The world's tallest roller coaster will twist, dive and tumble 500 feet above Orlando, Florida's International Drive resort area when it opens in 2017.
A mock-up of the ride was released on Monday to give thrill seekers a preview. The hair-raising roller coaster will launch riders from the bottom of the city's Skyplex entertainment complex.
US Thrill Rides, the company behind 'Skyscraper', said there will also be a 534 foot-high observation deck for those who would rather watch.
Developers David and Joshua Wallack are set to build a 570-foot vertical coaster, which will be the tallest in the world, at International Drive and Sand Lake Road in Orlando. The ride will be known as "The Skyscraper" and will be built on 12 acres around a Skyplex, which will feature other entertainment and shops. The coaster is scheduled to open in 2017.
Produced by Devan Joseph. Video courtesy of Skyplex.
Follow BI Video: On YouTube
The Carowinds amusement park in Charlotte, North Carolina, just introduced a brand new rollercoaster, called the “Fury 325.”
According to the park, the Fury 325 will be the fastest and largest roller coaster of its type once it opens March 28, but you don’t have to wait until it opens to experience the ride — and you certainly don’t need to travel down to North Carolina, either.
Carowinds is letting the internet take a test ride of its next monster coaster, which notably includes a 81-degree initial drop and top speeds of 95 miles per hour.
The video is below — but be warned, if you’re afraid of heights or you don’t like roller coasters at all, this video might not be for you.
SEE ALSO: Everyone is losing their minds over this new virtual reality headset
Join the conversation about this story »
NOW WATCH: Here's What It Will Feel Like To Ride The World's Tallest Roller Coaster
A rollercoaster crash at Alton Towers that left four thrill-seekers seriously injured has triggered the closure of three more rides at two other theme parks.
Four riders were taken to hospital on Tuesday with serious leg injuries after a carriage full of passengers collided at speed with a test car that had come to a halt on the £18m Smiler ride at Alton Towers.
Health and safety investigators have handed the Staffordshire-based theme park a prohibition notice – a legally enforced ban – on operating the Smiler until action is taken to deal with the cause of its failure.
The 14-loop rollercoaster and the Saw ride at Thorpe Park in Surrey have been closed for the “foreseeable future” until overhauled safety rules are brought in. The Dragon’s Fury and Rattlesnake rollercoasters at Chessington World of Adventures, in Surrey, have also been shut down.
Merlin Entertainments, which owns all three theme parks, said it took the decision after Tuesday’s collision, which left riders suspended 8 metres (25ft) in the air at a 45-degree angle for several hours.
Merlin’s chief executive, Nick Varney, said: “It is an accident that should not have happened, and we are determined that it will never happen again.
“Whilst the investigation into the causes is continuing, we have identified a series of additional safety protocols that we are implementing immediately across our multi-car rollercoasters.
“These will act as an additional safeguard to further strengthen our operating and safety standards. This has been a devastating experience, and we are committed to learning the lessons from it.”
Following the crash, Merlin's shares tumbled. The company's market value apparently dropped by £160 million on the afternoon of the crash but since then has seen a steady recovery. Shares closed the following day at 6.6p higher at 450.9p.
The most seriously injured passengers have been named as Daniel Thorpe, 27, a hotel assistant manager from Buxton in Derbyshire; Vicky Balch, 19, from Leyland in Lancashire; textile design student Joe Pugh, 18, from Barnsley, South Yorkshire; and his girlfriend, Leah Washington, 17.
Aerial footage of the aftermath shows a number of ambulances rushed to the closed off section of the theme park as well as several rescue workers and cherry pickers.
Both the Smiler and Saw, the latter of which is themed around the horror-film franchise, were manufactured by Gerstlauer. The German firm also built the trains for a rollercoaster at the Six Flags Over Texas amusement park in Texas from which a woman fell to her death in 2013.
Alton Towers, which remained closed on Friday, is reportedly losing around £500,000 a day until the park reopens. Executives have said they are unsure if the park will be open at the weekend.
The Health and Safety Executive, which was removing the crashed carriages on Friday and transporting them to a laboratory in Buxton, Derbyshire, served the prohibition notice on the Smiler.
Neil Craig, HSE’s head of operations for the Midlands, said: “HSE expects the park operator to apply any early learning from the incident to wider risk management at the site. The decision about when to reopen the park is for the owners to make.”
A senior accident investigator has said the HSE inquiry could last up to two years but would establish within weeks whether a criminal negligence prosecution should take place.
John Cox, a former HSE advisory committee chair, said Alton Towers staff would be questioned and documents seized, including the rollercoaster’s design dossier, as well as maintenance and safety records.
“They are the prosecuting authority so at the very, very beginning they have to lock down the case and secure the scene so that evidence isn’t lost, in the same way police would do with a crime,” he said.
In a recording taken minutes after the collision happened, riders can be heard screaming for The Smiler to be stopped as the carriage swings back and forth.
This article originally appeared on guardian.co.uk
Join the conversation about this story »
NOW WATCH: The future of our everyday devices is a material you've never heard of
Today’s roller coasters tempt and terrify in equal measure with names like Mind Eraser and Intimidator 305, boasting hairpin turns, heavy drops and insane speeds of up to 149.1 miles per hour.
But nothing beats a classic.
We've found 9 of the oldest roller coasters around the world. Most of these rides date back to the early 1900s, and you can still ride them today.
This tamely named wooden rollercoaster hails from 1902, and though it closed in 1986, the US National Historic Landmark reopened in 1999.
It’s only 41 feet tall, and its average speed of 10 miles per hour will barely ruffle your hair.
While not the oldest roller coaster in the world, the Scenic Railway is the world’s oldest continually operating one. Its dips and turns may leave you unfazed, but its stunning views of Port Philip Bay won’t.
The Rutschebanen may be the main attraction in the world’s second oldest amusement park (built in 1843), but it was originally designed for the Baltic Fair.
To this day it retains an operator who manually brakes the 2,051-foot ride, keeping it at a mellow 36 miles per hour.
French trial bike athlete Julien Dupont tests his limits in a special track placed on a roller coaster.
Video courtesy of Red Bull
Follow BI Video: On Facebook
Hidden away in a forest north of Venice is a sprawling amusement park, filled with enormous handmade rides. These are the work of Bruno Ferrin, founder of Osteria Ai Pioppi. The restraint features over 40 rides, most of which rely on human and kinetic power to run. The biggest of which, Penolo is a rolling gravity-powered roller coaster that can reach speeds of over 60 miles per hour.
Produced by Rob Ludacer
Follow TI: On Facebook
Six Flags created a new roller coaster called "The New Revolution" that requires riders to wear virtual reality glasses as they barrel down 3,500 feet of track.
Hidden away in a forest north of Venice is a sprawling amusement park, filled with enormous handmade rides. These are the work of Bruno Ferrin, founder of Osteria Ai Pioppi. The restraint features over 40 rides, most of which rely on human and kinetic power to run. The biggest of which, Penolo is a rolling gravity-powered roller coaster that can reach speeds of over 60 miles per hour.
Additional footage by Fabrica, David Ellis and Oriol Ferrer Mesiá.
Follow TI: On Facebook
An amazing video has emerged showing a homemade roller coaster from a first person point of view.
Follow Tech Insider: On Facebook
This quadruple axis rollercoaster is so strong it can spin you in multiple directions at 3.5G.
The Tourbillon is manufactured by ABC rides and is 20.5 metres high. It has a capacity of 24 people.
Produced by Jasper Pickering. Special thanks to Leon Siciliano.
Riding a roller coaster can be exhilarating, but a few thrillseekers in Japan got more excitement than they bargained for.
Riders on the Flying Dinosaur at Universal Studios Japan found themselves unexpectedly suspended upside down, 100 feet in the air after the ride stopped. They were suspended there, on an incline, for nearly two hours, HuffPo reported.
The Japan Times reported that the ride encountered an "abnormality." There were two similar malfunctions last year on the ride.
Theme park staff worked diligently to release all 60 riders from their seats.
A spokesperson for the park told The Japan Times that "the suspension of the roller coaster was the result of the operator’s priority on safety."
Luckily, no one was injured during the incident. The ride was reopened that afternoon, around 7 p.m., and while some visitors steered clear of the ride, there was still a line when operations resumed.
If you don’t already have a fear of heights, the sight of 60 people suspended in the air might make you think twice.
Sign up here to get INSIDER's favorite stories straight to your inbox.
Join the conversation about this story »
NOW WATCH: Ian Bremmer: Why the American dream doesn't exist anymore
If you're afraid of heights, stay off 41-story Zumanjaro; Six Flags' newest — and the world's tallest — drop ride.
The crew just put the final touches on the ride this past week. It will be ride-ready in New Jersey's Great Adventure Park this summer.
The park created a promo video that looks absolutely horrifying.
(Note: you won't actually be above the clouds when you're on the ride, but it is pretty high.)
The Six Flags website says the safari themed attraction will catapult riders 415 feet into the air in approximately 30 seconds and will pause to show an aerial view of the park before dropping down at 90 miles per hour.
90. Miles. Per Hour.
Your hands will sweat just watching the simulated footage:
In order to make room for the Zumanjaro, Six Flags removed Rolling Thunder, a wooden rollercoaster.
The weather's turning warm, and that means it's time to start daring your friends to take on that 93-mile-per-hour roller coaster ride or testing your stomach on a ride with a 415-foot drop.
We found the 15 best roller coasters in the United States, thanks to our friends at FindTheBest.
They ranked the coasters based on expert reviews, including those from Amusement Today industry magazine. FindTheBest also accounted for each ride's max height, speed, track length, and largest drop.
Cedar Point and Six Flags scored big for roller coaster reputations, but there are also some hidden gems in the ranking, like a wooden coaster in Santa Claus, Ind.
Where: Kings Island in Kings Mills, Ohio
80 MPH, 230 feet high, 5,282 feet long
The Diamondback is a steel sit-down coaster that opened in 2009. The ride lasts three minutes.
Where: Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio
72 MPH, 205 feet high, 5,106 feet long
Magnum XL-200 is a steel sit-down coaster that opened in 1989. The ride lasts two minutes.
Where: Kings Island in Kings Mills, Ohio
65 MPH, 110 feet high, 7,359 feet long
The Beast is a wooden sit-down coaster that opened in 1979. The ride lasts four minutes and 10 seconds.
Perhaps you’ve heard the world has a new tallest water slide. It’s called The Verrückt which means “insane” in German, but in this case can probably be translated more accurately to “holyf***we’reallgonnadieahhhhhhhh!!!”
Located at the Schlitterbahn water park in Kansas City, it was designed by engineer John Schooley, who recently tested it out and became the first human to launch himself off a waterslide taller than the Statue of Liberty, with much viral success to boot.
Schooley talked to Gizmodo about what it was like to ride the world’s only waterslide that simulates the kind of weightlessness and g-force acceleration you usually only find your way to space.
“It was a pretty exciting ride. I was terrified, especially being the first to go down it,” he said, and gave riders a taste of what they’ll experience:
“You’re gonna have the experience of almost a free-for-all drop within the first section of the slide, with a brief period of G-force deceleration during the invert of the slide. Then you’ll go kinda weightless but you’ll be slowing down and going up the hill. Then all of a sudden these water nozzles come on and blast you over the slope and over the last hump, then you’ll go on another almost free-for-all.”
I don’t know about you, but I just barfed in my mouth a little.
The Verrückt opens to the public soon, and hopefully the public will fare better than the poor guys on the roller coaster at Magic Mountain in California.
But hey—it’s been tested. By one guy. What could go wrong?
If you missed it check out the sphincter-clenching POV video of The Verrückt below:
Orlando, Florida will soon be home to the world's tallest roller coaster, with a 570-foot drop. That's equivalent to around 27 stories.
But the ride won't be located in one of Orlando's popular theme parks, Instead, it's being built in the city's International Drive neighborhood, about 15 minutes away from Disney World and Islands of Adventure.
The coaster, called The Skyscraper, will be part of a 12-acre, $200 million dollar indoor entertainment complex called Skyplex located at Mango’s Tropical Café Orlando, a "restaurant and nightlife entertainment destination." 
The heart-pounding drop on the ride will actually spiral down a monolithic tower and will include "loops, dives, spirals and inversions," weaving in and out of buildings throughout the complex. 
“We’re extremely excited about creating a record-breaking, must-try attraction on International Drive,” said Joshua Wallack, Mango’s Tropical Café chief operating officer. Designer Michael Kitchen also emphasized the ride's "very small footprint," due to the spiral drop.
The Skyscraper will be 193 feet taller than Dreamworld's Tower of Terror in Australia, the current record holder for tallest roller coaster.
Skyplex will break ground in 2015 and is expected to open in 2016.
SEE ALSO: 39 Things You Should Do In The US This Summer
FOLLOW US: Business Insider is on Instagram!
