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Most unique/noteworthy roller coasters


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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!

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Interesting. What exactly would you talk about for an entire semester? I am just curious lol

 

Is this for some type of amusement park related degree or just a random gen-ed?

 

 

Anyway, I would add:

 

Millennium Force (elevator lift, first giga, etc...)

Excelerator (Cable Hydraulic Launch, in which you can talk about the hydraulic system and how it led the way to Dragster, KingdaKa and the Dubai ride)

Hypersonic (compressed air-launch)

Linear Gale (linear induction motors)

X (4-D style of rides, the failure of the design to launch and the success of the simpler B&M versions)

That crazy S&S ride that looks like two log flumes on each side of the track... Can't think of the name, but that is pretty wild.

Flying Turns

Edited by Invertalon
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I'd also include The Ultimate at Lightwater Valley with that in-house designed track, those long-ass trains, and the insanely slow lifts.

 

Plus Wild Mouse at Blackpool, and one of the möbius loop coasters (Grand National, Kennywood's Racer, El Serpiente del Fuego).

 

Gotta throw in a portable coaster (pick a Schwarzkopf) as well as a Steeplechase, Bobsled, Flying coaster, Standup coaster, Mine train, and a classic woodie like the Coney Cyclone or Blackpool Big Dipper.

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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)

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I'd throw in Outlaw Run (Silver Dollar City's new Topper Track Woodie), an Intamin Pre-Fab woodie (El Toro, T Express, Balder, Colossos) to show how modern techniques can make theses coasters so smooth yet so wild, NTAG to show how it isn't a wooden coaster and to show what they are most likely doing to the Rattler, Stealth (CGA) as the first successful flying coaster, Air to show fixes to make the flying coaster more reliable, early looping coasters and their design flaws, Corkscrew (Knotts Berry Farm) and Revolution (SFMM) to show the fixes they made in the designing of the loops, Takabisha (worlds steepest coaster at 121 degrees), Tower of Terror II to show how LSMs make this ride to be the first to go 100 mph, Superman Escape from Krypton (first coaster to go 400 ft in the air), and Formula Rossa (as mentioned above but I'm giving you the name). I think that's it.

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*I'd go on about Schwarzkopf as well and talk about how he was so ahead of his time mastering the portable coasters, and even being the first to silence anti rollbacks, and his inovative use of fly wheels for launches ect. That man was a genius.

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You should talk about how roller coasters came about ( ice slopes) and the first amusement parks (Kursaal, Coney Island).

Roller coaster wise you should add a Eurofighter into the mix.and also how coasters can differ in size from different areas of parks to put them in. Maybe how they can withstand large amounts of weather.

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How about the Matterhorn? I think it was technically the first steel coaster ever built (meaning the first of the kind that use tubular steel track).

 

Then of course you have all the "fads" in coasters - standups, floorless, flyers, etc.

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It'd be good to talk about the suspended coaster design and how the first suspended coaster, the Bat, failed but the design was later fixed and went on to cause other companies to build looping and launched versions from the suspended concept.

Also, talking about how a coaster's actual track can be incorporated to make it more unique and thrilling - e.g tilting track on Gravity Max and free fall drop track on Thirteen/Polar X-Plorer/Verbolten.

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Six Flags Great Adventure has the highest attendance of any Six Flags park, not to mention Kingda Ka, the world's tallest and fastest roller coaster. Roller coaster wise you should add a Eurofighter into the mix.and also how coasters can differ in size from different areas of parks to put them in.

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Couldn't miss talking about "The Whizzer"(aka Willard's Whizzer) at SFGAM.....a very unlikely, yet still standing fun machine and the last of its kind in the U.S. (especially since in was 'saved' in the 11th hour by coaster and family enthusiasts, when Superman was heading to town). Still thrilling riders in Illinois since '76---we are coming up on 40 years!

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Six Flags Great Adventure has the highest attendance of any Six Flags park, not to mention Kingda Ka, the world's tallest and FASTEST roller coaster. Roller coaster wise you should add a Eurofighter into the mix.and also how coasters can differ in size from different areas of parks to put them in.

 

Wrong! Formula Rossa is the fastest roller coaster at 150 mph. http://www.rcdb.com/4485.htm

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First of all: I love your username

 

Second of all: Where is this college so I can transfer and take your class?

 

Third: I think you should talk about the history of Arrow Dynamics. I did a paper on it once, and it really is incredible all the feats they accomplished in their time despite most of their coasters seeming mediocre today. From the early work with Disney, to first tubular steel coaster, to Knott's Corkscrew, suspended coaster, mega-loopers, first hyper coaster, and first 4D coaster.

 

Just my suggestions. Good luck with your class!!

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Wrong! Formula Rossa is the fastest roller coaster at 150 mph. http://www.rcdb.com/4485.htm

Well Formula Rossi is pretty new, and that thing in my opinion is barely more than a speed record with wheels..I'd much rather ride KK or TTD any day.

 

On topic I agree that the 4D coasters are noteworthy since there's very few of them and they kind of have a personality of their own...there's an interesting storyline to it as well with X being Arrow's last coaster and having so much trouble with maintenance and staying operational, and then after Eejanaika being built in Japan by S&S Arrow in 2006, X was redone with new more reliable trains, showing that the design isn't inherently flawed (though it is usually prohibitively expensive to build).

 

Also second the notion of including Outlaw Run, that is a significantly ground breaking coaster worthy of much discussion. The most common reaction I've gotten from non enthusiasts Ive showed the photos to is "thats impossible".

 

Where is this college so I can transfer and take your class?
That thought occurred to me too!
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Obviously you'll have to talk about the beginning of roller coasters. The ice slides of Russia, scenic railways, ect.

 

Olympia Looping always seemed like a noteworthy coaster to me. It is probably the most famous of the traveling coasters out there.

 

While on the topic of traveling coasters you can talk about Euro Star, that painful yet unique intamin suspended coaster that traveled around for a while.

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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.

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I think Disneyland's Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy deserves some credit. The music, the projections, and the already awesome ride make for a truly unique haunted roller coaster experience. It's not often you see a coaster frighten riders (in a dark ride sense) That last ghost that jumps out right after the photo spot gets everyone every time.

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