This page is a glossary; a list of all roller coaster and amusement park terminology used both on this website and in the wider enthusiast community.
Status
- Operating -
- Standing but not operating -
- Under construction -
- In storage -
- Defunct -
- Unknown -
Type
Class:
Track material:
Category: (pick up to one)
- 4th Dimension
- Bobsled
- Floorless
- Flying
- Inverted
- Motorbike (Steeplechase)
- Pipeline
- Rocking cars
- Side Friction
- Stand-Up
- Suspended
- Water
- Winged
Category: (pick any amount)
Environment:
Combination: (pick any amount, for tables where only one category will fit)
- Steeplechase (multi-tracked motorbike roller coaster)
- Virginia Reel (side friction wooden spinning coaster)
Ride experience
- Airtime - Another name for negative g-force. It is the floating sensation felt when the train crests a hill at speed.
- Footchopper - The inverted equivelant of a headchopper - Areas of the ride's structure or the ground that come particularly close to rider's feet.
- Headchopper - Part of a rides structure that comes particularly close to riders' heads.
- Inversion - A section of track that turns riders upside-down. Some roller coasters, particularly shuttle roller coasters traverse the same inversions more than once. In this case, each inversion is only counted once.
Other
- Car - A single ride vehicle in which riders are secured. Multiple cars linked together form a train.
- Cookie-cutter - Slang for model.
- Dimensions - The two-dimensional area a roller coaster takes up; length x breadth.
- Model - A roller coaster design or product located at multiple parks. Sometimes called a cookie-cutter roller coaster by enthusiasts.
- Pull through - A process in which an extra-large car is moved round the track to check that all scenery and supports are out of reach to riders.
- Riders per hour - The theoretical amount of rides a roller can give per hour when operating at full capacity. The actual capacity of a roller coaster is almost always lower due to a number of factors.
- Station - The area where riders embark and disembark the ride vehicles.
- Train - Two or more cars linked together form a train.