Hypercoaster

A hypercoaster can mean one of two things:

Or, more narrowly:

Out and back steel coasters smaller than 200 feet in both height and drop such as Steel Eel at SeaWorld San Antonio have sometimes been erroneously referred to as hypercoasters.[7]

Contents

History

The world's first hypercoaster was Magnum XL-200 by Cedar Point, costing $8,000,000 USD. Cedar Point chose Arrow Dynamics to design and construct Magnum XL-200. Construction on the world's tallest, fastest, longest, and steepest complete circuit roller coaster (at that time) began in 1988. By May 6, 1989, Magnum XL-200 was ready for riders. Since its debut, Magnum XL-200 has served more than 36 million guests.[8] Cedar Point's official blog states that after building the ride, "discussion was focused on just what a roller coaster such as Magnum should be called. After all, it had no loops like most of the other large steel coasters of the time and was so much bigger and faster than its non-looping brethren. After a couple of years, the name everyone agreed upon was hypercoaster."[9]

Description

Hypercoasters were originally built for speed and airtime, to counter the trend of constructing bigger and bigger looping coasters. To accomplish this the elements of a hypercoaster often include a large first drop, several additional drops of declining height, a large turn or helix and then many airtime-inducing hills. Hypercoasters are commonly designed with an out and back layout, although some hypercoasters, such as Raging Bull, are built with a twisted design.

Hypercoasters dominate the Amusement Today Golden Ticket Awards. For 2006, Superman: Ride of Steel, now known as Bizarro, located at Six Flags New England was ranked highest at #1. Several hypercoasters followed such as Magnum XL-200 (#3), Nitro (#4), Apollo's Chariot (#5). The hypercoasters make up the majority of the 2006 Top 10 Steel Coasters, filling 8/10 positions.[10] By 2010, hypercoasters held all of the top 10 spots on Amusement Today's list of "Top 50 Steel Roller Coasters" and 16 of the top 20.[11]

Hypercoasters were first manufactured by Arrow Dynamics in the late 1980s to early 1990s. Since then, a number of companies, including Bolliger & Mabillard, Intamin AG, Chance-Morgan, Giovanola and others have designed and constructed hypercoasters.

Notably, there is only one wooden hypercoaster on Earth, Son of Beast at Kings Island. It follows, then, that Son of Beast is the tallest and fastest wooden roller coaster. Upon its opening, it was also the only wooden roller coaster to feature a vertical loop, thus disqualifying it from the narrower definition of "hypercoaster". However, the loop was removed in 2006 when Cedar Fair Entertainment Company purchased the park from Paramount. It has been standing but not operating (SBNO) since the beginning of the 2009 season,[12] due to a number of problems, including guest complaints about the roughness of the ride.[13]

Hypercoasters

The following are a list of all hypercoasters sorted by opening date:

Name Park Manufacturer Status Opened
Magnum XL-200 Cedar Point Arrow Dynamics Operating May 6, 1989
Desperado Buffalo Bill's Arrow Dynamics Operating May 14, 1994
Pepsi Max Big One Pleasure Beach, Blackpool Arrow Dynamics Operating May 28, 1994
Wild Thing Valleyfair! Chance-Morgan Operating May 11, 1996
Fujiyama Fuji-Q Highland TOGO Operating July 1996
Manhattan Express New York, New York Hotel & Casino TOGO Operating January 3, 1997
Steel Force Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom Chance-Morgan Operating May 30, 1997
Mamba Worlds of Fun Chance-Morgan Operating April 18, 1998
Apollo's Chariot Busch Gardens Williamsburg Bolliger & Mabillard Operating March 27, 1999
Raging Bull Six Flags Great America Bolliger & Mabillard Operating May 1, 1999
Ride of Steel Darien Lake Intamin AG Operating May 15, 1999
Goliath Six Flags Magic Mountain Giovanola Operating February 11, 2000
Bizarro Six Flags New England Intamin AG Operating May 5, 2000
Superman - Ride of Steel Six Flags America Intamin AG Operating May 13, 2000
Millennium Force* Cedar Point Intamin AG Operating May 13, 2000
Son of Beast (Wooden) Kings Island Roller Coaster Corporation of America SBNO May 26, 2000
Steel Dragon 2000* Nagashima Spa Land Chance-Morgan Operating August 1, 2000
Nitro Six Flags Great Adventure Bolliger & Mabillard Operating April 7, 2001
Titan Six Flags Over Texas Giovanola Operating April 27, 2001
Phantom's Revenge Kennywood Chance-Morgan Operating May 19, 2001
X2 Six Flags Magic Mountain Arrow Dynamics Operating Dec 24, 2001
Silver Star Europa Park Bolliger & Mabillard Operating March 23, 2002
Xcelerator Knott's Berry Farm Intamin AG Operating June 22, 2002
Thunder Dolphin Tokyo Dome City Attractions Intamin AG Operating May 1, 2003
Top Thrill Dragster** Cedar Point Intamin AG Operating May 4, 2003
Superman el Último Escape Six Flags Mexico Chance-Morgan Operating November 19, 2004
Kingda Ka** Six Flags Great Adventure Intamin AG Operating May 21, 2005
Goliath Six Flags Over Georgia Bolliger & Mabillard Operating April 1, 2006
Behemoth Canada's Wonderland Bolliger & Mabillard Operating May 4, 2008
Diamondback Kings Island Bolliger & Mabillard Operating April 18, 2009
Intimidator Carowinds Bolliger & Mabillard Operating March 27, 2010
SheiKra Busch Gardens Tampa Bay Bolliger & Mabillard Operating May 21, 2005
Stealth Thorpe Park Intamin AG Operating March 15, 2006
Zaturn Space World Intamin AG Operating April 29, 2006
Eejanaika Fuji-Q Highland S&S Worldwide Operating July 19, 2006
Griffon Busch Gardens Williamsburg Bolliger & Mabillard Operating May 18, 2007
Diving Coaster Happy Valley Bolliger & Mabillard Operating August 16, 2009
Intimidator 305* Kings Dominion Intamin AG Operating April 2, 2010
Unknown China Dinosaurs Park S&S Worldwide Under Construction October 2011
Leviathan* Canada's Wonderland Bolliger & Mabillard Under Constructrion May 2012
Shambhala: Expedición al Himalaya Port Aventura Bolliger & Mabillard Under Constructrion May 2012

[14]

* Denotes a hypercoaster that is also a giga coaster (any full circuit coaster over 300 ft).

** Denotes a hypercoaster that is also a strata coaster (any full circuit coaster over 400 ft).

By height

The following are non-continuous circuit coasters that exceed 200 feet in height or drop, unlike coasters that conform to the hypercoaster "style." However, these shuttle roller coasters are not usually considered hypercoasters.

Name Park Manufacturer Status Opened
Moonsault Scramble Fuji-Q Highland Meisho Amusement Machines Defunct June 24, 1983
Tower of Terror Dreamworld Intamin AG Replaced 1997
Tower of Terror II Dreamworld Intamin AG Operating 2011
Superman: Escape From Krypton Six Flags Magic Mountain Intamin AG Operating March 15, 1997
Batman & Robin: The Chiller Six Flags Great Adventure Premier Rides Defunct 1998
Mr. Freeze Six Flags Over Texas Premier Rides Operating 1998
Mr. Freeze Six Flags St. Louis Premier Rides Operating April 1998
Speed-The Ride NASCAR Cafe Premier Rides SBNO April 28, 2000
Wicked Twister Cedar Point Intamin AG Operating May 5, 2002

[15]

References

  1. ^ "Hypercoasters". bbc.co.uk. http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/approved_entry/A513640. Retrieved 2011-05-12. 
  2. ^ "Millennium Force: The Hypercoaster Rules No More". Thrillride.com. http://www.thrillride.com/MillForce/mf.html. Retrieved 2011-05-12. 
  3. ^ "Hyper Coaster". Coasterforce.com. http://www.coasterforce.com/coasters/coaster-types/steel-coasters/hyper-coaster. Retrieved 2011-05-12. 
  4. ^ "Hyper Coaster". Rcdb.com. http://rcdb.com/model106.htm. Retrieved 2011-03-01. 
  5. ^ "Mega Coaster". Rcdb.com. http://rcdb.com/model124.htm. Retrieved 2011-03-01. 
  6. ^ "Mega Coaster". Rcdb.com. http://rcdb.com/model184.htm. Retrieved 2011-03-01. 
  7. ^ "Steel Eel". SeaWorld.com. http://www.seaworld.com/sitepage.aspx?PageID=642. Retrieved 2011-05-12. 
  8. ^ "CP Mobile". Cedarpoint.com. http://www.cedarpoint.com/public/park/rides/coasters/magnum/index.cfm. Retrieved 2011-03-01. 
  9. ^ "More Thoughts on Magnum". Cedarpoint.com. http://www.cedarpoint.com/public/fun/blog/2009/5/23/More_Thoughts_on_Magnum.cfm. Retrieved 2011-05-12. 
  10. ^ "The List: 2006 Top 50 Steel Roller Coasters". Amusement Today: p. 26. September 2006. http://www.goldenticketawards.com/PDF/2006GTAissue.pdf. Retrieved 14 May 2011. 
  11. ^ "The List: 2010 Top 50 Steel Roller Coasters". Amusement Today: p. 34. September 11, 2010. http://www.goldenticketawards.com/PDF/GTA2010issue.pdf. Retrieved 14 May 2011. 
  12. ^ "Son Of Beast (Kings Island)". rcdb.com. http://rcdb.com/584.htm. Retrieved 2011-05-13. 
  13. ^ "What's next for Son of Beast? Future of Kings Island roller coaster unclear". cincinatti.com. 2011-04-23. http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20110423/NEWS01/104240311/What-s-next-Son-Beast-. Retrieved May 14, 2011. 
  14. ^ "Roller Coaster Database". rcdb.com. http://www.rcdb.com/. Retrieved 2011-05-12. 
  15. ^ "Roller Coaster Database". rcdb.com. http://www.rcdb.com/. Retrieved 2011-05-12. 

External links

Construction material
Train configuration
Track layout
Dueling · Figure 8 · Launched · Möbius Loop · Out and Back · Racing · Shuttle · Twister · Wild Mouse · Hypercoaster