Uni-believable

The core concept of roller coasters has more or less stayed the same throughout the ride's long history: Trains of cars coast along a track filled with dips and curves. But variations on that basic theme, particularly in the last few years, have yielded an incredible array of thrill machines. An Orlando-based ride inventor/entrepreneur has yet another new take on the old ride. Dubbed the Unicoaster, Bill Kitchen (creator of the Skycoaster bungee jump attractions found at many theme parks) has designed a distinct ride system that pairs pivoting seats like those found on a traditional Ferris wheel with huge wheels that roll along a coaster track. Each set of two seats has its own wheel. From the info available on Kitchen's Unicoaster Web site, it appears that the two-seat units could navigate the track individually or chained together into a train. The ride does not have coaster "cars." The seats, which extend out alongside of the track, are completely exposed and are tethered to the center of the rolling wheels via an axle. The ride looks like a tamer version of X, the "4th-dimension" coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain. Kitchen says that the Unicoaster will be able to reach speeds of 40 to 60 mph. Instead of pitching his new coaster to theme parks, the inventor is targeting malls, casino resorts, family entertainment centers, and other venues. Kitchen says the prototype Unicoaster will debut in Orlando this spring at an undisclosed location.
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