All About Floorless Roller Coasters

Floorless roller coasters are fairly self explanatory. They’re roller coasters that don’t have a floor for the riders to rest their feet on. Instead, the rider’s feet are left dangling for the duration of the ride.

According to the Roller Coaster Database (RCDB), there are currently only 25 floorless roller coasters in operation. This could potentially be due to the fact that only one company that has produced floorless coasters to date.

Brief History of Floorless Roller Coasters

Unlike the steel roller coasters, which emerged in the 1950s, floorless roller coasters have only been around since 1995.

Bolliger & Mabillard is the mastermind behind the concept of floorless roller coasters. The manufacturer started designing and developing the concept of a floorless coaster in 1995. The very first floorless roller coaster launched for the public in 1999 at Six Flags Great Adventure as a coaster called Medusa.

The only time riders will ever encounter a floor is during the loading or unloading of the cars. After the riders load, the floor is pulled in and there is nothing under the rider’s feet or seat. Once they’re back at the station, the floor will come back and the riders can get out of their seat.

Predictably, the thrill of not having anything under the rider’s feet was a popular concept so B&M continued on with the development and construction of floorless coasters for different parks around the world.

To date, B&M is the only company developing and constructing this style of roller coaster. There are some companies that do variations but the industry does not consider them true floorless coasters.

Floorless Coaster World Records

Steel coasters aren’t the only type of roller coasters that have made it to the Guinness World Records. Floorless roller coasters have made it too! Here are a few notable records:

The record for the tallest floorless roller coaster goes to Valravn as well as the largest drop with a floorless design at Cedar Point. The longest floorless coaster is the Dominator at Kings Dominion and

All of the Floorless Coasters in Operation

There are only a handful of floorless roller coasters in existence. If you would like to experience one, check the chart below to see which is nearest to you!

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