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.
Custom Coasters International (CCI) was one of the premier wooden roller coaster manufacturers in the world and produced 34 wooden coasters in eleven years — more than any other company in recent times.
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 Walter Bolliger and Claude Mabillard, both of whom had worked for Giovanola.
The Beast is a wooden roller coaster located at Kings Island amusement park in Mason, Ohio. Designed and manufactured in-house for $3.2 million, the ride opened in 1979 as the tallest, fastest, and longest wooden roller coaster in the world. Decades later, it is still the longest, spanning 7,359 feet (2,243 m) across 35 acres (14 ha) of hilly terrain. Two lift hills contribute to the ride's duration of more than four minutes, which also ranks as one of the longest among roller coasters.
S&S – Sansei Technologies is an American company known for its pneumatically powered amusement rides and roller coaster designing.
Son of Beast was a record-breaking wooden roller coaster located at Kings Island in Mason, Ohio, United States. Built and designed by the now-defunct Roller Coaster Corporation of America, it opened to the public on April 28, 2000, as the tallest and fastest wooden coaster in the world. It became the first wooden hypercoaster – a height class of 200 feet (61 m) or more – with its record-setting height of 218 feet (66 m). The coaster was also the first in the modern era to feature a vertical loop and reached a maximum speed of 78 mph (126 km/h). Son of Beast was themed as a sequel to one of the park's other signature attractions, The Beast.
A hypercoaster is any complete-circuit roller coaster with a height measuring at least 200 feet (61 m). The term was first coined by Arrow Dynamics and Cedar Point in 1989 with the release of the world's first hypercoaster, Magnum XL-200. It was followed by Pepsi Max Big One five years later featuring a height of 213 feet (65 m). Other roller coaster manufacturers developed 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).
Iron Rattler is a steel roller coaster located at Six Flags Fiesta Texas in San Antonio. Originally opening as a wooden coaster called Rattler in 1992, it was converted to steel and renamed Iron Rattler in 2013. Designed by Alan Schilke and built by Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC), the ride features a zero-g-roll inversion, which was a first among hybrid coasters made of wood and steel.
A bobsled roller coaster is a roller coaster that uses a track design that is essentially a "pipe" with the top half removed and has cars that are sent down this pipe in a freewheeling mode. The name derives from the great similarity to the track design used for the winter sport of bobsleigh.
Premier Rides is an amusement ride manufacturer based in the United States. The company was the first to use Linear Induction Motors (LIMs) on their roller coasters. Jim Seay has been the sole owner and company president since 1996.
Dinn Corporation was a roller coaster designing and manufacturing company established in West Chester, Ohio, in 1983 by Charles Dinn. The company is noted for moving and rebuilding several existing wooden coasters and building ten new wooden roller coasters in the United States.
This is a list of events and openings related to amusement parks that have occurred in 2012. These various lists are not exhaustive.
Curtis D. Summers was an American engineer and roller coaster designer credited for designing or providing structural engineering on 25 wooden roller coasters around the world. He earned a degree in Architectural Engineering from Kansas State University and was a registered engineer in 40 states.
Rocky Mountain Construction, often abbreviated as RMC, is a manufacturing and construction company based in Hayden, Idaho, United States. The company is best known for its I-Box track and Topper Track for wooden roller coasters.
This is a list of events and openings related to amusement parks that occurred in 2013. These various lists are not exhaustive.
Alan Schilke is an engineer and roller coaster designer based in Hayden, Idaho, United States. He first made his mark on the industry by designing the 4th Dimension roller coaster, X², while working with Arrow Dynamics. Schilke now works as a design engineer at Ride Centerline LLC and occasionally works with Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC).
Banshee is an inverted roller coaster located at Kings Island amusement park in Mason, Ohio. Designed and built by Bolliger & Mabillard, it was the biggest investment in park history at the time, costing $24 million to construct. With 4,124 feet (1,257 m) of track, Banshee opened to the public on April 18, 2014, as the longest inverted roller coaster in the world. The ride also became the third fastest inverted coaster at 68 miles per hour (109 km/h), matched by Steel Venom at Valleyfair in Shakopee, Minnesota. It was also well-received, ranking every year in the top 50 of Amusement Today's Golden Ticket Awards since its opening.
Martin & Vleminckx is a roller coaster manufacturing and construction company headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada with an affiliated office and manufacturing facility in Haines City, Florida, United States, and two subsidiaries, including a warehouse, in China.
