Coasters that seemed ahead of their time

[Hyde]

I think it'd be worth pointing everyone to the definition of "ahead of their time."

"Ahead of their time" is a synonym for something or someone that is based on a new idea that has not gained mainstream acceptance. In other words, you had an idea which was not appreciated by the people who lived in the same time as you, but which was later widely accepted.

This would mean that true roller coasters that are "ahead of their time" were inventive, but ultimately failed.

So while Matterhorn Bobsleds, Outlaw Run, TTD, Millennium Force, and Oblivion were firsts of their kinds, they were not necessary ahead of their time. All of these roller coasters were actually successful, and are still in operation today.

Roller coasters that are ahead of their times are those that introduced new technology or concepts that are popular today, but were ultimately failures back during their introduction.

Examples would include:

- Large Arrow multiloopers, such as: Steel Phantom, Shockwave, or Drachen Fire. These roller coasters pushed the idea of having large foot print steel coasters with multiple inversions. Each one was scrapped however due to rough rides and unreliable technology - however their concept lives on with the likes of Dragon Khan, Colossus, and Smiler.

- Son of Beast and other RCCA roller coasters. Many of these wooden coasters strived for large, complex layouts, but were defeated by rough rides and poor layout design (not to mention PTC trains). This legacy is continued by GCI and GG, who have been able to master wooden coaster smoothness, such as with Timberliners/Millennium Flyers trains. And RMC is doing inversions? How original.

 

[rollermonkey]

The Bat

 

[roomraider]

The obvious ones of X and SOB have been mentioned already.
Rollermonkey I see your Bat and raise you Alpenflug. (thats the oddest thing i've typed today )

I think I'm right in saying it pre-dated Bat by 6 years and was a fairly big failure too. It was quite a while until Arrow tried it themselves and they messed up with Bat too.

 

[caffeine_demon]

where was that? can't fimnd it on RCDB!

 

[roomraider]

Ah that's because it was a travelling ride, It operated at Oktoberfest in 1975.
There's some info and pics here
http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/vi ... p?p=655778

 

[FaceYourNemesis]

Oblivion, without a doubt. So what if the drop isn't 100% vertical - Oblivion was an incredibly innovative project for its time, and really pushed the boundaries in terms of design.

 

[Hyde]

^ But it was successful, making it not ahead of its time.

The Bat on the other hand would be a good example, as the Suspended model eventually became popular, but was a flop in its first iteration.

 

[furie]

But, there wasn't a deluge of successful Dive Machines following it - so it must have been ahead of its time as the time of the Dive Machine was ten years later and nobody copied the design in their own version

 

[fefa]

I think shuttle loops were the first one being built in 1977 - one year after the first inversion was built and it had a launch!

Boomerangs should also be mentioned with the first one built in 1982 (6 years after first inversion) it went upside down 6 times plus had a Cobra Roll which still is one of the most common inversions these days. Then the entire backwards mechanism is pretty stunning too for a ride from the early 80s.

 

[ava1enzue1a]

Which roller coasters seemed "too advanced" or "unbelievable" for the year they were opened, past or present?

Top Thrill Dragster: I can't believe it's already a decade old now.

Sorry, but I have to disagree with the notion that TTD was ahead of it's time.

TTD opened in 2003, Dodonpa opened in 2001.

Both have 100+mph top speed and a top hat style element. Dopdonpa got there first. Ok, TTD is three times(ish) higher but it was only a matter of time until a company with enough money like Cedar Fair would commission such a ride tall enough to smash the height record.

To most enthusiasts who look no further than America, TTD is advanced but the ride concept could be credited to Dopdonpa. If anything, TTD is the evolved 2nd Gen Intamin launch coaster with Superman: Escape from Krypton/The Escape at SFMM being the first.

Alright I'll give you that. Besides, I also sorta forgot about Xcelerator.

 

[Hyde]

It's ok, Xcelerator even forgets about Xcelerator.

 

[roomraider]

Right i have an argument for 2 other coaster (series/types) for being ahead of their time. The first is The Flying Turns.

I say this because although at the time the rides were relatively successful and there were a number of them, they didn't last and the on going trials and tribulations of the new one at Knobels suggest the rides were incredibly well designed. I'm not sure when the last one closed but I imagine it was many years before the first modern bobsleds opened.

Secondly I suggest the terrifying triplets, also known as the 3 Cyclone clones at Palisades, Crystal Beach and Revere Beach.

The rides are regarded as 3 of the most intense rides ever built and I suggest they were built years before the needed technology and refinement was available to make them viable long term rides. (2 of them operated for less than 7 years).

 

[fefa]

Fully agree with you roomraider!

 

[TilenB]

About the Flying Turns coasters, the last one closed in 1974, 10 years before Sarajevo Bobsleds (first modern ones) opened.

http://rcdb.com/3468.htm

I completely agree with you on the terrifying triplets. I think that they should be rebuilt with the modern technology

 

[theRock-steel]

Flying Turns at Knoebels is interesting because it's wood. They are trying to make a new one after all of the old ones of that type have closed down. That's weird.

By the way I have ridden three steel ones; two "Swiss Bob" by Intamin, and one "Bobsled" by Mack Rides. The later named Avalanche at Kings Dominion was very enjoyable, much more than the former two.

 

[Luxornv]

I was thinking of Flying Turns (specifically from Riverview) while reading this. I'm not sure how popular it was at Riverview, but the coaster was there for 32 years, being removed at the park's closing in 1967. It had to have been fairly popular for them to keep it there that long. I've also read about how they continually had to add reinforcements to the sides where the wood was busting out from the force of the trains. I've read (can't remember where now, may have been the book, Laugh Your Troubles Away) that locals sometimes referred to it as the Caterpillar due to all of the reinforcements on the sides.

I was also thinking of the Bobs from the same park. However, it was a widely loved coaster, and everyone who lived in the Chicago area in the time of Riverview has so many stories about it and how intimidating it was. I actually got into a conversation about it at work with a 60 year old lady there after she saw all the roller coaster pictures I have on my desk. I think today, we'd regard a coaster like The Bobs as nothing special and an average coaster at best.

 

[furie]

Fred Church built several copies of his "Bobs" rides, the one at Riverview was one of them, as was The Bobs at Belle Vue in Manchester (England).

They were like "working" versions of the Cyclone rides mentioned above. Sweeping curves, only they didn't rip apart the track, trains and riders.

If you watch the POV (at the end of the video below) of The Bobs at Manchester, you'll see immediately that it looks very much like a modern GCI - only obviously rougher and not as fast.

They do look tame today, but remember, they ran without any restraints and were hand calculated. Fred Church was certainly ahead of his time in terms of what he was trying to achieve with coasters, and how far he pushed both engineering and physics with the tools/knowledge they had.

Here's an off-ride, reverse cup'o'tea and bad POV of The Bobs:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0X9nLH5NEc[/youtube]

 

[caffeine_demon]

It's quite upsetting seeing how good that looks, and knowing we'll never get to ride it!

Everyone needs to do a "cup of tea" coaster!

 

[metalhead7]

Woodies
Outlaw Run - Just watched the POV and it looks like something out of the movies. I have never seen anything like it

Son of Beast - Height, Speed, and an Inversion never before seen on a wooden coaster

Anything built by Harry Traver - One of the best and worst designers of all time. (Other old rides such as the flip-flap count too)

Steel

Steel Phantom - 228 ft drop and 3 inversions only 2 years after the construction of the first hyper coaster

X - Just an insane concept not to mention the size of the thing

The Bat - Great concept that didn't catch on until many years later

 

[ava1enzue1a]

The only ride I can think of offhand that stands out as completely ahead of its time, by my definition, is X. Nobody at the time was building anything that remotely resembled it. 11 years later, there have only been two other such rides constructed, and the first of those wasn't until 4 years after the original.

I had thought of mentioning X and don't know why I actually didn't. Nevertheless, good points.