While wooden roller coasters generally cost less to build, they generally require more maintenance compared to steel coasters. A park generally wants to keep a wooden ride in good condition so to avoid customer complaints of the ride becoming uncomfortably rough and potentially even unsafe. A major wood coaster is going to be $5-$10 million while a major steel coaster is probably going to be between $10 – $25 million. However, with wooden roller coasters the maintenance is greater with reports of some requiring $500,000 annually and costly rebuilds of well over $1 million. So it’s the classic case of lower capital cost with higher operating cost with wooden coasters versus the inverse with steel coasters. For places like Dollywood, maintaining Lightning Rod and Thunderhead is just a part of doing business, but for places like Alabama’s Adventure, large annual maintenance costs on their wooden coaster Rampage are a tension they’re actively grappling with today.
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