Floorless Coaster

A Floorless Coaster is a type of steel roller coaster manufactured by Bolliger & Mabillard where riders sit with no floor underneath them, allowing their feet to swing freely just above the track. Development of the Floorless Coaster model began between 1995 and 1996 with Medusa at Six Flags Great Adventure, which opened on April 2, 1999, as world's first Floorless Roller Coaster. Floorless Roller Coasters typically feature between three and seven inversions in the layout of the coaster.

Floorless Roller Coaster
Dominator at Kings Dominion
Status	In production
First manufactured	1999
No. of installations	14
Manufacturer	Bolliger & Mabillard
Vehicle type	Floorless seats located above the track
Vehicles	6-8-car Floorless Coaster trains
Riders per row	4
Restraint Style	Over-the-shoulder harness
Produced	1999–present
Floorless Roller Coaster at RCDB

Since 2007, Bolliger & Mabillard have used floorless trains on their Dive Coasters, such as Griffon and SheiKra. Though they contain floorless trains, the coasters are still not considered Floorless Coasters, as the company classifies them as another model. Maurer Söhne has designed their own version of the Floorless Coaster, a variant of their X-Car model called X-Car Floorless, but currently do not have any installations.

History

Medusa's cobra roll at Six Flags Great Adventure

According to Walter Bolliger, development of the Floorless Coaster began between 1995 and 1996.^[1] In 1999, the world's first Floorless Coaster opened at Six Flags Great Adventure as Medusa. With the success of Medusa, SeaWorld, Cedar Fair, Six Flags, and independent parks, Janfusun Fancyworld, Parque Warner Madrid, Tivoli Gardens, and Ocean Park Hong Kong have built other coasters of this model at their parks. B&M has built 13 Floorless Coasters from the ground up, with Dominator at Kings Dominion being the only one relocated to another park.^[2] They have also converted three of their stand-up roller coasters to Floorless Coasters: Rougarou at Cedar Point, Patriot at California's Great America, and Firebird at Six Flags America.

Design

Hydra the Revenge's first drop at Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom

The design of a Floorless Coaster has one main difference from traditional steel roller coasters around the world: there is no floor under the seats.^[3] While a train is parked in the station, a floor is used only for loading and unloading purposes. Because the front row has nothing in front of it to stop riders from walking over the edge of the station, a gate is placed in front of the train to prevent this from happening. Once all the over-the-shoulder restraints are locked, the floor separates into several pieces and retracts underneath the station. The gate then opens, allowing the train to move forward. When the train returns to the station, the floor is brought back up and the gate is closed for the next group of riders to load and unload.^[4] Aside from the station, Floorless Coasters have similar layouts to B&M's sit-down coasters.^[2][5]

Installations

One of Kraken's trains going through a corkscrew at SeaWorld Orlando in Orlando, Florida.

Bolliger & Mabillard has built thirteen Floorless Coasters from the ground up, with three additional that were converted from stand-up roller coasters. The roller coasters are listed in order of opening dates.

Name	Park	Country	Inversions	Opened	Status
Medusa Formerly Bizarro	Six Flags Great Adventure	United States	7	April 2, 1999	Operating	[6]
Superman: Krypton Coaster	Six Flags Fiesta Texas	United States	6	March 11, 2000	Operating	[7]
Medusa	Six Flags Discovery Kingdom	United States	7	March 18, 2000	Operating	[8]
Kraken	SeaWorld Orlando	United States	7	June 1, 2000	Operating	[9]
Insane Speed	Janfusun Fancyworld	Taiwan	4	2001	Operating	[10]
Superman: La Atracción de Acero	Parque Warner Madrid	Spain	7	April 6, 2002	Operating	[11]
Batman: The Dark Knight	Six Flags New England	United States	5	April 20, 2002	Operating	[12]
Scream	Six Flags Magic Mountain	United States	7	April 12, 2003	Operating	[13]
Dæmonen	Tivoli Gardens	Denmark	3	April 16, 2004	Operating	[14]
Hydra the Revenge	Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom	United States	7	May 7, 2005	Operating	[15]
Dominator Formerly Batman: Knight Flight	Kings Dominion Geauga Lake	United States	5	May 24, 2008 May 5, 2000	Operating Closed September 16, 2007	[16]
Hair Raiser	Ocean Park Hong Kong	Hong Kong	4	December 8, 2011	Operating	[17]
Nitro	Adlabs Imagica	India	5	2013	Operating	[18]
Rougarou[a]	Cedar Point	United States	4	May 9, 2015	Operating	[19]
Patriot[a]	California's Great America	United States	2	March 25, 2017	Operating	[20]
Firebird[a]	Six Flags America	United States	2	2019	Operating	[21]

Note: Although some Dive Coasters (such as SheiKra, Griffon, Valravn and Yukon Striker) feature floorless trains, they are not considered Floorless Coasters.^[22][23]

Similar rides

Maurer Söhne, a German roller coaster and steel manufacturer, has developed their own version of the Floorless Coaster called the X-Car Floorless. The car is the same as the original X-Car with the only difference being that there is no floor during the ride.^[24][25] As of 2019, no X-Car Floorless roller coasters have been manufactured.^[24]

See also

• Dive Coaster, a type of roller coaster also designed by Bolliger & Mabillard, that feature floorless trains on some models.

Notes

1. Converted from a stand-up roller coaster to a floorless coaster