Paramount's Great America Shatters Expectations

Santa Clara, CA -- Prepare to free your body and your mind from the restraints of Earth. Get ready to be awestruck. This is Stealth, the world's first and only true flying coaster and a ride that will shatter your every expectation.

As you hurtle through 2,781 feet of curves, twists and turns at up to 50 miles an hour you will experience flight without floors, ceilings or walls.

It's a roller coaster all right, but you've never experienced anything like this before. Not anywhere. Not ever.

With just a few tests left to conduct, Paramount's Great America expects Stealth to open for previews in March and to the general public on April 1. This radical coaster was designed by Vekoma International of the Netherlands.

Paramount's Great America is the Bay Area's biggest thrill park with nine roller coasters (including Stealth) and more than 60 rides and attractions.

Paramount's Great America will be open weekends beginning Saturday, April 1. The park will open daily for Spring Break from Wednesday, April 19 through Saturday, April 22 and from Wednesday, April 26 through Sunday, April 30. The park will be closed on Easter Sunday. The park will be open daily from Friday, June 2 through Sunday, August 27. The park will be open Friday, Aug. 28 and
remains opens weekends through Sunday, Oct. 15. The park opens at 10 a.m.; closing times vary. Operating schedule subject to change without notice.

Single day admission will be $36.99 per person (age 7 through 59) and $19.99 for children (age 3 through 6 or under 48 inches tall). Senior citizen (age 60 and older) tickets will be $24.99. Children 2 and under are admitted free. Group rates and season passes are available.

Call 408-988-1776 or visit the park on-line at www.pgathrills.com for more information on Paramount's Great America's 2000 season.

When completed, guests will board coaster trains, sit down and secure two harnesses. One harness will hold their knees in place, the other will hold their upper body. Guests are slowly tilted to a prone position in their seats before the train departs the station and goes up the 115-foot, 30-degree lift hill backwards. The train then goes through the first inversion at the top of the hill so guests are flying facedown, zooming toward the ground.

Guests will spend virtually all of the ride on their backs and fronts, with the coaster track behind them, unable to see what's coming up. Stealth is designed to continually surprise guests with unexpected twists and turns, three of which bring them within 10 feet of the ground. Guests will also get unobstructed vistas of the park during the ride.

"Stealth will be proof that man was meant to fly...fast," said Gayle Y. Ando, general manager and executive vice president of Paramount's Great America. "Sure, people have flown in ordinary airplanes for years. But Stealth will let guests fly at incredible speeds through amazing twists, turns and rolls. No one in the world has ever experienced anything like it."

Related Stories
Paramount's Great America Unveils "Project Stealth" June 22, 1999