| Industry | Roller coasters |
|---|---|
| Fate | Bankruptcy, bought by S&S Power |
| Successor | S&S Worldwide |
| Founded | 1946 (as Arrow Development Company) |
| Defunct | 2002 |
| Headquarters | Clearfield, Utah, United States |
| Key people | Karl Bacon, Ed Morgan |
Arrow Dynamics was a roller coaster and amusement ride design company based in Clearfield, Utah, United States. In 2002, the company went bankrupt but was quickly bought by fellow amusement ride manufacturer S&S Power to form S&S Arrow. During its peak, Arrow Dynamics was responsible for some of the biggest and most influential advancements in the roller coaster industry. From the first tubular steel tracked coaster, Matterhorn Bobsleds at Disneyland, to the first mine train roller coaster Run-A-Way Mine Train at Six Flags Over Texas, to the first modern inverting coaster, Corkscrew at Knott's Berry Farm, to the world's first hypercoaster, Magnum XL 200 at Cedar Point, to the world's first multi-dimensional roller coaster, X² at Six Flags Magic Mountain, Arrow Dynamics had a monumental and lasting impact on the roller coaster industry.
Roller coaster company Vekoma still uses Arrow-designed trains on some of their roller coasters.
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Arrow Development was founded in 1946 when two World War II veterans, Ed Morgan and Karl Bacon, formed a small machine shop at 243 Moffett Boulevard, just north of Downtown Mountain View, California. They started out small, building merry-go-rounds and other rides for local amusement parks.
In 1953 they were contacted by Walt Disney, who was just beginning to plan a new type of amusement park in California. Disney admired Arrow's work and hired the company to help design and build the ride systems for many of Disneyland's original and early rides, including Mad Tea Party, King Arthur Carrousel, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, Casey Jr. Circus Train, and Snow White's Scary Adventures.
While Arrow designed and tested these rides, Walt Disney made frequent trips up to Mountain View to check on their progress. Then the rides were quickly shipped down to Anaheim to be ready for the park's opening. Disney continued to use Arrow as he expanded Disneyland. The company went on to build Dumbo the Flying Elephant, Autopia, and Alice in Wonderland in coming years.
In 1959, Arrow Development designed what was to be the first of their many roller coasters, the Matterhorn Bobsleds at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. Built in conjunction with WED Imagineering,[1] the ride was the first modern tubular steel tracked roller coaster in the world.
After construction of the Matterhorn, Disney bought a third of Arrow Development and moved the company to a larger plant at 1555 Plymouth Street in the North Bayshore Area. At the new location, Arrow went on to develop new ride systems for Disney and developed the vehicles and tracks for It's a Small World, Pirates of the Caribbean, Adventure Thru Inner Space, and the Haunted Mansion.
When Arrow wasn't developing rides for Disney, it was creating rides for other amusement parks. It developed the modern log flume ride, which can be seen around the country in many amusement and theme parks today. In the 1970s the company perfected and brought back the loop into modern roller coasters.
Arrow Development began to make significant advancements in the roller coaster industry as well as major installations throughout the United States. In 1975, Arrow installed one of the most important rides of its time, Corkscrew, which made its debut at Knott's Berry Farm as the world's first modern inverting coaster. Arrow made dozens of coasters throughout the decades, including several Corkscrew-style coasters, many "runaway mine train" coasters like Cedar Creek Mine Ride and Adventure Express, custom-designed coasters like Loch Ness Monster, and Carolina Cyclone. Arrow Dynamics made large advancements not only in roller coaster technology but also in many other fields, such as in water rides (creating the hugely popular log flume rides), as well as many other family-style rides.
Some of Arrow Development's later projects included what were at the time the world's tallest roller coasters, such as Magnum XL-200 at Cedar Point in 1989 and Pepsi Max Big One at Blackpool Pleasure Beach in 1994.
In 1972, founders Karl Bacon and Ed Morgan decided to retire and sold Arrow Development to the Rio Grande Railroad. At the time Penn Central owned Six Flags and Rio Grande had plans to build several theme parks of their own in addition to owning a coaster-building company.[2] After almost a decade of ownership Rio Grande sold Arrow in 1981 to the German manufacturing firm, Huss Maschinenfabrik, which merged with Arrow Development to form Arrow-Huss. Dana Morgan (Ed Morgan's son) was appointed president and Ron Toomer was made vice president and manager of engineering. Although the Arrow coasters continued to sell well, Huss got into financial trouble partially due to heavily investing in Darien Lake theme park in New York and the 1984 Louisiana World Exposition in New Orleans.[3] Arrow-Huss filed for bankruptcy protection in 1985, and 13 of the company's American officers negotiated a buyout. In 1986 the takeover was approved by the courts and the company re-emerged as Arrow Dynamics. Ron Toomer served as President until 1993, then Chairman of the Board until 1995, then as a consultant director until his retirement in 1998.[4]
In the late 1990s, Arrow Dynamic's workload steadily decreased, with few installations toward the end of the decade. Other manufacturers such as Bolliger & Mabillard had entered the field and Arrow was no longer the dominate steel coaster manufacturer. Bankruptcy loomed once again as Arrow made their final attempt to stay afloat with X, a 4th dimension roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain. X opened to massive media attention and received an initially positive reception. However, several mechanical problems caused the ride to be closed for repairs during much of its first year of operation.
The company finally fell into bankruptcy in 2001. At the end of October 2001, the company's assets were sold to fellow amusement ride manufacturer S&S Power. The S&S Arrow division of S&S Power still operates, but basically only to make their 4th dimension coasters.