Coaster Firsts

[King of Ka]

Superman the Escape (SFMM) for first coaster/thrill ride to launch 100mph, first coaster/thrill ride to top 400+ feet , first coaster/thrill ride to use LSM/LIM technology

S:TE was the first to use LSMs, but Outer Limits: Flight of Fear (KD) was the first with LIMs.

 

Jr. Gemini

First roller coaster manufactured by Intamin AG.

[cycamps]

Magnum XL 200 - First roller coaster to top 200 feet.

This is actually incorrect. The first was Moonsault Scramble at Fuji-Q Highland.

http://www.rcdb.com/id1292.htm

Here's a POV video of it.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=2wS-JQvl-4M

[montezooma]

^I think those are more intersecting than interocking. Interlocking corkscrews go (essentially) parallel to each other, and the track leading into one travels under the other. In Drachen, it was just more one corkscrew going over track which happened to have a corkscrew as well. Kinda like how coasters have corkscrews that go over walking paths.

 

First (and only as of 2008) inverted interlocking corkscrews--Nemesis Inferno, Thorpe Park

 

Yes, you are right, that is a much better description of what Drachen Fire's corkscrews did. They crossed rather than interlocked...OK Kumba had the first interlocking corkscrews.

[zeke11793]

First (and still the only) inverted coaster with 7 inversions

 

Montu - Busch Gardens Tampa

[montezooma]

Carowind's Afterburn was the first coaster to be called "Flight Deck"

[mightypotato]

Darien Lake's "Ride of Steel" is Intamin's first hyper coaster.

[Scaparri]

First tubular steel roller-coaster in the world: Matterhorn Bobsleds at Disneyland, probably one of the biggest innovations in steel coaster engineering.

Sorry to say that this is a common misconception, there are older coaster that uses tubular steel track. No one as large as Matterhorn but there still is some older, check RCDB.

 

Actually, I think you have the misconception. There are plenty of steel coasters that are older than the Matterhorn, but none of them use(d) tubular steel track. Most all of them use(d) track made with flat, I-beam rails.

[FeelTheFORCE]

Magnum XL 200 - First roller coaster to top 200 feet.

This is actually incorrect. The first was Moonsault Scramble at Fuji-Q Highland.

http://www.rcdb.com/id1292.htm

Here's a POV video of it.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=2wS-JQvl-4M

 

Hm, did not know that. Why then would Cedar Point advertise Magnum as the tallest and fastest coaster in the world throughout the 90s? Strange.

 

Here's another:

Millennium Force - First 300+ foot lift hill.

[DBru]

^I'm guessing that Cedar Point figured that no one in America knew about MS in Japan, so they advertised it to be the biggest and best.

[downunder]

They may have had something in the fine print about Magnum being the first full circuit coaster over 200 feet, though the drop is 195 and that's what really matters. Isn't it sinking, probably only 180 ft now.

 

Was Volcano the first launched invert?

[King of Ka]

^^^^In Roller Coasters by Robert Coker, it shows a picture of a tri-railed track design that clearly had tubular steel track, which supposedly operated in 1956. I'm not sure of the credibility of this, but it makes me think that there was probably some tubular-steel track somewhere. I know that the idea wasn't unthought of before the bobsleds, though.

[WildStangAlex]

High Roller

Stratosphere Tower

Las Vegas, Nevada

 

First Coaster to be on top of a Sky Scraper

 

Unfortunately it is now defunct.

[King of Ka]

Isn't it sinking, probably only 180 ft now.

 

Was Volcano the first launched invert?

 

No, and yes.

[texcoaster]

When King Kobra debuted in 1978, this coaster was the first of its kind. No other coaster launched the riders through a loop and then sends you backwards.

 

Actually, it was 1977. That same year saw another Schwarzkopf shuttle loop and THREE Arrow shuttle loops open as well. Unsure as to which of the five opened first.

[texcoaster]

Superman the Escape (SFMM) for first coaster/thrill ride to launch 100mph, first coaster/thrill ride to top 400+ feet , first coaster/thrill ride to use LSM/LIM technology

 

I think I read somewhere that Big Thunder Mountain (1979) uses LIMs to move the trains in the station area.

[texcoaster]

Son of Beast - First wooden coaster with a loop, and also the first (and still only to this day) wooden coaster to exceed 200 feet.

 

No way. The 1920s had "Loop the Loop" and "Flip-flap railway", both of which were wood.

[downunder]

^^^I was joking about Magnum.

 

Cedar Point does love those full circuit records:

 

*Magnum first to 200ft+ full circuit, Monnsault got above 200 first though

*Millennium Force first to 300ft+ full circuit though the 2 intamin reverse free falls got there first

*Dragster first 400ft+ full circuit though Superman Escape at SFMM hit 415ft height years before.

 

Kingda Ka first coaster, full circuit or otherwise, to top 450ft.

 

Flashback was one of a kind, even though it did suck.

 

Wicked Twister first invert over 200ft, ha ha, but not full circuit.

[texcoaster]

First tubular steel roller-coaster in the world: Matterhorn Bobsleds at Disneyland, probably one of the biggest innovations in steel coaster engineering.

Sorry to say that this is a common misconception, there are older coaster that uses tubular steel track. No one as large as Matterhorn but there still is some older, check RCDB.

 

Coasters prior to Matterhorn used steel track, but not TUBULAR steel track. That was the innovation. Coaster previous to that were similar to the traveling Miler coasters and older Wild Mouse rides, with angle-iron or other such flat rails being used. This is nearly impossible to bend into heavily-banked turns or corkscrew inversions, etc. That's why it wasn't until tubular rails became common that the modern steel coasters really came into their own.

[verticalzero]

I would like to see a "Vertical Loop" back onto a Wooden Coaster, SOB was the 1st (shame the park removed it, was it because so many people complained to KI and said "you can't keep the loop on SOB as it spoils the ride and loops are only for steel coasters".

[texcoaster]

I would like to see a "Vertical Loop" back onto a Wooden Coaster, SOB was the 1st (shame the park removed it, was it because so many people complained to KI and said "you can't keep the loop on SOB as it spoils the ride and loops are only for steel coasters".

 

It wasn't the first. Go back up four posts and read.

 

KI didn't remove the loop because people complained that a wooden coaster shouldn't have one... they removed the loop because people complained that the coaster beat the ever-lovin crap out of them. The physics of getting a loop into the layout required that the trains be much heavier than a regular woodie train and the things were really hard on the track and structure. By removing the loop, they were able to put lighter trains on it and (hopefully) have a ride that they can run all season without having to close it for track repairs every few weeks.

[ginzo]

Superman the Escape (SFMM) for first coaster/thrill ride to launch 100mph, first coaster/thrill ride to top 400+ feet , first coaster/thrill ride to use LSM/LIM technology

 

I think I read somewhere that Big Thunder Mountain (1979) uses LIMs to move the trains in the station area.

 

Not to mention that both Outer Limits coasters opened before Superman The Escape.

 

Ugh, Outer Limits was the king of back in those days.

[MG]

Remember, 1 first per post! (Give everyone a shot!)

 

Sorry I should learn to read

 

Again sorry, someone has to say the most ridiculous coaster first

 

X:/ NO WAY OUT at Thorpe Park is the world's first and only backwards roller coaster in the dark. I wonder why

[FeelTheFORCE]

^^^I was joking about Magnum.

 

Cedar Point does love those full circuit records:

 

*Magnum first to 200ft+ full circuit, Monnsault got above 200 first though

*Millennium Force first to 300ft+ full circuit though the 2 intamin reverse free falls got there first

*Dragster first 400ft+ full circuit though Superman Escape at SFMM hit 415ft height years before.

 

Kingda Ka first coaster, full circuit or otherwise, to top 450ft.

 

Flashback was one of a kind, even though it did suck.

 

Wicked Twister first invert over 200ft, ha ha, but not full circuit.

 

Yeah, but Cedar Point weren't the only ones that did this, that's the thing. When Desperado opened in Nevada in 1994, it was 209'. On the wall near the entrance they have an old poster from the early to mid 1990s hanging up advertising it as the tallest and fastest in the world.

[FeelTheFORCE]

Son of Beast - First wooden coaster with a loop, and also the first (and still only to this day) wooden coaster to exceed 200 feet.

 

No way. The 1920s had "Loop the Loop" and "Flip-flap railway", both of which were wood.

 

Hm, yeah, that's true. The second part of my "first" is correct, though.

[WildStangAlex]

Big Bend

Six Flags over Texas

Arlington, TX

 

First Coaster to have on-board motors to climb lift