Wooden roller coaster
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Wooden versus steel
Wooden roller coasters provide a very different ride and experience from steel roller coasters. While they are technically less capable than a steel coaster when it comes to inversions and elements, wooden coasters instead rely on an often rougher and more "wild" ride as well as a more psychological approach to inducing fear. Their shaky structures and track, which usually move anywhere from a few inches to a few feet with a passing train, give a sense of unreliablility and the "threat" of collapse or disregard for safety. Of course, this assumption is purely mental and wooden roller coaster supports and track systems are designed to sway with the force.
Many debates continue to take place in attempt to decide which type of coaster is better; wood or steel. This will unlikely ever be settled, however, because each category distinguishes itself from the other in a number of ways, in addition to also providing a substantially different and unique ride.
Declining popularity
Once a staple in virtually every amusement park several years ago, wooden roller coasters appear to be on a slow decline in popularity for a number of reasons. First of all, amusement parks clearly see the cost benefits of building a steel roller coaster from the start. Steel roller coasters, while requiring a larger initial "down payment" for the ride at the beginning, cost much less in ongoing maintenance fees throughout the years of operation. Wooden roller coasters contrarily require large amounts of devoted funds annually to keep the ride in operating condition including regular re-tracking, track lubrication, and support maintenance.
Wooden coasters are also becoming less marketable in today's media-driven advertising world. Superlative advertising in which the "biggest," "tallest," or "fastest" ride is what brings in crowds often cannot apply to new wooden roller coasters, especially since a large majority of record-holding rides are steel. Amusement parks are always looking to add attractions which can be presented in commercials and ads as incredibly tall, fast, or extreme; thus discounting many wooden roller coasters (as time as told, bigger is not always better in terms of wooden roller coasters).
Examples of wooden roller coasters
- Ghostrider at Knott's Berry Farm, California, U.S.A
- Beast at Paramount's Kings Island, Ohio, U.S.A
- White Cyclone at Nagashima Spa Land, Nagashima, Japan
- Roar at Six Flags Marine World, Vallejo, California, U.S.A.
- Balder (roller coaster) at Liseberg Amusement Park, Göteborg, Sweden