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World's Largest Balloon Rollercoaster
Think you've seen balloons? We love designing our super-sculptures around the country, but it's extra special when we get to use our balloon artistry skills here in the Naples and Fort Myers area. Our latest creation just raised the bar and created the World's Largest Balloon Rollercoaster clocking in at 3000 balloons and over 110 man hours! This super-sculpture was on display all week in Fort Myers, Florida.
First Church of the Nazarene kicked off its Vacation Bible School titled "Colossal Coaster" and asked Evans Entertainment to make them something extra special, and what they got is really hard to believe.
This massive creation has over 100 feet of track, 3000 balloons, and no supports of any kind. It's 100% balloons! How do you come up with an idea like this? Well, the idea of a rollercoaster was easy, when they told us their theme, however, the planning was the hard part. We decided to design it loosely based on The Cyclone from Coney Island. The Coney Island Cyclone (better known as simply
the Cyclone) is a historic wooden roller coaster opened in 1927 in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn. It was declared a New York City landmark on July 12, 1988, and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 26, 1991.
We were asked by Fox, when they came to look at it, "Why create something this large?" Creating sculptures like these are fantastic because people immediately stop, stare, and immediately bring out their cameras to capture the moment in time. Every child is fascinated by balloons, and every adult was once a child that wanted nothing more than a simple balloon creation. This brings that moment of wonder, not only in the children, but in the adults that have lost it over the years,especially with this sculpture combining two of the most iconic pieces of everyone’s child hood, you can’t help but smile and get that moment of astonishment.”
Is the planning and time worth it on a sculpture that will not be around in two weeks? Definitely, if anything it makes it more exciting. Like an ice sculpture, what people get to experience is a unique piece of art in a moment in time. Once it’s gone, it will never exist again, only through the pictures and the videos. I believe this small window creates a fantastic unforgettable experience.
Building a project of this size needed 10 to 15 people. There were four professional balloon artists involved, we had three from our company and we flew in a friend and colleague, Brian Getz, from Indianapolis to help with the design and execution. However, the big part was getting community volunteers. We had everyone from ages 12 to 65 chipping in. Some were inflating balloons, others were twisting columns and tracks, and still others were doing detail work on the sculpture.
Take a look at the video above and it shows a time lapse of the creation of the project with a photo taken every 10 seconds. Also, at the end there is a special treat! When Fox came down to document it, they took a GoPro camera and through the magic of special effects, you get to take a ride, experiencing every twist, turn, and tunnel of the full 100 feet of track on the World's Largest Balloon Rollercoaster!
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