Dreamworld to close one of the fastest rollercoasters in the world – four years after tourists died at the theme park – The Sun

AUSTRALIA's biggest theme park is to close one of the fastest rollercoasters in the world.

The Tower of Terror II, which boasts speeds up to 100mph, will be shut down as part of a $50m (£26m) overhaul.

Dreamworld has announced it will close the high-speed Tower of Terror II on November 3 to make way for new and improved rides.

The Tower of Terror rollercoaster, which has been at the theme park for 23 years and boasts "several seconds of stomach-churning weightlessness", will be dismantled to make way for new rides at Dreamworld.

New attractions include a new water complex with six waterslides, which are due to open over summer, and the $30m (£16m) MACK rollercoaster that will reach speeds of 65mph.

The announcement came on the eve of the anniversary of the Thunder River Rapids ride tragedy where four people were killed.

Dreamworld chief operating officer Greg Yong said: "New technology in the theme park industry continues to develop and become more advanced each and every year.

"We believe the success of our future is about investing in new, state-of-the art experiences for our guests wherever we can.

"This means some of our old favourites have been retired to make way for these new experiences, including Sky Voyager, the southern hemisphere’s first flying theatre and other attractions recently announced which will start to be introduced to the park in the coming months."

The ride opened in 1997 as the tallest and fastest rollercoaster in the world, achieving speeds of 100mph, and was revamped in 2010.

However, it only held the title for two months, before being beaten by the similar Six Flags' Superman: Escape from Krypton ride.

It remains one of the world's top five tallest roller-coasters.

On October 25, 2016, four people were killed on the Thunder River Rapids ride at Dreamworld after it malfunctioned and two rafts collided,

The ride was permanently closed last year following a 31-day inquest into the tragedy which has been completed, but its findings are still to be released.

The fastest rollercoaster in the world could open by 2023 – called Falcon's Flight, it would break records with speeds up to 155mph.

Sun Online Travel went behind the scenes at Alton Towers to find out what goes on to rollercoasters safe – with your ride selfie causing the most problems.

A version of this article was originally published by news.com.au and has been reproduced with permission.

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