Top 50 Legendary Roller Coasters - Corkscrew

If you could resurrect any deceased roller coaster which one would it be? I'm starting a new series examining what I believe to be the top 50 legendary roller coasters that no longer exist. We start with number 50:

50. CORKSCREW

Known for: First double-inverting roller coaster in Europe

Location: Alton Towers, England

Type/Category: Steel, Sitdown Looping

Opened: 1980 / Closed: 2008 / Dismantled: 2008

Age when closed: 28

Replaced by: Thirteen

Designer/Manufacturer: Arrow Dynamics/Vekoma

Height: 75ft (22.86m) / Drop: 68ft (20.73m)

Speed: 44mph (13.41kph)

Length: 2,400ft (731.52m)

Inversions: 2

Alton Towers, located in Staffordshire, England, is an amusement park with a unique history. It started out as a nobleman’s estate, and then became a garden and tourist attraction. Throughout the 1970’s, the park was built up into a modern theme park, and in 1980, Alton Towers got its first rollercoaster—the Corkscrew. The Corkscrew was exactly what Alton Towers needed to complete the transformation from quiet country estate to thrilling amusement park. A steel rollercoaster, featuring one of the first double-loop inversions in Europe, the Corkscrew reached speeds of 44 mph. There was nothing else like the Corkscrew anywhere in the UK, and it was an instant success. On its opening weekend, guests at the park waited up to nine hours for the chance to ride the Corkscrew, and months later park-goers were still waiting in line for hours to ride this new rollercoaster. Park attendance doubled from 1979 to 1980.

However, as the years passed, the Corkscrew’s appeal faded. While its inversions had once been new, now there were other rollercoasters with similar, or more extreme, elements. And while 44 mph had once seemed incredibly fast, compared to newer rollercoasters, it was tame. By 2008, the Corkscrew was an old rollercoaster with a rough, bumpy ride. Still, on the ride’s last day in November 2008, thousands turned out for one last ride on the Corkscrew. The ride was torn down, but parts of the track were saved and are now on display at the entrance to Alton Towers, reminding guests of the rollercoaster that launched the park into the successful theme park it is today.

50 Legendary Roller Coasters That No Longer Exist is the latest book by Nick Weisenberger and you can download the Kindle version for free between 4/21/16 - 4/25/16.

20 Terrifying Roller Coasters

The world’s coaster count is rapidly approaching three- thousand operating rides. Coaster enthusiasts strap themselves into these scream machines simply because they love being scared in a safe environment. What factors make a ride terrifying? Height, speed, inversions, backwards segments, unique track elements, darkness, and unexpected surprises all contribute to making your head spin and your knees tremble.

See 20 Terrifying Roller Coasters in my new presentations shared on Slideshare:

The 50 Most Terrifying Roller Coasters Ever Built from Nick Weisenberger

Top 50 Most Terrifying Roller Coasters - 45. Furius Baco

45. FURIUS BACO

Known for: World's only launched wingrider

Park: Port Adventura

Location: Spain

Type: Steel

Opened: 2007

Designer/Manufacturer: Intamin AG

Height (ft.): 46

Speed (mph): 83.9

Inversions: 1

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lpl1zlq9jXY

Furius Baco was the world’s first wing coaster where the seats are cantilevered off the side of the train instead of being on top of or below the rails allowing passenger’s feet to dangle freely. What makes Furius Baco even more unique is it’s the world’s only launched wing coaster, and while many other launched rides typically launch immediately into a giant hill, Furius Baco races off of the launch track and dips down into a trench. Because the wingspan of the vehicles is so wide the outside seats are far away from the center of gravity of the trains and often result in a rough and bumpy ride. This could be one of the reasons why Furius Baco has been the only wing-rider with stationary seats sold and manufactured by Intamin. The wing-rider market is dominated now by B&M who appears to have solved the roughness problem.

Top 50 Most Terrifying Roller Coasters - 46. The Bat

46. THE BAT

Known for: World's first suspended coaster

Park: Kings Island

Location: United States

Type: Steel

Opened: 1993

Designer/Manufacturer: Arrow Dynamics

Height (ft.): 78

Drop (ft.): 70

Speed (mph): 51

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sg-OWKFyp8A‎

One of the most notorious rides in roller coaster history is The Bat at Kings Island. It was the first ever suspended roller coaster where the cars hang below the rails and are free to swing freely from side to side. The Bat only operated sporadically between 1981 and 1983 before being dismantled in 1985. Over the years, the legend of the Bat has grown due to the outrageous rumors about why the ride was destroyed and because so few people were able to ride it. Contrary to many wild stories, the Bat never killed or even injured a rider. Poor engineering of the trains, track, and structure is what really lead to the ride’s demise. A year after the Bat was removed the Vortex looping coaster was erected in the Bat’s place and actually reused the station. Concrete footers from the Bat can still be seen beneath the Vortex’s structure. The suspended roller coaster returned to Kings Island in 1993 with the edition of Top Gun (renamed Flight Deck and later re-themed to the Bat). If you were fortunate enough to ride the original Bat consider yourself lucky!

Top 50 Most Terrifying Roller Coasters - 47. Riddler's Revenge

47. RIDDLER'S REVENGE

Known for: World's largest standup coaster

Park: Six Flags Magic Mountain

Location: United States

Type: Steel

Opened: 1998

Designer/Manufacturer: Bolliger & Mabillard

Height (ft.): 156

Drop (ft.): 146

Speed (mph): 65

Inversions: 6

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrsvkjhSwEQ‎

When Riddler’s Revenge opened in 1998 it became the world recorder holder in height, drop, speed, length and number of inversions on a standup roller coaster. Instead of sitting in a seated position riders standup while hurling through massive inversions including two back to back dive loops. Riders straddle a small bicycle style seat meaning this coaster may be slightly more terrifying for males rather than females, especially if they have dreams of having children in the future. Even though B&M only built seven standup coasters Riddler’s Revenge remains the cream of the crop.

Top 50 Most Terrifying Roller Coasters - 48. The RATTLER

48. The RATTLER

Known for: World's largest wood coaster when it debuted

Park: Six Flags Fiesta Texas

Location: United States

Type: Wood

Opened: 1992

Closed: 2012

Designer/Manufacturer: John Pierce

Height (ft.): 179.7

Drop (ft.): 124

Speed (mph): 65

Video: http://youtu.be/BPXBkuN-O18

When the Rattler opened at Six Flags Fiesta Texas in 1992 it was the tallest and fastest wooden coaster in the world. The lift hill climbed to an impressive height of 179 feet followed by a gut wrenching drop of 166 feet and a blistering speed of 73 mph. Adding to the ride’s excitement was its incredible location situated on top of, next to, and even carved through a rock quarry wall.Unfortunately, the coaster's original plans never called for such a large first drop. The construction of the 161 foot tall Mean Streak at Cedar Point prompted the park to alter the design at the last minute in order to make it the record holder. The hasty changes negatively affected the layout due to very rough transitions between elements resulting in many riders complaining of rib or back pain. The park was forced to make modifications to the ride and shortenedthe first drop from 166 to 124 feet resulting in a reduction of its top speed from 73 to 65 miles per hour.

There’s a saying about wooden roller coasters: “If it doesn’t shake it’s going to break.” Wooden roller coaster structures are designed to sway a couple of inches as the train goes racing by, especially in tight corners and high g-force locations. Think of it like this — when you jump off of a tall object you land safely by allowing your legs to flex and bend at the knee. Otherwise, if you kept your legs straight, you might shatter your leg bone or bust your knee joint. This same basic principle applies to a wooden roller coaster. The structure must be allowed to give and flex like a shock absorber in order to keep it from internally shaking itself to pieces. The Rattler was notorious for how much the structure would sway as the train raced by. See for yourself in this video: (http://youtu.be/sLfQBW9wnDI)

The Rattler was closed in 2012 to be transformed into the Iron Rattler steel coaster.

Top 50 Most Terrifying Roller Coasters #49 Abyss

The next coaster in our countdown of the 50 most terrifying roller coasters ever built is...

49. Abyss

Known for: Underwear dispensers

Park: Adventure World

Location: Australia

Type: Steel

Opened: 2013

Designer/Manufacturer: Gerstlauer Amusement Rides GmbH

Height (ft.): 98.4

Drop (ft.): 100

Speed (mph): 52.8

Inversions: 3

Australia’s Adventure World opened Abyss in 2013, a custom designed Gerstlauer Euro-Fighter coaster, the first of its kind in the country.Riders of the $12 million coaster board one of four trains seating eight passengers each. The journey begins inside a dark show building where the vehicles navigate a few twists and turns before rolling rider’s upside down through an inline twist in the dark. Then it’s outside and up the 100 foot tall vertical lift hill. The beyond vertical first drop sends the cars zipping along in excess of 52 mph during the ride’s 2,066-foot-long course. A dive loop and Immelman loop complete the inversion count before the vehicles return to the station inside the show building.

In an effort to help promote Abyss as Australia’s most terrifying coaster, the park placed underwear dispensers outside the exit of the ride stocked with packets of fresh clean white underpants. Along with the 'tighty whities', the undies packets contained a fact sheet outlining all of the key statistics and features relating to the ride. The park hasn’t unveiled how many guests have actually needed the packets.

Stay tuned for number 48. See number fifty here.

Top 50 Most Terrifying Roller Coasters - Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit

I'm starting a new series examining what I believe to be the top 50 most terrifying roller coasters ever built. We start with number 50:

50. HOLLYWOOD RIP RIDE ROCKIT

Known for: World’s first track elements

Park: Universal Studios Florida

Location: United States

Type: Steel

Opened: 2009

Designer/Manufacturer: Maurer Söhne

Height (ft.): 167

Speed (mph): 65

Video: http://youtu.be/JjI2a8wRe34

Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit is a radically innovative steel coaster that includes one-of-a-kind track elements, cutting-edge technology, and an interactive audio element. Sprawling across a large section of the park, the skyline of Universal Studios Florida was changed forever when the Rockit began thrilling in August of 2009. Riders board a train consisting of two six passenger cars before ascending the 167 foot tall vertical lift hill. After reaching a speed of 65 miles per hour the ride soars into a mammoth non-inverting loop (a loop that twists at the top so the vehicles never turn upside down). This crazy maneuver is followed by the Treble Clef, where guests burst through a building façade on track shaped like the music symbol; and later followed by the Jump Cut, a spiraling, negative-gravity move. If nothing else, Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit is surely one of the coolest looking coasters around, especially at night when the lights on the vehicles are lit up.

The most unique aspect of Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit is the ability to choose your own song to rock out to. That is if you can hear it over your own screaming. The music selection is broken up into 30 songs in five categories; Classic Rock/Heavy Metal, Club/Electronica, Country, Rap/Hip-Hop, and Pop Music/Disco. In addition to these 30 songs, Universal has also included a number of “hidden” tracks that are accessible via entering secret codes into the ride’s touchpads before your journey begins. A personalized take-home music video is also available for purchase for those wanting to remember and share their terrifying ordeal with their friends.