Port Aventura

B&M is building a new hyper coaster called Shambhala at PortAventura. The ride itself has some very impressive stats with a height of 249 and a first drop of 255, with a top speed of 83 MPH, making it the tallest coaster in Europe. Having ridden Nitro at SFGA, I know the ride would be great, since it's 40 feet taller, but I didn't expect to see a design that really seems to take on Intamin.

At this point, we can't assume anyting about the ride experience, but this video from PACtv really impressed me and wanted to share a picture and video.

Wow, interesting hills.

A lot could be the angle of the picture, but depending on the speed, we might get some ejector air rather than B&M's floater air. Can't wait to see the testing videos.

The park has posted a 4 minute behind the scenes construction video that's very well produced and interesting. This looks like it's going to be a great ride.

Thanks to PAfans who have posted pictures of the completed helix below. I've got to say this is one of the best I've ever seen and cementing B&M's dominace in 2012. Enjoy

Seems like it's going to crawl through those elements.

That one section looks amazing. Will be interesting to see an on-ride POV of this ride!

That's is one beautiful element it's a dream element that I've made in Nolimits many of times and now it's has come to life. Now all I need is one to come to life in this country lol

I agree that B&M is really outdoing themselves this year. Did you notice the little speed bump after that element? Mega airtime imo. PortAventura also released a new construction video below, which shows off everything unique about the ride.

It looks AMAZING!!!!

Here is another shorter video from PaFan.com that shows of the "little" suprise after the new unique turn-around element. B&M is really stepping up their game imho.

PortAventura has confirmed the Stats below:

Opening is scheduled for May / June 2012.
Maximum speed: 134 km / h or 82 MPH
Length 1650 meters or 5,413 feet.
Height: 76 meters or 249 feet.
First drop: 78 meters or 259 feet.
Cost: 25 million Euros or $33 million.

Shambhala has finally started testing as you can see from the you tube video below.

I know B&M's usually speed up over time but wow that ride looks like it just crawls through the hills. It almost stalled over the first airtime hill and honestly seemed to be kind of forceless. Hopefully this improves with time because it looks like it could be a great ride.

It does and completely agree. Let's also remember they can change the wheels to increase the speed, and let's hope they do.

B&M's start off testing very slowly and get faster over time, also if you notice the lift was also crawling. They first want to test with different lifthill speeds and cycle the trains a few cycles to see how everything is working. Then they will start full lift speed test and let er roar, it should be much faster and be hitting it's target speed of 85+mph.

Also In general B&M's get better over time imo this is why I try not to judge B&M's as harshly during the first few years. Yes the majority of them all start off as pretty solid rides but over time as they start to break in and get broken in they become great rides imo.

Here is another testing video:

Here is the official Testing Video released by the park. It looks to be moving somewhat faster, and that small airtime hill looks promising. Still though the ride looks somewhat slow and seems like it leaves a lot to be desired. Hopefully like Leviathan it will speed up with time.

WOW - Thanks for sharing. That is the best testing video yet and I think the ride does show promise. A wheel change can improve the speed if they want too. Is it me, or are all B&Ms kinda slow this year?

It's not just you From what I see Wild Eagle is the only new B&M coaster with the fastest lift hill... but that's just me..

This video looks a lot better imo. It looks like it will be a lot of floater and one instance of ejector air time in the small speed hill. Still I agree with you guys about B&M being slow this year. I wish B&M would make a hyper that is really good with an inspired layout and the sense of speed, and with a lot of airtime that isn't just floater. That is my dream but I don't know if it will ever happen.

I think you're right - this is certainly the best video yet - NICE..