Giga roller coaster
| Giga | |
|---|---|
| |
| Description | A complete-circuit roller coaster that is 300 to 399 feet tall. |
| First | Millennium Force - 2000 |
| Oldest | Millennium Force - 2000 |
| Newest | Red Force - 2017 |
| Manufacturers | Bolliger & Mabillard - Intamin - Morgan |
A giga roller coaster is a complete circuit roller coaster that is built for height, speed, and airtime. These coasters are between 300 and 399 feet (91.4 and 121.6 meters) in height.
History[edit | edit source]
The first roller coaster taller than 300 feet was Tower of Terror at Dreamworld in Australia. Opened in 1997, it is 390 feet tall but is not a giga roller coaster as it is a shuttle roller coaster, which means the track does not form a circuit.
Three years later, the first giga roller coaster was introduced. Millennium Force, located at Cedar Point in Ohio, United States opened on May 13, 2000 and is 310 feet tall. The same year, Steel Dragon 2000 opened in August. It is 8 feet taller than Millennium Force and is also the longest roller coaster, with a track length of 8,133.2 feet.
Ten years passed before the third giga roller coaster, Intimidator 305, opened. Meanwhile in 2003, Top Thrill Dragster opened at a height of 420 feet. It was the first strata roller coaster (i.e. the first complete-circuit roller coaster over 400 feet tall).
There are now six giga roller coasters in operation. The most recently opened was Red Force, which is also the first launched giga roller coaster.
Giga roller coasters[edit | edit source]
- Millennium Force (2000)
- Steel Dragon 2000 (2000)
- Intimidator 305 (2010)
- Leviathan (2012)
- Fury 325 (2015)
- Red Force (2017)
- Orion (2020)
| Types of roller coaster | |||||||||
| Track materials | Hybrid • Steel • Wooden | ||||||||
| Scale | Kiddie • Family • Hyper (200+ feet) • Giga (300+ feet) • Strata (400+ feet) | ||||||||
| Train configurations | 4th Dimension • Bobsled • Floorless • Flying • Inverted • Motorbike (Steeplechase) • Pipeline • Side Friction • Spinning (Virginia Reel) • Stand-Up • Suspended • Winged | ||||||||
| Track layouts | Figure 8 • Out and Back • Twister• Wacky Worm (Big Apple) • Wild Mouse | ||||||||
| Multi-tracked | Number of tracks: 2 (twin, möbius) • 3 (triple) • 4 (quad) • 6 (sextuple) | ||||||||
| Style | Mine Train • Water (liquid) | ||||||||
| Situation | Enclosed • Indoor • Terrain • Travelling | ||||||||
| Track configurations | Single rail | ||||||||