Designing an Impossible Ride (Roller Coaster Designer)

A theme park owner in Stockholm points to a cramped patch of land, boxed in by towers, tracks, and buildings, and asks an almost impossible question: could you build a roller coaster here?

Wooden roller coaster designer Korey Kiepert says yes. That single decision sets off a chain of engineering, creativity, and careful risk management, leading to a ride that weaves over, under, and through an already packed park.

Chris Baron sits down with Korey to unpack what it really takes to design and build modern roller coasters. From site walks and layout compromises to moments of instinct and the safety culture behind every decision, this is a rare look at how these rides actually come to life. Korey also shares how improv training shaped his mindset, why tight spaces can lead to the most memorable designs, and how new technology is pushing what’s possible.

The conversation explores why wooden roller coasters still matter in a world of steel giants and record-breaking attractions. From the raw, physical feel of timber structures to sustainability conversations and “small but mighty” design, Korey explains why these rides continue to resonate with both parks and riders.

If you’re interested in engineering, design thinking, creativity under pressure, or the hidden work behind theme park experiences, this episode gives you a behind-the-scenes look at an industry most people never see.

Follow the show, share it with someone who’d enjoy it, and leave a rating or review to help more people discover No Ordinary Monday.

Links: 

https://thegravitygroup.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/koreykiepert/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAv7DaGiF-Q

https://thegravitygroup.com/roller-coaster-projects/

Credits: 

Produced, Hosted and Edited by - Chris Baron

Images and Video Clips - Korey Kiepert, Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library, Dan Prout, Kings Island, and Olov Lundell.

Intro Music - Music_Unlimited 

Outro Music - Saavane

Topics Covered: 

roller coaster design, wooden roller coasters, theme park engineering, tight build sites, constrained spaces, impossible builds, creative problem solving, improv mindset, yes and thinking, design under pressure, ride layout challenges, safety culture, risk management, engineering decisions, ride testing, g-forces, rider experience, wood vs steel coasters, nostalgia in theme parks, sustainability, compact ride design, innovation in coaster technology, behind the scenes of theme parks

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Transcript

A Ride With No Space

SPEAKER_00 0:02

We were contacted to do this ride in in Stockholm. So I'm walking around this park, there's not a lot of room. This is the worst side out. Like, everyone would probably dream of like a flat space, like, hey, put whatever you want right here. But this wasn't that at all.

SPEAKER_01 0:18

Roller coaster designer Corey Keepert was standing in a theme park in Stockholm Street. Surrounded by rides, no space to build, and yet the owner had invited them there for a reason.

SPEAKER_00 0:28

And he's like, Do you think you could do a ride here? And I think that historically as a company, we were always kind of very cautious, like, well, we'll see, we'll do our best. And I was confident that day. Usually you might hesitate.

SPEAKER_01 0:41

But in that moment, Corey wasn't just thinking like an engineer.

SPEAKER_00 0:45

In improv, they teach you a couple of things. One of them is like to agree and accept. So like you never say no. And then another rule is that you always try to elevate it. This sounds kind of crazy, like it's unlike any ride that we've ever done before. That's probably part of the reason why my hair is gray.

Building Rides In Any Weather

SPEAKER_01 1:08

Hey folks, and welcome back to another episode of No Ordinary Monday. Thank you so much for joining us. I'm your host, Chris Barron, and each week I sit down with a guest to relive their No Ordinary Monday story. An extraordinary event or experience that stands out across their entire working life. We'll explore the path that led them there, find out what the work is really like behind the scenes, and at the end I'll reveal the important lessons they've learned. Now, before we jump in, just a quick reminder to keep sending in your ratings and reviews. It is really cool to keep seeing them coming each week, and it really helps a lot with getting noticed on the app. Now, today's episode takes us into the wild world of roller coasters. My guest is Corey Keffert, a roller coaster designer, who spent his career building some of the most unfit wooden roller coaster rides in the world. Every project starts with two simple questions. Can it actually be done? And how do we make it unforgettable? As you heard at the start of this episode, sometimes the answers come from surprising places. You're listening to No Ordinary Monday? Let's go to the show. Corey, welcome to the podcast. How are you doing today, man?

SPEAKER_00 2:33

Perfect. Yeah, thank you so much for having me on. I mean, it's uh it's great to be here in uh well rainy, rainy Ohio here. So good roller coaster building weather. Is it really? Oh, interesting. It is. Well, we're you know, they say that the postmen, you know, they deliver uh your letters in rain, sleet, snow. We build rides regardless of the weather. I mean, I guess if there were tornadoes, maybe. Yeah, or if there's lightning, like we're we're obviously not up high, uh, you know, building our rides. But yeah, in general, if it's raining, snowing, um, whatever the weather, we're we're out there trying to get it done because we have to have the ride open for all those smiling guests, you know, when the park opens in the spring.

Falling In Love With Coasters

SPEAKER_01 3:24

Clients don't wait, yeah, for the spring. Yeah, we're kind of in uh late, late winter here coming into spring. Yeah, you guys are up against it. And uh, I mean, what I didn't know until recently was Ohio is the roller coaster capital of the world. That's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 3:37

Oh, we got we do have a couple uh iconic parks. We have Cedar Point, which is known for their record-breaking rides. Uh, near me, we have King's Island, which has the world's longest wooden roller coaster, the Beast. And so, yeah, Ohio in general it is sort of a hotbed for the amusement park industry. And a lot of that, a lot of that comes out of there's a park in downtown Cincinnati right on the river called Coney Island, and it would flood, it would flood all the time. And so, yeah, I mean, right, because the the Ohio River would raise and then the park would be underwater. And so finally they said, let's move this park further north, and they moved Coney Island to King's Mills, Ohio, and opened King's Island, and through that process, you know, there are a lot of different consulting firms, or um, you know, in many ways, like even the roots of our company can trace back to uh the move of Coney Island to uh Kings Island. Oh man, that's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 4:46

You're clearly a big fan of roller coasters. Do you remember the the first memory of you falling in love with roller coasters? Like, where where does that sit in your in your sort of early childhood?

SPEAKER_00 4:58

Yeah, so uh, I mean, growing up in the Detroit area, um, my parents are weren't big roller coaster people. So I didn't really ride my first roller coaster until I was probably about 12. And that was like yeah, it was like the um the Cedar Creek Mine ride and then like Avalanche Run, which later became like it was sort of a bobsled style ride. And so those were like the first ones that I rode. And you know, later on, we we went a few years later, and I remember uh there was an article that that was in a magazine, like uh like a Smithsonian magazine that was about like who how how rides are made, and it had uh you know, Bill Cobb, which is like a famous wooden roller coaster designer, Ron Toomer, who's a famous steel roller coaster designer, and it just sort of talked about them and and how they went about designing them. And I thought, wow, somebody has to do this, why can't it be me? And so that that was sort of the point where it it kind of I went from every kid, you know, loving dinosaurs to switching into the world of of roller coasters, which is better. I mean, no one wants to live in a tent um digging up bones when you could live. Yeah, but anyway, so so um no, and I I love math too. I and I think that like for me, like my grandparents, uh I had one that was kind of in the boat building world and another that worked in the automotive industry in Detroit, sort of in engineering capacities, and and so I loved tinkering, I loved seeing how things worked, and um I just I had a little amusement park, you know, in my closet where uh really like you know that they're the there's like the Hot Wheels racetracks. Well, I mean I got one of those for Christmas once, and it's like my parents were trying when I was little, trying to help put it together, and they like cut themselves and they're like, This isn't suitable for kids, and so they took it away, which was really sad. You know, I'm a kid and I'm like, I just got I just got this. But they got me this German racetrack, like by DARTA, where you had these cars that you pulled back and they went through loops, and so they got me this set where um there was a an upside-down jump, and you could kind of adjust the trajectory, and it would oh wow, yeah, and you could change the space, you know, with the little sections of track. So I was forever, I spent hours just you know, adjusting that trajectory, changing the length, and trying to get it to work, and uh that's why next year you're gonna see us have one that kind of skips the track.

SPEAKER_01 7:47

I'd love to see the safety regulations on that one.

Why Wooden Coasters Still Matter

SPEAKER_00 7:50

The uh yeah, there's probab there's probably AI videos. Um here's what he's working on. But yeah, yeah. Oh man. But yeah, for me, I just I love I love amusement parks. You know, I love um and I love the like the classic uh like there's something about a wooden roller coaster that just transcends the generations, and it it's something that everyone can relate to. And I think when you look at uh you know a bubblegum flavor or a colored steel roller coaster, you know, it's it there's immediately like people have an opinion like I'm not riding that, I don't want to do that, that goes backwards. That does like there are immediately like people have like these like knee-jerk reactions about those rides. Where when you see a wooden roller coaster, typically people are like, I remember when I was little, or grandma and grandpa had that when they were at you know, such and such beach, there used to be something that you know we'd go on, or like there are these memories of like you know, that old-fashioned ride, and and uh is it kind of like is it like sort of you know, a lot of people like like analog photography or film photography versus like fancy digital cameras doing all this kind of stuff?

SPEAKER_01 9:10

There's like a sort of an artistry, a sort of nostalgicness and emotion that's attached to like a film for or even like in cinema, directors like using film over digital. Is it that sort of kind of comparison?

SPEAKER_00 9:23

I think that there is something like that, exactly. Yeah, I mean it's like I don't know, there's something about actually grilling a hamburger instead of you know getting something with artificial smoke added to it, you know. Like it it no, there there is. There's something like when you build out of wood something from the earth, I don't know, there's something raw and and just mighty about it. And and I think what's kind of interesting is we're in a place now in so many parts of the world where like the green initiative is there and and people are trying to build like high-rise buildings, they're trying to do so much more with timber, and yet in the amusement, and then you know, the amusement park industry, here's an example of something that has used green technology for uh generations, and and like when you think about the the amount of carbon and and that that it takes when you make steel and you're processing like all of that metal versus a wooden roller coaster, you know, grows like it might take you know 10 years or so for the tree to get to the point where that one's harvested or longer for depending on the size, but you know, that's taken all that carbon out of the air during that process, and then you know, you you build it with it, you use it, and they replanted something new. It it's uh I don't know, I feel good about a wooden roller coaster and what my impact is on the global footprint, whereas you can't really say that about all other ride types that are out there. Interesting, cool.

SPEAKER_01 11:09

Well, I want to go back because you already mentioned it, you know, you obviously broke into the industry, you know, uh from out of engineering school, uh, did a few years, um, and then you obviously founded, you know, with a bunch of engineers, the Gravity Group, which is your company.

The Childbirth Analogy For Building

Testing Day And Safety Mindset

SPEAKER_00 11:24

Sure, yeah. I mean, it was it yeah, I mean, in 1999, I graduated from college and started work at Custom Coasters, and they uh were working on, I think, seven roller coasters uh, you know, to open in the year 2000. And so they needed more help on their engineering team. And I came and and was able to be a part of that team, moving to Cincinnati from Michigan. And yeah, I mean that that's where I met uh Chad, Michael, uh, Larry, and we formed like custom coasters closed in 2002. Um, you know, there are lots of things that happened, like 9-11 happened and that that impacted a lot of businesses. And through that and and other other reasons, custom coasters closed. And so there is a day where you know, Chad, Larry, Mike, and I looked at each other and said, We like what we're doing, we like working together. You know, should we give this a go? And so you you go to the bookstore and we bought, you know, uh starting a business for dummies style book. And no, we did. We still have that book, but um, and then we're like, let's give this a go. And you know, there Larry had been in the industry for many years, and and there were some parks where we were working already on a few projects, and you know, through that we were able to kind of grow as an at first as only an engineering company, and then in uh like 2008, we grew to um Gravity Craft, kind of a sister company that actually built the rides and uh and our timber liner cars. And so we're a group of ragtag people that just love uh you know amusement parks and rides and make it make it happen. And so it's it's been a good journey. It's not always been easy, but it it it has been rewarding and it's great. You know, I I sometimes even though I'm a guy, I I I kind of sometimes compare the roller coaster process to uh like labor or giving birth, where and and I I know that I'm not qualified, but yeah, anyways, so like when you have a roller coaster, it's sort of one of these things where um you know you start and you feel good about, and I think that initially, you know, like often like if if uh you want to have children you and you find out you know you're you're gonna have uh a kid, you're excited. And I think that's that's kind of how it starts with a ride. Like, I'm really excited about this ride, we sketch it up, we have a concept, and then you know, like you get into the construction a little bit, and there's always like every project has some difficulties, right? And it's like, oh, I'm starting to, you know, the morning sickness, or you know, it's not not doing so well. And you know, they're good and bad, but then like you feel the little heartbeat or or whatever, and and then it's like wow, this project, I can start seeing it come to life, but then as it drags on, you're like, I just want it out of me, you know. I just want it like, and this is this is I've had my my wife, four kids, so like yeah, by the time you end a roller coaster, it's about ready to open, sometimes you're just exhausted, you know, and it's like, wow, that that has been quite a journey. I just want it over, and and um like when when it finally starts testing, and then you you start to um you get to ride it, or on opening day you see people come off of it and and start seeing their reactions, that that kind of rejuvenates you again, where you you know, because at first, like after you'd have a kid, they might be like, Well, I'm never doing that again. And then, like, yeah, uh you know, over time you're like, Wow, you know, this is you hear the comments, you see people, their reactions, or you see how like people come back and they're high-fiving each other, coming back from the station. And I mean, internationally, I mean, I've seen it in in France or China, or just you know, all over. I mean, there's this universal kind of euphoria that people have when they're coming back after uh an experience. Because I mean, the purpose of a ride, right? There there are many things that it should do, right? It should be fun. Um, it should be somewhat terrifying at times, like depend like even if it's a uh you know, a 10-meter, 30-foot tall ride, if you're a four-year-old or five-year-old riding this, it's pretty terrifying. Like, that's like you can be having your first roller coaster experience as a family together, you know, and it it can be like I I have this picture, I should send it to you. Of like, I've got I've got three of my kids kind of sitting on this ride, Rorosaurus, where you know, 30 feet tall, roughly 10 meters, right? And and um one of them, the oldest, my daughter, she's like 12 at the time, and she has this like terrified joy, like ah, look on her face. And then like her younger sister, who's like I don't know, 10 and a half or whatever, just kind of like she could be sitting on the sofa at home, you know. And then her her one younger brother, he has this like look of like it's like sheer terror, like what what's going on? Like, just kind of holding on to me going down the hill. Yeah, and I mean that that's a successful ride right there, you know, because all the emotions you you got all the emotions right there. And I don't know, like what you want is you want um an experience that's worth repeating, worth you know, if the if if people get off of the ride and they say, I want to do that again, or now I want to try the back seat, I did the front seat. That's success. Nothing is as rejuvenating as standing like on the exit platform of a ride. And and I did that, we had a ride, the Bobcat, that opened at Six Flags Great Escape like two-ish years ago, and I was there close to the the 4th of July, big holiday in America, and you know, all sorts of families and kids in the park, and I was I was there watching the ride, and I just loved seeing the guy. I mean, it was it was entertaining just to see people come back, and so you know, and some of these rides, my children have been the very first uh you know, kids to ride the ride.

SPEAKER_01 17:50

So I was gonna ask you that. Like, you know, if you finish the ride, like I'm sure, like you know, you've completed the structure, you've done your safety testings, you've probably put like maybe dummies or some sort of tests on there before any human, but then after all that's done, it's all passed. Are you sometimes the first living human to ride the ride?

SPEAKER_00 18:10

I am, yeah. I was the first living, I I was, yeah. I mean, when we did the uh one of our recent rides, I I was the first human to uh to ride it. But yeah, I mean, we like anything, like there's a commissioning procedure that we have, uh certain number of laps, inspections, accelerometer, gforce testing. And so you go through all of that. You yeah, I mean you have water dummies and and different uh scenarios, and then you get to the point where you're starting the test with with real live people, with uh operations teams, different things. And if it's a small park, there there have been some opportunities where you know family members or or the construction team is are among the first people to rock.

SPEAKER_01 18:58

You can't decide whether that's like a privilege or a luxury, or sort of like a duty for some people to be like, you know.

SPEAKER_00 19:04

I don't know. I mean, in ancient Rome, right? Like if an engineer designed a bridge, the uh Roman army would have the engineer and his family kind of crouch under the bridge, they'd be under the bridge, and then the the army would would march across it. And if if they uh the bridge, if the bridge survived, you know, there there would be another generation of engineers for designing the bridge. Is that true?

SPEAKER_01 19:29

I have to look, I'm gonna look that up.

SPEAKER_00 19:30

You look it up. I mean, I've I heard that. I don't know. I mean, I thought the rule I thought they that might have been something they told me on like day one of engineering school.

SPEAKER_01 19:39

Yeah, it makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 19:41

I was still listening that day.

SPEAKER_01 19:42

So it's just like you finish your roller coaster, it's like, okay, the first people gonna ride the roller coaster are you and your family.

SPEAKER_00 19:48

And if you guys don't make it, then they're yeah, I mean what it seems it's logical. Oh my god, but I mean obviously there are a lot of checks and balances, and and safety, safety is the the number one, like above anything that we do, like safety is our number one goal, and and that's sort of a partnership, you know, that you make with uh your clients, the parks, you know. You like we design the rides, right? And we build the ride, and then they're the caretakers of the ride. And and it's sort of like I I like to tell parks that you know you you have custody of the child now that we both that we birthed together, but but I still have some visitation rights, you know. And no, but but I mean ultimately like I want to check in and make sure you're taking good care of my kid, you know, and and that's like every ride that we do is special, and and I think that the people that we work with understand that like it's not just about numbers and getting guests through the turnstiles. I mean, that's important, but like safety has to be the the number one goal, and and you have to do certain things every day and and check those things, and and that's why you know I can sit here and say, yeah, amusement parks it it's safer to you know for me to go to my amusement park and and roll around that than than it is for me to drive to my neighborhood grocery store, probably.

SPEAKER_01 21:19

So you you've um I think how many uh I was reading that you've done about 30 odd uh coasters so far, give or take?

SPEAKER_00 21:27

Yeah, I mean a gr a gravity group I've been a part of about 30. Yeah.

Stockholm Says Can You Build Here

SPEAKER_01 21:32

And and I guess uh the reason I ask is because you know on the show, you know, we always ask a guest to come on and and and relive a sort of what we call no ordinary Monday story. You know, it's kind of like and you've probably done uh you've again you've done 30 plus you know m uh of these coasters, but uh I'd love if you could sit down and just share one of these stories, an experience that really stands out as something that's really special and uh and sort of walk us through that uh that experience.

Improv Rules That Shaped The Design

SPEAKER_00 21:57

Yeah, I mean there's one that That stands out. I mean, it's near and dear to my heart. Um, there was a time where uh a park in in Stockholm approached us and they said, Hey, we we really like some of the stuff that you're doing, and you have this like ultra compact ride called a splinter, and maybe we'd like that at our park. And and so I said, Yeah, I'll come and visit you. And at the time, my wife, you know, we started uh like I started this business, the gravity group, with uh three other guys, and my wife said, you know, you you need a hobby, you need to do something else, right? And so there was a group that was doing like some improv classes, and so I I did like I do this like one or two evenings a week, right? And so at that time, we were contacted to do this ride in in Stockholm, and and so I went there, and I wasn't at this time I wasn't much of a world traveler. I uh I'd been out of the country a little bit, but not like I do now. Like, and so I went there and got off the plane, and I'm like, well, now I gotta get to the park, whether it's taxi. I took a bus into the city, and it it was kind of like everything that was like slow and wrong, I did that day. But I got to the park, and and the owner, you know, he we we're walking around the site, and Drilland is um it's it's on this island and it's very compact. I mean, there are a lot of things going on when you're there. You if you look at a picture of the park, they have a lot of towers because they have a lot of um like vertical rides, you know. They they have uh drop towers, a couple drop towers, they have like a big swing ride, but there's not a lot of space. They have a roller coaster that's kind of like instead of being spread out here, it's like on its side, a Zack spin coaster, they call it. But so I'm walking around this park, there's not a lot of room, and um he's like, Can you do a ride? And now in improv, they teach you a couple of things. Like there are some rules every time you're doing improv that you got to follow. One of them is like to agree and accept. So, like you never say no. Yeah, you now like that's just a rule, right? You never say no, agree and accept. And then another rule is that you always try to elevate it, you know, like yes and, you know. So he was like, you know, can you fit in a ride here? And I was like, Yes. Even though there's no space, no, I mean, there was like literally like the one area where he was showing me, there was like a little um flat carnival convoy ride or something. Like it was really small, right? And he's like, Do you think you could do a ride here? Yes. And then I was like, and I think it could be like this tall, you know, like it could be like 15 meters tall or whatever. And so I kind of was like very positive, like, yes, I can do that. And I think that historically as a company, we were always kind of very cautious, like, well, we'll see, we'll do our best. And I was confident that day, and and it was kind of when you're walking around a site, like they had the ride that we ended up designing there, Twister, goes over, under, and through a couple other roller coasters. Like they had um an old-fashioned ride, uh, like the 1980s Schwarzkopf uh ride called Yet Line, and then they had um a Vacoma like suspended ride where you're kind of your legs are dangling called Kfosten. Um, there was a wild mouse roller coaster kind of right in that vicinity, and then they had this flat ride called a magic carpet that kind of goes around, and they had a dark ride building. And so yeah, and and and so this is the site that I had.

Twister Takes Shape Over And Under

SPEAKER_01 25:56

And and so like at that point, is is is your is your um improv on the site, is your improv brain the one that's driving the conversation and your engineering brain is kind of going, uh Yeah, I mean there well, I mean, and I think like we've all like isn't there like the um like there's the Jim Carrey Yes Man movie, right?

SPEAKER_00 26:17

Where he's like agree to everything and see where it takes you, and like improv is to a certain extent has an element of that, right? And so there were c like I could visualize like how a ride could be. It would be like, Yes, I can fit a ride here, and I think the high point of the lift could be up there near the uh that wild mouse track right there. Yeah, and so it became something where you walk around, and in a way, and this this sounds kind of crazy, like this is the worst site out. Like everyone would probably dream of like a flat space, like, hey, put whatever you want right here, but this wasn't that at all, right? And so you just start thinking, like, well, if I put my high point here, there are these two columns, and that's the perfect distance apart for our loading station. That's about the length to get the lift hill, and the ride sort of designed itself, and and you know, the the owner, he uh Johan wanted something where uh they were gonna redo their boardwalk and wanted maybe some stands with like an airtime hill. I'm like, this could work, and then there's this dark ride, the Blutoga that had um the Blue Train, I guess is what it means in Swedish, but yeah there there is this like arched entrance to it, right? And I thought, wow, what if we put like uh an airtime hill over that? And they they knew that the Bluetoga building was like super old and they're gonna tear it down and build something new. So, like what kind of transpired was this ride where like I don't know, like half of it's on top of this dark ride building, and then uh the rest of it kind of meanders through the park, is on bridging, and it's it it's unlike any ride that we've ever done before, but it's such a special ride, too. And you know, Peter Osbeck, um, you know, what one of the um the folks in the technical department at the park was like, This is the most twisted twister ever made, you know, and it and it's true because there's there's so much that was going on in that ride, and that was they had a 3D scan of some of these other roller coasters and things, and at the time, like 3D scans were pretty rare, and there was just a lot of things to dodge, and that's probably part of the reason why my hair is gray.

SPEAKER_01 28:47

I saw like a YouTube video from a couple years ago, you had much less gray hair than you did now.

SPEAKER_00 28:52

I know it's it's uh it's rides like that.

SPEAKER_01 28:56

It's distinguish, it's distinguishing, man. It's distinguishing.

Inches Versus Metric And A Hospital Trip

SPEAKER_00 28:59

But and then like they wanted the ride white structure as well, which wow, whenever we do a ride, it's it tends to be the worst winter in like a hundred years. And and like when we did the ride in Sweden, it was no different. So it's a white structure. We have like plates, and and there's snow that's white, and it's it's so easy to lose like steel under like drifts of snow, or it's like, yeah, but anyways, it it was a crazy project, and um there there is a trip, you know. When we're working on rides overseas, most of the world, you know, is an advanced civilization that uses the metric system. Of course, and we're we do we yeah, and we don't in America, right? We we're uh you know, inches and feet and slugs, and so no, the slug is a thing. But anyways, like we're we're over there. Um we're we're used to like using our English inches tape measures. Yeah, and in Sweden, actually, carpenters, you can get inches, but if you bought like a tape measure in Sweden, the inch might be off by a sixteenth. And so what we yeah, I mean, we there's just slight variation, right, between manufacturers or whatever. It should be standard, yeah, but you know, who I don't know, made in China or what whatever. But anyways, so we found that like as a company, we have an official tape measure that like whenever there's a job, we use that. And they they had dropped a few, and I was taking some over, but in my haste, like I had a plane to catch. I I tried opening it with a box cutter and like sliced my leg. Oh yeah, I mean, it would so yeah. I mean, and no one was home, and then they come home, and like my little kids are like, Daddy, why are you on the floor bleeding? But it was it was not great, you know. So I go to the hospital and I'm like, I got a cat. Yeah, well, it was close, it was close, but uh not quite. I I was uh I'm not that good. So I go to the hospital, I'm like, hey, I need a few stitches, and then I got a plane to catch in like two hours, and they're like, You're not going anywhere. And I'm like, uh So that was that was an interesting call to make to the owners to be like, hey, I'm delaying my trip by a day, but I'm still alive. Oh my gosh. Yeah, I mean it was yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:21

I mean, there you go. The Imperial system almost killed you. I mean, it's you know it did.

SPEAKER_00 31:26

I was inches from death.

unknown 31:28

There you go.

SPEAKER_01 31:29

I mean that that's an amazing so that I mean again, I I'm gonna for anyone um listening to I'm gonna put these photos up on our socials and anyone watching, obviously, you know, you'll try I'll try and cut cut these images into the thing, but like that very small space that that you're designing in, like had that been especially for a wooden coaster, I can imagine it's a little bit easier when you're working with steel to to like to to like fe almost fuse and weave your your ride through other rides, but had had that been done lots with a wooden coaster?

Teamwork With Parks And Reviewers

SPEAKER_00 31:59

Well, okay, so as a company, like we're creative engineers and we wanted to make a better wooden roller coaster car. Yeah. And most most wooden roller coaster bar cars to date, they're like big boxes with four wheels. And when you go around a curve, they would just kind of stop, they'd stop sign. It would be like, you know, yeah, hexagon around. And so we developed a car that could actually steer. It had a tie rod system, it worked kind of like your automobile, you know, where you you can smoothly go around a curve. And when we did that, we we designed something that instead of going through um, you know, something that was like a uh, I don't know, like uh seven or or you know, like a nine-meter radius, or what like we we wanted something like a lot of rides, it's like has to be a 20-some foot radius minimum. And so instead of being like that six-meter radius, we were like, let's let's make that smaller, let's let's go to like a three-meter radius, like a nine-foot radius. And so we designed something that could make tighter turns, yeah, and that's what allowed us to do a ride like the Grunolin ride in a tight space, because otherwise, you're spend so much time just like making a turn to get to the lift hill, and that's like so much track length. And so by by having a a different car, a different approach, we were able to make a very unique ride experience. And and since that time, you know, we've certainly made a lot of compact uh family rides, and we've showed that you could kind of pack a punch into uh a tight space. Amazing, yeah, it's it's been great, and so yeah, the the ride, and I have it as the background on my computer, just like like all the different rides that were going over under and through there. And yeah, I mean, Grunoland and Twister, just a very, very special part of my life. And then I mean I love the I love everyone and at the park in Sweden. They're they're sort of like extended family, you know. And and when you go, when you live through a project that's that complicated, um you know, it if you I think the key difference, if you if you know that you're gonna work together toward a common goal and all parts are functioning well, that draws you closer. I mean, I think that in any situation you can say, hey, are we working together or are we or are we opposing forces? And when we do a project, I like to say that you know, we're part of a team, we're all on the same side, you know, we all want safety. And that goes for like the third-party reviewers and everyone. Like ultimately, we're all on the same side. We all have the same goals, you know. You just might be hired by someone differently, you know, but we're not we're not on opposing sides. And yeah, that that's sort of my approach with with a project.

SPEAKER_01 34:56

What what I love is that you know, with with the aspect of um I think what it is, but that that sort of balance between engineering precision and the that just sort of creativity and creative expression, because uh you know, obviously when it comes to a bridge or a building, um, you need to have that creative, but even more so with a ride. And I wonder, you know, walking into that situation, and if you remove the improv you know comedy, you're just you know Corey without all that improv sort of bouncing around your head. Do you think you would have thought about that situation differently? Would that ride be different today, do you think?

Dream Coasters Small But Mighty

SPEAKER_00 35:31

Yeah, it'd be different. I mean, yeah, I I yeah, I think that you can see a little bit of our personalities in the rides. Um, you know, and I can see, you know, when I look at some of the different rides, I can see the different personalities of the different people in our office shining through as well, you know. So, like I I love airtime, right? So I'm gonna try to get every every bit of like nice, straight, uninterrupted airtime that I can get into a ride. Where I know that other people in the office would try, you know, hey, I can do some twisting airtime or I can do this. And I'm you can tell probably how someone's gonna design a ride based on what flavor of potato chips they buy at the store, you know. And and I mean, for me, like I'm an original salted guy, you know, so I like the classic. But you know, Chad, you know, if he's in China, Chad might buy prawn flavored Pringles, you know, and I'm like, prawn, really? But yeah, I think I mean to me every ride's unique, and and every ride has a good story. Like, I could have sat here and told you about any of a half dozen different rides that that I've worked on. You know, there are always there's probably a book's worth of stories for our different rides. So yeah, but it's it's crazy to me that they make like reality shows about people that make duck calls, but not something that's as crazy as a wooden roller coaster. Because I mean, everything that we do uh it's a new cast every time. But hey, who am I?

SPEAKER_01 37:09

Yeah, yeah. Um what do you I mean again, maybe this is uh a little bit of a bigger question, but if you had a blank check and anywhere kind of terrain, like what would be the dream ride that you would that you would design? Wow.

SPEAKER_00 37:32

Um for me, it would not be the tallest, largest ride in the world. It would probably be something, yeah, it would be I I would probably do like a 2,000 foot, like 80-foot tall, 2,000-foot long ride. So um when you design a ride, you you want to have some terrain where you can kind of drop down and and kind of shock people, like, oh, I thought we were up here, and then you drop into a tunnel or drop um, you know, down a hill in into a certain spot. And so, you know, before I started working in the industry, you know, the Raven at Holiday World was probably one of my favorite rides in the sense that it's not the largest ride in the world, yeah, but it it was it was kind of compared to like the Beast at Kings Island, which is the largest wooden roller coaster, as as sort of uh it it showed that you can make an a an iconic ride that was small. And like the wooden warrior that we have that I I think I brought that up earlier in in Connecticut, that's like 10 meters tall, yeah, uh 1200 feet long. So what's that 1200 feet is is that like uh 400 meters or whatever? Yeah, but it it's it's it's like a little little ride, but that there were high schoolers that wanted to ride that over and over. I mean, it was just fun. And and I think for me, I don't need to be flipped upside down, I don't need to go backwards. I like I like like nice nice airtime, you know, and and if I had something in my backyard every morning, you know, have a cup of coffee and private coaster in the backyard, and and get get some good airtime, and that would be it, you know. It wouldn't you don't have to be you know 30 meters, 100 feet tall, like you just I don't know, small but mighty, you know. Interesting. It's like fine dining, like I said, you know, you you you just you don't need a huge amount to have that that like exquisite taste.

SPEAKER_01 39:38

Quantity over or sorry, quality over quantity kind of thing, you know. Um I think so. Because you've got places like you know those big parks being designed in Saudi Arabia and China, I'm sure, and they're all you know going for here is the world record-breaking thing, and it's gonna be diving through a mountain, it's gonna be doing this, it's gonna be you're probably gonna be wearing you know augmented reality goggles at the same time. Like, you know, all these guys are pushing the limits, but are they missing a trick in some respects?

SPEAKER_00 40:07

Well, I there's a place for big, right? There is a place for something audacious and big. And I think I love like we work on some of those, and those are great projects, but like often when you do one of the world's largest of something, you get off of it and you might ride it again, but you might need a little bit of a breather before you do that, you know. And I mean, for me, I'd like to be able to marathon it, you know, like over and over. And no, like I mean, like when I was at the Bobcat over like the 4th of July or whatever, there were people and they're like, Oh wow, he designed that, and and so they asked if I would ride with them, and I did, and I could do that all day, you know, like it was just it was just kind of you know a fun, fun experience. And and that I think for me, I'm afraid of heights too, right? So that that could influence why I yeah, I don't really like being yeah, a 10-meter tall ride, great, yeah, uh 30 meters, getting a little scared. And if I yeah, don't like I'll let someone else in the office inspect that one.

SPEAKER_01 41:14

I bet you expect them as well. Do you have to go up there with your harness and get up there on the on the structure?

SPEAKER_00 41:20

I do, and I I it's one of those things where uh, you know, love hate, and and you do it, you power through it. We survey on rides, you know, to make sure that the the center line, the tracks in the right place, and like we'll get data on old rides, and so yeah. I mean, I'm up there with equipment and just yeah, it's it's not like you're just going for a walk and you have your harness, like you got like 12 different things with you, and you're trying to take measurements and take pictures and do this, and hopefully your cell phone doesn't fall. So uh it it has, but yeah, I'm sure you're so so so far so good. But yeah, no, I I uh when I'm winning when I'm wearing a harness, you know, that's sort of like it gives me some confidence, you know. But it doesn't mean I enjoy it.

Tech Like AR Without The Gimmick

SPEAKER_01 42:15

It's so funny, yeah. I I love it's going back to that, you know, because I I would always again, I'm not a huge roller coaster guy, but I would assume that the one that has the biggest lines is the one with the biggest drops, the highest speed, the whatever. But I think there is something lovely to say about, you know, it's not all about that. There is almost something like a deeper emotional thing of an experience that isn't just all fireworks and explosions and there is something almost like unwritten, unsubconscious of like riding a ride that you know has something I I I can't even find the right word for it, you know. And I think is that what you think really distinguish like a great ride from a legendary kind of ride, maybe?

SPEAKER_00 42:59

I don't know. Like say, you know, Space Mountain, they say, is only going like 30 miles per hour, but because you're in the dark, because there are things flashing by, it seems like you're you're going so much faster, right? And so, like with a wooden roller coaster, sometimes when you're going through the structure and you see like structure around you, or or it looks like you're gonna have a head chopper, I think that those effects can be just as good as um you know the virtual reality or some of those other things that that are out there. However, I did do a ride though that that did have augmented reality where you could kind of see things around you as you were riding the ride. And to me, like I I often get dizzy when I'm in virtual reality or whatever, but the augmented reality was pretty cool. I mean, you could look at the person next to you, but then you saw some effects coming through as well. So I think that there is a place for some of the new technologies, some of the Bells and whistles, but we're all still trying to figure out how to best implement that. And you know, as as the headsets get lighter, as the uh the ability to make the graphics uh gets better as well, I think that you will see more of that in the industry, and that's not a bad thing. Like um I think that they're it'd be perfect for some of our little family rides, too. So I I don't think you need to be, you know, 80 meters tall and like cra I mean the like some of the crazy stuff that that just opened in uh at the new Six Flags Kitty. I mean it it's impressive and it's it's amazing, but I don't know that um it's not necessarily like for families, you know, like it's not uh I've got a four-year-old that I've I brought to the park to entertain today. Like you don't want to leave him and go stand in a four-hour line to to do something that's that's over in 40 seconds. Yeah, I I don't know. Yeah, like to me, the the day, the best day that I have with my kids is one, you know, I have a lot of different experiences, I have some good food, and we we laugh and make memories, you know. It's like, what kind of face did you make when you saw the camera going over the hill on that ride? I mean, I I don't know. Like that's it's the little the little things that you remember. Um, and the rides are they're icing on the cake, really.

Legacy And Pushing Wood Forward

SPEAKER_01 45:30

Yeah, that's fair. That's fair. I mean, talking about future and and legacy stuff, like, you know, I think some of the rides that you have designed and and built and they may very well like outlive you in a way, you know, these things might be there for decades to come. And how do you feel about leaving something on the planet that is gonna be bringing that joy you're talking about, you know, kids jumping off you know in 50, 60 years time, maybe and still having that amount of um pleasure from something you've you've designed?

SPEAKER_00 46:01

No, I mean that that's crazy, right? I mean, I think when you look at any of the monuments, whether it's like the Eiffel Tower, you know, like Gustav Eiffel, like, you know, what what were his thoughts? You know, would people associate that with Paris? Um, I don't know. When we when we do a ride, I'm I'm proud of everything that I've been a part of as a team. And I think it'd be great if my grandkids rode something, you know, or my great-grandkids. And you know, we're certainly as a company though, like we're always trying to innovate and do something new, and even with wood. And so, like we're uh like it used to be that you know the wooden roller coaster was made with people with saws up in the air, and now we're pre-cutting everything, and that's that's giving a better ride experience that that should last longer. And I don't know, like I'm I'm excited to uh you know show that next generation that fun ride. And I mean, we've got some new new rides coming next year that uh I'm really excited about as well, that hopefully, you know, really knock the socks off of people.

SPEAKER_01 47:12

Are you allowed to talk about them yet?

New Rome Coaster And Seismic Design

SPEAKER_00 47:14

Are they still uh well we I mean one of yeah, no, one of the rides uh has been announced. We're working with uh you know Martin of Lemic's rides on uh a new wooden roller coaster at Magic Land right outside of Rome in Italy. Oh wow, so nice. Yeah, I'm hoping to you know have uh get some new pasta recipes and get some inspiration. I love to cook as well. And so I'm I'm looking forward to going to uh to Rome and seeing that ride, and certainly that's gonna be a unique wooden roller coaster for Europe, and it uh it's been a challenge so far. I mean, there there's uh it's a big earthquake seismic zone, yeah. And so, you know, there's been a lot that we've had to take into account with the uh the earthquakes uh in the in the design so far. So but yeah, we're like you know, that that ride's set to open next spring, and so we're deep in the uh the the design and and uh manufacturing of that ride already.

SPEAKER_01 48:20

I I just have this image, you know, you know, the the the Sweden Stockholm thing, you know, is inspired with your improv and stuff, and you then going, I have this picture of you going to Roman Italy, the design being, you know, you're sitting down to like a bowl of like spaghetti or something and seeing the parabolas, and you're like, oh now you're inspired by you know a bowl of spaghetti.

SPEAKER_00 48:41

Yeah, no, yeah. Um this this ride, uh one of my partners, Chad, is it's been kind of his his inspiration mainly. I I've had the pleasure of doing some of the structural calculations, which to me, you know, I've I enjoy that as well. So it's I I mean for us, you know, as an engineering team, like we all have little little bits and involvement in every project. And so, you know, we we're doing some refurbishment here at uh King's Island on the Beast this year. We've got other work going on at some other parks, and I'm just excited to uh, you know, number one, help preserve rides for the future, and number two push the wooden roller coaster forward, you know, with some new technology and new things that we're doing. And I mean, when we push the wooden roller coaster forward, we're keeping it wooden, you know, whereas not every no, I mean, there are some people where they're like, we're gonna call it a wooden roller coaster, but we're we're gonna make the track out of steel. We're gonna make it you might think it's a wooden roller coaster by the way it looks, but you know, yeah, there's this big hunk of steel that that's really at the core. And we try to be like, you know, clever little engineers that um are using wood more smartly, you know. So we do inversions with a wooden track. We do things that are are just you know, people look at and are like, I wouldn't have thought you could do that with wood. And so we use a little bit of steel, but yeah, our main ingredient is is still wood, which is cool in my opinion. Absolutely. Yeah, I mean it's it's sort of like uh, you know, we make whole grain pasta, not just pasta. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 50:31

I mean, just sort of wrapping up here in terms of um one of the last questions I love asking guests, you know, being so successful in their careers, is for anyone listening, you know, who might be uh they might be 17, 16, 17, you know, enjoying math and in engineering, or they could be in their 30s and be like, I don't know, I'm an engineer and I build bridges, but I've always wanted to be in roller coasters. For anyone listening that would love to follow in your footsteps, get into this kind of field. Like, what kind of advice would you have for people?

SPEAKER_00 51:01

Yeah, um I mean it's a terrific industry, it's a it's a close-knit industry. There are um there are some good trade organizations like the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions, IAPA, and they have trade shows where you can go and and meet different ride manufacturers, meet people from parks, and just get to know the industry. If you're young, they have a um like they have a program where you can be a uh like a trade show ambassador, um, like my daughter. Yeah, no, my daughter was a show ambassador in China this last summer, and like it's it's it's a great program, right? Because she met all sorts of people in the industry and she helped with kind of the coordination and some behind the scenes things going on at the trade show. And so it's sort of a win-win, you know, like IAPA, they need people to help um, you know, with with the the operation of the show. And if you have these young, enthusiastic people that uh are willing to do that, like, but want to be in the industry and want to learn more, it it's really a great opportunity. And so that did not exist for me. Yeah, I mean, I just sent resumes out, you know, and and I visited some of the trade shows, but now they have like universities, a lot of them have like theme park engineering groups. Uh there are a lot of people.

SPEAKER_01 52:30

Can you do like a university degree in in roller coaster design?

SPEAKER_00 52:34

I don't know of that. I mean, there are some schools where they have like uh theme park management in Orlando, and also I think bowling bowling green state here in Ohio had a partnership with Cedar Fair, which which is now Six Flags, and I think that's ongoing. So there are some things on the management side of things. If you want to design a ride, you probably want to be an engineer, but the the industry it's filled with you know engineers and architects and planners and project managers. There, like I think so many people think, oh, I want to be in the parks, I need to be an engineer. If you're an artist, like there are people that do the theming for the rides, you know. If if you're more of an architect, like there are people that do planning of parks and what rides go where. If you want to design rides, yeah, I mean, there's me, but there are people that do electrical engineering that are like, I want to program the rides and make sure that you know I can keep this train safely away from this other train while it's on the track. And I mean, we need all of that in the industry. And so I think the the amusement park industry, it it's it's like a city, right? You if you go to an amusement park, like um they have their own safety department, they have their own, like some of them have weather stations where they're monitoring lightning strikes, and because I mean if if the weather gets they need to know before weather gets bad that it's coming, you know, and so you you basically have a city, you know, you have plumbers, electricians, every amusement park. Everything, yeah. Yeah. It's like an airport, you know, they're they're their own little cities.

SPEAKER_01 54:11

And and and for someone who is an engineer already, they might, you know, again, be mechanical engineer building bridges or buildings or or whatever it might be. Is it a skill set that can translate into this, or like how easy it would it be to switch if you kind of wanted to make a switch?

SPEAKER_00 54:29

I should say it's very difficult, right? Because that would help my job security. No, no, no, I mean it's all the same principles, right? And and um, you know, that's why when they write the physics or the dynamics books, like they always have the roller coaster examples in there. And so it's it's something where I'm not a rocket scientist, but I'm using a lot of the same principles, like from engineering school, you know, finite element analysis to make sure that um, you know, my stress analysis, um, you know, or I do like uh matrix methods for my structures, like there, there are I'm using all the same skills. It's just I it's like a supermarket, right? You go to a supermarket and you can make Italian food, you can make uh, you know, Indian food, Chinese, like you can make all these different foods by you know a lot of the recipes. Like I might make my Texas style chili that has cumin in it, but I might make an Indian dish that has cumin in it too, you know. And so I'm using the same tools, yeah, but it's how you use them. And and the same is true with engineering, right? It's it's all ingredients, and you know, I'm gonna take this beam and this size, and I'm gonna, you know, do it this way.

Where To Find Corey And Closing

SPEAKER_01 55:45

Interesting. So, yeah, so it sounds pretty transferable. You know, there's a lot of similarities whether it's a bridge or a or a coaster. So um that's fascinating. Um it's just my my roads have a lot more banking. Yeah, exactly. A little bit steeper, a little bit more undulating than a than a bridge. Yeah. Um amazing. Corey, listen, it's been absolutely uh wonderful chatting with you and thank you for sharing for all these stories. And um at the end, I always like giving the opportunity to to tell the world what where to find you if they want to find more information, what you've been up to.

SPEAKER_00 56:16

Yeah, no, I'm uh you know, I'm here at the gravity group. You can find us at uh you know thegravitygroup.com. If if you just search gravity group, I think it's a marketing firm in Virginia. So we're the gravity, we're the gravity group. And um yeah, no, I mean I'm I'm personally I'm on LinkedIn. I always love connecting with people. And yeah, I mean, we we love wooden roller coasters, you know, like and so at the gravity group, you'll find us um, you know, we're we got rides in Australia, Europe, uh, China, you know, Asia, and uh America. We're we're trying to, you know, hit all the continents here.

SPEAKER_01 56:59

Have you got a list of your uh rides on the website that people if they're in these various countries, they might be able to go visit your rides?

SPEAKER_00 57:06

We do, yeah. I don't know how updated it is, but uh yeah, I mean we're busy engineers, you know. Of course, yeah. We're not necessarily uh updating that the website as much as we should. But yeah, I mean, connect with me on LinkedIn, um, shoot us uh an email from the website. We we always love doing new things, and you never know um, you know, when you know, like someone might say, Hey, I'd love to build a park, and we can do that, you know. Like we helped uh, you know, in Ireland we were working with uh like it was Tato Park at one time, now it's Emerald Park, but they were like a zoo, and they're like, we might want to ride. And they were associated at the time a little bit with uh a potato chip or crisps brand. And yeah, we'll do whatever, you know.

SPEAKER_01 57:56

Cool, Corey. Listen, lovely, lovely to speak with you, and uh great to hear your stories, and we'll uh we'll speak to you soon.

SPEAKER_00 58:03

All right, take care. Thank you so much, Chris. You have a wonderful rest of your day.

SPEAKER_01 58:10

And that's a wrap on today's episode. A big thanks again to Corey for coming on the show and sharing those stories with us. Hopefully, some of you out there can go and ride some of his roller coasters. And of course, a big thanks to everyone listening as well for supporting the podcast. You can find out more about Corey's work at www.thegravitygroup.com or check out his links in the show notes. And for audio listeners of this show, these episodes are also available on YouTube, which includes clips and visuals on the stories, and these visuals will also be posted on our socials. We are No Ordinary Monday Podcast on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and LinkedIn. And for everything else, head to NoOrdinary Monday.com. Next week on the show, I sit down with Brianna Everkin. Brianna has built her career in Hollywood, starring in films like Step Up and working across the industry from a young age. Her career took off quickly, with opportunities lining up one after the other. And just as things were hitting their peak, she made a surprising decision to walk away and follow a completely different path. Today, she's based in Africa, where she runs a conservation organization focused on protecting ecosystems by investing in the people who live alongside them. Tune in next week to find out what sparked that shift and what you've faced to find success in this new path. Now, if you enjoyed today's episode, there are four simple ways that you can support the show. Number one, follow or subscribe on your podcast app. Number two, leave us a quick rating or a short review. Number three, share the episode with a friend, a colleague, or maybe a family member. And then number four, support the show at buymekoffee.com slash no ordinary monday. Any one of these things helps us keep the podcast independent. We can avoid adverts for you guys, and it also allows me to keep bringing you great guests and great stories week after week. And that's it for this episode. This podcast is independently produced, hosted, and edited by me, Chris Barron. Thank you so much for listening. Take care, and we'll see you next Monday.