All coaster fans know that feeling: when you’re up at the top of a lift hill and about to drop, and the ride layout stretches out before you and you’re questioning all of your life choices… and then you finally drop and it’s everything you ever imagined. And if you love this feeling as much as I do, you’ve likely got a special place in your heart for Dive Coasters.
Since 1998, these towering rollercoasters have taken first drop nerves to the next level, quite literally dangling riders over the edge for several seconds before delivering a sudden freefall drop, more often than not into a dark hole with water or special effects. But where did it all begin? Take your seat, pull down your restraint as join me as we dive (get it?) into the history of Bolliger and Mabillard’s popular dive coasters… oh, and remember not to look down!
The “Vertical Drop” that Started It All
Alton Towers has always been a park that pushes the boundaries of what coasters can do, all the way back to when Corkscrew opened in 1980, as the UK’s first full circuit rollercoaster to feature two inversions. So when the time came for a new rollercoaster to open in the late 1990s, plenty of ideas began popping up, many of which seemed absolutely crazy at the time.
There was one however, that was a little more crazy than the others. This design featured what would be the world’s steepest drop on a ride, hanging riders over the edge for three seconds until releasing the train into terrifying freefall. It wasn’t too long before the concept became a reality, with a hole in the former Fantasy World area that kept getting deeper… and deeper… and deeper. Attraction designer John Wardley teamed up with rollercoaster manufactures Bolliger and Mabillard to create the thing that would actually go into the hole, and a year of construction and one 180ft drop later, the anticipation kept growing.
By the beginning of 1998, Alton Towers had finally revealed what on earth was going on in the themed land that would soon be renamed X-Sector. Rather than just being codenamed Secret Weapon 4, the project now had a name. Oblivion would open a few months after the announcement, in March 1998, marketed as the first vertical drop rollercoaster… though this wasn’t quite the case, as the actual measurement was 3° off at 87°. Despite the drop not really being vertical, Oblivion was the start of something amazing. B&M now had a new rollercoaster model under their belt, one that no other manufacturer had even got close to before. No one knew it back then, but the new coaster, named the Dive Coaster, would become extremely and exponentially popular in the coming decades.
Branching Out
Oblivion may have been the first of its kind, but compared to the Dive Coasters open today, it is actually considered a little tame. The more modern versions often feature inversions and multiple drops (as if that first one isn’t terrifying enough!), and seven years after the opening of Oblivion, the first of these newer Dive Machines made its debut. By 2005, there was already a second installation in existence- Diving Machine G5 at Janfusun Fancyworld in Taiwan- however it was practically identical to the original. It was time for something new, and over in Florida, Busch Gardens Tampa was ready to deliver.
After a decade filled with new coasters, then about five years with nothing major, Busch Gardens were looking for something that would blow guests away… and drop pretty far down in the process. One of the first concepts for this new attraction dated all the way back to 1996, back before the dive coaster was even invented. The park’s vice president of engineering, Mark Rose, had wanted to create experience that would simulate falling down Niagara Falls in a barrel, and the idea grew and bloomed from there. Over the following years the design would start to become reality; a dive machine that would be taller, faster and steeper than ever before.
Track was moved from B&M’s factory in Switzerland to the park in Florida, land was cleared around the area, and several years later, the new ride, announced as SheiKra, was ready to open. The attraction was named after a species of African hawk known for the way it dives straight down after its prey, but instead of diving after prey, on this coaster guests were hanging over the edge and dropping 200ft down into an exhilarating layout.
SheiKra wasn’t Florida’s first record-breaking coaster and it certainly wouldn’t be the last, but what do you do when you break a world record? Well, if you’re Busch Gardens, you go and do it all over again! Griffon opened at BGT’s sister park Busch Gardens Williamsburg in May 2007, two years after it’s inspiration, and although Griffon and SheiKra have a lot of similarities, Griffon was a little taller, and a little more terrifying. SheiKra and Griffon aren’t exactly the most well known or most iconic rollercoasters in the world, but these two fear-inducing thrill coasters set the stage for a new type of dive coaster that’s still massively popular today!
The Rise of A Lot More Theming
The idea of a coaster climbing up really high and dropping down really fast is a pretty simple concept, and often it’s the rides with the simplest designs that get the coolest themes. The first of these, and arguably one of the most elaborate, was Krake at Germany’s Heide Park.
Translating from German as “octopus”, Krake is themed to exactly that, combining an 135ft drop into an octopus-infested shipwreck, an immelman inversion and a colossal splash effect that ensures everyone in the train gets wet, to create a magical journey through the park’s Bucht der Piraten, or Pirates Bay, area. The next of these newly-themed dive coasters appeared a bit further South in March of 2015, with the opening of Oblivion: The Black Hole at Gardaland in Italy. Both this Oblivion and the one at Alton Towers have a futuritsic theme, but because of the overall horrifying dystopian theme of Alton Towers’ X Sector where the original is located, Gardaland’s version is naturally a lot more cheery!
But throughout the construction of Oblivion: The Black Hole, B&M were busy working on something very similar, but also massively different. On the first of July that same year, the company debuted another dive coaster, this time at Efteling in the Netherlands. Efteling is widely regarded as one of the best and most quirkily themed parks of all time, and this new ride, named Baron 1898, was no different. Baron 1898 tells the story of Gustave Hooghmoed, a man who discovers a business opportunity in a magical mine full of gold. Despite warnings from the Witte Wieven, elves from Dutch Mythology, Gustave sends workers down in to the cursed mines… many of which are forever changed by the experience. Riders begin their own adventure into the mysterious goldmines by boarding their trains in an inctricately themed station, and before long they are at 98ft in the air and about to drop into the darkness below.
Whether it be pirates, black holes, cursed mines or something else entirely, if the many B&M Dive Coasters across the world have proved anything, its that they have massive potential for theming. Today there are fourteen of these fear-inducing thrill coasters around the world, some of which pretty famous in the theme park world, others not so much. I’m looking at you, Flying Asparas in Western Region at Happy Valley in China!
Is the Drop Coming to an End?
Most likely, no! The dive coaster was one of two original B&M coaster models that debuted during the 1990s- the other being the inverted coaster- and both are still going almost as strong as they were back then. Each dive coaster that has been built since the ride model’s debut in 1998 is still operating today, and with two currently set to open in 2022, it looks like this simple but exhilarating rollercoaster is here to stay!
What’s your favourite B&M rollercoaster? Let me know in the comments below!
If you enjoyed this article, check out some of my other posts from theme parks and attractions around the world, and find us on Facebook and Instagram for exclusive CoasterDreamers content!
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