Double Loop was a

steel roller coaster A steel roller coaster is a roller coaster that is defined by having a track made of steel. Steel coasters have earned immense popularity in the past 50 years throughout the world. Incorporating tubular steel track and polyurethane-coated wheel ...

located at

Geauga Lake Geauga Lake was an amusement park in Bainbridge Township, Geauga County, Ohio, Bainbridge Township and Aurora, Ohio, Aurora, Ohio. It was established in 1887, in what had been a local recreation area adjacent to Geauga Lake (lake), a lake of th ...

amusement park in Bainbridge Township and

Aurora, Ohio Aurora is a city in Portage County, Ohio, United States. It is a suburb of Cleveland and Akron, Ohio, and is co-extensive with, and formed from, the former township of Aurora, which was formed from the Connecticut Western Reserve. It is part of th ...

. Built by

Arrow Dynamics Arrow Dynamics was an American manufacturing and engineering company that specialized in designing and building amusement park rides, especially roller coasters. Based in Clearfield, Utah, the company was the successor to Arrow Development (19 ...

, it opened in 1977 as the first roller coaster in the world to feature two consecutive vertical loops. The roller coaster operated until the park closed permanently in 2007, and it was later sold for scrap at an auction a year later.

History

Riding on the heels of successful innovations like

Corkscrew A corkscrew is a tool for drawing corks from wine bottles and other household bottles that may be sealed with corks. In its traditional form, a corkscrew simply consists of a pointed metallic helix (often called the "worm") attached to a hand ...

Knott's Berry Farm Knott's Berry Farm is a theme park located in Buena Park, California, owned and operated by Cedar Fair. In 2015, it was the twelfth-most-visited theme park in North America and averages approximately 4 million visitors per year. It features 40 ...

, which in 1975 was the first modern looping roller coaster in the world, Utah-based

was hired by

amusement park to design and build another industry first. Simply entitled ''Double Loop'', the new design would become the first roller coaster in the world to feature back-to-back

vertical loop The generic roller coaster vertical loop, where a section of track causes the riders to complete a 360 degree turn, is the most basic of roller coaster inversions. At the top of the loop, riders are completely inverted. History The vertical l ...

s. It was introduced at the park in 1977 at a total cost of $1.35 million. The ride featured a , a helix, of track, and two vertical loops with one measuring in height and the other measuring . Double Loop would be followed by the park's very own Corkscrew roller coaster – one of fourteen identical installations eventually produced by Arrow – which opened the following year in 1978. Both gave Geauga Lake the title of becoming the first amusement park to feature multiple looping roller coasters. Double Loop's support structure was originally painted white but would later be painted dark to match the track. The attraction debuted with two trains, one red and the other yellow. In 1993, the coaster underwent refurbishment adding some modernization to the control system. The outdated relay and photo eye controls were replaced with newer PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) and proximity switches to help improve reliability and to reduce downtime. Following Geauga Lake's acquisition by

Six Flags Six Flags Entertainment Corporation is an American amusement park corporation, headquartered in Arlington, Texas. It has properties in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Six Flags owns the most theme parks and waterparks combined of any amu ...

, Double Loop was given a makeover in 2000, with a new paint scheme featuring a yellow track and purple supports. The yellow train was repainted a darker shade of yellow, while the red train was converted to purple.

Track layout

After exiting the station, the train made a 180-degree left-hand turn inside a tunnel and into the lift hill element. The train then descended at a 45-degree angle , followed by an incline and another 180-degree turn to the left. It would then drop into two consecutive vertical loops, followed by a slight ascent into a 360-degree downward helix before returning to the station.

Auction

Following Geauga Lake's permanent closure in 2007, Double Loop was sold at auction – along with other former park rides – on June 17, 2008. A local scrap company purchased it for $23,000, and the coaster was later demolished.

References

External links

GeaugaLakeToday.com
Photos and history of the coaster

Geauga Lake Auction News Article, The News-Herald {{GeaugaLakeCoasters Roller coasters operated by Cedar Fair Geauga Lake Former roller coasters in Ohio Roller coasters operated by Six Flags