Wooden roller coasters have been around for centuries - in fact, the world’s first roller
coasters were made of wood! Today however, only 3.5% of operational roller coasters
around the world are wooden. The rest are steel roller coasters, which have drastically risen
in popularity since the 1970s. Now, steel rides account for the majority of new roller coasters
built around the globe. So does that mean wooden roller coasters are dying out? Should
you be rushing to your local theme park to ride that classic wooden attraction? Hopefully not…
One of the most popular manufacturers of wooden roller coasters,
Great Coasters International, known as GCI, is hoping to change the game.
They’ve introduced an all new type of steel roller coaster track, which is compatible with their
traditional wooden rides. The new track allows the company’s attractions to go upside down,
much like steel roller coasters do. Although, GCI aren’t the only ones to do this.
Other manufacturers of wooden roller coasters have already enhanced the design of the conventional
wooden ride to make them more versatile and thrilling. So, to determine whether there is a
future for wooden roller coasters, we first have to understand the state of wooden rides today.
Wooden roller coasters have evolved rapidly over the past decade. Gone are the days of old-school,
boring, and overly uncomfortable wooden coasters. Now, they’re smoother, faster, and more innovative
than ever. There are currently three main companies that produce wooden roller coasters
coasters; Great Coasters International, GCI; The Gravity Group, and Rocky Mountain Construction,
RMC. As manufacturers of roller coasters go, all three businesses are relatively new.
GCI was founded in 1994 and built their first ride in 1996
The Gravity Group was founded in 2002 and designed their first roller coaster in 2005
Whilst RMC was founded in 2001 but didn’t fabricate their first ride until 2011.
Interestingly, the difference in ages between the companies somewhat reflects their difference
in philosophy when it comes to designing wooden roller coasters. Each manufacturer is slightly
different from the others, offering its own take on the classic wooden ride.
Of the three, Great Coasters International constructs the most traditional wooden roller
coasters today. Though, even these are faster, smoother and more agile than the traditional
1970s wooden attraction. GCI’s rides are snappy and full of lots of small hills,
providing guests with short pops of airtime. The Gravity Group on the other hand builds
less traditional wooden roller coasters. From the beginning,
the company has aimed to bring the wooden ride into the 21st century.
Their attractions feature heavy banking, beyond 90s degrees in places, which was unprecedented
on wooden coasters before. They also utilise large airtime hills, capable of strong ejector airtime.
Finally, Rocky Mountain Construction’s roller coasters barely resemble the wooden rides they’re
based on. The manufacturer’s most popular ride often sees traditional wooden roller coasters
upgraded with new steel track, making them half wood half steel rides. This allows their rides to
provide many of the same thrills and elements that steel roller coasters feature today.
On the scale of traditional wooden coasters, to almost steel-like wooden roller coasters,
each company has its place. GCI resides on the left side of the scale, closer to traditional;
RMC lives on the right hand side, closer to steel-like designs; whilst the Gravity Group sit
firmly in the middle - offering a wooden roller coaster experience with some steel-like elements.
RMC in particular completely changed the game. They wanted to make old wooden roller coasters
easier to maintain and more manageable for theme parks. Their idea was to remove old wooden track
and replace it with more durable steel roller coaster track instead. This not only reduced
the ride’s maintenance costs, but also made it more flexible. The new steel track was stronger
and could therefore support the ride’s trains through a variety of more complex track elements.
2 years after their first roller coaster, the company debuted a wooden version of their steel
track. This allowed all-wooden roller coasters to complete the same complex elements found on RMC’s
steel and wood hybrid roller coasters. As a result, upon its debut, Outlaw Run
at Silver Dollar City became the world's only wooden roller coaster to feature inversions.
However, Rocky Mountain Construction weren’t the only ones wanting to enhance the traditional
wooden roller coaster. In the same year, the Gravity Group upgraded their first roller coaster
Hades, by adding a corkscrew to the ride’s layout. Though adding an inversion to a
wooden roller coaster might not seem overly significant, it was a huge development for
the industry. Both rides marked a shift, one towards a new, more thrilling demographic.
Generally, wooden roller coasters are seen as less exciting and action-packed as their steel
equivalents. The added inversions made the rides more thrilling, therefore increasing
their appeal and marketability. RMC’s and the Gravity Group’s wooden rides were now able
to compete not only with other wooden roller coasters, but also steel roller coasters too.
Why is this important? Well, over time, wooden roller coaster manufacturers have begun to offer
increasingly non-traditional wooden rides. With the debut of GCI’s new steel roller coaster track,
this movement is only gaining more momentum. So, is the future of wooden roller coasters steel
roller coasters? Well, let’s first take a look at what GCI’s new steel track actually does...
Great Coasters International has always been the go-to manufacturer of traditional wooden roller
coasters. Within the first two decades of their existence, rather than being overly innovative,
the company chose to refine their process allowing them to produce some of the world’s best
wooden rides. However, even for GCI, the trend was noticeable. More and more wooden,
or partially wooden, roller coasters across the globe were featuring inversions and
other steel-like roller coaster elements. To compete in the new market, GCI had to produce
their own way of creating similar rides. Their idea: steel roller coaster track.
The company’s new track was first introduced to the world in November of 2019. However, the plan
to enable their rides to feature inversions started a year earlier. In November of 2018,
Great Coasters International debuted a new type of roller coaster train, the Infinity Flyer. Unlike
the company’s other vehicles, the Infinity flyer is capable of navigating inversions.
The manufacturer also showcased a model GCI roller coaster, which featured inversions and other
steel-like coaster elements. Then, in September of 2020, GCI published a video of their new
steel track in action. The track was retrofitted onto an existing roller coaster, White Lightning
at Fun Spot Orlando. At the same time, the company outlined what their new track could do.
Firstly, GCI’s new steel track is capable of completing elements that can’t be done on the
company’s current rides. This includes inversions, launches, and other high-stress elements not
possible with wood alone. In this sense, it’s very similar to RMC’s steel Ibox track, which allows
for a much wider range of roller coaster elements. Secondly, GCI’s steel track is easier to maintain.
It features no welds, which reduces maintenance costs and increases the track’s life span.
Furthermore, the company states that the track can be used to replace high-stress sections of wooden
roller coaster track, areas which are often being retracked. Third and finally, GCI’s steel track is
very versatile. It is compatible with all three types of Great Coasters International trains,
including the widely used Millennium Flyer train found on most of the company’s attractions.
Furthermore, the steel track can be used to build roller coasters from the ground up,
retrack existing parts of rides, or even add new elements, such as inversions,
onto older wooden roller coasters. This is all possible because the steel track
system provides a seamless transition from wood to steel, which GCI claims allows for
the first true hybrid roller coasters to be built. These would be rides that use both
steel track and wooden track to create an enhanced wooden roller coaster experience.
So, what does all this mean for GCI? Well, firstly, their new steel track
opens the manufacturer up to new markets, all of them in-fact. It enables them to
produce a ride for any target audience, from young families, to hardcore thrill seekers.
The latter means that GCI can compete with the large scale roller coasters being built by RMC,
providing an alternative extreme wooden roller coaster for theme parks. It also allows Great
Coasters International to compete with the Gravity Group too. The Gravity Group have been the only
company able to produce more traditional wooden roller coasters that still feature inversions.
Through the development of steel roller coaster track, GCI have caught up to both
other wooden roller coaster manufacturers, and made the market more competitive.
However, the company is determined to maintain the design philosophy they’ve perfected over the last
25 years. This is perhaps the most interesting part of their new track type. It doesn’t mean
that GCI has to change how they design their rides. Instead, the new steel track can seamlessly
integrate into existing wooden roller coasters. This gives the company the ability to produce
more extreme wooden roller coasters, without compromising on the design and feel of the ride
itself. Previous attempts at extreme wooden roller coasters have often resulted in rides that feel
more like steel roller coasters than wooden roller coasters. Many theme parks still want traditional
wooden roller coasters, ones which aren’t as smooth or ferocious as their steel counterparts.
So, is there a future for wooden roller coasters? Definitely. Between 2011 and 2020,
GCI, the Gravity Group and RMC combined built 39 roller coasters with wooden track - close to 4
a year. Wooden roller coasters are still being built as they help to diversify the line-up of
attractions at a theme park, by offering a very different roller coaster experience.
Some theme parks choose to install unique attractions,
whilst others want more thrills than their last roller coaster offered. Regardless,
wooden roller coasters now have the ability to offer both. It’s likely in the future we could
see more wooden rides feature inversions and other steel-like elements, as parks look for
more extreme attractions. Or, we might see parks choose to construct wooden steel hybrid roller
coasters, instead of an all-steel attraction, because of their unique nature. Regardless,
it’s safe to say that wooden roller coasters are no longer old or boring. And, it’s because
of this, that wooden roller coasters are here to stay, just perhaps not in the form we once knew.