Mr. Freeze Roller Coaster

Mr. Freeze is the name of a roller coaster at Six Flags Over Texas (between Dallas and Fort Worth, actually located in Arlington, Texas). This coaster first opened to the public on Saturday, March 28th, 1998.

Some interesting statistics:

• 218 feet tall (vertical tower... coast upwards to stop, then freefall back down, backwards!) The actual topmost point of the tower is at 242.5 feet!
• three seconds of near-weightlessness going up and down the spike track
• Inversion ("top hat") at 150 feet height, taken both forwards and backwards (is this the world's highest inversion?)
• Wraparound curve at 105 feet, banked at 120 degrees (!!)
• Vertical linear runs taken both facing straight up, and facing straight down, and again each taken both forwards and backwards
• Attains top speed of 70mph in 3.78 seconds (!!), 1.5G acceleration during launch
• 5000 horsepower worth of linear induction motors
• 4G acceleration as train enters first vertical
• Two seven-ton trains, each seating 20 guests
• Powered by 224 state-of-the-art linear induction motors (designed and engineered by Force Engineering Ltd. of England) delivering five thousand horsepower!
  • 40 LIMs on the spike (each unit countains two LIMs)
  • 172 LIMs in the launch tunnel (more now?)
  • remaining LIMs on the transfer carts (6 pairs of LIMs per cart)
• LIMs final-manufactured and supporting electrical supply equipment designed and built by Winkle Electric Co., Inc, exclusive US agent for Force Engineering
  • 150 feet of electrical cabinets, 7 feet high control the ride
  • the launch requires 5000 amps of electricity at 480 volts (that's 2.4 million watts of electricity)
• Containing 434 tons of steel and 4000 cubic yards of concrete
• 1,480 feet of coaster track
• more than 250 people have worked on the project since November
• Themed after Mr. Freeze, Batman's arch-rival in DC Comics
• Sponsored by Duracell batteries
• Designed by Premier Rides (aka Phoenix Rides) of Millersville, Maryland in association with Werner Stengel Engineering of Germany.
• Another good unofficial site for Premier and other rides
• Cost of Mr. Freeze: about $6 million

Previous and Related Information about Mr. Freeze

The following information has been moved off the main Mr. Freeze page to save download times for those of you who come back to visit this Web site regularly.

• Artist's Conception Drawings
  • Panoramic drawing of Mr. Freeze and Station
  • Smaller drawing of Mr. Freeze
• Six Flags Over Texas' own official Mr. Freeze Web page, pretty pathetic really
• Mr. Freeze Announcement Press Release from SFOT (Dec 1996) describing in general terms the track route, and my advance speculation of the track layout
• Map showing Mr. Freeze among nearby attractions at SFOT
• Wish List of changes and improvements requested by SFOT fans
• Construction Watch reports and photos for previous months
  • ...during March, 1997
  • ...during April, 1997
  • ...during May, 1997 This page contains some of the best photographs of Mr. Freeze!
  • ...during June, 1997
  • ...during July, 1997... the leadup to the missed opening
  • ...during Aug-Sept, 1997... the wind-down and discouragement
  • ...during October, 1997... the wild news break about Premier management
  • ...during November, 1997... more waiting, while Six Flags Theme Parks regains control
  • ...during December, 1997 and January, 1998... waiting, and reinstallation of post-repair LIMs
  • ...during February, 1998... hearing the news of Premier's purchase of the chain, and the park reopens
  • ...during March, 1998... open at last! Pre-opening through the first riders' reports
  • ...during April and May, 1998... lots more ride reports, trip report from Fiesta Texas
  • ...during June and July, 1998... staff cutbacks, tornado at Premier's home park, and rider report from St. Louis Mr. Freeze
  • ...from August through end 1998... rumors about the new B&M coaster, and early construction reports
  • ...during 1999... more construction news leading up to the opening of SFoT's "Batman-The Ride"
• Mr. Freeze's Linear Induction Motors Delectable photos!
• Meet the Steelworkers who assembled Mr. Freeze Some of the construction crew who actually put Mr. Freeze together, and their thoughts about this remarkable coaster that they wanted to share with its future riders.
• Steelworkers' Personal Photo Album The steelworkers who actually assembled Mr. Freeze share their personal photo album of construction memories with online coaster buffs worldwide.
• Related LIM-powered Premier Coasters
  • Mr. Freeze's Near-Twin at Six Flags St. Louis
  • Batman and Robin: the Chiller at Six Flags Great Adventure, NJ
    • Another coaster fan's great The Chiller Web site
• Other Mr. Freeze Web pages... both mine and friends'...
  • My Original all-in-one-piece Mr. Freeze Web page (as frozen May 10, 1997)
  • Rev. Russ's Mr. Freeze Web page Another good supplemental source of information about Mr. Freeze!
  • Another excellent Six Flags Page with some fine pictures of Mr Freeze under construction, and during recent night testing (although you kind of have to hunt for them, since the page uses frames). Another excellent source for astute observations of what's new around the park.
• Newspaper, Magazine and TV Coverage of Mr. Freeze and this Web site
  • .AVI file of complete run of St. Louis Mr. Freeze (1.13Mb, about 35 seconds, no sound)... as compiled by Jim Everman of St. Louis, based on the KTVI evening newscast, St. Louis Channel 2 Fox affiliate station.
  • Complete KTVI Channel 2 news story .AVI file (5Mb, with sound) as it appeared on the KTVI-TV (Channel 2, St. Louis, Fox affiliate station) evening newscast, July 18, 1997. Digitized by Jim Everman of St. Louis.
  • Love/Hate Roller Coaster: Texas Thrill Rides from Both Sides... Texas Monthly magazine, July ? 1997, updated since.
• Frequently Asked Questions
  • How do LIMs work, anyhow?
  • Ride trajectory... I'm confused... what exactly happens during the ride?
• Other Web pages covering other Parks and Coasters
  • San Antonio parks' coasters Paul Young's site with news and photos of Great White, Steel Eel, and other new stuff happening there.

Mr. Freeze and SFOT News Watch

Note: the reports for prior months have been split off into separate Web pages to reduce download bulk... please see the links above if you need to get caught up!

As of September 25th, it's starting to become apparent that (after a basically uneventful 1999) major things are happening at SFoT for its 40th anniversary in 2001. Among those things are apparently a major new roller coaster, expected to be the tallest and fastest coaster ever built in Texas.

The new coaster is expected to have a 255 feet first drop (taller than the top of Mr. Freeze's spike track!) and reach a speed of 85 mph across its run of approximately a mile (more or less the same track length as the Texas Giant). The steel coaster is reportedly being built by Giovanola Freres of Switzerland, and will be only the company's second coaster installed in the USA.

There's a terrific-looking Web site being maintained by Jeremy Ross, another coaster fan which looks like will give good coverage of the building of this new coaster, and I'd urge you to drop by for a visit.

There is also speculation that a few rides from SFoT's past, previously called Spinnaker and Spindletop, may be again installed in the park.

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This Mr. Freeze Web site was awarded the Trippy Site Award on October 28, 1997.

Artist conception images and drawings are copyright Six Flags Theme Parks, Inc. (C) 1997, Mr. Freeze and related elements are property of DC Comics, (C) 1997. Photographs of Mr. Freeze LIMs are (C) 1997 Winkle Electric, used by permission. .AVI files digitized by Jim Everman of St. Louis, original Channel 2 news report (C) 1997 KTVI-TV, St. Louis. Some pictures as indicated (C) 1997-8 by Robb Alvey, used by permission. Another photo as indicated (C) 1998 by the Arlington Morning News and Amy E. Conn. Newspaper article excerpts (C) the news sources quoted. The rest of this page (including my own original photographs) and all linked contents originating with me are Copyright (C) 1997-2000 by Gordon E. Peterson II, all rights reserved worldwide. Last revised September 25th, 2000.