Space Mountain definitely counts as a roller coaster; Indiana Jones doesn't as the ride vehicle is powered and doesn't rely on gravity to get you through the course.
For the most part, wooden roller coasters are by design shaky and bumpy, using positive, negative, and lateral G forces to throw you around the train. Sometimes it's not a good ride if it didn't feel like the train was trying to get rid of you. Steel coasters are (again, for the most part) much smoother and can handle more aerobatic maneuvers.
The design firm of Bolliger & Mabillard is renowned for its smooth and powerful steel coasters which do a very good job of approximating flight. B&M's looping designs often include Immelman dives and zero-G rolls and corkscrews. Batman: The Ride at Six Flags Over Texas is a textbook example of their looping coaster style. (The layout of Batman is popular enough that several clones have popped up around Six Flags parks. The Texas one is a mirror image; the original is in Chicago at Great America.)
B&M also experiment with train and track configurations to help enhance the feeling of flight. Batman is an inverted coaster, with its trains suspended below the track so your feet dangle freely over nothing but air. The "floorless" style features the trains situated on top of the track but without sides or a floor to pen you in. Their Wing Rider design suspends floorless seats on either side of the track, which looks like a lot of fun.
B&M have also built non-looping hypercoasters, which start with a 200-300' drop and speed over parabolic hills designed to get the most negative Gs as possible. The trains are enclosed and feature heavy-duty lapbars; their designs tend to give more floating airtime than sudden ejector seat whoops-the-train-wants-you-gone-NOW airtime (though you definitely run into that kind usually near the end of a ride). The sensations are smooth and with purpose.
Anyway, sovay said to come on over and suggest roller coasters which give a good feeling of flying without the jarring or we're-gonna-go-off-the-tracks fears and I can wholeheartedly recommend B&M rides for that. We rode The Incredible Hulk and Dueling Dragons (soon to be removed) at Islands of Adventure in Orlando and both rides really deliver.
Busch Gardens loves B&M rides and both their parks are showcases of the form. The Williamsburg park features Alpengeist the inverted looper themed to a "ski lift from hell"; Apollo's Chariot the hypercoaster with wonderful airtime; and the Griffon dive coaster which starts with a 200' vertical drop. The Tampa park has Montu, the inverted coaster looping around Egyptian ruins; Kumba, a straightforward looping coaster which does neat things like loop around its own lift hill; and their own 200' dive coaster called SheiKra. Videos on YouTube can convey the soaring feeling only to a certain extent, but it's always a treat to watch Kumba or Montu go through their paces.
Intamin is another design firm which specializes in smooth steel rides giving lots of airtime (Cheetah Hunt at Busch Gardens Tampa, Superman: The Ride at Six Flags New England), but B&M outshines them when it comes to aerial manuevers.
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For the most part, wooden roller coasters are by design shaky and bumpy, using positive, negative, and lateral G forces to throw you around the train. Sometimes it's not a good ride if it didn't feel like the train was trying to get rid of you. Steel coasters are (again, for the most part) much smoother and can handle more aerobatic maneuvers.
The design firm of Bolliger & Mabillard is renowned for its smooth and powerful steel coasters which do a very good job of approximating flight. B&M's looping designs often include Immelman dives and zero-G rolls and corkscrews. Batman: The Ride at Six Flags Over Texas is a textbook example of their looping coaster style. (The layout of Batman is popular enough that several clones have popped up around Six Flags parks. The Texas one is a mirror image; the original is in Chicago at Great America.)
B&M also experiment with train and track configurations to help enhance the feeling of flight. Batman is an inverted coaster, with its trains suspended below the track so your feet dangle freely over nothing but air. The "floorless" style features the trains situated on top of the track but without sides or a floor to pen you in. Their Wing Rider design suspends floorless seats on either side of the track, which looks like a lot of fun.
B&M have also built non-looping hypercoasters, which start with a 200-300' drop and speed over parabolic hills designed to get the most negative Gs as possible. The trains are enclosed and feature heavy-duty lapbars; their designs tend to give more floating airtime than sudden ejector seat whoops-the-train-wants-you-gone-NOW airtime (though you definitely run into that kind usually near the end of a ride). The sensations are smooth and with purpose.
Anyway,
Busch Gardens loves B&M rides and both their parks are showcases of the form. The Williamsburg park features Alpengeist the inverted looper themed to a "ski lift from hell"; Apollo's Chariot the hypercoaster with wonderful airtime; and the Griffon dive coaster which starts with a 200' vertical drop. The Tampa park has Montu, the inverted coaster looping around Egyptian ruins; Kumba, a straightforward looping coaster which does neat things like loop around its own lift hill; and their own 200' dive coaster called SheiKra. Videos on YouTube can convey the soaring feeling only to a certain extent, but it's always a treat to watch Kumba or Montu go through their paces.
Intamin is another design firm which specializes in smooth steel rides giving lots of airtime (Cheetah Hunt at Busch Gardens Tampa, Superman: The Ride at Six Flags New England), but B&M outshines them when it comes to aerial manuevers.