The Demon

Opened: 1977

Closed: 1987

Location: Wild Animal Safari (today known as Action Zone), approximately where Congo Falls is now located

Former Names: Screamin’ Demon (1977-1981)

Manufacturer: Arrow Development

Model: Launched Loop

Length: 635 feet

Height: 56 feet

Drop: 47 feet

Speed: 45mph

Inversions: 1

Duration: One minute, six seconds

Cost: Part of $5 million expansion

Vehicles: Single train with four to six cars, four guests per a car

Description: The Demon was a forward-and-backward looping roller coaster built above a lake. Riders would ascend a large stairwell before boarding the train. The ride would be catapulted out of the station, down a drop, and through a vertical loop. The train would then travel up a hill and onto a long piece of flat track before slowing to a stop and reversing, completing the drop, loop, and hill in reverse.

History: The Demon opened as the country’s first forward-and-backward looping roller coaster on April 16, 1977. The ride was originally known as Screamin’ Demon and painted with an eye-catching gradient of yellow and red. Although the ride was the first Arrow Development launched loop to open, it was not the first manufactured – that title would go to the factory model, which then opened at Circus World in Haines City, Florida in 1977.

The ride was tested with a four-car train but opened to the public with six cars. This number was dropped to five cars in late summer, which the ride primarily operated with during its run. It appears to have temporarily bumped back up to six cars in the early 1980s, however.

The ride was officially renamed to just The Demon in 1982, though it was still referred to as Screamin’ Demon in unique cases. It was also around this time that the ride lost its gradient paint job and was repainted shade of black and brown.

A sign appeared near the roller coaster in summer 1987, announcing that the location would be home to an exciting new family attraction the following year. The ride closed after the 1987 season and was relocated to Camden Park in Huntington, West Virginia. It operated at its new home as Thunderbolt Express from 1988 through 1999. It then remained standing but not operating until it was demolished in November 2004.

 

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