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 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.
Kings Dominion is an amusement park in the eastern United States, located in Doswell, Virginia, twenty miles (30 km) north of Richmond and 75 miles (120 km) south of Washington, D.C. Owned and operated by Cedar Fair, the 280-acre (1.1 km2) park opened to the public on May 3, 1975, and features more than 60 rides, shows and attractions including 13 roller coasters and a 20-acre (8.1 ha) water park. Its name is derived from the name of its sister park, Kings Island near Cincinnati, and the nickname for the state of Virginia, "Old Dominion."
Top Thrill 2, formerly known as Top Thrill Dragster, is an upcoming launched roller coaster at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio, United States. Originally manufactured by Intamin and designed by Werner Stengel, Top Thrill Dragster opened in 2003 as the tallest and fastest roller coaster in the world, as well as the first strata coaster. It debuted with a height of 420 feet (130 m), a maximum speed of 120 mph (190 km/h), and a total track length of 2,800 feet (850 m). Its speed and height records were surpassed in 2005 by Kingda Ka at Six Flags Great Adventure.
The launched roller coaster is a modern form of roller coaster. A launched coaster initiates a ride with high amounts of acceleration via one or a series of linear induction motors (LIM), linear synchronous motors (LSM), catapults, tires, chains, or other mechanisms employing hydraulic or pneumatic power, along a launch track. This mode of acceleration powers many of the fastest roller coasters in the world.
S&S – Sansei Technologies is an American company known for its pneumatically powered amusement rides and roller coaster designing.
Superman: Escape from Krypton, originally known as Superman: The Escape, is a steel shuttle roller coaster located at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California. When it opened in 1997, it was the tallest roller coaster in the world, and its maximum speed of 100 mph (160 km/h) was tied for the fastest with Tower of Terror II, a similar roller coaster which opened two months earlier at Dreamworld in Australia. Both were the first to utilize Linear Synchronous Motor (LSM) launch technology to propel vehicles, although the intended opening date in 1996 at Magic Mountain was postponed due to issues with the launch system.
Do-Dodonpa (ド･ドドンパ), formerly known as Dodonpa (ドドンパ), was a steel roller coaster located at Fuji-Q Highland in Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi, Japan. Manufactured by S&S – Sansei Technologies, the launched coaster used compressed air to propel its trains. It opened on 21 December 2001 as the fastest roller coaster in the world with the fastest acceleration, reaching a top speed of 172 km/h (106.9 mph) in 1.8 seconds. The ride was refurbished in 2017, removing its top hat element in favor of a vertical loop, as well as increasing its speed and acceleration to 180 km/h (111.8 mph) in 1.56 seconds. In 2021, the ride was closed down indefinitely after multiple complaints of riders sustaining broken bones were raised. The ride's permanent closure was officially announced on 13 March 2024.
Batman & Robin: The Chiller was a dual-tracked, launched roller coaster located at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson Township, New Jersey. Designed by Premier Rides, the ride was themed to the 1997 film Batman & Robin.
Tatsu is a flying roller coaster designed by Bolliger & Mabillard at the Six Flags Magic Mountain amusement park located in Valencia, California, United States. Manufactured by Bolliger & Mabillard, it opened as the tallest, fastest, and longest flying coaster in the world on May 13, 2006. It became the park's seventeenth coaster, featuring a height of 170 feet (52 m), a track length of 3,602 feet (1,098 m), and a maximum speed of 62 mph (100 km/h). Tatsu also features the world's tallest pretzel loop and the only zero-gravity roll inversion on a flying coaster model. Nearly a decade later, The Flying Dinosaur opened at Universal Studios Japan in 2016, breaking Tatsu's length record and matching its speed. In its debut season, Tatsu was ranked 40th among steel coasters in the annual Golden Ticket Awards from Amusement Today, peaking with a rank of 28 in 2012.
Stealth is a launched roller coaster in the Amity area of Thorpe Park located in Surrey, England. Built and designed by Intamin of Switzerland for £12 million, the Accelerator Coaster model opened in 2006 as the fastest roller coaster in the UK. Stealth is now the fastest accelerating roller-coaster in the world as of March 14th 2024 after the closure of Do-Dodonpa at Fuji-Q Highland. And is now the third tallest coaster in the UK, after Hyperia and the Big One at Blackpool Pleasure Beach. It reaches a height of 62.5 metres (205 ft) and accelerates from 0 to 80 mph (129 km/h) in 1.8 seconds. Riders experience a maximum of 4.7 g.
Hypersonic XLC was a roller coaster located at Kings Dominion in Doswell, Virginia. Hypersonic was built by S&S Worldwide, a company specializing in air-powered rides, and was the first compressed air launch coaster in the world. Hypersonic was S&S Worldwide's actual prototype for an air-launched coaster, called Thrust Air 2000.
An Accelerator Coaster is a hydraulically launched roller coaster model from Intamin. The model usually consists of a long, straight launch track, a top hat tower element, and magnetic brakes that smoothly stop the train without making contact. The technology was developed by Intamin engineers as an alternative to electromagnetic launch systems, such as the Linear Induction Motor (LIM) and Linear Synchronous Motor (LSM), that are found on earlier launched roller coasters like the Flight of Fear and The Joker's Jinx. Unlike the earlier linear induction motors, the Accelerator Coaster's launch system exhibits constant acceleration and is capable of reaching greater speeds.
The Joker's Jinx is a steel roller coaster at Six Flags America in Prince George's County, Maryland. The ride utilizes linear induction motor technology to launch the train from 0 to 60 mph (97 km/h) in just over three seconds.
Desperado is a steel roller coaster located at Buffalo Bill's Hotel and Casino in Primm, Nevada, United States, a part of the Primm Valley Resorts complex, straddling the state borders of California and Nevada. Designed by Arrow Dynamics and fabricated by Intermountain Lift, Inc., Desperado was one of the tallest roller coasters in the world when it opened in 1994, being listed by the Guinness Book of Records as the world's tallest roller coaster. A hyper coaster, Desperado reaches a height of 209 feet (64 m), featuring a 225-foot (69 m) drop, and is ranked as the seventh longest coaster in the world, featuring a track length of 5,843 feet (1,781 m). It also is among the fastest hyper coasters, attaining a maximum speed of 80 mph (130 km/h), with riders experiencing up to 4 G's.
Speed – The Ride is a roller coaster in storage at Akita Plaza on the Las Vegas Strip in Nevada. Originally located at the Sahara Hotel and Casino, it opened to the public on April 28, 2000, and closed on May 1, 2011.
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.
Formula Rossa is a launched roller coaster located at Ferrari World in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Manufactured by Intamin and opened in 2010, it is currently the world's fastest roller coaster, featuring a maximum speed of 240 km/h (149.1 mph).
Mr. Freeze is a launched shuttle roller coaster located at Six Flags Over Texas in Arlington, Texas, with another installation known as Mr. Freeze: Reverse Blast at Six Flags St. Louis in Eureka, Missouri. The steel coasters feature a linear induction motor (LIM) launch system that accelerate riders from 0–70 mph (0–113 km/h) in 3.8 seconds. The two installations are mirror images of one another and are themed to the famous Batman villain Mr. Freeze. Originally, they were themed after the 1997 film Batman & Robin prior to a conversion in 2012 to operate backward. The Over Texas version returned to forward operation in 2022, but in July 2023 started operating with one train launching backward and one train launching forward to offer different experiences.
Lightning Rod is a steel roller coaster located at Dollywood theme park in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Manufactured by Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC), the ride is themed to hot rod cars from the 1950s and opened to the public on June 13, 2016. Initially marketed as the first launched wooden roller coaster of its kind, Lightning Rod was later modified for the 2021 season, with over half of its wooden Topper Track getting replaced with RMC's steel I-Box track. Prior to the conversion to steel, Lightning Rod was considered the fastest wooden coaster in the world reaching a maximum speed of 73 mph (117 km/h).
Maxx Force is a launched steel roller coaster at the Six Flags Great America amusement park in Gurnee, Illinois, United States. It opened on July 4, 2019, and was manufactured by S&S - Sansei Technologies. Maxx Force is themed on drag racing and is located in the Carousel Plaza area. The park marketed the ride as having the second quickest acceleration in the world, traveling from 0 to 78 mph (126 km/h) in 1.8 seconds. The park also claimed the ride opened with the fastest inversion in the world at 60 mph (97 km/h).
