A brief history of U.S. rollercoasters, told through two iconic rides

One is classic and historic. The other is record-breaking and thrilling. More than 100 years separate the opening of Leap The Dips and Kingda Ka, enough time to make these rides wildly different.

The iconic rides sit 275 miles away from each other — one at the historic Lakemont Park in Altoona, Pa.; the other at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, N.J.

NEW YORK

PENNSYLVANIA

NEW

JERSEY

Philadelphia

30 MI

MARYLAND

D.C.

DEL.

NEW YORK

CONNECTICUT

PENNSYLVANIA

NEW

JERSEY

New York

Harrisburg

Pittsburgh

Philadelphia

MARYLAND

DEL.

D.C.

30 MI

Last week I went on a journey to ride them both.

Historic plaques and the coaster’s first car decorate the entrance of the Leap The Dips. Opened in 1902, it is the oldest operating coaster in the world. Despite its age, Leap The Dips continues to be the main attraction at Lakemont Park. Pam Przybylski-LaDue, who rode the coaster before me, had traveled from Buffalo to experience it.

Many dips indeed!

More thrilling (and bumpier!) than I expected!

Reporter’s heart rate:

124 BPM

1

2

3

Very nice view of the park here

Wow, bumpy!

Slow chain

lift uphill

FINISH

START

Phew!

There’s Mike,

the operator, to pull the brakes

Lifted off the seat and remembered there are no seatbelts

Many dips indeed!

More thrilling (and bumpier!) than I expected!

Reporter’s heart rate:

124 BPM

1

2

3

Wow, bumpy!

Very nice view of the park here

Slow chain lift uphill

Quick

turn

FINISH

START

Phew!

There’s Mike,

the operator, to pull the brakes

Lifted off the seat and remembered there are no seatbelts

Many dips indeed!

More thrilling (and bumpier!) than I expected!

Reporter’s heart rate:

124 BPM

Wow, bumpy!

1

2

3

Very nice view of the park here

Slow chain lift uphill

Quick

turn

FINISH

START

Wondering if the operator is there to pull the brakes

Lifted off the seat and remembered there are no seatbelts

Phew!

There’s Mike,

the operator

Reporter’s heart rate:

Many dips indeed!

More thrilling (and bumpier!) than I expected!

124 BPM

1

2

3

Wow, bumpy!

Slow chain lift uphill

Very nice view of the park here

Quick

turn

FINISH

START

Phew!

There’s Mike, the operator

Wondering if the operator is there to pull the brakes

Lifted off the seat and remembered there are no seatbelts

Reporter’s heart rate:

Many dips indeed!

More thrilling (and bumpier!) than I expected!

124 BPM

1

2

3

Wow, bumpy!

Slow chain lift uphill

Very nice view of the park here

Quick

turn

FINISH

START

Lifted off the seat and remembered there are no seatbelts

Phew!

There’s Mike, the operator

Wondering if the operator is there to pull the brakes

Opened in 2005, Kingda Ka is a much more advanced ride. But the first thing I notice about the coaster is its size. At 456 feet, it’s the tallest roller coaster in the world.

After seeing nothing but trees for a few miles on the 195 while driving to Six Flags, its green, curved top is the first sign of the theme park I spot against the blue sky. As I take a few seconds to admire its magnitude from the parking lot, my feeling of astonishment is quickly replaced by fear when I remembered I would be at the top of the green curve in a few minutes.

Just one dip...from higher than the Statue of Liberty!

Reporter’s heart rate:

146 BPM!

1

2

3

Oh, no!

We have to

go

back dooooown

456 ft

305

ft

Aaaaaaah

Looks like we survived! But can I stand up? We’ll see

Aaaah

FINISH

START

Can I still get off?

(Hands shake for 2 minutes)

Wow! This feels like being launched by

a rocket

Just one dip...from higher than the Statue of Liberty!

Reporter’s heart rate:

146 BPM!

1

2

3

Oh, no!

We have to

go

back dooooown

456 feet

305

feet

Aaaaaaah

Looks like we survived! But can I stand up? We’ll see

Aaaah

START

FINISH

(Hands shake for 2 minutes)

Can I still get off?

Wow! This feels like being launched by

a rocket

Just one dip...from higher than the Statue of Liberty!

Reporter’s heart rate:

Oh, no!

We have to

go

back dooooown

456 feet

146 BPM!

1

2

3

Wow! This feels like being launched by

a rocket

305 feet

Aaaaaaah

Looks like we survived! But can I stand up? We’ll see

Aaaah

FINISH

START

Can I still get off?

(Hands shake for 2 minutes)

456 feet

Oh, no!

We have to

go

back

dooooown

Reporter’s heart rate:

Just one dip...from higher than the Statue of Liberty!

146 BPM!

1

2

3

Wow! This feels like being launched by a rocket

305 feet

Aaaaaaah

Aaaah

Looks like we survived! But can I stand up? We’ll see

FINISH

START

(Hands shake for 2 minutes)

Can I still get off?

456 feet

Oh, no!

We have to

go

back

dooooown

Reporter’s heart rate:

Just one dip...from higher than the Statue of Liberty!

146 BPM!

1

2

3

Wow! This feels like being launched by a rocket

305 feet

Aaaaaaah

Aaaah

Looks like we survived! But can I stand up? We’ll see

FINISH

START

(Hands shake for 2 minutes)

Can I still get off?

Here’s what I learned about roller coaster design and technology from riding the two marvels.

Taller, steeper and more extreme coasters are a result of many advances in coaster technology. One of the main developments is the material rides are made of.

Steel

Leap The Dips — like most early 1900s coasters — is made of wood. It wasn’t until the 1940s that steel started being used more widely in rides.

In 1959, Disneyland launched the first roller coaster with a tubular steel track, the Matterhorn Bobsleds, which paved the way for extreme coasters like Kingda Ka. With a hollow and lightweight design, the technology was a turning point in roller coaster design, allowing for more dynamic movement in rides.

Wood

Solid steel

Tubular steel

Hollow

interior

Wood

Solid steel

Tubular steel

Hollow

interior

Underwheels and restraints

Early in the century, coasters were gentle, designed to feel like a “trip through the clouds,” said Randy Geisler, former president of the American Coaster Enthusiasts and a member of the organization’s public relations and history committees. “They were also called scenic railways back in the day, when you would gently roll along and look at scenery that was off to the side.”

Leap The Dips did feel scenic, with a great view of the greenery from rural Pennsylvania. But it was also very bumpy — especially in the back seat, where I was advised to lean forward to reduce the impact on my back.

That’s because Leap The Dips is the last roller coaster in North America to only use side wheels and no wheels under the tracks. That means that when the train drops, it actually leaves the tracks by an inch or two, and the rider floats out of their seat — a (terrifying) feeling called “airtime.” One rider in my train described the bumpy ride as “a workout.” “In the back seat, I had to engage my quads to hold myself in place,” said Ethan Epstein, 24.

Leap the Dips

4 riders at a time

Riders can hold on to this bar

I rode in both rows

Side rails

Side wheels attach to metal side rails to keep the train centered

Top wheels

Side rails

Leap the Dips

4 riders at a time

I rode in both rows

Riders can hold on to this bar

Side wheels attach to metalside rails to keep the train centered

Side rails

Side rails

Top wheels

Leap the Dips

4 riders at a time

I rode in both rows

Riders can hold on to this bar

Side wheels attach to metal

side rails to

keep the train centered

Top wheels

Side rails

Leap the Dips

4 riders at a time

Riders can hold on to this bar

I rode in both rows

Side wheels attach to metal

side rails to

keep the train centered

Side rails

Top wheels

Modern coasters like Kingda Ka, on the other hand, feature side and underwheels — also called up-stop wheels — which attach to the bottom of the tracks. “Underwheels allowed for roller coasters to be far steeper and meaner as they couldn’t fly off the track,” Geisler said.

KINGDA KA

18 riders at a time

Over-the-shoulder

restraint

I sat

here

Lap bar

Side wheels center the train in the track

Underwheels attach to the bottom of the track, keeping the train locked

KINGDA KA

18 riders at a time

Over-the-shoulder

restraint

I sat

here

Lap bar

Side wheels center the train in the track

Underwheels attach to the bottom of the track, keeping the train locked

KINGDA KA

18 riders at a time

I sat

here

Lap bar

Over-the-shoulder

restraint

Side wheels center the train in the track

Underwheels attach to the bottom of the track, keeping the train locked

KINGDA KA

18 riders at a time

I sat

here

Lap bar

Over-the-shoulder

restraint

Side wheels center the train in the track

Underwheels attach to the bottom of the track, keeping the train locked

I still felt like I would fly off the tracks of the giant coaster. But the “airtime” you get on this ride comes from your body leaving the seat, not the train leaving the tracks.

This extreme sensation would not be possible without safety features that were incorporated to thrill rides over the years, including seat belts, lap bars and over-the-shoulder restraints.

Besides the height of both coasters, that was perhaps the main design change that caught my eye in both rides. The Leap The Dips doesn’t have seat belts or lap bars. There is only a bar at an arm’s length of the back of the seat that the rider can hold.

On Kingda Ka, riders are secured by a thick lap bar and an over-the-shoulder restraint that’s locked with a seat belt, which I checked about seven times. Riders also are advised to keep their heads against the headrest and to not let go of the hand grips on the lap bar for the entire ride — advice I didn’t dare challenge.

Launching and braking systems

Perhaps the most recent technological leap in roller coaster design is the way trains are taken uphill.

Leap The Dips is lifted with the most traditional method: a chain. The slow trip uphill, accompanied by the unique soundtrack of anti-rollback wooden slabs hitting the side of the car, creates a feeling of anticipation and excitement for the coming drop.

On Kingda Ka, a hydraulic launch propels riders to the top of the coaster in 3.5 seconds, not nearly enough time for one to think about the enormous drop ahead. In that time, the train goes from zero to a dizzying 128 miles per hour. “The launch is what makes it so unique,” said James Lawson, 30, who had ridden the coaster multiple times. “It’s like the Tesla of roller coasters.”

The main turning point in coaster launches was in 1996, when Flight of Fear in King’s Island became the first coaster to use magnets to launch the train. Since then, various methods have been used in launches, like compressed air and dropped weights.

Leap The Dips reaches a modest speed of 10 miles per hour, so a modest braking system is adequate: an operator who leans back to pull a 5-foot-tall wooden lever. On extreme modern coasters, more advanced braking systems are used. On Kingda Ka, for example, magnets along the tracks bring the train to a stop.

Kingda Ka was the last coaster to break the height world record, in 2005. Experts are split on whether another ever will.

Some say parks will continue to invest in storytelling, themes and technology to make rides more thrilling. “I think that people have settled into not bothering to want to make them higher, faster, bigger, but just better,” said Geisler, of the American Coaster Enthusiasts. “They’re designing them with more excitement built into it, also by telling a story or by theming it.”

Tech will also play a big part in the future of thrill coasters, said Korey Kiepert, co-owner and roller coaster engineer at the Gravity Group. “There have been roller coasters with VR headsets, robotic arms and even vertical drop tracks. There is always a place for trying something new.”

Others say that we’re due for a resurgence of big, scary coasters. “The initial rush of just wanting to get back into parks has ended,” said Derek Perry, communications director at the American Coaster Enthusiasts. “I think this is the start of a coaster renaissance with bigger coasters being built once again.”

Whether a 500-foot ride is ever built — and if I have the courage to ride it — remains to be seen.

Editing by Chiqui Esteban and Amanda Finnegan.