At the dawn of the new millennium, a new coaster boom is underway. In 1999, thrill seekers saw the opening of nearly 120 new or renovated roller coasters around the world, including 61 in the United States. The number of coasters on the planet now stands at just under 900 rides.

One thing about the future of roller coasters is certain--they will continue to get bigger and faster. The world's tallest roller coaster is a shuttle coaster called Superman The Escape at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California. The train races up a 415-foot tower then drops backward at 100 mph. The tallest continuous-circuit coaster, Fujiyama, at Fujikyu Highlands near Tokyo, Japan, is 259 feet high. Two new continuous-circuit coasters will open in 2000 that will exceed Fujiyama's height. The price tag for such record-busting mechanical masterpieces can run as high as $15 million. And you can certainly feel the magic big money can bring to engineering.

Among the technological advances of the new coaster boom is the use of electromagnetic waves to propel the coaster into launch, bypassing the need for chain-driven lift hills and gravity drops. The linear induction motor (LIM), the driving force behind the Mr. Freeze coasters by Premier Rides at Six Flags St. Louis and Six Flags Over Texas, uses high-powered magnets to launch the coasters like a slingshot, enabling Mr. Freeze to reach speeds of 70 miles per hour in under four seconds. Just as futuristic is the linear synchronous motor (LSM) by Intamin on Superman The Escape, which accelerates to the holy grail point of 100 miles per hour in just seven white-knuckle seconds.

But even gravity-powered rides are advancing with the ages. On the Skytrak at Granada Studios Tour in Manchester, Eng., passengers are strapped facedown into individual racks hanging from a monorail. The ground-view position of the rider is designed to give the illusion of flight. And according to riders, the world's first "solo-coaster" is most effective.

But perhaps the most talked-about, next-generation coaster that only a lucky handful have ever ridden is Arrow Dynamics' Pipeline prototype developed during the late 1980s. The cars in the Pipeline design ride between the rails, just about level with the passengers' stomachs. The result? Tummy-turning barrel rolls. To this day, though, the high price of the unprecedented Pipeline has kept it in the prototype stage. The next best thing may be the Japanese firm TOGO's heartline coaster Viper at Six Flags Great Adventure and the Ultra Twister at Six Flags AstroWorld, which place the center of gravity around the riders "heartline," even though the cars still ride on top of the rails. And advances continue. In the spring of 1999, the Raging Bull at Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, Illinois, opened, billed as "the world's first 'hyper-twister' roller coaster," combining the speed of a steel coaster with the banked and twisting track configuration of a wooden "cyclone-style" coaster.

On the ride into the future, roller coaster design will undoubtedly branch off into unmarked territory, too. But for most enthusiasts, virtual reality rides like the Glacier Run coaster simulation at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk in California just don't make the teeth-gritting grade.

As high-flier Charles Lindbergh once said, "a certain amount of danger is essential to the Quality of Life."

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