History of the Rollercoaster

The Humble Beginnings

The roller coaster has its origins in the Russian ice slides of the 1700's. Built by stacking blocks of ice and snow on a structure made out of lumber, the slides were only possible during winter. The "riders" climbed up a ladder, sat on a sled made of wood or ice, and sped down the "mountain." Drawings from the period depict structures reaching up to a height of 50 feet.

In the years that followed, the slide was imported to France, where a waxed wooden slope was constructed to replace the original ice slide (which melted even in winter) and a sled with rollers perfected to increase the speed of the ride. With the new wheeled sled came the idea of actually creating tracks to ensure the riders would slide down on a straight line, and thus avoid accidents and collisions. The first tracks were actually double, so two cars could slide down side to side at the same time, in a sort of race. By 1817, France opened Les Montagues Russes a Belleville, a coaster where the wheels of the cars actually locked into the tracks, allowing for safer (and taller) rides.

America's love for roller coasters began early on, with the creation of the Mach Chunk Switchback Railway in 1872. The railway was originally designed to transport coal from the top of a mountain to the Mach Chunk port. The 18-mile ride downhill worked by simple gravity, with somebody pushing the car downhill and watching it slide. Eventually, somebody got the idea of turning Mach Chunk into a thrill ride at night, and the place became an instant hit. A steam engine was added to haul the wagons uphill, where they would be loaded with passengers and pushed down the hill again. American's love for roller coasters had been born.

La Marcus Thompson, the father of the American roller coaster, followed the design of the early Russian ice slides to create the first official roller coaster, The Switchback Railway, a two-track slide with rolling hills, a 50-foot drop, and a top speed of six mph. The ride opened at Coney Island, New York City, in 1884 and made Thompson a household name.

The 20th Century

By 1920, more than 1,500 roller coasters were operating in America, from The Fireball (the fastest roller coaster at the time with falling speeds reaching 70 mph and a height of 72 feet) to the Wildcat (with a 90-foot drop at a 60 degree angle, it's still the steepest wooden roller coaster ever built). Neither of them exists today. Coney Island's Cyclone is the closest remainder of the golden era of roller coasters, a thrilling, steep ride that's still a favorite almost eighty years after it was built.

The Great Depression put a staggering halt in the development of thrill rides, causing parks to close and coasters to be torn down. By 1939, 1,300 amusement parks had permanently closed across the country. The '50's and the baby boom gave way to a string of "Kiddie-coasters," a scale-down version of the ride that up until then had been restricted to grown-ups.

During the next decade, little was built that's worth mentioning today. The 70's, however, are a different story. Intamin, a Swiss firm that today leads the construction of the best roller coasters on the planet, came into play. Under the direction of Intamin and German designer Anton Schwarzkopf, Six Flags Magic Mountain opened the first of the new generation of roller coasters, the Great American Revolution. Topping 125-foot tall and with a vertical loop, it became an icon for the park and proof that thrill rides were entering a new era.

In the 80's, designers started experimenting with new ideas, including stand-up coasters, backward rides, and suspended cars, but a string of accidents put a halt on many of the new coasters hitting the market. Many rides opened and closed in the same season. Safer restraints and stricter regulations made the 90's the new golden era of roller coasters. With rides pulling up to 4G's (similar to what astronauts experience during training) and topping 200 feet, the stakes had never been higher.

The Record Breakers

The Oldest

The oldest roller coaster still up and running is the Leap the Dips at Lakemont Park, Pennsylvania. Built in 1902, it features a height of 48 feet and reaches a top speed of 10 mph. The biggest drop? An impressive 9 feet. Completely restored in 1995 using most of the original wood, the coaster is now in the National Register of Historic Places and marked as a National Landmark since 1991.

Tallest and Fastest

The tallest (and fastest) rollercoaster on the planet is Kingda Ka, the new addition to Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, New Jersey. Manufactured by Intamin, the designer of some of the most impressive thrill rides on the planet, it has become the ride for rollercoaster enthusiasts from around the country. After a failed opening on June 2005 (a piece of the launch track became dislodged, forcing the ride to close), Kingda Ka re-opened in August.

At 456-foot tall, Ka is taller than the Statue of Liberty and can be seen from 20 miles away. The ride is fairly simple – After a max acceleration of 0-128mph in 3.5 seconds thanks to a hydraulic launch mechanism, Ka climbs the first tower, and then drops straight down in a 270-degree spiral. The second hill, at 129 foot, is a breeze in comparison.

As they’re coming down from the first drop, riders experience four times the Earth's normal G force, which makes breathing next to impossible. Due to the height and angle of ascent of Ka's first tower, it is possible for the train to roll backwards before reaching the top. While this has not occurred yet (and will most likely never happen), the coaster has retractable brakes that will get a car to roll back safely into the launching station.

The second fastest and tallest rollercoaster is Top Thrill Dragster at Cedar Point, Ohio. Also designed by Intamin, it tops at 420 feet and reaches a max speed of 120mph. Similar in design to Ka, it lacks, however, a second hill.

Longest

With a track length of 8,133 feet, Steel Dragon 2000 is the longest roller coaster on the planet. The main attraction at Nagashima Spaland, Japan, the ride lasts a whooping three and half-minutes (as a comparison, most roller coasters are under a minute). Set against the ocean as part of a hotel/spa complex, the park defied local regulations in order to become Japan's tallest thrill ride.

For a while, Dragon also held the record as the fastest (95mph) rollercoaster, though those days are long gone.

While the angle of descent is "only" 68 feet, Dragon makes up for it with other features, including an intricate display of parabolic drops, helixes, and inclined loops. Because of the eight small hops along the ride, the rider actually spends a lot of time in the air, without touching his or her seat at all. This is, according to fans, another major plus point of Dragon.

Steepest

Vild-Svinet opened in BonBon Land, Holme-Olstrup, Denmark in 2003. Its main lure? The drop is actually beyond vertical at a heart-stopping 97 degree angle.

While Vild-Svinet (Danish for "Wild Boar") may not score high marks in other aspects, the dive alone is worth the ride. Svinet is only 72-foot high and its max speed barely reaches 45mph. In a time where coasters are scoring three times that speed, the ride may sound like "child's play." Don't be deceived. Falling down while seeing the tracks curve under you is a daunting experience.

Cedar Point Amusement Park

Self-dubbed "the roller coaster capital of the world," Cedar Points boasts an impressive 16 coasters and 68 thrill rides, the most of any amusement park on the planet. The 364-acre theme park and resort complex is located in Sandusky, Ohio, and it's the second oldest park in North America (Lake Compounce Park in Connecticut comes first). Up until the opening of Kangda Ka, Cedar Point also had the record for the tallest and fastest rollercoaster on Earth. Top Thrill Dragster was the world's first "strata-coaster" (over 400 feet) and the only one until Ka.

The park attracts over 19 million riders from all over the world every year.