What is a Roller Coaster?

[Tim]

- Please read before taking part in the Poll -

This is a little study I've been meaning to run for some time. We all know what a Roller Coaster is but actually defining what counts as one is nowhere near as simple. Some people define them purely by what the term Coasting means (to move under the effect of gravity with no other propulsion) but that doesn't stop most guests pointing at Altons Runaway Mine Train and calling it a Roller Coaster.

I want to come up with a solid definition that applies to all rides we consider Roller Coasters. Which is why I'm after your opinions, what rides do you count as Roller Coasters and where would you draw the line?

To get the conversation going I've created a poll which includes a host of rides, all of which sit in the grey area. You can see details of them below. please vote for all the rides you feel are Roller Coasters and leave those you disagree with.


Runaway Mine Train (Alton Towers)
standard powered coaster

Arthur (Europa Park)
Mack's new inverted powered coaster

Before instantly voting the same as the standard powered coaster remember that most of the ride is not taken at speed, this is at heart a dark ride.

Tyrolean Tubtwist (Great Yarmouth)
Concrete Roller Coaster?

In case you are unaware this ride has a motor, powered from the tracks like a normal powered coaster. However on the inclines (which are very shallow) it will run using gravity.

Fire In The Hole (Silver Dollar City) / The Snails (Great Yarmouth)
Both powered rides with coasting sections

I've bundled both these ride together as they are both powered scenic/dark rides that run without power over several sections. Interestingly RCDB only counts FITH as a coaster, do you disagree that I've bundled them together?

Test Track (EPCOT)
Disney's high speed dark ride, does speed make a coaster?

Poseidon (Europa Park)
Mack Water Coaster

Atlantica SuperSplash (Europa Park)
Mack Super Splash

Unlike the Water Coasters the SuperSplash models are to bulky to do more than straight drops, does this make them any different to a normal Shoot the Chute? Should they count as coasters as well?

Sky Caliber (Prototype)
Avalanche Waterslide's Vertical Loop

Unlike a normal water slide you ride inside a capsule, think of it like a pipeline coaster but open to the watery elements. Does that not make it a coaster?



Kobra (Chessington World of Adventures)
Zamperla Disk'o Coaster

Before you reject this one scroll down a little further...

RC Racer (Walt Disney Studios, Paris)
Intamin Half Pipe

Now scroll up and give your answer (assuming you haven't already done so) and give your reasoning below. The list is limited to the 10 rides I felt were most up for debate but I'm sure some of you might be able to think of more.

 

[DiogoJ42]

Ah, the eternal debate!

Most of those you listed, I count as coasters. The obvious exceptions being the water slide, Test track and diskos.
Why count RC Racer but not a disko? for me, it comes down to track. Intamin's half pipes use standard coaster track, while diskos run on crude girders. Also, the huge spinning gondola could never negotiate a "real" layout, while the large car of RC Racer could.

Powered coasters are always tricky. While Arthur is a dark ride first and a coaster second, it still has coaster-like sections of acceleration, dips and turns.
... but then why not Test track? Again, for me it comes down to the track. While TT is guided by a track, the weight of the cars rest on the car's wheels and run on the road surface.
... Ah, but then why do I count Tyrolean and Snails...?

... yeah, that's where my logic starts to wear thin, I'll admit.

 

[Tim]

Why count RC Racer but not a disko? for me, it comes down to track. Intamin's half pipes use standard coaster track, while diskos run on crude girders. Also, the huge spinning gondola could never negotiate a "real" layout, while the large car of RC Racer could.

That's a good way to look at it but here's another point, what is the difference between a Half Pipe and a Swinging Ship?
Mechanicly a lot but sensationally very little. Both rides oscillate in a pendulum motion (one actually on a swing the other on tracks) and both are propelled from the lowest point (kicker wheels vs LSM).
I remember the first time I came of RCT Racer and described it as "Rush, but lower capacity and not as good"

 

[Burbs]

You could argue that Snails etc are coasters, but they're not technically any different from a ghost train, and I wouldn't class that as a coaster...

THIS IS SO HARD!

 

[Tim]

Maybe then it's not the physical difference that matters but what you'd consider as the main part of the ride.

If this was easy I wouldn't have made it a topic

 

[Danny]

We mustn't forget the latest development (potentially for Drayton) that's been circling on Facebook today:

 

[DiogoJ42]

What about Dreamflight?

I would say no, but by my own criteria, it uses coaster style track and has a downhill section that "coasts"...

EDIT:

Then there's "Underground". TPR trigger warning
Hardly a coaster in terms of what it does, yet the ride system is a traditional woody.

 

[Tim]

And how can we forget Black Diamond, that also coasts all the way and RCDB count it. With rides like that I guess its just that they don't coast fast enough to be considered?

 

[Danny]

We're definitely counting Huracanito, right?

 

[John]

Some interesting questions here, I'm a little bit stricter than some people as to what I count as a coaster and I'm not entirely consistent - I don't always agree with RCDB

Rides I count as coasters from the above list:
all powered coasters, Arthur, Fire in the Hole, Poseidon, Atlantica, RC Racer

Rides I don't count as coasters:
Snails, Test Track, Sky Caliber, Kobra

Unsure:
Tyrolean Tubtwist

It's not on the list, but I've never counted those Butterfly rides that RCDB insist are coasters. Atlantica is interesting, as RCDB now only lists some of the supersplash rides, the one at Plopsaland has been removed. Similarly the old water chute rides (Vikingar at BPB) used to be on the database but apparently no longer make the grade.

 

[Rupert]

But if a Vekoma Boomerang is a coaster, why aren't the butterflies? They're pulled up an incline by a motor and then released to follow the track before arriving back in the station. Admittedly they're rubbish and the track does nothing but I can see why they'd be coasters. For this reason (against my initial thoughts) I've had to class Kobra and RC Racer as coasters - they're ultimately not that far away from say an LSM launcher like Wicked Twister.

The two Macks water rides are surely coasters on the basis that they have wheeled cars propelled up an incline and down a drop or two - it doesn't matter if Atlantica doesn't do anything after its only drop or that the cars float in water.

The waterslide is a waterslide.

The two powered coasters I believe are coasters - trains on wheels propelled along a track that they are fixed to.

I'm having trouble with the remaining three, partly on the principle that they at least don't look anything like coasters. I think I can rule out Tyrolean Tubtwist as it's not actually attached to the track in any way, the trough simply keeps it on a path when otherwise it could go wherever without needing a track. The others I'm undecided but for the purposes of the poll I voted no. So:

1. Runaway Mine Train - yes
2. Arthur - yes
3. Tyrolean Tubtwist - no
4. Fire In The Hole / The Snails - no
5. Test Track - no
6. Poseidon - yes
7. Atlantica SuperSplash - yes
8. Sky Caliber - no
9. Kobra - yes
10. RC Racer - yes

The more I think about it, Test Track should probably be a yes also, and perhaps Fire In The Hole / The Snails.

Final comment: dark rides and coasters aren't mutually exclusive.

Nice question though.

 

[Tim]

It's not on the list, but I've never counted those Butterfly rides that RCDB insist are coasters.

They very nearly did make the list. But on reflection I decided the Disk'o Coasters would be the more interesting to include.

Atlantica is interesting, as RCDB now only lists some of the supersplash rides, the one at Plopsaland has been removed. Similarly the old water chute rides (Vikingar at BPB) used to be on the database but apparently no longer make the grade.

That is very interesting, I hadn't noticed. I am disappointed if RCDB have started removing rides because they are not coasters. Although it's called the "Roller Coaster" database I've always wanted it expanded beyond that because it's by far the best resource for finding parks/rides of interest.

 

[DiogoJ42]

Interesting...

Now I don't count butterflies. but I do count alpine coasters. Should something that only seats one rider per car count?

 

[John]

But if a Vekoma Boomerang is a coaster, why aren't the butterflies? They're pulled up an incline by a motor and then released to follow the track before arriving back in the station.

I'd use a similar argument to Diogo about the track looking absolutely nothing like a coaster. It's more like 2 slides joined together with a shopping trolley sat on it. I'd count an alpine coaster as it uses a proper track, but clearly rides like Bobsleigh at Oakwood don't count. Equally, I don't think the tiny Gerstlauer posted above should be excluded, as it's clearly intended as a very, very small coaster.

Going back to the water 'coaster' argument, another interesting borderline case is Fuga da Atlantide at Gardaland, which isn't on RCDB. It uses coaster track for the lifts and drops, but is basically a glorified log flume and unlike the Mack water coasters features no high speed curves or uphill coaster sections.

 

[Tim]

I can rule out Tyrolean Tubtwist as it's not actually attached to the track in any way, the trough simply keeps it on a path when otherwise it could go wherever without needing a track. The others I'm undecided but for the purposes of the poll I voted no.

That is an interesting way of looking at it. But by that logic what would you class a Bobsleigh as like Avalanche or Flying Turns? They are also not attached to the track but ride on it.

Also I note the point that Dark Rides can be coasters. What I should have said instead of Dark Ride was a "transit system that is less important than the scenery around it", while a Roller Coaster Dark Ride holds them both to equal importance.

This is having some interesting results, only the Runaway Mine Train currently has full marks.

 

[Poisson]

RMT yes
Arthur yes
Tubtwist yes (how far away is it from Avalanche at BPB?)
Snails yes
Test Track no
Poseidon yes
Atlantica yes
Sky Calibre no It is a waterslide
Kobra no Not properly tracked etc
RC yes

 

[CGM]

I find it interesting that so far, RMT has been unanimously accepted as a roller coaster whereas Poseidon which in my view is the closest thing on the list to the 'classic' definition of a roller coaster has not. I would have expected more controversy surrounding powered coasters as surely they roll but they do not coast.

Anyway, my poll choices:

RMT yes
Arthur yes
Tyrolean Tubtwist yes
Snails no (but this one did cause me some some conflict)
Test Track no
Poseidon yes
Atlantica yes
Sky Caliber no
Kobra no
RC yes

 

[Benzin]

RMT - Yes
Arthur - Yes
Tubtwist - Yes
Fire in the Hole - Yes
Snails - No
Test Track - No
Poseidon - Yes
Atlantica - Yes
Sky Caliber - No
Kobra - No
RC Racer - Yes

I'm going a bit different here, as I tend to base my decision off RCDB (aside from Supersplash rides, as it's unfair in my eyes to count some but not all of them, plus Coaster-Count has them all)...

The main thing is that the Snails aren't counted, yet Fire in the Hole (and it's cousin Blazing Fury at Dollywood) are... This is probably more to do with the Snails being more of a dark ride system (indeed, Great Yarmouth has two Snail rides, one of which actually IS a dark ride), and the coasting portion is very minimal to it...

But it's the sort of thing where if you start counting things like the Joyland Snails, what about any powered ride that involves a coasting portion? Get Set Go/Safari Skyway could easily come under the same classification...

At the end of the day, people count it all differently, people count Go-Gators, or the Butterfly things (which should raise an argument about Nautic Jets as they're pretty much the same), or the random coasting thing that's at Parc Saint Paul (Telepherique or sommat)... It's an answer that will be different for everyone...

 

[nadroJ]

I have a slightly odd way of counting in that I wouldn't count something I couldn't ride ALL of. So for example Go Gators, some parks (no matter how much you may beg or plead) will simply not let you on them. And if I can't go on one, I won't go on any and so do not count that ride type.

There are a few things I have on my count that raise eyebrows, like Goldmine at BPB or Transdemonium at Parc Asterix that whilst yes they do contain dark ride elements were too coaster-ish to not be considered, and so they are on my count but with a little * next to them to denote that they're a bit iffy.

It is weird to me that things like Cobra have the word 'coaster' in their ride type name and yet aren't counted. I do not count them but can see why some might be inclined to. At the end of the day coaster-counts are personal, heck I know people who count Squirrel Nutty and the ET Adventure as coasters, who am I to judge?

 

[Tom]

It won't let you vote for none!