It’s theme park season and all the thrill seekers are making sure they do one thing this summer: ride the tallest, scariest roller coaster in in their area. We’ve created a list of the world’s scariest roller coasters. Some of these will have you looking like a cartoon character with your face two feet behind your skull. Click the jump to see the best roller coasters to ride this summer.
“Desperado” at Buffalo Bill in Nevada
This coaster can be seen from miles around the desert like a giant worm coming out the sand. It rises to a height of 209 ft and drops 225 feet. That’s right. This roller coaster goes 16 feet below ground. It’s basically a straight shoot with no inversions, just loops, peaks and valleys. Check out the POV video below.
“Colossus” at Six Flags Magic Mountain in England
This coaster is unlike every other in that its drop is as impressive and scary as The Others. The coaster has enough inversions to keep your head spinning. Its 10 inversions in under 2 minutes are known for causing dizziness. The suspense comes in when you think you’re going pulling into the station but there’s a hidden loop right before. Even the video below shows you how dizzying this ride can be.
“Fahrenheight” at Hershey Park in Pennslyvania
From a distance, Fahrenheight looks like a mangled mess of steel. As you move closer, you see how the track twists, turns, loops and inverts to create a roller coaster that earned 9 out of 10 from The Coaster Critic. The roller coaster beings with a vertical lift leading up to a first drop that is beyond 90 degrees. The thrill seekers ride the front for the view, but the real roller coaster aficionados ride the back for the best ride of the life.
“Steel Dragon” in Japan
While you’re busy contemplating your life’s choices and whether you’ll live through this roller coaster, you’re enduring the painfully suspenseful 1:15-minute climb toward the first drop of the Steel Dragon. The 306-foot drop isn’t the only highlight of the Steel Dragon. Its track, full of loops and turns, stretches on for 8,133 feet, taking almost four minutes to complete. From the picture of it’s frame stretching over the theme park, the Steel Dragon has earned it’s name.
“Kingda Ka” at Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey
Aptly named for being the world’s tallest roller coaster, the Kingda Ka uses a hydraulic launch mechanism to launch the train 128 miles per hour in 3.5 seconds. The train climbs the top hat tower with a height of 456 feet and drops 418 feet. The ride is short — just 1:25 minutes from when you’re buckled in — but the drop makes up for it.
“Intimidator 305” at King’s Dominion in Virginia
The Intimidator was the world’s 6th tallest roller coaster as of August 2010. It has a drop of 300 feet at 85 degrees. The ride is short and starts out smooth, but the g-forces are intense. Midway there are tons of twists that toss riders from side to side. Overall, the Intimidator gives some okay airtime, but the forceful twists make up for it. See what we mean in the video below.
“Tower of Terror” at Dreamworld in Australia
The Tower of Terror is terrifying with its height 377 feet. Named the southern hemisphere’s tallest and fastest roller coaster, the ToT uses a g-force of 4.5 at a 90-degree angle pull of 328 feet. The unique thing about this roller coaster is that is uses a slingshot technique in that it goes up the tower and reverses on the same track. We’re disregarding the debate about whether it is a true roller coaster and let you see the action for yourself.
“Bizzaro” at Six Flags in Massachusetts
The Bizzaro roller coaster is akin to being born again. The coaster rises 208 feet and drops 221 feet into an dark, fog-filled underground tunnel that makes you wonder when and where you’re coming out. This coaster is rated one of the bests because it gives riders a lot of airtime. Riders get the sense they’re not in control because of the exposed sides. The ride also features a machine saying famous movie quotes like, “LOOK OUT!”
“Phantom’s Revenge” at Kennywood Park in Pennsylvania
The Phantom’s Revenge is misleading with its first drop of 160 feet. Lame. The real thrill of the ride comes during the second hill when it drops 232 feet into a ravine and through the support structure of another roller coaster. It ranked as the 9th best top steel roller coaster at the Golden Ticket Awards. Phantoms Revenge proves impressive as it uses the park’s hilly structure to its advantage in the roller coaster design.
“Takabishi” in Japan
It’s a work in progress, but I’m sure the Takabishi will easily be the world’s scariest roller coaster when it opens in July. The steel coaster is now the world’s steepest roller coaster with a drop of 121 feet. That’s right — the Takabishi inverts while it drops 130 feet. It includes seven major twists over its track of 3280 feet. There isn’t a video to follow because the coaster isn’t open yet, but the picture alone shows how terrifying this roller coaster will be.
