Talk:Notable roller coasters

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Notable roller coasters article. This is not a forum for general discussion about the article's subject.
Please sign and date your posts by typing four tildes (~~~~). Put new text under old text. Click here to start a new topic. New to Wikipedia? Welcome! Ask questions, get answers.	Be polite Assume good faith No personal attacks Be welcoming	Article policies No original research Neutral point of view Verifiability

	This article is part of WikiProject Roller Coasters, an attempt to better organize information in articles related to Roller coasters. If you would like to participate, you can edit the article attached to this page, or visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion.
Start	This article has been rated as Start-Class on the quality scale.
High	This article has been rated as high-importance on the importance scale.
Article Grading: The article has been rated for quality and/or importance but has no comments yet. If appropriate, please review the article and then leave comments here to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the article and what work it will need.

Contents 1 Standard display for record holders 2 Notable? 3 Complete circuit 4 Tunnel? 5 Telepherique at Parc Saint Paul 6 what qualifies for World Record list 7 Move? 8 How should we classify Eejanaika? 9 Can Anyone Identify This Rollercoaster? Is It Even Real? 10 Fire in the Hole

[edit] Standard display for record holders

I propose using a standard display style (table?) for listing the record holders that would (hopefully) be easier to read than the current bulleted list used for 'Tallest'. Proposed columns, regardless of record category:

• current record ranking (1, 2, 3),
• coaster name,
• park,
• park location,
• date built,
• operating dates,
• and a column for the record information (height, speed, length) being listed.

Could some columns be combined? Sure, why not? I also propose that the lists be limited to just the "top ten" in a particular category so this page doesn't become a list of all coasters that were ever over 200 ft tall. SpikeJones 12:07, 25 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Notable?

Continuing a discussion from the "Roller coaster" talk page, does anyone have suggestions on how to indicate coasters that are indeed notable and should be listed on a page for "Notable roller coasters" (Coney Island Cyclone) vs coasters that aren't (Six Flags Runaway Mine Train)? Cyclone is easy: we add a category for "National historical registered Coasters" or something. But there are others that are certainly notable for some reason or other that weren't "first" or "biggest", but are generally considered important or noteworthy.SpikeJones 12:07, 25 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Complete circuit

I removed the following item from the list of "firsts":

• First amusement park coaster to run a complete circuit: Switchback, Coney Island. 1884

Doing research, it appears that Switchback was not a complete circuit - that is, riders did not return to their point of origin, and that at each end of the 600ft track, ride operators had to move the car from the lower (exit) end to the upper (start) track for the return trip. SpikeJones 13:21, 25 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Tunnel?

DarkRaven added * First looping coaster to feature an underwater tunnel: Anaconda, Kings Dominion. 1991. Regardless of the fact that the tunnel went underwater, do we need to differentiate a coaster that has a tunnel versus a tunnel that goes underwater? A tunnel is a tunnel, regardless of what it goes under. How notable is this? SpikeJones 13:50, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

• I think it's pretty notable and worth keeping on the list. It seems to be a big deal among PKD fans. I've been to that park many times; the Anaconda was built such that most of the ride takes place over a now mostly filled-in lake. Having watched the ride in action, I know that the tunnel is rather short and that the train passes through it quickly, but it was still considered a significant first at the time the ride was built (and still is today, to a lesser extent). The average theme park visitor, when reading this list, would probably find "first coaster to go underwater" easier to understand and more significant than "First coaster with heartline inversion" or "First coaster with a möbius-style track". I suppose the Anaconda is sort of the precursor for rides like Hades at the Mt. Olympus Theme Park in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin; Hades is a wooden roller coaster that is mainly beneath the park's parking lot. --Idont Havaname 03:32, 1 October 2005 (UTC)

Fair enough, although simply because a coaster seems to be a big deal among PKD fans doesn't qualify a coaster for this list by itself, as practically every coaster could say that it is significant to a particular park for some group or other. Looking for confirmation for you, I found at least one site that listed both Anaconda and Loch Ness Monster as taking riders underwater. Which came first? And the references all seem to indicate that Anaconda is the first "looping coaster with an underwater tunnel", implying that there may have been a previous non-looping coaster with same. Anybody know? SpikeJones 04:02, 1 October 2005 (UTC)

The Loch Ness Monster opened earlier (1978 vs. 1991). So I guess it wins. (I've never been to Busch Gardens or seen that ride, but I'd think a publication like Washingtonian would be reliable on this stuff.) It might be worth asking people at ThrillNerds or a similar site if they know of any others that were built before that. For now, I'll go ahead and change the article to say Loch Ness Monster. At any rate, especially since there is more than one looping coaster with an underwater tunnel, that category deserves an entry in the article just as much as any others. --Idont Havaname 06:05, 5 October 2005 (UTC)

Looking at it again, this seems somewhat disputed... PKD's website says that the Anaconda is the first coaster with this feature. This picture of the Loch Ness Monster from RCDB seems to show an underwater tunnel (though it's not clear in the picture where the tunnel is going), and Loch Ness's RCDB page doesn't mention anything about the tunnel. (On a side note though, here is a picture of the Anaconda's tunnel, taken from the train while going down the hill leading into the tunnel.) Google also indicates that it has a "spiral tunnel" but doesn't say anything about it being underwater. Maybe Washingtonian was wrong about that, or maybe they've reworked the tunnel; I'm just guessing, but try asking about it on a roller coaster forum and see what kind of answers they come up with. --Idont Havaname 06:26, 5 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Telepherique at Parc Saint Paul

I've just added the following to the article:

* First suspended standup roller coaster with spinning cars: Telepherique, Parc Saint Paul (1992) [1]

I assume this is probably the case, since RCDB says that it is a very unusual ride. It is listed on RCDB as a roller coaster and is promoted on Parc Saint Paul's site as one. Are there any other rides in existence that are similar to this ride that are older? (The English version of the Parc Saint Paul map calls it "Cable cars", but it appears to be more like a combination of a skyway and a roller coaster, with one rider per car and no restraints.) --Idont Havaname 03:32, 1 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] what qualifies for World Record list

I saw that somebody added a "World's Tallest Dive Coaster" item, which is fine -- but in my opinion it would be more helpful if that same person (or others) would include at least 2 other dive coasters so we could see the top 3 tallest dive coasters. it would be more meaningful than just having one coaster listed in the "world record" section.

Along those same lines, I removed "most inversions" as (a) that's currently listed above under "coaster firsts", and there's no easy way to identify all the coasters that have 9, 8, or 7 inversions on this list. For something like inversions (where there will be more than one coaster in a given category), I recommend we just list the first one to achieve each goal on the "coaster firsts" area instead of as a "world record". Same thing could probably be said for "number of coasters in a park" area as well. Thoughts? SpikeJones 19:42, 5 October 2005 (UTC)

Number of coasters in a park should stay listed if only for reference, it also helps on planning where to go on trying some coasters out.

[edit] Move?

Shouldn't this page be at List of roller coasters? Because to be on Wikipedia, something has to be notable already, right? --M1ss1ontomars2k4 | T | C | @ 00:03, 19 May 2006 (UTC)

this was moved to a separate page as it was gunking up the works over on the Roller coaster article.SpikeJones 01:51, 19 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] How should we classify Eejanaika?

Eejanaika, which opened this year, supposedly has 14 inversions, although the track itself inverts only two times. The other inversions are due to the seats rotating; Eejanaika is an S&S/Arrow 4th dimension roller coaster, similar to X at Six Flags Magic Mountain. (X was a prototype of Eejanaika.) That said, how should we classify Eejanaika in the "most inversions" category? --Idont Havaname (Talk) 02:31, 29 October 2006 (UTC)

RCDB does not recognize seat rotations as a legitimate inversion. The track itself inverts just twice. To remain consistent with other roller coaster sources, Eejanaika should be considered as only having two inversions. (in other words, we wouldn't consider it in the 'most inversions' category at all -- while it may be a good ride, it isn't notable for being (a) first; or (b) most in any particular category. SpikeJones 09:17, 29 October 2006 (UTC)

I have edited the Most inversions section to explain why these 4th dimension rides are not included, as even though enthusiasts don't recognizes them as having many inversions, other sources do. Maybe a new section under the most inversions section should be added in the future, but for now I felt an explanation was all that is nessesarry. I forgot to login when I edited the page also! Thinkharder 08:16, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Can Anyone Identify This Rollercoaster? Is It Even Real?

My girlfriend posted this question on the Talk page of the main Roller Coaster article, but probably would be worthwhile to ask here too. Please look at this photo: http://img5.fashionguide.com.tw/Forum/ImgMsg/2007/0211/02052337.jpg - is this a real rollercoastr or is it just a computer-generated picture? Hi There 05:41, 13 February 2007 (UTC)

That is Top Thrill Dragster at Cedar Point. I remember seeing this photo in the winter of 2003, when the ride was still under construction. --Coaster1983 16:35, 13 February 2007 (UTC)

Thank you very much for your reply! Hi There 05:28, 14 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Fire in the Hole

There appears to be some inconsistency regarding Fire In The Hole (Silver Dollar City) as to whether it is a true roller coaster or not. Definitive answers anyone? SpikeJones 21:14, 26 March 2007 (UTC)