A roller coaster is a type of Amusement park ride employing a form of elevated track that carries passengers on a train through tight turns, steep slopes, and other elements 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.
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.
An inverted roller coaster is a type of steel roller coaster in which the train runs under the track with the seats directly attached to the wheel carriage. Riders are seated in open cars, letting their feet swing freely. The inverted coaster was pioneered by Swiss roller coaster manufacturer Bolliger & Mabillard in the early 1990s with the development of Batman: The Ride, which opened at Six Flags Great America on May 9, 1992.
Thorpe Park, formerly also known as Thorpe Park Resort, is a theme park located in the village of Thorpe between the towns of Chertsey and Staines-upon-Thames in Surrey, England, 20 miles (32 km) southwest of Central London. It is operated by Merlin Entertainments and includes rides, themed cabins, live events and Hyperia, the United Kingdom's tallest and fastest rollercoaster. In 2019, Thorpe Park was the UK's third most visited theme park, behind Alton Towers and Legoland Windsor. However, in 2020, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the park only had a 125-day operation season, along with limited capacity, leading to massively reduced visitor numbers.
The Suspended Looping Coaster is a model of steel inverted roller coaster built by Vekoma. There are at least 39 different installations across the world. The minimum rider height requirement is 130 centimetres. Vekoma is now marketing a Suspended Thrill Coaster as a successor to the Suspended Looping Coaster. The Odyssey is the largest, fastest and tallest SLC ever built at Fantasy Island in the UK.
Nemesis Inferno is a steel inverted roller coaster at the Thorpe Park theme park in Surrey, England, UK. Its layout was conceived and designed by John Wardley and then built by Bolliger & Mabillard with Werner Stengel providing the layout calculations, the same Swiss firm that built the related Nemesis inverted roller coaster at Alton Towers. As a result, Nemesis and Nemesis Inferno are often compared. It is also listed on the Alton Towers website that the ride is “Nemesis’ Sister”.
Batwing is a steel flying roller coaster built by Vekoma at Six Flags America in Prince George's County, Maryland. This is nearly identical to Nighthawk at Carowinds, however that ride has a slightly different ending, and different paint scheme. The ride is also a clone of the now-defunct Firehawk at Kings Island.
Isla Mágica is a theme park in Seville, Spain. The park was constructed on the former grounds of the Expo '92 World's Fair and opened in June 1997. It features a large lake and many other attractions including roller coasters and various other types of rides as well as both live and cinematic shows.
Fantasy Island is a Resort Theme Park located in Ingoldmells on the East Coast of Lincolnshire.
Silver Bullet is a western-themed steel inverted roller coaster designed by Bolliger & Mabillard located at Knott's Berry Farm, an amusement park in Buena Park, California. The $16 million roller coaster was announced on December 1, 2003 and opened on December 7, 2004. A first rider auction was also held where people would bid on seats to be the first riders. The track is approximately 3,125 feet (952 m) long and the lift hill is about 146 feet (45 m) tall. The ride lasts two minutes and thirty seconds and features six inversions including a vertical loop, cobra roll, zero-g roll, and two corkscrews.
Kumali, installed 2006, is a Vekoma Suspended Looping Coaster (SLC), located in Flamingo Land Resort in North Yorkshire, England. The ride is an Shenlin model layout and has four inversions, including the cobra roll which overlooks a lake. It is named after the alpha male of the zoo's lion pride. In 2008 Flamingo Land added video recorders to each car so riders can purchase their own video of them on the ride as well as the on-ride photo. The themed Kumali ride music was written and produced by ElectricStreetPolice, a British TV composer by the name of Paul Bickerdike who has credits on TV and in film at Cannes. Kumali is currently only one of three operating Vekoma SLCs in the UK. The Odyssey at Fantasy Island Ingoldmells, Skegness, is the largest, and the other, Infusion at Blackpool Pleasure Beach, is the smallest.
Goudurix is a steel roller coaster located in Parc Astérix in France. The Vekoma-built ride jointly held the European record for the greatest number of inversions upon its opening in 1989. The record was lost in 1995 to Dragon Khan in Spain. It is one of only two coasters in the world to feature a butterfly element. In 2007, following the release of the animated movie Asterix and the Vikings, Viking theming was added to the station and nearby rides, in the form of a wooden Viking longboat. Goudurix is located in the back-west of the park, near the Tonnerre 2 Zeus. The ride was repainted to a yellow and red track with grey supports color scheme from its previous white and yellow track with blue supports. It is one of the park's main attractions, along with the Tonnerre 2 Zeus, OzIris and Trace du Hourra rollercoasters.
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.
Millennium is a roller coaster at Fantasy Island in Ingoldmells, United Kingdom. It was built by Vekoma, a Dutch roller coaster manufacturer, to celebrate the arrival of the new millennium but despite its name, was opened in May 1999. It was Fantasy Island's first "Extreme Thrill Ride", and circles the park's signature pyramid structure.
The Swarm is a steel roller coaster located at Thorpe Park in the United Kingdom. The Swarm was the world's second Wing Coaster model designed by Swiss roller coaster manufacturer Bolliger & Mabillard and the first one located in the United Kingdom. Construction commenced in May 2011, and the coaster opened on 15 March 2012. From 2013 until 2015, the last two rows of each train faced backwards, while the first five rows faced forward. This was restored to the original configuration in 2016.
Energylandia is an amusement park located in Zator, Lesser Poland, in southern Poland. It is approximately 50 kilometres (31 mi) away from Kraków and 335 kilometres (208 mi) away from Warsaw, Poland's capital city. Energylandia is the largest amusement park in the country, at 70 hectares. The park has one of the highest roller coaster counts of any theme park in the world.
Batman: The Ride is a steel inverted coaster at Six Flags Mexico that has been operating since 2000. It is a standard Vekoma Suspended Looping Coaster model themed to the famed Batman franchise, and was part of Premier Park's massive renovation in 2000.
Fønix is a steel roller coaster at Fårup Sommerland in Blokhus, North Jutland, Denmark. The coaster was announced on June 23, 2021, and opened to become Denmark's tallest and fastest. Fønix represents a DKK 100 million investment, the largest in the park's 46-year history with the second largest only being DKK 44 million on Orkanen in 2013. Fønix was designed and manufactured by Vekoma, and features 3 inversions - including the world's first "stall loop" element - as well as 14 airtime moments.
Hyperia is a steel hypercoaster currently under construction at Thorpe Park in Chertsey, Surrey, England. As of March 2024, it is the tallest and fastest roller coaster in the UK, however, while not open, The Big One at Blackpool Pleasure Beach is still the tallest operating roller coaster in the UK, with Stealth also located at Thorpe Park being the fastest. It is being built on the site formerly occupied by both Loggers Leap and Rocky Express, and is scheduled to open on Friday 24th May 2024. The choice of the name "Hyperia" is a reference to the coaster's classification as a "hypercoaster", with the theming of the ride being inspired by the fearless goddess, Hyperia, aligning with the slogan "Find your fearless".
