Funworld November 2007

What Goes Around Comes Around

The classic runaway mine train lives on in newer, faster, and higher-tech incarnations

In 1966, Six Flags Over Texas rocked the fledgling theme park industry by introducing the “Runaway Mine Train.” While Disneyland had previously opened the “ Matterhorn,” the “Runaway Mine Train” is widely credited with introducing a large-scale roller coaster to theme parks. At that time, roller coasters were considered a passé relic thought to be inappropriate for the family-oriented theme park.

Manufactured by Arrow Development, which had been providing log flumes, turnpikes, dark rides, and other more “appropriate” attractions to theme parks, the “Runaway Mine Train” represented a new genre of roller coaster. With track consisting of tubular steel, the ride eschewed large drops in favor of a twisting layout, moderate drops, multiple lift hills, and high capacity operation. In keeping with Six Flags’ theme park environment, the coaster was heavily disguised, being placed away from the midway, hidden by themed buildings, and featuring trains resembling ore cars. The focus was on a complete ride experience: ground-hugging track to heighten the sense of speed, tunnels, and a trip through a frontier hotel complete with animated characters. It was truly a family ride in every sense of the word. “All we played to was the family. We had just one message: clean, wholesome family entertainment,” recalls Larry Cochran, a retired Six Flags executive who was one of the park’s original supervisors.

It was the cutting-edge roller coaster of the 1960s, and over the next decade, nearly every theme park that opened in the United States featured a mine-train-type ride as its anchor attraction.

But times changed. As the industry matured, theme parks started gravitat­ing to more traditional roller coasters, launching a veritable arms race. Ini­tially, even these record breakers were family-oriented attractions, but starting in the 1990s, record-breaking roller coasters took a turn to decidedly thrilling attractions with high speeds, huge drops, and multiple inversions.

This created a cycle in which parks would invest increasing amounts in larger and larger thrill rides; it peaked in 2000 when the world record for the tallest and fastest roller coaster changed hands three times. But as the rides became larger, the demographic it appealed to became narrower. These mega rides also required ever-increas­ing capital, making it more difficult to get a sufficient return on investment.

“Mega coasters became a crutch for the industry,” says Mark Quenzel, executive vice president of park strategy and management for Six Flags Inc., the current owner of the world’s tallest and fastest roller coaster, “Kingda Ka” at Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey. Quenzel feels the monster rides created a class of haves and have-nots: “Their very nature excludes younger kids and their parents.”

Dennis Spiegel, president of International Theme Park Services Inc., agrees: “While the coaster is still king, the $25 to $30 million roller coaster is being benched. The parks have not gotten an attendance bump. The consumer is sending a very strong message—we’ve had enough bigger, higher, faster,” concurring that mega coasters have a narrow demographic. “They are purely teen driven.”

The high costs also created another challenge for operators such as Six Flags. “They chew up huge amounts of money,” says Quenzel, diverting resources that should be put into maintenance and operations.

Back to Basics
It appears, however, the pendulum might be swinging back to a new age of family-oriented roller coasters rooted in the mine trains of the 1960s.

The trend seemed to start in 2005. The same year Six Flags’ “Kingda Ka” was setting new records, Kings Island in Ohio and Canada’s Wonderland near Toronto, then owned by Paramount Parks, were garnering industry attention with the opening of “Italian Job: Stunt Track.” Using a system developed by Premier Rides of Millersville, Maryland, “Italian Job” was proudly marketed as a family ride, focusing on a complete experience with a story line and special effects complementing the coaster.

According to Premier Rides President Jim Seay, Paramount developed an intriguing concept it was able to adapt to a roller coaster system. In addition to a wide array of special effects, the ride took inspiration from the original “Runaway Mine Trains” with its cost-saving, close-to-theground layout, reducing construction costs. “Italian Job” also features highly themed trains, in this case resembling MINI Coopers wired for sound.

“It’s no secret that organizations are looking for a wider demographic,” says Seay, while emphasizing the fact that these rides still have to deliver a thrill. “It’s important to keep in mind the concept of a thrill ride is very appealing to a wider range than everyone expects,” adding that today’s 8-year-olds have higher expectations.

The debut of “Italian Job” has had a great impact on Premier’s business. It is building two roller coasters for the new Hard Rock Park in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and both are less than 100 feet tall and have no inversions; the company has a half dozen projects resembling “Italian Job” in the pipeline. Ironically, all of them are outside the United States. “People outside the U.S. recognize the broad appeal and good value of these types of rides,” says Seay.

The 2007 season represented a sea change of sorts with the trend being embraced by the two operators that most aggressively pursued the arms race in the 1990s—Cedar Fair and Six Flags.

Cedar Fair’s flagship facility, Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio, which drove the arms race by breaking height records four times from 1978 to 2003, changed course with this summer’s “Maverick.” While still a thrill ride by many measures with its 95-degree drop, two inversions, 52-inch height limit, and top speed of 70 miles per hour, it differs from past efforts with its comparatively moderate height (105 feet), varied ride experiences, terrain-clinging track, and Wild West theming. “Maverick” appeals to a much wider demographic than Cedar Point’s other recent installations including “Top Thrill Dragster,” which broke height and speed records when it opened in 2003.

When Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder took control of Six Flags in late 2005 and installed a new management team led by former ESPN executive Mark Shapiro, a new emphasis was placed on attractions that appeal to a broader, more family-oriented audience.

The shift was most evident this season as the company opened “Tony Hawk’s Big Spin” at Six Flags parks in San Antonio and St. Louis. The attractions represent the only two roller coasters opened at the company’s 21 facilities in 2007; as recently as 2003, the company installed seven coasters in one year. “Big Spin” was built by Germany’s Gerstlauer Amusement Rides and is the latest in a new generation of roller coasters featuring spinning cars. But unlike past installations at Six Flags, the company chose to create a story line to increase its appeal.

Over the years, skateboarding icon Tony Hawk has developed a following that ranges from young children to parents, the core of Six Flags’ new target audience. “Big Spin” is designed to have the look and feel of a giant skate park. The queue features monitors showing action sports highlights, and a spinning figure of Hawk pulling a radical skateboarding maneuver tops the ride. But most important, the height requirement is 42 inches.

Quenzel gives a lot of the credit to Les Hudson, Six Flags’ vice president of design, and says “Big Spin” was “very, very well received.” Additional models are definitely in the company’s plans.

“Tony Hawk’s Big Spin” is part of a very deliberate strategy on the part of Six Flags to broaden its appeal to families, much like the company’s early days, although the ride is challenging enough to appeal to the still important teen market. “You can create a class of rides that will be enjoyable to a lot of people,” says Quenzel. “A compelling ride is not dependent on a 300-foot drop. You can build very compelling rides if you go back to paying attention to other senses. Incorporate changes in sound and light.” He says some of the new attractions in the pipeline for 2008 will invest more on theming than on the actual ride system: “We need to get a bang for your buck to reach a wider audience.”

But industry observers are almost unanimous in their feeling that while the industry will be focusing on family rides, the mega coasters will be back. Look no further than Cedar Fair’s Aug. 27 announcement of “Behemoth,” a 230-foot, 5,300-foot-long Bolliger & Mabillard mega coaster debuting next summer at Canada’s Wonderland. See page XX in Industry Notes for details.

“I don’t think the age of the big roller coaster is dead, but it can’t exist to the exclusion of all else,” says Quenzel.

“Make no mistake, there will be a 1,000-foot coaster in the next 12 years,” predicts Dennis Spiegel.