Giga roller coaster
| Giga | |
|---|---|
| |
| Millennium Force, the first giga coaster | |
| Description | A complete-circuit roller coaster that is 300 to 399 feet tall. |
| First | Millennium Force - 2000 |
| Oldest | Millennium Force - 2000 |
| Newest | Orion - 2020 |
| 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 in height.
History[edit | edit source]
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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 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).
The first giga coaster from Bolliger & Mabillard was Leviathan at Canada's Wonderland, opened in 2012. Their second giga coaster, Fury 325, opened at Carowinds in 2015.
Red Force became the tallest giga coaster and the first to have a launch as opposed to a lift hill when it opened in 2017. It has a single top hat element.
There are now seven giga roller coasters in operation. The most recently opened is Orion, at Kings Island in Mason, Ohio in July 2020.
List of giga roller coasters[edit | edit source]
| Name | Park | Country | Opened | Manufacturer | Height | Drop |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Millennium Force | Cedar Point |  |
May 13, 2000 | Intamin | 310 feet | 300 feet |
| Steel Dragon 2000 | Nagashima Spa Land |  |
August 1, 2000 | Morgan | 318 feet | 307 feet |
| Intimidator 305 | Kings Dominion | |
April 2, 2010 | Intamin | 305 feet | 300 feet |
| Leviathan | Canada's Wonderland |  |
May 6, 2012 | Bolliger & Mabillard | 306 feet | 306 feet |
| Fury 325 | Carowinds | |
March 28, 2015 | Bolliger & Mabillard | 325 feet | 320 feet |
| Red Force | Ferrari Land |  |
April 7, 2017 | Intamin | 367.3 feet | Unknown |
| Orion | Kings Island | |
July 12, 2020 | Bolliger & Mabillard | 287 feet | 300 feet |
| 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 • U-shuttle • 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 | ||||||||