall in the middle of the cobra roll. Unplanned, the parks installed emergency unloading scaffolding in this location, similar to other Boomerang roller coasters.

Another problem of the ride is the locking mechanism for the shoulder restraints. The GIBs required the use of a battery pack to unlock each restraint in the event of a power loss. Virtually all other roller coasters have a quick manual release system to unload in unusual locations or emergency situations.

Some riders {{|date=August 2009}} complained that the restraints give too much room for the riders to "fall forward" during the lift. People who were barrel-chested, overweight or obese complained of chest compressions during the moments that they were on the main lift. Another problem with the restraints was that sometimes the belt attached to the bottom of the restraint would detach from the restraint posing a greater risk that if the restraint lock would somehow malfunction there would be nothing else to keep the rider from falling out of their seat.

External links

• Listing of Giant Inverted Boomerang roller coasters at RCDB
• Video of Déjà Vu roller coaster
• Déjà Vu: Detailed Review