A celebrated date on the theme park calendar, National Roller Coaster Day is upon us once more.
Enjoyed in the height of summer every 16 August, it is a day when theme park enthusiasts can enjoy their favorite amusement parks and enjoy a ride on their favorite roller coaster.
It is a love affair that dates back to the 17th century when the first type of ride was created, known as ‘Russian Mountains’ using specially constructed hills of ice.
The first modern coaster was known as the Promenades Aeriennes, opening in Paris on 8 July 1817. This coaster used features that modern roller coasters are accustomed to such as wheels that are bolted onto the track.
During the 1800s, mining railways and scenic railways became popular but it was 1886 when the first roller coaster was officially patented.
From then onwards, roller coasters would see an increase in popularity, leading to the Golden Age of Roller Coasters during the 1920s – a case in point being the most famous roller coaster in the world, the Cyclone, which was opened in 1927.
Fast forward 60 years or so and the continual rise in popularity of the amusement and theme parks meant that the ‘National Roller Coaster Day’ was coined. Its origins arrive in the middle of the 1980s when a major newspaper, believed to be the L.A. Times, declared it to be a holiday within the amusement park industry. It is said that a patent for the first roller coaster was confirmed on this very day of 16 August, hailing from the United States.
Nowadays, the spectacle of National Roller Coaster Day has grown exponentially at parks across the globe.
Time once again to get one’s thrills at the greatest show on earth.
#NationalRollerCoasterDay.
Images: InterPark
