A roller coaster is a type of amusement ride employing a form of elevated railroad track that carries passengers on a train through tight turns, steep slopes, and other elements usually designed to produce a thrilling experience. Trains consist of open cars connected in a single line, and the rides are often found in theme parks around the world. Roller coasters first appeared in the 17th century, and LaMarcus Adna Thompson obtained one of the first known patents for a roller coaster design in 1885, based on the Switchback Railway which opened a year earlier at Coney Island.
The generic roller coaster vertical loop, also known as a Loop-the-loop, or a Loop-de-loop, where a section of track causes the riders to complete a 360 degree turn, is the most basic of roller coaster inversions. At the top of the loop, riders are completely inverted.
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.
Superman – Ride of Steel is a steel roller coaster based on the DC Comics character Superman at two Six Flags theme parks in the United States. Both hypercoasters were manufactured by Intamin and feature identical layouts, opening one year apart; Six Flags Darien Lake in 1999 and Six Flags America in 2000. The roller coaster at Six Flags Darien Lake, was renamed in 2007, to Ride of Steel, dropping the character theme, when the company sold the park.
A roller coaster train is a vehicle made up of two or more carts connected by specialized joints which transports passengers around a roller coaster's circuit. Roller coasters usually have various safety features, including specialized wheels and restraints. It is called a train because the cars follow one another around the track, the same reason as for a railroad train. Individual cars vary in design and can carry from one to eight or more passengers each.
The Cyclone, also called the Coney Island Cyclone, is a wooden roller coaster at Luna Park in the Coney Island neighborhood of Brooklyn in 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).
The Mighty Canadian Minebuster is a wooden roller coaster located at Canada's Wonderland amusement park in Vaughan, Ontario, Canada.
Viper is a wooden roller coaster located at Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, Illinois, which opened in 1995. Viper is a mirrored replica of the Coney Island Cyclone and is the only roller coaster ever to be built directly by Six Flags. 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.
Coney Beach Pleasure Park is a small amusement park in Porthcawl, Mid Glamorgan in Wales, in operation since 1920. Throughout its history, the park's period of operation is from end of February of each year up until 5 November. Originally built to entertain American troops returning from World War I, the park was named as a tribute to the famous New York amusement park on Coney Island.
Firehawk was a flying roller coaster located at Kings Island in Mason, Ohio. Manufactured by Vekoma, it originally opened as X-Flight at Six Flags Worlds of Adventure on May 26, 2001, billed as the Midwest's first and only flying roller coaster. Cedar Fair purchased Worlds of Adventure in 2004 and began efforts to downsize the park. X-Flight was relocated to Kings Island following the 2006 season, where it reopened as Firehawk on May 26, 2007.
The Big Apple Coaster is a steel hyper roller coaster at the New York-New York Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The ride's trains are themed to New York City taxicabs. Opened in 1997, it is the only roller coaster by Japanese roller coaster manufacturer TOGO still operating in North America. The ride travels on a 4,777 ft (1,456 m) track. It contains a 180-foot (55 m) lift hill and a 76-foot (23 m) first drop, followed by a hill and another 144-foot (44 m) drop. The ride also has two inversions: a standard vertical loop and a dive loop.
A Steeplechase roller coaster is a type of roller coaster that has several side-by-side tracks in a dueling "racing" arrangement. Riders straddle horse-shaped single cars and launch simultaneously, as from a horse-race starting line.
Flight of Fear is the name of two identical enclosed roller coasters located at Kings Island and Kings Dominion amusement parks. Built and designed by Premier Rides, they were the world's first launched roller coasters to feature linear induction motor (LIM) technology. Both locations opened as The Outer Limits: Flight of Fear on June 18, 1996, originally themed after The Outer Limits TV series that began airing in 1995 as a revival of the original 1960s series. Paramount's licensing rights to the TV show eventually expired without renewal, and all references to The Outer Limits were removed from the ride and its name in 2001.
Flip Flap Railway was the name of a looping wooden roller coaster which operated for a number of years at Paul Boyton's Sea Lion Park on Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York. The coaster, which opened in 1895, was one of the first looping roller coasters to operate in North America. It was also notable for its engineering as well as the extreme G-forces that this engineering inflicted on riders.
Loop the Loop was a dual-tracked steel roller coaster that operated on Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York, from 1901 to 1910. The coaster was one of the first looping roller coasters in North America.
Thunderbolt is a steel roller coaster at Luna Park in the Coney Island neighborhood of Brooklyn in New York City. It is located near Surf Avenue and West 15th Street, on the Riegelmann Boardwalk next to the B&B Carousell.
Cannon Coaster, sometimes known as Leap-the-Gap, was a wooden roller coaster which operated on Bowery Street in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York, in the first decade of the 20th century.
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.
Fort George Amusement Park was a trolley park and amusement park that operated in the Washington Heights and Inwood neighborhoods of Upper Manhattan, New York City, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It occupied an area between 190th and 192nd Streets east of Amsterdam Avenue, within present-day Highbridge Park.
