How tall is too tall?

I dont see them getting much higer than 800ft mark, due to the hazard they will cause with aircraft flying at low altitudes. Also hyyyper, there is an amazing thing called Terminal Velocity, i dont expect you would get a coaster to go any faster than 250-300 mph, even if you dropped it from 50,000ft

^ Is that because as the train accelerates downwards, the force of gravity does not change, but the air resistance behind the train does? So at a certain ppoint, the train would just about stop accelerating as it went down such a large drop? I dont have a clue, im just thinking, and asking at the same time. lol.

Anyway, you cant say i think the highest coaster ever will be this high.... We never know. Technology changes, allowing the limits before it to be broken. God, when i was about 8 (thats when i first really started following coasters, like buying books, videos etc lol) which was 1998, no one expected a ride to open like X, or like Dodonpa. At that stage in time, i think superman the Escape was the tallest and fastest coaster in the world and had only opened the previous year. That ride had used new technology for that time, and had broken records and stuff, and i dont think many people expected to see a taller and faster coaster that soon after. But in only 6 years or so, new technology came in, and TTD was created. My point, technologies change, and new things can be done. This will carry on until the end of the world, as long as it is safe, and affordable.

[hyyyper]

Originally posted by Edge

I dont see them getting much higer than 800ft mark, due to the hazard they will cause with aircraft flying at low altitudes. Also hyyyper, there is an amazing thing called Terminal Velocity, i dont expect you would get a coaster to go any faster than 250-300 mph, even if you dropped it from 50,000ft

glad nature put that in ,

also, you could always build a coaster uphill, which would cause no airplane issues, or just build outside flight routes

Originally posted by Real

^Yea, you could. You could pack like 3 FAR better rides in the area that that mediocre ride takes up.

Heck, Id rather see the metal taken for scrap, melted down then reused for a better coaster amongst those trees and lagoon.

wawawawhat???


are you saying millennium force is mediocre??

Can be high as sturctural limits will allow, and as strong as windshields on front trains get.

i agree with jpe, when i first got into coasters, there was still the debate over whether pepsi max, or desperado was taller and faster. that wasnt even very long ago and theyre only what, 205ft? in less than 10 years weve more than doubled that height, and it been a steady increase over time, and ive seen no decline in that battle over the years.

Around 600 or else you would nead some really F%$%*n Strong supports

^ not really, it depends on what you mean by F%$%*n Strong supports.

if it was in a MF style supports, it would be perfectly fine, but if it was like a KK, yes then, the supports would have to be stronger.

[hyyyper]

they will allways find new ways...

Originally posted by ragan

Originally posted by Real

^Yea, you could. You could pack like 3 FAR better rides in the area that that mediocre ride takes up.

Heck, Id rather see the metal taken for scrap, melted down then reused for a better coaster amongst those trees and lagoon.

wawawawhat???


are you saying millennium force is mediocre??

I think he was being sarcastic..... [;)] [:)] I think anyway.

[gouldy]

How come people keep saying "beyond xxx feet you wouldn't be able to build supports strong enough"? If they can build buildings over 1,500 feet, then they can build coasters that tall also. There is no physical limit to how high or how fast anything can go, how do you know a super ridiculously strong new material won't be invented that could support a massive ship on something the size of a piece of string? The real question is, would there really be a point in having coasters that are over say 1000ft? Remember, anything is possible, just not everything is plausable.

[hyyyper]

Originally posted by gouldy

How come people keep saying "beyond xxx feet you wouldn't be able to build supports strong enough"? If they can build buildings over 1,500 feet, then they can build coasters that tall also. There is no physical limit to how high or how fast anything can go, how do you know a super ridiculously strong new material won't be invented that could support a massive ship on something the size of a piece of string? The real question is, would there really be a point in having coasters that are over say 1000ft? Remember, anything is possible, just not everything is plausable.

if you would have asked a person an age back, if he would have like it if we would build a coaster 138 meters, just after a woodie broke the 10 meter record,
he would prolly answer the same: why would we need a coaster 138 meters?

[gouldy]

Yeah, whatever will be, will be. Right now a 1000ft tall coaster is not plausable and I do doubt it ever being plausable, in terms of cost, efficiency etc etc... Maybe a coaster that drops 1000ft off the side of a building, but it would still take however many minutes to get back up, which is just impractical until they invent a much faster chainlift or something. In the future, possibly, but not probably.

[Dirk_Ermen]

Originally posted by gouldy

Yeah, whatever will be, will be. Right now a 1000ft tall coaster is not plausable and I do doubt it ever being plausable, in terms of cost, efficiency etc etc... Maybe a coaster that drops 1000ft off the side of a building, but it would still take however many minutes to get back up, which is just impractical until they invent a much faster chainlift or something. In the future, possibly, but not probably.

just use a thrill lift without tilting, goes quick enough [:D]

[hyyyper]

Originally posted by gouldy

Yeah, whatever will be, will be. Right now a 1000ft tall coaster is not plausable and I do doubt it ever being plausable, in terms of cost, efficiency etc etc... Maybe a coaster that drops 1000ft off the side of a building, but it would still take however many minutes to get back up, which is just impractical until they invent a much faster chainlift or something. In the future, possibly, but not probably.

i'm gonna have to make another history trip:

the first 'real' woodies had some kind of weird thing prior to a lift, how who they have ever though about using electirc enery or hydro-fluids to power a coaster?

ya these insanse rocket coasters are not amazing. maybe hotels will be interested in constructing roller coasters that start on the roof and perform a vertical drop down the side of the building and include some elements in a large plot of land next to the building. imagine that in a big city. as long as the track could be made quiet. i can just see a free fall coaster flying down the CN tower. haha awesome...
but in reality, i think both physical and economical as well as technical limits as far as height goes are coming close to being reached, by today's standards. unless some major breakthrough can occur this is becoming harder to achieve.

[hyyyper]

the strato tower in LV once came up with the idea of a gaint fishhook coaster down the tower, but the residents of the area complained and the plan didn't survive.....to bad

Seriously, there will never be a height limit. I mean, people thought that nothing would break the 200 foot barrier, then Millennium Force came along and broke the 300 foot barrier, then Top Thrill Dragster came along and broke the 400 foot barrier. Don't you see the pattern? I am 99.99% positive that there will someday be a 500 foot coaster. There is already one that is taller than 450 (Kingda Ka), 50 more feet isn't that far away. Before you know it there will be 600 and 700 foot coasters. It is possible for it to happen, and I basically know that it will.

I mean, if they can build buildings that are a thousand+ feet, they will be able to build a rollercoaster 600-700 feet.

Originally posted by jpecool

Originally posted by ragan

Originally posted by Real

^Yea, you could. You could pack like 3 FAR better rides in the area that that mediocre ride takes up.

Heck, Id rather see the metal taken for scrap, melted down then reused for a better coaster amongst those trees and lagoon.

wawawawhat???


are you saying millennium force is mediocre??

I think he was being sarcastic..... [;)] [:)] I think anyway.

Nope, not joking. It is mediocre. Very, very mediocre. Theres only airtime on the drop and the rest of the ride is just some fast swoopy turns. I can do that in my car, infact, since the rides average speed is probably around 75mph, I do that daily on my way to work. Its just not that spectacular when realize all it does is go fast.

Heck, because of the cable lift you dont even get to enjoy a nice, long jaunt up the hill. You are hauled up so fast that before you know it, bam, you are at the top. Its a good ride but as Ive ridden more and grown wiser, its just nothing anymore. I would rather see 3 rides made from its scrap.

Originally posted by Real

Originally posted by jpecool

Originally posted by ragan

[quote]Originally posted by Real

^Yea, you could. You could pack like 3 FAR better rides in the area that that mediocre ride takes up.

Heck, Id rather see the metal taken for scrap, melted down then reused for a better coaster amongst those trees and lagoon.

wawawawhat???


are you saying millennium force is mediocre??

I think he was being sarcastic..... [;)] [:)] I think anyway.

Nope, not joking. It is mediocre. Very, very mediocre. Theres only airtime on the drop and the rest of the ride is just some fast swoopy turns. I can do that in my car, infact, since the rides average speed is probably around 75mph, I do that daily on my way to work. Its just not that spectacular when realize all it does is go fast.

Heck, because of the cable lift you dont even get to enjoy a nice, long jaunt up the hill. You are hauled up so fast that before you know it, bam, you are at the top. Its a good ride but as Ive ridden more and grown wiser, its just nothing anymore. I would rather see 3 rides made from its scrap.
[/quote]

me too. even though ive never ridden MF, i think it would be better if they had 3 new coatsers, plus it would put them at the top for most coasters again. I would like to see maybe an accelerator coaster like Storm Runner or Rita.

i agree. while the drop is spectacular the climb up is too fast and then the rest of the ride ends just as quickly. the tops of the "airtime" hills are too rounded which causes some good floater, barely, but not much truly good airtime. it's a drop, 2 hills, a turn, 3 overbanks, and brake. overrated. but the drop is what people go for, that's what kept me riding it.