Since Canada’s Wonderland opened in 1981, the park’s centerpiece has been Wonder Mountain.  Greeting guests from beyond the reflecting pool as they enter the park’s wide front gate, the mountainous structure has been a photo op for more than four decades. Over time, various attractions have interacted with the mountain, as have cliff divers in show performances.  In 2025, the biggest, boldest fusion of attractions with Wonder Mountain has erupted:  AlpenFury.

“AlpenFury delivers an epic, record-breaking thrill,” said Heather Hill, park manager and vice president of operations.  “With the combination of the two launches, that straight vertical climb and nine wild inversions, it will provide an action-packed, unforgettable experience.”

“AlpenFury’s impact on the skyline was intentional,” said Grace Peacock, public relations director.  “It stretches from the back of Wonder Mountain, out its summit and twists along the perimeter of our busy International Street, to the front gate and back.  It’s not only an exceptional ride experience, but it’s a sight to behold from the many areas of the park.  These immersive builds, where track interacts with midway, lend to the awe and excitement of the amusement park environment for any guest – whether they ride or not.”

The wintery blue coaster was supplied by Premier Rides.

 “Wonder Mountain is Canada’s Wonderland’s iconic, massive centerpiece that represents the legacy spirit of the park.  The idea of launching into the depths of the mountain and shooting out the top with an impressive fireball was audacious to say the least, considering all the ride structures and the complex structure of Wonder Mountain itself, said Sara Seay, vice president, Premier Rides. “The only way to create a technical path forward was to undertake the most complex, millimeter accuracy, internal and external mapping effort using multiple cutting-edge technologies including laser and drone equipment.  The terabytes of data collected were used to create an amazing model of the site, which allowed the ride engineers to develop the dynamic path of the ride which provided appropriate clearances but at the same time allowed for close interaction with both the mountain structure and the other rides.  There was a very significant engineering effort to accommodate AlpenFury in and on Wonder Mountain that included impressive structural solutions.  The Canada’s Wonderland technical team was amazing to work with on these challenges, and set the bar very high for their capabilities to achieve what some would have said is unachievable.”

AlpenFury is not the first roller coaster to interact with Wonder Mountain.  In fact, it is the park’s fourth.

 “Incorporating the ride into Wonder Mountain was a chance to deliver an experience that is truly one-of-a-kind,” Peacock told Amusement Today. “We wanted to make an impact, not only for the guests riding but also from a visual perspective.  The team had much work to do in navigating the mountain’s infrastructure but was able to use state-of-the-art 3D imaging cameras and build the coaster in such a way that it bears no load on the mountain itself.”

 The train sports a sled motif, suitable for the alpine-themed coaster.  Once aboard, 18 riders per train are dispatched into the first launch, sending riders diving into a long tunnel within the mountain.  Through that cavernous passage, the second launch – reaching speeds of 71 mph / 115 km/h – sends riders bursting into the sky out of the top of the mountain.

“It’s my favorite moment,” said Peacock.  “It’s those few seconds between the second powerful launch inside the darkness of Wonder Mountain to the vertical climb out its summit into the bright sky where you float for a moment over that inverted top hat.  Once you’ve been on AlpenFury a few times you come to know that moment is your last chance to take a breath before all the action of the inversions to come.”

And speaking of those inversions, there are nine, the most on any launched coaster.

“Canada’s Wonderland had a strong vision for the ride.  They already had an envious lineup of coasters but anted a statement attraction that would have the thrill ride community taking notice,” Seay said.  “When you already have an impressive offering of coasters, it means you have a large selection of elements and ride inversions.  Premier’s engineers had been coming up with a number of inversions that were being saved for that right time, which was AlpenFury.  Each element has a unique background story, and they are laid out in a manner that creates the highest thrill while making the experience smooth.  The design clearly has been a success as Six Flags has described the ride as a ‘standout success story’ with a 20% increase in attendance.”  

Canada’s wonderland has one of the largest collections of roller coaster on the planet.

“Diversity is everything when you’re positioning a park as a thrill destination,” said Peacock.  “All of our coasters offer something different, but AlpenFury’s experience is something you can’t find anywhere else.  With two launches – one into the depths of Wonder Mountain, and the second, a powerful blast straight-up vertical out the summit – and then nine stomach-flipping inversions back-to-back-to-back… the action is relentless.  Guests describe it as ‘intense’ and it’s quickly becoming a favorite for both first-time park goers and seasoned thrill seekers.”

“The front plaza effort was one of the most important creative/engineering tasks with a goal of enhancing what was already an entry to a day of fun and adventure,” added Seay.  “By creating the impressive span over the front plaza and specifically over the iconic Grand World Expo Globe, Canada’s Wonderland established a new iconic element of the park where guests arriving at the front Plaza are immediately reminded that their day ahead is going to be full of fun and adventure as they watch the AlpenFury trains roar by overhead.”

Enthusiasts have given it high marks for its original layout, smooth inversions and comfortable ride.

 The station is situated in a newly themed area, Alpenfest.  The thematic touches and décor accent the alpine architecture.

 “We went back to our historic roots with this attraction,” explained Peacock.  “Alpenfest is the newly designated area around Wonder Mountain and AlpenFury, but its inspiration originates with the park’s opening in 1981.  Then, the area was called International Festival, and this particular section was themed to the Swiss-German Alps.  Over the years, the theming was diluted, but we’re excited to bring it new life with this signature ride.  In Alpenfest, guests will find chalet-style architecture, whimsical elements like a glockenspiel clock, mountain goats, sleds and skis – all designed to evoke that festive alpine spirit.  It’s a nostalgic nod with a modern twist.”

 The refreshed area is alive with energy.

“There is no question that when I took the first ride, I was blown away by AlpenFury’s smoothness and amazing pace of non-stop dynamic elements.  It was wow but definitely in caps – WOW!” Jim Seay, president of Premier Rides told AT.  “But what really blew me away was the passion of the guests who became a visit part of the overall ride experience.  Premier has been fortunate to build a lot of epic rides, but the level of enthusiasm and camaraderie that can be seen every single day the ride is open is unprecedented.  Canada’s Wonderland’s AlpenFury has truly become a rite of passage for the coaster community, and it’s a humbling experience to see all the euphoria.”

 For those guests enjoying the area, there are revenue opportunities for Canada’s Wonderland.

 “We’ve expanded both retail and food offering alongside AlpenFury,” said Peacock.  “There’s a dedicated AlpenFury merchandise shop where guests can grab exclusive souvenirs.  We’ve also added two themed alcoholic beverages to enjoy – an AlpenFury pilsner, created by Cowbell Brewery and a “Fire & Ice” vodka soda.  For those guests craving a sweet treat, the new Fire and Ice funnel cake is now available.”

Canada’s Wonderland welcomes guests back to the park for the 2025 season in May, and the much-anticipated new coaster AlpenFury, the nation’s longest, tallest and fastest launch roller coaster, is set to open! 

This iconic coaster promises to deliver excitement and thrills to riders and non-riders alike while breaking national records for height, for speed and for length, and it places Canada’s Wonderland on the world map!  Designed by Premier Rides, who is renowned for cutting-edge engineering and innovative designs, the AlpenFury dual launch coaster also features the most inversions on a launch coaster in the world.

But the excitement doesn’t stop there.  With unique ride elements that pay homage to the park’s rich history, and thrills that cannot be found elsewhere, it’s clear the sophisticated design and integration with the challenging site have resulted in a unique coaster experience that, like Wonder Mountain itself, will become a legend in its own right! 

Jim Seay, president of Premier Rides commented, “The team at Premier Rides is honored to work with the highly talented and creative teams at Six Flags and Canada’s Wonderland to integrate this sophisticated, highly complex coaster with, not only Wonder Mountain, but also the three already existing other attractions inside the mountain.”  Seay continued, “Utilizing the latest tools in technology, including 3D digital scans of the site, our team developed with cutting-edge precision, a visually stunning dynamic layout that will deliver an unforgettable, one-of-a-kind ride experience.”       

AlpenFury is a highly themed dual launch coaster that is part of the fire and ice celebration to honor the legend and lore of Wonder Mountain.  First revealed at the IAAPA Expo in November, the highly themed train design is that of a modern, sleek alpine sled.

The ride delivers non-stop thrills, right from the station where riders are magnetically launched over a guest walkway and deep into Wonder Mountain! Before they know it, while inside the core of the mountain, riders are launched a second time, blasting out of the top of the mountain where riders experience nine inversions, three signature elements and unparalleled train-to-track “near-miss” interactions!      

The AlpenFury LSM dual launch coaster boasts 1,000 meters of track, is more than 50 meters high, and reaches speeds of 115km/hr. 

 

Sara Seay, ICAE

Director of Sales & Marketing
Premier Rides
Baltimore, Maryland

A view from the top …

Sara Seay is the director of marketing and sales for Premier Rides, Inc., headquar­tered in Baltimore, Maryland.  Premier, founded in 1995, is a designer and supplier of cutting-edge attractions.

Seay has been with Premier for 16 years. She began her career in the amusement industry when she was 14 years old at Lagoon Park, Farmington, Utah.

 

Accomplishments and affiliations…

• Recipient of the NEAAPA Paragon Award for excellence in marketing
• IAAPA Certified Attractions Executive
• Rising Star, Living Classrooms Foundation
• Sponsor, Give Kids the World Foundation
• Member/Supporter of IAAPA, Themed Entertainment Association (TEA), Australian Amusement Leisure & Recreation Association (AALARA), China Association of Amusement Parks & Attractions (CAAPA), Philippine Association of Amusement Parks & Attractions (PhilAAPA), Malaysian Association of Amusement Theme Park & Family Attractions (MAATFA), Camara Argentine de Parques y Atracciones (Argentine Association of Amusement Parks & Attractions) (AAPA), New England Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (NEAAPA), Pennsylvania Amusement Parks & Attractions (PAPA), New Jersey Attractions Association (NJAA), California Attractions & Parks Association (CAPA), ASTM F24: Amusement Rides & Devices, AIMS International: Amusement Industry Manufacturers & Suppliers

 

Many paths led Seay to her home

Sara Seay has walked down many different paths. Some she chose. Some were chosen for her. Some were good, and some not so good.  But each and every pathway taught her lessons of life and family and career.

“I feel they all brought me to where I am today,” Seay said.

Seay was born In Centerville, Utah, along with her brother who is 11 months older than she. Besides the town of her birth, she also lived in several other Utah cities, Bountiful, Salt Lake City and Farmington.

To say Seay was an overachiever is not a stretch. She studied hard. She made good grades. She graduated from high school early. She took college-level math and biology courses. She received college scholarships to the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, and Utah State University, Logan.

She also, at the age of 14 years, started working at Lagoon, a family owned and operated amusement park in Farmington. She was working part time then. She couldn’t have guessed, at that time, she would start full-time employment there in three years, the beginning of a 10-year stint.

She had made plans for herself. She wanted to attend Utah State and wanted to major in mechanical engineering. She was on that track and felt positive about her decisions.

But at the age of 15 years, an event occurred which turned her world upside down. On a trip to Salt Lake City from Bountiful, her mother, brother and cousin were in a horrific car accident. This accident would forever change her life, her brother’s life and especially her mother’s life.

All three sustained significant injuries with her mother’s most damaging injury taking several weeks to show up. She ended up with an injury to her brain and lapsed into a coma. She awoke, but would never live at home again.

“She had to learn to speak again,” Seay said. “She lost most of her hearing. Her mobility wasn’t good. My world changed tremendously in an instant. Our roles reversed. I became my mom’s support. It changed everything.”

For one thing, Seay spent much of her spare time at the nursing home with her mom. She became her advocate and, as she could, she would take her mom out on special occasions.

It wasn’t always easy.

“I noticed how people would talk over mom to me because of her impaired speech,” Seay said. “I think that was why helping people with disabilities during my time at Lagoon was so important.

“Those experiences continue to motivate me to really listen to and work to communicate directly with clients around the globe, particularly when English is a second language and accents are thick.”

The accident also altered her decision for college. Instead of going to Utah State, she decided to stay close to home and attend the University of Utah.

And that accident could well have been the catalyst for her to change her college major from mechanical engineering to hospitality management. “I was sitting in class one day and I looked around me and thought, you know, this isn’t what I really want to do,” Seay said. “I was way too social.

“I felt I always had to work twice as hard to prove my worth,” she said. “I was the youngest in the class. I was a woman in a male-dominated field of study. At that moment, I chose another path. Still today, I face the challenge of being a woman in a man’s environment. With time I’ve learned to navigate it, to know my own worth and to find pathways to success.”

Seay was already working full time at Lagoon. She threw herself into her work. She grew into her job eventually holding the titles of manager of guest services as well as being a park director.

She loved her job. She loved her team. She learned from her general manager, who was at the time Clark Robinson. Robinson later left Lagoon to become president of IAAPA.

She also was good at her job. Part of that job included handling complaints. Her colleagues told her they had never seen anyone who could say “no” to someone and be thanked for it.

But, handling complaints for 10 years began to take a toll on her outlook. She applied for another position at the park that was set to come open. She got it, but, at the last moment, the person vacating the position had a change of mind and decided to stay.

“I was so excited about being able to move to another position,” she said.

Mentally, she was already in that other position. It was hard for her to go back. She decided to leave Lagoon, taking a job at Utah’s Hogle Zoo.

But, as so many people need to do to at some point in time, she took that leap of faith, which ended up propelling her to the east coast where she visited the offices of IAAPA in Arlington, Virginia.

She also visited her former general manager Robinson. She was looking for employment. Robinson pointed her to Premier Rides, which turned out to be another turning point in her life.

She found that she settled well into marketing at Premier. She also found her future husband, Jim Seay.

And, now, 16 years later with more than 25 years in the industry, she knows her home.

“I have made some wonderful friends all around the globe,” Seay said. “They are my family. I am grateful to travel all over the world to develop relationships, to meet with clients and visit their facilities and, of course, to sell Premier Rides attractions.”

–Pam Sherborne

ATTRACTIONS / SAFETY / TECHNOLOGY

With attractions and theme parks planning to re-open following COVID-19, the Premier Service division of Premier Rides is working with their clients to provide 24-hour a day support for areas such as ride rehab video link support, real-time service bulletins, and online training conferences.

As theme parks worldwide consider and implement new operating strategies for their facilities to reopen, the Premier Service team is emphasising its tech-savvy approach to customer support, using a wide array of existing and cutting-edge technology platforms.

Premier Rides’ focus on safety and service is why clients rely on Premier Service for support during this reopening phase.  The Premier team has experience with challenging regulatory environments and has even worked with clients to help them open other manufacturer’s rides.

Premier Rides President Jim Seay advises “the focus of our industry has always been one of providing amazing lifetime memories. We have all faced challenges before, and although this season has been delayed, we are seeing parks start to reopen.  Premier Rides is here to help our clients navigate through these uncharted waters as the reopening process begins to emerge.

During the pandemic, Premier Rides has been able to remain open for business and fully operational.   Seay notes “as soon as facilities started shutting down, our clients’ focus shifted rapidly to the service side of business.  And even though the logistics of delivering service has become far more challenging, our team has risen to the occasion and has been both providing global support and expediting shipments of rehab product worldwide.

“Many parks are facing limited time to ramp up for reopening once restrictions are lifted, and many have limited staff to perform all the necessary work related to opening.  That is where the Premier Service team can help.  Whether it be support related to maintenance inspections or providing guidance to socially distance riders on an attraction, the Premier Service staff is working to ensure our clients get in business as quickly and as safely as possible so the focus can return to creating lifelong memories of fun.”

Celebrating 25 years in business this year, Premier Rides has extensive experience not only in the development and delivery of new attractions but also in providing service to clients around the globe.  The majority of the service work performed by Premier Service is on non-Premier attractions.  During the past quarter century, the Premier Service team has worked onsite alongside clients to perform maintenance on all rides and to train park staff.

They have performed ride rehabilitation, safety analyses and modifications, provided spare parts, ride upgrades, and replacement fleets of roller coaster trains.

Seay adds “the attractions industry is a close-knit community, and occasions like this highlight how we support each other and our communities for success.

“Thank you to the global attractions community for coming together…thanks not only the committees in our global and regional associations, but also to the individuals and entities who are working long hours to explore ideas and develop guidelines, technologies, and best practices  that have been shared around the world in an effort to ease the challenges of reopening.  We are in this together.”

 

The first roller coaster Jim Seay rode was the wooden Cyclone at Coney Island when he was 9 or 10 years old. He admits being “pretty scared.” Today, Mr. Seay, 59, is behind award-winning, heart-in-throat thrill rides around the world.After graduating from Cornell University with a mechanical engineering degree, Mr. Seay worked at the Hughes Aircraft Company in California in the company’s aerospace department. In the late 1980s, as military spending dropped, Mr. Seay shifted into entertainment, working for Six Flags before opening Premier Rides, based in Baltimore, which designs, constructs and tests attractions like Revenge of the Mummy at Universal Studios and the soon-to-open Dragonfire in Qatar. As president of Premier Rides, he spends more than half the year traveling to rides or to explore future coaster destinations.

Below are edited excerpts from a conversation with Mr. Seay.

What was it like to make the leap from aerospace to roller coasters?

There was a significant learning curve. At Hughes Aircraft it was a white-collar engineer environment. In the theme parks, there’s a very technical side. The engineers are developing the attractions, but there’s also an entire team of electricians and mechanics. They are the people who actually know how to make things work. I learned that the people at the theme parks tend to understand the equipment better than even the suppliers who are building it. They live with it daily. They inspect it daily. I learned a tremendous amount about the safety and maintenance side of things from the front-line technicians.

How do you come up with your ideas?

Sometimes we design our own attractions based on the creative talent at Premier Rides. Sometimes you have people who want to develop something around an intellectual property and you work together to develop something. We were very fortunate to do that with Universal Studios on the Revenge of the Mummy attractions. That ride is now in three locations around the world. Over 160 million people have ridden those rides. It’s very humbling.