Windjammer

Knott's Windjammer

"Windjammer Surf Racers" was the little-used complete name of the Windjammer (later, "Jammer") roller coaster which operated for a few years in the northern-most section of the Boardwalk. Once home to the iconic "Wacky Soapbox Racers", this prime real estate is now occupied by Xcelerator.

Windjammer opened at Knott's Berry Farm in March of 1997 as part of The Boardwalk - a remake of the popular Roaring 20's area. Designed by Togo International to be a fun racing coaster keeping in the spirit of the Soap Box Racers, Windjammer quickly became known as an operational nightmare. Poorly designed restraints, slow sections of track that causes the two-car trains to stall in the slightest breeze, and special effects that never worked as designed, plagued this coaster from day 1. Windjammer's demise was quick, and it closed in early 2000. The yellow track was more of an operational nightmare than red, leaving red the only track open to guests during the last year or so of Windjammer’s operating life.

At the time of Windjammer's destruction, Knott's was owned and operated by Cedar Fair, L.P., who had the cash to bring in the big guns. The result was Xcelerator which opened in this spot in 2002. Designed by Intamin, an international powerhouse of a roller coaster and ride manufacturing company. Xcelerator holds the title as the world's first hydraulically launched roller coaster. It is a big improvement over Windjammer and continues to be very popular with guests.

Knott's Windjammer
Windjammer's station was quite striking. It created a breezy, shaded area was a nice escape from the summer heat.

Knott's Windjammer

Knott's Windjammer
The lift hill and first drop.

Knott's Windjammer
Side-by-side loops.

Knott's Windjammer Knott's Windjammer
Criss cross track. It was after this section that the trains entered the slowest and most troublesome part of the ride - often stalling in “winds” of only 5 mph.

Knott's Windjammer

Knott's Windjammer
The final helix.

Knott's Windjammer
This structure was designed to create a tornado. Another great idea on paper, but one that never worked in reality.


Knott's Windjammer
The exit from the helix was brutal. Hold onto your neck!

Knott's Windjammer
The final turn and station approach.

Knott's Windjammer
The space under Windjammer was utilized well. Here, remote control boats float throughout the pond. In the background on the right is "Headspin", the short-lived location of the Whirlpool/Scrambler.

Knott's Windjammer
Each of the red and yellow trains sit unused after Windjammer's closure.

Not everything that resulted from Windjammer was negative. During Halloween Haunt, the space under Windjammer was used for one of the Haunt's most impressive mazes - Carnival of Carnivorous Clowns.

4 comments:

  1. I can't believe that Windjammer was a complete nightmare. Another thing that was a complete nightmare is the Pixar film WALL *, and I'm NOT kidding! It was the biggest disaster for Pixar even though TOO MANY people gave it terribly "positive" reviews.

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  2. Wall-E had a strong anti-capitalism, pro-global warming message which has a built in audience base. I loved the graphics, but the story could have been much better without the heavy environmental message.

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  3. Here more disastrous coaster that should never have been built are

    1. Carolina Cobra- How could you replaced the beloved Flying Super Saturator with this cheesy Vekoma roller coaster from the closed Geuaga Lake? FSS was a great family ride at Carowinds (unfortunately, I never went there), but the evil Cedar Fair got rid of it. How could you, Cedar Fair?

    2. Sonic Spinball- This is the worst retheme to a roller coaster ever made. It was once the Spinball Whizzer until twenty ten when Alton Towers decide to removed the formerly iconic coaster's image to a no longer popular video game character--Sonic the Hedgehog, who lost popularity to the 4Kids version of Sonic X.

    3. Viper (SF Great Adventure)- Another Togo nightmare, the Viper was a heartline roller coaster that was built on the former Ultra Twister and operated from 1995 to 2004, with one year, 2001, of SBNO. It caused many neck injuries to rides and suffered numerous problems like the Windjammer, only it had a longer lifespan. Like Windjammer, the popularity of Viper was short-lived and was removed to make room for El Toro.

    I guess sometimes, inversions make a really rough ride experience, like my extremely bad experience of GASM at Great Adventure last year, which thank it's removed this year!

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  4. I wonder why did Windjammer opened on a Wednesday (opening day: March 26, 1997) instead of a Friday or Saturday.

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