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Where is the line drawn between family & thrill?

Sandman

Sandman

Giga Poster
When it comes to coasters, where in your opinion does a family coaster differentiate from a thrill coaster? At what point does a family coaster become a thrill coaster?

Is there a height, speed or force barrier in your opinion? Some examples of coasters that are family friendly but border on becoming full fledged thrill coasters would be interesting.
 
Hard to say really, I guess the easiest one would be anything with an inversion should be counted as a Thrill coaster. I haven't spotted any obvious creds with an inversion that isn't at least a 1.2M height restriction, although I'm sure there could be some rare ones.
Then it's probably a mixture of height and speed. Looking at my son's Coaster Count, it looks like family coasters top out at around 100ft and 45/50mph, that's around his current records. There's generally not an abundance of airtime either, apart from the odd Gerstlauer bobs. Cobra @ Paultons is probably the closest border one that comes to mind, tallish, quite a bit of airtime, classed as the most thrilling coaster in the park maybe, yet is definitely a family coaster with a 1.1M restriction.
 
Very good thread, plus some coasters are difficult to classify, like drage kongen or white lighting/heidi.
I'd say it's more of a continuum, with some coasters being obviously family oriented (like, the one without speed nor forces), some obviously non-family (like the ones with a 1m40 height limit), but also a lot that are a bit both in the same time.
 
I think it's height limit, rides like Sub Terra can have a 1.2m min height but is 1.4m due to the nature of the attraction, I think DBGT is similar as well.
 
Some interesting perspectives thus far.

Bert2theSpark said:
I think it's height limit, rides like Sub Terra can have a 1.2m min height but is 1.4m due to the nature of the attraction, I think DBGT is similar as well.
Click to expand...

The only thing with this is, I'm looking more at what defines a thrill against a family in terms of coaster layout. Like, at what point does a family coaster become questionably a thrill coaster? Also, the point DelPiero made about inversions is worth discussing. I think a lot of people would automatically consider an inversion as 'thrill' but why is that? Is it just due to the 'idea' of inverting and/or also the physical appearance of said inversion? It is quite peculiar actually, because I've been on family coasters with far more intense elements than some of the subtler inversions I've experienced on a few 'thrill' coasters.
 
Just to throw a spanner in the works with the height restrictions, Wildfire only has a 1.2m height restriction (not sure about other RMC's) but that means a 6 year old can ride it. A 6 year old can ride arguably the most intimidating coaster on the planet! I think the inversion rule is about as close as you can get, but then you get the pinfari loopers which i'd personally consider more family that thrill... I think this is one of those questions that will only ever throw up more questions. I like it!
 
Also, Didn't a manufacter recently release concept for a 'Unicoaster 2.0' which is a 4D family coaster that goes upside down.
 
Good topic, I have noticed more in the last few years the term 'family thrill' coaster, Troy and Heidi being good cases of this!

I've always assumed inversions to be a defining factor, but then you get coasters like Nessie at Hansa - which has a loop but I would class as a family coaster - and then Taron which is neither tall or has any inversions but IS very much a thrill/white-knuckle coaster!
 
Awesome topic!

Yeah, it's hard to draw the line but I think I've come up with three things that ought to be taken into consideration:

Ride System- Is the ride hardware designed to handle more of an extreme experience or one that's more mild?
Branding- Is the ride being marketed to the public as a crazy, white-knuckle thrill experience or is it being promoted as something along the lines of "the great family adventure?"
Public Reaction- Does the ride extract bloodcurdling screams of terror in every element in a train full of adults or do guests on this coaster appear slightly more calm?
Automatically disqualified if the ride A.) has inversions or B.) has a height requirement of over fifty inches.

If the first point ended up being true for two or more of the questions I posted, it's not a family coaster. I'm a bit cautious as to what I'll assign that label to though, as I believe lower intensity thrill coasters can still provide insane sensations. Arrow mine trains, FireChaser Express, and other similar rides I consider family coasters. However, some coasters with "big boy toy" ride systems that some might consider family I consider to be thrill coasters, such as SooperDooperLooper. Cheetah Hunt, by far the most controversial coaster in my top ten, I actually consider to be a thrill coaster because while it was marketed to more of a family demographic, that blitz system is still in use on Maverick and iSpeed and the screams that come off of it sound exactly like the ones on Montu.

I don't mean to be "that guy" and derail this discussion, but I've actually seen people on Facebook calling Lightning Rod a family coaster! There's been talk going around that the reason it has a low height restriction and no inversions was because the park wanted a family-friendly experience out of it. Of course I think that "accessible by" and "designed for" are two different things, but to me there's no way you could classify something that feels that fast and dishes out a ride experience that violent as a family oriented experience, even if kids are able to ride it with their rents. Is there maybe any other justification for classifying RMC's most violent ride as a family coaster? Other than "the whole family can stare at it closed together?" :p
 
I'd argue that 'family' is a very broad term that includes everything from a kiddie cred up to say the 'mild thrills' of Juvelen (launched, terrain hugging, high speed) or Anubis (some inversions and a small rolling launch). I'd say the definition is concerned more with intensity than the actual layout/number of elements.
 
Yeah, I wouldn't consider Anubis a family coaster. Intense launch, ejector airtime and inversions. To me the upper part of family coasters is something like Joris. Those are still suitable for the whole family, yet thrilling enough.
 
I would simply say any coaster with a height requirement of around 48"-56" is a thrill coaster. Family coasters to me are just coasters that your whole family can ride.
 
Great topic! There's certainly a lot to say here.

I agree with Sue, intensity is what counts most do separate family from thrill rides. How much forces the coaster provides, and perhaps more importantly, how sustained those forces are? Having numerous snappy transitions and steep drops also make a coaster more thrilling.

I mean, it might be quite tiny and not have inversions, but can Wild Train at Fantasiana really be considered as family? Some airtime hills are really insane!

 
Height limit is probably the best differentiator - nearly all family roller coasters allow for a minimum height of 48" and lower. In turn, a majority of thrill rides start at 50-52" and up for height limit (with some still allowing 48").
 
To a certain extent, it could be whatever the park management are trying to sell it as, which in turn could depend on what coasters the park already has.
In any park, the most intense coaster in the line up will invariably be labelled as the thrill ride. At Paulton's, that'll be Cobra then. At Cedar Point, it's Top Thrill Dragster.
But if Cobra was at Cedar Point, it would most definitely be a family coaster.
Ya get me?
It's all relative innit.
 
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Howie said:
To a certain extent, it could be whatever the park management are trying to sell it as, which in turn could depend on what coasters the park already has.
In any park, the most intense coaster in the line up will be labelled as the thrill ride. At Paulton's, that'll be Cobra then. At Cedar Point, it's Top Thrill Dragster.
But if Cobra was at Cedar Point, it would most definitely be a family coaster.
Ya get me?
It's all relative innit.
Click to expand...

Exactly - then you get miss-fires like thir3een which were marketed as intense and are really family-thrill!
 
I don't think you can really use height minimum, as Millennium Force is 48", and I daresay that's not a family coaster. Although some in the Millennium Forceless camp might disagree. ;)

I feel like it's more, is this ride trying to be frightening and intimidating, and does it go full-tilt hard with no breaks? I think that whether there's a chance to catch a breather or not is a big factor. Roughness also leans you into the thrill category.

But it also depends what park, agree with @Howie. Being from OH, home of Cedar Point, at my gig when guests ask, "Is this fast?" I almost answer "LOL, no," because it goes 40mph and my reference point is 120mph, but that's not their reference point in NH.
 
Howie said:
To a certain extent, it could be whatever the park management are trying to sell it as, which in turn could depend on what coasters the park already has.
Click to expand...

I totally agree - within reason I think its totally dependent on the selection of rides in the park and the market the park is targeting
If you take Six Flags MM - their park map runs with 'Thrill Seekers In Training' / 'Moderate Thrills' / & 'Maximum Thrills' - Their moderate thrill rides would be classed as extreme thrills in most other parks

Although to be fair they don't seem to include any of their moderate thrill rides or above in the 'Family thrills' category on their website!
 
SFMM contains the only ride that actually legit scares me (X2). It gets its own category.
 
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