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The Arrow Dynamics logo

Arrow Dynamics was a roller coaster design company based in Clearfield, Utah, United States. In 2002, the company went bankrupt but was quickly bought by fellow amusement ride manufacturer S&S Power to form S&S Arrow. During its peak, Arrow Dynamics was responsible for some of the biggest and most influential advancements in the roller coaster industry. From the first tubular steel tracked coaster, Matterhorn Bobsleds at Disneyland, to the first modern inverting coaster, Corkscrew at Knott's Berry Farm, to the world's first Hypercoaster, Magnum XL 200 at Cedar Point, to the world's first fourth dimensional roller coaster, X, Arrow Dynamics made a lasting impact on the roller coaster industry.

The Demon roller coaster at Six Flags Great America, an early Arrow Design.

Arrow Development was founded in 1946 when two World War II veterans, Ed Morgan and Karl Bacon, formed a small machine shop at 243 Moffett Boulevard, just north of Downtown Mountain View, California. They started out small, building merry-go-rounds and other rides for local amusement parks.

In 1953 they were contacted by Walt Disney, who was just beginning to plan a new type of amusement park, the "theme park" we all know today as Disneyland. Disney admired Arrow's work, and hired the company to help design and build the ride systems for many of Disneyland's original and early rides including the Tea Cups, carousel, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride and Snow White's Adventures.

While Arrow designed and tested these rides, Disney made frequent trips up to Mountain View to check on their progress. Then they were quickly shipped down to Anaheim to be ready for the park's opening. Disney continued to use Arrow as he expanded Disneyland. The company went on to build the Casey Jr. Circus Train, Dumbo Flying Elephants, Autopia and Alice in Wonderland in coming years.

After construction of the Matterhorn, Disney bought a third of Arrow Development, and moved the company to a larger plant at 1555 Plymouth Street in the North Bayshore Area. At the new location Arrow went on to develop new ride systems for Disney, and developed the vehicles and tracks for It's a Small World, Pirates of the Caribbean, Adventure Thru Inner Space, and the Haunted Mansion.

When Arrow wasn't developing rides for Disney it was creating rides for other amusement parks. It developed the modern log flume ride, which can be seen around the country in amusement and theme parks. In the 1970s the company perfected and brought back the loop into roller coasters. .

Arrow Development began to make large advancements in the roller coaster industry as well as major installations throughout the United States. In 1975, Arrow installed one of the most important rides of its time, Corkscrew made its debut at Knott's Berry Farm as the world's first modern inverting coaster. Arrow made dozens of coasters throughout the decades including several Corkscrew style coasters, many "runaway mine train" coasters like Cedar Creek Mine Ride, custom designed coasters like Loch Ness Monster, and Carolina Cyclone. Arrow Dynamics didn't only make large advancements in roller coaster technology but also in many other fields such as in water rides (creating the hugely popular "Log Flume" rides), as well as many other family style rides.

Arrow Development began to lose popularity after their last major pioneering move with the world's first hyper coaster, Magnum XL-200 at Cedar Point in 1989. Arrow installed several other hyper coasters around the world including Desperado, and the Pepsi Max Big One. By the mid to late 1990s Arrow had lost much popularity to new coaster manufacturers such as Bolliger & Mabillard and other manufacturers that had begun to gain popularity such as, Intamin AG. Instead of multiple coaster installations per year Arrow had reduced to making few, or none, per year. Arrow made even less major installations as the new millennium came. Bankruptcy loomed as Arrow made their final attempt to stay afloat with X at Six Flags Magic Mountain. X opened to massive media attention as well as great reviews. But behind the scenes X was a mechanical nightmare. The ride, being a prototype, was filled with mechanical errors that caused the ride to be closed for repairs much of its first year of operation.

Renamed Arrow Dynamics finally fell into bankruptcy in December of 2001. During October of 2001 the company's assets were sold to fellow amusement ride manufacturer S&S Power. Arrow Dynamics, now S&S-Arrow still operates, but basically only to make their 4th dimension coasters. The first multidimension coaster since X debuted in Japan for 2006, Eejanaika.

Throughout the years Arrow Dynamics operated they designed and created many of the classic rides amusement parks operate today, as well as a few flops like Drachen Fire. Arrow pioneered many of the coaster types that exist in mass numbers today. They designed and created around 100 roller coasters during the decades they operated. [1]

• 1959: The world's first tubular steel track coaster, Matterhorn Bobsleds, at Disneyland. [2]
• 1966: The world's first Mine Train Rollercoaster, the Runaway Mine Train At Six Flags Over Texas.[3]
• 1975: The world's first modern inverting coaster, Corkscrew, at Knott's Berry Farm. [4]
• 1981: The world's first modern suspended coaster, The Bat, at Kings Island. [5]
• 1982: The world's first coaster with 5 inversions, The Viper at Darien Lake
• 1989: The world's first Hypercoaster, Magnum XL-200, at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio. [6]
• 2002: The world's first Multi-dimension coaster, X, at Six Flags Magic Mountain. [7]

• SBNO: Standing But Not Operating
• Relocated/Operating: This coaster was relocated here and continues to operate
• Eejanaika: this roller coaster was built by S&S-Arrow, since it was designed and constructed after the Arrow bankruptcy and merge with S&S Power.