Thrill to the world’s tallest, fastest and longest rides
Roller coasters: You love them or hate them. But if you’re among the fanatics who worship the coaster gods, there’s an amazing worldwide assemblage of thrilling and chilling rides to choose from. Whether twisting, flying, looping or just plain speeding, last year coaster fans took more than 900 million rides in the United States alone. With more than 2,000 roller coasters worldwide, located on six out of the seven continents (Antarctica has no coasters to date), the thrill-ride phenomenon has been gaining momentum for years and is now better than ever.
(What, you expected me to be screaming?)
Kingda Ka, Six Flags Great Adventure
Jackson, N.J.
Although displaced as the world’s fastest roller coaster in 2009, Kingda Ka is still an adrenaline junkie’s dream. Rocketing from 0 to 128 mph in 3.5 seconds and hurling riders a record-breaking 456 feet in the air, this heart-pounding thrill ride twists and dips through more than 3,000 feet of track and a vertical 270-degree spiral. Kindga Ka is a steel, hydraulic launched coaster that opened in 2005 and gives more than 1,400 people per hour the ride of their lives. If Kingda Ka has impressed you, then visit the 13 other coasters at Six Flags Great Adventure, including the brand new floorless Bizarro, with seven loops and almost 4,000 feet of track.
Steel Dragon 2000, Nagashima Spa Land
Mie Prefecture, Japan
One of only two gigacoasters (complete circuit coasters with a height between 300 and 399 feet) in the world—the other being Millennium Force at Cedar Point—Steel Dragon 2000 holds the record for longest track length at an astonishing 8,133 feet. With a maximum speed of 95 mph and a height of 318 feet (it’s the 5th tallest coaster in the world) it runs almost four minutes long, so if you don’t like the ride, you just have to wait it out. Besides the three drops of over 200 feet, it’s been said the best part is the “air time” you get while racing over the bunny hills on the way back to solid ground.
Wicked Twister, Cedar Point
Boasting the world record for most coasters—17—in one amusement park, it’s no wonder that this Mecca for thrill seekers has the tallest and fastest double twisting impulse coaster ever created. This seriously wicked ride propels riders forwards and backwards five times at increasing speeds while twisting up and down its 450-degree double-helix towers. The U-shaped track extends 215 feet in the air while riders hang suspended from the track, with their feet dangling perilously below. Aside from the adrenaline pumping experience, passengers have amazing views of Lake Erie and the entire amusement park so they can scope out the next ride—such as Top Thrill Dragster, the world’s second tallest and fastest coaster.
Colossus, Thorpe Park
Riders have to hold on to their hats (literally), as they fly upside down an awesome 10 times on the world’s first 10-loop roller coaster. With a vertical loop, cobra roll, two corkscrews, and five heart line twists, passengers won’t know which way is up as they travel more than 100 feet in the air along 2,789 feet of track on one of Thorpe Park’s most extreme rides. Colossus is so intense that an exact replica was built at Chime-Long Paradise amusement park in Guangzhou, China, called Tenth Ring so coaster fans all around the world can experience the white-knuckle feeling of 10 inversions. If looping isn’t your cup of tea, then ride on X:\No Way out, the world’s first completely dark backwards roller coaster.
X2, Six Flags Magic Mountain
Having the world’s first 4th dimension roller coaster apparently wasn’t enough for Six Flags Magic Mountain because they reinvented and renamed X and it became X2, the world’s first 5th dimension roller coaster. With a uniquely designed wing-shaped track, the seats extend off the track to the sides and hang mid-air, which allows them to rotate 360 degrees around the 3,600-foot maze of steel. At a height of more then 20 stories, riders also experience sensory effects like flashing lights, fog, and flamethrowers, along with a unique musical score featuring everything from Frank Sinatra to Rage Against the Machine. As passengers scream along at 76 mph upside down, backwards, and forwards, they will never know what to expect next.
Dueling Dragons, Universal’s Islands of Adventure
Riders have two chances to experience the world’s only inverted dueling coaster, on either Fire Dragon or Ice Dragon, two unique trains on Dueling Dragons. Each dragon has a zero-g roll, cobra roll, two corkscrews, and two vertical loops, but take completely different paths, during the 2-minute, 25-second ride. Dragons have an “aerial combat” three times along the track where riders narrowly pass; coming within 18 inches of each other, so close you can almost touch. Trains are weighted before launching to properly time them for battle in the sky—an adrenaline pumping ride much different then a traditional single train coaster. But if dueling isn’t your style then jump aboard the brand-new Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit which features a personalized music soundtrack blasted through an individualized audio system and six never-before-attempted maneuvers like the treble clef, where a part of the track is bent in the shape of the music symbol.
Ring Racer, Nürburgring
The highly anticipated Ring Racer promised to take the title of fastest roller coaster in the world when it opens this year, stealing the record from Kingda Ka. Although Nürburgring isn’t exactly an amusement park (it’s a race track), Ring Racer will be a Formula-1 themed coaster with a maximum speed of 134.8 mph and an acceleration of 2.5 seconds (second only to Dodonpa). The car takes off as the light changes to green and your body is forced backwards and races down a 1,500-foot straightaway, then makes a sharp left turn as it heads to the finish line. It won’t have any loops or plunges, but Ring Racer gives riders an authentic adrenaline-pumping racing experience on its Grand Prix style track, living the dream of driving a real Formula-1 car. link
In Pictures: 10 Record-Breaking Roller Coasters