Most Innovative Roller Coaster Ever?

[sarahwoolley]

Universal's Rip Ride Rockit is pretty innovative with a 90 degree lift hill and the first ever non inverting loop.


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[CoastinBear]

Millennium Force was a big moment for modern roller coaster technology.

It was the first roller coaster to use a cable lift system, and also the first to demonstrate the use of magnetic brakes. I've also heard it was among the first to use hydraulic lap bars, but would need someone else to verify?

There were already Asian coasters with cable style lifts... Just not used in the same way as MF. But as far as mags and the lap bars go, this little coaster open a full year eailer http://rcdb.com/541.htm and has essentially identical hardware. And FWIW, both Mr.Freeze clones had overbanked turns years before Force opened http://rcdb.com/281.htm?p=29464 although Six Flags was promoting them as inversions at the time.

Lol - apologies for being in pedant mode, but the Scenic Railway at Dreamland had a cable lift back in the 1920's :wink:

 

[GuyWithAStick]

^I think most, if not all scenic railways use a Cable lift.

 

[Dave]

I'm surprised no one has said Kumba yet? As that's a game changer in my opinion, it made Bolliger & Mallibard as a top manufacturer and pretty much put Arrow and Schwarzkopf on the back foot. With it's sturdy, smooth and exciting layouts it pretty much became a huge deal very quickly and along with Batman the Ride too.

Pretty much the 90s and early 00s theme park scene would be nothing without B&M and Kumba appearing!

 

[Hyde]

^ Kumba is a B&M that often gets overlooked historically. The largest B&M to date in 1993, it was also B&M's first 4-across sit-down trains, and the first instance of a dive loop or interlocking corkscrews.

Rather, the last push of the large Arrow loopers, such as GASM, Viper (SFMM), Anaconda, and Drachen Fire often take the spotlight of the early 90s as the beginning of the end for Arrow's antiquated looper design.

 

[Pink Cadillac]

^ Kumba is a B&M that often gets overlooked historically.

I kind of agree. It wasn't as groundbreaking or trendsetting as Batman and although Kumba was never actually cloned, it's sequence of inversions (or slight variations of) were used in most of B&M's bigger sit down/floorless coasters.

 

[Pokemaniac]

Might as well give a shout-out to Flashback at Six Flags Magic Mountain (AKA Z-Force in its early days). While it was troubled by maintenance problems, arguably was a poor ride, and experienced two relocations, it was apparently a game changer in its day (1985, mind you). The geometry of its infamous hairpin turns was unprecendented at the time, and the techniques used to calculate their banking was used as a baseline for coaster design ever since (I read once that it was the first coaster designed entirely with the use of computers, but haven't found the claim since). Flashback's hairpin maneuvres was the predecessor of both the Immelmann and the dive loop (while invented in aviation, putting those on a coaster with acceptable forces required a lot of computation), and paved the way for many other tight twists and turns as well. Flashback might not have been good, pretty nor reliable, but it sure was innovative.

EDIT @below. Yes, I meant Z-Force. My source referred to it as Flashback all the way through, apparently because that was its most recent name (and I remember that name better as that was the name used in RCT2).

 

[GuyWithAStick]

^I hope you mean Z-Force, as MM was that ride's last stop.

 

[jay37415]

In terms of innovation, you gotta give cred to The Bat at Kings Island. It is the first inverted and opened up the door for track/ train designs other than riding on top of the rails. It opened the door for Inverts, 4th dimension, wing, etc.

 

[GuyWithAStick]

^Well, technically Bisby's Spiral Airship and Alpenflug were made before, but that was one of the first permanent ones.

 

[jackdude101]

I think the coaster that's open now with the strangest combination of elements would have to be Veil of Dark in Sega Joypolis in Japan. Play a video game during the ride, launches, spins, inverts, one-of-a-kind, etc. Another really strange one would be Tyrolean Tub Twist at Joyland in Great Yarmouth in England. Rcdb.com labels it as a wood coaster, but it's really just a concrete chute with wooden planks on the side. Also, it's powered and it spins. It's almost absurd to even call it a coaster, actually.