A roller coaster, also called a rollercoaster, is a type of amusement ride that employs a form of elevated railroad track designed with tight turns, steep slopes, and sometimes inversions. People ride along the track in open cars, and the rides are often found in amusement parks and theme parks around the world. LaMarcus Adna Thompson obtained one of the first known patents for a roller coaster design in 1885, related to the Switchback Railway that opened a year earlier at Coney Island. The track in a coaster design does not necessarily have to be a complete circuit, as shuttle roller coasters demonstrate. Most roller coasters have multiple cars in which passengers sit and are restrained. Two or more cars hooked together are called a train. Some roller coasters, notably Wild Mouse roller coasters, run with single cars.
Knoebels Amusement Resort is a family-owned and operated amusement park, picnic grove, and campground in Elysburg, Pennsylvania. Opened in 1926, it is America's largest free-admission park. The park has more than 60 rides including three wooden roller coasters, three steel roller coasters, a 1913 carousel, and a haunted house dark ride.
A wooden roller coaster is a type of roller coaster classified by its wooden track, which consists of running rails made of flattened steel strips mounted on laminated wood. The support structure is also typically made of wood, but may also be made of steel lattice or truss, which has no bearing on a wooden coaster's classification. The type of wood often selected in the construction of wooden coasters worldwide is southern yellow pine, which grows abundantly in the southern United States, due to its density and adherence to different forms of pressure treatment.
Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters (PTC) is one of the oldest existing roller coaster manufacturing companies in the world. Based in Hatfield, Pennsylvania, it was established in 1904 by Henry Auchey and Chester Albright under the name Philadelphia Toboggan Company. The company manufactured carousels, wooden roller coasters, toboggans and later, roller coaster trains.
The Beast is a wooden roller coaster located at Kings Island amusement park in Mason, Ohio. Designed and manufactured in-house for $3.2 million, the ride opened in 1979 as the tallest, fastest, and longest wooden roller coaster in the world. Decades later, it is still the longest, spanning 7,359 feet (2,243 m) across 35 acres (14 ha) of hilly terrain. Two lift hills contribute to the ride's duration of more than four minutes, which also ranks as one of the longest among roller coasters.
Castles N' Coasters is an amusement park and family amusement center located in Phoenix, Arizona. The approximately 10-acre (40,000 m2) park features four outdoor 18-hole miniature golf courses, several rides, and an indoor video game arcade. The park was built in 1976, and is designed in a Middle-Eastern motif though other eras are featured such as the Wild West-themed miniature golf course and log flume ride.
The Coney Island Cyclone is a wooden roller coaster at Luna Park in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York City. Designed by Vernon Keenan, it opened to the public on June 26, 1927. The 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).
Kumba is a steel roller coaster located at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay in Tampa, Florida. Manufactured by Bolliger & Mabillard, the ride opened in 1993. It stands 143 feet (44 m) tall and has a top speed of 60 miles per hour (97 km/h). Kumba features a total of seven inversions across the 3-minute ride.
El Toro is a wooden roller coaster located at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson Township, New Jersey. Designed by Werner Stengel and manufactured by Intamin, the ride opened to the public on June 11, 2006. Intamin subcontracted Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC) to build the ride, and the coaster's track was prefabricated, allowing for quicker installation and lower construction costs. El Toro is the main attraction of the Mexican-themed section of the park, Plaza Del Carnaval. It replaced another roller coaster, Viper, which closed following the 2004 season.
Montu is an inverted roller coaster at Busch Gardens Tampa in Tampa, Florida. Designed by Swiss manufacturer Bolliger & Mabillard, it is the park's second roller coaster designed by that company following the success of Kumba, which opened 3 years prior. When the ride opened on May 16, 1996, it was the world's tallest and fastest inverted roller coaster, a title it has since conceded to Alpengeist at sister park Busch Gardens Williamsburg. The ride stands 150 feet (46 m) tall and reaches speeds of 60 miles per hour (97 km/h).
Steel Vengeance, formerly known as Mean Streak, is a steel roller coaster at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio. The roller coaster was rebuilt by Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC) and opened to the public on May 5, 2018. It features RMC's patented I-Box Track technology utilizing a significant portion of Mean Streak's former support structure. Upon completion, Steel Vengeance set 10 world records.
The Boss is a wooden roller coaster located in the Britannia section of Six Flags St. Louis in Eureka, Missouri. It opened on April 29, 2000, and was manufactured by Custom Coasters International. It features a lift of 122 feet (37 m), a first drop of 150 feet (46 m), four drops of 150', 112', 103' and 72', and prior to the 2018 season, a 570 degree helix.
The Raven is a wooden roller coaster at Holiday World & Splashin' Safari's Halloween section in Santa Claus, Indiana, United States. It began to be designed and built in 1994 by the now-defunct roller coaster manufacturer Custom Coasters International, with the help of designers Dennis McNulty and Larry Bill. The roller coaster opened on May 6, 1995. The Raven takes its name from Edgar Allan Poe's poem "The Raven" and features sudden drops and turns which mimic the flight of a raven. From 2000 to 2003, The Raven was voted the world's "Best Wooden Roller Coaster" at the Golden Ticket Awards, which are presented annually by Amusement Today magazine. It was named an "ACE Roller Coaster Landmark" by American Coaster Enthusiasts on June 23, 2016.
Talon is an inverted roller coaster located at Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Manufactured by Bolliger & Mabillard and designed by Werner Stengel at a cost of $13 million, Talon opened to the public in 2001 and was marketed as the tallest and longest inverted coaster in the Northeast. It stands 135-foot (41 m) tall, reaches a maximum speed of 58 mph (93 km/h), and features four inversions.
Hopkins Rides is an amusement ride manufacturer based in Palm City, Florida. The company has had experience in amusement rides for over 45 years and currently specializes in water rides.
Renegade is a wooden roller coaster at Valleyfair in Shakopee, Minnesota, that was designed by Great Coasters International. It was one of the first coasters built by Great Coasters International to use their Millennium Flyer trains, which are designed to give a smoother ride. Renegade's layout is a combination of an out-and-back and a Twister roller coaster.
Stricker's Grove is a family owned amusement park located in Ross, Ohio, USA. Unlike other amusement parks, Stricker's Grove is closed to the public for most of the year. Instead, it is rented out for private functions, such as weddings. The park is open to the public for 8 days of every year, on July 4, 4 days in mid July for the Hamilton County 4-H Community Fair, the second Sunday in August, Labor Day, and a Sunday in October called "Customer Appreciation Day".
Outlaw Run is a wooden roller coaster located at Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri. The ride was the first wooden roller coaster designed by Alan Schilke and built by American manufacturer Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC) and the first wooden roller coaster with multiple inversions, in which riders are turned upside-down and then back upright. The 2,937-foot-long (895 m) ride features three inversions and a top speed of 68 miles per hour (109 km/h), making Outlaw Run the sixth-fastest wooden roller coaster in the world. The 162-foot-tall (49 m) first drop of the ride is the fourth steepest in the world among wooden roller coasters, at 81°.
ZDT's Amusement Park is a 10-acre (4.0 ha) family amusement park located in Seguin, Texas. The park first opened in 2007 and has grown to feature 12 attractions, three of which are water rides, along with a video game arcade. It is open year-round with the exception of its water rides which only operate from March through September. The park opened its first roller coaster, Switchback, in 2015.
The Great Escape and Hurricane Harbor is an amusement and water park owned and operated by Six Flags It is located approximately 60 miles (97 km) north of Albany, in Queensbury, New York. It is one of three Six Flags parks not to be officially branded with the "Six Flags" name, with La Ronde in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and Frontier City in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma being the two others.
