Unique roller coaster heading to tiny Anaheim amusement park

A small amusement park in the shadows of Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm will introduce a first-of-its-kind ride in the United States that has already caught the attention of roller coaster enthusiasts.

The $2-million Rewind Racers set to debut this summer at Anaheim’s Adventure City will be the first family shuttle coaster built in North America by Germany-based Gerstlauer Amusement Rides.

Photos: Rewind Racers roller coaster at Anaheim’s Adventure City

Adventure City is already expected to be a stop on the 2015 West Coast Tour for Theme Park Review, a coaster enthusiast website that coordinates cross-country road trips to theme parks around the world.

“This ride will absolutely be a draw for us to make a return visit to the park,” said Robb Alvey of Theme Park Review. “We absolutely are going to make a stop there again.”

With both forward and backward sections, Rewind Racers adds an element of thrill to a family-friendly coaster.

Departing from the station, the ride begins in reverse with a backward climb up the first lift hill. Following a brief show element inside the pit stop garage at the top of the lift hill, the train races forward through the station at 30 miles per hour before navigating a series of banked curves and airtime hills. After climbing an adjacent lift hill to the pit stop garage for another show element, Rewind Racers retraces the 600-foot-long course backward before coasting into the station.

Vertical construction on the 40-foot-tall Rewind Racers is expected to begin in May with a grand opening planned for the summer.

Gerstlauer built similar family shuttle coasters in 2011 at Germany’s Freizeitpark Ruhpolding (Summiteer) and 2012 at France’s OK Corral (Gold Rush).

R&R Creative Amusement Designs will handle video production and thematic design for the queue, station and train on Rewind Racers. The Anaheim-based theme park design and planning firm has worked on dark rides at Six Flags Over Texas, Kings Island, Kennywood and Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk as well as water park attractions at Six Flags Magic Mountain, Knott’s Soak City, Wet n’ Wild in Arizona and Raging Waters in San Dimas.

The unique Rewind Racers replaces Tree Top Racers, a rare wild mouse coaster built by Oregon-based E&F Miler in the mid-1950s that can only be found at two other small amusement parks in Texas and Colorado, according to Roller Coaster Database. Before relocating to Adventure City, the portable coaster was operated by Midway Amusements in Brisbane, Australia. The recently retired Tree Top Racers will not be relocated to another park, Adventure City officials said.

Opened in 1994, Adventure City is located just five miles from Disneyland and two miles from Knott’s. The two-acre amusement park features 11 rides, including a carousel, kiddie drop tower, spinning flat rides and the Freeway Coaster, another rare E&F Miler found at only two other small parks in New York and New Jersey, according to RCDB.

Related theme park stories and photo galleries

Disneyland: Fantasy Faire | Mickey & the Magical Map

Universal Studios Hollywood: Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Six Flags Magic Mountain: Full Throttle

Knott’s Berry Farm: Timber Mountain | Coast Rider

SeaWorld San Diego: Aquatica

U.S. parks: Top 13 for 2013 | Disney World | Cedar Point | Top 10 water coasters

International parks: Top 13 for 2013 | Shanghai Disneyland | Disneyland Paris | Top 20 water parks

> Follow the Los Angeles Times Funland theme park blog on Twitter, Facebook and Google+