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- A nearby amusement park put in a new wooden roller coaster this year. I have been wondering since; why use wood anymore? I know that the fancy Buckminster-Fuller modern steel types cost a fortune, but it seems like maybe aluminum would be better than wood. I dunno how much more expensive it would end up: is the wood they use (for roller coaster tracks) a particular high grade, or can they just use the same yellow pine studs that Home Depot sells for $2.50 each? - The most frightening thing about riding the old Screamin’ Eagle was when you were getting hauled slowly up the inclines and you could easily see all the boards that had cracked and split with age. Have any wooden roller coasters ever collapsed or otherwise fallen apart? - MC
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The Cyclone in Coney Island is a wooden roller coaster, and it was built in 1927. It hasn’t fallen down yet, but one ride on it and you’ll think it was about to. 
Once upon a time, all coasters was made of wood, and many coaster enthusiasts feel there is nothing better than a good old wooden ride. Riding on a wooden coaster, especially an old one, can be quite an experience. Wooden coasters are bumpier and creakier, and make for a ‘scarier’ ride.
Rose
While I agree that wooden coasters are ‘scarier’ than their modern steel brothers, the modern coasters can be made just as scary by tossing a few extra nuts and bolts on the floor of the car.
I’m sure the old wooden coasters have had technical problems shall we say, but nothing beats riding a “woodie” Pardon the term. There’s a huge wooden coaster at Cedar Point, OH and it’s just as terrifying as the steel ones, and yet it seems like a more grand, old-fashioned ride.
They use wood in coasters for a reason. Wood creaks. Wood bends.
A properly designed wooden coaster makes you think it’s going to fall into a heap when you’re at the highest point.
It’s a different kind of ride from the all metal structures. To compare the two types of coasters is to get into a “Which is better: Dogs or Cats” argument.
Buy your ticket and step aboard.
If you want to find out all the arguments pro and con about wooden vs. steel coasters, I suggest you check out the usenet group rec.roller-coaster and ask the question.
Dreamworks: The Mean Streak (the large wooden coaster at Cedar Point) is a great coaster, but do you really think it’s as terrifying as Cedar Point’s new coaster, the 310 foot tall, 92 MPH, 80 degree angle Millennium Force?
The Mean Streak is Cedar Point’s biggest woodie, but the park’s best coaster (well, haven’t been there in a few years, don’t know the Millenium) is by far the Gemini (Plus, where else in the park will you see 5-minute lines?). Of course, anything Cedar Point has ever dreamed of pales in comparison to King’s Island’s The Beast.
As to why wood, I’ll agree with the other posters. You can make a steel coaster faster than a wooden one, but you can’t make it feel faster. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the metal coasters, but then, I also enjoy carousels… They’re completely different rides.
I worked at Cedar Point for a few summers ( I met my wife there ) including the year the Magnum opened. I agree that the Gemini is the best rollercoaster in the park, and not only because of the short line. On employee-ride nights ( after the park is closed ) we got to ride the Magnum and the Mean Streak with very little waiting time. The Gemini is still the best. The wooden 'coasters rattle and shake you around like no steel 'coaster does.
Some anecdotal safety evidence:
No 1 was seriously hurt on any rollercoaster while I worked there. The only injuries were to a girl who jumped out of the White Water Landing canoe ride due to depression ( although people would sometimes get their hands bruised on this ride by putting them in the water between the canoe and the side of the channel ), and an employee who broke an ankle while testriding the Demon Drop. Apparently the car droped too fast.
I tend to prefer wooden roller coasters as well, for the reasons mentioned above. Also, thought I’d mention that the world’s first wooden, looping coaster just opened at King’s Island.
Granted…you can get a higher top end on the metal things. But can you get the jerks, the bounces, the slipping. Not to mention the nostalgia which is a big part of the whole ride.
Just mho.
Once went to the ??Paramount amusement park?? (sorry, forgot the name of the place) near Richmond, VA.
Went on every 'coaster there - steel, wood, stand-up, backwards…even had one that kind of works like a swing, i.e., you sit on a seat and your legs dangle.
The Anaconda had the most “wow” factor - it really looks like a snake all twisted up fighting something in the water - but for the money, the wooden Big Bad Wolf is the one that scared the crap out of me. It was set in the middle of trees and I honestly felt like the track was going to buck us off into them at any second.
I’d ride that baby again in a SECOND
Kings Dominion.
Have you been there lately? They have a new ride called Volcano. It goes from 0-70 mph…in 4 seconds…it’s so awesome…you feel like 4 Gs in the beginning…and when you get off the ride…it’s like you just had sex.
What do you mean, you have a cigarette and go to sleep? 
The woodie you’re thinking about at King’s Dominion isn’t The Big Bad Wolf; it’s The Grizzley. I am a coaster fan, but that’s the only one in the park I won’t ride; the designers did a little bit TOO good of a job making it feel as though it was going to fly off the track at any second for my taste.
I rode the Magnum the year it opened (Cedar Point, duh) and it was a lot of fun…the first drop scared the crap out of me…but I agree that the Gemini is the one to catch. The Blue Streak is also fun, especially if your seatmate is three times your size, so the lap bar doesn’t come anywhere NEAR you and you almost get launched out of the front car on all of the bunny-hops near the end.
We rode Millennium Force last week. I still like wood, but for sheer terror and speed and slobber flying out yer mouth, give me a tubular track and nylon wheels.
HARDER! FASTER! oooooOOOOOOOOoooooooooo…
Nickrz is back from the dead. Will wonders never cease?
Nickrz – what did you think?? I am terrified to ride it even though I [heart] the Raptor, magnum, and yes, even the blue streak. (I can’t ride the Mean Streak anymore – ride’s so rough it makes my back hurt the rest of the day (and I’m only 25))
I don’t know anyone who ridden it (Millenium Force) yet. Also – how was the line? yours in anticipatory terror.
Silo -
Yep, that’s the name of the place, and nope, haven’t been there since I transferred out of NavSecSta in 1994…
Hamadryad -
Ooooops, sorry - Big Bad Wolf is the name of the swinging one. And I had the EXACT same reaction to the Grizzly.
So I rode it two more times
rmariamp: It’s reassuring to know that I’m not the only one who doesn’t ride the Mean Streak anymore because it makes my back hurt. But then again, I’m 41.
I was at Cedar Point today, but I can’t help you with the Millenium Force, I’m a line weenie and won’t wait in lines that are too long–and the Millenium Force looked that way to me. Or maybe I’m just a chicken shit and I’m rationalizing my avoidance. I’m not sure, but for the first time I couldn’t my line excuse and had to ride the Magnum, or face up to my girlfriend that I was afraid. So my brain was overridden by another part of my body.
It only took me eleven years to ride Magnum, so in another decade or so, I’ll be ready for the Millenium Force.