Matt N
CF Legend
Hi guys. Over the years, wooden roller coasters have been a staple of theme parks across the globe. Many parks have them, and although they are not quite as flexible in terms of innovation as steel coasters, many parks have attempted some very large-scale and innovative experiences with wooden coasters.
However, I’ve noticed that rather bizarrely, wooden coasters actually seem to be getting smaller. In the 5 years between 2018 and 2022, 10 wooden roller coasters were built and opened in total. Only 3 of these even reached or exceeded 100ft tall, and seeing as the tallest of these was Jungle Trailblazer at Fantawild Asian Legend, which stands at 108ft, it would suggest that even the parks exceeding the 100ft threshold are not doing so by very much. 3 wooden coasters are currently under construction for 2023 as per RCDB, but none of these are currently known to exceed 100ft in height.
Even if you extend your timescale to encompass the 10 years between 2013 and 2022, 36 wooden roller coasters were built in total and 19 were known to be 100ft or taller. Of those, however, only the 4 RMCs significantly exceeded 100ft, with the tallest non-RMC wooden coaster of known height being Fjord Flying Dragon at 111ft. I’d take a stab at Python in Bamboo Forest possibly being taller, but based on the top speed being similar to that of Wodan, I’d take a stab at it being no taller than that ride (131ft, for reference), and as the height isn’t known, I didn’t like to include it. It is worth noting that many of the 100ft+ woodies built during the decade were built at the very start of it as well, so the number has seemingly declined as time has gone on. In general, it would appear that the days of wooden coasters frequently being well over 100ft tall are done.
One could argue that this is because we’re building less large-scale rides in general. However, I would disagree. In the steel coaster stakes, hyper and giga coasters are still built on a semi-regular basis, and quite a few rides these days seem to exceed 200ft; things like RMC’s IBox coasters and such are getting pretty big. With wooden coasters, however, it’s a different story. Only 2 of the current top 10 tallest and fastest operating woodies are less than 10 years old, and only 1 of the longest operating woodies is less than 10 years old. And that’s before you consider that many of the biggest ever woodies are defunct, through either scrappage or RMC conversion.
My point is that contrary to typical expectation, wooden coasters actually seem to be decreasing in scale. So my question to you today is; have we seen the demise of the large-scale wooden roller coaster?
In my opinion, I actually think that yes, we may well have seen the demise of the large-scale wooden roller coaster. It doesn’t feel like the appetite to build them is there anymore, and it feels as though many parks that still have them might see them as more trouble than they’re worth.
From what I gather, traditionally constructed woodies above a certain size are often polarising at best and have numerous maintenance issues, not typically providing a very comfortable ride. Many of the biggest ever woodies are/were known to be absolutely brutal and have suffered numerous structural issues, and as I said above, quite a number of them were either scrapped or converted into RMC IBox coasters. The ones that remain arguably have somewhat chequered histories; for instance, Hades 360 is often said to be absolutely brutal, and is incredibly polarising for this reason. Even The Voyage, which is revered, is apparently pretty brutal and has had numerous maintenance issues over the years.
Even if you move onto Intamin and RMC’s non-traditional woodies, which have been more warmly received in general, these rides have not been without their problems. The full retracks of Colossos and Balder, as well as El Toro’s numerous structural issues as of late, would suggest that Intamin’s prefabs have not been without problems, and Lightning Rod’s majority steel retrack would imply that RMC’s foray into large-scale woodies has not been entirely rosy either. I also find RMC’s discontinuation of the Topper Track model, as well as recent ground up creations like Zadra and ArieForce One being steel hybrids rather than wooden coasters, rather telling.
I did wonder whether the advent of GCI’s Titan Track might see large-scale woodies make a resurgence, but the modest scale of Zambezi Zinger, the model’s premiere outing, would imply that Titan Track is not necessarily intended to produce rides of monstrous scale. And there is an argument to be had about whether Titan Track coasters are genuine woodies seeing as the Titan Track itself is steel…
But what are your thoughts? Do you think that we’ve seen the back of large-scale woodies? Or do you think that a resurgence is right around the corner?
However, I’ve noticed that rather bizarrely, wooden coasters actually seem to be getting smaller. In the 5 years between 2018 and 2022, 10 wooden roller coasters were built and opened in total. Only 3 of these even reached or exceeded 100ft tall, and seeing as the tallest of these was Jungle Trailblazer at Fantawild Asian Legend, which stands at 108ft, it would suggest that even the parks exceeding the 100ft threshold are not doing so by very much. 3 wooden coasters are currently under construction for 2023 as per RCDB, but none of these are currently known to exceed 100ft in height.
Even if you extend your timescale to encompass the 10 years between 2013 and 2022, 36 wooden roller coasters were built in total and 19 were known to be 100ft or taller. Of those, however, only the 4 RMCs significantly exceeded 100ft, with the tallest non-RMC wooden coaster of known height being Fjord Flying Dragon at 111ft. I’d take a stab at Python in Bamboo Forest possibly being taller, but based on the top speed being similar to that of Wodan, I’d take a stab at it being no taller than that ride (131ft, for reference), and as the height isn’t known, I didn’t like to include it. It is worth noting that many of the 100ft+ woodies built during the decade were built at the very start of it as well, so the number has seemingly declined as time has gone on. In general, it would appear that the days of wooden coasters frequently being well over 100ft tall are done.
One could argue that this is because we’re building less large-scale rides in general. However, I would disagree. In the steel coaster stakes, hyper and giga coasters are still built on a semi-regular basis, and quite a few rides these days seem to exceed 200ft; things like RMC’s IBox coasters and such are getting pretty big. With wooden coasters, however, it’s a different story. Only 2 of the current top 10 tallest and fastest operating woodies are less than 10 years old, and only 1 of the longest operating woodies is less than 10 years old. And that’s before you consider that many of the biggest ever woodies are defunct, through either scrappage or RMC conversion.
My point is that contrary to typical expectation, wooden coasters actually seem to be decreasing in scale. So my question to you today is; have we seen the demise of the large-scale wooden roller coaster?
In my opinion, I actually think that yes, we may well have seen the demise of the large-scale wooden roller coaster. It doesn’t feel like the appetite to build them is there anymore, and it feels as though many parks that still have them might see them as more trouble than they’re worth.
From what I gather, traditionally constructed woodies above a certain size are often polarising at best and have numerous maintenance issues, not typically providing a very comfortable ride. Many of the biggest ever woodies are/were known to be absolutely brutal and have suffered numerous structural issues, and as I said above, quite a number of them were either scrapped or converted into RMC IBox coasters. The ones that remain arguably have somewhat chequered histories; for instance, Hades 360 is often said to be absolutely brutal, and is incredibly polarising for this reason. Even The Voyage, which is revered, is apparently pretty brutal and has had numerous maintenance issues over the years.
Even if you move onto Intamin and RMC’s non-traditional woodies, which have been more warmly received in general, these rides have not been without their problems. The full retracks of Colossos and Balder, as well as El Toro’s numerous structural issues as of late, would suggest that Intamin’s prefabs have not been without problems, and Lightning Rod’s majority steel retrack would imply that RMC’s foray into large-scale woodies has not been entirely rosy either. I also find RMC’s discontinuation of the Topper Track model, as well as recent ground up creations like Zadra and ArieForce One being steel hybrids rather than wooden coasters, rather telling.
I did wonder whether the advent of GCI’s Titan Track might see large-scale woodies make a resurgence, but the modest scale of Zambezi Zinger, the model’s premiere outing, would imply that Titan Track is not necessarily intended to produce rides of monstrous scale. And there is an argument to be had about whether Titan Track coasters are genuine woodies seeing as the Titan Track itself is steel…
But what are your thoughts? Do you think that we’ve seen the back of large-scale woodies? Or do you think that a resurgence is right around the corner?
