AlpenFury: Engineering a Landmark Coaster at Canada’s Wonderland

When AlpenFury was introduced in the summer of 2025, it wasn’t just another ride opening at Canada’s Wonderland, it was a record-breaking moment. Soaring 50 m high, 1000 m long, and reaching a speed of 115 km/h, AlpenFury is the tallest, longest, and fastest launch coaster in Canada. With nine inversions, more than any other launch coaster in the world, it offers a breathtaking blend of height, speed, and precision engineering.

Making a ride of this scale a reality required extraordinary teamwork. RVA worked closely with Canada’s Wonderland, Premier Rides, and Rutherford Contracting to bring the project from concept to completion. RVA provided architectural, structural, mechanical, and land development services for the ride station, the merchandise building, and the extensive modifications both interior and exterior of Wonder Mountain. Using point-cloud data and REVIT, the team created models that could then be exported to Navisworks for coordination. This precision was critical as the interior and exterior of Wonder Mountain had to account for existing structures, utilities, and spaces.

The experience begins inside the ride station where guests are launched horizontally over a small hill before diving deep into the base of Wonder Mountain. Guests are then launched horizontally a second time before rising vertically out of the mountain’s summit into a double-inverted top hat. From there, the coaster snakes through a series of twists, rolls, and heart-pounding inversions. The coaster threads directly through the mountain’s interior, however, the ride support structure and the mountain structure remain entirely independent. “Even though the ride goes through the modified mountain structure, not a single piece of the track support columns, beams, braces are connected to the mountain steel framing,” explained Mark Bruder, RVA’s Manager of Structures and Tunnels and the Project Manager for RVA’s portion of the AlpenFury project. “They’re two separate structures co-existing in the same space. We had to redesign and move beams, braces and slabs around to maintain a safe clearance envelope for guests, but we weren’t just tearing the mountain apart to do this. It was about precision engineering and respecting the original use of space while carving out new ones.”

The new spaces support the ride’s operation: a workshop and transfer track area where trains can be shifted off the main track and serviced, a transformer and electrical room designed to store significant backup power, and various areas reclassified to meet building code requirements. Every level and most corners of the mountain had to be assessed, not just for day-to-day park staff usage but for guest safety. “We had to consider what happens when people are either travelling through the mountain while on the ride or if they have to exit the ride from inside the mountain during an emergency,” Mark said. “The new exit routes protect both guests and staff equally.”

Canada’s Wonderland intended to open the ride as soon as possible, and helping to achieve this was important to RVA’s design team. This meant designing and delivering the work in a way that worked for Canada’s Wonderland and their contractor Rutherford Contracting. The design team had to think carefully about how and when work was delivered. “The schedule didn’t allow for us to design and deliver everything in one package. We also had to anticipate future challenges and deliver the work sequentially based on what could be constructed first and when the track pieces were going to arrive on site,” Mark noted.

Early deliverables included conceptual designs for the ride station and merchandise building, conceptual space reconfigurations, and structural changes inside the mountain that had to be completed before other parts of the project could even begin. Anticipating future needs, such as integrating mechanical systems, fire protection, and theming elements, helped with scheduling. At the ride station, the design team balanced technical requirements with an immersive Alpine village theme. The station incorporates a wide variety of functions: indoor and outdoor queueing, stair access, lockers and storage, maintenance rooms, ride controls and operator booths, and a themed merchandise space, including a striking mass timber roof.

While AlpenFury sets impressive roller coaster records, its significance is also cultural. The ride was envisioned as more than just a coaster; it’s an immersive story experience that deepens the connection between guests and the park. “It doesn’t feel like the ride was just thrown into the mountain,” said Mark. “The rockscaping both inside and out, and the thematic integration, makes it looks like it’s always been there. That raises the bar not just for thrills, but for storytelling.” Theming has become an increasingly important part of modern amusement park design, and AlpenFury represents a shift toward more immersive, world-class experiences at Canada’s Wonderland, the park created an attraction that feels natural and timeless.

Executing a project of this scale required close coordination between all parties involved. The integration of multiple disciplines, each with competing priorities and tight timelines, meant that quality assurance checks were essential for every deliverable and holistically across disciplines. RVA’s design decisions were cross-checked with Premier Rides and other partners to help find alignment from all angles.

AlpenFury sets a new precedent for the theme park industry. “This is a world-class ride,” Mark reflected. “It sets a new bar for what can be achieved, not just here, but for future projects across the industry. Innovations like this show what’s possible and that becomes the new standard others will look to match or exceed.”
Watch the video by Canada’s Wonderland of AlpenFury in action.