A wooden roller coaster is most often classified as a roller coaster with running rails made of flattened steel strips mounted on laminated wooden track. Occasionally, the support 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. The type of wood typically used in the construction of wooden coasters is Southern Yellow Pine, usually grown in the US and the rest of North America.
A steel roller coaster is a roller coaster that is defined by having a track 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 steel roller coasters can provide a taller, smoother, and faster ride with more inversions than a traditional wooden roller coaster.
Top Thrill Dragster is a steel accelerator roller coaster located at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio. Manufactured by Intamin, it was the sixteenth roller coaster to be built at the park since Blue Streak in 1964. It opened in 2003 as the tallest roller coaster in the world and the first full-circuit roller coaster to exceed 400 feet (120 m) in height. Its height record was later surpassed by Kingda Ka at Six Flags Great Adventure in 2005. Top Thrill Dragster, along with Kingda Ka, are the only strata coasters in existence. It was the second hydraulically launched roller coaster built by Intamin, following Xcelerator at Knott's Berry Farm. The tagline for Top Thrill Dragster is "Race for the Sky".
Kingda Ka is a launched roller coaster located at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, New Jersey. Designed by Werner Stengel, Kingda Ka is an Accelerator Coaster model from Intamin that opened as the tallest and fastest roller coaster in the world on May 21, 2005. It is also the second-ever strata coaster, a roller coaster taller than 400 feet (120 m); Top Thrill Dragster was the first and previously held both records. Intamin subcontracted Stakotra to assist with construction.
Magnum XL-200, colloquially known as simply Magnum, is a steel roller coaster built by Arrow Dynamics at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio. When it opened in 1989, it was the tallest, fastest, and steepest complete-circuit roller coaster in the world as well as the first hypercoaster – a roller coaster that exceeds 200 feet (61 m) in height. Some have credited Magnum with starting a period in the industry known as the roller coaster wars, in which amusement parks competed with one another at a rapid pace to build the next tallest and fastest roller coaster. More than 40 million people had ridden Magnum as of 2009.
A hypercoaster is any complete circuit roller coaster with a height measuring greater than 200 feet (61 m). The term was first coined by Arrow Dynamics and Cedar Point in 1989 with the release of the first full-circuit hypercoaster in the world, Magnum XL-200 followed by the Pepsi max big one 5 years later at 235ft. Other roller coaster manufacturers developed their own models with custom names, including Mega Coasters from Intamin, Hyper Coasters from Bolliger & Mabillard, and Hyper-Hybrid Coasters from Rocky Mountain Construction. The competition between amusement parks to build increasingly taller roller coasters eventually led to giga coasters which exceed 300 feet (91 m) and strata coasters which exceed 400 feet (120 m).
The Riddler's Revenge is a stand-up roller coaster located at Six Flags Magic Mountain. Manufactured by Bolliger & Mabillard, the ride opened as the park's eleventh roller coaster on April 4, 1998, setting multiple world records among stand-up coasters. Located in the Movie Town area of the park, The Riddler's Revenge was also the park's single biggest investment at a cost of $14 million. It stands 156 feet (48 m) tall and features a top speed of 65 mph (105 km/h). The 4,370-foot-long (1,330 m) coaster also features six inversions and a ride duration of approximately three minutes.
El Toro is a wooden roller coaster located at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson Township, New Jersey. Designed by Intamin of Switzerland, the wooden coaster opened to the public on June 11, 2006. Intamin contracted Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC) to build the ride, and the coaster's track was prefabricated, allowing for quicker installation and lower construction costs. When it opened, it had the steepest drop of any wooden roller coaster in the world at 76 degrees, until the record was broken by T Express in 2008 by one degree. Overall, its structure height of 181 feet (55 m) is ranked fourth, its drop height of 176 feet (54 m) is ranked second, and its top speed of 70 miles per hour (110 km/h) is ranked fourth among all wooden roller coasters in the world. It was also the first wooden roller coaster to use a cable lift as opposed to the traditional chain lift.
Roller Coaster DataBase (RCDB) is a roller coaster and amusement park database begun in 1996 by Duane Marden. It has grown to feature statistics and pictures of over 10,000 roller coasters from around the world.
Montu is an inverted roller coaster at Busch Gardens Tampa in Tampa, Florida. Built by Swiss manufacturer Bolliger & Mabillard, it is the park's second roller coaster designed by that company following the success of Kumba, which opened 3 years prior. When the ride opened on May 16, 1996, it was the world's tallest and fastest inverted roller coaster, a title it has since conceded to Alpengeist at sister park Busch Gardens Williamsburg. The ride stands 150 feet (46 m) tall and reaches speeds of 60 miles per hour (97 km/h).
Steel Vengeance, formerly known as Mean Streak, is a steel roller coaster at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio. The roller coaster was rebuilt by Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC) and opened to the public on May 5, 2018. It features RMC's patented I-Box Track technology utilizing a significant portion of Mean Streak's former support structure. Upon completion, Steel Vengeance set 10 world records.
An Accelerator Coaster is a hydraulically launched roller coaster model from Intamin. The model usually consists of a long, straight launch track, a top hat tower element, and magnetic brakes that smoothly stop the train without making contact. The technology was developed by Intamin engineers as an alternative to electromagnetic launch systems, such as the Linear Induction Motor (LIM) and Linear Synchronous Motor (LSM), that are found on earlier launched roller coasters like the Flight of Fear and The Joker's Jinx. Unlike the earlier linear induction motors, the Accelerator Coaster's launch system exhibits constant acceleration and is capable of reaching greater speeds.
Volcano: The Blast Coaster, or simply Volcano, was an inverted roller coaster located at Kings Dominion in Doswell, Virginia. Designed by Werner Stengel, it was the first launched roller coaster manufactured by Intamin and the first of its kind in the world to be inverted. Its launch mechanism was based on linear induction motor (LIM) technology. After a series of delays, Volcano officially opened to the public on August 3, 1998. The ride's soft opening was held two days earlier on August 1. A portion of the ride was enclosed inside a man-made volcano, which previously housed other attractions and was constructed in 1979. Volcano's final year of operation was in 2018, and in the off-season that followed, Kings Dominion made the sudden decision to retire the roller coaster.
Storm Chaser is a steel roller coaster at Kentucky Kingdom in Louisville, Kentucky. Designed by Alan Schilke and built by Rocky Mountain Construction at an estimated cost of $10 million, the ride opened to the public on April 30, 2016. It features three inversions utilizing Rocky Mountain Construction's patented I-Box track technology, a 78-degree drop, and a maximum speed of 52 mph (84 km/h).
Formula Rossa is a launched roller coaster located at Ferrari World in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Manufactured by Intamin, Formula Rossa is the world's fastest roller coaster with a top speed of 240 km/h (149.1 mph).
SheiKra is a steel Dive Coaster roller coaster at the Busch Gardens Tampa Bay amusement park in Tampa, Florida, United States. The roller coaster was proposed by Mark Rose, vice-president of design and engineering for the park, and designed by Bolliger & Mabillard. The ride was planned to be 160 feet (49 m) high, but the park's executives rejected this and the height was changed to 200 feet (61 m). SheiKra reaches a maximum speed of 70 miles per hour (110 km/h) and has a total track length of 3,188 feet (972 m). It first opened on May 21, 2005, and was converted to a floorless roller coaster on June 16, 2007, following the opening of its sister Dive Coaster Griffon at Busch Gardens Williamsburg that year.
Polercoaster is a type of amusement ride offered by US Thrill Rides and Intamin. An installation consists of a large tower structure which features glass elevators to an observation deck, as well as a steel roller coaster wrapping around the tower. The model was first introduced in 2012, and as of November 2013, four have been proposed for construction. However, neither of them have been constructed as of 2020.
Fury 325 is a steel roller coaster located at Carowinds amusement park in Charlotte, North Carolina. Manufactured by Bolliger & Mabillard, Fury 325 opened to the public on March 28, 2015. It features a 6,602-foot-long (2,012 m) track that reaches a maximum height of 325 feet (99 m), making it the fifth-tallest roller coaster in the world and the tallest overall among roller coasters that use a traditional chain lift hill. Riders experience speeds of up to 95 miles per hour (153 km/h), winding through high-speed curves and passing over and under the park's main entrance. Fury 325 has also been voted the world's best steel coaster in Amusement Today's Golden Ticket Awards for four consecutive years beginning in 2016, ending Millennium Force's six-year streak.
Red Force is a steel launched roller coaster located at Ferrari Land within PortAventura World in Salou, Catalonia, Spain. The ride was manufactured by Swiss manufacturer Intamin and opened on 7 April 2017. With a height of 112 metres (367 ft) and a maximum speed of 180 kilometres per hour (112 mph), Red Force is the tallest and fastest roller coaster in Europe as of 2019.
Troy is a wooden roller coaster located at Toverland in Sevenum, the Netherlands. It was manufactured by American manufacturer Great Coasters International (GCI) and opened on 29 June 2007. Troy was GCI's second roller coaster in Europe, following Thunderbird at PowerPark in Finland. With a height of 31.9 metres (105 ft), a maximum speed of 86.9 kilometres per hour (54.0 mph), and a track length of 1,077.2 metres (3,534 ft), Troy is the tallest, fastest, and longest wooden roller coaster in the Netherlands as of 2018.
