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.
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. It was located in West Chester, Ohio.
Robin Hill Country Park is an 88-acre (36 ha) theme park located in Downend; outside Newport, Isle of Wight. Robin Hill is owned by the Dabell family, who also own Blackgang Chine; another Isle of Wight amusement Park located in Ventnor on the Isle of Wight. The park has four main rides: A quarter-mile downhill toboggan, 4D Motion Cinema, 'Cows Express' Junior train ride and the 'Colossus' a swinging galleon boat ride. On the site of Robin Hill is the buried farmstead of Combley Roman Villa. This is explained in the 'Romans at Robin Hill' exhibition when at the park. Robin Hill is also noted for wildlife, particularly the red squirrels.
Tilt-A-Whirl is a flat ride similar to the Waltzer in Europe, designed for commercial use at amusement parks, fairs, and carnivals, in which it is commonly found. The rides are manufactured by Larson International of Plainview, Texas.
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 swing ride or chair swing ride is an amusement ride that is a variation on the carousel in which the seats are suspended from the rotating top of the carousel. On some versions, particularly on the Wave Swingers, the rotating top of the carousel also tilts for additional variations of motion.
Wicked Twister was an inverted roller coaster located at Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio, United States. Designed by Werner Stengel, it was a second-generation, double-twisting Impulse model manufactured by Intamin. Wicked Twister opened as the tallest and fastest inverted coaster in the world on May 5, 2002. It was retired by the park on September 6, 2021, closed on September 7, and gave over 16 million rides during its lifetime.
Skycoaster is the name of a free-fall and flight-simulating amusement park attraction produced and managed by Skycoaster Company, LLC.. On the Skycoaster, riders in groups of 1 to 3 are harnessed in specialized Flight Suits, and are winched to the top of a launch tower; the riders then pull a ripcord to engage their “flight”, upon which they swing several times from a cable tether, back and forth, until finally brought to a rest. The attraction is often compared to a combination of skydiving, bungee jumping, and hang gliding.
Funtown Splashtown USA is a family-owned amusement park located in Saco, Maine, in the United States.
Seabreeze Amusement Park (Seabreeze) is a historic family amusement park located in Irondequoit, New York, a suburb of Rochester, where Irondequoit Bay meets Lake Ontario. According to the National Amusement Park Historical Association (NAPHA), Seabreeze is the fourth-oldest operating amusement park in the United States and the thirteenth-oldest operating amusement park in the world, having opened in 1879. The park features roller coasters, a variety of other rides, a midway, and a water park.
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.
Camden Park is a twenty-six acre amusement park located near Huntington, West Virginia. Established in 1903 as a picnic spot by the Camden Interstate Railway Company, it is one of only thirteen trolley parks that remain open in the United States. Whereas most trolley parks were located at the end of trolley lines, Camden Park is unusual in that it was built where riders traveling between Huntington and nearby cities would stop to change lines. Not long after opening, the park soon gained a carousel and other roadside attractions. Camden Park is West Virginia's only amusement park. The park is home to more than thirty rides and attractions, including a full-size traditional wooden roller coaster, the Big Dipper, and several other vintage rides.
The Pike was an amusement zone in Long Beach, California. The Pike was founded in 1902 along the shoreline south of Ocean Boulevard with several independent arcades, food stands, gift shops, a variety of rides and a grand bath house. It was most noted for the Cyclone Racer (1930–1968), a large wooden dual-track roller coaster, built out on pilings over the water.
The Enterprise is an amusement ride, manufactured primarily by HUSS Park Attractions and Anton Schwarzkopf beginning in 1972. The HUSS ride was an adaptation and improvement of a design produced earlier that year by Schwarzkopf, with an increased passenger capacity. Despite not owning the original incarnation of the ride, HUSS was issued the patent.
The Troika is an amusement park ride designed and manufactured by HUSS Park Attractions in the mid-1970s. The name Troika means "group of three" in Russian, a reference to its three armed design. There are several variations on the design.
The Wipeout and Trabant are models of amusement rides manufactured by Chance Rides. Often seen at fairs and traveling carnivals, their design consists of a giant wheel which tilts at a steep angle, fluctuates in a wavelike manner, and spins at various speeds. There is a motor underneath the ride that makes both of these rides raise up and down.
Williams Grove Amusement Park is an abandoned amusement park in Williams Grove, Pennsylvania. The park operated from 1850 until 2005.
Miracle Strip at Pier Park was an amusement park in Panama City Beach, Florida, owned by Miracle Strip Carousel, LLC. The original Miracle Strip closed in 2004 after 41 years of operation, but a new amusement park using the same name was resurrected and began with moving the carousel from its original location to Pier Park in March 2009. After the success of the carousel, the few remaining rides were purchased and moved as well, opening in March 2010. This retro park reopened with a few new rides, games and food vendors on a much larger 14-acre tract on April 18, 2014. The park closed in 2015. Many of the rides permanently moved to Lake Winnepesaukah.
Martin & Vleminckx Ltd. is a thrill ride and roller coaster manufacturing and construction company headquartered in Montreal, Québec, Canada with an affiliated office in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, a manufacturing facility in Orlando, Florida, United States, and two subsidiaries, including a warehouse in China.
Eyerly Aircraft Company was an amusement ride manufacturing company in Salem, Oregon, founded by Lee Eyerly in 1930. The company originally intended to design flight simulators for the aircraft industry but shifted to amusement rides after an early simulator, called Orientator, became a popular pay-per-ride attraction with the public. The company manufactured rides until 1985 and went bankrupt in 1990, following a fatal accident in 1988 on a ride built by the company.
