World’s longest cruise ship roller coaster starts taking shape

The first photos of the construction process show the scope and scale of the roller coaster

COVID-19 restrictions may have temporarily halted production at Genting Group’s MV Werften shipbuilding operation in Germany, but work is continuing on a key feature of its first Global Class vessel: the world’s longest roller coaster at sea.

The “Spike-Coaster” type roller coaster — called Space Cruiser by Dream Cruises — is being built by Germany’s Maurer Rides and will be the highlight of the “Dream Park at the Pier” on Dream Cruise’s Global Dream.

Outfitted with powerful electric motors and positive-locking drive system, the coaster, says Maurer Rides, defies the physical limits experienced by conventional roller coasters, thus allowing acceleration over 1g almost everywhere on the 300-meter track.

Maurer Rides is now setting up the roller coaster on land, for testing, at a site in Güstrow, Germany, in the immediate vicinity of MV Werften’s Wismar shipyard. The yard has been closed by COVID-19 restrictions for over a month and a half, but last week said it would gradually restart production to under new hygiene regulations. Initially, this will not be on the Global Dream, but in a neighboring building hall.

Marco Hartwig, Project Manager at Maurer Rides, say that the test set up of the roller coaster on land will be used to trial the installation methodology designed for assembly of the ride on board the ship/ installation methodology especially designed for ship assembly. Additionally, the conductor rail and gear rack along the roller coaster track will be pre-installed on land to save time during ship assembly.

“The aim is also to collect all the 93 support base points coordinates after the roller coaster has been completed and then forward them to the shipyard for preparation and positioning for the deck foundations,” says Hartwig. “With the help of this procedure, we can ensure that the support base points on the deck of the ship are in the correct positions later.”

After the installation, three Spike vehicles will be put into operation step by step and the system control will be thoroughly tested. Before the roller coaster leaves the test site in Güstrow, the system will be dismantled to be transported to the shipyard for final assembly.