A roller coaster is a type of amusement ride employing a form of elevated railroad track that carries passengers on a train through tight turns, steep slopes, and other elements designed to produce a thrilling experience. Trains consist of open cars connected in a single line, and the rides are often found in theme parks around the world. Roller coasters first appeared in the 17th century, and LaMarcus Adna Thompson obtained one of the first known patents for a roller coaster design in 1885, based on the Switchback Railway which opened a year earlier at Coney Island.
Vekoma Rides Manufacturing is a Dutch amusement ride manufacturer. Vekoma is a syllabic abbreviation of Veld Koning Machinefabriek which was established in 1926 by Hendrik op het Veld.
Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters (PTC) is one of the oldest existing roller coaster manufacturing companies in the world. Based in Hatfield, Pennsylvania, it was established in 1904 by Henry Auchey and Chester Albright under the name Philadelphia Toboggan Company. The company manufactured carousels, wooden roller coasters, toboggans and later, roller coaster trains.
Playland Amusement Park is an amusement park in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The amusement park is located at Hastings Park and is operated by the Pacific National Exhibition (PNE), an organization that hosts an annual summer fair and exhibition adjacent to Playland. Playland opened at its current location in 1958, although its predecessor, Happyland, operated at Hastings Park from 1929 to 1957. Playland was formally made a division of the PNE in 1993.
GhostRider is a wooden roller coaster at Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, California. It is located in the Ghost Town section of the park, south of the main entrance. Manufactured by Custom Coasters International, GhostRider is the tallest and longest wooden coaster on the West Coast of the United States, measuring 4,533 feet long and 118 feet tall. The ride follows an L-shaped double out and back pattern, with a station themed to a mining building. There are three trains, each themed to a different precious metal, though only two are in use at any given time.
Mamba is a steel roller coaster located at Worlds of Fun in Kansas City, Missouri. Designed by Steve Okamoto and manufactured by D.H. Morgan Manufacturing, Mamba opened to the public on April 18, 1998. It is classified as a hypercoaster, which is any coaster that exceeds 200 feet (61 m) in height or drop length, and cost $10 million to construct. As of 2022, Mamba is tied with Steel Force at Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom in Allentown, Pennsylvania as the eighth longest steel coaster in the world.
El Toro is a wooden roller coaster located at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson Township, New Jersey. Designed by Werner Stengel and manufactured by Intamin, the ride opened to the public on June 11, 2006. Intamin subcontracted Rocky Mountain Construction to build the ride, and the coaster's track was prefabricated, allowing for quicker installation and lower construction costs. El Toro is the main attraction of the Mexican-themed section of the park, Plaza Del Carnaval. It replaced another roller coaster, Viper, which closed following the 2004 season.
Beech Bend is an amusement park, campground and automobile race track located in Warren County, in the U.S. state of Kentucky, just outside the limits of the city of Bowling Green.
Thunder Run is a wooden roller coaster at the Kentucky Kingdom amusement park in Louisville, Kentucky. The ride originally operated from August 1990 through to October 2009, when then-operators Six Flags abandoned the park. After remaining closed since 2009, Thunder Run reopened in May 2014 when Kentucky Kingdom reopened under new operators.
The Enterprise is an amusement ride, manufactured primarily by HUSS Park Attractions and Anton Schwarzkopf beginning in 1972. The HUSS ride was an adaptation and improvement of a design produced earlier that year by Schwarzkopf, with an increased passenger capacity. Despite not owning the original incarnation of the ride, HUSS was issued the patent.
Joyland Amusement Park was an amusement park in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It was in continuous operation for 55 years, from June 12, 1949, to 2004, closing permanently in 2006. It was once the largest theme park in central Kansas and featured a wooden roller coaster and 15 other rides.
Six Flags Discovery Kingdom is a 135-acre (55 ha) animal theme park located in Vallejo, California, off of Interstate 80 between San Francisco and Sacramento. The park includes a variety of roller coasters and other amusement rides. Six Flags Discovery Kingdom has been part of the Six Flags chain of amusement parks since 1999.
Kong is an inverted roller coaster located at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom amusement park in Vallejo, California. The Suspended Looping Coaster (SLC) model was manufactured by Vekoma and first opened to the public as Hangman at Opryland USA on May 1, 1995. Following Opryland's closure in 1997, the roller coaster was sold to Premier Parks and moved to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, where it reopened as Kong in May 1998.
Adventure Island is a theme park in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. The site of the theme park flanks the north end of Southend Pier and has been a theme park since 1976 when the land now forming the west side of the park was purchased by the Miller family. The park used to be known as Peter Pan’s Playground and later Peter Pan’s Adventure Island before becoming Adventure Island. The site is owned and managed by Stockvale Limited. The park contains thirty six rides, retail outlets, and numerous catering outlets.
Galaxi is the common name of a series of mass-produced roller coasters manufactured primarily by Italian company S.D.C, which went bankrupt in 1993. The roller coaster design was first used in the 1970s, and as of 2009, sixteen Galaxi coasters are still in park-based operation, across the North American, European, and Australian continents, with another two "Standing But Not Operating". At least 37 amusement parks are operating or have previously operated Galaxi coasters; this does not include those owned by funfairs and traveling ride companies.
White Swan Park was a small amusement park on the border of Moon and Findlay townships in Allegheny County near Pittsburgh that operated from 1955 to 1989. It was located on the Penn-Lincoln Parkway West at McClaren Road, just 1½ miles south of the old Greater Pittsburgh International Airport site.
Prowler is a wooden roller coaster located at Worlds of Fun in Kansas City, Missouri. Manufactured by Great Coasters International, the $8-million ride opened to the public on May 2, 2009. The ride is located in the Africa section of the park behind Zulu.
The Euro-Fighter is a type of steel roller coaster developed by Gerstlauer. First launched in 2003, the trademark feature of the roller coaster is its beyond-vertical drop, which reaches an angle greater than 90 degrees. Although the majority of Euro-Fighters are custom designed for each installation, every design so far has included the trademark drop. A number of different track elements are possible, including vertical loops, diving loops and barrel rolls. Almost all Euro-Fighter models have a vertical chain-driven lift hill, although LSM launch systems are also available.
Intimidator 305 is a steel roller coaster located at Kings Dominion in Doswell, Virginia, United States. Manufactured by Intamin, Intimidator 305 opened to the public on April 2, 2010, as the park's fourteenth roller coaster. It is located in the Jungle X-Pedition section of the park near Anaconda on the former site of the Safari Monorail ride. Standing at 305 feet (93 m) tall and reaching speeds up to 90 mph (145 km/h), it is the second Giga Coaster to be built in North America, following Millennium Force at Cedar Point. The $25-million investment was the largest of any ride in park history. Themed to racing, the coaster is named after the late NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt, who was commonly known as "The Intimidator".
Preston & Barbieri is an amusement ride manufacturing company based in Reggio Emilia, Italy. The company was founded in 2000 as a merger of the Preston and Barbieri Rides companies. The company manufactures a wide range of flat rides, water rides and roller coasters out of its 70,000-square-metre (750,000 sq ft) property in Italy.
