Blue Fire - Construction

Construction

Blue Fire opened as part of the first phase in a new Iceland-themed area of Europa-Park, which expands the park's overall area from 70 to 85 hectares. Europa-Park's directors, Roland and Jürgen Mack, broke ground on the new Iceland area in June 2008. Europa-Park started posting teasers for Blue Fire on their website in July 2008. The teasers made reference to the coaster's acceleration, inversions, energy, and Iceland theme. In August 2008, the park released an animated teaser, again showing the Iceland theme, along with the train traversing part of the ride's layout.

Construction of Blue Fire's track commenced in early September 2008, and the park issued a press release about the new ride on September 18. The press release confirmed that the park was expanding by 15 hectares and gave further details about Blue Fire's launch system and trains. It also mentioned that Blue Fire had the tallest loop of any roller coaster in Europe at 32 metres, which Screamscape blogger Lance Hart pointed out was incorrect because the first loop on Dragon Khan at PortAventura reaches a height of 36 metres. The park has since clarified that Blue Fire's loop is the tallest on any launched coaster in Europe.

The builders of Blue Fire topped off the ride on October 1, 2008, and completed the track's layout in mid-December 2008.

The construction effort required that Europa-Park cut the Fjord-Rafting river rapids ride in half to allow construction workers to access Blue Fire's site. The removed part of Fjord-Rafting was restored as a tunnel section and reopened before the 2009 season.

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