(Why) Are big coasters becoming more rare recently?

[Pokemaniac]

Scrolling through the Roller Coasters Constructions forum, I noticed a bit of a puzzling trend: Where did all the big 'uns go?

There was a time, possibly just in my rosy-tinted nostalgia for the old days, where parks competed to build big and impressive coasters. Towering rides, with heights upwards of 50 meters (two and a half chains) and a kilometer or so (five furlongs) of track, daunting drops, multiple airtime hills, and possibly multiple inversions as well. Granted, there weren't many parks out there with Hypers in their portfolio, but they were built at a steady pace and there seemed to always be new ones on the way.

But now, when I look through the forum, or the "Under Construction" search on RCDB, I seem to be greeted with a mix of:

A) Family coasters, even in "big thrill" parks.
B) Shuttle coasters, which tend to be moderately sized due to only having one train that travels the track twice
C) Compact/budget thrill coasters, technically white-knuckle rides but in the smallest package on offer (Eurofighters, Mini Dive Machines, RMC Raptors, etc.)
D) Refurbishments/relocations of older, big coasters.

Where did all the big ones go? The large B&M Floorless or Invert coasters, Intamin and Mack's multi launchers, Ground-up RMC giants, Vekomas forays into those markets, or Hypers from any manufacturer? Did parks just stop buying them? I mean, it's rare to even see a coaster on the scale of a Blue Fire or Batman clone recently.

Granted, this might be a bad time of the year to ask this question, as the big rides of 2024 have just opened and thus removed from the list of upcoming projects. The most notable addition this year is Thorpe's Hyperia, which is a 72-meter tall monstrosity, but even that one saw plenty of criticism for being quite short for its size. Europa Park just opened Voltron, which has nearly seven furlongs of track and as many inversions, but a somewhat moderate height of 32 meters. Iron Menace at Dorney is a 50 m tall B&M Dive Machine, but it only has three elements after the customary drop-and-immelmann before it hits the brakes. And those three are the only new-for-2024 coasters to break the 100 km/h barrier. There were 7 in 2023 and 8 in 2022. In addition, Cedar Point modified Top Thrill Dragster ... by going to Zamperla, with groan-inducing results.

There are still some rather big coasters in production out there, but of the five biggest ones on RCDB, three are at Six Flags Qiddiya and two are perpetually stalled projects in China. In the West, we can look forward to Starfall Racers at the new Universal park in Orlando, and the next big 'un that isn't a compact, family, or shuttle coaster seems to be ... uhhh ... The Hot Wheels coaster at Mattel Adventure Park? Apart from that, is there anything in the pipeline, at all? Any really big coasters for 2025 would have at least had their sites marked by now, or rumours churning, but there seems to be very little of either. Is 2025 going to be such an underwhelming year for Western coaster enthusiasts? Not that it's looking much better in China, come to think of it. Castle Coaster in Legoland Shanghai is the fastest new-for-2025 coaster over there registered on RCDB, a Zierer Force-Five with six existing clones at other Legoland parks and a blistering speed of 60 km/h.

Of course, it might just be my nostalgia, that big coasters were never much more common than this. But there seems to be a trend here, and not for the better. So the question is, what explains it? Is it the cost of raw materials? Or our old nemesis, the Covid pandemic? It's worth noting that big coaster projects usually run over multiple years, so the biggest coasters currently in production might have been initiated before the lockdowns. Or could it simply be that many big parks are "full" and don't have space for new, big additions anymore? Or the market situation? After the Six Flags/Cedar Fair merger, that segment of the market in the US no longer has the level of competition that drove the "Coaster wars". Or aren't the kids these days as thrilled by amusement parks anymore?

Whatever it is, I hope it gets better soon.

 

[James F]

I believe the most significant reason is covid. It obviously hit the amusement industry hard as a whole. I think most parks would rather spends smaller amounts of money on park improvements to improve the guest experience in the hope of returning customers. I have noticed this with Six Flags short lived "beautification" or Phantasialand adding little things here and there such as adventure trail.

It doesn't make much sense for them to risk money on loans when they're probably already paying off debt.

I also think it might also be a cultural thing. Theme parks have a lot more to compete with it terms of entertainment. Sure theme parks can still get crowds, but is the excitement really there with the general public for a big roller coaster? I don't think it is, at least not like it was in the 90s and 00s. I haven't heard one person who isn't an enthusiast talk about Hyperia and I think it might of been a different story if it was 2004.

 

[Disco Lumberjack]

I think there's a natural limit to the number of people who will be drawn in by big thrills. A lot of people attend parks but don't ride the big beasts. Parks can build smaller experiences more cheaply, possibly even invest in quality theming and get a better outcome than if they build the next record breaker. I can see this going too far eventually, with the thrill market being underserved, but then things will swing back.

 

[Crazycoaster]

I think the easy answer to this that everything is much more expensive. Land, Steel, Timber, labour, you name it, it’s more expensive.

Late stage capitalism has also made company’s lazy. They want more profit from less resources, more shareholders to appease. So why invest in a giant coaster when a smaller investment “will do”?

 

[Sandman]

I'd estimate that size has become less relevant over time, at least compared to what it was back in the 90's and early noughties.

Don't get me wrong, size is still the most marketable stat out there, however, parks and manufacturers seem to be able to focus more on unique, high quality layouts these days. The emergence of the multi-launch coaster and Rocky Mountain Construction has really taken the industry in a different direction.

Additionally, most parks that invested in large coasters in the past still in fact have those coasters.

Granted, a lot of the big B&M hypers and Intamins are now teetering towards their retirement. However, they're still in operation for the most part.

So, perhaps many parks don't see the need to go big when they've already done so. It makes sense why it's mainly new(er) parks looking to go 'big' nowadays, because these are the same type of large investments that the more established parks have already made in years gone by.

 

[Graeme]

My take on it is that the Noughties were fantastic, but somewhat excessive times. A lot of the ride hardware in the USA is fairly old, but too good to replace yet. Even going back as far as the Morgan hyper coasters, I wouldn't be surprised if they were still a lot of people's favourite rides in their respective parks.

Then we had the great days of the 150ft B&M coaster. Parks wanted to build them even though they couldn't boast of any particular record. A lot of the differentiation was based on the seating style, and so there are now some parks that have inverted, floorless, stand-up and flying. Some of the less popular positions seem unnecessary now, but they're a bit too new and major to scrap.

There's only so much room for coasters, both physically and in terms of your demographic. Once you've built a lot of a certain era, you have to get your money's worth, so to speak. Some of the big rides in Europe and Australia are more modern because certain parks have never had a hyper coaster, for example, so when they get one they get the latest type.

Current-day coasters seem to be more about modern design rather than different seating positions. Most manufacturers offer a "family coaster", as well as an "extreme coaster" that can do everything - launches, airtime, inversions, 200ft+ heights - so you can almost have it all with one ride. Even forgetting about seating positions, there don't seem to be as many genres of coaster. With most giant coasters having an inversion or two, there aren't even really "looping" coasters any more, as a genre.

Personally, I really like family and family-thrill coasters, but even they are best when done on a large scale, like Big Thunder Mountain - large footprint, and built into the landscape well, with tunnels etc. I wonder if there's just not enough room for now, with parks having become overdeveloped when compared to their original design?

Regardless, I do hope there's a return of the 45m/150ft coaster, as I've always thought it was a great size for a big ride. Would love to have seen more of the 150ft junior hypers too, like Goliath at Walibi Holland. Tall enough to be "big", but you've also got a good chance of the ride being long enough to use the speed it builds up.

 

[Pokemaniac]

I'd estimate that size has become less relevant over time, at least compared to what it was back in the 90's and early noughties.

Don't get me wrong, size is still the most marketable stat out there, however, parks and manufacturers seem to be able to focus more on unique, high quality layouts these days. The emergence of the multi-launch coaster and Rocky Mountain Construction has really taken the industry in a different direction.

Additionally, most parks that invested in large coasters in the past still in fact have those coasters.

Granted, a lot of the big B&M hypers and Intamins are now teetering towards their retirement. However, they're still in operation for the most part.

So, perhaps many parks don't see the need to go big when they've already done so. It makes sense why it's mainly new(er) parks looking to go 'big' nowadays, because these are the same type of large investments that the more established parks have already made in years gone by.

Related to this, I've been a bit concerned about what will happen to the absolutely massive stock of massive coasters built by Six Flags in the relatively short time span between 1995-or-so to 2005-or-so. The backbone of many of their parks' lineup tends to consist of several coasters of a magnitude like nothing they've even built one of since the financial crisis. What will the parks have to fall back on when those coasters reach their design life span and are scrapped? Family rides and mediocre flats?

Then it turns out that the answer was "merge with Cedar Fair so there is no competition to lose traffic to".

 

[RevolutionRuleZ]

For me, the frustration isn't about size of the coasters or lack off, after all Nemesis, Grand National and Wild Mouse (RIP) are three of my all time favourites and won't take any records for height or speed. However it's the lack of genuine thrills that grinds my gears.

Some go on about Icon as though it's the best coaster to ever grace the planet, seriously? There is a superior woodie literally next to it thats over 100 years old, it's over hyped, and rather dull.

I'm all for progress, when the end result is better than what you had in the first place, and Flamingoland trading the Mouse, Magnum, Bullet and Corkscrew, for Hero, Mumbo Jumbo, Kumali and a near clone of a 20 year old coaster from Thorpe doesn't do it either. Two genuine thrill machines and a couple of decent family thrill coasters replaced by what? Crap, on the hole.

Wickerman does the job, but its far too short. I refuse to count Nemesis Reborn because that was a 1994 work or genius rebuilt, not a new thing, but we simply seem content for tamed down rides, while the like of the Wild Mouse and Ultimate are removed. Its a sad state of affairs for a genuine thrill seeker.

In terms of actual thrill coaster in the UK we are let down time after time. Thorpe did well with Collossus/Stealth/Inferno and potentially Hyperia, I haven't rides it so I cant say. Towers did well with Nemesis and Oblivion, and possibly Rita, but even those are all rather short along with Wickerman.

BPB/PBR will probably keep us waiting till 2046 before another installation, by which time two more woodies will probably be gone, plus the Avalanche, Revolution, Steeplechase and Big One, so the less said about them the better.

 

[dixhuit]

Inflation… the cost of raw material exploded since 2020. And the attendance in theme park were also down to a historical level in all theme park around the world.

I think we will see more shorter coaster. Giga B&M for example is a huge investment only a few parks can afford now. I don’t think the Cedar/Six Flags chain can afford a new Fury 325 for example.
Only big groups/parks like Disney, Universal, Europa Park, Efteling, Everland or one/two parks from Chinese chain like Chimelong Ocean Kingdom can afford long coaster now.

Also population is aging very fast in the West and East Asia… So thrill coaster will became less and less interesting. Dark ride and family thrill that can accommodate all the family from 6 years old to 70 years old will become increasingly popular.

 

[Sticky_T_Wicky]

Late stage capitalism has also made company’s lazy. They want more profit from less resources, more shareholders to appease. So why invest in a giant coaster when a smaller investment “will do”?

Amusement parks/chains aren't reducing CAPEX, at least in North America. Herschend opened Big Bear Mountain last year and Fire in the Hole this year. BBM was probably a >$20 million investment and FitH was reportedly a $30 million investment... not small investments. Cedar Fair had $220 million in 2023 CAPEX which is the 2nd most in the past nine years. Six Flags had $172 million in 2023 CAPEX which is the most by nearly 20% in the past nine years. Canada's Wonderland is also rumored to be getting its largest investment ever for 2025 which is saying something for a park already with three massive B&M coasters. Fun Spot opened Arie Force One which was something like $18 million when all was said and done.

I don't necessarily disagree that there is a trend of not as massive coasters being built but any notion that parks are reducing overall investment or building smaller coasters due to "late stage capitalism" is nonsense. If anything, it is the opposite in the US and North America, amusement park CAPEX is increasing. Along with the aforementioned CAPEX reports, there are major parks and coasters opening in the not so distance future... Universal Epic Universe, the Universal Hollywood 2026 coaster, Disney with something like a billion dollars of investment planned, the two Mattel parks set to open in 2025 and 2026 along with new ground up parks in Missouri and Oklahoma. I could go on.

 

[JoshC.]

Perhaps the main reason, I expect, is that there's fewer parks which are in need of a big coaster.

How many parks exist that:

1. Can afford a big coaster
2. Have the space for a big coaster
3. Need a big coaster (as a priority)

The set of parks which satisfies all 3 of those criteria is small. The ones which satisfy two of those isn't much bigger either.

Also, are big (tall) coasters that common?
At 236ft tall, there's only 6 brand new coasters in the last decade that opened that were taller than that. In the decade prior, there were only 7 that opened that were taller.

Obviously if we go back 20-30 years ago, technology was improving and the height race was a big thing. And there were plenty of parks who loved the idea of a tall coaster, even without breaking the height record, and met those 3 criteria above. But now, it's not as much a thing.