Most visitors to a theme park don’t know who built each attractionnor do you need to know it to enjoy them (or sometimes suffer them).
But just like the video game of Nintendo are not the same as those of PlayStation Studios, those of Xbox Game Studios or those of Ubisoft, the roller coasters of different manufacturers They are very different from each other.
Throughout the history of roller coasters there have been different manufacturers that have left an enormous mark on the world of the attractions industry and its evolution.
In this report we will only see a small sample of them, looking at the specimens that can be found in Spain, and how to recognize them. This way you’ll have a geeky fact to tell the next time you wait in line at Batman or Shambhala…
Bolliger & Mabillard
If you ask a random person to imagine a steel roller coaster, chances are it will look a lot like a B&M. The two largest theme parks in Spain, PortAventura and Warner Parkare dominated by two giants of this company.
In PortAventura there is the famous Dragon Khanwhich in 1995 held two world records (number of inversions, 8; and highest loop, 36 meters) and Shambhalaone of the tallest at 76 meters high.
In Warmer Park it is supermana floorless (the trains do not have a floor) and shadows of arkhamthe old yellow Batman with the trains inverted under the track.
Bolliger & Mabillard was born in Switzerland in 1988, founded by two engineers, Walter Bolliger and Claude Mabillard. They both worked in Giovanolaa construction company that was usually subcontracted to work on park attractions (by another famous company, Intamin).
Dissatisfied with a change in direction, they founded their own company, deciding to get away from the world, but ended up dedicating themselves solely to roller coasters, creating some of the most iconic models of the 90s.
These include the first inverted roller coaster: Batman The Ride at Six Flags Great America, which placed trains under the track, leaving passengers with their legs dangling.
This type of roller coaster spread like wildfire, both for other B&M creations (from Batman clones, including the one in Warner Park, to other personalized tours such as Oziris in Parc Astérix) and competitors who copied the idea.
You’ll easily recognize B&M roller coasters by other elements, such as the “pre-drop“before the fall, present in its old models such as Dragon Khan and Superman (that mini fall before the main fall is not to generate anticipation, but to reduce pressure subjected to the rise chain).
Also for its trains with rows of four passengers almost always or its type of road, whose interior “spine” has rectangular or box shapeunlike other manufacturers who usually make them cylindrical, which gives them a very particular sound, something that many people associate with the “roar” of the Dragon Khan…
B&M is one of the most prolific manufacturers, regularly creating roller coasters with many loops and inversions, on standard, floorless, inverted, stand up (you are standing) or winged (the seats are on the sides of the track) trains; in addition to three “Giga Coasters” surpassing the 91 meters high.
For many roller coaster fans, however, they have fallen somewhat behind, surpassed by other companies such as Intamin or RMC.
His last creation in the last five years that really caused a great impact in the world was Pipeline: The Surf Coaster in 2023, the first “surf-type” Russian coaster in which passengers stand up in harnesses that rise from the ground.
Intamin
Perhaps the most cutting-edge and in-demand company right now, which is also from Switzerland (the previous ones were their contractors before becoming independent), authors of a huge catalog of attractions, not just roller coasters.
Batman: Gotham City Escape in Parque Warner is yours, a perfect example of one of its most popular models, the “multi-launch”, long and diverse routes propelled by magnetic launches, as is the famous Velocicoaster from Universal Orlando.
uncharted At PortAventura it is also theirs, and it also has numerous launches, although at lower speeds and with trains capable of rotating on their axis in a controlled manner, a mix of sensations that they call a “multidimensional roller coaster.”
The diversity is enormous in the catalog of Intamin, a company founded in 1967 that has also manufactured ferris wheels, monorails, free fall towers and water attractions, including the first type attraction. “rapid” of the world in 1980.
His are the rapids of Warner, PortAventura, Isla Mágica, Terra Mítica and the Zaragoza Amusement Park), as well as the free fall towers of PortAventura and the Madrid Amusement Park.
The Madrid park, by the way, has a very rare specimen, the Twisterone of only three inverted roller coasters that Intamin made in 1999, and which is quite cascading, but paradoxically puts the Parques Reunidos park on the map of roller coaster enthusiasts.
In PortAventura World there are two more Intamin: Furius Bacchus, a unique prototype in the world (prone, therefore, to breakdowns) that is also very broken, but is very exciting for its burst of speed; and Red Force112 meters high and 180 km/h.
Theirs are also Kingda Ka, the highest in the world, and Formula Rossa, the fastest in the world.
Records that will be nothing when it opens Falcon’s Flightwhich will be the tallest, longest and fastest roller coaster in the worldby far, and which is already under construction and is expected to open in 2025 in Saudi Arabia.
Vekoma
Vekoma, a Dutch builder that will celebrate its centenary in 2026, has built nearly 400 roller coasters in its history, along with other attractions such as ferris wheels or “Madhouses“(like the Haunted Hotel at Parque Warner: if you’ve been to one, you’ve been to them all, but we won’t spoil what it is…).
Theirs are some of the most common roller coaster models around the world, including small amusement parks, which turned to Vekoma’s mass-produced models for their low price.
These include the classic Boomeranginstalled for the first time in 1984, with two towers and three investments that you make forwards and backwards, and that a “boom”, never better said, in the industry.
In Spain we only have the giant variant of this boomerang in Stunt Fall in Warmer Park, a very, very rare model. Although those who have visited the Montjuic Park You may remember the one there before the park closed in 1998…
Also from Vekoma is the SLC model, or “suspended looping coaster”, created for the first time in 1994 as a direct copy of the B&M model that we saw before (with almost identical statistics of height, speed and number of inversions, five) but more compact and cheap.
He Jaguar from Isla Mágica and Titanide Terra Mítica are the two that exist in Spain, but there are more than 40 similar ones around the world…
For those clone roller coasters, Vekoma gained a bad reputation among fans. And the truth is that the company has been very close to bankruptcy on several occasions.
But Vekoma has worked many times with Disney: his is the famous Space Mountain at Disneyland Paris, the first full-circuit roller coaster with a launch, which, together with the magical work of Disney imagineers, saved the French resort from bankruptcy.
It is also yours Muntanya Russa Tibidabo opened in 2008, a personalized route adapted to the slope of the park with spectacular views of all of Barcelona.
Since 2018, Vekoma has been a subsidiary of Sansei Technologies, a Japanese company that also makes attractions.
With financial security, Vekoma has created some of the world’s best roller coasters in recent years, including Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind at Epcot, FLY in Phantasialand or Milk Coaster in Legendia.
Maurer
This German company, founded in 1876, has created all manner of steel constructions, most notably roller coasters.
It is not the most cutting-edge, but its attractions are spread all over the world, not only in the United States or Japan, but also in China, India, Ukraine, Panama…
And in the Madrid Amusement Park they are the authors of two of its main roller coasters, opened in 2005 and 2006, and with personalized routes: Tarantulaa roller coaster with spinning cars, and Abyssa unique model in the world.
Arrow Dynamics
Arrow Dynamics no longer exists: went bankrupt in 2002. But this California company, which has had various names and owners since 1945, is responsible for the foundation of modern roller coasters, starting with Disney’s first roller coaster, Matterhorn Bobsleds in 1959.
This attraction, still operational, was the first steel roller coaster to use tubular tracksthe innovation that allowed roller coasters to be higher, faster, with more turns and with inversions: without them, there would be nothing we have today.
Year 1975. Steven Spielberg releases Shark, the first modern blockbuster. Knot’s Berry Farm in California opens Corkscrewthe world’s first modern inversion roller coaster.
Nothing would be the same in the industry again. Over the next decade and a half, Arrow would lead the roller coaster technology race in competition with Anton Schwarzkopfa German engineer who responded to the “corkscrew” with Revolution, the first modern roller coaster with vertical loops in 1976.
In the 90s, the most modern designs, also aesthetically, from B&M, would contribute to the decline of Arrow, which only has one roller coaster in Spain: The Devil’s Mine Train in PortAventura (because yes, the “mine train” genre was created by Arrow and Disney).
Arrow’s latest roller coaster, x at Six Flags Magic Mountain, was plagued by technical failures that sank the company, but fortunately the roller coaster was fixed, and today it is one of the most beastly in the world.
Offers on trips to theme parks
There are dozens of theme parks: Disneyland, Disneyworld, Universal, PortAventura and more. Many of them offer discounts on certain packages and dates.
See offers in parks
RMC (Rocky Mountain Constructions)
The last manufacturer we will see is one of the youngest: it was founded in 2001 in the United States, and its first own roller coaster opened in 2021. Almost all of them are the same style: hybrids between wooden and steel roller coasters.
RMC has gained fame for converting old wooden roller coasters into new behemoths with wooden supports and steel tracks (using its own patented type of track called I-Box) that allows it to reach enormous speeds and heights and twist in unthinkable ways years ago.
But RMC has also built hybrid coasters from scratch. In all the rankings, they are usually the favorites of roller coaster enthusiasts in the world… but unfortunately, we don’t have any in Spain (and in Europe there are only three).
Many would like some of the wooden roller coasters in Spain (especially Coaster Express in Warner, considered one of the worst in the world; or Magnus Colossus in Terra Mítica, abandoned since 2017) to receive their dose of “RMC” and become converted into hybrids.
The industry of roller coasters It has never been so exciting as now. Intamin, B&M, Vekoma, RMC and Mack Rides (a German company that we have left out because it barely has a presence in Spain, but has just opened a monster in Europa-Park) compete for our adrenaline, building on the legacy of Arrow Dynamics and Schwarzkopf.
