A wooden roller coaster is a type of roller coaster classified by its wooden track, which consists of running rails made of flat steel strips mounted on laminated wood. The support structure is also typically made of wood, but may also be made of steel lattice or truss, which has no bearing on a wooden coaster's classification. The type of wood often selected in the construction of wooden coasters worldwide is southern yellow pine, which grows abundantly in the southern United States, due to its density and adherence to different forms of pressure treatment.
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.
Bolliger & Mabillard, officially Bolliger & Mabillard Consulting Engineers, Inc. and often abbreviated B&M, is a roller coaster design consultancy based in Monthey, Switzerland. The company was founded in 1988 by engineers Walter Bolliger and Claude Mabillard, both of whom had worked for Giovanola.
Patriot is an inverted roller coaster located at Worlds of Fun in Kansas City, Missouri. Manufactured by Bolliger & Mabillard, the inverted coaster opened to the public on April 8, 2006. It features four inversions, a height of 149 feet (45 m), and a track length of 3,081 feet (939 m).
Medusa, formerly known as Bizarro, is a steel roller coaster located at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson Township, New Jersey. Manufactured by Bolliger & Mabillard, the ride debuted as the world's first floorless roller coaster on April 2, 1999. It was repainted and rethemed to Bizarro in 2009. In 2022, it was repainted and renamed back to Medusa.
Superman: Ultimate Flight is the name of three flying roller coasters currently operating at three Six Flags amusement parks in the United States, those being Six Flags Over Georgia, Six Flags Great Adventure and Six Flags Great America. Each of these steel coasters were designed and built by Swiss manufacturer Bolliger & Mabillard and opened in 2002 and 2003. Since 2003, Six Flags has installed Superman: Ultimate Flight in three of their parks. Themed to the popular comic book character, Superman: Ultimate Flight simulates flying by positioning its passengers parallel to the track, supported by harnesses and facing the ground through most of the ride. In the station, riders board the train sitting down. After the train is locked and checked, the trains are raised into the flying position. After the ride, the seats are lowered back into the sitting position for the next round of riders.
Steel Vengeance, formerly known as Mean Streak, is a steel roller coaster at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio. The roller coaster, originally constructed by Dinn Corporation as a wooden roller coaster, was rebuilt by Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC) and opened to the public on May 5, 2018. It is a hybrid coaster, using RMC's steel I-Box track and a significant portion of Mean Streak's former support structure. Upon completion, Steel Vengeance set 10 world records, including those for the tallest, fastest, and longest hybrid roller coaster.
Griffon is a steel roller coaster located at Busch Gardens Williamsburg amusement park in James City County, Virginia, United States. Designed by Bolliger & Mabillard (B&M), the Dive Coaster model opened to the public on May 18, 2007. It climbs to a height of 205 feet (62 m) and reaches a maximum speed of 71 mph (114 km/h). It features two Immelmann loops, a splashdown, two vertical drops, and was the first B&M Dive Coaster to use floorless trains. Griffon was well-received by media and enthusiasts, and it placed third in 2007 in the category of Best New Ride polled by Amusement Today for their annual Golden Ticket Awards. Since its debut, it has also consistently ranked in the top 50 among steel roller coasters worldwide in the same annual publication, peaking at #19 in 2010.
The Dive Coaster is a steel roller coaster model developed and engineered by Bolliger & Mabillard. The design features one or more near-vertical drops that are approximately 90 degrees, which provide a moment of free-falling for passengers. The experience is enhanced by unique trains that seat up to ten riders per row, spanning only two or three rows total. Unlike traditional train design, this distinguishing aspect gives all passengers virtually the same experience throughout the course of the ride. Another defining characteristic of Dive Coasters is the holding brake at the top of the lift hill that holds the train momentarily right as it enters the first drop, suspending some passengers with a view looking straight down and releasing suddenly moments later.
Anaconda is a steel roller coaster located at Kings Dominion, in the Jungle X-Pedition section of the park. Built by Arrow Dynamics and designed by Ron Toomer, Anaconda opened in 1991 as the first looping roller coaster to feature an underwater tunnel and the first at Kings Dominion with more than one inversion.
Diamondback is a steel roller coaster located at Kings Island in Mason, Ohio, United States. Manufactured by Bolliger & Mabillard (B&M), the ride opened in 2009 as the first hypercoaster to feature a splashdown effect and the first B&M roller coaster at Kings Island. It is located in Rivertown just behind International Street and the Eiffel Tower. Diamondback was the biggest investment in Kings Island’s history at the time, costing $22 million to build, but that figure was surpassed in 2014 by Banshee. The coaster features a 230-foot (70 m) lift hill with a 215-foot (66 m) drop and a maximum speed of 80 mph (130 km/h). It is similar to Behemoth at Canada's Wonderland in statistics, layout, and seating.
Raptor is a steel roller coaster at the Gardaland amusement park in Lake Garda, Italy. The ride is a prototype Wing Coaster design by Swiss roller coaster manufacturer Bolliger & Mabillard. Raptor opened to the public on April 1, 2011. The ride begins from an underground station and features two water splash elements. The layout features several roll overs. The trains hang over both sides of the track like X2 at Six Flags Magic Mountain but the seats do not spin.
Wing Coaster is engineering firm Bolliger & Mabillard’s designation for its winged roller coaster designs. Winged roller coasters are a type of steel roller coaster where pairs of riders sit on either side of a roller coaster track in which nothing is above or below the riders. B&M began development on the first Wing Coaster between 2007 and 2008 leading to the opening of Raptor at Gardaland on 1 April 2011. There were sixteen B&M-designed Wing Coasters either under construction or operating worldwide as of December 2020.
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.
X-Flight is a steel roller coaster located at Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, Illinois. Designed and built by Bolliger & Mabillard, the ride opened as the fourth Wing Coaster in the world and the second in the United States on May 16, 2012. It replaced both the Splashwater Falls and Great American Raceway attractions. The 3,000-foot-long (910 m) roller coaster features barrel rolls, high-speed drops, and a signature fly-through element, where the train narrowly misses a support structure – designed to look like an air traffic control tower – as it passes through an opening known as a keyhole element.
Shambhala: Expedición al Himalaya is a steel hypercoaster roller coaster located at PortAventura Park in Salou and Vilaseca, Spain. Manufactured by Bolliger & Mabillard, it was the tallest and fastest coaster in Europe at the time of its opening. The height and speed records were beaten in April 2017 by Red Force, which was also opened in PortAventura World in its new theme park Ferrari Land. Among coasters with a lift hill, the height and speed records were beaten in July 2018, when Hyperion opened at Energylandia in Poland. Shambhala is named and themed after the inaccessible land in the Himalayas: Shambhala. The coaster was announced on 24 October 2011, and opened to the public on 12 May 2012.
Sky Scrapper is a flying roller coaster at World Joyland in Wujin, Changzhou, Jiangsu, China. Sky Scrapper was one of World Joyland's opening day attractions, officially opening on April 30, 2011. The 2,805.1-foot-long (855.0 m) ride stands 131.3 feet (40.0 m) tall, and features a top speed of 54.7 mph (88.0 km/h). Designed by Swiss firm Bolliger & Mabillard, Sky Scrapper restrains riders in the prone position and features five inversions.
Diving Coaster is a steel Dive Coaster at Happy Valley Shanghai in Songjiang, Shanghai, China. It was manufactured by Bolliger & Mabillard and opened on August 16, 2009.
Nitro is a steel Floorless Coaster at Imagicaa amusement park in Khopoli, Maharashtra, India. Manufactured by Bolliger & Mabillard, the roller coaster reaches a maximum height of 132 feet (40 m) and a maximum speed of 65.2 miles per hour (104.9 km/h). The coaster also features five inversions. Nitro opened to the public in October 2013.
