If you want to ride every new roller coaster being unleashed in North America this summer, you'd better start now.
"This year there are 60 new, moved or renovated roller coasters in North America (59 in the United States, one in Canada), which shatters the record last year of 39," said Paul Ruben, North American editor of the amusement trade magazine Park World."That's the most in a single year since the Great Depression."
Roller coasters are cresting the end of the 20th century on a higher plane than ever. While the total is smaller than during the "Golden Age" 1920s, when more than 1,500 wooden coasters rolled throughout the continent, they're gaining strength at an amazing rate. Today there are 438 in North America (403 in the United States), according to Ruben; eight of those stand idle.
Since 1979, when there were only 145, "we've seen an explosion of coaster growth, a second golden age of coasters," Ruben explained. "But the difference is that they're bigger, faster and wilder than ever before."
They're definitely not your grandfather's roller coaster. The newly refurbished Leap-the-Dips, built in 1902 at Lakemont Park, Altoona, Pa., is the world's oldest roller coaster still in operation. Idle for a decade, it's not exactly a screamer for today's crowd, at a speed of 6 mph.
"It stands as a reminder of where we've been," said Ruben.
Where we're heading, at the century's end, is not only higher and faster, but far more categories. Ruben counts more than two dozen styles of roller coasters, including wooden, steel, looping, suspended, inverted, stand-up, launched shuttle and even amphibious -- a pretty broad field for "best" bragging rights.
Highest on the scream horizon this year are several "mega-coasters" or "hypercoasters," steel giants that Ruben describes as "coasters on steroids."
Those include Apollo's Chariot, at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Va. Its pedestal-style seats perch above the cars with no over-the-shoulder restraints, heightening the sensation of flying.
"It's an exquisite ride," Ruben said, boasting a 210-foot first drop into a watery ravine, nine moments of the coveted negative gravity, when riders are lifted off their seats and a top speed of 73 mph.
Apollo's Chariot joins Raging Bull, at Six Flags Great America, Gurnee, Ill., on Bill Linkenheimer's list of new, must-ride hypercoaster delights. Linkenheimer is president of the 5,800-member American Coaster Enthusiasts organization (for membership information, reach it at 913-262-4512, or at its Web site: www.ACEonline.org.
Raging Bull, billed as the first "hyper-twister," boasts six "inclined loops," or steeply banked, high-speed twists and turns which are essentially horizontal. It also hits 73 mph, with a 200-foot first drop into an underground tunnel at 65 degrees. Its "sideless" cars, restrained by a simple lap bar, advance the trend of putting riders "out there" with diminished restraints.
With its high-speed series of hills, "it tries to pull the seat out from under you," Ruben said.
Another new mega-coaster "which promises to be just wonderful," said Ruben, is Superman -- Ride of Steel, at Six Flags Darien Lake, Darien Center, N.Y. It drops 205 feet at a 70 degree angle, then doglegs into a fog-bound tunnel at a speed of 73 mph.
At Six Flags Great Adventure, Jackson, N.J., Medusa breaks ground, literally, as the first "floorless" roller coaster. The rails are beneath the train, and the floor drops out, leaving your toes 16 inches above the rails for a "flying chair" effect, Ruben said, as the coaster negotiates seven loops and inversions.
Among other notable steel roller coasters debuting this season:
Dueling Dragons, at the new Universal Studios Islands of Adventure park, Orlando, Fla., two coasters that "approach each other at collision speed, pulling out by inches," Ruben said.
The Incredible Hulk, also at Islands of Adventure, a tightly spiraled, looping coaster that launches riders up a 150-foot tunnel.
Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, an inverted launch coaster opening this summer at Disney-MGM Studios, Orlando.
The Tennessee Tornado, at Dollywood, Pigeon Forge, Tenn., which drops 125 feet through the inside of a Smoky Mountain peak.
The Georgia Scorcher, a stand-up looper at Six Flags Over Georgia, Atlanta.
Top Gun, an inverted coaster, at Paramount's Carowinds, Charlotte, N.C.
Serial Thriller and Batman the Ride, both inverted coasters, at Astroworld, Houston, and Six Flags Over Texas, Arlington, Texas, respectively.
Face/Off, an inverted, boomerang-style coaster, at Paramount's Kings Island.
Two roller coasters at Fiesta Texas, San Antonio -- Poltergeist, a linear-induction coaster, and Boomerang, another forwards/backwards coaster.
There's a resurgence of wood in the roller-coaster equation this year, with seven in North America this year.
"Wooden coasters are riding the comeback rails, and for traditionalists that's very reassuring," Ruben said. (Steel coasters first outnumbered wood in 1986; now there's 320 vs. 110, respectively, in operation this season.)
Gwazi, which just opened at Busch Gardens in Tampa Bay, Fla., "is also a dueling coaster," said Linkenheimer. "It's the first 'woodie' in Florida in a long time."
It's also the first wooden coaster ever at a Busch park, noted Ruben.
Other wooden coasters include Roar, at Six Flags Marine World, Vallejo, Calif.; Silver Comet, at Martin's Fantasy Island, near Niagara Falls, N.Y.; and Tremors, at Silverwood, Athol, Idaho, "with a unique earthquake theme that shakes the gift shop as it passes through it," said Linkenheimer.
Linkenheimer also pointed out that Ghost Rider, at Knott's Berry Farm, Buena Park, Calif., which actually debuted last December, is on many riders' lists this year because it opened past the traditional ride season.
Also on the roller-coaster front, "the wild mouse design (a small steel coaster, with trademark sudden drops and 180-degree turns) is popular again," Linkenheimer noted.
The most intriguing one, said Ruben, is the Exterminator, at Kennywood, West Mifflin, Pa., which is a heavily themed, "dark" (inside) ride with spinning cars that look like rats and race through a subterranean "sewer." Other new wild-mouse style coasters include the Fly, Canada's only new coaster, at Paramount's Canada's Wonderland, Vaughan, Ontario; and rides at HersheyPark, Hershey, Pa.; and Valleyfair, Shakopee, Minn.