Coming soon - West Edmonton Mall

I'll start this thread by saying I'm a big Chicago Blackhawks fan and have traveled to a few other arenas to see a game. I finally decided to drop the money and head out to Alberta to see them on 2/3s of the Canadian leg of their annual Circus Trip. I will be at the games in Calgary and Edmonton. One other reason why I've wanted to make this trip is because of the park at West Edmonton Mall. Not a great park, but something to mix two of my favorite hobbies into one trip. I've got my plane tickets and hotels booked, I only need to fill in a few more things before it's all ready to go. This will also be my first time traveling outside of the US. It's only Canada, so I'm not worried about culture shock or anything. I imagine it will be rather similar to what a person from Chicago feels when they go to Wisconsin.

[mkingy]

Theme Parks inside of shopping malls... something you'd never have room for in the UK! Hope you enjoy yourself! Mindbender looks really well integrated!

[gouldy]

mkingy wrote:

Theme Parks inside of shopping malls... something you'd never have room for in the UK!

True story

Merry Hell (Merry Hill) used to have a monorail that took you from one end to the other, and across to the waterfront shops. They got rid of it about 15-20 years ago, though. That's the closest example I can think of in the UK.

[TheArchitect]

We also had metroland at Gateshead until it close in 2008. It was Europes largest indoor theme park.

[TTD03]

Sounds like a fun trip, just don't die on Mindbender, or sit in the last car and have it break off the track

Ouch. That was one of the worst roller coaster accidents ever

It is a pretty intense ride from what Ive heard though

[TTD03]

Yea, I've heard its pretty much like Olympia Looping, cause well, they both have loops that are pretty much identical

It's the final countdown!!

Coaster Hero wrote:

Ouch. That was one of the worst roller coaster accidents ever

I've watched the clip of that nasty accident, and gave me the real sadness. Tears coming down, really... That was way different from other problems occurred on a track such as stalling, valleying, or hilarious rollback stuff.

[TTD03]

^ Yea it's definitely among the worse ever.

Thanks for the well wishes everyone. I'm aware of the accident on Mindbender, and when I'm there, I'll definitely be hoping it doesn't happen again. Wouldn't be the first time I've ridden a ride that's previously claimed a life, but it may be the first that was due to mechanical issues. I don't mean to be morbid, but what video clip was referenced? I've seen a few things that talk about it and show the crashed cars, but was there actually a video of it as it happened? It was 1986, well before anyone even thought to put a camera on a cell phone, and most people didn't exactly carry a video camera with them everywhere except for a few hobbyists and news crews. That leaves security footage as the most likely source if there is video if it as it happened.

[TTD03]

But seeing how "hd" today's security cameras are typically, the 1986 ones must have been god awful. And the chance that the camera was pointed towards the part of the track where the accident occurred I think is unlikely.

Okay, this is what I mean. Oh gosh, what a tragic scene...



But in 2014 when you ride it, you can drop that story because WEM's Mindbender is now one of the safest coasters in the world, so just have fun intense g's!