The Philadelphia Inquirer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 234

ROLLER continued corporations have spent a lot of time and money figuring what it will take to get Americans to part with their hard-earned dollars. They believe that a first-rate roller coaster one' that makes its passengers start to scream before the car even starts to move and applaud as they arrive at the finish will pay for itself within a year or two by bringing more customers into the park. In 1976, when Magic Mountain Park in Valencia, opened its looping "Revolution" steel roller coaster, attendance jumped 25 percent and the park was sufficiently pleased with that result to go ahead with a new $6 million wooden roller coaster that opens this year. The year the steel Loch Ness Monster opened at Williamsburg, attendance rose to 2 million from 1.8 million the year before. By comparison, attendance in recent years has remained steady at about 1.2 million at nearby Colonial Williamsburg, the restored colonial capital of Virginia that had been the area's primary attraction, but that most definitely lacks a roller coaster.

"Attendance has skyrocketed at every park after the addition of a new coaster," Charles J. Jacques who may just be the world's foremost thority on roller coasters, states unequivocally. Jacques helped found and is still a prime mover in the rapidly growing, Natrona Heights, Pa. -based American Coaster Enthusiasts (ACE), whose members have annual conclaves at different theme parks to check out the latest developments in scream-machine technology. He is also the author of Amusement Park Annual, which assigns ratings to all of the The thrill on the steel Lightnin' Loops at Great Adventure is enhanced by the illusion that a collision with another train is imminent.

ever constructed. The cars for the Kings Island coaster happen to be the work of the Philadelphia Toboggan Co. of Lansdale, a long-established designer of amusement park devices that built some of the country's greatest scream machines. Philadelphia Toboggan indeed provides a good starting point to try to find the answer to the basic question: Why do people eagerly fork over large amounts, of hard-earned cash for the privilege of having the living daylights scared out of them? And just how do the coaster makers do it? amusement parks in the country and their principal rides. In his latest rankings, Disney World is number one by a comfortable margin.

Great Adventure is 18th; Hersheypark comes in 20th; Kennywood Park near Pittsburgh placed 24th; Dorney Park in Allentown is 38th. Three other area parks made the ratings although they do not have roller coasters: Dutch Wonderland near Lancaster 35th; Idlewild, Ligonier, Pa. 41st; Knoe-bels Groves, Elysburg, Pa. 45th. The ratings can change, of course, and this year Jacques and his ACE group, which is one of two major groups of scream-machine lovers (the other is the Coaster Club of America), will be going to Kings Island park near Cincinnati to test that park's newest coaster.

It's a wooden model that drops 142 feet from its high point to its finish, making it the highest wooden coaster in the world. (The runner-up is the $3.4 million "Gemini" at the Cedar Point park in Sandusky, Ohio, which drops a relatively meager 118 feet.) At one point on the Kings Island coaster, the car goes down an awesome 70-degree slope, one of the steepest The Comet at Hersheypark, designed by John C. Allen, has been nicknamed the Hershey Drop in tribute to its 98-foot first drop, during which the cars hit 50 miles per hour..