The Jester (roller coaster)

The Jester
Previously known as The Joker's Revenge at Six Flags Fiesta Texas
Six Flags New Orleans
Park section	Sportsman's Paradise
Coordinates	30.054485°N 89.936552°W / 30.054485; -89.936552
Status	Closed
Opening date	April 13, 2003 (2003-04-13)
Closing date	August 2005 (2005-08)
The Jester at Six Flags New Orleans at RCDB
Six Flags Fiesta Texas
Name	Joker's Revenge
Park section	Fiesta Bay Boardwalk
Status	Removed
Opening date	May 10, 1999 (1999-05-10)
Closing date	January 3, 2001 (2001-01-03)
Cost	$4,300,000 USD
Replaced by	Pandemonium
Joker's Revenge at Six Flags Fiesta Texas at RCDB
General statistics
Type	Steel
Manufacturer	Vekoma
Model	Hurricane
Lift/launch system	Chain lift hill
Height	79 ft (24 m)
Drop	69 ft (21 m)
Length	1,936 ft (590 m)
Speed	40 mph (64 km/h)
Inversions	3
Duration	1:24
Max vertical angle	40°
Capacity	2100 riders per hour
G-force	3.5
Height restriction	48 in (122 cm)
Trains	2 trains with 7 cars. Riders are arranged 2 across in 2 rows for a total of 28 riders per train.

The Jester is a steel roller coaster located at the abandoned Six Flags New Orleans amusement park in New Orleans. Built and designed by Vekoma, The Jester opened to the public on April 13, 2003. Following the devastation to the amusement park in August 2005 by Hurricane Katrina, the roller coaster ceased operation after the park's closure, although it remains standing.

History

Six Flags Fiesta Texas (1996 – 2002)

See also: Six Flags Fiesta Texas

The ride was originally planned to open with the park in 1992. The ride was then canceled until 1993 when the ride was announced to open in 1996 to be called "The Wacky Twister". When Fiesta Texas in San Antonio, Texas was bought out from Time Warner in 1996 (the current owners of Six Flags at the time), they helped flag the park into Six Flags Fiesta Texas. Time Warner saw the opportunity to advertise and promote their latest movies through their Six Flags parks, so they added The Joker's Revenge, the first Vekoma Hurricane roller coaster in the United States and the first Vekoma roller coaster to run backwards a full circuit in the Fiesta Bay Boardwalk section next to and along the parks quarry wall. Joker's Revenge was painted all pink during the years in San Antonio before the coaster got too rough and had mechanical problems in 2001. Six Flags Fiesta Texas closed down the coaster after the 2001 season and it remained closed until late 2002 when it was moved to Six Flags New Orleans.

Six Flags New Orleans (2003 – 2005)

One of The Jester's trains going through a corkscrew.

Ruins of The Jester in 2009.

Six Flags took over the lease of Jazzland in 2002, operating it as "Jazzland" for the 2002 season, changing the park's name in 2003 to Six Flags New Orleans for the 2003 season. Before the 2003 season, the park opened a whole new selection of rides including moving The Joker's Revenge roller coaster from Fiesta Texas in San Antonio to the park in New Orleans and renamed it The Jester in the Mardi Gras section of the park. The coaster also ran backwards at the park with a new color scheme of Green and Blue. When Hurricane Katrina hit the park on August 29, 2005, the park was severely flooded causing Six Flags New Orleans to shut down and the rides to close. The park still remains closed.

In 2007, Six Flags began the process of moving rides from the park to their other properties. Batman: The Ride was the first ride to be taken out of the park. It was removed and taken to Six Flags Fiesta Texas, where it was refurbished and reopened as Goliath. Bayou Blaster and Sonic Slam were removed in 2008 and taken to Great Escape in Queensbury, New York, where it was refurbished and reopened as Sasquatch in 2009. The Road Runner Express was removed in 2009 and taken to Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California, where it was refurbished and reopened in 2011 under the same name. The Jester is still currently standing but not operating at the New Orleans park with the wooden coaster Mega Zeph and other coasters and attractions. Some of the Jester's green and blue paint is peeling away, revealing the old Joker's purple paint scheme. The park is still closed since 2005 and is no longer a Six Flags park. It is now owned by the city of New Orleans.

Ride

Once riders board one of the two Jester's trains, a train will then take riders up a 79-foot (24 m) tall lift hill. After the train goes up the lift hill it will then loop around and drop at speeds up to 40 miles per hour (64 km/h) through a Vertical loop and then the train will loop around over the station to the ride's double Corkscrew. Once the train passes the double corkscrews it will then take riders through a double helix's before entering the brake run that takes rides back to the station. There are two Vekoma Hurricane's in the world and The Jester is the only one to take riders backwards throughout the whole course of the coaster. The other Vekoma Hurricane is located at Walygator Parc as Waly Coaster that only travel riders forwards and not backwards.