Intersecting rollercoasters
When one rollercoaster overlaps the footprint of another, let's call them intersecting rollercoasters.
I'm no theme park expert but I imagine parks would have a few reasons to avoid doing this:
- Risk (objects falling from one ride onto another)
- Coupling designs (having to consider multiple unrelated rides in conjunction)
- Coupling failure domains (having to close one ride to fix another)
Still, as a guest, I think it's super-cool when rides intersect:
- It helps with depth of worldbuilding
- The close encounter experience of having a train zoom overhead while on another zooming train
- The sheer immersion of being surrounded by rides in all directions!
There are plenty of self-intersecting coasters - those don't count. Nor does it count for the queue to wind amongst the track (although this is also great, particularly on The Wicker Man). No, I'm talking about intersections of two or more completely separate attractions, and I was surprised to find it doesn't seem to be a big topic of conversation. Where are the protracted flame wars about whether in-park monorails count as rides for the purpose of intersection? I was expecting to find IRDb (well actually I did, but it's about infrared remote control codes).
So here are a few:
Drayton Manor Park, UK
- The Wave is right on top of the River Rapids, and I think technically goes over Air Race too, making this an intersection chain of length 3. If you believe the Polperro Express train ride should count as a ride, then that extends the chain to length 5 by also linking Stormforce 10.
- In Thomas Land, Winston's Whistle-Stop Tours runs over Sodor Classic Cars and Harold's Helicopter Tours.
- Jormungandr in the Viking land runs under the track of Gold Rush in Frontier Falls - a classic intersection.
But wait, you say, do River Rapids rides really count as rollercoasters? Ehh, they're on coasterpedia.net, so I say yes. Flat rides too. For the purpose of valuing intersections, they all contribute to the immersion and fun. For this reason, I'm mostly in the transit-counts-as-a-ride camp, as they tend to get entries on coasterpedia, though if the park presents it as a transport system rather than a ride, then I lean the other way. The Alton Towers Monorail, for example, is listed on coasterpedia, but Alton Towers themselves do not list it as a ride. This is unlike the Walt Disney World Railroad which is treated as a first class attraction.
So, speaking of Alton Towers...
Alton Towers, UK
- The Galactica lift hill goes over Nemesis (Reborn), and these are an incredible pair of rides, but it's just the one intersection.
- The Get Set Go Tree Top Adventure runs over at least one other ride but I can't remember the details.
Chessington World of Adventures, UK
- Honorable mention to Vampire which runs down a themed street, but that's not a ride, so no deal.
Disneyworld Magic Kingdom, Florida
- The People Mover famously intertwines through many areas and shops, but the official intersections are with Space Mountain and the Tomorrowland Speedway. Does it go into the Carousel of Progress too? It's a chain of either 3 or 4.
- Here's the big one: the aforementioned Walt Disney World Railroad goes through no less than: Tiana's Bayou Adventure, Big Thunder Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean (it goes under the show building), and... The People Mover. So is this a chain of 4, or should it be allowed to merge with the other chain via the People Mover, for up to 8?
The rest of Disneyworld is highly compartmentalised, with no intersections in EPCOT or Hollywood Studios as far as I can recall, but perhaps one in Animal Kingdom where Avatar Flight of Passage and Na'vi River Journey seem to occupy the same building. Universal Studios Hollywood is also segregated into buildings and discrete rides.
Others
My theory is that intersections get phased out as parks become more risk-and-project driven affairs, meaning the older parks should have more. I'm sure a more dedicated fan can extend and correct this.