These are a few of my favorite coasters
Does your top 10 include any of these?
It’s been about a century and a half since roller coasters first arrived on the scene, and, despite the advent of many other rides and attractions, they remain the king of the midway. There are plenty of good reasons for their enduring appeal, not the least of which are the sheer thrills they deliver. As a theme park journalist, I have had the good fortune to board a ton of coasters. Sure, there have been a few clunkers, but I’ve loved riding just about all of them. A few rides, however, have blown me away. The following are my ten favorite coasters.
They aren’t necessarily the “best” rides, but they are the ones that invariably make me grin from ear-to-ear (unless I’m screaming) and provide an extra jolt of elation. In the fitful throes of winter, these are the coasters I dream about riding when warmer weather returns. Of course, my list, like any fan’s compendium, is completely subjective. And, although I’ve visited lots of parks, there are many parks and coasters that I’ve yet to experience and render an opinion about. Most of my park journeys have been based in North America; all of my favorite coasters are on the continent. I used to distinguish between steel and wooden coasters and maintained two separate lists, but since Rocky Mountain Construction muddied the taxonomy with its hybrid wooden and steel rides, I now lump them all together. As new rides are introduced and existing ones age–sometimes not gracefully–my list evolves. The following, therefore, is a snapshot in time.
Iron Gwazi at Busch Gardens Tampa and Steel Vengeance at Cedar Point
Speaking of Rocky Mountain Construction, the two coasters at the top of my list are hybrid rides from the innovative manufacturer. They both began life as pure wooden coasters built by other companies, but RMC traded out their timber for its steel IBox tracks and radically redesigned their layouts. For example, the ride surgeons made them considerably taller and as a result, faster, and added inversions. Their stats are comparable, with both rising about 200 feet and hitting around 75 mph. With a track length of 5,740 feet and a ride duration of 2:30, Steel Vengeance is much longer and includes four inversions, two more than its Florida counterpart. But the more compact Iron Gwazi is wildly intense and delivers a bigger bang for my buck. They are both loaded with airtime and are incredibly exhilarating. For this RMC one-two punch of my favorite coasters, I give the ever-so-slight edge to Iron Gwazi.
Superman the Ride at Six Flags New England
Except for my college years in Connecticut, I’ve lived in Massachusetts my entire life, and I fully cop to the plea that my number three pick is largely parochial and a matter of hometown pride. Still, Superman the Ride is one heckuva hypercoaster. Rising 208 feet and dropping 221 feet into an underground fog-enshrouded tunnel, it hits an intense 77 mph. Emerging from the tunnel and climbing a huge hill, Supes delivers a huge pop of airtime–the first of many to follow. The Intamin ride’s note-perfect layout offers a stunning symphony of elements, and its location alongside the Connecticut River adds to its ambiance. Some 25 years after Superman debuted, it still soars with a ferocity that’s tempered with surprisingly smooth grace.
Jurassic World VelociCoaster at Universal Orlando’s Islands of Adventure
As a pure ride, VelociCoaster is tremendous. Its initial magnetic launch revs its trains from 0 to 50 mph in two seconds flat. A second launch gooses the speed to 70 mph and sends passengers racing up a 155-foot top hat followed by a 100-foot-long zero-G stall just above the park’s midway. A final barrel roll mere inches over IOA’s lagoon feels both glorious and menacing. But with Universal Creative’s inspired Jurassic World storytelling layered on top of the ride experience, VelociCoaster emerges as one of parkdom’s greatest coaster-based E-Ticket attractions.
Leviathan at Canada's Wonderland
Superman’s stats are quite imposing, but with a 306-foot drop and a top speed of 92 mph, Leviathan is something else altogether. Currently the fifth fastest coaster in the world, nothing can quite prepare you for its first drop. There’s intense, and then there’s the extreme in-your-face, eyes-bulging, heart-racing ferocity that this monster unleashes. When I braved Leviathan, it was a seasonably chilly spring day at the Canadian park. Layering 92 mph on top of the nippy temperatures yielded a wind chill factor of brrrrrr. In addition to the insane speed, I thought my face was going to freeze and fall off. With its enormous pent-up energy, the B&M ride then mercilessly swooped, banked, and tore my frozen face and me across the park.
The Voyage at Holiday World
With The Raven and The Legend, Indiana’s Holiday World had already demonstrated that it knew a thing or two about wooden coasters. Then it introduced The Voyage and took woodies to the next level. Climbing a 163-foot lift hill and hitting 67 mph at a hairy 66 degrees, the ferocious ride gets down to business right away. The Thanksgiving-themed coaster never lets up as it meanders through the woods and dodges in an out of underground tunnels, including one “triple-down” dive into the inky blackness that, for me, is its highlight.
Full Throttle at Six Flags Magic Mountain
It rarely, if ever, appears on fans’ best-of lists, but for me, Full Throttle is one of the most unique and satisfying coasters out there. A full-throated magnetic launch immediately catapults passengers at 70 mph up and into a massive, 160-foot-tall, 127-foot-diameter loop. The Premier Rides coaster is precisely engineered so that the trains slow to a crawl at the apex of the loop, leaving riders hanging upside down for what seems like forever high above the park. Did I mention that there are no over-the-shoulder restraints and that passengers are somehow tethered to this contraption with a single lap bar? Halfway through the ride, the train comes to a halt in a tunnel and gets launched backwards. Stalling, it falls forward and gets a launched a final time to navigate the 160-foot-tall loop again, this time right-side-up on the outside of the element.
Thunderhead at Dollywood
I had tackled Thunderhead a few times during previous visits to Dolly Parton’s Smoky Mountains park, and thought it was fine, if a bit rough. Then I took a nighttime ride on the wooden coaster when I returned in late 2023 and was stunned to discover how well it was running after it had been extensively re-tracked. The Great Coasters International midway marvel still delivered a an out-of-control, rough-and-tumble ride that is the hallmark of woodies, but it was otherwise delightfully smooth and positively loaded with euphoric airtime.
Time Traveler at Silver Dollar City
Another wildly unique coaster (it’s amazing to me how designers continuously develop new innovations using the basic premise of trains riding rails), Time Traveler was the first to feature Mack Rides’ clever controlled spin feature. Instead of the madly gyrating, sometimes nausea-inducing lateral turns that conventional spinning coasters deliver, the cars on the Silver Dollar City ride are subtly braked to deliver thrills without the protein spills. The trains leave the elevated station and immediately plummet 100 feet straight down into a holler at the mountainous park. Inversions, launches, and other coaster mayhem ensue. All the while, the cars randomly, but gently spin giving a wacky, disorienting, one-of-a-kind ride experience.
Jack Rabbit at Kennywood
Yup, nostalgia has something to do with why Jack Rabbit shows up on my favorite coasters list. But it’s not the only reason. The relatively modest wooden coaster may have opened in 1920, but it still delivers an unexpectedly potent, wholly relevant ride for 21st-century park fans. It climbs a mere 40 feet, but drops 70 feet into one of the ravines at the classic trolley park. And not just any drop, but a delightful, double-dip drop. Kennywood lovingly maintains Jack Rabbit (as well as its two other adored, antique wooden coasters), allowing guests to engage in a grand tradition that has spanned over 100 years.
Share your reactions (agreements? disagreements? surprises? incredulity?) to my coaster picks. What are your favorite coasters?
Canada's Wonderland, Six Flags Magic Mountain, and Silver Dollar City are my current 'white whale' parks, so I don't have experience with the rides you mentioned at those parks. Iron Gwazi opened the year after I last visited Busch Gardens Tampa. I do love The Voyage, VelociCoaster, Thunderhead, Steel Vengeance, and Jack Rabbit. As I stated before, Superman the Ride was just fine for me.
I'm like Tom where my favorite coasters change every year. Having visited Walt Disney World, Kings Island, and Holiday World in the past year might give me some recency bias. I loved Cosmic Rewind and Tron which were new to me. I am hoping to visit Cedar Point and Epic Universe this year which could change things up.
But, for now, I guess I'll go with The Beast, The Voyage, and Steel Vengeance. The recent retracking of The Beast and The Voyage have moved to back up to the of my list.
A lot or our favorite “major” coasters line up, so I’d like to highlight one of my “subjective” favorites. Storm Runner at Hersheypark for me is the perfect blend of extreme thrills and re-ride ability, short enough (and usually with a short-enough queue) to experience it over and over again, but great in delivering some unique thrills and a terrific journey through the park. I’d love to hear other readers favorites that aren’t some of the big contenders