By the turn of the new millennia, Intamin were a well established amusement manufacturer.
They had already gained a worldwide reputation for building innovative, record breaking rides,
and showed no signs of stopping there.
To truly become an international company, the business opened offices around the globe,
including in Japan, China and the USA.
On top of this, they moved their headquarters from Wollerau in Switzerland
to Schaan in Liechtenstein - making the originally Swiss company Liechtenstein based.
20 years after they constructed their first wooden roller coaster, the manufacturer began
creating the next generation of wooden attractions.
In 2001, Colossos at Heide Park became the first of Intamin’s prefabricated wooden
roller coasters.
Instead of cutting the wooden track pieces to size onsite, the prefabricated model uses
highly accurate laser cut track sections, which are fabricated off site, meaning the
coaster can be assembled at the park at a quicker rate.
On top of this, it allows for a stronger structure to be built, leading to larger scale wooden
roller coasters.
Despite their high praise, only four of these prefabricated wooden roller coasters exist
around the world, mainly due to their expensive cost and awkward maintenance requirements.
The year following Colossos, Intamin debuted another of their now iconic roller coaster models.
In 2002, Xcelerator opened as the world’s first accelerator coaster - a ride which uses
a hydraulic launch system to propel guests to astonishing speeds.
Xcelerator shoots riders from 0 to 132kmh (82mph) in only 2.3 seconds, before ascending
to a great height.
This innovative technology was then used by Cedar Point a single year later to construct
the 128m (420ft) high Top Thrill Dragster - the world’s tallest roller coaster at the time.
Naturally, other parks were looking to break that record.
As a result, Kingda Ka, a 139m (456ft) tall giant, opened at Six Flags Great Adventure
in 2005 using the same technology.
It has remained the world’s tallest roller coaster to this day.
From this alone it’s safe to say that Intamin’s accelerator coaster has been a success.
However, despite the 14 installations, the hydraulic launch technology is gradually being
phased out due to its unreliable nature.
Instead, Intamin have turned to LSMs to recreate these classic top hat coasters, as seen on
Red Force at Ferrari Land.
On top of the debut of the accelerator coaster in 2003, the company also constructed their
first Half Pipe coaster.
This model sees guests launched between two vertical spikes, all while they spin round in their seat.
Despite their compact nature, the half pipe coaster never really took off.
Neither did Intamin’s other new for 2003 ride, Atlantis Adventure.
Located at Lotte World, this attraction opened as the manufacturer's first and only Aqua
Trax - a launched water coaster featuring small 8 person trains.
4 years after this, the company unveiled a whole list of new roller coaster models; the
zacspin, the blitz coaster, the wing rider, and the family launch coaster.
Kirnu became the world’s first Zacspin, a ride which sees guests navigate a flat 2
dimensional layout in small trains which hang them over the sides of the track.
On top of this, as they complete the course, riders flip forwards and backwards in their seat.
Maverick on the other hand became Intamin’s first Blitz coaster, now named the multi-launch
coaster, which sees visitors launched multiple times throughout an often heavily twisted layout.
The model has been relatively successful, especially recently, with rides like Phantiasland’s
Taron being known for its world class experience.
Although, the same cannot be said of Intamin wing rider coaster.
Furius Baco debuted as the first of this model, featuring trains which seat guests over the
sides of the track, rather than above or below it.
On top of this, its hydraulic launch propels guests to a high top speed, allowing them
to fly close to the nearby terrain.
However, the rough nature of the coaster has led many to dislike the rides experience;
arguably causing it to remain the only one of its kind.
Finally Mick Doohan’s Motocoaster debuted as the company’s first family launch coaster,
which accelerates guests to moderate top speeds using drive tires, before they navigate a
twisted family friendly layout.
Despite these four new additions to the portfolio, Intamin didn’t stop there.
2008 saw the construction of Kawasemi, the manufacturer’s first Mega Lite, which is
essentially a smaller version of the mega coaster, standing under 61m (200ft) tall.
Similar to the mega coaster, the model has a focus on speed, snappiness and airtime as
it twists through the layout.
Also similar to other Intamin models, the mega lite was a brief success, spawning 4
in the first two years alone.
In the same year, the company also debuted Fahrenheit, their first and only vertical lift coaster.
Fahrenheit sees guests climb vertically before plunging down a beyond 90 degree drop and
navigating a series of inversions.
Following this, the business continued to produce new models to specifically cater to
the needs of various theme parks.
2009 resulted in the construction of Tornado, Intamin’s first spinning coaster model.
Similar to other manufacturers, the ride features snappy turns and twists, allowing small 4
seat trains to whip through the layout.
While 2010 saw two major rides built by the company, Thirteen and Formula Rossa.
Located at the Alton Towers Resort, Thirteen became the world’s first vertical freefall
drop roller coaster, which sees the trains of ride drop vertically downwards while on
a flat section of track.
Formula Rossa on the other hand opened to the public as the world’s fastest roller coaster;
reaching an astonishing top speed of 240kmh (149mph) using Intamins hydraulic launch technology.
Since its construction, Formula Rossa has held onto the speed record, making the company
responsible for constructing both the tallest and fastest roller coasters in the world.
By 2012, Intamin had even more new models to add the collection; a next generation wing
coaster, and a large scale water coaster.
Hersheypark’s Skyrush became the first of the new wing coasters, which unlike Furius
Baco, seats only half of the guests over the sides of the track.
Like previous Intamin rides however, the new wing coaster has a distinct focus on speed,
airtime and fast transitions.
Only two versions of the model currently exist, the other of which, Flying Aces, resides at Ferrari World.
The water coaster on the other hand sees the twists, turns, and drops of a roller coaster
blended with the large splash of a water ride; ultimately giving guests a more thrilling
way to get soaked.
Despite the competition in this market, the company has managed to construct 4 at various
locations around the world.
Only two years later, the amusement manufacturer debuted an alternative to its classic drop tower model.
Falcon’s Fury at Busch Gardens Tampa became the world’s first Sky Jump; a unique drop
tower which sees guests pivot forwards onto their front before they undergo the terrifyingly huge drop.
At the same time, the company constructed Chiapas at Phantasialand, the next generation
of log flume attractions.
The ride features multiple turntables and other trick-track elements; and even a huge
roller coaster like drop beneath a bridge.
By 2016 Intamin had returned to launching new roller coaster models, this time in the
form of Soaring with Dragon, their first triple launch roller coaster.
The attraction sees guests accelerate forwards, backwards, and then forwards once again, gaining
enough speed to complete the rest of the thrilling layout.
In the following year, the company debuted DrageKongen at Djurs Sommerland, their own
take on the Family Suspended coaster model.
Like other manufacturers, Intamin’s variation sees guests sit below the track as they complete
a relatively intense family layout.
Despite the models brief existence, two have already been built worldwide.
Two years later, the business debuted what could be considered its next generation of
rapids ride, Infinity Falls at SeaWorld Orlando.
Unlike previous designs, it features an elevator lift and even the world’s tallest drop on a rapids ride.
Finally, in 2019 the manufacturer constructed another unique and ambitious attraction.
Dueling Dragons, located in China, became the world’s first pair of dueling triple launch coasters.
Guests can experience a thrilling ride in a sit-down or suspended position, filled with
near miss elements and a large number of train interactions.
Despite creating and manufacturing an extensive range range of different rides, Intamin is
often known and praised for their roller coaster collection.
However, spotting the company’s attractions can often be hard due to the impressive number
of tracks designs in use.
Despite this, the manufacturer mainly utilises two track designs, a lattice style track
and a spine style track.
The lattice style track features 2, 3 or 4 tubular steel rails connected by a series
of angular cross ties; creating either a flat segment, a triangular prism or a box like structure.
The spine style on the other hand consists of either a single or a double spine, connected
to two parallel running rails via a series of triangular crossties.
On top of constructing over 100 roller coasters, the originally swiss business have also built
a huge range of other attractions.
The company is a distributor of dark rides, observation towers, ferris wheels, swing rides,
drop towers and more.
Some of their most well known products include the flying island, an observation ride giving
guests a fantastic view of the park around them; the gyro-swing, a pendulum ride which
sees visitors rotate as they swing from side to side; and bounty, a classic pirate ship ride.
This is all on top of the manufacturer’s impressive collection of water based attractions.
The business currently produces water coasters, scenic tow boat rides, shoot-the-chutes, log
flumes and of course rapids rides.
However, one of their most notable water-based attractions lies at the heart of Blackpool Pleasure Beach.
Valhalla, an Intamin flume ride, has consistently been voted as one of the world’s best, due
to its impressive scale and unique dark ride elements.
Since this, the company has utilised other models to create similar dark ride hybrids.
In 2014, the manufacturer worked with Universal Studios to create Harry Potter and the Escape
from Gringotts - an attraction which blends a roller coaster with detailed storytelling
to create a thrilling dark ride experience.
It’s safe to say that throughout their history, Intamin have been extremely flexible, creating
new models to meet the demands of their amusement clientele.
As a result, the company has been chosen by many parks to produce record breaking rides.
On top of constructing the world’s tallest and fastest roller coasters, they were also
the first to utilise LSM and Hydraulic launch technologies.
Their flexible nature has allowed them to innovate on a rapid scale.
However, because of this, Intamin has gained a reputation for creating unreliable attractions.
Some of their rides can often suffer prolonged periods of downtime, especially upon initial debut.
While in other more rare cases their products might require reengineering altogether.
However, improved iterations of a successful model often see these problems ironed out.
In addition to this, because of the company’s flexibility, they have accumulated an arguably
bloated ride catalog, causing some models to quickly become obsolete.
Despite these issues, Intamin are in a strong position; being known as a creator of world
class attractions and the go-to manufacturer for innovative additions.
Thank you for watching, and we’ll see you all next time.
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