Great Coasters International is a manufacturer of wooden roller coasters, based in Pennsylvania, USA.
For the sake of ease, the company is often referred to as GCI, or even GCII, corresponding
to Great Coasters International Inc.
As their name suggests, the company is a producer of great coasters, claiming to construct some
of the smoothest and highest quality wooden attractions in the industry.
Over their relatively brief life time, GCI have gained a worldwide reputation.
Prior to this however, the company’s founders, Clair Hain and Michael Boodley were already
building some of the most well known wooden roller coasters in America.
Before creating GCI, Hain and Boodley were previously both employees at the now defunct
wooden roller coaster manufacturer, Custom Coasters International.
Clair’s involvement within the attraction industry began through contract work to aid
in the installation of Phoenix at Knoebels.
During this he discovered a great talent for track work.
Shortly after, Hain joined CCI and began the process of building wooden roller coasters.
During the construction of Kingdom Coaster at Dutch Wonderland, he met Boodley, who at
the time was trying to revolutionise the wooden coaster industry through implementing new
and challenging ideas.
It was at this point that the vision for GCI was formed.
Unfortunately, this didn’t happen instantly.
While working on a project, Hain suffered severe injuries, hospitalising him for a period of time.
Upon the opening of Outlaw at Adventureland, and the continued recovered of Clair Hain,
the pair left CCI to found their own company in 1994, Great Coasters International.
Immediately, the duo reached out to Hersheypark.
Two years later they debuted their first project, Wildcat.
At the time, the ride was almost revolutionary; including many twisted track elements that
hadn’t been seen on wooden roller coasters in decades.
Wildcat featured many of GCI’s now iconic elements, such as the twisted first drop,
consistent speed, and a large number of cross-over sections.
Unlike the company’s roller coasters of today however, it didn’t feature GCI built trains.
Instead, Wildcat opened to the public running classic box-like wooden roller coaster trains,
built by Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters.
As Hain and Boodley continued to build new attractions, their skills and layout designs improved.
Rides became snappier, more exciting and more unique.
1999 saw the construction of Gwazi at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, the company’s first twin-tracked
duelling roller coaster.
This was followed only a single year later by the opening of Lightning Racer at Hersheypark,
a second twin-tracked roller coaster.
Upon its debut, GCI unveiled their newly developed articulating wooden roller coaster train design,
neatly dubbed Millennium Flyers.
These trains were designed with comfort and reliability in mind.
Millennium Flyers consist of singular two seat cars, each of which features its own
individual lap bar.
6 to 12 cars are often chained together, creating the long GCI train.
Since the introduction of Lightning Racer, every new GCI roller coaster comes with Millennium
Flyer trains as standard.
The more modern train has also been retrofit onto the company’s older roller coasters,
including Hain and Boodley’s first, Wildcat.
GCI have also added trains onto roller coaster designed by other manufacturers, leading to
the production of an all new train design specifically for more family orientated attractions.
In 2013, the company developed the Mini-llennium Flyer train, their classic Millennium Flyer
train in junior form.
These smaller trains have been specifically designed to be more accessible to both adults
and children, allowing them to ride side by side comfortably.
Post the new millennium, GCI continued to improve their roller coaster design, offering
longer, taller and more exciting thrills.
2004 saw the debut of Thunderhead at Dollywood, the first roller coaster of its kind to feature
a station fly-through.
During the layout, the trains hurtle through the station building, amazing the guests below.
This element has been successful, now featuring in many other roller coasters designed by the company.
2005 saw Michael Boodley retire from GCI, resulting in Jeff Pike being appointed as
their lead designer.
A year later, the firm constructed their first project outside of the US, Thunderbird at
PowerPark in Finland.
Since then, the manufacturer has installed their attractions at various locations around the globe.
2007 resulted in the of debut Troy at Toverland, a ride widely regarded as one of Europe’s
best wooden roller coasters.
This was followed by Apocalypse: The Ride in 2009, Six Flags Magic Mountain’s own
GCI coaster; and even Wood Coaster in 2011, what was at the time China’s tallest and
fastest wooden roller coaster.
Two years later, the company began the construction of White Lightning at Fun Spot America, their
first hybrid attraction.
Unlike the manufacturers other rides, White Lightning features a steel-support-structure,
reducing the required maintenance while maintaining the wooden roller coaster feel.
On top of this, it became their first smaller scale roller coaster, which offers the unique
experience of a GCI attraction in a more compact and affordable form.
Since then, the company has gone on to create coasters such as Heidi: The Ride, located
at the small theme park, Plopsaland De Panne.
Most recently, the firm has been installing a large number of projects around the world.
2017 saw the construction of 4 new roller coasters, including two located in China,
as well as King Islands’ Mystic Timbers, and InvadR at Busch Garden Williamsburg.
Finally, in 2018, GCI debuted Wicker Man, Alton Towers’ newest large scale addition,
and the first wooden roller coaster to be built in the UK in over 20 years.
Wicker Man, and many of the company’s attractions carry the same characteristics.
Most GCI rides consist of twister layouts, with a multitude of banked turns, quick transitions
and track interactions.
Their designs tend to have a large number of banked drops and many small, quick airtime
hills scattered throughout the experience.
On top of this, towards the end of the ride, guests often traverse through the attraction’s
maintenance shed before re-entering the station building.
The easily recognisable Millennium Flyer train is also a telltale sign of a GCI addition.
Alongside the construction of roller coasters, the company offers its services to improve
other wooden rides around the globe.
Since their formation, GCI have been maintaining, upgrading, and even altering roller coasters
to various degrees.
This ranges from reprofiling various sections of track, to the installation of Millennium
Flyer trains, and even structural improvements.
These projects can often take place over several years as the attraction sees various parts
of the ride experience improved.
A well known example of this general process took place on GhostRider at Knott’s Berry Farm.
The majority of the layout was re-tracked, while 40% of it saw profiling modifications
to make the ride smoother, snappier and more interesting.
The attraction also saw the introduction GCI trains, further enhancing most aspects of the experience.
Great Coasters International have performed upgrades to a huge number of roller coasters,
helping to lengthen their lifespans, while increasing comfort and rider satisfaction.
Throughout their lifetime, GCI have consistently produced quality attractions.
Their rides have helped to shift the wooden roller coaster market, resulting in the production
of more versatile and well-rounded additions.
Recently, to the surprise of many, the company has embraced the exciting developments made
by other wooden roller coaster manufacturers.
During the late 2018 expo of the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions,
GCI unveiled a brand new train design, as well as a new concept ride.
The train, currently dubbed the Infinity Flyer, resembles the modern and open design found
on many of today’s steel roller coasters.
Meanwhile, the new concept ride displays heavy integration between steel and wooden support
structures, and even demonstrates the use of inversions.
Moving forwards it’s extremely likely that GCI will construct these new developments
as many parks ask for more thrilling and exciting rides.
Nevertheless, as they stand today, a great coasters international ride is enjoyed by
everyone, for it’s fast paced experience that is packed with moments of both airtime and laterals.
On top of this, due to the cheaper price tag of wooden attractions, and the relatively
low maintenance compared to similar wooden rides, GCI roller coasters have become a great
investment for many parks, both large and small.
It’s because of these factors, and the company’s ability to refurbish older rides, that Great
Coasters International have become one of the key leaders within the wooden roller coaster industry today.
Thank you for watching, and we’ll see you all next time.