Most Innovated Rides From 2005 From Coaster-Net.com

[Mysterio 0]

2005 Has been an eventful year for the debut of new thrill-rides that push the limits of engineering and imagination. This year, the winning rides have had unique inspirations, from action movies, to Greek legends, to African birds. And while uniqueness is usually the defining quality of an innovative ride, statistics are the main innovations for one of our top rides this year. Just two years after Top Thrill Dragster at Cedar Point smashed the limits in the 400-foot range for the first time, we have a new king of the coasters dominating over all the rest. Now, we will let the countdown commence.

 

 

 

10#: Italian Job Stunt Track, Paramount Canada's Wonderland, Vaughan, ON, Canada / Paramount's Kings Island, Kings Mills, OH, USA-

 

 

Copyright Paramount Parks

 

 

Sometimes, a theme is what really brings a ride alive. Last year, that could be seen with the Revenge of the Mummy coasters, which claimed the number ten spot for their combined use of theming with ride features to enhance every part of the experience. Paramount brings one of their own recent movies to life this year with the

 

Copyright Clint Novak

 

 

 

Italian Job Stunt Track coasters at Kings Island in Ohio and Canada's Wonderland in Ontario. Coming from the creator of the Mummy coasters, Premier Rides, these rides have a number of similarities to the Universal rides despite the absence of the dark ride dimension. After a first launch from the station, are immersed in a chase scene from the Italian Job movie, climbing a parking garage before dodging police cars and traffic barriers. Like Revenge of the Mummy, riders arrive back at the "station" only to find their enemy waiting for them, in this case in a helicopter with gunfire erupting in front of them. Another launch propels the train of Mini-Coopers off again, through a tunnel and emerging to "splash down" and end the ride.

 

 

 

#9: Half-Pipe, Don Quijote, Roppongi, Tokyo, Japan-

 

 

Copyright asahi.com

 

 

Our next most innovative ride this year garners its place on the list through its unique location. Who would have thought that one day you could go up to the roof of your neighborhood discount store and hop onboard a world-class roller coaster? Well, that's exactly the case in Tokyo. From the city that brought you Thunder Dolphin, our number two most innovative ride of 2003 for its incredible use of buildings and other urban and amusement structures to enhance the ride, comes this new extreme experience. Half-Pipe is slated to make its debut this December right on the rooftop of the eight-story Don Quijote discount store in the Roppongi district of Tokyo, Japan. And this isn't your normal rooftop thrill-ride, if a rooftop thrill-ride could be classified as normal by any means. Combining spinning cars with a linear-induction-motor-propelled U-shaped, vertical layout, Half-Pipe is an experience not to miss. It may be smaller than past "Half-Pipe" coasters from Intamin AG, but this one is every bit as wild in its ride design and far more wild in location. All-in-all, this new coaster arrives on our list at number nine.

 

 

 

8#: Reaper: Drop Ride to Doom, Amsterdam Dungeon, Amsterdam, Netherlands -

 

 

Copyright Amsterdam Dungeon

 

 

 

Copyright Amsterdam Dungeon

 

 

Location is also the main uniqueness of our number eight ride on the countdown. What do you get when you take a former chapel in the middle of Amsterdam and cram a steel twister inside? Reaper: the Drop Ride to Doom is what you get - a ride with one of the most unique locations in the world. Mack's second "e-Motion" coaster in the world takes a more unique twist from the first, Tulireki at Finland's Linnanm?ki, with its ultra-compact layout inside the church building, but the noteworthiness doesn't end there. Instead of the traditional lift hill, this steel twister utilizes an elevator system similar to the one used on the Lost Coaster of Superstition Mountain at Indiana Beach. Yet, the rarities still don't cease there. Reaper also features a reversing track most comparable to the ones found on the Revenge of the Mummy coasters. This unique new coaster opened in the middle of October and delivers its innovation in a major way.

 

 

 

7#: SheiKra, Busch Gardens Tampa, Tampa Bay, FL, USA-

 

 

Copyright Busch Gardens

 

 

A concept that some thought had died off five years ago made its return to the current coaster scene with a ride that pushes Bolliger and Mabillard's Dive Machine model to the extreme. SheiKra is the name of an African bird known for diving straight down to catch its prey, and that's precisely what this coaster does. Florida's first hyper-sized coaster reaches the 200-foot mark exactly before sending riders

Copyright Homer

 

 

down not one, but two vertical drops that earned the original Dive Machines their reputations. After the first plunge, it's up and into the first inversion on a ride of this type, and it's not your normal vertical loop either. An immelman sends the layout into a carousel curve and block brakes before the second vertical drop, but the ride still isn't over at that point, with two more carousel curves divided by a simulated "water splash" with all the effects. Being the masters in theming and detail that they are, Busch Gardens surrounded SheiKra with African theming, from the themed tunnel that riders enter at the bottom of the second plunge, to stone pillars wrapping around supports. SheiKra may not be an overall record-breaker, but it takes its coaster type a step further, earning it our number seven place.

 

 

 

6#: Kingda Ka, Six Flags Great Adventure, Jackson, NJ, USA-

 

 

Copyright Six Flags

 

 

The world's largest and fastest record has been reclaimed by a theme park on the East Coast of the United States for the first time in nearly fifteen years. Kingda Ka is

Copyright Clint Novak

 

 

the new king of the coaster world and our number six ride, towering over the earth at 456 feet and rocketing off faster than any other ride at 128 miles per hour. If this ride seems strikingly similar to 2003's record-breaker Top Thrill Dragster at Cedar Point, that's because it's the same layout and same Intamin Rocket Coaster ride type, made larger, with some other notable improvements. The biggest change along the out-and-back course is a second hill; nothing like the first vertical ascent and descent, but a quick 129-foot speed hill to deliver a moment of airtime at extreme high speeds before entering the brakes. Kingda Ka also utilizes a dual loading station for high capacity where Dragster uses loading and unloading stations. The one disadvantage over the former record-holder is the use of over-the-shoulder restraints in place of lapbars only. When it comes down to it, this coaster is innovative for pressing on in the race for taller and faster, but loses points of innovation for its unoriginality. No one can argue though, Cedar Point has been outdone again.

 

 

 

5#: Hydra: the Revenge, Dorney Park, Allentown, PA, USA-

 

 

Copyright Dorney Park

 

 

Reviving a Greek legend at Dorney Park, our number five coaster has taken its revenge on the former king of the wooden coaster world, Hercules, with one of the most twisted steel coasters in the world. Along with being the Cedar Fair chain's first floorless coaster, Hydra: the Revenge breaks free from the ordinary floorless coaster from Bolliger and Mabillard that most people have come to expect. From the very beginning, Hydra makes a statement of uniqueness, with the second-ever inversion

Copyright TJ Andrews

 

 

between the station and lift: a heartline "jojo" roll. And although the statistics lack while they were a strength on the predecessor, at 105 feet and 53 miles per hour, the innovative layout of this coaster throws passengers through a very unique inversion lineup consisting of an inclined dive loop, zero-g roll, corkscrew, cobra roll, and second corkscrew. Like Hercules, terrain is a defining part of the ride as riders dive down hillsides and speed past piles of rocks, all adding up to equal a memorable ride. Dorney Park may have sacrificed a larger coaster for Hydra, but the uniqueness and appeal of this new ride are sure to justify the removal in the end.

 

 

 

4#: Hades, Mount Olympus Theme Park, Wisconsin Dells, WI, USA-

 

 

Copyright Mt. Olympus Theme Park

 

 

Riding on the success of several smaller wooden coasters installed over the past decade, Hades towers above the rest and goes to depths that no other coasters have gone before. The former Custom Coasters International designers at Gravity Group

Copyright Mt. Olympus Theme Park

 

 

have proven that they still have the knack for designing impressive wooden coasters with the largest ride to their name so far. The steel-supported wooden track of this coaster rises far above any of Mount Olympus' former coasters with a lift hill dwarfing the 1997 Zeus at 136 feet. And even the height isn't as impressive as the first drop: a plunge of 140 feet taking the track under ground and under the parking lot for an intense sequence of high-speed airtime hops and the steepest banking ever seen on a wooden coaster: a complete ninety degrees. This ride isn't a one-trick pony like some coasters either, with 4,726 feet of track taking the train out the other side of the parking lot for some more tall elements and back under for a second subterranean pass. For its innovation in wooden coaster design, Hades makes our list at number four.

 

 

 

3#: Powder Keg: A Blast in the Wilderness, Silver Dollar City, Branson, MO, USA-

 

 

Copyright Silver Dollar City

 

 

Old and new come together in a unique transformation of Silver Dollar City's former water coaster into the world's only half-launched, half-lift-hill-powered coaster. When Buzzsaw Falls opened in 1999, people considered that ride to be innovative enough for its log-flume-like splashdowns and theme in the midst of coaster-like drops and turns. Not Silver Dollar City.

Copyright Silver Dollar City

 

 

The Missouri theme park wanted something even more unique. In the fashion of parks like Pennsylvania's Kennywood, the park retained half of the old ride and lengthened the course with new elements unlike the former ride. Gone is the water, and new is a pneumatic launch from S&S Power, complete with a transfer track between the station and launch and a unique spike of track behind the launch in the case of rollbacks. Despite the launch, Powder Keg is geared for all ages, with a layout only reaching 100 feet in height and lacking inversions. But the layout itself is a unique one, twisting and turning through the terrain before hitting the original lift hill for one final drop and curve. Powder Keg explodes onto our list at number three.

 

 

 

2#: G-Force, Drayton Manor, Drayton, Staffordshire, UK-

 

 

Copyright Matt Vickers

 

 

Our number two steel coaster does exactly what a winning innovative ride must do - it completely throws away the norm. The recipient of our silver medal this year is a ride that's unique from the very start. Riders board original-looking sideless trains at Drayton Manor Park and secure unique curved

Copyright Matt Vickers

 

 

lap restraints before setting off along one of the most unique layouts ever conceived. The lift hill itself is the most innovative portion of the layout in that it takes riders through an oddly-shaped vertical loop. As the ride starts the lift hill after a drop from the station, it may seem like any other - that is, until it goes completely vertical, and pretty soon, completely over to hang riders on their heads. And let's keep in mind, riders are secured without the aid of over-the-shoulder restraints. From there, the track swoops down to the ground to complete the first inversion before taking on a vertical hill and a unique double inversion known as a "bent cuban eight." During this element, the train completes a half-loop, 100-degree corkscrew to the ground, then another half-loop followed by a 180-degree twist back down. All-in-all, G-Force is one incredibly unique ride.

 

 

 

1#: Sequoia Adventure, Gardaland, Castelnuovo del Garda, Veneto, Italy-

 

 

Copyright Gardaland

 

 

And now, for our top pick this year. The newest extreme coaster from the minds at S&S Power has finally found a home. Italy's Gardaland became the first park in the world to invest in a Screaming Squirrel coaster, the ride that members of the media were invited to test out several years ago at S&S's Utah plant. Unlike the company's initial coaster model, the Thrust Air 2000, the Screaming Squirrel is a lift-hill-powered ride on a smaller scale, but the insanity is even more in this design than the last. S&S plays with the extreme angles again by taking riders up to an altitude of just under 100 feet before sending them plunging down 180-degree - yes, 180-degree - hairpin drops. Of course, brakes slow the cars as they dive down to the next level of track and completely invert. The completely unique design of the Sequoia Adventure and its vertical layout allowed Gardaland to fit the compact layout in a unique location: right in the middle of a traditional Arrow Dynamics Corkscrew coaster's layout. Some think of it as a wild mouse turned on its side. Others think of it as the latest creation from the mind of an insane genius. Whatever this coaster is exactly, it lands at our number one spot on the countdown for its complete originality in the world of amusement parks.

 

 

 

And that wraps up another great year of new innovation! As always, hang on tight and prepare for another great year ahead. The storm clouds are already gathering and the times ahead are wild ones for thrill-seekers around the globe.

 

Written by Blast Coaster from Coaster-Net.com

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First this is from Coaster-Net.com. It is a great site. Well this is the list for the most innovated rides for 2005. Please other people here discuss here about what you think it is the more innovated rides. Here is my list.

 

10: Italian Job Stunt Track, Paramount Canada's Wonderland, Vaughan, ON, Canada / Paramount's Kings Island, Kings Mills, OH, USA-

 

9: Half-Pipe, Don Quijote, Roppongi, Tokyo, Japan-

 

8: Reaper: Drop Ride to Doom, Amsterdam Dungeon, Amsterdam, Netherlands -

 

7: Hydra: the Revenge, Dorney Park, Allentown, PA, USA-

 

6: Kingda Ka, Six Flags Great Adventure, Jackson, NJ, USA-

 

5: SheiKra, Busch Gardens Tampa, Tampa Bay, FL, USA-

 

4: Powder Keg: A Blast in the Wilderness, Silver Dollar City, Branson, MO, USA-

 

3: Hades, Mount Olympus Theme Park, Wisconsin Dells, WI, USA-

 

2: G-Force, Drayton Manor, Drayton, Staffordshire, UK-

 

1: Sequoia Adventure, Gardaland, Castelnuovo del Garda, Veneto, Italy-

[Mike83 0]

My favourite ride that I have been on is the Pepsi-Max Big One, at blackpool pleasure beach. The first drop is so amazing, especially at night, when its all lit up. In the day, if its clear, you can see for miles down the beach and out to see. Awesome!

 

 

Followed by Nemesis at Alton Towers Its so fast, and cool when it goes upside down!

 

I'd love to go to America sometime, to ride all the rides there