VIDEO: California’s Demon Roller Coaster

Who doesn’t love the thrill of a roller coaster?!

Well, plenty of people actually… But for adrenaline junkies, roller coasters are the best!

Would you dare to ride the Demon roller coaster?

Take a look at what that’s like in the video below!

According to Wikipedia, the Turn of the Century coasters opened with both Marriott’s Great America parks in 1976 and were designed by Arrow Dynamics. Both were painted blue and were among some of the first roller coasters to feature a double corkscrew.

They also featured two airtime hills after the first drop. The hills were well known for ejecting loose articles from the trains, such as hats, sunglasses and stuffed animals. The ride was custom-built for both parks.

After the 1979 season, Turn of the Century was heavily modified. The airtime hills after the first drop were removed and replaced with two back to back vertical loops and a lighted tunnel. Fake rock formations were built around the second loop and around the first half of the lift hill, with a third formation just before the corkscrews.

The entire ride was painted black and was renamed Demon. In addition to the re-design, the theme was changed as well. Fog machines were placed in the tunnels, blood red colored water fell out of the rock formation by the corkscrews and a unique logo was unveiled. The original trains were also modified.

A three-dimensional logo was attached to the front car of each train and flames were painted on the sides of the cars. In 1980 when the loops were added it became the 2nd 4 inversion roller coaster. The 1st was the Carolina Cyclone which opened 2 months earlier and is a very similar roller coaster

The storyline of the ride’s transformation heard in the Demon soundtrack is that the park accidentally missed three payments on the roller coaster, and that a demon has repossessed the ride.

When Demon first opened in 1980 the speakers placed throughout the ride’s line played Demon’s own soundtrack. The soundtrack included the infamous “Demon Song”, which was specially written for the Great America parks and was also very memorable.

Along with the song there were fake radio broadcasts, some about people who reported to have seen the demon, one report about a US Army captain named “Bucky McMacho” bombing the ride, and a few with people trying to lure the demon out of the ride in very strange ways.

The song was eventually removed from the ride. Bits and pieces of the sound effects in the soundtrack, however, were still used in the first tunnel before the lift hill. In 2005, the original song resurfaced when it was posted on a Marriott’s Great America fan site’s discussion boards.

The song also resurfaced at Six Flags Great America for the park’s annual Fright Fest event. Waukegan News Sun reporter Dan Moran mentioned remembering the song back in the 1980s in an article about the Halloween event. The song was reinstated in the line and in the first tunnel sometime after 2007, though its presence hasn’t been consistent.