Theme Parks are an incredible destination, being in every continent (except Antarctica), whether for a day off work, a holiday, or just a fun day out, they are amazing places to visit. No matter what age you are, you will almost always find something for you to enjoy. If you are visiting with young children, there is usually a junior rollercoaster with a low height restriction for them to go on, such as The Flying Fish at Thorpe Park and Farmyard Flyer at Paulton’s Park. These rides are also great for people who are nervous about going on rollercoasters or who want a gentler experience. There are family coasters, that have a more intense layout but a slightly bigger height restriction, like Wicker Man at Alton Towers and Vampire at Chessington World of Adventures. Then there’s the ‘Mega Thrill’ coasters, which are hugely popular in most theme parks. They provide the most adrenaline, suit teenagers and adults, and have a higher height restriction than the other rides.
Fear Factor
Another reason people love to visit theme parks is because many rides are record breaking. Whether you want to experience the world’s first ‘Dive Coaster’, Oblivion at Alton Towers, or the World’s Tallest Rollercoaster, Falcon’s Flight, theme parks offer a variety of thrills, and are fun for the whole family; unless if you’re scared of rollercoasters, which is more common than you might think! The most common reason for this fear is the misconception that rollercoasters aren’t safe. However, you can be reassured that rollercoaster designs and engineers thoughtfully consider safety of the rider, and rides go through countless testing before they open to the public and even before they pen for the days at the park. But how are they designed safely? What is the process? Are they as easy to make as a toy train? Let’s find out!
The Design Process
The first step that all theme parks must take is the plan for the ride. Where will it go? Does it comply with local planning permissions? What is the amount of land the park has? Then they decide the budget, which is how much money will be spent on the ride. A small, ‘kiddie coaster’ will have a much smaller budget than the next record breaking thrill ride! The last things designers will often decide is the timeframe that it will be built in, the type of coaster and the target audience.
Prototypes
The next areas designers look at is the ride prototype and the manufacturer the park wants to work with. Several manufacturers include Vekoma, B&M (not the shop!) which stands for Bolliger and Mallibard, Pinfari, Intamin and Schwarzkopf, but there are many more out there. Prototypes are mini model, train and track demonstrations that the manufacture provides at one of their manufacturing houses. Several types of coaster include wooden, flying, hyper, spinning, steel, inverted and dive, which are your standard models, but many of these have sub-categories. Once the type of coaster has been decided, the prototypes demonstrate what model of ride they want from one of these types. For example, and Intamin accelerator can be a type of steel or hyper coaster, and a Vekoma SLC (which stands for suspended looping coaster,) is classified under inverted but is in the sub-category of suspended coasters.
The Final Stages
Once this has been chosen, the chosen designer will create the layout of the ride, labelling it with forces, restrains, and any ither considerations that may need to be made dependent on the type of coaster and target audience. It also takes into account the heights of the ride, what ride elements (inversions, helixes, airtime hills, banks, and more) will be included, and any large theming pieces that will be placed near the layout. Often once the design has been completed, the park will decide on the theme of the ride. Some theme parks, especially those that are targeting thrills, often skip the theme entirely and aim to provide a colour scheme aligned with the name and perhaps a simple backstory. However, some parks, notably Alton Towers, develop intricate backstories that continue on through an entire area and generations of rides. Forbidden Valley is an immaculate example of this, starting with Nemesis, and how the fictional Phalanx Organization used the coaster’s track to imprison the Nemesis Monster, an otherworldly alien that had been sleeping dormant for years, then having a calmer oasis of the valley where Galactica is located, Toxicator studies the Nemesis creature’s toxic saliva and how the Phalanx plan for it to fight the Nemesis Creature. There is also Nemesis Sub-Terra, an exhibition of Nemesis’s eggs and is themed around how the exhibition goes terribly, horribly wrong. Even if you look at past rides of the area, such as the Blade, which was the Phalanx’s cutting blade to fight Nemesis, and Dynamo, which was a new vehicle of the Phalanx that needed testing that was trying to blow up Nemesis.
Theming
This just shows how incredibly detailed the theming can be on a rollercoaster, with Nemesis featuring a huge alien-monster, Wicker Man featuring a huge wicker statue given the name, ‘Big Bob’, and The Smiler has the tangling, spider-like robotic contraption of the, ‘Marmaliser’.
After the initial theming phase, construction of the ride begins, often over closed season, Sometimes, construction happens during when the park is open. Concrete footers are placed where the supports for the ride track are going to go, and pieces of theming begin to be delivered to the park. Construction takes around a year, sometime less and sometimes more. After the ride is constructed and the trains are delivered, the ride is tested to make sure that it is safe for humans and that the supports and construction have been built properly. Safety test included ensuring that and that people will not hit their heads, arms or legs on any other part of the ride. Rides are first tested with an empty train, to check it will make it all the way around the layout without getting stuck anywhere, and then with test dummies, to make sure the ride can operate with weight. Finally, it is tested by the designer and park employees, modified if needed, and an opening date for the ride is announced. After this, a press event happens where content creators, news reporters and celebrities come on a special day after hours to test out the ride and advertise it. Following this, it was open to the general public, culminating in a huge opening day ceremony!
By Emma and Mia