Brassinthegrass Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 (edited) Hey everyone, I was doing some thinking today while watching some No Limits coasters and was wondering: What is the most expensive roller coaster in the world? I did some research on RCDB, and from what I can see, everyone tops out at about $25 million US. The only exception I could find was Leviathan which was $28 million. The only other exception I could find was the Mummy The Rides and Universal, which are at $40 million, but that would be with animatronics, so I'm not sure if I could count that as being the cost of the coaster. Any thoughts? Has there been a roller coaster that has broken the $30 million limit? Edited May 28, 2015 by Brassinthegrass Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RollerManic Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 According to Guinness, Expedition Everest is the most expensive at $100 mil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJLehto Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 Do you mean a ride itself, or a whole project? Because obviously a lot more went into it than just the track, but Expedition Everest at Animal Kingdom cost $100 million OH! I totally forgot, Steel Dragon 2000, due to the need to make it earthquake safe, cost $52 million US. I am not sure but in terms of just track structure, that has to be the most expensive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TB305 Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 Verbolten at 54M is up there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owentaylor121 Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 How was Verbolten that expensive? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcxs Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 Helix @Liseberg cost $30,000,000+ (~250 million SEK). I think this is one the highest non-themed coasters. The dollar has been fluctuating lately so hard to say exactly though, it was $36,000,000 when it premiered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
technfxrick Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 When we were at Liesberg last year the park said Helix cost 40 million with all the earth moving that was needed. I think that is the most expensive for a non themed coaster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xChris125x Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 Steel Dragon 2000 is the most expensive coaster I have come across based solely on ride system cost. Wikipedia states $52 million. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steel_Dragon_2000 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Superbatboy Posted May 29, 2015 Share Posted May 29, 2015 Goliath at SFMM was $30,000,000 in 2000 which converts to $41,000,000 in 2015. Crazy to think that Millennium Force is much bigger than Goliath but was only $25,000,000. Earthquake proofing seems to be quite expensive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dylanreich Posted May 29, 2015 Share Posted May 29, 2015 Goliath at SFMM was $30,000,000 in 2000 which converts to $41,000,000 in 2015. Crazy to think that Millennium Force is much bigger than Goliath but was only $25,000,000. Earthquake proofing seems to be quite expensive. That's depressing to hear. I wish they just went with a B&M Hyper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Superbatboy Posted May 29, 2015 Share Posted May 29, 2015 Goliath at SFMM was $30,000,000 in 2000 which converts to $41,000,000 in 2015. Crazy to think that Millennium Force is much bigger than Goliath but was only $25,000,000. Earthquake proofing seems to be quite expensive. That's depressing to hear. I wish they just went with a B&M Hyper. Legend has it, MM wanted B&M for Goliath but B&M was reluctant to build coasters that high at the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dylanreich Posted May 29, 2015 Share Posted May 29, 2015 Goliath at SFMM was $30,000,000 in 2000 which converts to $41,000,000 in 2015. Crazy to think that Millennium Force is much bigger than Goliath but was only $25,000,000. Earthquake proofing seems to be quite expensive. That's depressing to hear. I wish they just went with a B&M Hyper. Legend has it, MM wanted B&M for Goliath but B&M was reluctant to build coasters that high at the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redfoot12 Posted May 29, 2015 Share Posted May 29, 2015 Goliath at SFMM was $30,000,000 in 2000 which converts to $41,000,000 in 2015. Crazy to think that Millennium Force is much bigger than Goliath but was only $25,000,000. Earthquake proofing seems to be quite expensive. That's depressing to hear. I wish they just went with a B&M Hyper. Legend has it, MM wanted B&M for Goliath but B&M was reluctant to build coasters that high at the time. If true, that's pretty lame. They built Nitro at 230 ft a year later and Silver Star at 240 ft in 2002, which is 5 ft taller than Goliath. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MagicMountainMan Posted May 29, 2015 Share Posted May 29, 2015 Goliath at SFMM was $30,000,000 in 2000 which converts to $41,000,000 in 2015. Crazy to think that Millennium Force is much bigger than Goliath but was only $25,000,000. Earthquake proofing seems to be quite expensive. How did you find that number? I've always wanted to know how much it cost but I never could find it... Also, X is one of the more expensive roller coasters built at around $40-$46M when it opened (sources vary on the actual cost) and with the conversion to X2 the coaster has cost the park over $50M. Definitely not cheap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RollerManic Posted May 29, 2015 Share Posted May 29, 2015 I have a hard time believing that Tatsu was $25 mil. Where did it go? Earthquake proofing too? Speaking of earthquake proofing, what kind of effects does it have on a wooden coaster's smoothness? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoinItForTheFame Posted May 29, 2015 Share Posted May 29, 2015 Formula Rossa was $45,000,000 (usd) Which is impressive given what that coaster is! Kings Island spent nearly $30,000,000 on Son Of Beast all together. Including constriction, and trying to "fix" the ride. Which is a lot for a coaster that ended up getting destroyed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brassinthegrass Posted May 29, 2015 Author Share Posted May 29, 2015 I have a hard time believing that Tatsu was $25 mil. Where did it go? Earthquake proofing too? Speaking of earthquake proofing, what kind of effects does it have on a wooden coaster's smoothness? Looking at RCDB, a lot of the "large end B&Ms are 25 million... Seems like a price tag for a large, custom ride, simple as that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MagicMountainMan Posted May 29, 2015 Share Posted May 29, 2015 Tatsu was built on the side of a hill and was really challenging (expensive) to construct. The total cost of a coaster is more than just the price of manufacturing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cmbgo12 Posted May 29, 2015 Share Posted May 29, 2015 Steel Dragon 2000 is the most expensive coaster I have come across based solely on ride system cost. Wikipedia states $52 million. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steel_Dragon_2000 That puts Steel Dragon as costing about $71,500,000 today... Not including the new custom B&M trains. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted May 29, 2015 Share Posted May 29, 2015 (edited) End of the day, the "most expensive coasters" are going to be your heavily themed rides like Expedition Everest, Big Grizzly Mountain, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Escape from Gringotts (if you count that), etc. I'm not sure it's fair to say "Oh it's rides without any theming" because then where do you draw the line? Does Forumla Rossa not count because the trains are shaped like race cars? If you're going to create all sorts of parameters to tailor the answer to what you're looking for, IMO, that's kind of silly. But to actually answer the original question, I'd place my bets on one of the rides I listed above. Edited May 29, 2015 by robbalvey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richards.adam Posted May 29, 2015 Share Posted May 29, 2015 It's hard to take the themeing away from a ride as many coasters would not be anything like the same if a heavily themed coaster was without its themeing. Slightly different angle but I read that Disney's Tower of Terror comes in at $150 million. A great ride but seems a little steep to me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted May 29, 2015 Share Posted May 29, 2015 ^ You have to remember that, they pretty much designed a ride system from scratch there. And not only is it a drop tower, but it's also a dark ride, too. And when you figure that the ride is pretty much the icon for the park, and is probably the #1 reason people spend money to go to Hollywood Studios, it probably has paid for itself many times over! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Superbatboy Posted May 29, 2015 Share Posted May 29, 2015 Goliath at SFMM was $30,000,000 in 2000 which converts to $41,000,000 in 2015. Crazy to think that Millennium Force is much bigger than Goliath but was only $25,000,000. Earthquake proofing seems to be quite expensive. How did you find that number? I've always wanted to know how much it cost but I never could find it... Got it from wiki Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gerstlaueringvar Posted May 29, 2015 Share Posted May 29, 2015 Crystal Wing costs around $64 millions back in 2006. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scooterdoug Posted May 29, 2015 Share Posted May 29, 2015 According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Expedition Everest was the most expensive roller coaster ever built, costing $100 million. One of my students (I teach 4th grade) just recently bought a copy of Guinness Book from our school's book fair. Since he knows I'm a coaster junkie, he opened right to the section on roller coaster records and excitedly showed me all the stats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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