In a year in which Wonder Woman has ascended to great heights in pop culture, the heroine is destined for a great drop — followed by some twists and turns, then more ups and downs and a zero-G roll.
Theme-park giant Six Flags announced Thursday that a cutting-edge new ride, the Wonder Woman Golden Lasso Coaster, billed as the world’s first single-rail coaster, will open in the company’s Fiesta Texas park in San Antonio next spring.
And like its namesake, the new park attraction will be smoother and faster than its counterparts named after male superheroes like Batman and Superman. That’s because its trains will run along a single 15.5-inch wide steel track, which gives it a smoother ride than traditional two-track steel coasters on which any difference in alignment between the left and right wheels can lead to jolts.
"I expect it to be crazy smooth," Larry Chickola, Six Flags vice president and chief corporate engineer, told USA Today, which broke the news. "And crazy fun. There will be extremely quick twists and turns — quicker and smoother than regular coasters."
And because the track is much thinner, it will need fewer steel supports. The red, blue and yellow ride is narrow enough that seating in the three cars is single file.
It’s the first time a roller coaster has been named after a female superhero: Even Batman's foe, the Joker, already had his own Six Flags ride.
Wonder Woman is in the midst of her most momentous stretch to date — 75 years after being created by William Moulton Marston. The character’s cinematic debut is nearing the $400 million mark at the box office, and is already the highest-grossing movie by a female director (Patty Jenkins) in history.