Wikipedia

Dive Coaster

type of steel roller coaster manufactured by Bolliger & Mabillard

The Dive Coaster (also known as "Vertical Drop Coaster"), first built in 1997. It is a steel roller coaster type made by Bolliger & Mabillard (B&M). The first drop coaster was made in 1998 at Alton Towers and is known as Oblivion, the latest Dive Coaster (at the time of writing this) is Emperor at SeaWorld San Diego in 2020.

Oblivion: The Black Hole first built in 2015, located at Gardaland, Italy.

Development

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Development on the coaster began in 1994/95. When theme park designer John Wardley designs the idea of a Dive Coaster as to be a successor to his 1994 coaster Nemesis. He realised that the coaster was too ambitious for its time. So Wardley waited until the 1997/98 to test out his new machine. The first design of the ride was Oblivion at Alton Towers, opened in 14 March 1998.

The coaster was only two years old when the next order for a dive coaster was made in the form of Diving Machine G5 in Janfusun Fancyworld in Taiwan. Which was just a mirror image of Oblivion.

In 2005, saw the release of not only the third Dive Coaster to be built, but the first to be built in America, first to be built over 200 ft and the first ever custom-layout Dive Coaster. Sheikra was opened on May 21, 2005 at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay.

In 2007, Busch Gardens Williamsburg announced Griffon on August 23, 2006. But officially opened on May 18, 2007. It was the first dive coaster to have floorless trains. Although, the same year. Busch Gardens reopened with floorless trains on June 16, 2007.

In 2011, Heide Park (a German theme park in Soltau, Germany) released Krake, a dive coaster opening on April 16, 2011. This was the first dive coaster to feature 6 seated trains, which coined the phrase "Mini-Dive Coaster"

In 2019, Yukon Striker was released on May 3, 2019. It was the first dive coaster to include a Vertical Loop. It opened at Canada's Wonderland in Vaughan, Ontario.

Installations

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Bolliger & Mabillard has built fourteen Dive Coasters with one to be opened in 2020. The roller coasters are listed in order of opening dates.

Name Park Country Opened Status
Oblivion Alton Towers   United Kingdom March 14, 1998 Operating [1]
Diving Machine G5 Janfusun Fancyworld   Taiwan March 29, 2000 Operating [2]
SheiKra Busch Gardens Tampa Bay   United States May 21, 2005 Operating [3]
Griffon Busch Gardens Williamsburg   United States May 18, 2007 Operating [4]
Dive Coaster Chimelong Paradise   China January 21, 2008 Operating [5]
Diving Coaster Happy Valley Shanghai   China August 16, 2009 Operating [6]
Krake Heide Park   Germany April 16, 2011 Operating [7]
Oblivion: The Black Hole Gardaland   Italy March 28, 2015 Operating [8]
Baron 1898 Efteling   Netherlands June 30, 2015 Operating [9]
Valravn Cedar Point  United States May 7, 2016 Operating [10]
Draken Gyeongju World   South Korea May 1, 2018 Operating [11]
Valkyria Liseberg   Sweden August 10, 2018 Operating [12]
Western Regions Heaven Happy Valley Chengdu   China February 2, 2018 Operating [13]
Yukon Striker Canada's Wonderland   Canada May 3, 2019 Operating [14]
Emperor SeaWorld San Diego   United States 2020 Under Construction [15]

Recurring elements

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  • Holding Brake: The holding brake is a machine placed at the end of the first (or second) drop. First found on Oblivion at Alton Towers
  • Illellmann Loop: A common first element after the first drop. First found on Sheikra on Busch Gardens Tampa Bay
  • Mid-course Brake Run: Unknown when found on a course. Could happen after the first two inversions. First found on Sheikra on Busch Gardens Tampa Bay
  • Splashdown: Found either after the first drop or after a second vertical drop. First found on Sheikra on Busch Gardens Tampa Bay
  • Second Vertical Drop: Found after the mid-course brake run. A vertical drop without a holding brake. Sheikra on Busch Gardens Tampa Bay
 
Layout of Sheikra on Busch Gardens Tampa Bay.

References

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  1. ↑ Marden, Duane. "Oblivion  (Alton Towers)". Roller Coaster DataBase. Retrieved July 21, 2012.
  2. ↑ Marden, Duane. "Diving Machine G5  (Janfusun Fancyworld)". Roller Coaster DataBase. Retrieved July 21, 2012.
  3. ↑ Marden, Duane. "SheiKra  (Busch Gardens Tampa Bay)". Roller Coaster DataBase. Retrieved July 21, 2012.
  4. ↑ Marden, Duane. "Griffon  (Busch Gardens Williamsburg)". Roller Coaster DataBase. Retrieved July 21, 2012.
  5. ↑ Marden, Duane. "Dive Coaster  (Chimelong Paradise)". Roller Coaster DataBase. Retrieved July 21, 2012.
  6. ↑ Marden, Duane. "Diving Coaster  (Happy Valley Shanghai)". Roller Coaster DataBase. Retrieved July 21, 2012.
  7. ↑ Marden, Duane. "Krake  (Heide Park Resort)". Roller Coaster DataBase. Retrieved July 21, 2012.
  8. ↑ Marden, Duane. "unknown  (Gardaland)". Roller Coaster DataBase. Retrieved April 11, 2014.
  9. ↑ Marden, Duane. "Baron 1898  (Efteling)". Roller Coaster DataBase. Retrieved July 28, 2014.
  10. ↑ Ellen Creager (September 4, 2015). "Cedar Point's ride would be area's only dive coaster". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved September 4, 2015.
  11. ↑ Marden, Duane. "Draken  (Gyeongju World)". Roller Coaster DataBase. Retrieved May 11, 2018.
  12. ↑ Marden, Duane. "Valkyria  (Liseberg)". Roller Coaster DataBase. Retrieved September 27, 2016.
  13. ↑ Marden, Duane. "Flying over the Western Region / 西域飞天  (Happy Valley Chengdu)". Roller Coaster DataBase. Retrieved November 29, 2015.
  14. ↑ Marden, Duane. "Yukon Striker  (Canada's Wonderland)". Roller Coaster DataBase. Retrieved August 15, 2018.
  15. ↑ Marden, Duane. "Mako  (SeaWorld San Diego)". Roller Coaster DataBase. Retrieved January 8, 2019.

Other websites

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dive Coasters.
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