Hydrus (roller coaster)
Hydrus is a steel roller coaster at Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey. Opened in 2017, it was the sixth Gerstlauer Euro-Fighter roller coaster to open in the United States and the first Euro-Fighter 320 model in the world. It replaced Star Jet, which was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
History
After the Star Jet roller coaster was destroyed during Hurricane Sandy in 2012, it took almost three years until permission was granted to rebuild; this permission to rebuild included a new roller coaster. After swapping land with the city, however, it was decided that this new coaster would not be built on the pier over the water, but it would instead be built over the beach to prevent a repeat of what had happened with the hurricane.In late 2016, it was announced that the roller coaster replacing Star Jet would be a Euro-Fighter manufactured by Gerstlauer. The coaster was named Hydrus and opened in May 2017. New Jersey governor Chris Christie was present for a ribbon-cutting ceremony on May 26 which occurred several weeks after a soft opening of the ride.