Roller coaster futures

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Battersea Power Station Roller Coaster
‘An abandoned power station that has been an iconic part of London’s skyline since 1933 is transformed into a playground and museum in the proposal by Atelier Zündel Cristea. The concept makes use of the Battersea Power Station, which was decommissioned in 1983, preserving its history while making it both an educational and recreational attraction.

‘The former coal-fired power station (which has been featured in a number of films and music videos) is notable for its original Art Deco interior fittings and decor, but throughout the thirty years of its abandonment, its condition has deteriorated severely. Former owners considered making the station an indoor theme park in the 1987, and work began on converting the site, but lack of funding brought the project to a halt.

‘The new proposal revives this idea, making it even more grand with a roller coaster that winds around the building itself, making it the center of attention during the ride. Paths created by the scaffolding-like support of the roller coaster offer opportunities for walking tours.

‘“Our project puts the power station on centre stage, the structure itself enhancing the site through its impressive scale, its architecture, and its unique brick material. Our created pathway links together a number of spaces for discovery: the square in front of the museum, clearings, footpaths outside and above and inside, footpaths traversing courtyards and exhibition rooms. The angles and perspectives created by the rail’s pathway, through the movement within and outside of the structure, place visitors in a position where they can perceive simultaneously the container and its contents, the work and nature. They come to participate in several simultaneous experiences: enjoying the displayed works, being moved by the beauty of the structure and the city: river, park, buildings.”’ — Web Urbanist

 

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The cantilevered coaster #1
‘This ride is conceived and designed by Nick Weisenberger and based on an incredible invention by John Hogg. For a future theme park ride, the cantilevered roller coaster (CRC) could revolutionize the industry by taking the thrill ride to the next level of unpredictability and excitement. The CRC system uses two tracks, each with a chassis on it, one above the other. A support arm is mounted to the lower chassis and runs up through a gimbaled, sliding bearing in the upper chassis. The guests ride in the themed portion of the vehicle mounted to the top of the arm above the upper track and chassis.

‘The CRC was conceived as a way to get the ride vehicle up and away from the main track system. It’s similar to those those ride systems that employ a multi-axis simulator sitting on a tracked chassis (e.g. Indiana Jones Adventure, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey), but without all the complex hydraulics, servos, and electronics of those systems, plus the ability to move on an undulating coaster track.’ — Theme Park Tourist

 

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Rings of Saturn
‘Why is Thomas Casey’s Rings of Saturn amusement ride not available to ride at an amusement park near me? I’m very excited about the possibility of throwing up on strangers and being thrown up from multiple angles upon this ride. Ideally, this ride would have three or four or even five rings with vomit just showering down upon riders from all angles.’ — The Sly Oyster

 

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Phantom
‘Phantom is a Vekoma Flying Dutchman shuttle coaster designed to be set partially inside an old castle or cathedral and is part dark ride, coaster and drop tower. Riders will be pulled to the top of the first tower whilst viewing scenes in front of them before light, sound and air blasts signal the first drop. Here riders plummet back down in the style of a drop tower, shoot back through the station at 53 mph and into the first half of the coaster section. The second tower is much quicker and simply speeds the train up the tower before releasing it quickly to go forwards again, reaching 52 mph. The train is slowed by the station brakes and allowed to roll into the first tower again before it is then brought to a complete stop in the station.’ — Tower Street

 

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Extreme Stairlifting
‘You must be over 60 to ride/’ — m00ch

 

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G3 RoboCoaster
‘KUKA Robotics is currently working on the G3, a high-speed version of the G2 robotic system in use on the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride in Orlando. The new version will be a thrill ride running at 30km/h, improving on the G2’s 7.2km/h. Riding in automatically-guided vehicles (AGV) would provide each passenger with a unique entertainment experience, as the robots would be reactive. Instead of having one frontal wheel, or two wheels steering, four traction wheels would be integrated at the corner of each vehicle and kinematically mapped together. This would allow the AGVs to navigate safely at high speeds, simulating a variety of effects such as slides and skids.

‘Vehicles could work together in platoons, with a combination of ground vehicles and drones interacting and acting out role plays with the passengers inside. The whole system is also completely trackless, giving a wider creative scope. I think that AGVs will eventually have more of an impact on the amusement industry than robotics already has.’ — E&T;

 

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John Wick: Open Contract
‘The ride, which will be called “John Wick: Open Contract,” will open to the public in late 2022. One exciting component is the ride’s interactive experience, where visitors can choose to either help the assassin or hunt him. In addition, guests will be able to queue in an area modeled off the Continental Hotel while they wait to board the 10-story high roller coaster.’ — Screen Rant

 

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Brainstorming for E=mj2 Roller Coaster Project

 

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Collar Coaster
‘The Collar Coaster is a concept for a new form of thrill ride combining elements of a steel coaster and a traditional free fall ride. Traditional free fall rides position passengers outward on a car from a center track. The ride experience then becomes more personal as each passenger has minimal view of other passengers and ride mechanics. Traditional free fall rides, however, are limited to a vertical motion. The Collar Coaster allows for all motions of standard steel coaster with the personalized experience of a free fall ride. By leaving a section of the circular car open, the track is capable of additional support structures to provide car motions that are not vertical. Each set is hinged so if the collar spins on the track, the seats will pivot.’ — Wonder Barry

 

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AQFBF
‘Sub Sea Systems is the world leader in aquatic innovation. SSS has introduced more non-divers to the underwater world than any other company. Currently in development is what’s planned to be the world’s first entirely underwater roller coaster which will reach speeds up to 50 mph and create bodily effects no land based coaster can physically achieve.’ — Theme Park Tourist

 

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Aerobat Coaster
‘Would that be too many negative g forces if you were exactly 180 degrees banking away from the banking of the track on the turn. I think that would be a lot of blood to the head. Other than that looks like a cool concept.’ — Dane U

 

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The Return of Jigsaw Coaster

 

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Inception Park
‘The warm air of sunny downtown Buenos Aires is suddenly pierced with screams as a roller coaster zooms along the side of the building. In mid-air. With no tracks. Film director Fernando Livschitz of Black Sheep Films has created a strikingly realistic video in which this exact scenario occurs, a surreal spectacle that bends our perception of reality.’ — Web Urbanist

 

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Roller Coaster Tycoon glitch?
Q: As an massive fan of RCT1 and 2 (3 I played a small amount) I don’t remember a scenario where you had a rival park. I remember one where your park was split over a highway in RCT2 but nothing described like this. Was there a park with this mechanic in any of the RCT PC games? A: I highly doubt there was a scenario like this. Programming AI is hard and they would not have spend the time for a single scenario. I can’t remember something like this either. And the launching people into the rivals park seems ridiculous, not sure about the mechanics but you would think the dead’s get count to the owner of the coaster where they died in.

 

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Roller Coaster Water Slide Hybrid Concept by Wiegand Maelzer
‘A water slide that uses ACTUAL coaster track to shoot riders down an LSM launch track in their rafts to the top of a huge wave.’ — Coaster Studios

 

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Ice Age
‘Proposed “Ice Age”-themed family roller coaster ride conceived for Twentieth Century Fox’s long planned, ever delayed theme park in Malaysia. The “ice” mountain would be transparent, built out of a new synthetic material recently developed in Russia that is allegedly as strong as steel. Visitors to the park could watch the coaster’s riders when they were both inside and outside the see-through mountain, but their views of the interior portions of the ride would be warped by the building’s undulated surface. Riders would experience similar although stronger disorienting effect as the outside work would be fully visible but constantly rippling, something like the landscape at the bottom of a river.’ — Them Park Outsider

 

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Roller coasters in the city
‘These heady manipulations are the work of Robert Jahns, a 26-year-old art director from Hamburg, Germany. Jahns started in the digital arts 15 years ago with Photoshop, but technology has advanced so rapidly that he now makes his stunning images with just an iPhone 5s and a few apps (ArtStudio and Filterstorm, for instance).’ — Guy Cookson

 

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Elevator Ride
‘We designed and built a service elevator simulator for a collaborative project between MIT course 2.744 Product Design, 5-Wits Entertainment, and The International Spy Museum in Washington, DC. The elevator simulator is now part of Operation Spy, the museum’s new interactive, role-playing adventure. The elevator “connects” a technical operations room on the ground floor of a building with a secret tunnel passageway several stories underground while not actually displacing vertically.

An assortment of effects, including scrolling walls, floor vibrations, sounds, and lighting contribute to the sensation of actually descending multiple stories. The following showcases the design evolution of the service elevator.’ — Wonder Barry

 

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Aliens the Ride
‘The original Alien movies were definitely rollercoaster rides in their own right, but now you can go for a ride on an amazing Alien themed thrill ride, courtesy of Hin Nya. He built the elaborate ride using amusement park construction and management simulator Planet Coaster.

‘It’s a 15-minute nightmare, but one that I would love to take a ride on. If a theme park built this for real they would make millions on ticket sales. It is visually amazing. The coaster is packed with cool and creepy imagery based on scenes from the movies. It definitely keeps you watching, because you want to see what comes next. The ride starts out slowly, but picks up speed, and eventually comes to a fitting climax featuring the Alien Queen. How else would you end it?’ — Techabob

 

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IMPOSSIBLE ROLLER COASTER AS SCORE FOR EXPERIMENTAL MUSIC PERFORMANCE
‘In 2017, after a fifteen-year hiatus in designing roller coasters, I began to wonder whether aspects of simulated roller coasters could be mapped onto or translated into musical material. I asked double bassist Dominic Lash to experiment with performing my (failed) realistic roller coaster design as a score. Dominic asked me whether it would be possible to make a roller coaster that defied realistic building specifi- cations. With a few clicks, I created a complex tangle of track. Lash commented that this new impossible roller coaster was filled with musical potential. Unknowingly, I had created a surface texture, rather than a discrete entity that was traceable by the eye. This interaction highlights the creative potential made possible through cross-talk between the domains of music and roller coasters. What once seemed like an undesirable result—an impossible roller coaster—became a site for expanded possibilities.’ — Luke Nickel

 

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The Centrifuge Brain Project
‘People go on amusement park rides not because they’re amusing, or fun. Board games are fun. Amusement park rides are meant to be thrilling. Whatever’s on your mind is temporarily displaced by acceleration, gravity and G-forces. As your body is hurtled through space in completely unnatural ways, your mind is temporarily set free; no one can calculate a mortgage payment while upside down doing 100 miles per hour at 2.7 Gs.

In his mockumentary The Centrifuge Brain Project, digital artist, designer and filmmaker Till Nowak posits that amusement park rides actually increase brain function. We see a fictional scientist/ engineer (brilliantly played by Les Barany) explaining his research—and showing video of mind-bendingly fantastical rides—at the fictional Institute for Centrifugal Research.’ — core777.com

 

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Golf Roller Coaster
Concept by Concept/Object, Boulder, Colorado

 

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The Great Cosmic Roller-Coaster
String theory is the leading candidate for a fundamental theory of nature, but it lacks decisive experimental tests. Cosmic inflation is the leading description of the universe’s first instants, but it lacks an explanation in terms of fundamental physics. Might string theory and inflation be the solution to each other’s problems? As parallel universes postulated by string theory bump into one another or higher dimensions of space get reshaped, the space within our universe may be driven to expand at an accelerated rate.

 

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Ezra Bloom’s The Doomsday Ride

 

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Drag Racing coaster concept
‘A drag racer inspired coaster patented by coaster company S&S in the late 1990s. Every person who test-rode the prototype fell unconscious during the testing and the project chief engineer was in a coma afterwards for a year’ — Three Wise Monkeys

 

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The interactive flat ride
‘Imagine a new breed of flat rides, catering specifically to you. Heart rate monitors, audio input, and individual touch-screens could design your premium experience in mere seconds. Select an intensity level and grab onto the heart rate bar in front of your seat. Through the ride, it will measure your body’s response to flips, spins, and twirls and re-evaluate its path in real time to get your blood pumping (unless, of course, you prefer to keep a nice resting rate)! Measuring audio, words like “stop” could calm the cycle in your individual car; conversely, a few too many seconds of silence could urge the ride to do something to earn a laugh or a scream.

‘Connect this concept to RFID bracelets and the ride could track your preferences and even present one or two post-ride questions on its touch screen as you wait to disembark, storing all its findings for your next visit to any other equipped ride. Retaining their massive range of styles, shapes, and sizes, flat rides of the future could be universally united and yet individually tailored. With your personal amusement information stored securely in the cloud, you could have increasingly perfect experiences on the great-great grandchildren of today’s carnival classics.’ — Brian Krosnick

 

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The Cantilevered Coaster #2
‘The Cantilevered Coaster System, or CRC is the first roller coaster ride system that truly places the ride vehicle and its passengers away from the track system, and at varying distances and angles. We are sure that as you read more about the CRC you will agree that it is one of the most radical ride systems ever conceived, even though it makes use of economically simple mechanical principles to get there. We at Cantilevered Coaster systems believe that attractions based on the CRC system will be the next innovative step in the roller coaster and dark ride world. Concealment of the track with the ability to have “flying” vehicles is the obvious ideal in ride teechnology. Other systems have tried to achieve this ideal, but the CRC system concept can actually reach it.

Example: The Turbine: The CRC themed as “The Turbine” a ride that takes you both across water and over land. Lauched using a LIM system or a similar system, the vehicle heads out over a lake, skimming and bouncing over the water surface like a low flying aircraft.The track system is concealed in a channel below the water. After reaching land, the Turbine charges up the shore and in to a rockwork landscape reminiscent of a race track on some alien planet. In the land-based portion of this outdoor ride, the CRC track system is concealed by scenic rockwork, landscaping, and below-ground channels.’ — CCS

 

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Peak
‘Constructed into a fabricated mountain spire, this high speed coaster’s marquee attribute is the peak departing world’s highest vertical loop. At ground level, the themed inclined queue mimics a base camp that leads the rider up the slope to a boarding tent. The car then travels along the face of and throughout the mountain and is hurried towards the peak using a drive tire slope that releases back into the mountain and then out into the vertical loop. The car then scrapes the face of the mountain, once again returning inside for a conclusive vertical loop which exits from the interior and returns the car to the ‘base camp’.’ — tvmiller.com

 

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Freefall Roller Coaster
This is an animation for my Degree Show at Coventry University. This concept, and animation are copyrighted by Richard Irvin. It’s an inverted roller coaster with an extreme twist. It was influenced by sky diving and bungee jumping. I modeled it in Maya and Vue, animated it all in Maya, and composited it in Adobe Premiere.

 

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Toho Godzilla Roller Coaster
‘Japan’s cinema giant Toho and leading real estate developer Mitsubishi Estate are saying they’re determined to build the country’s tallest building complex, the Tokiwabashi, in the heart of Tokyo’s central business district. Although Towers A to D are expected to be completed by 2027, Toho has stated that plans for a Tower G are already underway. According to the project’s website, Tower G will incorporate the same (and very real) Godzilla frozen back in 2016’s Godzilla: Resurgence, with its long tail wrapped around one side of the building. As if that wasn’t surprising enough, a roller coaster is pictured running along the terrifying monster’s serpentine tail and spiky back before thrusting through its head, promising to be a heck of a ride for thrill-seekers.’ — Sora News

 

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Zero Gravity Roller Coaster
‘BRC drew its concept from the “Vomit Comet,” the plane NASA uses to train astronauts. The KC-135A aircraft flies a looping parabolic path, creating about 25 seconds of microgravity each time it zips up and over the parabola’s camelback hump. BRC’s proposed theme-park ride would travel a somewhat simpler trajectory—up and then back down a soaring steel edifice, similar to the existing “Superman: Escape from Krypton” coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain in California. But unlike Superman and other open-car coasters, the vomit-comet ride would be fully enclosed. Rather than the thrill of hurtling forward to one’s perceived doom, riders would enjoy the illusion of floating within a stable chamber.

‘To create that illusion, a linear induction motor system would speed coasters up the track with unprecedented precision. As the coaster approached a top speed of more than 100 mph, it would suddenly and ever so slightly decelerate—just enough to throw the passengers up from their seats, like stones from a catapult—and then quickly adjust its speed to fly in formation with and around the passengers. (The ride’s calculations would correspond to the unique heft of any particular group.) As the coaster reached the top of the track and began to drop back down, the computer system would continue to match its speed to that of the falling passengers, extending the sensation of weightlessness for several additional seconds, and finally rapidly decelerate to a stop back at the base station.

‘Roller coasters typically cost no more than $30 million, but Bob Rogers, BRC’s founder and chief creative officer, says the zero-gravity ride would cost $50 million or more, in large part because the precision-response propulsion system is so complex. But if someone were to write a check today, Rogers says, his company could be sending riders on weightless journeys by the end of 2013—and the new owners could make money on the side by renting the coaster after hours to scientists who wanted to perform the tests they now run using NASA’s original Vomit Comet. Simply by heading over to the amusement park, they too will be able to experience the equivalent of eight seconds in outer space—which, Rogers says, “will feel like forever.”‘ –– popsci.com

 

 

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p.s. Hey. ** _Black_Acrylic, Hi, Ben. Oh god, Ben, I’m so incredibly sorry to hear that. You remember I met your dad in Glasgow when we showed ‘PGL’ and he seemed really lovely. Are there possible treatments available to him that might reverse course? My mother had cancer, and it was so hard for everyone. I hope something can be done, and I wish for strength and comfort for your dad and you, and if there’s anything at all that I can help with, please let me know. How is he, and how are you today? Love, Dennis. ** David Ehrenstein, I don’t find him tiresome at all, and I’m not even very into mysticism. Anger is still alive. I saw a recent photo shoot with him somewhere. Other than just being alive, I’m not sure what else he’s up to. ** Dominik, Hi!!! I always imagine that dogs must get confused by humans all the time. We’re so weird. No funding news, still just waiting to see if we’ll get the big donation or not. Stress city. Let me know if love figures that out, I’m curious too, ha ha. Love, having figured out Gerard Way’s lyric, turns his attention to what exact ‘stuff’ Jim Reid wants at the end of the JaMC’s ‘Some Candy Talking’, G. ** Tosh Berman, Hi, Tosh! Mm, I don’t know if he knew Colin Wilson. You would think, right? Big hugs to you, my friend. Is life getting any easier? I love seeing the photos you’ve been posting on FB. ** David, Hi. I knew Dale a little, socially, writer to writer, and maybe in the early 90s era, I can’t remember. Oh, shit. One time I accidentally left the only copy of a novel I was writing on the sidewalk at a bus stop in NYC, and it practically killed me. Writing novels by hand, as I used to do, is very dangerous. ** Sypha, I knew you knew Spare, but I didn’t know if you still owned him. Yeah, from what I could tell, if you can’t deal with mere pdfs of Spare’s books, you’re going to be outa small fortune. ** Misanthrope, I can only imagine they do. ‘Cargo 200’, nope, news to me. Obviously I’ll go decipher that clue a little later on. ** Bill, My pleasure, big B. You probably won’t get to see ‘Vitalina Varela’ in a theater, but, assuming you don’t, turn off the lights and pretend you’re in a theater because it can cast quite a spell. ** Steve Erickson, Ah, yes, I remember it being on your list now that you mention it. It has only just opened in theaters in Paris now, and I have no idea why in the world it took so very long. Pandemic issues, I guess. I’ll go hear what you think are 2022’s early best musical attractions. Everyone, Mr. Erickson harkens you thusly … ‘I’ve made a Spotify playlist, “Soaking in the Grey,” featuring the best new music I’ve heard in January.’ Amazing if you can get some quotes from Lora Logic, obviously. Ha ha, maybe that Houellbecq book you propose will finally get him off the best seller list. ** Jeff J, Hi, Jeff. Mm, no, I don’t think I ever saw ‘As Tears Go By’ unless I’m spacing. Huh, interesting. I got so turned off by his work starting with ‘In the Mood for Love’ that I haven’t gone back and (re-)experienced his great early films, and I really should. Having just seen it the other night, I super highly recommend Pedro Costa’s ‘Vitalina Varela’ if you never saw it. Great that you’ve had time to concentrate on your visual work. Any ideas about showing it? Creatively, I’m mostly working on the further development of the Haunted House ‘video game’ project at the moment. I have fiction ideas in my head percolating wildly, but they’re still imbedded there. I’m toying with maybe assembling a book of short fiction, but we’ll see. And, you know, I’m waiting/dying to start making the new film, as usual. How’s the writing on your end? ** Billy, Hi, Billy. Thanks! I’m really happy to be of help to your reading. ‘Castle Faggot’ is nutsy great. I’m doing all right, and I’m glad you are as well. I hope Wednesday only ups the ante. ** Maria, Isabella, Camila, Malaria, Gabriela, I would have loved watch Maria, Isabella, Camila, Malaria, Gabriela spread like margarine. No, I don’t know the latest on the Marilyn Manson thing. I’m not a huge fan of his, I hesitate to say. Massive Attack, thank you! I hope you’re greater than great. ** Right. Today I indulge my amusement park obsession whilst looking for fellow fans and/or your kind indulgence. See you tomorrow.