Dead Eagle Canyon is a large family coaster I created, dedicated to the Phoenix Canyons of the fictional RPG Enchantia. The in-game train is obviously based on Big Thunder Mountain (which I’ll abbreviate as BTM for simplicity), as seen in Disney parks. As for the track layout, I wanted to create something similar to another coaster of this type: Mammuth, from the Italian theme park Gardaland. Mammuth is also a family coaster with a train-shaped vehicle, modeled after BTM, but with a drastically different theme. Instead of the classic Wild West canyon setting of BTM, Mammuth is set in an icy environment. It revolves around an archaeological expedition through the frozen canyons of Antarctica, where a living mammoth still roams freely.
Originally, I wanted to create a coaster layout that followed Mammuth’s design. For example, the entrance queue and the station are based on Mammuth. At first, I had planned three lift hills, but I ended up going with a simpler layout featuring two. Naturally, the first drop is relatively mild — it’s the second one that packs a punch. Take note of the cabins at the start of each lift: they act as emergency exits and staff access points, disguised as steampunk power stations that "fuel" the chain lifts pulling the trains upward.
The entrance queue is covered by a glass roof, which is theoretically also tinted to protect against the sun. I added it for both sun and rain protection — the transparent glass allows guests in line to watch the train go by above them. I also placed similar canopies at the train stops, right before the station. I tend to always provide shade and cover for attraction queues — I’ve never liked uncovered lines. I’m very pale, and every time I go to a theme park, I end up bright red the next day, grilled alive. Sunscreen just doesn’t work on me. And since PlanCo2, from day one, introduced water parks, weather events (like thunderstorms), sunscreen, and even sunburn risk for guests, I like to make sure all my ride queues are properly covered.
At the station, I placed barriers between each train — not just because I like how they look, but also to prevent guests from jumping onto the tracks... assuming a realistic context, not just game logic. I always ask myself questions like: “What if a guest falls?”, or “How stupid can humans be?”, but above all: “How much should I NOT trust these people?”. That’s why I always pay close attention to where and how I place barriers, low walls, and fences. For example, I don’t like using low fences with spikes or sharp edges of any kind, because I constantly imagine the average idiot guest trying to climb over and getting impaled — or worse, kids raised poorly by some Karen climbing all over the fences like it’s a jungle gym.
I styled the train with a strong steampunk theme, featuring gold accents and golden-winged eagles and phoenixes.
The second drop — the most intense and fastest — spirals down into a hollowed-out canyon, right over a rebel camp... ironically marked with signs, cartoon-style. The rebel hideouts resemble post-apocalyptic villages: they’re built by haphazardly assembling whatever they can find or steal (kind of like the scrap-built structures in Fallout, but steampunk-themed). Their homes are made from repurposed train cars, and an old steam paddleboat serves as both the village kitchen and main operations base. Everything looks cobbled together in a chaotic fashion. That platform hanging from chains acts like an indoor bar terrace, where rebels sit, drink, and play cards.
Toward the end of the ride, in the bottom-right image, a camera emerges from the train car to take souvenir photos. It’s triggered by the passing train and simulates camera flashes (though they’re only visible at night). When I originally built the ride, the update that added ride photos hadn’t been released yet, so I just placed two basic shops at the entrance and put a "Ride Photos" sign above one of them to simulate an actual photo booth.
However, if I had to rate this ride, I’d only give it two and a half stars. So far, it's my weakest attraction.
At the time of creation, the game didn’t have good desert rocks. The only colorable rocks were from the underwater theme, which are ugly — and I’m not the only one saying this, many Planet Coaster 2 players agree. Basically, these rocks are too small, unnatural, and too fake-looking, with barnacles attached to them. Most importantly, they’re bioluminescent rocks that glow in the dark like they’re radioactive, making the attraction unbearable to look at during nighttime, and they also ruined the mine tunnels along the ride. So, the coaster works well only during the day.
Due to the small maximum size of the marine rocks, combined with the limit of 4000 objects, the bioluminescent rocks occupied two-thirds of the object limit for me. Even when enlarged to the maximum, these rocks remain too small, so I had to use many, many of them... because of this, the map lacks detail. I could not create and add other characters and structures; the only NPCs present are: a sheriff at the station, two rebels, and an aggressive giant centipede that is part of the local fauna. In fact, I slightly exceeded the 4000 object limit for the blueprint and had to delete some rocks in the back part of the Canyon, reaching the exact limit of 4000 pieces.
To add insult to injury, as soon as I finished the project and published everything on the workshop, two days later Frontier released the update that introduced colorable giant rocks to create desert canyons. And I felt completely screwed over in an absurd way.
Now, with the new limit of 8000 objects, the Souvenir shop and the Photo Booth, I could update the attraction… but since it is mostly made up of ugly bioluminescent rocks… I fear that rather than an update, it would be easier for me to rebuild the entire attraction from scratch. Maybe one day I will do it, or maybe not, and I will focus on new projects.