Cedar Point shocked the amusement industry with the surprise announcement of North America’s tallest, fastest, and longest tilt coaster, Siren’s Curse. A tilt roller coaster is a coaster with a section of track that is not connected on one end, appearing broken off. The train comes to a stop on this section of track, which functions like a giant see-saw. The entire track then tilts and rotates until it aligns perfectly with the next section. Once locked in place, the train is released and continues through the rest of the ride’s layout.
Due to the visuals of approaching a disconnected track, tilt coasters are considered one of the most terrifying types of roller coasters ever built. When Cedar Point announced Siren’s Curse, reactions online were as dramatic as the ride itself, with comments on our Facebook page ranging from:
“That’s just a mess waiting to happen.. sliding off the track.”
“They expect people to trust this?”
“This is a Final Destination scene waiting to happen I swear!”
Let’s dive into how a tilt coaster works and why the Siren’s Curse trains won’t slide off the tracks.
Experience and Upgrades
Siren’s Curse is manufactured by Vekoma, a company that has been building roller coasters since 1979. They pioneered the original tilt coaster, Gravity Max at Discovery World in Taiwan. Gravity Max has been operating without any major issues since 2002. Siren’s Curse is essentially Generation 2.0, or the latest new and improved model. As Vekoma states on their website: “Vekoma recently upgraded and adapted the Tilt Element to Vekoma’s new generation of sit-down thrill coasters.”
Gravity Max uses the old track design where the wheels are inside the rails while Siren’s Curse will use the new, smoother track where the wheels are on the outside of the rails.
Example of inside the rail wheel configuration on the left, outside the rails on the right.
Safety Features of Tilt Coasters
Siren’s Curse begins innocently enough with a typical chain lift hill. But upon cresting the apex, you’ll notice the track suddenly ends – the rails stop and you see nothing but blue sky. The train is pushed forward by drive tires until it reaches the end of the track, thankfully coming to a stop. It’s terrifying because it seems as though you could keep going and roll right off the track, but that’s not the case.
The first mechanism to prevent you from falling off the track is a bracket on the end of the tilt track. When the track starts tilting forward, this feature is actually the backup safety feature and doesn’t support any weight of the vehicle (though it can if needed). Roller coasters are designed with redundant safety features and they’re designed to fail safe, meaning if something does fail it does so in a predictable way and returns to a safe state.
The primary holding mechanism that bears the weight of the train is the rear claw which latches onto a bar fixed to the last coach:
You can see the claw engage in this reverse POV of Gravity Max from Theme Park Review:
Once the claw is engaged and the computer gets the OK, the clamps holding the track in the horizontal position disengage, and hydraulic rams start rotating the track to the vertical position.
After the track tilts to the full vertical position, clamps pull the track and hold it tightly against the support structure so it doesn’t move. There are sensors fixed to the inside of the rails on the stationary and movable track to preciously check the position of the track to ensure the rails are aligned. If everything is good, the front bracket is lowered, the computer gives the OK to release the train, and the claw is released.
Occasionally, the rails will fail to align, usually due to a weather related event like powerful winds. If the rails aren’t able to fully align for any reason, the computer won’t release the train. Instead, it lowers the tilt track back to the horizontal position and riders will be safely released from the train and onto the horizontal platform designed for exactly this purpose.
Full Size Prototype Testing
Computer aided engineering (CAE) and simulations are great, but nothing beats real-world testing with physical parts. Over two years ago, Vekoma constructed a full-scale prototype coaster equipped with the entire tilt track system. This allowed them to conduct an extensive testing program at the factory before shipping the components. As a Vekoma engineer explains in the video from Coaster Studios below, they tested different load configurations with water dummies in order to define the tilt motion as well as different failure cases.
It’s not confirmed but it very well could be that some of the components we’re seeing in this video are the exact ones being used for Siren’s Curse!
Viewpoint is different but the support structure of the prototype versus Siren’s Curse renderings appear to be the same.
Update May 2025
Cedar Point released a video featuring a representative from Vekoma explaining how the tilt track works.
I love the graphics and close up shots of the track!
Watch the full video below:
Other Roller Coasters with Tilt Tracks
Vekoma isn’t the only roller coaster manufacturer to have produced tilt tracks. Here are other existing roller coasters with see-saw tracks [SPOILER WARNING!]:
Jinma Rides Broken Rail Coasters
Chinese company, Jinma Rides, has built their own version of the tilt coaster, which they have dubbed “broken rail” coasters. All four are located in China. The first, Battle of Jungle King, opened in 2016 and is actually the world’s only dueling tilt coaster. It should be noted, none of the Jinma broken rail coasters tilt to a full vertical position like the Vekoma models do.
https://rcdb.com/r.htm?ot=2&ml=16311
Harry Potter and the Escape From Gringotts
The very first show scene in Harry Potter and the Escape From Gringotts at Universal Studios Florida utilities a tilt track. Opened in 2014, the tilt track only angles down at around forty to forty-five degrees. While Intamin provided the track and supports, it’s said Vekoma was brought in to work on the tilt track.
Mission Ferrari
Mission Ferrari is a SFX coaster by Dynamic Attractions, famous for being under construction for around eight years due to its complexity and a pandemic. What makes the see-saw unique is the vehicles enter the tilt track going forwards, then roll off of it at a downwards angle going backwards.
https://forum.coastersworld.fr/threads/ferrari-world-mission-ferrari-sfx-coaster-dynamic-attractions-2023.7971/page-12
Winja’s Fear See-saw Track
Winjas (Fear and Force) at Phantasialand, Germany is a Maurer double spinning coaster with trick track segments. Opened in 2002, the same year as Gravity Max, the Winja’s Fear track has a seesaw track segment where the single car enters at one angle, the track tilts, and the car leaves at another angle.
https://themeparkthoughtsblog.blogspot.com/2011/10/true-family-coasters-trick-track-and.html
Tilt Coasters 2025
Maybe 2025 should be dubbed the “Year of the Vekoma Tilt Coaster” as we should see three of them open worldwide. Besides Siren’s Curse at Cedar Point, Circuit Breaker is scheduled to open at COTALand in Austin, Texas. Black track and white supports are already onsite. While the tilt track module is the same, the layout is different than Siren’s Curse.
Vekoma designed the tilt track to be modular so they can put the same tilting mechanism onto roller coasters of different heights without having to redo any engineering or testing on the tilting itself and they’re already using this. Iron Rattler, the tallest, fastest, and longest of the tilt coasters, is scheduled to open at the new Six Flags Qiddiya City in Saudi Arabia in 2025. The 208 foot drop leads into five inversions along the 4,068 feet of twisted yellow track.
Reverse Tilt Track
It’s rumored that the new Space Mountain roller coaster under construction at Tokyo Disneyland will have a reverse tilt track. The train will stop on a flat piece of track which will then tilt up instead of down and connect to an upwards launch.
As you can see, tilt coasters have been around for awhile and have proven to be very safe. None of them have fallen off the rails yet. Do you have any questions about how tilt coasters work? Let us know in the comments below!
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