What is a Floorless Coaster?
Floorless roller coasters first appeared on the scene with Medusa at Six Flags Great Adventure in 1999. The steel seated looping coaster’s seven loops had been seen before, but it’s completely open train design was a first.
Floorless trains (pictured to the right on Hydra) further enhance the rider’s sense of freedom, or fear depending on how you view it. Swiss roller coaster designers Bolliger & Mabillard have designed their train cars in such a way that you’re basically sitting in a chair (with restraints) with your feet dangling above the track. They seldom produce standard seated looping coasters anymore. These days, theme parks opt for the floorless trains more often than not as they add another element to the ride.
There are currently eleven B&M floorless roller coasters in the world. Some of the most notable
floorless coasters include: Kraken at SeaWorld Orlando, Hydra the Revenge at Dorney Park, Medusa at Six Flags Great Adventure, Scream! at Six Flags Magic Mountain, and Superman Krypton Coaster at Six Flags Fiesta Texas.
Check out my other Coasterology 101 posts to learn about other types of roller coasters.
To see an up close look at the cool boarding mechanisms that accompany floorless trains check out this roller coaster video of Hydra the Revenge at Dorney Park. Watch the station floor fold up and move away and check out Hydra’s sick JoJo roll as soon as you exit the station.
Photo 1 courtesy of CoasterImage.com
Jake
never actually been on one but i wish to.
Anonymous
There used to be one at Geagua Lake in Aurora called Dominator. I think it's now at King's Island. I wish I would've rode it when I had the chance. It has one of the largest vertical loops in the world. Looked awesome!
Lucas
I've been on the Medusa @ six flags Discovery Kingdom, and it is pretty cool. If you sit in the front row, every time the train goes up, it looks like your feet are going to be eaten by the track. It is a great experience.
Anonymous
I thought B&M was a swiss designer…
Matthew
I thought so too Anonymous.
JaMeS
Um… look it up. The coaster critic is right. and i like the roll out of the station looks cool for hydra, but the best floorless is Kraken @ seaworld
Matthew
Kraken at Seaworld was a great ride they installed there. They really needed that roller coaster. Some people i saw there only rode Kraken. That was the only thing they did all day!
JaMeS
wow. must have been before manta.
One bad thing about Kraken: rough for a Bolliger and Mallibird coaster
ANON
sad thing is, an older rougher b&m is smoother them most other coasters period…lol…
Matthew
ya there roller coasters were pretty smooth but this roller coaster made them look bad. But they at least needed one coaster. And i went there about 5 years ago so Manta wasnt there. Haha if Manta were running when i was there i would be like "Kraken, whats that"!
malcolm
kraken wasn't really rough to me but i haven't ridden since 2000(sad) but ill be there in august
The Coaster Critic
You guys are right. B&M is a Swiss company. Sometimes when I write to fast I write the wrong country. Believe it or not I've actually received traffic from their network. And its definitely from Switzerland. Pretty cool to know someone from that company is actually checking out the site. Anyway, I made the correction.
Matthew
Haha well i read this and at the end of it i kinda was confused. I looked it up on google and it was Swiss. Thanks for changing it
Anonymous
Good, because you also put that B&M were Swedes on the inverted coasterology post.
Matthew
Trust me, in 20 years every coaster in the world is going to be floorless cause of the technology that we are creating. So if you havent been on a floorless coaster, just be patient, soon every coaster will be
Anonymous
I doubt that. Some ACE Coaster Classics (look it up) are probably never going to be floorless. Do you mean new rides?
Matthew
Well ya all the new rides. That would be really wierds if they made a floorless woody, but i doubt thats even possible. But a big percentage of the new steel roller coasters are going to be floorless
JaMeS
um… who works for Bolliger and Malliberd?
Anonymous
Walter Bolliger, Claude Mabillard, and some random people nobody cares about.;)
Also, Matthew, I have two things to say.
1. With GG's Timberliner trains, I think a floorless would is possible. http://www.rcprocommunity.com/showthread.php?t=14…
2. Only B&M builds floorless coasters. When you list the other designers in the coaster field, the odds each designer will come up with a unique floorless is slim.
Not that I wish it wasn't true.