Intamin


Intamin Worldwide is a designing and manufacturing company in Wollerau, Switzerland. It is best known for creating thrill rides and roller coasters worldwide. The Intamin brand name is a portmanteau for "international amusement installations". The company has offices throughout the world including three in Europe, three in Asia and two in the United States.
Intamin is a major player in the amusement park attractions industry, supplying 17 different styles of roller coasters, 7 different vertical rides, 8 different water rides, 5 different immersive rides, 7 different swing rides and 5 different observation attractions. The company has installed a total of 163 coasters in several countries around the globe. Intamin designed and built the first river rapids ride known as Thunder River based on the idea supplied by Bill Crandall, a past General Manager at the now defunct AstroWorld. Intamin also marketed the first Freefall experience and the first drop tower.

Products and technologies

Intamin's product range is in two broad categories, Rides and Thrill Rides, and Transportation.

Amusement rides

Roller coasters

Intamin was one of the first to use a magnetic propulsion system on roller coasters. Intamin also created the first hydraulic launch system, which is now being used to catapult roller coaster trains from standstill to speeds upward of in a few seconds before climbing up immense heights. Kingda Ka at Six Flags Great Adventure, for instance, is North America's tallest and fastest coaster, launching riders from 0– in 3.5 seconds.
Intamin is also known for its massive Mega and Giga Coasters, Intamin's terms for a hypercoaster. Intamin Giga and Mega Coasters currently occupy three of the top five Golden Ticket Awards with perennial favorites Millennium Force, Superman the Ride and Expedition GeForce.
Intamin uses computerized and industrialized engineering and manufacturing methods for its wooden coasters, rather than traditional on site fabrication. Coasters such as Colossos at Heide Park, Balder at Liseberg and El Toro at Six Flags Great Adventure utilized this manufacturing technique. Unlike other traditional wood coasters, these rides use prefabricated track sections made of a high-strength wooden laminate that can be secured on-site when the superstructure is completed. This design enables the coaster to reach speeds and navigate course elements smoothly, like a steel roller coaster, while retaining the look and some of the traditional feel of common wooden coasters.
Another recent roller coaster development by Intamin is the ZacSpin, a type of 4th Dimension roller coaster that was first seen in 2007. Kirnu at Linnanmäki in Finland was the first ZacSpin in the world and opened on April 27, 2007. It has individual cars, each with 8 seats, arranged in two pods coming off the sides of the car, each with 2 seats facing forward and two facing backward. This car is either lifted to the highest point by a conventional chain lift, or propelled around the course at a constant speed by a Linear Motor system.
The company is known for being the original home to the famous Bolliger & Mabillard. The two engineers worked for Giovanola who in turn were frequently contracted by Intamin for their early stand-up roller coasters. B&M broke away from Giovanola to form their own company which now supplies roller coasters as well. Similarities between the two companies are often obvious, such as the style of track used by B&M, which was used in a number of early Giovanola installations which were contracted by Intamin.

Ferris wheels

Intamin brokered a number of rides that were manufactured by Waagner-Biro. These included a series of rides for Marriott Corporation, each comprising a vertical column supporting multiple horizontal arms, with each arm supporting a Ferris wheel. The first was Giant Wheel which operated at Hersheypark in Hershey, Pennsylvania from 1973 until 2004. Similar Intamin supplied Waagner-Biro wheels included Zodiac and Scorpion. All are now defunct.
Sky Whirl, the world's first triple Ferris wheel, which debuted at both Marriott's Great America parks in 1976, was also manufactured by Waagner-Biro and brokered by Intamin. Also known as a triple Ferris wheel, Triple Giant Wheel, or Triple Tree Wheel, it was in height. The Santa Clara ride, renamed Triple Wheel in post-Marriott years, closed on 1 September 1997. The Gurnee ride closed in 2000.
The Orlando Eye, which opened in April 2015, was designed and built by Intamin.

Transportation

Outside the amusement realm, Intamin supplies monorail transportation systems which are used in both public transport networks and at tourist attractions across the world. Intamin was responsible for the design and building of the Moscow Monorail, which is long and is located in the North-Eastern Administrative Okrug of Moscow, Russia, running from the Timiryazevskaya metro station to Sergeya Eisensteina street. Planning of the monorail started in 1998. It has six stations.
In 2016, the Ashgabat Monorail in Turkmenistan was opened using Intamin equipment.

Safety incidents

Intamin has been in the news for a number of safety-related incidents.
YearAccomplishmentRideLocationNotes
1981First wooden coaster built by IntaminAmerican EagleSix Flags Great America
  • When opened it featured the longest drop in the world and fastest speed on a wooden coaster.
1985First Spacediver coasterZ-ForceSix Flags Great America, Six Flags Over Georgia, Six Flags Magic Mountain
  • Opened in '85 at Great America, was relocated to Over Georgia in '88, then to Magic Mountain and opened there as Flashback in '92; demolished and scrapped in mid-December 2007 after sitting idle since 2003
  • First coaster to feature four-abreast seating
  • 1997First coaster to go above First coaster to go Tower of Terror IIDreamworld
    • Not a complete circuit; the train does not reach the top of the vertical spike
    1997First coaster with a structure to reach beyond Six Flags Magic Mountain
  • Not a complete circuit; the train does not reach the top of the vertical spike; formerly Superman: the Escape
  • 1998First LIM-launched inverted coasterFirst Impulse shuttle coasterLinear GaleTokyo Dome City
    • Closed in 2010 and subsequently removed
    1998First complete-circuit, LIM-launched inverted coasterVolcano, The Blast CoasterKings Dominion
  • Fastest inverted coaster at when first opened
  • 2000First Giga Coaster First coaster to drop Millennium ForceCedar Point
    • First complete circuit coaster to stand over 300 ft
    • Drop is exactly
    2000First LIM-launched Twisted impulse coasterPossessedDorney Park
  • Previously operated at Geauga Lake as Superman: Ultimate Escape and Steel Venom
  • 2000First Stand Up Drop TowerApocalypseDrayton Manor
  • 5 Towers with 3 stand up towers & 2 sit down towers
  • Tower 5 was modified in 2002 to feature the World's First Stand Up Floorless drop tower
  • 2001First coaster to utilize a LIM launch hillCalifornia Screamin'Disney California Adventure Park
  • Has a magnetic launch followed by a magnetic non-cable/chain lift hill
  • Currently the longest coaster with inversions
  • 2001First wooden coaster with prefabricated trackColossosHeide Park
    2002First coaster to do 10 inversionsColossusThorpe Park
  • Has 10 inversions - in order: 1 Loop, 1 Cobra Roll, 2 Corkscrews, and 5 heartline rolls
  • 2002First hydraulic catapult launch coasterXceleratorKnott's Berry Farm
  • Accelerates from 0 to 82 miles per hour, covering 157 feet of launch track, in just 2.3 seconds.
  • 2003First Strata coaster Top Thrill DragsterCedar Point
  • Tallest and fastest coaster in the world when opened at and
  • 2004First accelerator coaster to feature inversionsStorm RunnerHersheypark
  • Reaches a height of 150 ft and catapults riders from 0 to 72 mph in 2 seconds
  • Features a top hat and three inversions
  • 2005World's tallest coaster ; was world's fastest coaster Kingda KaSix Flags Great Adventure
  • 456 feet high; launch speed
  • 2007First 4th Dimension design ZacSpin Coaster by IntaminFirst Intamin coaster to include curved hydraulic chain lift hillKirnuLinnanmäki
    • First compact 4-D coaster in the world
    • Features redesigned restraints and non-friction magnetic brakes
    2007Intamin's first Wing Rider coasterFurius BacoPortAventura Park at PortAventura World
  • Accelerates from 0 to in 3.5 seconds
  • Was fastest coaster in Europe until 2017.
  • 2008At 97 degrees, steepest drop of all Intamin coastersFahrenheitHersheypark
  • Ascends chain lift hill at a 90 degree angle
  • Features a 121-foot Norwegian loop and six inversions
  • 2008Record holder at the time for the steepest wooden coaster in the worldCurrently the highest, fastest, longest coaster in South KoreaT ExpressEverland
    • Maximum 77 degrees
    • Height 183.75 ft
    • Top speed 64.6 mph
    • Length 5383.10 ft
    • 12 airtime hills
    2010World's first freefall drop coasterThirteenAlton Towers
  • Horizontal track falls vertically down in the crypt
  • Train is launched into a backward helix after drop.
  • 2010Current record holder for the world's fastest coasterFormula RossaFerrari World
  • Top speed
  • 2011First ZacSpin built in the U.S.Six Flags Magic Mountain
  • Closed in 2017, subsequently relocated to La Ronde, now known as Vipère.
  • 2014First Special Effects Coaster/Dark Ride HybridHarry Potter and the Escape from GringottsUniversal Studios Florida
    2014First Drop Tower to tilt riders 90 degrees toward the groundFalcon's FuryBusch Gardens Tampa Bay
  • Currently North America's tallest freestanding drop tower
  • Tilts rider face down and drops them at speeds of
  • 2016Fastest multi-launch coaster TaronPhantasialand
  • Multi-launch coaster
  • Held three world records at opening: Fastest multi-launch coaster, longest multi-launch coaster without inversions, greatest number of intersecting track points at 58.
  • 2016Fastest multi-launch coaster Soaring with DragonHefei Wanda Theme Park
  • Fastest multi-launch coaster at 77.7 mph.
  • 2017Fastest LSM-launch coasterRed ForceFerrari Land at PortAventura World
  • Currently fastest LSM-launched coaster in the world.