When is a parking lot coaster not a parking lot coaster?

[Hyde]

Discussion in the Awesome Settings thread partially centered on parking lot roller coasters, and if they do or do not make for a nice setting.

This got me think - across time, there have been many amusement parks that have built roller coasters on or near parking lots. Sometimes they take up the pavement to be replaced by light grass, others they leave the pavement, painted parking spaces and all.

However, time also marches forward. Pavement crumbles to gravel, roller coasters age, and ongoing generations of roller coaster riders forget that roller coasters were built on parking lots all together.

So what defines a parking lot roller coaster? And more to the point, is it possible for a parking lot roller coaster to lose such a status over time?

Some examples:

Jumbo Jet at Cedar Point was originally built on a parking lot in 1972. You can see some of the parking lines in the below photo:

This build site was later host to Avalanche Run in 1985 - while some landscaping was added, you could still see plenty of the parking lot features, as the queue ran right underneath the ride.

Even once the ride had been converted to Disaster Transport, you could still see old parking lines. However, as the ride had been converted to an indoor roller coaster, such points became moot - Cedar Point proceeded to use this as a major storage area from the early 1990s on.

And come Gatekeeper? You guessed it - the ride was still built atop some of that original parking lot area, while also cutting across new parking lot space in order to traverse the front gate.

Some other examples of parking lot roller coasters:

Dominator at Kings Dominion is built atop old parking lot area, which was dug up for replacement by grass:

Green Lantern and Superman Ultimate Flight too sit on reclaimed parking lot space at Six Flags Great Adventure, which in part originally hosted Great American Scream Machine in 1989:

Scream at Six Flags Magic Mountain rather famously sits atop parking lot space - however Colossus right next door was also built on parking space back in 1978:

There are many instances, both old and new, of roller coasters being built on parking lots. However, do we still consider a roller coaster to be a parking lot coaster if it is replaced with a new addition or conversion? Does a parking lot still count 20 years on?

While some examples such as Scream seem rather cut and dry, there can be nuance, such as that presented above, which can create a certain fuzzy area when designating a roller coaster a "parking lot coaster."

 

[GuyWithAStick]

Superman: Ultimate Flight's location at SFGAm was once a parking lot when Shockwave was built. Now, it's landscaped a bit.

 

[mouse]

I always just considered a parking lot coaster to be a coaster lacking theming on a concrete or whatever surface?

 

[Jer]

It's interesting to add that Great American Scream Machine at Gadv was also built on the parking lot.

I remember from the station you should still see old parking lines and concrete markers.

Although poorly, you can see it in this photo

 

[Lofty]

Yeah, I consider a 'parking lot coaster' to be a coaster that is situated on a parking lot and the park hasn't done anything to change that fact to the guest. I think if the coaster has considerable landscaping (even just the planting of grasses and fauna), I wouldn't coriander it a parking lot coaster.

 

[Jmaster]

Silver Star @ Europa Park is actually themed to a parking lot it seems.

 

[Pink Cadillac]

Another problem with parking lot coasters are that they are often surrounded by a sea of flat concrete. Although these are the worst offenders, I don't think the term "parking lot coasters" should always be limited those built on a car park. The reason people don't like them is not because the theme park decided to reclaim land from the car park, its because they've not done anything with it. Any coaster that's aspect is sterile deserves the same criticism. I don't think it matters that a ride like Disaster Transport is a "parking lot coaster" because it's all indoor.

 

[Gavin]

I wouldn't coriander it a parking lot coaster.

That's one of the most middle-class autocorrections I've ever seen.

I've always kind of thought of the term "parking lot coaster" to mean a coaster shoved onto a flat bit of concrete which could have been thrown up anywhere, rather than literally sitting in a car park.

Anyway, here are some pictures of a cred in a car park:

 

[Pokemaniac]

I'd say it's definitely still a parking lot coaster if there's only a fence preventing anybody from parking underneath it. The presence of asphalt, parking lot lines, and a lack of transition between parking space and coaster space, fences nonwithstanding.

Said another way: If returning the area to a car park requires no more effort than dismantling the coaster (and a fence), it's still a parking lot coaster. Once you start having to uproot trees or pave the area over again, the distinction is a little more fuzzy. Scream is a ride where the coaster could have been taken down in one week, and it'd take at most two more days before cars could park there again. As far as I can tell with Dominator, they'd have to do a lot of ground work to restore the parking lot, so Dominator lost its "parking lot coaster" status.

As for Conny-Land's Cobra, I'd say it's a car-park-integrated coaster. That's a whole different term without any negative connotations in my book.