Asia is home to more than half of the world’s working roller coasters as of 2019, according to a Guinness World Records report. China has the largest number of rides (1,518), followed by the United States with 826, and Japan with 244.
In total, as of 2019 there are close to 5,000 roller coasters around the world!
Now that’s a lot of scary twists, turns and sudden drops.
The world’s first roller coasters were built in Paris, France, which began operating in 1817. Les Montagnes Russes a Belleville (the Belleville roller coaster) and Promenades Aeriennes had wheeled cars fitted with axles, and these ran on wooden tracks.
The roller coasters were said to function well enough back then, but the engineers could never really figure out how to effectively solve safety issues. So, after many unfortunate accidents, both rides were dismantled in the mid-1800s.
Amazingly though, there are still a handful of roller coasters that are more than 100 years old that are still operational today, with the oldest being the 120-year-old (!) Leap-The-Dips in Pennsylvania, the US. While this roller coaster may not offer the same kind of thrill that many other modern rides can, it is still worth checking out even if only to see a working man-made structure that’s more than a century old.
We’ve compiled a list of roller coasters that thrill-seeking travellers can look out for or plan to visit in the future. These rides include some of the longest, tallest, steepest, fastest and oldest ones, as well as a few that are unique.
Kingda Ka is often ranked as the “best roller coaster” in the world by ride fans, travel websites and, well, Wikipedia. This is because it is the tallest roller coaster on Earth, standing at 139m, or 45 stories high. It also shoots riders up a 90° vertical track at 206kmph, in under 5 seconds.
Imagine being in the lift of a 45-storey building and going up to the top floor from the ground in just 3.5 seconds. Yes, it’s that fast.
And if that’s not enough, the train then plummets 127m down a 270° spiral, clockwise.
Located at the Six Flags Great Adventure theme park in New Jersey, the Kingda Ka was opened in May 2005 and has been a very popular attraction since then.
The track is 950m long, and the ride lasts for a mere 28 seconds, though queueing time to board the trains can stretch to more than a couple of hours during peak season.
The oldest functioning roller coaster in the world was built in Pennsylvania in 1902 by the Federal Construction Company, and designed by Edward Joy Morris (not to be mistaken for an American politician of the same name). Morris, according to reports on the history of Pennsylvania, is said to be the person responsible for turning roller coasters into anchor attractions in theme parks via clever marketing schemes.
Morris also patented a “figure eight toboggan slide”, a type of roller coaster that became the basis or frame for many ride structures after that. Today, however, that frame is no longer popular as more modern and secure designs have emerged. (In fact, some believe that Leap-The-Dips may be the last remaining roller coaster of this variety in the world.)
Because of its outdated design, sometime in the 1980s there were concerns that the ride’s structural integrity may be compromised. Maintenance funds were low, so in 1985 a decision was made to close it, and to eventually demolish the whole roller coaster.
Luckily, the American Coaster Enthusiasts, an organisation made up of roller coaster fans stepped in and formed the Leap-The-Dips Foundation, which then put in efforts to restore the historical ride.
Restoration began in 1997 and in 1999, the ride reopened to the public.
While many do regard Leap-The-Dips as the oldest surviving roller coaster in the world, its temporary closure has made some enthusiasts to crown The Great Scenic Railway as the “oldest continually operating” ride. (However, it was closed for nearly a year in 1999 for repairs and restoration.)
Located in Melbourne, Australia, it is part of the Luna Park; both the amusement park and roller coaster opened to the public in December 1912.
This is a classic side-friction wooden roller coaster, and features many drops and turns. It is also the last remaining ride in Australia that still features a brakeman or brakewoman who actually rides with passengers to slow down the train, and stop it.
The ride is listed on the Australian National Heritage Register, making it a heritage structure.
The ride goes on for about four minutes, beginning with a chain lift hill (that’s when the train is slowly pulled up towards the first high point), and then immediately dropping 93.5m after that. This is followed by a 76.8m camelback hill ride, which is a hump-shaped hill that moves in a straight line but is designed in a way that “lift” riders off their seats.
When this happens, riders will experience weightlessness, also known as airtime in roller coaster terms. Steel Dragon features seven camelback hills.
The ride is located at the Nagashima Spa Land theme park in Mie, Japan, and was opened on Aug 1, 2000.
The Cyclone is perhaps one of the most internationally well-known rides in the US only because it – as well as the Coney Island park where the ride is located – is often mentioned in TV shows and films, like on Netflix’s Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.
In the sitcom, the main character’s long-lost mother (played by the hilarious Lisa Kudrow) is a thrill chaser and spends most of her time riding roller coasters around the country. The Cyclone is featured prominently in the episode Kimmy Finds Her Mom!.
The Cyclone is a historic wooden roller coaster built in 1927, and is still operational now. The ride features 12 drops, with the first one going at 25.9m, and the track runs for 804m.
Although the ride itself may not be too thrilling for hardcore roller coaster fans today, the old-school carnival atmosphere of Coney Island does help make this place a fun tourist attraction.
Located at the Ferrari World Park in Abu Dhabi, UAE, the Formula Rossa is currently the fastest roller coaster in the world, running at 240kmph. It is so fast that passengers must wear safety goggles to ride it!
It was opened to the public in 2010, and was designed to mimic the maximum speed of a Ferrari, the ones used in Formula 1 racing, that is. Its trains were made to look like the car’s exterior so that riders can feel like they are, in fact, moving in the Ferrari and not just riding a steel roller coaster.
The track is a little over 2km long, and stands at 52m at its highest point; it only takes 4.9 seconds for the train to reach the top, which is no mean feat. The whole ride lasts for one minute and 32 seconds.
In 2020, a Formula Rossa Junior, a miniature version with most of the same features, was opened for kids who are too young (or short) to ride the main one.
The T Express is currently the world’s tallest wooden roller coaster, standing at 56m. It was once also the steepest wooden roller coaster when it opened in 2008, leaning at 77°. This crown is now held by the Goliath (85°) at California’s Six Flags Great America in the US.
Located at the Everland theme park in Gyeonggi-do, South Korea, it reaches a speed of 104kmph and is 1,641m long. It is the first wooden roller coaster in Asia, as well as the first to use three trains.
What also makes this ride interesting is the fact that the structure’s parts were manufactured in a factory and the tracks were cut using a laser, unlike traditional ones where they are cut and shaped by hand. The tracks snap together easily and were made from layers of wood that were bonded together, instead of being nailed together by hand like the traditional ones.
T Express features numerous high-speed turns and camelback hills.
This steel roller coaster can be found at the Alton Towers theme park in Staffordshire, England. It is said to be the first roller coaster to feature 14 inversions, the part of the ride where passengers are turned upside-down for a few seconds, before returning into the upright position.
Imagine going through 14 of those for two minutes and 45 seconds (which is how long the ride is).
The track is 1,170m with a drop angle of 50°; the train runs at a speed of 85kmph. It starts with a small drop, after which you immediately go through the first inversion, and a heartline roll at that. (That’s when the track twists 360° around the train, leaving it twisting in a straight line around the line of riders’ centre of balance... supposedly around where the heart is on a human.)
The Smiler has been around since 2013, and is still a very popular ride today as it includes plenty of thrilling elements, including the sea serpent and a cobra roll, both of which are extreme types of inversions.
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