What do YOU think roller coasters will be like in 10 years?

[thrillvis]

I was thinking that it would be cool to have a regular sit-down coaster with an inverted coaster underneath it, but only one track!

[Rct3man777]

^Kinda wouldn't make sense unless it was one rail right above the other. Still, great concept!

[sk8erboiyugi]

Coasters will be nonexistent. Theme parks will succumb to No Child Left Behind and everything will be educational.

[Rct3man777]

^If it were educational, coasters WOULD exist.

[DBru]

^You obviously have no idea what the (incredibly pointless) "No Child Left Behind" (which was screwed up from the beginning, yet no one seems to be making any changes) program is.

[doom1001]

Inverted stand-up!!!

[the ghost]

There will be no need for coasters. For there will be the Virtual Coaster. A virtual reality ride that simulates every aspect of a coaster. G-s, wind, even the scent of puke! And soon after that will be the Virtual Virtual Coaster. "I could have sworn I was riding a virtual coaster!"

 

First person to figure out where I got that gets a cookie!

 

Futurama. Making fun of virtual ski ball

 

I want a cookie.

[Rct3man777]

^You obviously have no idea what the (incredibly pointless) "No Child Left Behind" (which was screwed up from the beginning, yet no one seems to be making any changes) program is.

 

I do, I just posted it cause part of it is true.

[jason10]

Me and my dad have come up with a crazy yet possible sounding concept. It comes from the idea of the hovering magnetic monorail. The trains are on a track hovering by magnets. To keep safety aspects and have the ability to have airtime and inversions, you would have guid wheels which when the train starts to raise off the track, would prevent this. The magnets would also cause less or no friction and you could speed the train up when it slows down. With this, you can create longer rides. This isn't the only advange. The hovering on magnets idea makes for a butter smooth ride as it would be floating in air. Even after ten years, it will be as smooth as the day it is built! Just an idea though.

[TheBannedKid]

Maglev trains can't take the sudden curves that you find on a roller coaster. That, and a hefty price tag, will make sure we won't be seeing a Maglev coaster anytime soon.

[DCody]

I think that's a REALLY cool idea, though. A hovering train would never have to be retracked and can you imagine the air-on-airtime!

[downunder]

In reality (what's probable), I don't think there will too many innovations because parks don't want to spend big money on coasters, Dick Kinzel, for example, thought Dragster was a big mistake as an investment.

 

What I think is possible in the next 10 years, I'd love to see terrain used in an extreme way. Something like Furious Baco where it launches from a flat and then disappears straight down a big drop (unlike Baco's small drop), something like that starting at the top of Magic Mountain's hill would be cool.

 

I also hope they refine the wing rider / X style trains because it is an awesome feeling having nothing around you.

 

That hovering stuff sounds awesome, I'm sure if it ever became financially viable for a park to do it you never know.

[rcdude]

I think that in the next ten years parks will begin to focus on the thrill factor over the size factor. In other words, they will build smaller but more intense coasters. This reminds me of an idea I had for a sixth grade project where we had to invent something, and I chose to invent a new type of roller coaster.

 

It was basically a B&M inverted coaster combined with a B&M floorless, meaning that at certain points in the ride the train would switch from riding above the rails to below them and vice-versa, but the layout was similar to a smaller Intamin twister like Maverick. In this design, there are no trains but instead individual cars with four across seating. The ride had a station that allowed loading and unloading similar to a skilift to improve capacity.

 

The ride started with a vertical lifthill though a tunnel where it was attatched to track above and below the vehicle, then went over the top in a way that it was an inversion. Afterwards, the car travelled through numerous twists and turns, as well as inversions, while switching between inverted and floorless several times.

 

The end of the ride also had an interesting finish. At the end, the car would come to a stop on a level piece of track high up in the air. It then slowly went over the edge and came to a stop facing straight down, most likely into a tunnel. The car would be on both sets of rails at this point. Then the brakes would release and the car would basically perform a vertical heartline roll and stop at the bottom. The car then leveled out and returned to the station.

 

I don't know if this ride would actually be built, but it certainly seems plausable. It would just have to be engineered percisely so the trains would be able to switch tracks. It also doesn't sound like it would be outrageously expensive to build.

[downunder]

^Good observation, coasters don't have to be big to be thrilling.

 

I've been on 300 coasters, and 3 of my top 5 (including my top 2) are barely over 100 foot.

 

I think Maverick is a great pointer in that direction, and the mega-lite hypers look like just as much fun as their bigger brothers.

[alpengeist04]

A lot of good observations and ideas in this thread. I have agree with the smaller more intense/thrilling coasters, along with more woodies, less steel, and using the terrain. I also think the "dark ride" coasters like The Mummy and the "Kuka arm" may be more in demand too if the price is right.