Founded in 1987 by Walter Bolliger and Claude Mabillard, B&M today is one of the world’s most respected roller coaster design & manufacturing films, supplying headlining attractions to amusement parks across the globe. In fact, you’d be hard off to find a major, thrill-focused coaster park in the United States (or elsewhere, for that matter) that doesn’t have at least one B&M creation among its lineup…! No, really… Try to think of one…
If you’re not sure, just venture into the rabbit hole of your friendly, neighborhood park’s unofficial fansite discussion board; scour RCDB; or more to the point, visit a park with a seasoned coaster enthusiast. Without fail, a coaster geek can spot a B&M a mile away thanks to unmistakable signs: rounded support columns; four-abreast trains; signature “pre-drops” before the biggie meant to relieve stress on chain lifts; signature maneuvers like wing-overs, dive loops, Immelmans, and cobra rolls… once you know how to spot them, B&Ms are everywhere.
In part, the proliferation of B&M rides around the world is thanks to the firm’s apparent three-word mantra: reliability, reliability, reliability. A designer who knows how far to push the limits (and what lines not to cross compared to, say, their nearest competitors, Intamin), B&M rides are trustworthy crowd-pleasers and people-eaters. But the spread of B&M coasters is also due to their part in the epic “Coaster Wars” of the ‘90s and early 2000s, when parks were willing to spend big to prototype B&M’s cutting-edge, record-breaking ride systems that would earn parks attendance, awards, and acclaim.
The breakneck pace of innovation and the thirst for record-breaking has (mostly) quelled. The primary competitors in the “Coaster Wars” – Six Flags and Cedar Fair – have since noticed that in their two decades of bigger-taller-faster obsession, they might’ve accidentally forgotten to invest in anything but thrill rides, leading to a significant slowdown in coaster construction throughout the 2010s and a needed shift toward flat rides, dark rides, and entertainment. But now, a new patent suggests that B&M may be ready for a comeback…
Today, we’ll tour through the major reinventions of the roller coaster pioneered by B&M over its thirty year history, watching as they reposition, reorient, and remake riders’ roles in thrill rides. Think you know what B&M might have planned next? We bet you’ll be surprised…
1990: Stand-Up
Given that Bolliger & Mabillard the designers had an extensive history in ride manufacturing, it’s no surprise that a few important connections lead to their new firm’s contracting with Six Flags to develop their first from-scratch ride: a stand-up coaster. Stand-up coasters had been a flash-in-the-pan trend thanks to 1984’s first-purpose built stand-up coaster, King Cobra at Kings Island. That ride’s manufacturer – TOGO – would create four stand-up rides in the ‘80s and convert three more.
But B&M’s entry, IRON WOLF (1990) at Six Flags Great America (outside Chicago), was the start of the company’s legacy. Further stand-up coasters by B&M would come online soon after – VORTEX (California’s Great America; 1991), VORTEX (Carowinds, 1992), MANTIS (Cedar Point, 1996), CHANG (Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom, 1997), RIDDLER’S REVENGE (Six Flags Magic Mountain, 1998), and GEORGIA SCORCHER (Six Flags Over Georgia, 1999). Though Iron Wolf may have literally created many of the conventions now considered iconic elements of B&M coasters, the story of the stand-up coaster wasn’t exactly a success.
Altogether, stand-up coasters are often relegated to a “gimmick” of the ‘90s. Their convoluted layouts of seemingly random twists, half-loops, helices, and inclined elements often triggered the dreaded “headbanging” against rigid shoulder restraints and left legs feeling like jelly. What’s worse, despite hydraulically-adjustable seats able to lock at any height (which massively slowed capacity), stand-up coasters were noted for their… discomfort. (See the faces and postures of riders in the photo of Iron Wolf, above).
Out of the seven built, three underwent prototype redesigns in the 2010s replacing stand-up trains entirely with raised, seated trains – a move that’s been widely praised as a relatively inexpensive way to return interest to coasters once relegated to mere ‘90s leftovers. As for the other four? Well… Keep reading… Because B&M’s innovation didn’t stop with their 1990 debut. In fact, their most legendary design was on the horizon!
1992: Inverted
It was the swinging, suspended family coaster developed by Arrow (and first successfully applied as the Lost Legend: Big Bad Wolf in 1984) that had first positioned riders under the roller coaster track. But Big Bad Wolf (and Arrow’s subsequent suspended coasters) were, at their most extreme, merely family coasters whose thrills came not from harrowing dives, but the exaggerated swinging along turns.
Spurred again by the general manager of Six Flags Great America (where Iron Wolf had debuted), B&M was tasked with designing an “inverted” (below-the-track) coaster with inversions (upside-down elements). The result was BATMAN: THE RIDE (1992). Rather than “suspended” on a swinging arm, inverted trains run directly attached to the wheel carriage with dangling legs exposed as if on a ski-lift. Batman’s inverted trains tear along the outside of a vertical loop, sweep through “wing-over” corkscrews, and snake into and out of an elegant-looking “cobra roll” – mainstays of the ride type to this day.
Moreso than perhaps any patented coaster design in history, B&M’s Inverted coaster became an icon of the ‘90s “Coaster Wars,” and today it’s the rare thrill park that lacks one. Aside from twelve clones of Batman: The Ride (seven of which bear the name), a further two dozen inverted installations include FLIGHT DECK (California’s Great America, 1993), RAPTOR (Cedar Point, 1994), NEMESIS (Alton Towers, 1994), MONTU and the ski-lift themed ALPENGEIST (Busch Gardens Tampa and Williamsburg, 1996 and 1997), SILVER BULLET (Knott’s Berry Farm, 2004), BANSHEE (Kings Island, 2014), and the only B&M roller coaster to ever be permanently removed, DUELING DRAGONS (Universal’s Islands of Adventure, 1999 – part of the Lost Legend: The Lost Continent).
1993: Sitting
While a “sitting” coaster may not sound groundbreaking, 1993’s KUMBA (Busch Gardens Tampa) successfully merged the by-then standards of a B&M (four-across seating, a pre-drop, precisely calculated layouts with graceful, powerful, and sweeping inversions) into a genre all its own. No one makes “standard” coasters quite like B&M.
In fact, urban legend has it that classic coaster manufacturer Arrow Development tried (and failed) with a ride meant to be Kumba’s counterpart at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, the Declassified Disaster: Drachen Fire. The first (and only) Arrow coaster to use round supports and feature B&M standard elements like a cobra roll, Drachen Fire may have looked like a B&M, but it didn’t feel like one. That’s why it’s often used as an example of how – in the ‘90s – new manufacturers like B&M made old-school coaster designers of “Double Loops” and “Corkscrews” seem sadly obsolete. It was 1997’s inverted Alpengiest that unofficially killed Drachen Fire by showing guests that coasters could be intense, but, y’know, also comfortable.
So, though a “sitting” coaster might not sound like a landmark “innovation,” the five B&M has created are pretty legendary – after Kumba, DRAGON KAHN (PortAventura, 1995), WILDFIRE (Silver Dollar City, 2001), Hard Rock Park’s LED ZEPPELIN: THE RIDE (2008), and perhaps the world’s most recognizable roller coaster, THE INCREDIBLE HULK COASTER (Universal’s Islands of Adventure, 1999). Speaking of which, B&M famously agreed to build Hulk on the condition that Universal find someone else to manufacture the ride’s launch system. In their quest for reliability, B&M didn’t want to touch a launch with a ten-foot pole, and in fact, has only ever designed one launch coaster, ever…
But even if B&M shied away from unreliable parts, the four unique coaster arrangements they perfected at the dawn of the New Millennium and through the 2000s remain among the most iconic coaster styles… And then there’s that nagging question: what’s next, and what does B&M’s recent patent filing suggest their next endeavor could be? Read on…
1998: Dive
What would be B&M’s next innovation? There was only one place to bring it to life: Alton Towers. After the debut of the subterranean B&M invert Nemesis in 1994, the British theme park eagerly assumed the role of a test bed and prototype park for new ride systems with subsequent “Secret Weapon” ride installations. And 1998’s was a feat: OBLIVION, a one-of-a-kind Dive Coaster. Sitting eight across in three rows, Oblivion hoists riders 66 feet, then precariously perches them on the very edge of a near vertical (87.5 degree) drop, gazing down into an inky black portal directly below.
Oblivion was a relatively simple ride – merely the climb, a 180 foot vertical plunge into a tunnel, and a return to the station. Busch Gardens’ debuted a more “complete experience” in its follow-up pair, each at last achieving a true 90-degree dive. In Tampa Bay, SHEIKRA (2005) is themed to the African bird known to dive straight down for its prey, soaring and spiraling through ancient ruins and misty ponds. At Busch Gardens Williamsburg, GRIFFON (2007) captures the power of the mythological beast soaring through a French vineyard. The latter even debuted unprecedented 10-across, floorless trains.
Busch Gardens seemingly had the North American lock on the technology for the decade after. While a half-dozen Dive Coasters spread across Europe and Asia in the ten years after SheiKra and Griffon, they didn’t return to North America until Cedar Point’s VALRAVN (2016), plus YUKON STRIKER (Canada’s Wonderland, 2019), and EMPEROR (SeaWorld San Diego, 2021). Altogether, fifteen B&M Dive Coasters are spread around the world – a sizeable collection that’s grown quietly, but steadily. And given that Dive Coasters are all about larger-than-life, swooping, graceful, powerful maneuvers, it’s a perfect showcase of everything B&M does well.
1999: Hyper
Despite not being the most proliferated of B&M’s coaster styles, the Hyper Coaster is almost certainly the most identifiable today thanks to a major rebirth in the last decade or so. 1999’s APOLLO’S CHARIOT at Busch Gardens Williamsburg wasn’t the first coaster with a drop over 200 feet (that would be Cedar Point’s Magnum XL-200 a decade earlier). But it was the first to both top the 200-foot mark and feature the buttery-smooth, perfectly-sculpted, weightless airtime hills you’d expect of B&M… and unlike Arrow or Morgan’s hypercoasters that strapped guests into claustrophobic trains, B&M’s elevated seats on sleds with just a simple “clamshell” restraint allow the full, weightless wonder of freed legs and arms.
The out-and-back, sailing, soaring style caught on quick with a number of Six Flags classics RAGING BULL (Great America, 1999), NITRO (Great Adventure, 2001), and two GOLIATHs (Over Georgia and La Ronde, 2006). Further U.S. installations include MAKO (SeaWorld Orlando, 2016) and CANDYMONIUM (Hersheypark, 2020).
In 2007, the Paramount Parks were sold to thrill park operator Cedar Fair, who quickly used B&M hypers to dominate several of their skylines and signal their intentions: BEHEMOTH (Canada’s Wonderland, 2008), DIAMONDBACK (Kings Island, 2009), and INTIMIDATOR (2010). Cedar Fair would later have B&M return to those three parks to produce B&M “Giga coasters,” topping 300 feet: Leviathan (2012), Orion (2020), and Fury 325 (2015), respectively.
B&M’s 300-foot-plus Giga coasters – while massive anchor attractions – have gotten a bit of flack from coaster enthusiasts for failing to deviate from the Hyper Coaster pattern. In other words, they’re still out-and-back layouts; still exclusively airtime hills; same trains; same look and feel. They’re just, y’know, taller and faster. To that end, we don’t quite count them as a new “style” of coaster; merely an “embiggening” of a classic.
2002: Flying
As with stand-up, sitting, and hyper coasters, B&M didn’t invent the concept of a flying coaster, nor were they the first to produce a high-capacity prototype (that would be Vekoma with 2000’s Stealth at California’s Great America and 2001’s X-Flight at Six Flags Worlds of Adventure). But just as Walt Disney created the definitive version of Snow White, B&M’s flying coaster is – for most enthusiasts – what you picture when you think of flying coasters. That’s partly because B&M’s method for getting riders into the flying position is by far the most elegant on the market: Riders board what appears to be an inverted coaster, only to have their seats pulled upward, spines aligned to the track, and staring straight down before departing the station.
Their first go was 2002’s AIR at Alton Towers, which proved the flying coaster a natural complement to the kinds of adjectives folks use to describe modern B&Ms anyway: sleek, smooth, soaring, and awe-inspiring. (The ride is currently renamed Galactica; the remains of a short-lived VR overlay.) Air stays mostly low to the ground, merely swirling around an oasis-like forest tucked away in the park’s post-apocalyptic Forbidden Valley area. The next installations of B&M’s flying coaster model went a bit bigger.
Six Flags quickly jumped on the bandwagon with four B&M fliers (three clones of SUPERMAN – ULTIMATE FLIGHT at Over Georgia [2002], Great America [2003], and Great Adventure [2003], and TATSU at Magic Mountain [2006]). The most recognizable flying coaster on Earth might be SeaWorld Orlando’s MANTA (2009) with its iconic splashdown at the park’s entrance. The most recent is 2016’s FLYING DINOSAUR in Universal Studios Japan’s Jurassic Park area. Altogether, there are 11 B&M fliers, and a few parks that could benefit from one…
2011: Wing
The latest legitimately new “style” of coaster developed by B&M, the Wing Coaster doesn’t just offer a new train arrangement; it redefines the ride experience. For one, riders sit on seats cantilevered out from either side of the track, with nothing above or below. Second, riders are essentially seated at the same elevation as the track, creating the potential for interesting physics and forces during inversions. Third, the train’s wide – but long – look creates a unique serpentine visual that’s used to amazing ends in RAPTOR (Gardaland, 2011) and SWARM (Thorpe Park, 2012), both of which make great to-do of spiraling past and through near-miss obstacles in visual clashes that leave onlookers shocked.
Nearly every Wing Coaster makes at least some attempt at using the “near-miss” visual element – like WILD EAGLE (Dollywood, 2012) and X-FLIGHT (Six Flags Great America, 2012). Interestingly, THUNDERBIRD (Holiday World, 2015) isn’t just a Wing Coaster… it’s the first (and to date, only) launch coaster wholly produced by B&M, who finally experimented with the once-too-unreliable launch technology using LSMs.
Despite being one of the most recognizable installations of a Wing Coaster (thanks to spiraling through the park’s iconic mod entry gates), GATEKEEPER (Cedar Point, 2013) is often held up as an example of the modern mediocrity of B&M. Many enthusiasts hold GateKeeper up as evidence of B&M’s “neutering;” it’s a (statistically) huge ride, with massive inversions… but it’s largely considered relatively forceless and meandering; a far-cry from the ultra-intense rides of the ‘90s. (But to be fair, that may also have something to do with its size. Despite Cedar Fair’s continuous push for breaking records, sometimes “bigger isn’t always better;” see Cedar Point’s Valravn vs. Busch Gardens’ Griffon.)
And maybe that’s the perfect segue into the issue at hand… What could B&M have planned for tomorrow? Their 2020 patent application may surprise you… Read on!
Coaster competition
Since its first roller coaster debuted thirty years ago, B&M has become a staple of modern amusement parks. Don’t misunderstand: despite the end of the “Coaster Wars,” competition is more fierce than ever.
Wood-focused GCI (Mystic Timbers, Invadr, Texas Stingray) has doubled down on classic, terrain-hugging, wooden twisters. Industry-revolutionizing Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC) meanwhile, specializes in wood-to-steel conversions (Twisted Colossus, Steel Vengeance, Iron Gwazi, Wicked Cyclone, etc.) as well as unique Topper Track, giving wood coasters the capabilities of steel (like the inverting Outlaw Run and the launched Lightning Rod).
Then there are mid-sized – but substantial – players like Premier Rides (known for its LIM technology as seen on Revenge of the Mummy, Flight of Fear, and Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, SeaWorld’s Ice Breaker, and the nine Sky Rockets, including Tempesto, Tigris, and Electric Eel), Vekoma (Disney’s go-to partner as well as a major player in regional parks), and Zierer (a German manufacturer who made a splash with their freefall drop track coaster).
And after all these years, we still can’t discount longstanding titan Intamin. Sometimes simplified as the “experimental” and “extreme” counterpart to the steady and reliable B&M, Intamin made a huge name for itself by shattering the 300- and 400-foot height barriers (with Cedar Point’s Millennium Force & Top Thrill Dragster, respectively), and their high-tech launch systems, extreme elements, and record-breaking rides were staples of the Coaster Wars. After a few years focused mainly on the growing Asian market (after a few notable issues with typical U.S. partners Cedar Fair and Six Flags), Intamin returned to headlines in a big way with their cutting-edge, tech-infused, element-rich, multi-launch, and temperamental creations like Hagrid’s Motorbike Adventure, Pantheon, and the Velocicoaster.
Yet despite it all, B&M remains a force to be reckoned with. It’s true (and in many cases, fair) that some accuse of B&M of peddling in cookie-cutter hypercoasters and increasingly-over-engineered creations; that modern B&M may have lost its “bite” in favor of mass-production (no less than six are on the way in 2021); that the proliferation of inverted, dive, wing, and hyper coasters has saturated North America with near-enough products. (And frankly, some parks need a personality-filled, one-of-a-kind, feature-laden creation from Premier, Intamin, Zierer, or RMC rather than the B&M airtime coasters they’re inevitably going to get.)
But after creating the definitive forms of stand-up, inverted, diving, flying, and winged coasters (and essentially setting the industry standard for sitting and hyper coasters), the question has to be asked: what could be next for B&M? Thanks to a recent patent filed by the Swiss company, we may have a peek into what the future may hold… and frankly, it’s a surprise…
202X: Stand-up 2.0
As we mentioned, B&M didn’t create that many stand-up coasters to begin with; just seven, versus the dozens of inverted coasters, for example. Four of those seven remain in operation as designed: GEORGIA SCORCHER (Six Flags Over Georgia), GREEN LANTERN (relocated from Kentucky – where it had been Chang – to Six Flags Great Adventure), RIDDLER’S REVENGE (Six Flags Magic Mountain), and VORTEX (Carowinds). The other three of those seven were given new life (and marketed as new)…
… with a new fleet of modified trains. Seated, floorless, and raised (to accomodate for the higher heartline design of the standing layout), three stand-up coasters have been “revitalized” with this clever fix – Cedar Point’s Mantis became ROUGAROU in 2015; Great America’s Vortex became PATRIOT in 2017; Six Flags America’s Apocalypse (once the original Iron Wolf back at Six Flags Great America) was reborn from the ashes as the floorless, sit-down FIREBIRD in 2019.
Each was a revolution given that merely purchasing new trains allowed operators to rid themselves of a ‘90s gimmick and refresh a ride enough to warrant being marketed as a new, fresh experience. Maybe that’s why B&M’s new patent suggests that the future may very well be in the past…
This summer, the Swiss company filed paperwork registering a new seat design. But unlike the groundbreaking arrangements of inverted, dive, or wing coaster trains, filed patents suggest that B&M engineers have been hard at work refining a… classic? Almost unbelievably, B&M doesn’t seem to have given up on its stand-up coasters. Rather, their newest patent reveals that engineers have created a new stand-up coaster technology that could alleviate the two primary complaints guests had about this “gimmick” ride style.
First, the patent reveals the replacement of B&M’s thick, hard, over-the-shoulder restraints (the cause of frequent “headbanging” and earring injuries on classic stand-ups) with a modern fix. In fact, many of B&M’s recent coasters have opted for much less restrictive over-the-shoulder apparatus with wider-set structural restraints and a flexible “vest”-style restraint that holds tight against riders’ torsos. While it may not leave riders as free as a simple clamshell waist restraint (and can be unfriendly toward guests with larger body dimensions), the new variation certainly reduces headbanging. It’s not only been used on new, post-2012 B&Ms, but retrofitted into older trains to improve rider comfort.
Second, the patent shows B&M engineers have worked on a way to add some elasticity to the standing position. After all, the major complaint many riders leveraged against stand-up coasters was the major discomfort brought on by blood pooling in rigid, straight legs and – of course – discomfort due to the bicycle-style seat riders straddle. But according to this patent, a new option may exist: standing “seats” that not only lock to a comfortable height for each rider, but now can also slightly adjust during the ride. Think of it as shock absorbers, relieving pressure on legs (and groins) by adjusting to negative and positive Gs.
The future in the past?
It could very well be that B&M plans to roll-out either the upgraded stand-up train or the replacement floorless vehicles at the four remaining stand-up coasters from the ‘90s. It could also be that B&M is hoping that if they can perfect the stand-up concept with a fresh, comfortable train (eliminating both the rigid positioning and the painful over-the-shoulder restraints), they could actually make the stand-up coaster a contender again – a 21st century revival of ’90s nostalgia.
Even if B&M’s plans for the stand-up coaster don’t expand beyond a potential fix for its remaining standing installations, it’s noteworthy that the company would bother to return to the long-lost ride variation. And who knows? Maybe before you know it, B&M’s new patented stand-up train will spark a second age of the stand-up coaster… Maybe one day, there will be more B&M stand-ups than inverted and hyper coasters combined…!
What do you think? After all these decades of innovation, are you surprised to find that B&M’s latest patent suggests an upgrade to a thirty year old ride system? Do you think a new age of stand-up coasters could be on the horizon? Or is this patent merely a promise to fix the last ‘90s remnants of this “gimmick”? How would you like to see stand-up trains rolled out on B&M classics?
