Steel Dragon 2000

Infobox roller coaster
name=Steel Dragon 2000


caption=Steel Dragon 2000
location=Nagashima Spa Land
section=
type=Steel
type2=
type3=
status=Open
opened=August 1, 2000
manufacturer=D. H. Morgan Manufacturing
designer=Steve Okamoto
model=
track=Out and Back
lift=One lift hill with two chain lifts
height=318.25
drop=306.75
length=8133.3
speed=95
inversions=0
duration=
angle=
capacity=
cost=Over $50,000,000 USD
acceleration=
gforce=
restriction=48
rcdb_number=1173

Steel Dragon 2000 is a roller coaster at Nagashima Spa Land Amusement Park in Mie Prefecture, Japan. Built by Morgan Manufacturing, this gigacoaster opened, appropriately, in 2000 - "The Year of the Dragon" in the Far East. It debuted only months after Millennium Force and surpassed the Cedar Point coaster as the world's tallest complete-circuit coaster. It also set a record for longest track length - 8133 feet, 2 inches (2479 m), which it currently holds.

Coaster Facts

*Steel Dragon 2000 is the tallest coaster to utilize a traditional chain lift. Because of the length of the lift hill, two chains are used - one for the bottom half and one for the top half. A single chain would have been excessively long and heavy, at least twice the weight of one of the trains. As a result, two trains can safely occupy the lift simultaneously.

*The building of Steel Dragon 2000 required far more steel than other coasters for earthquake protection. This put the cost of the coaster at over $50,000,000.

*On August 23, 2003, Steel Dragon 2000 was involved in an accident during a run in which one of its trains lost a wheel. The coaster did not operate during the 2004 and 2005 park seasons. It reopened September 3, 2006.