5 Coaster Types We Should Stop Building

There's nothing I love more in the world of theme park innovation is the development of exciting new coaster types. Seeing what manufacturers could do when they push physics to the limits and see just how much chaos a human body can take (looking at you, S&S). Watching comeback kid Vekoma hit us with design after design of new awesomeness, waiting with baited breath to see which wooden coaster manufacturer will be the first to rival RMC with their version of a modern hybrid, it's all so exciting and I love dreaming of what they'll dream up next. 

Then we have the other end of the spectrum. The coaster types that have you going 'huh?' and wondering why the hell such a design exists in the first place. They serve no purpose to innovation, don't offer anything new or unique or different or they might just be plain boring or painful. Today I'm counting down five coaster types that I really don't think the world would benefit from seeing any more of.


Right, I'm going to ease into this slowly because there are certainly things on this list that are going to annoy people, so let's begin with one we can probably all agree on - the dreaded SBF Visa spinner. These things are a plague - they started popping up in a few places here and there about 5/6 years ago and have spread like wildfire since. And that's not all, the plague has mutated, and now offers extra torture in the form of an inverting car that spins vertically like a hamster-wheel whilst you go around the track (I haven't had the displeasure yet myself but lord knows my time will come.)

Are they better than a bog standard kiddie coaster? Yes I suppose they are. But I'm a lazy coaster collector at this point and if one more family park in the middle of nowhere invests in one of these stupidly entertaining yet affordable and marketable coasters I'm going to scream. Enough.


Listen, I love a Vekoma Mine Train as well as the next 90s kid, but do we really need more of them? When a park is able to theme them well there's certainly a nice level of nostalgia and fun about them, sure, but then I look at the likes of Choco Chip Creek coming to Energylandia on the 12th of never and weep. If there's ever a coaster built with the intention of being covered with theming, it's the Vekoma mine train. Without all the fibreglass and concrete and foliage the train is kind of....well it's really ugly. Which is weird because I've always been partial to a nice piece of Vekoma track but for some reason in Mine Train form it's just not doing it for me. 

Plus, when the best one already exists and is very unlikely to be topped (Big Thunder Mountain at Disneyland Paris, by the way), then what's even the point in trying? I mean honestly. IT GOES UNDERWATER. Why even bother?


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Another coaster type I haven't actually ridden myself, nor do I have any interest in doing so. It just looks really pointless and like money could've been better spent elsewhere, like on an SBF Visa spinner or something. They look slow, and annoying, and dull. And the throughput looks absolutely atrocious. And they're kind of ugly? Yh, stop building these. Next. 


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Man, I was so excited to ride one of these. I remember closely following the construction of Divertical at Mirabilandia as it opened the year after we visited in 2011. I loved the engineering of the lift-hill, the way it all flowed so seamlessly. The way the layout looked so fun, the main drop so terrifying. But my GOD, these things don't DO ANYTHING? Yes the lift-hill mechanism gimmick IS very fun and weird, I will give it that, but how a huge drop like that can feel like literally nothing is happening to you is actually quite a feat in itself.

Then after that the layout feels kind of dumb and pointless. You know like how all of those B&M dive coasters that try to do something after the main drop feel like they're kind of trying and failing to follow the main event, the Intamin Water Coaster is like that only worse because the main drop doesn't make up for the rest of the coaster like a dive coaster's does.



Alright STOP BOOING ME for just one second and let me explain. We all know my feelings on Leviathan and yes it's the only one of these I've ridden so obviously there's that to take into consideration but. I genuinely do not understand the point of the B&M Giga in that I don't get why it's like....a different coaster type? I've heard people say they're more about speed as opposed to the hyper is about airtime but like, they look the same so I don't get it. I just do not get the B&M Giga, I don't get why people love Leviathan and I don't get why B&M put money into developing this when the Hyper is basically coaster perfection? Stop building Gigas and build more Hypers please B&M. 

This said, I am very intrigued to try Fury 325. I couldn't care less about Orion. 

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Like I said, I adore innovation and for me more of these coaster types means less cash and space for different, better things! What do you think, what's a coaster type you wish would be shelved? Are there any you disagree with on my list? Let me know in the comments, I'd love to have a chat!

Talk later xoxo,




2 comments

  1. I'm of the opposite opinion on gigas, I rather see less hypers. Almost every park has 1, not every park has a giga. Fury 325 would definitely change your mind, as I regard it as "THE B&M" as it is my favorite of the 38 I have ridden.

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  2. Maurer Looping Coasters like the former G-Force at Drayton are horrible IMO

    Also after Green Lantern at SFMM, I think Zac Spins should be banned as well

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