The Gravity Group

The Gravity Group is a wooden roller coaster design firm based in Cincinnati, Ohio. The firm was founded in July 2002 by several members of the engineering team of the defunct Custom Coasters International following the latter's bankruptcy.^[1] The core group of designers and engineers at The Gravity Group have backgrounds in civil, structural, and mechanical engineering. Their experience comes from work on over 40 different wooden roller coasters around the world.

The Gravity Group

Cú Chulainn at Emerald Park, designed by The Gravity Group
Industry	Manufacturing
Founded	July 2002 (2002-07)
Founder	Former Custom Coasters International employees
Headquarters	Cincinnati, Ohio , United States
Area served	Worldwide
Products	Roller coasters, roller coaster trains
Divisions	Gravitykraft Corporation, Gravity Works, LLC
Website	www.thegravitygroup.com

Many of The Gravity Group's projects have been well-received by the amusement industry, including The Voyage,^[2] Hades 360,^[3] and Ravine Flyer II.^[4]

Roller coaster projects

The first coaster designed by The Gravity Group opened in 2005 as Hades at Mt. Olympus Water & Theme Park Resort in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin. It won Best New Ride of 2005 in Amusement Today's Golden Ticket Awards.^[5] The Gravity Group also designed The Voyage at Holiday World & Splashin' Safari in Santa Claus, Indiana, which opened in May 2006 and is the second-longest wooden roller coaster in the world. It won Best New Ride of 2006 and has been acclaimed as one of the world's best wooden coasters every year since.^[6]

In 2007, The Gravity Group designed Boardwalk Bullet at Kemah Boardwalk, which opened as the only wooden coaster in the Greater Houston area.^[7] The Gravity Group designed Ravine Flyer II at Waldameer & Water World in Erie, Pennsylvania, which opened in May 2008 and won Best New Ride of 2008, and has been acclaimed in years since as one of the world's best wooden coasters.^[8] In 2009, Wooden Coaster - Fireball opened at Happy Valley in China, becoming China's first wooden roller coaster.^[9] In 2011, Quassy Amusement Park in Middlebury, Connecticut opened Wooden Warrior,^[10] the company's sixth wooden roller coaster. Also in 2011, The Gravity Group was involved in the recreation of Libertyland's Zippin Pippin at Bay Beach Amusement Park in Green Bay, Wisconsin,^[11] as well as Twister at Gröna Lund in Sweden. In 2012, The Gravity Group designed Dauling Dragon in Happy Valley Wuhan, which opened as China's first racing coaster.^[12] They designed Fjord Flying Dragon at China's Happy Valley Tianjin in 2013. In 2014, they designed Roar-O-Saurus at Story Land in Glen, New Hampshire,^[13] and Time Travel at Hot Go Park in China.

Five Gravity Group coasters opened in 2015, most notably The Cú Chulainn Coaster at Emerald Park in Ireland,^[14] and Switchback at ZDT's Amusement Park in Seguin, Texas, the latter of which is the only wooden shuttle coaster in existence.^[15] Three coasters named Jungle Trailblazer opened in 2015 as well at various Fantawild parks in China, two of which contain inversions, a rarity on wooden coasters. In 2016, three Gravity Group coasters opened, including two more under the name Jungle Trailblazer (one of which has an inversion) at Chinese Fantawild parks, and one called Timber at Walibi Rhône-Alpes in France. In 2017, The Gravity Group designed another coaster named Jungle Trailblazer in China, and Mine Blower at Fun Spot America – Kissimmee in Florida, the latter of which has a unique inversion.^[16]

In 2018, The Gravity Group worked with Sesame Place Philadelphia to install Oscar's Wacky Taxi.^[17] Also in 2018, their most recent Jungle Trailblazer opened in China, as well as a coaster called Wood Express at Parc Saint Paul in France. In 2019, the company designed Kentucky Flyer, which opened at Kentucky Kingdom as a celebration of the park's 30th anniversary.^[18] They also designed Wooden Dragons Roller Coaster, which opened in 2021 at Sunac Jinan in China. In 2022, The Gravity Group designed Leviathan, which opened at Sea World Gold Coast Australia as Australia's first new wooden coaster in 35 years.^[19] The company's most recent roller coaster, The Bobcat, opened at Six Flags Great Escape and Hurricane Harbor in 2024.^[20]

Timberliner trains

In 2008, The Gravity Group announced the development of their own wooden coaster trains called Timberliners. They are produced by Gravitykraft Corporation, a sister company to The Gravity Group. The Gravity Group promotes their trains as wooden coaster trains capable of steering smoothly through curves, resulting in a more comfortable and maintenance-friendly ride. Timberliners were planned to debut on The Voyage at Holiday World for the 2010 season, but after three years of delays and issues, Holiday World officially cancelled the project on August 16, 2013.^[21] However, in 2011, Timberliners instead debuted on Wooden Warrior and Twister. In 2013, Timberliners were installed on Hades as part of its transformation to Hades 360.^[22][23]

The Gravity Group's Timberliner trains have since appeared on Roar-O-Saurus and Time Travel in 2014, Cú Chulainn, Jungle Trailblazer (Oriental Heritage Jinan), Jungle Trailblazer (Fantawild Dreamland), Jungle Trailblazer (Oriential Heritage Wuhu), and Switchback in 2015, Timber and Jungle Trailblazer (Oriental Heritage Ningbo) in 2016, Jungle Trailblazer (Oriental Heritage Xiamen) and Mine Blower in 2017, Oscar's Wacky Taxi, Wood Express, and Jungle Trailblazer (Fantawild Asian Legend) in 2018, Kentucky Flyer in 2019, Wooden Dragons Roller Coaster in 2021, Leviathan and Tonnerre 2 Zeus in 2022, and The Bobcat in 2024.^[24]

Precut track and retracking projects

The Gravity Group often retracks wooden roller coasters with their engineered precut track, sometimes on rides they did not initially design. They received the award for Innovation of the Year at the 2021 Golden Ticket Awards for their precut track.^[25]

Name	Park	Country	Year of retrack	Ref
Tonnerre 2 Zeus	Parc Asterix	France	2019-22	[26]
The Racer	Kings Island	United States	2021	[27]
The Beast	Kings Island	United States	2021-22	[28]
Grizzly	Kings Dominion	United States	2022-23	[29]
Wildcat	Lake Compounce	United States	2023	[30]
Megafobia	Oakwood Theme Park	United Kingdom	2023	[31]
Mighty Canadian Minebuster	Canada's Wonderland	Canada	2025	[32]
Raven	Holiday World & Splashin' Safari	United States	2025	[33]

List of roller coasters

As of 2025, The Gravity Group has designed 29 roller coasters around the world.^[34]

Name	Model	Park	Country	Opened	Status	Ref
Hades 360 Formerly Hades	Steel Support Structure	Mt. Olympus Water & Theme Park Resort	United States	2005	Operating	[35]
The Voyage	Steel Support Structure	Holiday World & Splashin' Safari	United States	2006	Operating	[36]
Boardwalk Bullet	Wood Support Structure	Kemah Boardwalk	United States	2007	Operating	[37]
Ravine Flyer II	Steel Support Structure	Waldameer & Water World	United States	2008	Operating	[38]
Wooden Coaster - Fireball	Wood Support Structure	Happy Valley Shanghai	China	2009	Operating	[39]
Wooden Warrior	Wood Support Structure	Quassy Amusement Park	United States	2011	Operating	[40]
Twister	Steel Support Structure	Gröna Lund	Sweden	2011	Operating	[41]
Zippin Pippin	Wood Support Structure	Bay Beach Amusement Park	United States	2011	Operating	[42]
Dauling Dragon	Wood Support Structure	Happy Valley Wuhan	China	2012	Operating	[43]
Fjord Flying Dragon	Wood Support Structure	Happy Valley Tianjin	China	2013	Operating	[44]
Roar-O-Saurus	Wood Support Structure	Story Land	United States	2014	Operating	[45]
Time Travel	Wood Support Structure	Hot Go Park	China	2014	Operating	[46]
The Cú Chulainn Coaster	Wood Support Structure	Emerald Park	Ireland	2015	Operating	[47]
Switchback	Steel Support Structure	ZDT's Amusement Park	United States	2015	Operating	[48]
Jungle Trailblazer	Wood Support Structure	Oriental Heritage Jinan	China	2015	Operating	[49]
Jungle Trailblazer	Wood Support Structure	Fantawild Dreamland Zhengzhou	China	2015	Operating	[50]
Jungle Trailblazer	Wood Support Structure	Oriental Heritage Wuhu	China	2015	Operating	[51]
Timber	Wood Support Structure	Walibi Rhône-Alpes	France	2016	Operating	[52]
Jungle Trailblazer	Wood Support Structure	Oriental Heritage Ningbo	China	2016	Operating	[53]
Jungle Trailblazer	Wood Support Structure	Fantawild Dreamland Zhuzhou	China	2016	Operating	[54]
Mine Blower	Steel Support Structure	Fun Spot America – Kissimmee	United States	2017	Operating	[55]
Jungle Trailblazer	Wood Support Structure	Oriental Heritage Xiamen	China	2017	Operating	[56]
Oscar's Wacky Taxi	Steel Support Structure	Sesame Place Philadelphia	United States	2018	Operating	[57]
Wood Express	Steel Support Structure	Parc Saint Paul	France	2018	Operating	[58]
Jungle Trailblazer	Wood Support Structure	Fantawild Asian Legend	China	2018	Operating	[59]
Kentucky Flyer	Steel Support Structure	Kentucky Kingdom	United States	2019	Operating	[60]
Wooden Dragons Roller Coaster	Wood Support Structure	Sunac Jinan	China	2021	Operating	[61]
Leviathan	Wood Support Structure	Sea World Gold Coast Australia	Australia	2022	Operating	[62]
The Bobcat	Wood Support Structure	Six Flags Great Escape and Hurricane Harbor	United States	2024	Operating	[63]