thenumerator

I've ridden both and will say that while I don't find Maverick 'rough' per sea, I know what you mean about those OTSR banging ones head. I305 suffers none of those issues, even with almost as quick transitions. I'd chalk it up to the restraints, They both have pretty equal intensity (though my I305 rides were before the re-profiled the first turn), but I305 is much more re-rideable.

I'm curious what the stats will be. It seems to be pretty high compared to the Wicked Twister spike (and it has a MCBR), but I doubt it'll break 200.

Here's the schedule I settled on a while ago. This is only the first half of the class (the history/background part). It already includes a lot of what has been discussed here (which is good, cuz it means I didn't design a crappy class) Week 1: Origins (1500s – 1920s) • Intro to Roller Coasters • Early Origins of Coasters (Up to 1885) • LA Thompson and beginning of Amusement Parks • Trolley Parks and Coney Island • John Miller + His Innovations Week 2: First Golden Age, Decline, and Revitalization (1920s – 1976) • The First Golden Age • The Cyclones (Coney Island and Crystal Beach) • Riverview Bobs, Airplane Coaster, and Other Notable Rides • End of the First Golden Age • Disneyland • Racer at Kings Island and the Second Golden Age • Development of Steel Roller Coasters and Inversions Week 3-4: Manufacturers and Types • Early Major Manufacturers o Arrow Dynamics, Schwarzkopf, PTC, Dinn Corp, CCI • Modern Major Manufacturers o Intamin AG, B&M, S&S, GCI, TGG • Other Manufacturers o Togo, Morgan, Mack, Maurer Söhne, Gerstlauer, Premier Rides Week 5: More Background • Additional Roller Coaster Types • Inversions o Vertical Loop, Corkscrew, Cobra Roll, Dive Loop, Immelmann, Zero-G Roll, Heartline Roll, Norwegian Loop, Inclined Loop Interlocking Loops/Corkscrew • Roller Coaster Records Week 6: Amusement Parks & Roller Coasters Today • The Amusement Industry • Amusement Parks in the USA, Europe, and East Asia • Amusement Park Chains • Modern Trends • Future of Roller Coasters Week 7: Roller Coaster Failures & Review • Roller Coaster Failures • Catch-Up on any skipped topics • Review for Midterm

If I had time, I would spend a whole class talking about Arrow. They have a very rich history, and it's interesting to watch them once B&M / Intamin hit the scene try to cling to life, first by making the mega-loopers, then adopting modern styles with Tennessee Tornado, then the hail mary that was X. But unfortunately, I probably won't get to talk about as much as I'd want to. The class is at Carnegie Mellon, 10 minutes from Kennywood, although I feel like it would be a lot of repeat information for coaster enthusiasts, like talking about the different manufacturers, types, history, and things like that. I doubt anyone in the class will know what B&M means, or correctly identify mine trains as steel coasters.

I've actually always wondered how much of the Schwarzkopf innovation were actual Stengel's work...they collaborated frequently, and both were integral in shaping the (esp steel) coaster industry. Does anyone know?

The first half of the semester is history/background (how we got to the current state of roller coasters) and the second half is design (how a coaster is build, what makes a coaster good, physics and math behind them, and a little structural design with K'Nex at the end ). It's just a general class anyone can take; there isn't any kind of amusement industry degree (darn). Although I hope to also start a No Limits class in the Spring. I had also thought about Ultimate. It's very interesting since it was built by a railroad company (and watching the video of the ride, you can really tell that by the design). Oh, and that S&S 'log ride' (Free Fly) is Tranan, which I mention (I'm sorta surprised we haven't seen another one of those yet)

Hey TPR, I will be teaching a class on roller coasters at my college this Fall and am working on solidifying my syllabus. I was wondering what everyone considers to be the most unique/noteworthy roller coasters. Not necessarily famous roller coasters, but ones you would want to tell someone about in order to give as broad a view on roller coasters. Here's a few I've thought of (to give an idea of what I mean) -Boulder Dash -Eagle Fortress -SOB (more of the story of its fall from grace) -Nemesis / Black Mamba -iSpeed -Olympia Looping -Tranan Also, has anyone taught a college level class on roller coasters before? Thanks!