Stand-up roller coaster
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A stand-up roller coaster is a roller coaster designed to have the passengers stand through the course of the ride. Typically, the passenger is restrained by an adjustable, bicycle-like seat and an over-the-shoulder (OTS) restraint. There have been a total of 10 stand-up roller coasters built. The inversions usualy consist of a vertical loop, a dive loop, an inclined loop, and corkscrews.
Although stand-up coasters were not as successful as other looping roller coasters, they continue to thrive in their various parks.
Be advised when riding a stand-up coaster that the ride can be quite painful when standing rigidly. Try to bend the knees slightly which should prove to be a much more comfortable ride.
[edit] History
The first stand-up roller coaster was, depending on how you look at it, either the Standing & Loop Coaster at Yomiuriland in Inagi, Tokyo Japan, or Dangai, which operated at Thrill Valley in Gotemba, Shizuoka Japan. Standing & Loop Coaster technically opened first, in 1979. When it first opened, however, it operated as a standard sit-down style looping roller coaster. A second train, a stand-up train, was added in 1982, with the coaster opening for the season just one day after Dangai, which also added stand-up trains in 1982. Standing & Loop Coaster still operates to this day, whereas Dangai closed in 2002.
Extremeroller/EXT at Worlds of Fun in Kansas City, Missouri was the first roller coaster to operate in a stand-up configuration in the Western Hemisphere, though it only operated in this manner for the 1983 season (before which it was called Screamroller). Because the track and structure were never designed for stand-up trains, they were removed and the original sit-down trains were reinstalled in 1984.
King Cobra at King's Island in Mason, Ohio was the world's first coaster designed specifically to be stand up. It operated from 1984 to 2001.
Three companies built stand-up coasters during the approximately twenty years they were actively built. The last stand-up coaster to be constructed was Georgia Scorcher at Six Flags Over Georgia in 1999, although a stand-up coaster is in storage at Darien Lake [1] (formerly Batman: The Escape at the late Six Flags Astroworld). No plans have been made to build a new one as of 2007.
Shockwave at Drayton Manor Theme Park in the UK, an Intamin coaster which opened in 1994 is the only stand-up roller coaster with a zero g roll in the world.
[edit] Stand-up Coasters
[edit] External links
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