It’s another busy year for rollercoaster openings. We round up some key projects ride makers are working on

S&S Worldwide is getting started on the installation of a 4D Free Spin wing coaster at Six Flags Mexico. The free-flying Wonder Woman Coaster suspends guests on both sides of the track, where their cars rotate at random throughout the ride. The experience depends on the rider’s weight, position and interaction, making for a different ride every time. The Wonder Woman Coaster track is 310 metres and the height is 36 metres, with top speeds of 61kph.

• Maker of traditional wooden rollercoasters Martin & Vleminckx is opening its 11th wood coaster in China this spring, at Fantawild Asian Legends in Guangxi province, China. Jungle Trailblazer measures in at 973 metres long and 33 metres high, with a 30-metre drop and speeds of up to 87kph.

• VR Coaster is reinventing more than 15 rides this year, not least the Great Lego Race VR coaster, produced in cooperation with Figment Productions, for Legoland parks in Florida, Germany and Malaysia. VR Coaster already this year launched VR Mine Train at Ocean Park Hong Kong and Final Fantasy XR Ride at Universal Studios Japan.

• Among Intamin’s busy roster of openings are the five-inversion vertical lift coaster for Ocean Paradise in Hainan, China; the Fast & Furious suspended family coaster at the upcoming Warner Bros World Abu Dhabi in the UAE; and the 142kph mega coaster, Hyperion, boasting a 80-metre drop and a 1,449-metre track length, is opening at Energylandia, Poland. There’ll also be two of the ride maker’s ATV family launch coasters opening this year, with Yukon Quad opening at Le Pal in Auvergne, France, and another being installed in Vietnam.

• Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC) is going to be working hard to complete a wide range of global projects, including two of its new single-rail steel coaster concept. Wonder Woman Golden Lasso is set to debut at Six Flags Fiesta Texas, while RailBlazer – themed around the Pacific coastline highway State Route 1 – is opening at Cedar Fair’s Great America, California.

Also for Cedar Fair, RMC is opening two hybrid coasters: Twisted Timbers at Kings Dominion, Virginia, featuring a 33-metre-tall barrel roll downdrop; and Steel Vengeance at Cedar Point, Ohio, with speeds of up to 119kph and a 61-metre, 90-degree drop. A further steel-wood hybrid is coming to Six Flags Over Georgia, Twisted Cyclone.

• Vekoma is opening several new rides in Asia, including the new Firestorm launch coaster, a high-energy ride developed from the Space Warp ride system. They’ll open at Vinpearl in Thu Thiem, Vietnam, and Evergrande, Hainan Island, China. Custom-designed Hyper Space Warp looping coasters are also opening at Fantawild’s parks in Handan, Taiyuan and Wuhu in China.

• Mack Rides has a couple of major projects debuting in 2018. The highly anticipated £16m ICON at the UK’s Blackpool Pleasure Beach is billing itself as “one of the most thrilling in the world”. Set to reach heights of 30 metres, with drops of up to 24 metres, the double launch will propel riders at high speed at the start and halfway through the 2.5 minute experience.

At the same time, Mack is building a triple-inversion, 30-metre-tall spinning coaster at Silver Dollar City, Missouri. The $26m Time Traveler, which resembles a time-travelling machine with gears, cogs and industrial components, boasts a cutting-edge 360-degree adjustable magnetic spin control and free-spinning cars that provide a different ride each time.

• Zamperla is installing nine coasters in 2018, spearheaded by its Factory Coaster at Wuxi Wanda City. The multi-feature, seven-car steel coaster will reach heights of 26 metres and a track length of 610 metres. Plus, the Italian firm is completing its fourth Thunderbolt, at Masan Robotland Park, Incheon, South Korea. An Air Force 5, four Twister Coasters, and two Family Gravity Coasters are also in the works.