Tilt-A-What?
The 10 most anticipated 2025 North American coasters
Over the many years I wrote about parks and attractions for USA Today, my annual lists of the most anticipated new roller coasters were among my most popular articles. I’m keeping the tradition alive here at About Theme Parks. With the new year on the horizon, it’s time to run down my picks for the top ten coasters that will be rolling out in 2025 at parks in the U.S. and Canada.
Siren’s Curse at Cedar Point in Ohio and Circuit Breaker at COTALAND in Texas
Perhaps due to the fallout from the pandemic (remember that?), Circuit Breaker has been delayed for a couple of years (along with the rest of the new COTALAND park). It’s been under wraps for so long that Siren’s Curse may open first giving Cedar Point the distinction of debuting Vekoma’s first tilt coaster in North America. What is a tilt coaster you ask? It’s such a wacky concept, both rides tie for the top spot as the continent’s most anticipated thrill rides for 2025. Their trains will climb a lift hill (160 feet at Cedar Point, 131 feet at COTALAND) and roll onto a dead-end section of track that will appear to be sending passengers over the edge to their final first drop. Here’s where it really gets wacky: The train will halt at the precipice, and the track section will tilt down until passengers are facing the ground at 90 degrees. Yowsa! The section will then connect with the rest of the track, and the train will release. The elements that follow, including underground tunnels, inversions, and loads of airtime moments, will likely be great. But let’s face it; these rides will be all about the outlandish and unsettling tilts.
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Stardust Racers at Universal Epic Universe in Florida
The elegant, dual-track racing coaster will be among the first things guests will see when they emerge from the Chronos portal at the main entrance of Epic Universe. The ride mavens at Germany’s Mack Rides are designing and building the coaster which will launch passengers on side-by-side trains through a long course that will span the length of Celestial Park, the land that will serve as the hub for Universal’s hugely anticipated new park. The two trains, which are themed as comets racing through the night sky, will weave in and around each other as they travel in tandem. One track will deliver a zero-G roll that will pivot the train upside down giving passengers a bird’s-eye view of the right-side-up second train barreling forward just beneath them. Universal is dubbing that moment, which is sure to be the coaster’s highlight, the “celestial spin.” Night rides, which will showcase the brightly lit trains, should be especially compelling.
AlpenFury at Canada’s Wonderland near Toronto
The popular park’s 19th coaster will race around and into Wonder Mountain, the iconic structure that sits at the center of Canada’s Wonderland. The Sky Rocket launched coaster from Premier Rides will hit a potent 72 mph and navigate a a 164-foot-tall top hat tower. It will deliver an incredible nine inversions, including a “fire serpent roll” that will twist and invert passengers as it delivers soaring airtime. It would seem passengers will be spending a lot of time upside down on AlpenFury.
Wrath of Rakshasa at Six Flags Great America in Illinois
Dive coasters bear some resemblance to tilt coasters. They don’t have track sections that tilt, but they do halt trains at very edge of a steep first drop for an agonizing few seconds before releasing them. In Wrath of Rakshasa’s case, the drop will be a whopping 171 feet at a beyond-vertical 96 degrees. After dropping and hitting 67 mph, passengers will experience five inversions, including a dive loop and a zero-G roll.
Rapterra at Kings Dominion in Virginia
While it will sit on the spot once occupied by Volcano, The Blast Coaster, it’s unlikely that Rapterra will occupy the same spot in the hearts of fans as the park’s beloved, defunct ride. Still, the new midway attraction looks pretty spectacular. A launched wing coaster, Rapterra will blast off from 0 to 65 mph in 4 seconds and soar up 145 feet into an arresting “wingover” maneuver. It will also include a corkscrew and heartline roll–but alas, no volcano from which it will erupt.
Mine-Cart Madness at Universal Epic Universe in Florida
One of the more sedate “family” coasters at Universal’s new park, Mine-Cart Madness isn’t going to score too highly on the thrill-o-meter. Nevertheless, its wildly innovative “boom coaster” concept makes it one of the most drool-worthy rides of 2025. Located in Epic Universe’s Super Nintendo World land, it will use a hidden track, on which a hidden chassis that will be attached to the car via a boom arm will navigate, to simulate the Donkey Kong game and leap over apparent gaps in the visible track. The physics-defying disconnect should cause plenty of consternation as well as head-scratching as guests struggle to figure out what the heck is happening.
The FLASH: Vertical Velocity at Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey
Another delayed ride that was supposed to open this year, Flash will launch out of the station, stall on a hill, roll backwards through the loading station, and proceed up a spike. It will stall again before racing forward for a third launch that will propel it over the hill and into a 180-degree twisted drop. That will be followed by a zero-G roll (ride manufacturers and fans alike just can’t get enough zero-G rolls) that will send the train up the other side of the spike tower, where it will stall and retrace the entire course in reverse. The Flash-themed ride will be the first Vekoma Super Boomerang in the U.S. and the second to debut in the world after Cloud Shuttle at Fantawild Wonderland in China.
Fire Runner at Lost Island Theme Park in Iowa
The relatively new park will welcome its fourth coaster, a single-rail Raptor track model from Rocky Mountain Construction. Similar to Wonder Woman: Golden Lasso Coaster at Six Flags Fiesta Texas, which was RMC’s first Raptor track ride, the fast-paced coaster will navigate a series of elements that will surely leave passengers befuddled–and delighted.
Palindrome at COTALAND in Texas
COTALAND’s second major coaster, the cleverly named Palindrome, also lands on the 2025 list of most anticipated coasters (even though it was previously on the 2023 and 2024 lists). The Gerstlauer Shuttle Infinity Coaster will take passengers 95 feet up a vertical lift hill, drop them at a beyond-vertical angle, hit 51 mph, and subject them to two inversions before climbing a dead-end vertical spike. Passengers will then roll backwards through the course for a second go-around. (Like a palindrome, get it?)
Georgia Surfer at Six Flags Over Georgia
Another delayed project that was supposed to open in 2024, the first-of-its-kind Intamin shuttle ride will be part coaster, part water flume. It appears that it will be similar to Mack Rides PowerSplash attractions such as Aquaman: Power Wave–with a few notable twists. As it navigates a U-shaped shuttle track, the surfboard-themed train will have outward-facing rings of seats that will freely spin. Each time they pass over a splash pool, passengers will be subjected to a different water effect including a water vortex tunnel.
In future articles, I’ll cite noteworthy new thrill machines coming in 2025 to parks beyond North America along with some additional honorable mention coasters in the U.S.
What 2025 coaster(s) are you most anticipating? Why?