Most everybody loves a good amusement park and the best parks will not soon be forgotten.
While most theme parks are tons of fun, the largest draw for any park are the roller coasters. It seems the most popular amusement parks are in a fierce competition for the biggest, baddest, tallest, and fastest roller coaster.
With the ongoing development of roller coasters around the world, I’m sure that ultimate thrill ride is still out there for me to find.
Come on in and take a look around… read about the roller coasters I’ve ridden and why I liked them – or disliked them. Take a look at the many roller coaster pictures I’ve taken and share with you here.
My Favorite Amusement Park
Cedar Point is the roller coaster capital of the world with a record 17 roller coasters of all kinds – stand up, wooden, steel, suspended, inverted and racing.
It is truly the park of choice for the aggressive roller coaster ride. Year after year, in the ongoing quest of building the ultimate scream machine, Cedar Point has a long history of being home to the tallest and fastest roller coasters including Magnum XL-200, Mean Streak, Raptor, Mantis, Millennium Force, and Top Thrill Dragster.
My All-Time Favorite Roller Coaster
Raptor is an incredibly fun ride where your feet dangle above ground from ski lift-like seats.
It drops you 119 ft. at speeds of up to 57 mph, scream through a 100 ft. vertical loop, a heartline spin, a cobra roll and then into the mid-course brake. Next you fly through a spiraling drop followed by a corkscrew, a straightaway, a dip, another corkscrew, and a helix before heading back to the loading station.
My Favorite Steel Roller Coaster
On Magnum XL-200, it’s a frightening feeling to crest the top of the 205 foot lift hill and not be able to see the track below you.
That incredible 60 degree drop is followed by another 157 foot hill and the thrills don’t let up from there. The tunnels during the day-time ride are disorienting, but at night you get totally lost.
My Favorite Stand-Up Coaster
Chang at Kentucky Kingdom gets my vote for favorite stand-up coaster.
Chang features a 144 foot drop and five inversions including a 104-foot tall vertical loop. It also has two corkscrews, an incline loop and a high-speed spiral. It’s 4,155 feet of track will take you up to 63 miles per hour where you’ll experience a G force of 5.
This coaster is really fun and incredibly smooth. It’s longer ride is also greatly appreciated. Kudos to Kentucky Kingdom for putting in this coaster as they solidify their thrill ride prominence for coaster fans.
My Favorite Wooden Coaster
The Beast at Paramount’s Kings Island gets my thumbs up as best wooden roller coaster.
The Beast has got to be the granddady of woodies as the longest wooden coaster in the world with 7,400 feet of track, two lift hills, and nearly 4 1/2 minutes ride time. It features a 135-foot hill at a 45-degree angle followed by a 117 foot underground tunnel. After cresting the second lift hill, the ride really gets intense racing through a 269-foot above ground tunnel and a 540-degree helix.
