When Mumbo Jumbo opened at Flamingo Land in North Yorkshire on July 4, 2009, it did something no British coaster had done in years: it set a world record. Guinness World Records officials were on hand as the bright-orange S&S El Loco debuted with a 112-degree first drop, officially the steepest roller coaster made from steel anywhere in the world — a title it held for two years.
Key Stats
| Height | 98 ft (30 m) |
| Drop angle | 112° beyond vertical |
| Inversions | 2 |
| Max g-force | 4 g |
| Manufacturer / model | S&S – Sansei Technologies El Loco |
| Opened | July 4, 2009 |
| Record | Guinness World Record, steepest steel coaster (2009–2011) |
A Guinness World Record for Yorkshire
Mumbo Jumbo’s 112-degree drop — 22 degrees beyond straight down — snatched the steepest-steel-coaster crown from Steel Hawg at Indiana Beach in the US, which had held it at 111 degrees. Representatives from Guinness World Records attended the 2009 opening to certify the record, instantly making the 98-foot ride the headline of Flamingo Land’s coaster collection and, for a time, the steepest coaster on the planet. The record moved on in July 2011, first to Timber Drop in France (113.1°) and days later to Takabisha in Japan (121°), but Mumbo Jumbo remains the steepest coaster in the UK and a fixture on the world steepest-drops list.
The ride experience
Like every S&S El Loco, Mumbo Jumbo is a study in compact chaos. Four-rider cars climb a vertical-looking lift structure of orange steel, hang over the crest, and drop past vertical so that riders briefly face back underneath the track. The layout then wrings out two inversions — including a lazy heartline roll — plus overbanked and outward-banked turns that produce forces up to 4 g, remarkable for a ride of this footprint. It’s a short, sharp shock of a coaster: the intensity comes not from height or speed but from angles the human brain insists are wrong.
The ride had a famous hiccup on May 3, 2010, when a rider’s poncho got caught in the wheels and stopped a car on an inverted section; two passengers hung upside-down for around 20 minutes before being safely brought down, and the ride returned to service. It has been a reliable staple of the Malton park ever since, sharing the skyline with Flamingo Land’s bigger steel giants while out-steeping them all.
FAQ
How steep is Mumbo Jumbo at Flamingo Land?
Its first drop is angled at 112 degrees — 22 degrees beyond vertical. That made it the Guinness World Record steepest steel roller coaster from 2009 to 2011, and it is still the steepest coaster drop in the UK. See the full world ranking.
How tall is Mumbo Jumbo?
Mumbo Jumbo stands about 98 feet (30 meters) tall, with two inversions and forces up to 4 g on its compact S&S El Loco layout.
When did Mumbo Jumbo open?
On July 4, 2009 at Flamingo Land in Malton, North Yorkshire, England, with Guinness World Records officials attending to certify its steepest-steel-coaster record.
Photo: Martin Lewison via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)