A roller coaster is a type of amusement ride that employs a form of elevated railroad track designed with tight turns, steep slopes, and sometimes inversions. People ride along the track in open cars, and the rides are often found in amusement parks and theme parks around the world. LaMarcus Adna Thompson obtained one of the first known patents for a roller coaster design in 1885, related to the Switchback Railway that opened a year earlier at Coney Island. The track in a coaster design does not necessarily have to be a complete circuit, as shuttle roller coasters demonstrate. Most roller coasters have multiple cars in which passengers sit and are restrained. Two or more cars hooked together are called a train. Some roller coasters, notably Wild Mouse roller coasters, run with single cars.
Anton Schwarzkopf was a German engineer of amusement rides, and founder of the Schwarzkopf Industries Company, which built numerous amusement rides and large roller coasters for both amusement parks and traveling funfairs.
Southport Pleasureland is an amusement park located in Southport, Merseyside, England. The park originally operated from 1913 to 2006 as Pleasureland Theme Park under the ownership of the Blackpool Pleasure Beach company. In 2007, the park re-opened under the ownership of Norman Wallis.
Superman: Escape from Krypton is a steel shuttle roller coaster located at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California. When it opened in 1997, it was the tallest roller coaster in the world, and its speed of 100 mph (160 km/h) was tied for the fastest with Tower of Terror II, a similar roller coaster which opened two months earlier at Dreamworld in Australia. These two coasters were the first to utilize Linear Synchronous Motor (LSM) technology to propel vehicles to top speed. As of November 3, 2019, it is the only reverse freefall coaster left in operation after the closure of Tower of Terror II.
Rita, formerly known as Rita: Queen of Speed, is a launched roller coaster located in the Dark Forest section of Alton Towers amusement park in Staffordshire Moorlands, England. Designed by Intamin, the Accelerator Coaster model opened to the public on 1 April 2005. It is named Rita because Alton Towers Intamin Rocket abbreviated is A.T.I.R which spells Rita backwards. This name is also due to the American tradition of giving a drag racing car a female name, as the ride used to be themed to drag racing. It features an acceleration from 0 to 98.3 km/h (61.1 mph) in 2.5 seconds. The ride is loosely-themed to a drag racing concept, which partly changed when the section of the park transformed from "Ug Land" into the "Dark Forest" in 2010, when the ride TH13TEEN was added into that section. It is now themed as an abandoned drag racer that is used as the escape cart to escape the Dark Forest.
Oakwood Theme Park is a theme park in Pembrokeshire, Wales.
Frontierland Western Theme Park was a theme park in Morecambe, Lancashire, England, situated on Marine Road West, which operated from 1906 to 7 November 1999, with a final year consisting of only travelling rides in 2000. Frontierland originally operated as West End Amusement Park, Fun City and Morecambe Pleasure Park from 1906 to 1986 before being transformed into Frontierland for the 1987 season, in an attempt to defeat dwindling visitor numbers.
Camelot Theme Park was a resort and theme park located in the English county of Lancashire. The park's theme was the well-known legend of Camelot, and the park decor incorporated pseudo-medieval elements. It was located on a 140-acre site near the village of Charnock Richard, 3 miles (4.8 km) west of Chorley.
Jetline is a roller coaster at Gröna Lund in Stockholm, Sweden. It has gained worldwide recognition for its curved lift hill, an anomaly amongst roller coasters. It was opened in 1988 and was a clone of the Knightmare roller coaster at Camelot Theme Park however It was modified in 1997 by Mauer Söhne to have a longer and steeper drop. Knightmare also pulled 5Gs while Jetliner only pulls 4.5. A tunnel was also added at the bottom of the first drop.
Zierer Karussell- und Spezialmaschinenbau GmbH & Co. KG is a German company located close to Deggendorf. Zierer manufactures Tivoli and Force line of roller coasters, as well as panoramic wheels, wave swingers, flying carpets, Hexentanz, and Kontiki rides. The company also has partnered with Schwarzkopf to build Lisebergbanan at Liseberg and Knightmare at Camelot Theme Park.
Fantasy Island is a family amusement park in Ingoldmells on the East Coast of England. Opened in 1993, it sits in a busy spread of holiday parks.
G Force was a roller coaster at Drayton Manor Theme Park, Tamworth, England. It was the only X-Car coaster in the UK and was opened by the band G4 in 2005. The ride was also the third X-Car coaster to be built in the world, the first being the prototype Sky Wheel at Skyline Park in Germany and the second being X Coaster at Magic Springs. Another unique aspect of the X-Car coaster is the inverted lift, known as the humpty-bump lift. Unlike a conventional inclined lift, the lift on is similar to a standard vertical loop. At the top of the lift, riders are suspended upside down and the train is released to traverse two more inversions, including an immelman loop and a bent Cuban eight. The ride was originally called Project X but changed to G Force before the coaster's opening. The coaster closed in October 2018 after extensive downtime during the 2018 season. The park stated the maintenance cost for the coaster was too expensive and therefore the decision was to close the ride. As of January 2020, the ride has been removed and is in storage at the rear of the park.
Astro Storm is an enclosed, sit down roller coaster at Brean Leisure Park in Brean, England, created by German amusement ride manufacturer Zierer. It was formerly located at Pleasure Beach Blackpool in Blackpool, England where it was known as Space Invader 2.
Clown Coaster is a children's steel coaster manufactured by Pinfari that opened at Wicksteed Park in Kettering, Northamptonshire, in October 2011. It previously operated in the Beaver Creek section of Pleasure Beach Blackpool from 1995 to 2008 as Circus Clown. The theming of the ride was a ride through a circus with Morgan the Clown. Prior to relocating to Pleasure Beach, Circus Clown operated for a season at Harbour Park.
Loudoun Castle was a theme park set around the ruins of the 19th century Loudoun Castle near Galston, in the Loudoun area of Ayrshire, Scotland, United Kingdom. The park opened in 1995, and closed at the end of the 2010 season. The park's mascot was Rory the Lion.
Blackpool Pleasure Beach is an amusement park situated on Blackpool's South Shore, in the county of Lancashire, North West England.
M&D's Scotland's Theme Park is an amusement park located in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. Bordering on Strathclyde Park, the park contains four operating rollercoasters, two water rides, several fairground rides, an arcade, a theatre, ten-pin bowling and an indoor tropical house, Amazonia. In 2018, North Lanarkshire Council approved an expansion proposal from the park, including plans for a new rollercoaster, a new themed area, and an expansion to an existing hotel.
Hundeprutterutchebane is a steel family roller coaster at BonBon-Land in southern Zealand, Denmark, approximately 100 kilometres (60 mi) from Copenhagen. The rollercoaster is known best for its name and its unique dog-flatulence-related theme. It is an example of flatulence humor.
The Big Sheep is an amusement farm park located in Abbotsham, Devon, England.
Runaway Tram is a steel family roller coaster located on Morey's Piers' Surfside Pier in North Wildwood, New Jersey. The attraction replaced the aging Flitzer roller coaster and required the reconfiguration of several rides on the pier and represented a total investment of $4 million. Runaway Tram spoofs the Wildwood Sightseer Tramcar, a local yellow-and-blue trackless train service.
