A roller coaster, or rollercoaster, is a type of amusement ride that employs a form of elevated railroad track designed with tight turns, steep slopes, and sometimes inversions. Passengers 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.
Coney Island is a peninsular neighborhood and entertainment area in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach to its east, Lower New York Bay to the south and west, and Gravesend to the north and includes the subsection of Sea Gate on its west. More broadly, the Coney Island peninsula consists of Coney Island proper, Brighton Beach, and Manhattan Beach. This was formerly the westernmost of the Outer Barrier islands on the southern shore of Long Island, but in the early 20th century it became a peninsula, connected to the rest of Long Island by land fill.
Kings Island is a 364-acre (147 ha) amusement park located 24 miles (39 km) northeast of Cincinnati in Mason, Ohio, United States. Owned and operated by Cedar Fair, the park first opened in 1972 by the Taft Broadcasting Company. It was part of a larger effort to move and expand Coney Island, a popular resort destination along the banks of the Ohio River that was prone to frequent flooding. After more than $300 million in capital investments, the park features over 100 attractions including fourteen roller coasters and a 33-acre (13 ha) water park.
LaMarcus Adna Thompson was an American inventor and businessman most famous for developing a variety of gravity rides and roller coasters.
A roller coaster inversion is a roller coaster element in which the track turns riders upside-down and then returns them to an upright position. Early forms of inversions were circular in nature and date back to 1848 on the Centrifugal railway in Paris. These vertical loops produced massive g-force that was often dangerous to riders. As a result, the element eventually became non-existent with the last rides to feature the looping inversions being dismantled during the Great Depression. In 1975, designers from Arrow Development created the corkscrew, reviving interest in the inversion during the modern age of steel roller coasters. Elements have since evolved from simple corkscrews and vertical loops to more complex inversions such as Immelmann loops and cobra rolls. The Smiler at Alton Towers holds the world record for the number of inversions on a roller coaster with 14.
Six Flags New England, formerly known as Gallup's Grove (1870–1886), Riverside Grove (1887–1911), Riverside Park (1912–1995) and Riverside: The Great Escape (1996–2000), is an amusement park located in Agawam, Massachusetts, a western suburb of Springfield, Massachusetts. Opening in the late 19th century, it is the oldest amusement park in the Six Flags chain, acquired by Premier Parks in 1996 and rebranded Six Flags New England in 2000. Superman The Ride is among the park's most notable rides, having appeared as a highly ranked roller coaster in the annual Golden Ticket Awards from Amusement Today since the ride opened in 2000.
Luna Park Melbourne is a historic amusement park located on the foreshore of Port Phillip Bay in St Kilda, Melbourne, Victoria. It opened on 13 December 1912, with a formal opening a week later, and has been operating almost continuously ever since.
The Cyclone, also the Coney Island Cyclone, is a wooden roller coaster at Luna Park in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York City. Designed by Vernon Keenan, it opened to the public on June 26, 1927. The roller coaster is on a plot of land at the intersection of Surf Avenue and West 10th Street. The Cyclone reaches a maximum speed of 60 miles per hour (97 km/h) and has a total track length of 2,640 feet (800 m), with a maximum height of 85 feet (26 m).
Coney Island is a water park located on the banks of the Ohio River in Cincinnati, Ohio, approximately 10 miles (16 km) east of the downtown area in Anderson Township. One of its notable features is its Sunlite Pool attraction, which is the largest recirculating pool in North America.
Viper is a wooden roller coaster located at Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, Illinois, which opened in 1995. Viper is a clone of the Coney Island Cyclone and is the only roller coaster ever to be built directly by Six Flags. Viper is also the only wooden roller coaster with this name. It was built by Rygiel Construction.
Soarin' Eagle is a steel roller coaster located at the Scream Zone at Luna Park in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York. The ride was the first ever Zamperla "Volare" roller coaster when it opened in 2002 at Elitch Gardens in Denver, Colorado, as the Flying Coaster. The Elitch Gardens ride was constructed by Martin & Vleminckx. The Volare, the cheapest option for a flying roller coaster, contains a compact layout with a distinctive spiral lift hill. In late 2010 the ride got dismantled and relocated to Luna Park in Coney Island, where it opened in April 2011 as the Soarin' Eagle. The ride has an identical sister, Hero, which opened in July 2013 at Flamingo Land in North Yorkshire.
The Racer is a wooden, racing roller coaster located at Kings Island amusement park in Mason, Ohio. It was designed by John C. Allen, well-known for his contributions to roller coasters during the mid-twentieth century, and debuted at the park's grand opening in 1972. It was thrust into the national spotlight after being featured in an episode of the popular TV sitcom The Brady Bunch in 1973 and is often recognized for playing a vital role in the roller coaster renaissance of the 1970s. The Racer inspired similar designs in other roller coasters, such as Racer 75 at Kings Dominion and the now-defunct Thunder Road at Carowinds. The Racer is also one of the few original Kings Island attractions still in operation today.
Astroland was a 3.1-acre (1.3 ha) amusement park in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York City that first opened in 1962. It was located at 1000 Surf Avenue on the boardwalk. It ceased operations on September 7, 2008.
Dante's Inferno was a dark ride, Haunted attraction created in 1971 by Anton Schwarzkopf that was located at Astroland on Coney Island; a similar ride, Dante's Dungeon, is at Morey's Piers in Wildwood, New Jersey. Dante's Inferno is decorated with a purple Cerberus in each tower, a werewolf out of one window, and skeleton warriors in another, its exterior's centerpiece is a large devil holding a victim in his hand that is connecting to the tongue of an upside-down, lolling eyed creature, and a pitchfork in the other. The ride's exterior resembles a castle, and its open area is decorated in graffiti style artwork including Medusa's severed head held by a Grim Reaper, as well as a mad scientist and several dragons.
Grizzly is a wooden roller coaster at Kings Dominion in Doswell, Virginia. The grounds of the ride are densely forested, with the intended thrills heightened from the illusion of inadequate clearance between the track and trees. The attraction opened in 1982, and the double-figure-eight layout is based closely on the defunct Coney Island Wildcat. A similar version of this ride operates at Canada's Wonderland as Wilde Beast.
Roller coaster amusement rides have origins back to ice slides constructed in 18th-century Russia. Early technology featured sleds or wheeled carts that were sent down hills of snow reinforced by wooden supports. The technology evolved in the 19th century to feature railroad track using wheeled cars that were securely locked to the track. Newer innovations emerged in the early 20th century with side friction and underfriction technologies to allow for greater speeds and sharper turns. By the mid-to-late 20th century, these elements intensified with the introduction of steel roller coaster designs and the ability to invert riders.
The Bayern Kurve is roller coaster like amusement ride that moves a train around a banked circular track, gaining speed as the ride progresses. It is made in both a portable and park model and originally debuted in 1965. It was invented by German engineer Anton Schwarzkopf.
Luna Park is an amusement park in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York City. It opened on May 29, 2010, at the site of Astroland, an amusement park that had been in operation from 1962 to 2008, and Dreamland, which operated at the same site for the 2009 season. It was named after the original 1903 Luna Park which operated until 1944 on a site just north of the current park's 1000 Surf Avenue location.
Thunderbolt is a steel roller coaster at Luna Park in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York City. It is located near Surf Avenue and West 15th Street, on the Riegelmann Boardwalk next to the B&B Carousell.
Drop the Dip, later known as Trip to the Moon, was a wooden roller coaster that operated at several locations in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York, in the early 20th century. The coaster is considered by some to have been the first truly high-speed roller coaster.
