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| INVENTIONS AND BREAKTHROUGHS |
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| The Promenades Airiennes made its debut as the first coaster to allow passengers a return trip to their original starting point without stepping out of the car. The tracks were built in a circle form, and at the bottom of the initial drop, the track was banked so that the cars kept enough momentum to propel them up the incline and back into the station. The Promenades Airiennes was also the first racing coaster. Two identical tracks ran side by side down the first 80-foot drop. At the bottom, they split off going in opposite directions. After completing the circular track, they came back together again at the station. The French experimented with the idea of turning a coaster upside down in 1848, when the first looping coaster appeared at Frascti Gardens. More spectacular than a ride, its loop stood 30 feet high and had a long, straight track that was needed in order to get enough speed to make the loop. |
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| The first unique roller coaster to appear in America was the Gravity Pleasure Switchback Railway at Coney Island, which made its debut in 1884. |
| In 1884, Charles Alcoke of Hamilton, Ohio, solved the switch back problem when he designed an oval track that returned passengers to the station, similar to the French Promendes Aeriennes. |
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| Phillip Hickle turned the seats forward in his ride, the Gravity Pleasure, in 1885. Phillip Hickle also introduced the idea of a steam-powered, chain lift. |
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| In 1927, the highest wooden coaster of the time was built in New York. The Blue Streak was a 138-foot high legend of the time. |
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| The Cyclone`s imagined danger was so popular that the Cyclone paid its cost of $175,000 within its first year of operation. That fact inspired many roller coaster designers and owners, among whom was Harry Traver. Located at Coney Island`s Astroland, the 1927 Cyclone is proof that a good coaster survives the test of time. Today, it is still the mark by which other coasters are judged. Known for his wicked coasters in the 1920`s, his name became synonymous with Cyclone. |
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| In 1959, Arrow Dynamics took its first step into roller coasters by building Disney`s Matterhorn Bobsled ride. |
| Designers then discovered that steel could be used to turn cars upside down. The main breakthrough was the development of the corkscrew by Arrow in 1975, offering riders head-over-heels excitement as a substitute for smoothing out the sometime bruising rides of the woody. |
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| The coaster with the most G`s is the Tidal Wave, with 6.0 G`s. The top eight coasters with the most G`s are the Tidal Wave, Shock Wave, Revolution, Kumba, The Loch Ness Monster, Orient Express, Rattler, and Scorpion. All of these are made of steel, except for the wooden Rattler with 3.5 G`s. There are only 363 wooden coasters while there are 138 steel roller coasters in operation in North America in 1994. |
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| A new coaster is first designed and built on a computer. When Swiss coaster design group Bolliger and Mabillard were hired by Six Flags, they started with a blank sheet of paper. They had to combine all the drops, loops, spins, and other tricks. |
| The basic principle on which the point of the roller coaster is built is that people will pay to be scared. It was an engineering innovation started by John Miller with the racing coaster that revolutionized the ride. He also added a third set of wheels under the track. Up until then, the cars had relied on two sets of wheels - one on top and one on bottom. |
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| The Great American Scream Machine, built in 1973, was one of the earliest and largest roller coasters built during the 1970`s. The coaster can never go as high as the first drop because of forces called drag and friction. |
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| Big Bad Wolf at Busch Gardens, The Old Country was the first suspended coaster. The cars swing out from the steel, track, right, left, and back again. |
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| The world`s longest wooden coaster is the Beast, at Paramount`s Kings Island at 7400 feet in length. At 60 miles per hour, it is also one of the fastest wooden roller coasters. |
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| The Mean Streak at Cedar Point was built in 1991, and is the world`s second-tallest roller coaster. |
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| With a lift hill of 209 feet, the Desperado at Buffalo Bill`s Wild West Resort has the honor of the world`s tallest coaster. |
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| The Chang was the world`s largest stand-up roller coaster when it opened, but that honor went to Six Flags Riddler`s Revenge in 1998. A lap bar and an arm harness will hold you in place. Chang was the first stand-up roller coaster in America. |
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| F. Meyer wanted to give a blast to the riders by shooting them out of a cannon at the top of the lift hill. His Leap the Gaps roller coaster would jump across a 6-foot wide gap, high off the ground, and land on tracks on the other side. The coaster would then speed back to the loading station. This coaster never opened to the public. |
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| The Laser Loop at Kennywood is a steel coaster that goes from 0 to 55 miles per hour in four seconds. |
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| The Arrow designed the first successful suspended roller coaster / Huss Corporation in 1984 for Busch Garden`s the Old Country in Williamsburg, Virginia. |
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