For many grown-up entertainment industry aficionados, there’s a lesson learned early on the discussion boards and forums that shape us into the fans we are: that there exists a great, inherent, and impassable schism between “regional parks” and “destination parks”; thrills and storytelling; amusement parks and theme parks. Yep, for those of us who grew…
Stories in the Extra Features and Special Features collections of Park Lore are all about connections – they’re the threads that interlace between the Lost Legends, Declassified Disasters, Modern Marvels, and Possibilitylands you’ll find in our Main Collections. In other words, these features are for people who really want to dig deep.
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According to Roller Coaster Database, there are over 5,500 operating roller coasters on Earth today. Any thrillseeker worth their salt has a “best;” a “favorite;” a “classic.” But very, very few can agreeably be described as “landmarks.”
Those are the roller coasters recognized across the globe; known by their silhouette alone; forever emblazoned in the record books; renowned by generations, and even living on as legends beyond their time… From The Beast to Millennium Force; the Incredible Hulk to Nemesis; X2 to El Toro; Steel Vengeance to VelociCoaster… These are rides so renowned, the mere mention of them conjures images in the minds of coaster enthusiasts the world over.
Standing among the pantheon of the most recognizable coasters in the world is one of the planet’s most extraordinary rides: Top Thrill Dragster. Opened in 2003, the world’s first “stratocoaster” shattered expectations and pierced through the 400-foot coaster height record like it was tissue paper. And today, less than 20 years later, it’s standing but not operating… for now.
Roller coasters have been around for a very, very long time. But in the last 50 years especially, the Second Golden Age of the Roller Coaster has seen steel stretch into the sky. Year after year, decade after decade, the unthinkable continuously becomes real. Inversions. Launches. Switch tracks. Drop tracks. Racing coasters; suspended; inverted; flying; stand-up; dive; wing… When it comes to the creativity of roller coaster manufacturers, it can feel like the sky’s the limit.
It all started when the unthinkable happened: the first roller coaster to break the 100-foot height barrior. A generation of so-called “mega-coasters” dotted the amusement park landscape throughout the ’70s and ’80s. Then came the 200-foot barrier with a generation of “hypercoasters.”
But when it comes to the world’s most extraordinary rides, it’s hard to beat the very small family of 300-foot rides you’ll find across three countries. Epic, staggering, and spectacular, the “gigacoaster” is a growing icon of thrillseeking… yet still a rarity around the world. Today, just six rides reside in the “giga” level – between 300 and 399 foot drops – each with its own story, elements, and personality… Join us as we explore the evolution of the “giga” through its six iterations, and look to where a 300 foot thrill machine may arise next…
Year after year, season after season, traces of amusement parks past flicker out of existence. From historic dark rides to classic coasters; beloved landmarks to entire parks, sometimes, no amount of history, nostalgia, legend, or love can save a classic. Though Park Lore’s collection of Lost Legends is stocked with the stories of beloved theme park favorites of yesteryear, there’s no story as staggering as that of Geauga Lake.
You may never have even heard of the little amusement park nestled into the hillsides southeast of Cleveland, Ohio. But its story is one that sounds too wild to be true: a full-sized Six Flags and a full-sized SeaWorld, facing each other across a spring-fed lake that – literally overnight – merged into a single, gargantuan super-park. Mega-coasters, killer whales, dizzying flat rides, a Batman water ski show, dolphins, log flumes, waterslides, tigers, penguins, and motion simulators for one price, Six Flags Worlds of Adventure stood a chance at becoming the best amusement park on Earth… and more to the point, a fitting rival for Cedar Point just an hour and a half west…
Founded in 1987 by Walter Bolliger and Claude Mabillard, B&M today is one of the world’s most respected roller coaster design & manufacturing films, supplying headlining attractions to amusement parks across the globe. In fact, you’d be hard off to find a major, thrill-focused coaster park in the United States (or elsewhere, for that matter) that doesn’t have at least one B&M creation among its lineup…! No, really… Try to think of one…
If you’re not sure, just venture into the rabbit hole of your friendly, neighborhood park’s unofficial fansite discussion board; scour RCDB; or more to the point, visit a park with a seasoned coaster enthusiast. Without fail, a coaster geek can spot a B&M a mile away thanks to unmistakable signs: rounded support columns; four-abreast trains; signature “pre-drops” before the biggie meant to relieve stress on chain lifts; buttery track transitions; signature maneuvers like wing-overs, dive loops, Immelmans, and cobra rolls… once you know how to spot them, B&Ms are everywhere.
Image: B&M
In part, the proliferation of B&M rides around the world is thanks to the firm’s apparent three-word mantra: reliability, reliability, reliability. A designer who knows how far to push the limits (and what lines not to cross compared to, say, their nearest competitors, Intamin), B&M rides are trustworthy crowd-pleasers and people-eaters. But the spread of B&M coasters is also due to their part in the epic “Coaster Wars” of the ‘90s and early 2000s, when parks were willing to spend big to prototype B&M’s cutting-edge, record-breaking ride systems that would earn parks attendance, awards, and acclaim.
The breakneck pace of innovation and the thirst for record-breaking has (mostly) quelled. The primary competitors in the “Coaster Wars” – Six Flags and Cedar Fair – have since noticed that in their two decades of bigger-taller-faster obsession, they might’ve accidentally forgotten to invest in anything but thrill rides, leading to a significant slowdown in coaster construction throughout the 2010s and a needed shift toward flat rides, dark rides, and entertainment. But now, a new patent suggests that B&M may be ready for a comeback…
Today, we’ll tour through the major reinventions of the roller coaster pioneered by B&M over its thirty year history, watching as they reposition, reorient, and remake riders’ roles in thrill rides. Think you know what B&M might have planned next? We bet you’ll be surprised…
Ready to rocket through the stars on a high speed roller coaster into space? Then you’ve come to the wrong place. Here at Park Lore, we’re creating a library of Lost Legends, telling the in-depth stories behind beloved-and-lost attractions whose stories are simply unforgettable.
But we have no shortage of unforgivable rides, rides, either… And today we’re telling the tale of a roller coaster so odd, its name actually gave away how laughable the experience became. Disaster Transport at Cedar Point was a rare miss at the “Roller Coaster Capital of the World,” creatively abandoned for all to see.
Today, we’ll try to piece together all we know about this Star Tours / Space Mountain rip-off roller coaster that almost instantly degraded into an in-the-dark letdown with practically none of its $4 million special effects left in tact, changing the course of seasonal theme parks forever. What waited inside the mysterious reaches of Disaster Transport’s space race? Let’s start at the beginning…
Four hundred years ago, the precursor of the modern roller coaster was born. So-called “Russian mountains” were rudimentary by today’s standards, sending riders careening down frigid slopes constructed of ice and supported by wood. It’s appropriate that one of the defining roller coasters of today’s thrills was the opposite in every way: hanging from blazing steel track and racing through the fiery heart of a volcano.
Rocketing toward razor sharp icicles, hanging face-first over bubbling lava pits, dropping through fog from volcanic vents, escaping death at the hands of a menacing lost goddess… Sounds like the kind of production only Disney or Universal could manage, right? But this stunning attraction based on an internationally renowned franchise was located in a most unexpected place… The Midwest. And what’s more, this one-of-a-kind dark ride was so mysterious – its secrets so well-guarded – that guests didn’t know what kind of ride it was, even once they were seated and strapped in.
And with that promise, we can set course for another entry in our Lost Legends series. From The Peoplemover to Alien Encounter; 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea to Journey into Imagination and dozens more, we’re on an international Imagineering expedition of our own, telling the incredible tales behind closed classics and fan-favorites. And while it’s not often we find an attraction exceptional enough to inspire a trip outside of the destination parks we know and love, this one is worth the journey into the unknown…
Image: Paramount
Today, we’re going to go behind-the-scenes of one of the most mysterious and unique rides to have ever existed at all, much less outside of Disney or Universal’s watch. In 2002, Paramount’s Kings Island near Cincinnati, Ohio became home to TOMB RAIDER: The Ride. At more than $20 million, this blockbuster attraction exceeded all expectations of what a seasonal theme park could produce. And barely a decade later, it was gone forever. How? Let’s unearth the ruins of this Lost Legend together…
Have you ever had the crushing, gut-wrenching feeling that you were waist-deep wading, into a mistake? Have you ever had that stinging sensation when you realize the project you’re working on is hopeless? How do you know when it’s too late too turn back? How much time, energy, and (gulp) money can you spend on a decision that’s doomed? And how do your paper over your mistakes in the meantime?
Today, our Lost Legends series sets its sights on one of the most massive roller coasters ever imagined; a record-breaking, unimaginable engineering marvel meant to serve as the “sequel” to a beloved, generations-old favorite. Together, we’ll unravel the almost-unbelievable story of one of the most wild rides the world has ever seen: SON OF BEAST, the tallest, fastest, and only looping wooden roller coaster on Earth.
Towering over the skyline, Son of Beast shattered records and nerves. And just a decade after its debut, the wooden skeleton of this gargantuan icon stood, abandoned, over one of the most visited parks in North America, never to run again. Son of Beast burned bright and fast, and today, we’ll ride through the legacy of this unbelievable engineering marvel and the ultra-extreme ride experience it offered.
So, did the sequel stand up to the original? We’ll leave that to you to decide…
