Whether you’re slowly climbing that 300-foot chain lift hill or racing out of the station on the freeway faster than a sports car, roller coasters are very effective at attracting thrill seekers and the brave for a quick adrenaline rush. Usually, the logo of any amusement park is the tallest and fastest roller coaster in the area. Or theme parks might advertise the number of times their roller coaster reverses, or the amount of time the ride puts the rider through high levels of gravity.
Sometimes, however, the key to marketing roller coasters is to design something really weird, so much so that you wonder if you’re looking at a real roller coaster or a Photoshop passion project with clickbait posters. So here comes the Ball roller coaster from Austria, which has no problem making a statement.
Wiener Prater, in Austria, is an interesting amusement park because it isn’t owned by one combined manager and is instead run by different showmen bringing their own rides to the location. Roller Ball, run by operators Kern and Waldmann, is one such roller coaster and is definitely Austria’s weirdest one.
The Roller Ball model hangs its guests on the side of the ride, flipping them back and forth as it winds down a serpentine track, neatly fitting in a small, vertical piece of land. Roller Ball is actually one of three different rides of the same exact ride type, built by Ride Engineers Switzerland; the other two being Wilde Hilde in Schwaben Park and Nid de Marsupilamis in Parc Spirou Provence. Roller Ball itself, however, is the newest model, having been built in 2020.
