Bigger, faster and more extreme are what count when it comes to roller coasters.

So what’s an amusement park to do with aging coasters when those record-breaking crowd pleasers from years ago are being overshadowed by today’s scream machines?

A coaster makeover, of course.

A handful of roller coasters are reopening this year after undergoing extensive rehabs that follow innovations in the design of coaster tracks and trains.

The coasters should begin to attract more riders and cost less to maintain. Plus, it’s cheaper than building a coaster from the ground up.

Until the last few years, there weren’t a lot of options for overhauling outdated roller coasters, especially those with wood tracks that had become too rough to ride as they aged.

That changed when Rocky Mountain Construction, a company that got its start repairing worn wood coaster tracks, came out with a way to put steel rails on wooden coaster structures.

“We’re basically remodeling the entire coaster,” said Amy Garcia, a spokeswoman for the company in Hayden, Idaho.

Its first major overhaul came in 2011 at Six Flags Over Texas in Arlington with the Texas Giant, a ride that once ranked among the best among coaster enthusiasts before age caught up with it.

The $10 million renovation – about half the cost of building a new coaster – immediately won back fans.

Rocky Mountain Construction has since refurbished four other coasters.

Colossus – the world’s tallest and fastest roller coaster when it opened in 1978 at Six Flags Magic Mountain near Los Angeles – is one of them.

The original coaster is one of the more recognizable rides around, featured in more than a dozen TV shows and movies, including “National Lampoon’s Vacation.”

But its appeal dwindled as it was dwarfed by the park’s bigger and “badder” steel coasters.

The new steel-hybrid version, which will be called Twisted Colossus, has over-banked turns and inversions, including one billed as a “Top Gun Stall” where the coaster train slows down while upside down.

“This brings it into the next generation and makes it relevant for years to come,” Magic Mountain president Bonnie Rabjohn said.

“It really brings it back in vogue.”

Robb Alvey, who has ridden more than 1,400 coasters around the world and operates ThemeParkReview.com, said the roller coasters that have been turned into new rides were nearing the end of their life cycle.

“They’re also rides with great history that most people would rather see a new life put into them rather than taking them down,” he said.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS