From humble beginnings to dominating modern theme park skylines, roller coasters are steeped with a rich history of technical advancements. Here’s a timeline of many highlights that influenced the development of roller coasters throughout the years.
Son of Beast at Kings Island in Ohio, featured a vertical loop section that was actually made of steel. The coaster opened on May 26, 2000, but the loop was removed in 2006 following an accident and the roller coaster was permanently closed in 2009.
Intamin debuts the 310 foot (94m) tall Millennium Force on May 13, 2000 at Cedar Point in Ohio, USA, featuring a 300 foot (91m) drop and top speed of 93 mph (150 km/h). Millennium Force was also the first roller coaster to feature a cable lift and was among the first coasters to feature stadium-style train seating as well as magnetic brakes.
Intamin debuted two magnetic LSM Launch shuttle coasters in 1997, Tower of Terror at Dreamworld in Gold Coast, Australia and Superman The Escape at Six Flags Magic Mountain in California, USA. The latter stands 415 feet (126.5m) tall with a top speed of 100 mph (161 km/h). These roller coasters featured a slightly different magnetic launch than Flight of Fear, which allowed for a more efficient launch. In 2011 the roller coaster was renamed to Superman: Escape from Krypton when trains were reversed to launch backwards up the tower.
In the early 90’s, a company called Custom Coasters International (CCI) started to build wooden roller coasters. Using modern technology, they revisited the olden, steep, twisted designs of the 1920’s. Suddenly people were very interested in wooden coasters again thanks to woodies like The Raven at Holiday World in Indiana, USA; Megafobia at Oakwood Park in Wales, UK; Tonnerre de Zeus at Parc Astérix in France; Shivering Timbers at Michigan’s Adventure, USA; Medusa at Six Flags Mexico; and Boulder Dash at Lake Compounce in Connecticut, USA.
In 1996 Outer Limits: Flight of Fear opened at Kings Island in Ohio and Kings Dominion in Virginia, USA, as the world’s first magnetic LIM Launch roller coasters. These roller coasters were built by Premier Rides and designed as a jumble of tight track and inversions, often described as resembling a “spaghetti bowl.”
Designed to give a sense of flight, B&M opened Batman The Ride on May 9, 1992 at Six Flags Great America in Illinois, USA, which provided large, sweeping inversions and intense g-forces. B&M inverted roller coasters remain one of the most popular coasters in the world and are still built to this day.
Featuring more than 1.4 miles (2.25 km) of track, the Ultimate opened at Lightwater Valley in the UK, on July 17, 1991.
Magnum XL-200 opened at Cedar Point in Ohio, USA, on May 6, 1989 as the tallest, fastest, steepest full-length steel roller coaster in the world. The 205 foot (62m) tall coaster would be Arrow Dynamics’ fourth and final installment for Cedar Point.
After working with Arrow Dynamics on construction of the Corkscrew at Alton Towers in the UK, Vekoma broke off to build their own design of roller coasters. This began with the Boomerang coaster, a shuttle roller coaster that uses a chain lift to raise the train, which is dropped through a series of inversions, meets a second lift hill to raise it to the top of a second spike, and then drops to reverse course back to the station. Starting with the first four in 1984, over 50 Vekoma Boomerangs have been constructed, making it one of the most popular coaster designs in the world. Carowind’s Carolina Cobra was the first Boomerang to feature Vekoma’s new trains that made for a smoother ride.
Moonsault Scrambler, built by Sanoyas Hishino Meisho, became the first roller coaster break the 200 feet (61m) limit when it opened on June 24, 1983 at Fujiyoshida in Japan. Standing 233 feet (71m), Moonsault Scrambler’s record would remain unbroken until 1996.