Steel Dragon 2000
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- This article is about the roller coaster. For other uses of steel dragon, see Steel dragon (disambiguation).
| Steel Dragon 2000 | |
 Steel Dragon 2000 |
|
| Location | Nagashima Spa Land |
|---|---|
| Type | Steel |
| Status | Open |
| Opened | August 1, 2000 |
| Manufacturer | D.H. Morgan Manufacturing |
| Designer | Steve Okamoto |
| Track layout | Out and Back |
| Lift/launch system | One lift hill with two chain lifts |
| Height | 318.25 ft (97 m) |
| Drop | 306.75 ft (93.5 m) |
| Length | 8133.17 ft (2479 m) |
| Max speed | 95 mph (152.9 km/h) |
| Inversions | 0 |
| Cost | Over $50,000,000 USD |
| Steel Dragon 2000 at RCDB | |
| Pictures of Steel Dragon 2000 at RCDB | |
Steel Dragon 2000 is a roller coaster at Nagashima Spa Land Amusement Park in Mie Prefecture, Japan. Built by Morgan Manufacturing, which had also produced the top 10 coaster Steel Force at Dorney Park in Allentown, Pennsylvania, this gigacoaster opened, appropriately, in 2000 - "The Year of the Dragon" in the Far East. It debuted only months after Millennium Force and surpassed the Cedar Point coaster as the world's tallest complete-circuit coaster. It also set a record for longest track length - 8133 feet, 2 inches (2479 m).
Steel Dragon 2000 is the tallest coaster to utilize a traditional chain lift. Because of the length of the lift hill, two chains are used - one for the bottom half and one for the top half. A single chain would have been excessively long and heavy, at least twice the weight of one of the trains.
The building of Steel Dragon 2000 required far more steel than other coasters for earthquake protection. This put the cost of the coaster at over $50,000,000.
On August 23, 2003, Steel Dragon 2000 was involved in an accident during a run in which one of its trains lost a wheel. The coaster did not operate during the 2004 and 2005 park seasons. It is open as of September 3, 2006.
| Preceded by Millennium Force |
World's Tallest Complete Circuit Roller Coaster August 2000–May 2003 |
Succeeded by Top Thrill Dragster |
| Preceded by Daidarasaurus |
World's Longest Roller Coaster August 2000–Present |
Succeeded by Current Record Holder |
