Why don't they make 400ft+ go into a tunnel

[Coasters 4 ever]

As I was reading coasterdude5's signature I thought, "Why don't they make the really tall rides go into underground tunnels so they don't have to build them as high, therefore they will only have to shut down when, say, 250ft tall coasters would?" This probably doesn't make much sense, but I am very curious.

[Angry_Gumball]

Actually, that doesn't sound like a bad idea. For a casual coaster rider, they see that it's just a large roller coaster (well, a hypercoaster). When they go on it, it's like "Yea...I've ridden ones with the same height...no different" and are taken off guard as they fly down a 400 foot drop underground. The reason why this probably has not happened is the fact that there would be a lot of digging. Not just that, but if they did so, figure 200 feet into the ground with a hole bored through for a coaster. I'd think there would have to be a lot of support for that tunnel to hold up in the ground. Lastly, if there's an earthquake, that ride is screwed. I think digging costs are probably the barrier here.

[Wes]

Water table level too. Which is why you probably won't see any deep tunnels in Florida.

[Coasterlicious]

they should make the 400ft ones with lift hills, that way there is more strata coasters with hills , instead of all these launched ones..

[phazan]

if you wacth the history channel the show called modern marveles explains how hard it is to build tunnels; especialy 200ft deep tunnels. also, think about the pressure and heat underground. 200 hundred feet may not be a lot but under ground it is. therefore, it would be MUCH easier to just make the coaster taller.

[kenshinmac]

Moving soil costs a whole heck of a lot. You could probably push an extra 15-20 feet fairly inexpensively and get a great experience but anymore is often prohibitively expensive.

 

I think the deepest coaster is still oblivion at Alton Towers... That thing is like 50ft tall with a 150ft drop I think. Crazy thing. Must have cost a fortune though.

[Shockwave]

Yeah, Oblivion has the deepest tunnel of any rollercoaster.

 

Alton Towers have a habit of building their big rides into the ground because of the fierce planning restrictions. Nemesis had a huge trench dug out to fit the ride into, and it works brilliantly. The 60ft tall vertical loop only just peaks with ground level.

 

Most of the budget for these two rides went on digging alone.

[maliboomer]

they should make the 400ft ones with lift hills, that way there is more strata coasters with hills , instead of all these launched ones..

The chain would weight too much, although a la mellenium force lift hills may work. Launched ones are more fun to look at anyways, imagine of Mr Freeze was pulled up the tower, and launched coasters take up less room.

[Gregory DG]

I always wanted to ride a coaster that was completely under ground or enclosed in a fake mountain with a "cave" theme. I guess Space Mt. & Rockin' Roller Coaster do this...

 

Anyway, when I was young and silly, I had an idea for a coaster that I called "Magna Crystal Caverns." It had three different tracks that you randomly get so that three trains could be running at once. Also, the tracks used magnetism to get the trains to run faster.

 

Ah, it was fun to dream once, before I got old...

[robbeal]

Your other option other than a big hole of course is using the terrain, but not a lot of parks have the kind of terrain available to allow a huge drop. A few parks have done it, and successfully, but it's not something that will happen often.

[Justin]

Excavating a 250 foot deep trench for a coaster isn't cheap..

[Henry M]

If you see the way they made Oblivion, you can see that with massive tunnels, they have to dig out a whole canyon, male the tunnel, then fill the land on top of it. This would cost a lot, and also the tunnel would have to support the weight of the ground. However, the idea of plunging 200 ft+ into the ground seems like an awesome idea!

[ArgoZ]

Cost. You could essentially create the same affect by boxing in the last 200' of any coaster. A tunnel after the first drop creates a neat sensation, but like Superman NE, that's all that's needed. I would rather plunge 200' into a valley or over some cliff before a tunnel.

[DILinator]

they should make the 400ft ones with lift hills, that way there is more strata coasters with hills , instead of all these launched ones..

 

 

^THIS is what I'd like to see! Although, it'd definitely need a cable lift system like MF, and move quite fast. TTD and Kingda Ka just don't provide the same effect on me going down that MF and Fury do, and I'd love to see that feeling expanded to another 100 or so feet!

[CedarFair1]

They will, It's called how I met your mother