Roller coaster
The roller coaster (the term jet coaster is sometimes used for roller coasters in Japan) is a popular amusement ride developed for amusement parks and modern theme parks. LaMarcus Adna Thompson patented the first roller coaster on January 20, 1885. In essence a specialized railroad system, a roller coaster consists of a track that rises in designed patterns, sometimes with one or more inversions (such as loops) that turn the rider briefly upside down. The track does not necessarily have to be a complete circuit, as shuttle roller coasters exhibit. Most roller coasters have multiple cars in which passengers sit and are restrained into. An entire set of cars hooked together is called a train. Some roller coasters, notably Wild Mouse roller coasters, run with single cars.
In what may be the first practical application of the roller coaster, NASA has announced that it will build one to help astronauts escape the Ares I launch pad in an emergency.
The earliest roller coasters descended from Russian winter sled rides held on specially constructed hills of ice, especially around St Petersburg. Built in the 17th century, the slides were built to a height of between 70 and 80 feet (24 m), consisted of a 50 degree drop, and were reinforced by wooden supports. By the late 18th century, their popularity was such that entrepreneurs elsewhere began copying the idea in places that did not have such supplies of ice, using ramps and slides with various vehicles.
Innovations were being made with each new ride built. In France, the Les Montagnes Russes ? Belleville constructed in Paris in 1812 and the Promenades Aeriennes both featured wheeled cars securely locked to the track, guide rails to keep them on course and higher speeds. The first loop track was probably also built in Paris from an English design in 1846, with a single-person wheeled sled running through a 13 foot (4 m) diameter loop. None of these tracks were complete circuits. To this day, a number of languages (Danish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish) use the equivalent of Russian mountains to refer to roller coasters.
Etymology
There are several explanations of the name roller coaster. It is said to have originated from an early French design where slides or ramps were fitted with rollers over which a sled would coast. This design was abandoned in favor of fitting the wheels to the sled or other vehicles, but the name endured.
Another explanation is that it originated from a ride located in a roller skating rink in Haverhill, Massachusetts in 1887. A toboggan-like sled was raised to the top of a track which consisted of hundred of rollers. This Roller Toboggan then took off down gently rolling hills to the floor. The inventors of this ride, Stephen E. Jackman and Byron B. Floyd, claim that they were the first to use the term "roller coaster."
First scenic gravity railroads
In 1827, a mining company in Summit Hill, Pennsylvania constructed the Mauch Chunk gravity railroad, a 14-kilometre downhill track used to deliver coal (and a miner to operate the mine train's brake) to Mauch Chunk, PA (town now known as Jim Thorpe, PA). By the 1850s, the "Gravity Road" (as it became known) was providing rides to thrill-seekers for 50 cents a ride. Railway companies used similar tracks to provide amusement on days when ridership was low.
Using this idea as a basis, LaMarcus Adna Thompson began work on a gravity switchback railway that opened at Coney Island in 1884. . Passengers had to climb to the top of a platform and rode a bench-like car down the 600 ft track up to the top of another tower where the vehicle was switched to a return track and the passengers took the return trip. This track design was soon replaced with an oval closed-circuit. In 1885, Phillip Hinkle introduced the first full-circuit coaster with a lift hill, the Gravity Pleasure Road, which was soon the most popular attraction at Coney Island. Not to be outdone, in 1886 LaMarcus Adna Thompson patented his design of roller coaster that included dark tunnels with painted scenery. "Scenic Railways" were to be found in amusement parks across the county.
Innovations
As roller coasters grew in popularity, experimentation in coaster dynamics took off. As early as the 1880s, the concept of a vertical loop was explored, and in 1895 the concept came into fruition with The Flip Flap, located at Sea Lion Park in Brooklyn, and shortly afterward with Loop-the-Loop at Olentangy Park near Columbus, Ohio. The rides were incredibly dangerous, and many passengers suffered whiplash. Both were soon dismantled, and looping coasters had to wait for over a half century before making a reappearance.
By 1912, the first underfriction roller coaster was developed by John Miller. Soon, roller coasters spread to amusement parks all around the world. Perhaps the best known historical roller coaster, The Cyclone, was opened at Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York in 1927. Like The Cyclone, all early roller coasters were made of wood. Many old wooden roller coasters are still operational, at parks such as Kennywood near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Blackpool Pleasure Beach, England. The oldest operating roller coaster is Leap the Dips at Lakemont Park in Pennsylvania, a side friction roller coaster built in 1902.
The Great Depression marked the end of the first Golden Age of roller coasters. Theme parks in general went into a decline that lasted until 1972, when The Racer was built at Kings Island in Mason, Ohio (near Cincinnati). Designed by John Allen, the instant success of the Racer began a second golden age, which has continued to this day.
Steel roller coasters
In 1959, the Disneyland theme park introduced a new design breakthrough in roller coasters with the Matterhorn Bobsleds. This was the first roller coaster to use a tubular steel track. Unlike conventional wooden rails, tubular steel can be bent in any direction, which allows designers to incorporate loops, corkscrews, and many other maneuvers into their designs. Most modern roller coasters are made of steel but wooden roller coasters are still being built.
Sources
The first modern-day roller coaster to perform a 360-degree inverting element was the Corkscrew located at Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, California, which opened in 1975 and was designed by Arrow Dynamics of Utah.
New roller coaster designs and state of the art technology push the physical limits on what type of experiences can be had on the newest coasters. For example, coasters like the Incredible Hulk Coaster feature launched lift hills to create a unique experience.
Mechanics
The cars on a typical roller coaster are not self-powered. Instead, a standard full circuit roller coaster is pulled up with a chain or cable along the lift hill to the first peak of the coaster track. The potential energy accumulated by the rise in height is transferred to kinetic energy as the cars race down the first downward slope. Kinetic energy is then converted back into potential energy as the train moves up again to the second peak. This hill is necessarily lower, as some mechanical energy is lost to friction.
Not all roller coasters feature a lift hill, however. The train may be set into motion by a launch mechanism such as a flywheel launch, linear induction motors, linear synchronous motors, hydraulic launch, compressed air launch or drive tire. Such launched roller coasters are capable of reaching higher speeds in a shorter length of track than those featuring a conventional lift hill. Some roller coasters move back and forth along the same section of track; these are known as shuttles and usually run the circuit once with riders moving forwards and then backwards through the same course.
A properly designed roller coaster under good conditions will have enough kinetic, or moving, energy to complete the entire course, at the end of which brakes bring the train to a complete stop and it is pushed into the station. A brake run at the end of the circuit is the most common method of bringing the roller coaster ride to a stop. One notable exception is a powered roller coaster. These rides, instead of being powered by gravity, use one or more motors in the cars to propel the trains along the course.
If a continuous-circuit roller coaster does not have enough kinetic energy to completely travel the course after descending from its highest point (as can happen with high winds or increased friction), the train can valley: that is, roll backwards and forwards along the track, until all kinetic energy has been released. The train will then come to a complete stop in the middle of the track. This, however, works somewhat differently on a launched roller coaster. When a train launcher does not have enough potential energy to launch the train to the top of an incline, the train is said to "roll back." On some modern roller coasters, such as Top Thrill Dragster at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio, this is an occurrence highly sought after by many coaster enthusiasts.
Blocking
Most large roller coasters have the ability to run two or more trains at once. These rides use a block system, which prevents the trains from colliding. In a block system, the track is divided into several sections, or blocks. Only one train at a time is permitted in each block. At the end of each block, there is a section of track where a train can be stopped if necessary (either by preventing dispatch from the station, closing brakes, or stopping a lift). Sensors at the end of each block detect when a train passes so that the computer running the ride is aware of which blocks are occupied. When the computer detects a train about to travel into an already occupied block, it uses whatever method is available to keep it from entering.
The above can cause a cascade effect when multiple trains become stopped at the end of each block. In order to prevent this problem, ride operators follow set procedures regarding when to release a newly-loaded train from the station. One common pattern, used on rides with two trains, is to do the following: hold train #1 (which has just finished the ride) right outside the station, release train #2 (which has loaded while #1 was running), and then allow #1 into the station to unload safely.
Safety
Because roller coasters are intended to feel risky, accidents such as the September 5, 2003 fatality at the Disneyland Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, attract public attention.
Statistically, roller coasters are very safe. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates that 134 park guests required hospitalization in 2001 and that fatalities related to amusement rides average two per year. According to a study commissioned by Six Flags, 319 million people visited parks in 2001. The study concluded that a visitor has a one in one-and-a-half billion chance of being fatally injured, and that the injury rates for children's wagons, golf, and folding lawn chairs are higher than for amusement rides. In fact, driving to the amusement park has a higher risk of injury than riding the rides at the amusement park. It is not unusual for park management to pay higher insurance premiums for carousels than they do for roller coasters.
Many safety systems are implemented within roller coaster systems. The key to the mechanical fail safes is the control of the roller coaster's operating computers: programmable logic controllers (often called PLCs). Most roller coasters run with three separate PLCs; however, only one PLC is required to detect a fault for the ride's fail-safes to be activated. This is often the reason that the ride trains may stop on the lift or the brake runs, yet after a short time the ride starts again without any obvious maintenance by staff. It is likely in such a case that one of the PLCs detected a fault by mistake, and the ride operator only needed to restart the ride.
Nevertheless, accidents do occur. Regulations vary from one authority to another. Thus in the USA, California requires amusement parks to report any ride-related accident that requires an emergency room visit, while Florida exempts parks whose parent companies employ more than 1000 people from having to report any accidents at all. Rep. Ed Markey of Massachusetts has introduced legislation that would give oversight of rides to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).
Ride accidents can be caused by riders or ride operators not following safety directions properly, but in extremely rare cases riders can be injured by mechanical failures. One such example was the 2006 de-railing of one car on the Wild Thing roller coaster at Valleyfair!.
In recent years, controversy has arisen about the safety of the increasingly extreme rides. There have been suggestions that these may be subjecting passengers to translational and rotational accelerations that may be capable of causing brain injuries. In 2003 the Brain Injury Association of America concluded in a report that "There is evidence that roller coaster rides pose a health risk to some people some of the time. Equally evident is that the overwhelming majority of riders will suffer no ill effects."
A similar report in 2005 linked roller coasters and other thrill rides with potentially triggering abnormal heart conditions that could lead to death. Autopsies have shown that recent deaths at various Disney parks, Anheuser-Busch parks, and Six Flags parks were due to previously undetected heart ailments.
Physics
Roller coaster design is a science, as well as an art: the designer must use knowledge of kinematics to avoid overstressing the human body and building an uncomfortable or dangerous ride. The acceleration is a significant design parameter, as is the rate of change of acceleration, jerk. Jerk is often used in engineering as some precision or fragile objectssuch as passengers need time to sense stress changes and adjust their muscle tension to avoid injuries such as whiplash.
Types of roller coaster
Today, there are two main types of roller coaster: Steel roller coasters Wooden roller coasters (also known amongst enthusiasts as 'Woodies')
Steel coasters are known for their smooth ride and often convoluted shapes that frequently turn riders upside-down via inversions. Wooden coasters are typically renowned by enthusiasts for their rougher ride and "air time" produced by negative G-forces when the train reaches the top of hills along the ride.
Modern roller coasters take on many different forms. Some designs take their cue from how the rider is positioned to experience the ride. Traditionally, riders sit facing forward in the coaster car, while newer coaster designs have ignored this tradition in the quest for building more exciting, unique ride experiences. Variations such as the stand-up roller coaster and the flying roller coaster position the rider in different ways to provide different experiences. involves cars that have the riders in a standing position (though still heavily strapped in). In addition to changing rider viewpoint, some roller coaster designs also focus on track styles to make the ride fresh and different from other coasters.
Height specific
Some names have been used by parks for marketing their roller coasters. While often used among coaster fans they are not necessarily industry accepted terms. Stratacoaster - When Cedar Point announced Top Thrill Dragster in 2003 the park used the term Stratacoaster in their press materials to describe a roller coaster that was 400 feet (120 m) tall. Gigacoaster - Used by Cedar Point and manufacturer Intamin AG to market and describe the Millennium Force roller coaster. Cedar Point claimed the term referred to a roller coaster that broke the 300 foot (90 m) mark. The term is actually used as a production designation on the Intamin AG website. Hypercoaster is a term coined by amusement industry writer Allen Ambrosini. One definition of a hypercoaster is a coaster that is built for speed and airtime, while a second definition is of a coaster with an initial drop of between 200 and 299 feet (91 m) tall. Some manufacturers, such as Bollinger & Mabillard and Chance Morgan use this term for production models both over and under 200 feet tall. Junior roller coaster. A roller coaster specifically designed for families and children not able to ride the larger rides.
Bobsled roller coaster
A Bobsled roller coaster is the generic name given to any roller coaster that uses a track design that is essentially a "pipe" with the top half removed and has cars that are sent down this pipe in a freewheeling mode. The name derives from the great similarity to the track design used for the Bobsleigh winter sport.
Most modern bobsled roller coasters are made of steel, however the first bobsled coasters, known as Flying Turns were made of wood. As of 2007, there are no Flying Turns coasters in operation, however Knoebels in Pennsylvania is planning on opening the world's first modern flying turns coaster, Flying Turns, in 2007
Boomerang Roller Coaster
Boomerang is a model of roller coaster built by Vekoma, and named after the sporting implement based on the traditions of the Indigenous Australians. The first Boomerang began operation in 1984, and it has since become one of the most repeated roller coaster designs in the world, with 43 operating roller coasters as of 2006, and another 3 "Standing But Not Operating" or in storage. An additional 9 amusement parks have operated this design, but the roller coaster has since been demolished or dismantled and sold to another park.
Design and operation
The Boomerang consists of a single train with seven cars, capable of carrying 28 passengers. The ride begins when the train is pulled backwards from the station and up a lift hill, before being released. After being released, the train passes through the station, enters a Cobra roll element (referred to as a boomerang by the designers), then travels through a vertical loop. Upon exiting the loop, the train runs up a second lift hill, parallel to the first. Once out of momentum, the train is towed to the top of the lift hill, and is held for several seconds before being released; travelling through the roller coaster in reverse before returning to the station.
Boomerang coasters have, on rare occasions, become stalled, often in the Boomerang element. As a precaution, many Boomerang coasters, including the newer Giant Inverted Boomerang models, are built with an access platform just under the Cobra Roll/Boomerang element.
Variant designs
There are two main design variants based on the Boomerang layout, both also produced by Vekoma.
Invertigo
The first variant is the Invertigo, which while retaining the same layout as the Boomerang, was an inverted roller coaster. In addition, the two rows of seats in each car were back-to-back, so the riders in the back row of each car would be facing those in the front of the trailing car. First operating in 1997, there are four Invertigos in operation as of 2006, and an additional park has operated this ride in the past, but later disassembled it and sold it on.
Giant Inverted Boomerang
The second design is known as both the Giant Inverted Boomerang and the Super Invertigo. While maintaining a similar layout to the Boomerang, the track is again inverted, and the size of the ride is increased. The track is 270 feet longer, the two lift hills are almost 80 feet taller, and both hills are vertical. The track also crosses over, with the station underneath the vertical loop. The train has 8 cars, with the four seats of each car arranged in a chevron. Four Giant Inverted Boomerangs are in operation as of 2006.
Corkscrew Roller Coaster
The corkscrew (B&M: flat spin/ wing over) is a roller coaster inversion which most often resembles a loop that has been 'widened' in terms of the element's entrance and exit points being a distance away from each other. The main difference is that riders are inverted at a point angled 90 horizontally from the incoming track, whereas in a loop, the inversion comes parallel to the track, but travelling in the opposite direction.
It was named due to its resemblance to the corkscrew tool used to remove corks from bottles. Riders enter the corkscrew element and are transported significantly to the left or right while being flipped upside down 360 degrees.
Due to them being much smaller than many elements, corkscrews are normally found towards the end of layouts, and often exist in pairs. This may take the form of a double corkscrew, where the end of one leads straight into the next. It is also common to see interlocking corkscrews, where the entrances and exits are parallel, but both corkscrews cross over the other corkscrew's track.
Corkscrew is also the name of several roller coasters, including a three-loop coaster at Valleyfair in Shakopee, Minnesota, a three loop roller coaster at Cedar point in Sandusky, Ohio as well as a two-loop coaster at Genting Highlands theme park, Malaysia.
The first roller coaster with a corkscrew element was the Arrow Dynamics designed Corkscrew, opened in 1975 at Knott's Berry Farm. In 1989, the ride was relocated to Silverwood where it continues to operate today.
An interesting note is that Bolliger & Mabillard design their corkscrews so that the train "snaps" through the top of the inversion, whereas Arrow Dynamics and Vekoma design their corkscrews with constant curvature.
Dueling Roller Coaster
A dueling roller coaster features two (or more) roller coasters, usually with a similar layout, built close to each other. The rides are designed to do just as the name indicates: to duel. The coaster's layout often consists of strategic maneuvering to produce near-misses between the two coaster trains, adding to the excitement. As of 2007, the only inverted dueling coaster in the world is at Islands of Adventure, Orlando, Florida. The Dueling Dragons coasters reach a top speed of about 55 MPH (85 km/h) and get within 12 inches (30 cm, or 1 foot) of each other at some points. Each dragon's 2 and a half minute flight includes a total of 5 inversions, including a zero-g roll, a Cobra roll, two corkscrews, and two vertical loops, for an excellent riding experience.
Examples Dueling Dragons, the world's only dueling inverted coaster at Islands of Adventure in Orlando, Florida Racer, at Kennywood Park in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania. Lightning Racer, a Great Coasters International (GCI) built wooden roller coaster at Hersheypark in Hershey, Pennsylvania Batman & Robin: The Chiller, the world's only dueling launched roller coaster at Six Flags Great Adventure Gwazi, also a GCI wooden roller coaster, at Busch Gardens in Tampa, Florida. aeral view Twisted Twins (Twisted Sisters) at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom in Louisville, Kentucky
Figure 8 Roller Coaster
A Figure 8 roller coaster is the generic name given to any roller coaster where the train runs through a figure 8 shaped course before returning to the boarding station. This design was one of the first designs to be featured in roller coaster design, along with the out and back roller coaster. The figure 8 design allowed for more turns than the out and back design, offering riders an alternative experience.
An early and famous example of a Figure 8 is the Leap the Dips at Lakemont Park, in Altoona, Pennsylvania.
Many figure 8 roller coasters carry the name "Figure 8."
Figure 8 roller coasters
An Incomplete List of Figure 8 roller coastersName Park Location
Figure 8 Athletic Park New Orleans, Louisiana
Figure 8 Canobie Lake Park Salem, New Hampshire
Figure 8 Capital Beach Park Lincoln, Nebraska
Figure 8 Cascade Park New Castle, Pennsylvania
Figure 8 Columbia Gardens Butte, Montana
Figure 8 Coney Island Cincinnati, Ohio
Figure 8 Crystal Beach Crystal Beach, Ontario Canada
Figure 8 Eldridge Park Elmira, New York
Figure 8 Greater Island Park Easton, Pennsylvania
Figure 8 Hague Park Jackson, Michigan
Figure 8 Happyland Park Vancouver, British Columbia Canada
Figure 8 Harlem Park Rockford, Illinois
Figure 8 Hazle Park West Hazleton, Pennsylvania
Figure 8 Hocus Pocus Park Knoxville, Tennessee
Figure 8 Indianola Park Columbus, Ohio
Figure 8 Lakeside Park Flint, Michigan
Figure 8 Luna Park Seattle, Washington
Figure 8 Natatorium Park Spokane, Washington
Figure 8 Oakford Park Jeannette, Pennsylvania
Figure 8 Ocean View Amusement Park Norfolk, Virginia
Figure 8 Olympic Park Irvington, New Jersey
Figure 8 Palisades Amusement Park Cliffside Park, New Jersey
Figure 8 Phalen Park St. Paul, Minnesota
Figure 8 Pine Island Park Manchester, New Hampshire
Figure 8 Ramona Park Grand Rapids, Michigan
Figure 8 Riverside Park Saginaw, Michigan
Figure 8 Rocky Glen Moosic, Pennsylvania
Figure 8 Rocky Springs Park Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Figure 8 South Haven Amusement Park South Haven, Michigan
Figure 8 Stanley Beach Port Stanley, Ontario Canada
Figure 8 Stanton Park Steubenville, Ohio
Figure 8 Steeplechase Park Brooklyn, New York
Figure 8 Watch Tower Amusement Park Rock Island, Illinois
Figure 8 Waukesha Beach Pewaukee, Wisconsin
Figure 8 West View Park West View, Pennsylvania
Figure 8 White City Vancouver, British Columbia Canada
Figure 8 White City Bellingham, Washington
Figure 8 White City Oshkosh, Wisconsin
Figure 8 White City Sheboygan, Wisconsin
Figure 8 Wolff's Park Detroit, Michigan
Inverted Roller Coaster
An inverted roller coaster is a roller coaster in which the train runs under the track with the seats directly attached to the wheel carriage. This latter attribute is what sets it apart from the older suspended coaster, which runs under the track, but "swings" via a pivoting bar attached to the wheel carriage. Inverted coasters are notable for their "reversed" orientation compared to a traditional roller coaster, with the legs rather than the arms exposed.
The inverted coaster was pioneered by the Swiss roller coaster designers Bolliger & Mabillard in the early 1990s. The first installation came at Six Flags Great America in 1992. Batman: The Ride opened to much fanfare quickly being "cloned" and installed at many Six Flags and independent parks. The inverted coaster quickly became an industry favorite with custom designs being installed almost every year. The tallest inverted coaster is Alpengeist at Busch Gardens Europe with a lift hill standing 195 feet.
Not only Bolliger & Mabillard design and manufacture inverted coasters, Vekoma, Intamin AG, and some smaller manufacturers have their own designs. Intamin AG has few designs classified as inverted coasters, although, they do install inverted coaster trains on some of their launched designs. Vekoma, on the other hand, usually mass produces the same design (SLC (689m Standard))with 23 identical coasters (and a few variations of that design) installed around the world. Also, in recent years, Vekoma has become the first manufacturer to install a family friendly inverted roller coaster. Giovanola also has a single inverted coaster operating. Only Bolliger & Mabillard inverted coasters have positions on the Amusement Today Top 50 Steel Coasters list for 2005
Mine Train Roller Coaster
A Mine Train roller coaster is a steel roller coaster whose trains depict a set of mine carts, apparently pulled by the reproduction of a steam locomotive, often designed in a cartoon style. Most Mine Train roller coasters are themed in the style of a mine, a Western scene or simply a mountain range.
The first Mine Train roller coaster of its kind is Mine Train (Run-A-Way Mine Train until 1995) at Six Flags Over Texas. Built by Arrow Dynamics in 1966, thus Mine Train is the oldest roller coaster in the park and - together with Matterhorn Bobsleds (built in 1959 also by Arrow) - one of the first roller coasters with tubular steel tracks.
Mobius Loop Roller Coaster
A Mobius loop roller coaster can be either a racing roller coaster or a dueling roller coaster. Its unique feature is that there is one continuous track instead of two separate ones. As a result, the station that a train leaves is not the same one to which it will return.
Only three of this type of roller coaster are still in operation today. They are the Grand National at Pleasure Beach, Blackpool (Blackpool, UK), Monta?a Rusa Russian Mountain at La Feria Chapultepec Magico (Mexico City, Mexico) and Racer at Kennywood Park (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania).
Racer is registered as a historic landmark.
Out and Back Roller Coaster
Out and back simply refers to the layout of a roller coaster. An out and back coaster is one that climbs a lift hill, races out to the far end of the track, performs a 180 degree turn and then races its way back to the station.
Drop off the Comet, an out and back roller coaster.
This particular design is very popular and is easy to design and construct. With an out and back design the hills on the way "out" usually are quite large and gradually decrease in size. The hills on the way "back" are usually "bunny hills", or small hills created to maximize air-time.
A variation on the theme is to have the track travel from point A to point B, then back to A twice. An example of this type of ride is the venerable Comet, which was moved from Crystal Beach in Ontario to The Great Escape & Splashwater Kingdom at Lake George, New York.
Triple Out-And-Back
These coasters travel back and forth between A and B thrice; the resulting appearance is often hard to discern from true twisters, which are usually free-form in design. An example of this type of ride is the Coney Island Cyclone.
Examples
American Eagle at Six Flags Great America
Apollo's Chariot at Busch Gardens Europe
Big Dipper at Geauga Lake & Wildwater Kingdom
Blue Streak at Cedar Point
Boulder Dash and Wildcat at Lake Compounce
Comet at Hersheypark
Giant Dipper at Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk
The Predator at Darien Lake
Goliath at La Ronde
Great American Scream Machine at Six Flags Over Georgia
High Roller at Valleyfair!
Jack Rabbit at Seabreeze Amusement Park
Judge Roy Scream at Six Flags over Texas
Magnum XL-200 at Cedar Point
Mamba at Worlds of Fun
Millennium Force at Cedar Point
The Mighty Canadian Minebuster at Canada's Wonderland
Rolling Thunder at Six Flags Great Adventure
Rollo Coaster at Idlewild Park
Screamin' Eagle at Six Flags St. Louis
Shivering Timbers at Michigan's Adventure
The Starliner from Miracle Strip, Now at Cypress Gardens
Thunderbolt at Kennywood
Tornado at Adventureland
Wild Thing at Valleyfair!
Yankee Cannonball at Canobie Lake Park
Racing Roller Coaster
A racing roller coaster consists of two coasters or one whole track that travels along parallel tracks to simulate a race between the trains. The trains run along the tracks with just a few feet between them. They are often close enough for riders to reach out and slap hands with riders on the opposite train. On some older racers, the trains on one side have been turned around to run backwards through the track (such as three coasters at Cedar Fair parks, Thunder Road at Carowinds, Racer at Kings Island, and the Rebel Yell at Kings Dominion).
Some other examples of racing coasters are Blackpool Pleasure Beach's Grand National, Six Flags Great Adventure's Rolling Thunder, The American Eagle at Six Flags Great America, Port Aventura's Stampida, and Cedar Point's Gemini, Kennywood's Racer, with two different tracks.They have different colored tracks.
Some racing roller coasters are M?bius Loop racing coasters. These rides have a single track that traverses the circuit twice. A train leaving the station on one side will return on the other.
Other rides, such as Colossus at Six Flags Magic Mountain are built with twin tracks, but do not race.
Shuttle Roller Coaster
A shuttle roller coaster is any roller coaster that ultimately does not make a complete circuit, but rather reverses at some point throughout its course and traverses the same track backwards. These are also sometimes referred to as boomerang roller coasters, due to Vekoma's popular Boomerang coaster model. As of 2006, 41 Boomerangs are currently in operation around the world.
The first two launched shuttle coaster designs debuted in 1977 by competitors Anton Schwarzkopf and Arrow Dynamics. Schwarzkopf's first Shuttle Loop installments were King Kobra at Kings Dominion, White Lightnin' at Carowinds, the Tidal Wave at Marriott's Great America in California (now owned by Cedar Fair), the Tidal Wave at Marriott's Great America in Chicago (now Six Flags Great America) and Greezed Lightnin' at Astroworld. Arrow's first Launched Loop coasters were Black Widow at Six Flags New England and Zoomerang at Boardwalk and Baseball.
Premier has also made a few models of shuttle coasters using LIMs, such as Batman & Robin: The Chiller at Six Flags Great Adventure and Mr. Freeze at Six Flags Over Texas and Six Flags St. Louis.
Some other types of shuttle roller coasters are reverse freefall coasters like Tower of Terror at Dreamworld in Australia, and twisted impulse coasters like Wicked Twister at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio.
Side Friction Roller Coaster
A side friction roller coaster is an early roller coaster design that does not have an extra set of wheels under the track to prevent cars from becoming airborne. Before the invention of up-stop wheels, coaster cars were built to run in a trough, with wheels under the car and side plates to help keep the cars on the track. Because the cars were not firmly anchored and could derail if they took a corner too fast, the largest side friction coasters required a brakeman to ride on the train and slow it down when necessary.
The invention of up-stop wheels in the 1920s allowed much more scope for height and speed in coaster designs, leaving side friction coasters to quickly fall out of favor. Only two have been built since World War II, and none since 1951. Today, there are only nine left in the world. Seven of them are located in Europe, one in Australia, and one in North America. A tenth one that had been "standing but not operating," since 2003, the "Runaway Coaster" at the defunct Rotunda amusement park in Kent, England, was demolished on April 5, 2007.
List of operating side friction roller coasters Leap the Dips at Lakemont Park in Altoona, PA, USA, the world's oldest operating roller coaster. It opened in 1902, and after being closed for several years, was restored and re-opened in 1999. The Scenic Railway at Luna Park, Melbourne in Australia, the world's oldest continuously operating roller coaster, functional since 1912. Rutschebanen (the name literally means "The Roller Coaster") at Tivoli Gardens in Denmark. Opened in 1914. The Scenic Railway at Dreamland Margate in Kent, England. Opened in 1920, and given Grade II "listed" status by English Heritage (the equivalent of a national historic landmark in the United States). The Scenic Railway's survival is under threat despite its historic significance, as the owners of Dreamland have closed the park and want to redevelop the land. The Hull?mvas?t at Vid?mpark in Budapest, Hungary. Opened in 1922, after it was set on fire, this is the oldest operating roller coaster in Central Europe. The Roller Coaster at Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach in Norfolk, England. Opened in Paris in 1929, and moved to Norfolk in 1932. Rutschebanen (the name literally means "The Roller Coaster") at Dyrehavsbakken in Denmark. Opened in 1932. The Hochschaubahn at Prater Park in Vienna, Austria. Opened in 1950 as a replacement for the original, which was destroyed during World War II. Vuoristorata in Helsinki, Finland. Opened in 1951. To date, this is the last side friction coaster ever built.
Spinning Roller Coaster
A Spinning roller coaster is a roller coaster with cars that are able to rotate on a vertical axis.
Zamperla/Reverchon Spinning Wild Mouse roller coasters
In 1997, the very first Spinning Wild Mouse roller coaster opened at the defunct Dinosaur Beach pier at Wildwood, New Jersey. Based on the design of the Wild Mouse roller coaster, the ride features cars similar to a Virginia Reel. It could be known as simply a Steel Virginia Reel. The layout of the ride boasts lots of hairpin turns and small hops. The design, noted for its portability and small footprint, became popular at smaller amusement parks and fairs. A well known theme park installation of the ride is Primeval Whirl at Disney's Animal Kingdom.
Reverchon first distributed the coaster in the late 1990s until the company merged with Zamperla in 2003. Since 2004, all Spinning Wild Mouse coasters have been distributed by Zamperla.
Gerstlauer Spinning roller coasters
In 2004, the first two Gerstlauer Spinning coasters opened: Timberland Twister at Nickelodeon Universe (formerly known as The Park at MOA, which was formerly known as Camp Snoopy) inside the Mall of America, and Spinning Dragons at Worlds of Fun. These roller coasters have large, twisted layouts with many vertical hairpin turns intended to spin the cars around and give each rider a different experience every ride.
Maurer S?hne spinning roller coasters
A similar type of spinning coaster is made by Maurer S?hne. Examples are Spinball Whizzer at Alton Towers and Dragons Fury at Chessington World of Adventures, both in the UK. The seats on these coasters face away from each other, as opposed to Gerstlauer Spinning coasters where the seats face towards each other.
Twister Roller Coaster
A twister roller coaster is the generic name given to any roller coaster layout which tends to twist or interweave its track within itself several times. It is essentially the opposite of an Out and Back roller coaster, which is often a much more simplistic layout. Twister roller coasters often have the illusion of having small or tight clearances due to the track usually travelling through several support structures. This is known as a head chopper effect.
Twister roller coasters were unheard of before the advent of the 1920's. John Miller is credited with inventing upstop wheels and secure lapbar restraints, both which led roller coaster designers to create wilder and twistier layouts.
A good example of the difference between an out and back design and twister design is layouts of Apollo's Chariot and Raging Bull, two Bolliger & Mabillard designed hypercoaster roller coasters that debuted in 1999. Apollo's Chariot uses a traditional out and back layout while Raging Bull is a twister.
Wild Mouse Roller Coaster
A Wild Mouse roller coaster (or Wildemous, Mad Mouse or Rat Run) is a type of roller coaster characterized by small cars, which seat four people or fewer and ride on top of the track, taking tight, flat turns at modest speeds, yet producing high lateral G-forces. The track work is characterized by many turns and bunny hops, the latter producing abrupt negative vertical G forces. When approaching a turn from a straight section the intended impression is that one will simply continue straight, and thus plunge off of the device, this since there are no transition sections as are in a conventional high speed coaster track and the turn itself is obscured upon close approach. Almost all Wild Mice feature "switchback" sections, consisting of several of these unbanked turns, separated by straight sections Usually, the turns on the switchback section are 180, but some coasters feature 90 turns as well, and more rarely steep runs with loops (for example Crazy Mouse at Tobu Zoo in Japan).
The feeling of a Wild Mouse coaster is amplified by using cars which are wider than the track itself, giving the impression that the riders are hanging off the side or that they might fly out, thus giving it the name "wild".
Some may include trick-track a "straight" piece of track banked slightly side to side designed to throw the rider left to right. Some wild mouse coasters, such as Primeval Whirl, also have spinning cars.
The modern Wild Mouse was invented by German designer Franz Mack. In the original wooden Wild Mouse coasters of the 1960s and 1970s, the cars were so small that they could only fit two adults in close contact. While the low capacity of these rides led to long lines, the cars were small by design.
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s the Wild Mouse type coaster was nearly extinct. However, beginning in the mid-1990s, the Wild Mouse coasters' popularity surged, and many have been built since.
Wooden Roller Coaster
A wooden roller coaster or woodie is most often classified as a roller coaster with laminated steel running rails overlaid upon a wooden track. Occasionally, the structure may be made out of a steel lattice or truss, but the ride remains classified as a wooden roller coaster due to the track design. Due to the limits of wood, wooden roller coasters in general do not have inversions (when the coaster goes upside down), steep drops, or extremely banked turns (overbanked turns). However, there are exceptions; Son of Beast at Kings Island has a 214 foot high drop and originally had a 90 foot tall loop until the end of the 2006 season, although the loop had metal supports. Other special cases are Hades at Mount Olympus Water and Theme Park in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, featuring a double-track tunnel and a 90 degree banked turn, The Voyage at Holiday World (an example of a wooden roller coaster with a steel structure for supports) featuring three separate 90 degree banked turns, and El Toro at Six Flags Great Adventure with a 76 degree drop.
Decline and revival
Once a staple in virtually every amusement park in America, wooden roller coasters appear to be on a slow decline in popularity for a number of reasons. Steel roller coasters, while having larger up-front costs, cost much less in ongoing maintenance fees throughout the years of operation. Wooden roller coasters, on the other hand, require large amounts of devoted funds annually to keep the ride in operating condition through regular re-tracking, track lubrication, and support maintenance.
Wooden coasters are also becoming less marketable in today's media-driven advertising world. Superlative advertising in which the "biggest", "tallest", or "fastest" ride is what brings in crowds often cannot apply to new wooden roller coasters, especially since a large majority of record-holding rides are steel. Amusement parks are always looking to add attractions which can be presented in commercials and ads as incredibly tall, fast, or extreme which eliminates many wooden roller coasters.
However, the arrival of several new wooden coasters has bucked the downward trend. In 2006, a trio of giant wooden coasters opened in the United States: The Kentucky Rumbler at Beech Bend Park, The Voyage at Holiday World, and El Toro at Six Flags Great Adventure. Another wooden coaster, Renegade at Valleyfair!, opened in 2007. It remains to be seen whether or not these new coasters mark the beginning of a wooden coaster revival, but they do indicate that amusement parks continue to show interest in wooden roller coasters.
Prefabricated track
One of the most significant recent developments in wooden coaster design is Intamin AG's use of prefabricated track. This design essentially applies the principles of steel coaster manufacturing to wood.
Traditional wooden coaster track is built on-site. It is nailed layer-by-layer to the support structure, then it is smoothed to the proper shape and steel running plates are mounted on top. Prefabricated track, on the other hand, is manufactured in a factory. It is made of many thin layers of wood that are glued together and then laser cut to the exact shape needed. The track is made in 25 foot sections which have special joints on the ends that allow them to snap together like Lego pieces. This process allows for far higher precision than could ever be achieved by hand. In addition, the trains for a prefabricated wooden coaster have wheels with polyurethane tires, just like a steel coaster. In contrast, traditional wooden coaster trains have bare metal wheels.
This design results in a ride that is nearly as smooth as the smoothest of steel coasters, and much smoother than any traditional wooden coaster. However, some coaster enthusiasts may find this smoothness to detract from the experience, as it would not have the same character as a traditional wooden coaster. Despite this, all three existing prefabricated wooden coasters are consistently rated among the best wooden coasters in the world.
Prefabricated wooden coasters also benefit from faster construction and reduced maintenance compared to a traditional wooden coaster. The track is simply bolted to the structure, which takes an insignificant amount of time compared to actually building the track. The track also stays smooth much longer than traditional track, which becomes rough rather quickly and eventually must be replaced.
Wooden versus steel
Wooden roller coasters provide a very different ride and experience from steel roller coasters. While they are technically less capable than a steel coaster when it comes to inversions and elements, wooden coasters instead rely on an often rougher and more "wild" ride as well as a more psychological approach to inducing fear. Their shaky structures and track, which usually move anywhere from a few inches to a few feet with a passing train, give a sense of unreliability and the "threat" of collapse or disregard for safety. Of course, this assumption is purely mental and wooden roller coaster supports and track systems are designed to sway with the force. If the track and structure are too rigid, they will break under the strain of the passing train. The swaying of the track suppresses the force, like a shock absorber.
Like steel roller coasters, wooden roller coasters usually use the same three-wheel design, pioneered by John Miller. Each set of wheels includes a running wheel (on top of the track), a side friction wheel (to reduce side to side movement known as "hunting") and an upstop wheel (beneath the track to prevent cars from flying off the track). Some wooden coasters, such as Leap-The-Dips, do not have upstop wheels, and are therefore known as side friction roller coasters. As a result, the turns and drops are more gentle than on modern wooden roller coasters. Scenic Railway roller coasters also lack upstop wheels, but rely on a brakeman to control the speed. A handful of wooden coasters use flanged wheels, similar to a rail car, eliminating the need for side friction wheels..
The debate rages as to which type of coaster is better; wood or steel. This is unlikely to ever be settled, however, because each category distinguishes itself from the other in a number of ways, in addition to also providing a substantially different and unique ride.
Steel Roller Coaster
A steel roller coaster is a roller coaster that is defined by having a track made of steel. The vast majority of steel coasters have a steel support structure, but several have a wooden support structure: Cedar Creek Mine Ride and Gemini at Cedar Point and Excalibur at Valleyfair!. These coasters are still considered steel coasters because their tracks are made of steel. Steel coasters have earned immense popularity in the past 50 years throughout the world. Incorporating tubular steel track and polyurethane-coated wheels, the thrill rides can provide a taller, smoother, and faster ride with more inversions than a traditional wooden roller coaster.
Arrow Dynamics first introduced the steel roller coaster to the thrill industry with their creations of the Matterhorn (Disneyland) and the Runaway Mine Train (Six Flags Over Texas).
As of 2006, the oldest operating steel roller coaster in North America is the Little Dipper at Memphis Kiddie Park in Brooklyn, Ohio and has been operating since April 1952.