What Makes a Roller Coaster Great?

I know, shame on me. I haven't posted in this blog for about a week now. I am sure that has saddened you. If so then don't worry I will continue on. I thought I would share a few thoughts regarding what I think makes a roller coaster a great roller coaster. Now when I say great roller coaster I mean best of the best roller coasters in the world. I will focus in on my top ten roller coasters specifically since those are the ones I have experience on. There are many elements that go into this opinion. I will do my best to share them with you. 

I have not yet shared with you my top ten list of the best roller coasters that I have ridden. It's a secret but not really. I plan to share that list soon and maybe at the end of the blog post if you are still reading. Do not just skip to the end. That would be no fun. I can say that the list only includes one coaster that goes upside down and that coaster only goes upside down once. I know, shocker, right? Most people really love inversions. There comes a point in an enthusiasts life, otherwise known as getting older, that will make inversions/upside down moments not as enjoyable. I can sometimes tend to get a little queasy when I go upside down a lot now. This is a sad realization for me. Now don't get me wrong I still enjoy looping roller coasters and ride them as often as I can. I looked and see that I have four looping coasters listed in my top 20 and more outside that number. I believe that a looping coaster does not a great coaster make as you will see with my top ten list. 

Ok, so what makes a great roller coaster? A few things do. Here are some elements that I think make a great roller coaster and I will try to cover them here; air time, height, speed, length, elements of surprise (wow factor), and terrain. I will start with air time. What is air time you ask? It is that moment when you are riding a coaster and you hit a hill and come up out of your seat. You can feel yourself, namely your butt, leave the seat. There are a few different types of air time that I will describe; ejector, floater, and basic. Air time is the single most important deciding factor in what makes a great coaster.  

The best type of air time is what is called 'ejector' air time. That is when you hit a hill at a high rate of speed and are forced upward out of your seat. It is abrupt, very forceful, and intense. If you experience this on a roller coaster you know what I mean. I will give an example of roller coasters that offer ejector airtime below: 

El Toro is the coaster in the left picture. It comes in at #3 on my coaster rankings. As you can see the hills are abundant and they are high and taken at a fast rate of speed allowing for some major ejector air to take place. The same can be said for the smaller steel coaster on the right known as Lightning Run (top right picture). It may not look like much but watch out, this coaster has ejector air everywhere throughout the course. If you look at the layout closely you can see an abundance of small hills everywhere which are taken at a high rate of speed and provide spectacular forceful air time. The final three hills before the train comes back to the station are so much fun and pretty intense. It ranks #4 on my coaster rankings and I've only ridden it once. That's all it took. Skyrush (bottom picture) is probably the coaster I have ridden with the best ejector air time. It's hard to describe it until you have actually ridden this ride. The drop is 200 feet, intense, and throws you out of your seat. The subsequent hills and curves are nothing but ejector air time. Just when you catch your breath you are thrown out of your seat again. It has a 'wow' factor beyond belief and you are thrilled in more ways than you can even imagine while riding. This is why it's #5 in my coaster rankings. Skyrush you are a rush and throw me to the sky! 

The other two types of air time are floater air time which can be best described by looking at the two pictures below. They are usually elongated hills when taken by good speeds and give you sustained air throughout the entire hill from one side of the hill to the other. In other words floater air time provides what you can call a 'weeeee' moment of fun or thrill. Yes, you can and will feel the urge to shout out "weeeee" when you take these types of hills. Notice that big hill on Intimidator 305 (red and yellow coaster below) that goes through the lift hill. Yeah it is absolutely fantastic! 

The other type of air time I just call basic. The reason for this is because it's not really ejector and it's not floater. It is just air time where you hit a hill and come out of your seat briefly. You can experience this type of air time on many different roller coasters. There is one specific coaster that has all three types of air time in abundance which is what makes it amazing. 

That coaster is the Voyage (which unfortunately I don't have a picture of right now) and it has 24.2 seconds of air time during the ride. That number was not calculated by me but by the park itself. It is a wood coaster and very long and fast (67 mph). It has a few surprise elements like two 90 degree banked sections of track and the famous 'triple down' element that will literally blow your mind while you are riding. It has tons of different tunnels which provide a neat riding experience. It is literally like a coaster Voyage of awesome. It is a long coaster at 6,442 feet and goes through some nice terrain which also makes it spectacular. The air time on Voyage is unique because you get all three types of air time in one ride. There are spots where you get basic air out of your seat, some parts where you get ejector, and other times when you get the floater air time. The Voyage comes in at #9 on my rankings. Now it's time to sail away, your Voyage begins, without delay. 

Bizarro is another coaster that offers an all of the above amount of airtime. You get ejector, floater, and basic throughout the course. The height is 208 feet yet you drop 225 feet into an underground tunnel! Win! It's speed, hills, and fast turns the rest of the way. The terrain is also neat due to its location along the Connecticut River. Oh, and it has a misting tunnel, another win! This coaster is #2 on my list and has been rated as the number one coaster on the planet 5 different times. 

What else besides air time makes a coaster great? I would say height/drop is also important. Seven of my top ten coasters are over 150 feet tall. Height adds a unique factor especially when going up the lift hill and then plummeting down through the course. Also the higher the coaster goes the faster it goes. If you are scared of heights it adds another thrill factor. Here are some pictures, along with their heights and speeds, of tall coasters in my top ten list. Heights in feet of coasters in my top ten are as follows: 420, 310, 305, 208, 200, 181, 163, 115, 102, and 100. 

Lightning Run 100 feet 55 mph

Top Thrill Dragster 420 feet 120 mph

Millennium Force 310 feet 93 mph

Bizarro 208 feet 77 mph

El Toro 181 feet 70 mph

 

Intimidator 305 305 feet 92 mph

Skyrush 200 feet 75 mph

All six of these roller coasters have blistering speeds which lead to some amazing air time, sharp turns, and many positive and negative g-forces. Top Thrill Dragster has an unreal height of 420 feet. It is awe-inspiring as you crest the hill. It's fast at 120 mph in just four seconds and ranks #6 on my list. Millennium Force as most of you who have been reading this blog know is my #1 roller coaster ridden. It has all of the elements that make a great coaster: Height, speed, air time, terrain, length, and wow factor. Intimidator 305 is an incredible rush. It is high, fast, intense, and fun. It has some very fast turns and surprise moments. It's #7 on my ratings. Here are the speeds of the coasters in my top ten in miles per hour: 120, 93, 92, 77, 75, 70, 67, 60, 60, and 55. 

Length is also important (insert joke here). Seriously though when you are on a good roller coaster you shouldn't want it to end. Here are the lengths of the coasters in my top ten in feet: 6595, 6442, 5400, 5100, 4725, 4429, 4400, 3600, 2800, and 2500. 

Terrain is the last element that makes a coaster great. The best terrain coaster I have ever ridden probably goes to Boulder Dash. The reason; because it goes up the side of a mountain, drops down the mountain, and rushes alongside the mountainside. It's pretty incredible and offers the out-of-control experience that I love. It is #10 on my list. Another great terrain coaster I have ridden is Cheetah Hunt (sorry, no picture for this one). The coaster has three launches, goes across the entire park which includes the Serengeti plain (animal habitat), and into an area of water with waterfalls. It's give a very beautiful setting as your are riding such an thrilling ride. It ranks #8 on my list.  

There you have it. My top ten roller coasters and the reasons why they are that great. Let me be clear, I have ridden a lot of great coasters but out of the 156 I have ridden these are the best of the best. They are special. It takes a lot to make these coasters as incredible as they are. These are just my opinions of why I think they are so great. You may ride the same coasters and have a different experience. That is what makes coaster riding special. Everyone can have fun in different ways. I can assure you that if you ride any of these ten coasters you will be blown away by greatness though. What are your top ten roller coasters?

My Top Ten:

1. Millennium Force

2. Bizarro

3. El Toro

4. Lightning Run

5. Skyrush

6. Top Thrill Dragster

7. Intimidator 305

8. Cheetah Hunt 

9. The Voyage

10. Boulder Dash