From Disneyland Paris to Mirabilandia and Europe-Park: the most spectacular Russian mountains in Europe between magic, record and pure adrenaline
There is a moment before the descent, in which time is immobilized. The train slows down, you only feel the “clack” of the tracks and the wind that changes temperature. It’s the time you wonder why you did it. Then, without notice, gravity lets you go, the stomach remains suspended somewhere at the top and the heart beats faster than the convoy. The world turns into a turbine of air, steel and shouts: this is the universal language of the Russian mountains.
August 16 is the Roller Coaster Day, the world party of those who, to feel alive, get on a car that promises to make you scream. To celebrate it, we have chosen five queens of Europe: some are pure extreme engineering, others tell a story, all have a common goal – make you forget for a few seconds that there is a “before” and a “after” the tour.
How the Roller Coaster Day was born: the story of the Lamarcus Adna Thompson patent
The date is not accidental. On August 16, 1898 in the United States the first official patent for a Russian mountain was granted to Lamarcus Adna Thompson. From there the race began – literally – towards the creation of ever higher, fast, scenic attractions. The Roller Coaster Day was born to celebrate this story made of visionary engineers, a steel that is curved impossiblely and millions of people who, from the first wagon to the last, discovered the pleasure of relying on a track.
Origins of the race: from the ice slopes to the steel
The Russian mountains were not born in an amusement park, but in the frost of St. Petersburg of the seventeenth century. At the time, gigantic wooden structures were covered with ice to allow dizzying descents on sleds. Caterina La Grande loved them so much that they also built for the summer, with carriages on wheels that ran on tracks. The idea arrived in France in the nineteenth century, where the first urban versions were born in Paris, the “promenades aériennes”: a guided route that descended with rail carriages. From there, the transformation into fun icon was inevitable.
Because in Italy they are called “Russian mountains”
The name is a direct tribute to the origins. In Italian, as in French or Spanish, we chose to remember those first descents of ice invented in Russia. Yet ironically, in Russia they call them “American mountains”, a tribute to their modern overseas evolution. Two names for the same experience: face a top and then fall down, between screams and laughter.
The adrenaline of the Russian mountains: because it is frightening and creates addiction
Adrenaline is pure chemistry. When the brain perceives the danger, it releases a wave of hormones that increase beat, breathing and muscle readiness. In a controlled context, like a Russian mountain, this cocktail becomes a game: you feel afraid without real consequences. For this reason, after the descent, many smile. It is the body that celebrates the escaped danger. A paradox that creates dependence: the extreme, the more you want to do it again.
Big Thunder Mountain in Disneyland Paris: The Queen of the Russian Narrative Mountains
It is not the fastest, it is not the highest, yet it is the queen of narrative. Set in the American frontier, this Russian mountain drags you between copper -colored canyons, shaky bridges and abandoned mines. The departure and arrival take place on an island in the center of a lake, reached crossing an underground tunnel at full speed. The scenography is treated as a film set: fake dynamite, mine trolleys and the roar of the tracks that echoes among the rocks. Here the thrill is not only mechanical, it is emotional. It is the pleasure of being inside a story, with the plus of a track that knows how to make the heart beat.
Mirabilandia: world records and adrenaline in Romagna
The largest park in Italy lives on record numbers: five kilometers of tracks ranging from families attractions to adrenaline giants.
Divertical is the highest Water Coaster in the world: 60 meters of vertical climb, an elevator that takes you to the sky and a final dip at 106 km/h with splash that surrounds you. Katun is a reversed flight 1,200 meters long: 110 km/h, six reversals and the constant feeling of no longer understanding where the bass is and where the high. ISPEED, on the other hand, is lightning on tracks: 55 meters high, 120 km/h of maximum speed and an acceleration from 0 to 100 in 2.2 seconds that paste you to the seat. Mirabilandia is a concentrate of courage and engineering, a place where the Romagna plain rebels against static.
Europe-Park in Rust: the German Park with the Russian Mountains for record
Europe-Park is a miniature continent: each area is a country, every Russian mountain an interpretation of its identity. Blue Fire Megacoaster launches you from 0 to 100 km/h in 2.5 seconds, put precise inversions like brush strokes and leaves you time to look around just for a moment before the next corner. The absolute novelty is Voltron Nera, with the steepest launch in the world: a discharge of energy that seems to project you out of the cabin, but that keeps you anchored to a track that knows exactly where to take you.
Shambhala in Board: the Himalaya Hyper Coaster
With its 76 meters high and a speed that touches 134 km/h, Shambhala is a classic Hyper Coaster that combines power and lightness. The descent to 77 ° is a leap in the void that leaves you breathless, but the real secret lies in the Airtime: those moments in which the seat seems to disappear and remains suspended, free, with the wind that cuts your face. The Himalayana setting adds an exotic touch, transforming the race into a pilgrimage to pure adrenaline.
Taron in Phantasialand: the speed labyrinth and extreme curves
Taron is a steel labyrinth immersed in the fantasy village of Klugheim. Two launches that push you up to 117 km/h, curves between canyons and medieval houses and a unique record: 116 crossroads of tracks. It is a sensory assault in which the view, hearing and the whole body are bombed by stimuli, and when you get off you don’t know if you have run or if you have been chased.
Because the Roller Coaster Day is the perfect opportunity to get on a carriage
In a few minutes these attractions teach you that fear can be domesticated, transformed into fun, and that sometimes letting go is the real luxury. That you choose Disneyland Paris’s cinematographic magic, the extreme power of Mirabilandia or the dizzying variety of Europe-Park, the Roller Coaster Day is the perfect time to make peace with the void under the feet. And to remember that, up there, between the sky and the first track of the descent, the only possible thought is one: again.
