Steel Roller Coasters vs Wooden Roller Coasters - you choose!

I thank Bluesteel for accepting and look forward to an awesome debate. He chose steel. Therefore this is the resolution I will be defending.Resolution: Given the choice the build a new roller coaster, an amusement park must build a wooden roller coaster over a steel one. The goal of an amusement park for investing in a roller coaster is to recoup its investment and increase profitability by way of attracting a larger number of people to the park and having repeat customers. I will now show why an average amusement park will make more profits by installing a wooden roller coaster as opposed to a steel one.1) Attracts roller coaster enthusiastsRoller coaster enthusiasts often prefer wooden coasters to steel coasters. For example, in June 2010, more than 400 members of the American Coaster Enthusaists arrived at Pittsburg to ride wooden roller coasters [3]. While the age of the coasters was part of the appeal, a major reason for this preference was the changing nature of wooden roller coaster rides. According to the group's secretary Bill Linkenheimer "Modern coasters can be extreme and fast, but the ride tends to be the same every time, while everything from the time of day to the humidity can change the ride on a wooden one. [3]" Roller Coaster enthusiasts ride hundreds of roller coasters while Linkenheimer himself had riden over 600, so appealing to them multiplies the potential profits by hundreds of times compared with a novice roller coaster rider who might ride coasters occasionally. Members of the American Coaster Enthusiasts are coaster critics [4]. They can provide accurate feedback on the coasters based the ride. Their reviews also encourage first time riders to choose coasters that they recommend. This is another reason for amusement parks to appeal to roller coaster enthusiasts more than the general public.2) Unique featuresWooden roller coasters have many unique features such as a rougher ride and a greater illusion of danger than steel coasters. According to the University of Houston, the track of the Rattler, a wooden roller coaster sways [8]. This is true for most wooden roller coasters. When a coaster turns, the energy in the coaster car is absorbed by the track [9]. The wooden structure responds by swaying as much as two to three feet back and forth before returning to equilibrium [8]. Swaying is an integral part of any engineering structure and the amount of swaying depends mostly on the strength of the material of the structure. Steel is stronger than wood and so steel roller coasters sway less than wooden ones. Steel coasters cannot replicate the rough feel of the wooden coasters which convey the illusion of danger and makes humans psychologically fear that they will fall as the coasters rattles and shakes [8]. This is one of the primary reason humans seek thrilling rides like roller coasters - for the illusion of danger (while no real danger actually exists). Wooden roller coaster strikes to the heart of the purpose people go to amusement park rides.Wooden roller coasters can also have tighter twists and turns than steel coasters [10]. This is because they are often slower. Steel roller coasters might try to achieve those turns but that negates speed which is usually a selling point on a steel coaster since steel by itself is not a selling point.3) Fills a need There are much less wooden coasters in existence currently than steel ones. According to the roller coaster database, there are currently 545 steel roller coasters and 113 wooden roller coasters in the United States [2]. Building a wooden roller coaster would fill the deficit in wooden coasters as opposed to add to the already increasing number of steel coasters that are already available. Many people have preferences as to the type of roller coaster they want to ride or may be specific about taking a ride in both the wooden and the steel coasters. Also, the uniqueness of the coaster as well as the fact that it can be advertised as a wooden coaster will bring in crowds. A steel coaster cannot generally be advertised merely as a "steel coaster" since steel coasters are the status quo and anything special about it would have to be built separately such as themes and features.A typical amusement park would likely have 4-5 steel roller coasters and 0-1 wooden coasters already existing. The only motivation to build yet another steel coaster is to top an already existing record but such attempts cost a massive amount of money but there are limits to how much a human body can take before self-destructing. In fact, the Ferrari Experience's F1 Coaster will be capable of a speed of 150mph but will be operated at a lower speed by park officials [7]. This negates the entire point of having record breaking coasters.4) Comparison PollsIn a poll done by Best Roller Coaster Poll which has been ranking roller coasters since 1994, it was seen that two wooden coasters (El Toro, The Voyage) beat every steel coaster they were compared against by mutual riders [5]. In fact, the top three steel roller coasters lost mutual rider comparisons to wooden coasters ranked 4, 2, and 9 respectively.The methodology of the study involved only considering ballots from people who had ridden both wooden and steel coasters and compared them. Roller Coaster enthusiasts responded positively to the methodology of the poll pointing out that the weighting system ensures that each coaster recieves a fair ranking [6].ConclusionWooden roller coasters are preferred by large numbers of roller coaster enthusiasts who have their own clubs and organizations, ride hundreds of roller coasters, and write reviews of amusement parks and roller coasters thus encouraging novices to try them. Wooden roller coasters invoke a sense of nostalgia as well as have unique features such as swaying which makes the fact that a coaster is wooden a selling point by itself. Most amusement parks don't currently have a lot of wooden coasters, and given the choice, they must opt to build one to increase their profitability and ability to sell as opposed to building just another steel coaster. Sources[1] http://science.howstuffworks.com...[2] http://www.rcdb.com...[3] http://travel.usatoday.com...[4] http://articles.mcall.com...[5] http://www.ushsho.com...[6] http://www.ushsho.com...[7] http://www.thecoastercritic.com...[8] http://www.uh.edu...[9] http://www.familykingdomfun.com...[10] http://www.nytimes.com...