The Blockbuster Mall shopping centre in Kiev, Ukraine, combines shopping and entertainment, with the indoor spinning coaster by Maurer the amusement park’s main attraction. Its name is “Американська Гірка,” which simply means “roller coaster.”
Visitors can go straight from the stores, into the seats of the spinning coaster and on to the bright orange rails. After a right-hand bend, the track climbs steeply 30° for a fantastic view over the park.
According to Maurer, the structural conditions were a challenge, as the coaster starts on a mezzanine level above the first floor of the mall. Underneath is a go-kart track with a number of obstructive columns, which meant the track had to be tailored into the architecture of the shopping centre. The track now curves around the pillars, inducing changes in direction for an exhilarating spinning ride.
Immediately after the hilltop, an S-curve will confuse riders’ orientation, then the passengers will fall into the first drop and spin dizzyingly over the go-kart track. The final burst has four turns before the gondola is gently braked back in the station area.
Opened in 2019, the shopping mall’s integrated 25,000 sq m “Galaxy Park” followed on 5 September, 2020, completed despite coronavirus restrictions. The vehicles have been airbrushed as a bear, cheetah, parrot, and snakes.
With more than one million people living in the area surrounding the shopping and leisure centre, the facility is intended to serve not only for shopping, but also as a social hub. Over 350,000 visitors are expected daily.