2001: The Dark Side Of The Coaster Season coming January 2nd.


This year, parks and designers have introduced rides that will forever change the scenery of the coaster world. The bar has been set for the future, which is looking very bright for coaster enthusiasts.

Innovations
X, Six Flags Magic Mountain. No ride has been talked about more in the past two weeks than X. The highly anticipated and highly delayed ride finally opened to season pass holders on Christmas Eve. The response has been overwhelmingly positive so far. The World’s first 4th Dimension coaster has put manufacturer Arrow Dynamics back among the elite coaster designers. For those of you that live in a cave, X runs on the each side of the track and can rotate on certain parts of the ride, giving incredible thrills. Not to mention X sports a 200-foot vertical drop, a front flip, 2 back flips and 80 mph speeds.

Hypersonic XLC, Paramount’s Kings Dominion. S&S’s first roller coaster also was highly anticipated, and didn’t disappoint. The long awaited debut of the Thrust Air came along in the spring, and blew fans away, literally. XLC arguably brings forth the most intense launch ever experienced on a roller coaster. Internal computers weigh the train, to give it the right amount of compressed air. Then the 8-person train is rocketed forward from 0 to 80 mph in an astounding 1.8 seconds over a 165-foot vertical tower. You think it’s mind-boggling? Wait until you ride it. The launch goes by in the snap of a finger. The only complaint some people had about XLC was its ride time, just 28 seconds. Later in the year, S&S debuted Dodonpa, a Thrust Air in Japan that reaches 107 mph, the fastest ride in the world.

Acrophobia, Six Flags over Georgia. Intamin AG, fresh off its amazing Millenium Force in 2000, brought forth innovations in a new form of its popular gyro drop. The change? Stand-Up cars. Never before has a 161-foot tower been so scary. The technology also allows the rider to be angled to the ground 15 degrees, forcing them to watch the ground as it closes in at speeds of over 50 mph. Also, did I mention that your feet dangle as you’re standing? Sounds like a juicy ride.

VertiGo, Cedar Point/Knott’s Berry Farm & Thrillshot, SFMM. Midway through the season, S&S introduced the world to three incredible new launch tower rides. An open-air vertical launch car reaches 255 feet. Using three poles with bungees attached, the ride is flung mercifully upward at frightening speeds. The ride is relatively inexpensive for a pay ride, and has provided many screams. 6 more are planned to be built in 2002.

DejaVu, SFMM, SFoG, SFGAm. Vekoma, searching for more ideas to bring bigger thrills brought us DejaVu 3 times this year. Consider it their invertigo on steroids, consider it downright scary, some say. The ride stands 195 feet tall, and uses the first vertical inverted lift hill. The towers are vertical, the inversions are monstrous, and so are many of the satisfying reviews they’re receiving all over the country. Despite the long delays, most agree the wait was worth it.

While some parks brought innovative rides, other modified their own rides to make them better. Many were skeptical, most were silenced when the got a chance to ride the rides for the first time.

Improvements
Phantom’s Revenge, Kennywood Park. Kennywood caused quite an uproar when they announced that the Steel Phantom would be removed for the 2001 season. To the relief of many, they decided to revamp the ride. Kennywood got in touch with Morgan Coasters, who did a masterful job with this new creation. They removed the inversions, lengthened the second drop to 228 feet and removed the head-banging over-the-shoulder restraints. Mix in a fresh coat of green paint and Kennywood got an overwhelmingly positive response from the public.

Flight of Fear, Paramount Parks. All of Paramount’s Flight of Fear indoor launch coasters received modification prior to the 2001 season. They removed the OTSR’s and replaced them with lap bars. The minor tweak equaled a totally different ride experience, which almost all agree is better than before.

Besides all of the improvements and innovations, there were also new rides that have been duplicated before, but were solid additions to the coaster world.

New Rides
Nitro, Six Flags Great Adventure. Nitro was the worst kept secret of the 2001 winter off-season. They already had the lift hill completed before they made the official announcement. Nitro is one of two B&M’s that were built in 2001 in the U.S.A. Perhaps one of the best hypercoasters out there, this ride surely is dynamite.

Talon, Dorney Park. The second B&M built new in the U.S.A, Talon is another masterpiece in a long line of great B&M inverted coasters. The first major addition to the park since Steel Force, Talon was a smash hit in 2001. This bird of prey reaches speeds over 60 mph and has 5 inversions.

Vertical Velocity:V2, SFGAm, SFMW. Two clones of the popular Intamin Impulse, Superman:Ultimate Escape, these coasters provided 70 mph thrills in their respective parks. V2 provides high speed thrills in a very small footprint of land. Many expect Impulses like V2 to begin popping up at parks everywhere in the future, like Vekoma’s Boomerang.

X-Flight and Batwing, Six Flags World Of Adventure & Six Flags America, respectively. Two new Vekoma Flying Coasters appeared at two Six Flags parks, providing a unique experience. The rides are somewhat small in length, but the feeling of flying made up for the shortness. Even though they experienced many technical problems, many thought it was worth the wait.

Cornball Express, Indiana Beach. Cornball Express is the second CCI wooden coaster to appear at Indiana Beach. The Beach tapped CCI’s creative minds to fit a coaster in a very limited space. CCI didn’t back down from the challenge. It weaves throughout some rides at Indiana Beach, including CCI’s Hoosier Hurricane. The end result was a thrilling and compact ride.

Cheetah, Wild Adventures. Looking for an inexpensive, but solid addition to their park, Wild Adventures turned to CCI to bring a quality wooden coaster to Southern Georgia. The ride debuted in May, and was a very quiet hit. Most who dared this graceful beast loved it.

Titan, Six Flags over Texas. SFoT brought a ride of mammoth proportions to Texas. This 85 mph beast has thrilled many who have ridden it. It is a modified clone of Goliath at SFMM.

Wildfire, Silver Dollar City. SDC turned to B&M for a great sit-down looper. The ride features many twists, turns and lots of speed. It is a great addition to a ever growing park.

Park Chains looked to improve their portfolio in 2001, and the end result will bring better parks to areas in the coaster community.

Park Purchases
Cedar Fair. In June, Cedar Fair purchased two parks. Their first acquisition was Michigans Adventure in Muskegon, Michigan. Cedar Fair plans on keeping MIA’s independent atmosphere, while adding some quality rides in the near future. They also acquired a small water park in Southern California, Oasis Water Park. Now dubbed, Knott’s Oasis, they plan on integrating Oasis with Knott’s Berry Farm.

Paramount. In October, Paramount purchased Terra Mitica in southern Spain. Some consider it a European equilvalent to Islands Of Adventure, except without the rides. The beautiful decorations and themeing are Terra Mitica’s strong points. Paramount will likely add rides to improve the quality of the park.

Six Flags. Without a doubt, the most ground-shaking park purchase was Six Flags purchasing Sea World of Ohio from Anheuser-Busch for $110 million. They combined it with Six Flags Ohio to form Six Flags Worlds Of Adventure. The Sea World sides attendance did suffer, most because the whales were removed as part of the agreement. Six Flags is bringing back whales for the 2002 season, and has many great plans for the future of this mega park.

If 2002 is anything like 2001 was, expect things to only get better from here, folks. The "Coaster War" looks like it'll never end, and that's a good thing!

Discuss The 2001 Season here.