Six Flags to open 13th roller coaster in 2015

Six Flags Great Adventure will add its 13th roller coaster for the 2015 season.

Artist rendition of Six Flags Great Adventure's Looping Dragon roller coaster (Six Flags Great Adventure)

Park spokesperson Kristin B. Siebeneicher in an email that the theme park expects work to begin in early 2015 on Dragon Loop, the newest ride at the Jackson theme park.

“Looping Dragon is a great addition to our diverse roller coaster collection because it delivers speed and thrills that appeal to both our younger and more experienced thrill-seekers alike,” Park President John Fitzgerald said in a statement.

Starting in late spring 2015, 24 riders at-a-time will be seated on Dragon Loop, facing each other. They will ride back-and-forth like a pendulum, picking up momentum to eventually become suspended upside down and then reverse direction.

The theme park, which sits on 510 acres will also add two new attractions for its Halloween Fright Fest attraction for 2015: the 3D Big Top Terror and Condemned, which replicates a maximum security prison.

Dragon Loop will be will be in the park's Golden Kingdom section between Kingda Ka/Zumanjaro: Drop of Doom and El Toro where Rolling Thunder once stood, according to Siebeneicher, and no rides will be displaced. The dual-track coaster was torn down in 2013 to make room for Zumanjaro. Existing available locations will also be utilized for the new Fright Fest attractions.

Approximately 75-100 new positions will be created by the additions at the park, according to Siebeneicher, which is one of the largest employers in Ocean County.

The new attractions are part of a focus on "family thrills" for 2015, explained Siebeneicher, calling some of the "calmer" roller coasters such as Dark Knight and Skull Mountain among the park's most popular.

"They provide fun thrills without the extreme forces that some of our other rides deliver. We fully expect that Looping Dragon will be a very popular addition for families with thrill seeking tweens who just aren’t ready for rides like Kingda Ka just yet," Siebeneicher said.

Six Flags will open Fright Fest for the 2014 season on weekends starting Saturday, September 20.