Originally posted by coaster992001
ok, the coaster definatly did not come to what it is today in europr. first off, the first flying coaster was stealth, NOT Air in alton towers. the forst looping ride was at coney island. the first steel ride was in disneyland. the first ride over 100, 200, 300, and 400 feet were all in the usa. also, the first coaster was in coney island (or pennsylvania if you count that as a coaster) the first air launched was in the usa, the first LIM coaster..... first corkscrew...... etc etc etc. and the first vertical coaster although i dont know what the name is, its in the usa. oblivion says its a vertical coaster but its drop is 87 degrees, not 90.
Actually, the first roller coaster WAS built in Europe. Back during the Napoleanic Wars, the French soldiers in Russia fell in love with the elaborite ice slides that were there. They brought the idea back to France. The French added an elaborite wheel system so that they could ride the machines all year. However, they could not keep the cars on the track. For almost 70 years, the French flocked to the elaborite and dangerous creations. But, as time went on, the roller coaster craze in Europe died out, along with all but a few of the wooden slides. Meanwhile, over in America, immigrants came over from France with memories of the rides back in Europe. There, the engineers of the late 17th century got a new inspiration... the railroad. The Mauch Chunk Railway, a gravity-powered coal transporting railway, inspired a re-intrest in roller-coaster-like rides. LeMarcus Anda Thompson built a ride called the "switchback railway" at Coney Island. The ride was an instant hit, and the switchback gravity railway was the beginning of the coaster craze in the USA. Then, the man who made the modern roller coaster possible came along... John Miller. He patented 40 different coaster safety systems, including the now standard 3-wheel configuration, making the coaster was now a safe ride. Following in his footsteps, the most insane designers ever; Thomas Prior, Fredrick Church, and Harry Traver; ignited the coaster boom of the 20's. More than 2000 coasters existed worldwide by 1931. But then, the Great Depression and World War 2 extinguished the rush of coasters. The number of coasters worldwide dropped from <2000 to only a few hundred. In 1955, a man named Walt Disney joined hands with Arrow Dynamics to bring the steel coaster to life. This motion brought the theme park back to being popular, and ignited another coaster boom. Well, the boom is still going on today. The rest is history.
So, when I said that the coaster came to be what it is now in America, I did not mean that it was invented in America, I meant only that it was pioneered in America. Without Europe, the roller coaster would not exist, but without America the roller coaster would probably still be nothing more than an elaborite slide.