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53-552: The Gravity Group is a wooden roller coaster design firm based in Cincinnati, Ohio , United States. The firm was founded in July 2002 out of the engineering team of the famed but now defunct Custom Coasters International . The core group of designers and engineers at The Gravity Group have backgrounds in civil, structural and mechanical engineering . Their experience comes from work on over 40 different wooden roller coasters around

106-547: A 90-foot (27 m) vertical loop , which was made of steel. The ride was well-received but was plagued by a number of incidents, including two that were serious, eventually leading to its demise in 2012. In the 2010s, a new era of wooden roller coasters came about with the introduction of Topper Track developed by Rocky Mountain Construction. The new technology replaced the flattened steel strip and upper two layers of wood traditionally used in wooden track design with

159-409: A few inches to a few feet with a passing train , give a sense of unreliability and the "threat" of collapse or disregard for safety. Of course, this assumption is purely mental, since wooden roller coaster supports and track systems are designed to sway with the force produced by the coaster. If the track and structure were too rigid, they would break under the strain of the passing train. The swaying of

212-443: A few set coaster records. Hercules at Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom , built in 1989, had the tallest wooden coaster drop at 150 feet. Texas Giant at Six Flags Over Texas and Mean Streak at Cedar Point were large wooden coasters with similar layouts, with the later opening as the tallest wooden coaster in the world at 161 feet. After a dispute during construction of Pegasus at Efteling , Dinn Corporation closed down and

265-534: A magnetic launch of 45 mph up a 200' hill, similar to the magnetic lift on Maverick . In 2000, Kings Island opened Son of Beast . Designed by Werner Stengel and built by the Roller Coaster Corporation of America , the roller coaster broke many world records. With a height of 218 feet (66 m), it was the first wooden roller coaster to top 200 feet (61 m). It was also the first modern wooden roller coaster to feature an inversion,

318-475: A rail car, eliminating the need for side friction wheels. The following list is in alphabetical order. Roller coaster inversion The first inversion in roller coaster history was part of the Centrifugal Railway of Paris , France , built in 1848. It consisted of a 43-foot (13-meter) sloping track leading into a nearly circular vertical loop 13 feet (4.0 m) in diameter. During

371-611: A significant legacy on the coaster industry. The high number of wooden coasters they constructed, 34 over their decade of operation, helped to rekindle interest in the wooden roller coasters and allowed modern wooden coaster designers to thrive. Designers from CCI went on to form modern wooden coaster design firms, like Great Coasters International , The Gravity Group , and the wooden coaster department at S&S Worldwide . Many of their coasters rank highly in wooden coaster polls, including Shivering Timbers at Michigan's Adventure and Boulder Dash at Lake Compounce . In 2013, Boulder Dash

424-679: A steel box, which led to rides like the triple-inverting Outlaw Run at Silver Dollar City in 2012. Others like Wildfire at Kolmården Wildlife Park and Goliath at Six Flags Great America soon followed. Topper Track provides the added benefit of smoother rides and lower maintenance costs. The Gravity Group also designed five wooden coasters with a single inversion: these include coasters at each of three Oriental Heritage theme parks in China, all named Jungle Trailblazer , as well as Mine Blower in Fun Spot Kissimmee and

477-498: A steel coaster. Wooden roller coasters provide a very different ride and experience from steel roller coasters . While they are traditionally less capable than a steel coaster when it comes to inversions and elements (except for the chain lift hill), wooden coasters instead rely on an often rougher and more "wild" ride (depending on train speed and/or track layout), as well as a more psychological approach to inducing fear . Their structures and track, which usually move anywhere from

530-537: A tubular steel track, first pioneered by Arrow to create Disneyland 's Matterhorn Bobsleds in 1959, could execute inversions both safely and reliably. The full model of the prototype, aptly named Corkscrew , was then installed in Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park , United States , making history as the world's first modern inverting roller coaster (it was relocated to Silverwood Park of Idaho in 1990). In 1976,

583-423: Is currently the tallest wooden coaster in the world at 183 feet tall. While only having built 4 wooden coasters, all are praised by coaster enthusiasts, with all 4 being within the top 20 wooden coasters in the world on Mitch Hawkers poll. Since 2010, El Toro at Six Flags Great Adventure , which opened in 2006, has been ranked the number one wooden coaster in the world on Mitch Hawkers poll. Notable designers from

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636-458: Is made in 25-foot (7.6 m) sections, which have special joints on the ends to allow them to snap together. The result is generally higher precision than what could be achieved by hand, leading to a smoother ride and reduced cost surrounding construction and maintenance. In addition, unlike traditional wooden coasters which feature bare metal wheels, the trains for a prefabricated wooden coaster have wheels made of polyurethane treads, similar to

689-499: The 1920s, specifically those by Fred Church and Harry Traver, and the company focuses on making the structures of their coasters aesthetically appealing and artistic. In 2001, Swiss steel coaster designer Intamin began producing wooden roller coasters using prefabricated track. Their wooden coasters are known for large amounts of airtime (including ejector airtime), smooth ride experiences, and steep drops. T Express in Everland

742-509: The 2010s. The design borrows the principles of steel coaster manufacturing and applies them to wood. Traditional wooden coaster track is typically built on site. It is cut as needed, bent to the proper shape, and mounted layer-by-layer to the support structure with steel running plates. Prefabricated track, on the other hand, is manufactured in a factory, temperature-controlled setting. It is made of many thin layers of wood that are glued together and then laser cut to exact specifications. The track

795-805: The Golden Age of coaster design. This was the decade when many of the world's most iconic coasters were built. Some of these include the Giant Dipper at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk and its counterpart at Belmont Park , the Cyclone at Coney Island , the Big Dipper at Geauga Lake , The Thriller at Euclid Beach Park , and the Roller Coaster at Lagoon . All of these rides were built during this time. The decade

848-714: The Great Depression was brought to an end by The Racer at Kings Island , which opened in 1972 and sparked a second "Golden Age" of wooden coaster design. After their success with the Racer at Kings Island, the Philadelphia Toboggan Company (PTC) constructed another 9 roller coasters over the next decade. About half were small family coasters, two were racing coasters similar to the Racer, and two were out and back coasters with custom designs. One of these, Screamin' Eagle at Six Flags St. Louis ,

901-504: The coaster in lieu of retirement, Kings Island built the coaster themselves, with the coaster designed by Al Collins and Jeff Gramke and construction overseen by Charlie Dinn. Rather than a typical out and back layout, the coaster sprawled over the woods at the back of the park, using the terrain to create an elevation change from lowest to highest point of 201 feet, even though the coaster was only 118 feet tall. The coaster also had two lift hills which, while common for mine train coasters at

954-555: The company's sixth wooden roller coaster. The Gravity Group was also involved in the rebuilding of Libertyland 's Zippin Pippin at Bay Beach Amusement Park in Green Bay, Wisconsin. In 2008, members of The Gravity Group announced the development of their own wooden coaster trains called Timberliners. They are being produced by Gravitykraft Corporation, a sister company to The Gravity Group. The Gravity Group promotes their trains as

1007-454: The construction of wooden coasters worldwide is southern yellow pine , which grows abundantly in the southern United States, due to its density and adherence to different forms of pressure treatment . Early wooden roller coaster design of the 19th century featured a single set of wheels running on top of the track, which was common in scenic railway rides. John A. Miller introduced side friction coasters and later underfriction coasters in

1060-583: The conversion of their existing Hades 360 in Mt. Olympus Water & Theme Park . The common choice of wood selected for modern wooden roller coasters worldwide is southern yellow pine , a softwood abundant in the southern United States from eastern Texas to Virginia . It is known for its strength, which comes from its extremely dense properties. Southern pine is also easy to cut and responds well to pressure treatment . Companies like Intamin and Rocky Mountain Construction began using prefabricated track in

1113-475: The defunct Geauga Lake ; Hurricane: Category 5 at the defunct Myrtle Beach Pavilion ; and The Legend at Holiday World ). CCI's coaster designs included both out and back layouts like Hoosier Hurricane at Indiana Beach as well as more twisted layouts like Megafobia at Oakwood Theme Park . Megafobia was also the company's first coaster outside the United States. CCI coasters were also unique at

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1166-430: The early 1900s, many rides including vertical loops appeared around the world. These early loops had a major design flaw: the circular structure produced intense g-forces (hereafter "Gs"). The Flip Flap Railway , designed by Lina Beecher and built in 1895 on Coney Island of Brooklyn , United States , had a 25-foot circular loop at the end which though initially popular caused some discomfort in passenger's necks, and

1219-482: The early 20th century, which added additional sets of wheels running along multiple sides of the track to allow for more intense ride design with sharper turns and steeper drops. The underfriction design became commonplace and continues to be used in modern roller coaster design. Traditionally, wooden roller coasters were not capable of featuring extreme elements such as inversions , near-vertical drops, and overbanked turns commonly found on steel roller coasters after

1272-507: The first five-inversion coaster, Arrow's Viper at Darien Lake in Darien, New York. The record for number of inversions was broken quickly in the following years. Arrow's Vortex at Kings Island , built in 1987, was the first to have six. The next year, Shockwave at Six Flags Great America broke that record with seven inversions. In 1995, Dragon Khan in Spain 's Port Aventura became

1325-659: The first roller coaster with four inversions. The Orient Express opened at Worlds of Fun of Kansas City , United States, in 1980, with the newly invented batwing (not to be confused with a boomerang), a single track element with two inversions. In 1981, Vekoma invented the Boomerang coaster model, which became the most duplicated roller coaster ever. The first Boomerang was built at Reino Aventura (now Six Flags México ) of Mexico City , Mexico in 1982. The Boomerang has had over 50 clones built worldwide from Doha , Qatar , to Tashkent , Uzbekistan . 1982 also brought

1378-627: The first to have eight. In 2002, Colossus at Thorpe Park in Chertsey , Surrey , England was the first with ten. In 2013, The Smiler at Alton Towers in Staffordshire, England, broke the record again with 14 inversions. In 2000, Kings Island built Son of Beast , the world's first wooden roller coaster with a vertical loop. Until then, all roller coasters with any inversions were steel. After structural problems caused an incident in July 2006 that injured several riders, Son of Beast's loop

1431-509: The former Custom Coasters International formed The Gravity Group and in 2005 opened Hades (now Hades 360) at Mt. Olympus Water and Theme Park . The coaster features highly unique elements, including an airtime filled pre-lift section, an 800-foot tunnel underneath a parking lot, and a 90 degree banked turn. In 2006, The Gravity Group built The Voyage at Holiday World , a large wooden coaster which stands 163 feet tall, has over 6,442 feet of track, three 90 degree banked turns, and has been ranked

1484-577: The introduction of tubular steel track by Arrow Development in 1959. Son of Beast at Kings Island made history in 2000 by incorporating the first successful attempt of an inversion on a wooden coaster, a vertical loop made of steel. A decade later, the introduction of Topper Track by Rocky Mountain Construction allowed for new possibilities, with corkscrews , overbanked turns, and other inverting elements appearing on wooden coasters such as Outlaw Run at Silver Dollar City and Goliath at Six Flags Great America . The 1920s are generally considered

1537-563: The modern wooden coaster. In 2011, they renovated the Texas Giant, which had become very rough and hard to maintain, into a steel roller coaster. This treatment became popular and was later applied to other aging roller coasters such as Iron Rattler and Twisted Colossus . In addition, RMC designs and builds their own original wooden coasters. In 2016, the company opened the world's first launched wooden roller coaster, Lightning Rod which opened at Dollywood in 2016, and until 2024 featured

1590-470: The number of inversions should not include only track elements. According to Guinness World Records , the roller coaster with the most inversions counted this way is Eejanaika ( Japanese : ええじゃないか , Ain't it great?), another 4th Dimension roller coaster, in Fuji-Q Highland of Fujiyoshida , Japan , which rotates riders 14 times. Counting only track elements, however, Alton Tower's The Smiler has

1643-552: The number one wooden coaster in the world by Amusement Today five times. Many of the Gravity Group's coasters are highly unique and custom built for the park, such as Twister at Gröna Lund , which has a highly compact layout to fit in the parks small footprint. Their coasters have become very popular in China , in which 12 coasters have been built since 2009. Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC) has recently been revolutionizing

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1696-555: The only other coasters containing interlocking loops are now defunct: Lightnin' Loops, built by Arrow in Six Flags Great Adventure , was sold in 1992, and Orient Express of Worlds of Fun was demolished in 2003. The first Schwarzkopf shuttle loops with a flywheel launch also first appeared in 1978. Arrow's Revolution, Europe 's first looping coaster, was built in 1979 at Blackpool Pleasure Beach of England . In 1980, Carolina Cyclone opened at Carowinds as

1749-791: The only wooden coaster trains capable of steering through curves, resulting in a more comfortable and maintenance-friendly ride. Timberliners were planned to debut on The Voyage at Holiday World for the 2010 season, but after four years of delays, Holiday World officially cancelled the project on August 16, 2013. However, in 2011, the Timberliners appeared on Wooden Warrior at Quassy Amusement Park in Connecticut and on Twister at Gröna Lund in Sweden, and in 2013 were added to Hades as part of its transformation to Hades 360 . As of 2019, The Gravity Group has built 28 roller coasters around

1802-472: The partnership ended. Custom Coasters International was formed in 1991 by Denise Dinn-Larrick (daughter of Charlie Dinn), her brother Jeff Dinn, and her husband Randy Larrick. After the closure of Dinn Corporation, several other designers joined CCI. The company's first coaster, Kingdom Coaster at Dutch Wonderland , was a small family coaster that stood only 55 feet high. As time went on, they began to design larger coasters. One of their earlier coasters that

1855-672: The previously disastrous vertical loop was successfully revived when Anton Schwarzkopf constructed the Great American Revolution at Six Flags Magic Mountain of Valencia , United States, which became the world's first complete circuit looping roller coaster. Another roller coaster named Corkscrew , built in Cedar Point of Ohio in the same year, became the first with three inversions. The next few years brought innovations that are still popular in modern coasters. The shuttle roller coaster (non-complete circuit)

1908-524: The relocation of The Rocket from Playland Park to Knoebels Amusement Resort in Pennsylvania . It now operates as the Phoenix and is ranked highly on wooden coaster polls. In 1988, Charlie Dinn started a partnership with Curtis D. Summers to design and build new wooden coasters. Between 1988 and 1991, they designed and built ten new wooden coasters. While most were of typical wooden coaster size,

1961-547: The ride soon closed. Loop the Loop , another looping coaster, was built later in Coney Island as well. This time the loops were slightly oval-shaped rather than circular, though not clothoid in shape like modern loops. Although the ride was safe, it had a low capacity, loading four people every five minutes (48 people per hour, compared to 1800 riders per hour on Corkscrew , an early modern coaster that opened in 1976), and

2014-452: The surge in the 1970s, wooden coasters construction became stagnant due to the steel roller coaster being much more popular. Most original coasters during this time were designed by William Cobb , such as Monstre at La Ronde . Another trend during the 1980s was relocating old wooden coasters in danger of being destroyed. Charlie Dinn, who formed Dinn Corporation after leaving Kings Island in 1984, oversaw some of these relocations, including

2067-566: The time for sometimes featuring angle iron support structures rather than wooden beams (the track remains the same as other wooden coasters). Most CCI coasters ran Philadelphia Toboggan Company trains, although some, like The Boss at Six Flags St. Louis, run trains from the German manufacturer Gerstlauer . In 2002, Custom Coasters declared bankruptcy while building the New Mexico Rattler at Cliff's Amusement Park . The company left

2120-454: The time, was uncommon for wooden coasters. Opening in 1979, the coaster was, and still is, the longest wooden roller coaster in the world at 7,361 feet. Another significant wooden coaster of this era was the racing American Eagle at (now) Six Flags Great America , built by Intamin in 1981, which still holds the records for racing wooden coasters of height (127 ft), length (4650 ft), speed (66 mph), and drop (147 ft). After

2173-425: The track reduces the maximum force applied, like a shock absorber. Like steel roller coasters, wooden roller coasters usually use the same three-wheel design, pioneered by John Miller . Each set of wheels includes a running wheel (on top of the track), a side friction (or "guide") wheel (to guide motion in the lateral plane and reduce excessive side-to-side movement known as " hunting ") and an upstop wheel (beneath

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2226-472: The track to prevent cars from flying off the track). Some wooden coasters, such as Leap-The-Dips , do not have upstop wheels and are known as side friction roller coasters . As a result, the turns and drops are more gentle than on modern wooden roller coasters. Scenic Railway roller coasters also lack upstop wheels but rely on a brake operator to control the speed so that upstop wheels are not necessary. A handful of wooden coasters use flanged wheels, similar to

2279-407: The world record for number of inversions, also rotating riders 14 times. Two or more wooden roller coasters with inversions opened in each of 2013, 2014, and 2017. As opposed to the vertical loop that Son of Beast had, Outlaw Run and Hades 360 , Mine Blower and Goliath (at Six Flags Great America ) have more complex inversions. Outlaw Run at Silver Dollar City has a double barrel roll and

2332-421: The world. Wooden roller coaster A wooden roller coaster is a type of roller coaster classified by its wooden track , which consists of running rails made of flat steel strips mounted on laminated wood. The support structure is also typically made of wood, but may also be made of steel lattice or truss , which has no bearing on a wooden coaster's classification. The type of wood often selected in

2385-634: The world. The first coaster designed under the Gravity Group opened as Hades at Mount Olympus Theme Park in 2005. The Gravity Group also designed The Voyage at Holiday World in Santa Claus , Indiana, which opened in May 2006 and is the second-longest wooden roller coaster in the world. These first two accomplishments of the team have been received with great success by both the industry and coaster enthusiasts alike. In 2007, The Gravity Group opened Boardwalk Bullet , an intense wooden roller coaster that

2438-474: Was also the design peak for some of the world's greatest coaster designers, including John A. Miller , Harry Traver , Herb Schmeck , and the partnership of Prior and Church . Many wooden roller coasters of this time were demolished during the Great Depression , but a few still stand as American Coaster Enthusiasts (ACE) classics and landmarks. This relatively quiet age of coaster design following

2491-523: Was built at Kemah Boardwalk and opened as the only wooden coaster in the Greater Houston area. The Gravity Group designed Ravine Flyer II at Waldameer in Erie, Pennsylvania, which was opened at the start of the 2008 season. In 2009, Wooden Coaster - Fireball was opened at Happy Valley in China, becoming China's first wooden roller coaster. In 2011 Quassy Amusement Park opened Wooden Warrior,

2544-602: Was invented by Schwarzkopf in 1977 and realized at Kings Island with the Screamin' Demon coaster. These early incarnations used the weight-drop mechanism (as opposed to the later flywheel methods) to launch the trains. Built in 1978, the Loch Ness Monster in Busch Gardens Williamsburg became the first coaster with interlocking loops. It is still the only coaster with this feature, as

2597-513: Was poorly received after the discomfort of the Flip Flap Railway. As their novelty wore off and their dangerous reputation spread, compounded with the developing Great Depression , the early looping coasters disappeared. The concept of inverting riders was not revisited until the 1970s. In 1968, Karl Bacon of Arrow Dynamics created a prototype steel roller coaster with a corkscrew , the first of its kind. The prototype proved that

2650-687: Was rated the number one wooden roller coaster in the world by Amusement Today . Great Coasters International (GCI) was formed in 1994 by Mike Boodley and Clair Hain, Jr, the former of whom was a designer at Custom Coasters prior to GCI. The first coaster was Wildcat at Hersheypark which opened in 1996. Since then, they have become one of the major wooden coaster designers in the industry, with award-winning coasters like Lightning Racer at Hersheypark and Thunderhead at Dollywood . GCI's coasters feature highly twisted layouts with many crossovers, and usually use GCI's own wooden coaster trains called Millennium Flyers. Their designs are inspired by coasters from

2703-598: Was removed in December 2006 to make it possible to use lighter trains. In 2002, X , now X2, designed by Arrow, opened in Six Flags Magic Mountain . It is marketed as the world's first Fourth dimension roller coaster , capable of rotating riders upside-down independently of any track elements. This adds difficulty in delineating the number of inversions such rides have. As the riders physically rotate 360 degrees forward and backwards, proponents insist

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2756-423: Was the last coaster designed by John Allen before his retirement. After these coasters, PTC stopped producing roller coasters, but continues to produce wooden roller coaster trains as Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters. Their distinctive rectangular cars are widely used on wooden coasters around the world. A notable non-PTC coaster built during this time was The Beast at Kings Island. After John Allen refused to design

2809-408: Was well received was The Raven at Holiday World . Custom Coasters took on increasingly high numbers of wooden coaster projects, including 7 coasters in 2000 alone ( The Boss at Six Flags St. Louis , which was the largest with a 153-foot drop and almost a mile of track; Medusa at Six Flags Mexico ; Mega Zeph at the defunct Six Flags New Orleans ; Boulder Dash at Lake Compounce ; Villain at

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