Vertigo is a form of dizziness.
Knott's Berry Farm is a 57-acre amusement park in Buena Park, California, United States, owned and operated by Six Flags. In March 2015, it was ranked as the twelfth-most-visited theme park in North America, while averaging approximately 4 million visitors per year. The park features over 40 rides, including roller coasters, family rides, dark rides, and water rides.
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.
Top Thrill 2 is a launched roller coaster located at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio, United States. The ride originally opened as Top Thrill Dragster in 2003, becoming the tallest and fastest roller coaster in the world, as well as the first ever strata coaster. Designed by Werner Stengel, the Intamin accelerator coaster debuted with a height of 420 feet (130 m), and could accelerate from 0 to 120 mph (190 km/h) in 3.8 seconds. It was themed to Top Fuel drag racing, with the launch track designed to resemble a dragstrip. The ride consistently ranked as one of the world's top steel coasters in Amusement Today's annual Golden Ticket Awards publication. Top Thrill Dragster's records were surpassed in 2005 by Kingda Ka at Six Flags Great Adventure, though that ride's closure in 2024 may allow Top Thrill 2 to briefly reclaim the height record.
Intamin Amusement Rides is a design and manufacturing company in Schaan, Liechtenstein, best-known for designing and constructing thrill rides and roller coasters at dozens of international theme parks, amusement parks and other establishments. The Intamin brand name is a syllabic abbreviation for "international amusement installations". The company has corporate offices across the world, including three in Europe, three in Asia, and two in the United States.
The launched roller coaster is a type of roller coaster that 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.
Power Tower is a thrill ride located at two Six Flags parks in the US, Cedar Point and Valleyfair. The attractions are powered by air in large cylinders in which an aircraft steel cable, connected to the internal piston, travels and is also connected to the external rider car. Hydraulic cylinders at the base of the tower provide an extra measure of safety in case of a ride malfunction. Both rides were designed and manufactured by S&S Power of Logan, Utah. As of the 2020 season from their respective websites, both changed their height requirements from 52 inches (130 cm) to 48 inches (120 cm).
In fluid dynamics, vortex shedding is an oscillating flow that takes place when a fluid such as air or water flows past a bluff body at certain velocities, depending on the size and shape of the body. In this flow, vortices are created at the back of the body and detach periodically from either side of the body forming a Kármán vortex street. The fluid flow past the object creates alternating low-pressure vortices on the downstream side of the object. The object will tend to move toward the low-pressure zone.
GhostRider is a wooden roller coaster at Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, California. It is located in the Ghost Town section of the park, south of the main entrance. Manufactured by Custom Coasters International, GhostRider is the longest wooden coaster on the West Coast of the United States, measuring 4,533 feet (1,382 m) long and 118 feet (36 m) tall. The ride follows an L-shaped double out and back pattern, with a station themed to a mining building. There are three trains, each themed to a different precious metal, though only two are in use at any given time.
Ronald Valentine Toomer was an American roller coaster designer credited for designing 93 roller coasters around the world. He graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno in 1961 with a degree in mechanical engineering and was a part of the design team responsible for the Apollo spacecraft heat shield.
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. At the time of its opening in 1997, it was the tallest roller coaster in the world, a title which it lost to Top Thrill Dragster in 2003 and regained in 2024 with the closure of the then-tallest coaster, Kingda Ka. 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.
MonteZOOMa: The Forbidden Fortress, previously known as Montezooma’s Revenge, is a shuttle roller coaster located at Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, California, United States. Designed by Anton Schwarzkopf, the ride opened on May 21, 1978, and is one of eight flywheel-launched units manufactured for theme parks around the world. It is also the oldest looping shuttle roller coaster still operating in its original location. The ride was closed in February 2022 for a major refurbishment and has been scheduled to re-open in 2025.
Xcelerator is a steel launched roller coaster located at Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, California, United States. Manufactured by Intamin and designed by Werner Stengel, it opened in 2002 as the company's first hydraulically-launched coaster and cost $13 million to construct. Following the early demise of Windjammer Surf Racers, a dueling roller coaster that briefly operated from 1997 to 2000, Xcelerator was soon announced as its replacement. It launches to a maximum speed of 82 mph (132 km/h) in 2.3 seconds and reaches a height of 205 feet (62 m), and has a short twister section that leads into the Brake run.
Demon Drop is a drop tower amusement ride located at Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Designed by Intamin, it is a Freefall model that was originally located at Cedar Point that opened in 1983. It was relocated to Dorney Park following the 2009 season, where it reopened in 2010. It is one of the oldest rides of its kind still in operation.
The Freefall is an amusement ride developed by Giovanola and marketed throughout the world by Swiss company, Intamin.
Pony Express is a steel motorbike roller coaster at Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, California. It is the first motocoaster built by Zamperla in the United States, opening on May 22, 2008. The ride features motorbike-style seating and a flywheel launch system.
WindSeeker is a 301-foot-tall (92 m) swing ride at several Six Flags parks. The rides are Wind Seeker models manufactured by Mondial. They opened for the 2011 season at Canada's Wonderland in Ontario, Cedar Point and Kings Island in Ohio, and Knott's Berry Farm in California. Carowinds in North Carolina and Kings Dominion in Virginia opened their WindSeekers in 2012. The first four each cost US$5 million, while the remaining two each cost $6.5 million. Cedar Fair relocated the Knott's Berry Farm WindSeeker to Worlds of Fun in 2014, where it reopened as SteelHawk.
Voyage to the Iron Reef was a 4D interactive dark ride located at Knott's Berry Farm theme park in Buena Park, California. Designed by Triotech, the underwater-themed attraction opened to the public on May 15, 2015. It was the second release in the Amusement Dark collection, a branded initiative to construct a variety of video-game-based dark rides at Cedar Fair amusement parks. Wonder Mountain's Guardian was the first in the collection that opened at Canada's Wonderland in 2014.
Sky Cabin is a 180-foot-tall gyro tower designed by Intamin, located at Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, California, USA. It is a slowly revolving viewing cabin, offering a panoramic view of Knott's Berry Farm and the surrounding land outside the park. On a clear day, Downtown Los Angeles can be viewed directly from the tower. The skyline of Disneyland and Disney California Adventure can also be viewed. Before the announcement of the park's former Windseeker ride, Sky Cabin was a possible location to become replaced by Windseeker. Windseeker later opened in Fiesta Village and was later relocated to Worlds of Fun. It is one of the many existing attractions at the park operating before Cedar Fair took ownership of the park. It opened to the general public in 1976 as part of the former roaring 20's expansion area.
Eruption was a 250-foot tall S&S Sky Sling slingshot attraction that opened in April 2003 at Frontier City in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The same ride opened in spring of 2003 at Six Flags Great Adventure. Standing at 250-feet tall, it was the tallest thrill-ride in Oklahoma. It was the successor to the two S&S Sky Sling VertiGo rides at both Cedar Point and Knott's Berry Farm which were both closed and removed two years prior. It operated at Frontier City until its closure in 2012.
This is a pay-per-use attraction