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Floorless Coaster

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A Floorless Coaster, commonly known as a Floorless Roller Coaster, is a type of steel roller coaster manufactured by Bolliger & Mabillard where riders sit with no floor underneath them, allowing their feet to swing freely just above the track. Development of the Floorless Coaster model began between 1995 and 1996 with Medusa at Six Flags Great Adventure opening on April 2, 1999, making it the world's first Floorless Roller Coaster. Floorless Roller Coasters also tend to have 3 to 7 inversions incorporated in the layout of the coaster.

Floorless Roller Coaster
Dominator at Kings Dominion
StatusIn production
First manufactured1999
No. of installations14
ManufacturerBolliger & Mabillard
Vehicle typeFloorless seats located above the track
Vehicles6-8-car Floorless Coaster trains
Riders per row4
Restraint StyleOver-the-shoulder harness
Produced1999–present
Floorless Roller Coaster at RCDB

Recently, Bolliger & Mabillard have used floorless trains on their Dive Coasters, such as Griffon and SheiKra. Though they contain floorless trains, the coasters are still not considered Floorless Coasters as B&M classifies them as another model. Maurer Söhne has designed their own version of the Floorless Coaster, a variant of their X-Car called X-Car Floorless, but currently do not have any installations.[1]

History

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Medusa's cobra roll at Six Flags Great Adventure

According to Walter Bolliger, development of the Floorless Coaster began between 1995 and 1996.[2] In 1999, the world's first Floorless Coaster opened at Six Flags Great Adventure as Medusa. With the success of Medusa, SeaWorld, Cedar Fair, Six Flags, and independent parks, Janfusun Fancyworld, Parque Warner Madrid, Tivoli Gardens, and Ocean Park Hong Kong have built other coasters of this model at their parks. B&M has built 13 Floorless Coasters from the ground up, with Dominator at Kings Dominion being the only one relocated to another park.[3] They have also converted three of their stand-up roller coasters to Floorless Coasters: Rougarou at Cedar Point, Patriot at California's Great America, and Firebird at Six Flags America.

Design

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Hydra the Revenge's first drop at Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom

The design of a Floorless Coaster has one main difference from traditional steel roller coasters around the world: there is no floor under the seats.[4] While a train is parked in the station, a floor is used only for loading and unloading purposes. Because the front row has nothing in front of it to stop riders from walking over the edge of the station, a gate is placed in front of the train to prevent this from happening. Once all the over-the-shoulder restraints are locked, the floor separates into several pieces and retracts underneath the station. The gate then opens, allowing the train to move forward. When the train returns to the station, the floor is brought back up and the gate is closed for the next group of riders to load and unload.[5] Aside from the station, Floorless Coasters have similar layouts to B&M's sit-down coasters.[3][6]

Installations

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One of Kraken's trains going through a corkscrew at SeaWorld Orlando in Orlando, Florida.

Bolliger & Mabillard has built thirteen Floorless Coasters from the ground up, with three additional that were converted from stand-up roller coasters. The roller coasters are listed in order of opening dates.

Name Park Country Inversions Opened Status
Medusa
Formerly Bizarro		 Six Flags Great Adventure   United States 7 April 2, 1999 Operating [7]
Superman: Krypton Coaster Six Flags Fiesta Texas   United States 6 March 11, 2000 Operating [8]
Medusa Six Flags Discovery Kingdom   United States 7 March 18, 2000 Operating [9]
Kraken SeaWorld Orlando   United States 7 June 1, 2000 Operating [10]
Insane Speed Janfusun Fancyworld   Taiwan 4 2001 Operating [11]
Superman: La Atracción de Acero Parque Warner Madrid   Spain 7 April 6, 2002 Operating [12]
Batman: The Dark Knight Six Flags New England   United States 5 April 20, 2002 Operating [13]
Scream Six Flags Magic Mountain   United States 7 April 12, 2003 Operating [14]
Dæmonen Tivoli Gardens   Denmark 3 April 16, 2004 Operating [15]
Hydra the Revenge Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom   United States 7 May 7, 2005 Operating [16]
Dominator
Formerly Batman: Knight Flight		 Kings Dominion
Geauga Lake		   United States 5 May 24, 2008
May 5, 2000		 Operating
Closed September 16, 2007		 [17]
Hair Raiser Ocean Park Hong Kong   Hong Kong 4 December 8, 2011 Operating [18]
Nitro Adlabs Imagica   India 5 2013 Operating [19]
Rougarou[a] Cedar Point   United States 4 May 9, 2015 Operating [20]
Patriot[a] California's Great America   United States 2 March 25, 2017 Operating [21]
Firebird[a] Six Flags America   United States 2 2019 Operating [22]

Note: Although some Dive Coasters (such as SheiKra, Griffon, Valravn and Yukon Striker) feature floorless trains, they are not considered Floorless Coasters.[23][24]

Similar rides

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Maurer Söhne, a German roller coaster and steel manufacturer, has developed their own version of the Floorless Coaster called the X-Car Floorless. The car is the same as the original X-Car with the only difference being that there is no floor during the ride.[1][25] As of 2019, no X-Car Floorless roller coasters have been manufactured.[1]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ a b c Converted from a stand-up roller coaster to a floorless coaster

References

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  1. ^ a b c "X-Car Floorless". Maurer Söhne. Archived from the original on July 14, 2011. Retrieved March 1, 2012.
  2. ^ "IAAPA 2011 Trade Show Part 4 Theme Park Review Fishpipe Water Ride B&M Zamperla". Theme Park Review. YouTube. November 16, 2012. Archived from the original on December 12, 2021. Retrieved July 20, 2012.
  3. ^ a b Marden, Duane. "Roller Coaster Search Results  (Floorless Coaster)". Roller Coaster DataBase.
  4. ^ Niles, Robert (November 14, 2002). "Scream leaves you dangling". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 21, 2012.
  5. ^ "Dominator at Kings Dominion". woodencoasterfan (YouTube). September 4, 2012. Archived from the original on December 12, 2021. Retrieved July 20, 2012.
  6. ^ Marden, Duane. "Roller Coaster Search Results  (Sitting Coaster)". Roller Coaster DataBase.
  7. ^ Marden, Duane. "Medusa  (Six Flags Great Adventure)". Roller Coaster DataBase.
  8. ^ Marden, Duane. "Superman: Krypton Coaster  (Six Flags Fiesta Texas)". Roller Coaster DataBase.
  9. ^ Marden, Duane. "Medusa  (Six Flags Discovery Kingdom)". Roller Coaster DataBase.
  10. ^ Marden, Duane. "Kraken  (Sea World Orlando)". Roller Coaster DataBase.
  11. ^ Marden, Duane. "Insane Speed  (Janfusun Fancyworld)". Roller Coaster DataBase.
  12. ^ Marden, Duane. "Superman: La Atracción de Acero  (Parque Warner Madrid)". Roller Coaster DataBase.
  13. ^ Marden, Duane. "Batman – The Dark Knight  (Six Flags New England)". Roller Coaster DataBase.
  14. ^ Marden, Duane. "Scream!  (Six Flags Magic Mountain)". Roller Coaster DataBase.
  15. ^ Marden, Duane. "Dæmonen  (Tivoli Gardens)". Roller Coaster DataBase.
  16. ^ Marden, Duane. "Hydra the Revenge  (Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom)". Roller Coaster DataBase.
  17. ^ Marden, Duane. "Dominator  (Kings Dominion)". Roller Coaster DataBase.
  18. ^ Marden, Duane. "Hair Raiser  (Ocean Park Hong Kong)". Roller Coaster DataBase.
  19. ^ Marden, Duane. "Nitro  (Adlabs Imagica)". Roller Coaster DataBase.
  20. ^ Marden, Duane. "Rougarou  (Cedar Point)". Roller Coaster DataBase.
  21. ^ Marden, Duane. "Patriot  (California's Great America)". Roller Coaster DataBase.
  22. ^ Marden, Duane. "Firebird  (Six Flags America)". Roller Coaster DataBase.
  23. ^ Marden, Duane. "SheiKra  (Busch Gardens Tampa Bay)". Roller Coaster DataBase.
  24. ^ Marden, Duane. "Griffon  (Busch Gardens Williamsburg)". Roller Coaster DataBase.
  25. ^ "X-Car". Maurer Söhne. Archived from the original on July 12, 2012. Retrieved July 21, 2012.
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