Favourite Rollercoaster Model

[LordOfDarkness]

So we've had our top 10 rollercoasters... How about our favourite rollercoaster type/model!

Ill kick us off: Vertical Drop Rollercoasters - Always feel nervous around them, Their look give me the chills. They just look so daunting and tall! Even when they only stand 60feet high... 8)

 

[DiogoJ42]

I've always found this model rather cool:

 

[BigAl]

The Harry G Traver 'Terrifying Triplets' or the 'Traver Trio'. What are they? The Crystal Beach Cyclone, Revere Beach Lightning and the Palisades Park Cyclone: supposedly the three most terrifying and dangerous coasters to have ever been built.

From the Crystal Beach Cyclone wiki:

In September 2000 'coasterglobe.com interviewed Ed Mills, who described his experience of riding the Cyclone in 1945[4]:

“ My most memorable ride in an amusement park occurred in July 1945, when I was on military leave in St. Catharines, Ontario. I had just turned 18 and had been in the Canadian Army for about 8 months. My two buddies and I spent a part of our leave in Crystal Beach, Ontario, which at that time was considered to be one of the greatest places for servicemen to have a good time. Besides, Crystal Beach was famous for having the most thrilling roller coaster ride in the Western Hemisphere. Being soldiers of course, and having been trained for all kinds of warfare, we had "no fear" of anything, except perhaps Military Police, and since we were on a legal pass, there was "nothing to fear". As soon as we entered the park one evening, we headed straight for the roller coaster, which was identified with a huge sign announcing "The Cyclone--Thrill of a Lifetime". After listening to the loud screams coming from the roller coaster, we decided that we must go on it right away, and promptly bought our tickets, which were I think about 15 cents or maybe 20 cents. We then stood in the line-up near the entrance gate, which happened to be very close to where the previous passengers got off. It was then that I first noticed the distinctive smell of vomit which was stronger as we got closer to the loading point. It was a bit disconcerting, but I was then immediately distracted by getting a whack in the face from something kind of leathery. It turned out to be a wallet which had fallen from the ride, and we opened it and it had a US Navy ID Card in it. As soon as the ride stopped, we saw the US sailor getting off the ride and called to him. He looked a bit dazed, and did not realize what had happened to his wallet.

It was then our turn to ride, and we ran to the coaster cars. Up the steep ramp we went, up, up and then up some more until we could see the entire amusement park. Just as I was enjoying the view, the car lurched forward and I looked in front of me down a steep incline that looked to me to be about an 89 degree slope. The cars then headed down the incline at warp speed, and all I could see in front of us was Lake Erie. I was sure there must have been a part of the tracks missing, and I then uttered my only two words during the entire ride... "Jesus Christ!" ...as we plunged down towards the Lake, I then saw a steep bank to the right of the incline and we changed directions in a split second, turning violently on our side as the car careened around a hairpin turn. I looked sideways and saw the earth spinning by, and from that point on, most of the ride was pretty much of a blur. The only other memorable part was as we reached a high horizontal point again, we were racing around a curve at such speed that it seemed certain that we would fly off into thin air. Very frankly, I was quite relieved to see the cars finally slowing down...even then, they approached the unloading platform at such a speed that one would think they would overshoot and go right into the spectators.

When I walked off the unloading platform, I couldn't help but smell the vomit again, and in fact, walked away from the area fairly promptly in order to resettle my own stomach.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_Beach_Amusement_Park


The following information is from http://www.oocities.org/historic_coasters1/cb_cyclone.html

In 1926, a man named Harry Traver (1877 - 1961) designed and built what is considered by most Seekers to be the Mother of All Rollercoasters, The Crystal Beach Cyclone.

Towering over Lake Erie, in Ontario, Canada, The Cyclone was the first of Traver's three nearly identical masterpieces, including The Revere Beach Lightening (Massachusetts) and the Palisades Park Cyclone (New Jersey). For twenty years, this brutal creation carried over five million passengers through its demonically steep drops, impossibly tight curves and wickedly warped trackage.

Despite the hype accorded to many rides, this coaster actually earned it, having a nurse on duty in the loading station (although reviving fainting riders made up the bulk of the work). Happily, the ride was responsible for only one fatality during its operation.

Because of the incredible forces the hurtling trains generated, the structure of the Cyclone suffered bolt-shearing stress, creating a maintenance problem that finally ended the ride's life.

And for this reason and society's disturbing movement towards "safe" entertainments, we will probably never see a coaster like this again, a sad, sad fact.

But what a ride it must have been. After what has been called the "best first drop, ever," a horrifically steep, twisting plunge, the train rocketed back to the opposite end of the structure for a 600 degree double helix, an angry knot of neck-snapping turns. Yet another steep drop led into the ride's final element, a figure-eight so intense the track was banked about 75 degrees.

On the Cyclone's opening day, a man was thrown from the ride after trying to take his coat off and was killed. The Cyclone's twin, Lightning also took a life after only one day of operation when a woman was able to get up and jump out.

The Crystal Beach Cyclone even had a nurse on stand-by to help anyone that had come off feeling unwell or injured, although towards the end of its life, the nurse was considered more of a novelty.

Even if all of this wasn't enough to make you think theses coasters weren't that bad, perhaps this next bit will:

The ride was so rough, in fact, that the phrase "take her on the Lightning" became a folk remedy for the termination of unwanted pregnancies in the Greater Boston area.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightning_%28Revere_Beach%29

 

[SLC]

My favourites are Flying coasters. The sensation is incredible, and most of the rides I want to ride are Flyers such as Tatsu and Sky Scrapper.

 

[josht]

Would have to say you can't beat a good inverted coaster

 

[Sam]

Sky Scrapper.

Every time I see that in writing, my initial response is that it's a typo.

My favourite coaster type? Probably Intamin Airtime coasters (EGF) or GCI woodies.

 

[Ted]

My Favourite is the B&M invert, followed closely by the Arrow Suspended.

 

[Will]

I've always found this model rather cool:

Bitch please.

Seriously though these things are epic really really good fun, I'm using mine for a physics project at the moment to prove conservation of momentum.

 

[Alastair]

Yeah the suspended/invert is definitely my favourite, although of course I undoubtedly prefer a certain Mr Bolliger's version to Mr Vekoma's

 

[Stelios]

Flying coasters because I can enjoy them with all and are smooth.

But is anyone else waiting for ATJoseph to say X-Car? *sigh*

 

[RyanY]

B&M Wingrider/B&M Invert. Both amazing types of coaster and massive leaps forward for the Roller Coaster industry.

 

[BigAl]

Perhaps if all X-car rides looked like this, I wouldn't be as bothered:

 

[Scott]

What? Incredibly ugly?

 

[BigAl]

Nope. Big enough to warrant queueing up for.

 

[Alastair]

Perhaps if all X-car rides looked like this, I wouldn't be as bothered:

Jesus, just watched a POV of that - am I right in saying that there are two LSM sections before the first drop? The airtime on the crest of the hill looks absolutely insane! Here's hoping for a system like that on SW7.

 

[Tom]

A dive machine is probably the scariest,/the most gut-wretching - but I love the adrenaline of launched rides.

 

[smudge]

Bit predictable to pick B&M, but hey:

1) Floorless ( Not the MS type : )
2) Invert
3) Accelerator (Intamin)
4) Dive
5) Flyer

 

[Lottie.]

B&M Invert comes number one for me with the B&M Wingrider coming a very close second.

 

[Nick]

A bit boring, but B&M Inverted. Just a great coaster model, and the majority of the ones I've ridden have been very well themed and give a good, and intense, ride experience.

 

[Cheese]

Given the popularity of Europa Park on here and the winner of the most recent coaster poll, quite frankly I'm amazed that nobody's mentioned the Mack Megacoaster yet.

I can't understand why parks aren't forming a (high-throughput) queue to buy these. If Blue Fire is anything to go by, a park could reasonably expect to get a smooth, very comfortable, massively fun (yet not actually that forceful) thrill/family-thrill coaster that feels fantastically well engineered as the end result.

I have to say though that I'm disappointed that none of the ones that have been built since Blue Fire or are under construction seem to be getting such appealing layouts. It seems criminal not to make use of the freedom offered by those excellent restraints by featuring multiple inversions. As amazing as Blue Fire's last inline roll is it looks a bit tacked on at the end of The Storm, and I'm not sure what or who Seaworld San Diego were aiming for with the inversion-free Manta.

*Prays for a terrain-hugging, inversion-focused example to open at a UK park soon.*