Record Holders for Height

This is a question that may have a simple answer. I was on RCDB and saw the record holder for height is Superman:TE, at 415 ft. tall. So, then I went on the SFMM website and it said that S:TE was 415 ft. tall above ground even when the actual ride starts about 15 ft. above ground, making the actual ride about 400 ft. tall. If the record for highest coaster depends on how far the coaster is above ground, wouldn't the High Roller atop Las Vegas' Stratosphere take the cake?

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Grit your teeth, bare the load, enjoy your headache on Thunder Road.

*** This post was edited by RollerJunkie on 11/17/2002. ***

and then you have to question if said record is really 415 feet because I dont think the car goes all the way up 415 feet. I could be wrong but I dont think it goes the full way up... Then again, is S:TE really a coaster ;) Discuss among yourselves. :D

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Bob Hansen

A proud CoasterBuzz Member

Operation Wicked Twister - Goal: Lose 50 lbs by next season to ride it! (updates soon)

Interesting question. I heard another one on the radio tonight, it goes something like this.... "If a woman screams for his man while he's in the woods and he doesn't hear her, is he still wrong?"

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"How's your balls feel?"
Parks this year: 35
Beatings from Kara: lost count at 2,504

Where are you getting that S:TE starts 15 ft. off the ground. When you walk under the tower towards Collosus it seems much higher then 15ft if thats where your measuring from. And no the ride goes nowhere near the top of the tower.

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84 coasters and counting

Superman is the tallest.

High Roller is the highest.

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James Draeger
-Captain Sarcasm

Personally, I dont even consider SM:TE a Coaster. If thats the case add in all Drop rides ie Demon Drop at CP... Same comcept, just in reverse! I know that comment has been made here before, but come on! I am not just saying that because CP is my home Park, I was at SFMM last year, and was not at all impressed with SM:TE. The only thing I though great about that "ride" was the tremendous amount of noise it makes as it launches. That thing screams light a fighter plane!

Lets face it there are a bunch of ways to measure coaster height and enough variety in coaster designs and what people define as a coaster that you will get different answers depending on you definitions.

Height above grade? Is that grade directly under that piece of track or the the lowest point of grade enclosed by the coaster?

Change in height? Is that the largest drop, or is it the difference in height between the highest and lowest points of track? Some terrain coasters have a lowest point which is considerably lower than the bottom of the largest drop.

And where do you measure from? The track? With the same rail height, the riders will be 10 feet lower on an inverted than on a floorless.

Coasters that aren't continuous circut confuse this even more. Do you measure from the end of the track, the highest point that any part of the train normally reaches, the highest point that a rider normally reaches, or from the center of the train which would be the highest point that some of the riders reach and also determines the actual speed reached?

Then we could just wory less and enjoy the ride.

I would count how high it is from the structure it is standing on. Ex: High Roller is only about 10-20 I think. So S:TE would be 415. Then people would make rides like HR and say the have the tallest.

!!!!! Maybe the Highest above sea level should be declared da tallesta!!!!!!

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you see what im getting at, there is no way to end this argument, its a matter of opinion and nothing more.

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Kennywood Park, America's finest traditional amusement park.

SFgadvMAN is correct, the STRUCTURE is 415 feet tall.

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I'm loud, I'm annoying, I'm the anti-rollback.

The Stratosphere may also count as part of the structure, because it counts as one large support holding the coaster above ground?

RollerJunkie -

Look at it this way - The Stratosphere tower isn't a support, it's a foundation. You could take The High Roller off the top of the Stratosphere and put it on the ground because it has its own supports ON TOP of the tower.

Now take away the support column on Superman The Escape's vertical tower.

There you go. They're two seperate scenarios. Superman's 415' column is a ride support (apart of the ride) in contrast to High Roller, which uses Stratosphere tower just as a foundation, not a support.

I see tall as how high the coaster reaches above its station, while height is how far it reaches above the ground.

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How many rides must a man go on, before you may call him a fan?

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kRaXLeRidAh said:
RollerJunkie -

Look at it this way - The Stratosphere tower isn't a support, it's a foundation. You could take The High Roller off the top of the Stratosphere and put it on the ground because it has its own supports ON TOP of the tower.

Now take away the support column on Superman The Escape's vertical tower.

There you go. They're two seperate scenarios. Superman's 415' column is a ride support (apart of the ride) in contrast to High Roller, which uses Stratosphere tower just as a foundation, not a support.

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Well, if that's true - the record for tallest coaster should depend upon how high it is from the station to the peak of the ride.

For instance, if S:TE started 15 ft. above ground, then the record for tallest coaster should be 400 ft. tall, not 415 ft. which the current record is.

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Grit your teeth, bare the load, enjoy your headache on Thunder Road.

If S:TE isn't counted as a coaster because it isnt a full circuit, then neither is Wicked Twister at CP. And Wicked Twister doesn't go all the way to the top of its towers. Big deal!

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Rob

"Some people spend an entire LIFETIME wondering if they made a DIFFERENCE. The MARINES don't have that problem." -President Reagan 1985

I say this topic is opening up some old wounds in the CP vs. SFMM, but then I am usually wrong.

RollerJunkie, S:TE is a little higher than 15 feet off the ground. It is at least 30 feet, but that's nothing too important.

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Is it a dream or a memory? It's both, it's X