Eric S.
Yelp
FIRE DØWN BELØW
The Grecian God of the Underworld wants you to join his legion of souls. Do you dare?
Well you should dare, because the new-and-improved Hades 360° is quite simply one of the most intense wooden roller coasters on the planet.
Not only does it contain a massive corkscrew inversion, not only does it hit a blazing top speed of 70mph, but it features the world's longest underground tunnel on a coaster. That's right, this bad bitch travels underneath the entirety of the Mt Olympus parking lot (800 feet each way) in complete and total darkness.
But even before this, Hades 360° is notable for perhaps one of the best opening intros on any coaster ever built. There's a 50ft drop immediately out of the station (a la Kennywood's "Thunderbolt") followed by a series of tight hillturns and a double-down bump. There's a solid 30-45 seconds of wicked coaster experience before the train even engages the 136ft chain lift hill.
The view from atop gives a great panorama of the Wisconsin Dells -- look ahead and to your left to spot "Avalanche", another great wooden coaster at the nearby Timber Falls entertainment complex. You'll quickly notice that the only track in sight is more than two and a half football fields away.....on the other end of the parking lot!
Moments later, Hades 360° drops down 140ft and comes ROARING into the underground tunnel as the 4th* fastest wooden coaster in the world (*tied with El Toro). There's no telling what actually happens during its time underneath the parking lot......but I CAN tell you that there's at least one section of track that's banked at 90° to the horizontal. This means that amidst the shroud of pitch black nothingness, the track tilts upright, sending your train completely sideways.
As dark as it is and as fast as the coaster is traveling, those fleeting moments in the Pit of Hades are absolutely terrifying. So terrifying, in fact, that my car keys couldn't handle it and abandoned ship. They got too scared and jumped out of the coaster train, where they stayed for the next 22 hours until mechanics rescued them.
Upon emerging from the depths of darkness, the train executes a corkscrew element (rare for a wooden coaster) with a surprising amount of grace. After this, the train flies into an overbanked turn and once again plunges back into chaos. On the return trip underneath the parking lot, there's a few surprises like a hidden drop and mini trick-track element towards the very end of the tunnel.
The train explodes back into daylight and gets slowed down by a large hill alongside the station. Another series of hi-speed curves and an upward spiraling turn brings the train onto the final brake run and station platform. There's tons of airtime in just about any seat on the ride, especially the back row, although the front row does have its own thrilling merits.
~Special ride elements~
*800ft underground tunnel
*90° banked turn (in darkness)
*corkscrew
*110° overbanked turn
*800ft underground tunnel
In 2013, Mt Olympus replaced the old PTC trains with snazzy Timberliner ones courtesy of GravityKraft (a division of The Gravity Group that specializes in roller coaster trains). They *had* to replace them, since navigating a corkscrew and overbanked turn wouldn't have been possible in the old boxy cars. The new seats are very 'cozy' and larger guests might find difficulty squeezing into them. The lapbar restraints are padded and intentionally oversized for the sake of rider safety.
::Closing remarks::
If you asked me to put together a list of the wildest wooden coasters on earth, it'd probably include The Beast, The Voyage, Boulder Dash, T-Express, Balder......and Hades 360°. The biggest coaster at Mt Olympus is almost a mile long and lasts nearly 2 1/2 minutes, which is fortunate because with only one 12-row train operating, lines can creep up into the 1-1.5 hour range.
Hades 360° is a truly devilish ride that shouldn't be viewed lightly or taken for granted. You know it's funny, my car keys truly have been to Hell and back again. And if you ask me......
Hell Ain't A Bad Place To Be.