Greatest Decade of Roller Coasters?

[Hyde]

There are many monumental roller coasters and milestones through the industries history: The switchback railways of the 1880s. The sharp turning wooden coasters (thanks to the advent of the lapbar :wink: ) of the roaring 20s and the First Golden Era of Roller Coasters. The introduction of steel tubular track in the 1950s, alongside the downfall of many early 20th century woodies. The Second Golden Era revival of roller coasters in the 70s with The Racer. Arrow's dominance of the 80s. The "Bigger is Better" mantra of the 90s. Or the Intamin Accelerator/general absurd design of the 2000s.

Heck, RMC has already made the first half of the 10s rather remarkable.

What decade stands out to you as the most significant contribution to roller coaster history?

 

[rtotheizzo17]

90's

B&M stepped onto the scene and changed the industry with stand up, invert, and improved traditional sit down/floorless models

'Coaster Wars' took place not only between Magic Mountain and Cedar Point, but almost every major US park expanded their inventory (Busch Parks come to mind)

 

[Darren B]

Definitely the 00's. The decade of the hyper coaster.

 

[Hutch]

The 90s and 2000s are the first to come to mind. If I had to choose one I'd say the 00s. Full of great hypers, woodies, and inatmin accelerators.

 

[GuyWithAStick]

Late 90's thru early 2000's. Like said before, B&M, Intamin, heck even Arrow were all around. Hypers, Accelerators, Woodies with airtime by the dozens, and a whole lot of things that goons like us seek.

Sent from my VS840 4G using Tapatalk

 

[Hyde]

I'm going to divert from the 90s and 00s, and say that the 70s was the most significant decade of roller coasters.

This was the decade when steel tubular tracks really caught on. While Arrow originally introduced the first modern steel roller coaster in 1959 with Matterhorn, it wasn't until the 70s that we saw a large rate of steel coaster adoption. Half of the Arrow Mine Trains were built during this time, while it was also when the first modern inversion (Corkscrew at Knott's) was built, quickly followed by the first two modern loops (Revolution at SFMM and Corkscrew at Cedar Point).

The 70s was also a time when manufacturers began looking to increase height and speed. This is especially driven by the Schwarzkopf shuttle loops (which claimed the tallest roller coaster record for majority of the decade), which helped pave the way for launched roller coasters.

Wooden coasters also saw a great deal of advancement throughout the 70s. Afterall, the construction of the Racer in 1972 is heralded as the beginning of the Second Golden Era of Roller Coasters. We saw an advent of many large layout wooden roller coasters, evolving from a simple out-and-back design. This notion is capped by the Beast in 1979, which still maintains the longest (and arguably most unique) wooden roller coaster design in the world.

Simply put, the beginning of the 70s began with simple out-and-back woodies and a handful of family steel coasters, but ended with multi-inversions, launches, and 100+ foot drops. A good deal of advancement for 10 years.

 

[rtotheizzo17]

Other than there are not too many decades to choose from, this argument will be a lot like technology.

Do you favor some classic advancements or the newest and shiniest?

 

[Hyde]

^ That's why I was sure to mention 6-ish generations in the original post. 60 years of evolution isn't too bad of a sample.