USA TODAY 10Best
Steel Vengeance named Best Roller Coaster
Best Roller Coaster (2020)
While thrill rides come in all shapes and sizes these days, nothing beats the adrenaline rush of a well-designed roller coaster. We asked our readers to vote for their favorite roller coasters in America, and the results are in.
The top 10 winners in the category Best Roller Coaster are as follows:
- Outlaw Run - Silver Dollar City
- Montu - Busch Gardens Tampa
- Phantom's Revenge - Kennywood
- Lightning Rod - Dollywood
- Intimidator 305 - Kings Dominion
- Fury 325 - Carowinds
- The Voyage - Holiday World
- Phoenix - Knoebels
- Mako - SeaWorld Orlando
- Steel Vengeance - Cedar Point
Photo courtesy of Silver Dollar City
No. 10:
Outlaw Run at Silver Dollar City in Branson brings the world’s first double-barrel roll on a wooden roller coaster. We’re talking a 720-degree, triple, upside-down twist. Outlaw Run is one of the world’s steepest wooden coaster, with an 81-degree drop down 162 feet, as well as one of the fastest, reaching 68 miles per hour. With all of those rankings and a proud list of awards that Outlaw Run has well earned, you’d better hold onto your horses.
Photo courtesy of Busch Gardens Tampa
No. 9:
Prepare to be upside down. Montu is known for its inversions — seven of them, in fact, including a heart-shaped Batwing inversion. Montu made history as the first roller coaster to combine both a loop and a roll at the same time. It’s one of the tallest inverted coasters you can ride and reaches speeds of 60 miles per hour with a G-force of 3.85. The 104-foot-tall loop will leave your stomach in your throat. Find Montu in Busch Gardens.
Photo courtesy of Jantzen Simko / Kennywood
No. 8:
The 3,365-foot track of Phantom’s Revenge in Kennywood brings visitors frighteningly close to another of the park's coasters, Thunderbolt. A hair-raising highlight is the second drop — a 230-foot thriller at 85 miles per hour.
No. 7:
Lightning Rod, the world's fastest wooden coaster, launches Dollywood thrill seekers from zero to 45 miles per hour — a thrilling start to one of the park's most adrenaline-pumping attractions. Themed after a 1950s hot rod, the roller coaster tops out at speeds of more than 73 miles per hour.
Photo courtesy of Kings Dominion
No. 6:
The aptly named Intimidator 305 is the fastest and tallest coaster on the East Coast, with a 300-foot first drop and an 85-degree angle and plenty of memorable twists and turns. Speeds top out at 90 miles per hour on this Kings Dominion thriller.
No. 5:
Fury claims to be the world’s tallest and fastest “gigacoaster,” which means it specializes in speed and height. How high? Per the name: Expect a 325-foot drop. Fury 325 reaches extreme speeds of 95 miles per hour and will surprise riders with a dive underground beneath a bridge.
Photo courtesy of Holiday World
No. 4:
Head to the Holiday World in aptly named Santa Claus, Ind. for one of the nation’s most highly regarded wooden roller coasters. Highlights include one of the steepest drops on a wooden coaster, a world-record of five underground tunnels and a whopping 24.3 seconds of weightlessness. This is no quick ride, either. The Voyage adventure is more than a mile long, earning it the honors of one of the world’s longest and fastest wooden roller coasters.
No. 3:
Phoenix, a classic wooden roller coaster inside Knoebels, proves that newer, taller and faster aren't always better. Consistently ranked as one of the best wooden coasters in the country, Phoenix offers panoramic views of the surrounding hills, as well as thrills in the form of a double out and back layout and speeds of 45 miles per hour.
Photo courtesy of SeaWorld Orlando
No. 2:
Guests looking for thrills at SeaWorld Orlando will find them aboard one of the park's newest rollercoasters, Mako. Orlando's tallest, longest and fastest coaster gets its name from one of the world's fastest sharks — appropriate for a thrill ride reaching speeds of 73 miles per hour.
No. 1:
The world record-breaking Steel Vengeance just debuted at Cedar Point in May 2018 as the world's tallest and fastest hybrid coaster with the steepest drop (90 degrees), longest drop (200 feet), most inversions (four), and most airtime (27.2 seconds) on any hybrid coaster. At 5,740 feet, it's also the world's longest hybrid coaster and sure to be a new guest favorite.
A panel of experts partnered with 10Best editors to pick the initial nominees, and the top 10 winners were determined by popular vote.
Congratulations to all these winning rides!
About 10Best Readers' Choice Awards
Nominees are submitted by a panel of experts. 10Best editors narrow the field to select the final set of nominees for the Readers’ Choice Awards. Readers can vote once per category, per day. For any questions or comments, please read the FAQ or email USA TODAY 10Best.
The Experts
Doug Barnes
Doug Barnes is the Owner/Producer/Host of the Read More
Doug Barnes is the Owner/Producer/Host of the Season Pass Podcast. Podcasting on Themed Entertainment for over 11 years, Doug took his lifetime hobby of theme park fun and turned into the largest audio archive of creative stories, career origins, and attraction development, told by the industry creators themselves, on the Internet. Doug has interviewed 500 plus themed entertainment creatives, media, celebrities, and fans; and has moderated multiple convention panels based on themed entertainment.
Doug Barnes
Doug Barnes is the Owner/Producer/Host of the Season Pass Podcast. Podcasting on Themed Entertainment for over 11 years, Doug took his lifetime hobby of theme park fun and turned into the largest audio archive of creative stories, career origins, and attraction development, told by the industry creators themselves, on the Internet. Doug has interviewed 500 plus themed entertainment creatives, media, celebrities, and fans; and has moderated multiple convention panels based on themed entertainment.
John Stevenson
John Stevenson is the founder of Coaster101.com, a... Read More
John Stevenson is the founder of Coaster101.com, a roller coaster and amusement industry website featuring in-depth articles about the fundamentals of roller coaster design, theme park guides, roller coaster reviews, interviews with industry experts, the latest coaster news and more. In 2017, John authored Libertyland: Images of Modern America, a book detailing the history of the former Libertyland amusement park in Memphis, Tennessee, which operated from 1976 until 2005 and was home to the Zippin Pippin, Elvis Presley's favorite roller coaster. John has traveled from coast to coast riding over 230 roller coasters in the US.
John Stevenson
John Stevenson is the founder of Coaster101.com, a roller coaster and amusement industry website featuring in-depth articles about the fundamentals of roller coaster design, theme park guides, roller coaster reviews, interviews with industry experts, the latest coaster news and more. In 2017, John authored Libertyland: Images of Modern America, a book detailing the history of the former Libertyland amusement park in Memphis, Tennessee, which operated from 1976 until 2005 and was home to the Zippin Pippin, Elvis Presley's favorite roller coaster. John has traveled from coast to coast riding over 230 roller coasters in the US.
Monet Massa-Sena
Monet Massa-Sena is the owner of The Theme Park... Read More
Monet Massa-Sena is the owner of The Theme Park Princess and The Memory Makers. She is a former Walt Disney World Cast Member who spent two semesters on the Disney College Program and one semester as a professional intern for the Disney Parks Live Entertainment team. She is currently a social media manager for NowThis.
Monet Massa-Sena
Monet Massa-Sena is the owner of The Theme Park Princess and The Memory Makers. She is a former Walt Disney World Cast Member who spent two semesters on the Disney College Program and one semester as a professional intern for the Disney Parks Live Entertainment team. She is currently a social media manager for NowThis.
Robb Alvey
Robb Alvey is the owner of ThemeParkReview.com,... Read More
Robb Alvey is the owner of ThemeParkReview.com, started in 1996 and one of the longest running and largest theme park fan sites with over 3 million followers. Robb travels to theme parks all over the world each year including Europe, Asia, Australia, and all around the Americas, has visited hundreds of different parks and ridden about 2,000 different roller coasters. His background in theme parks started as a cast member for Disneyland when he was 17 years old and has continued more than 30 years later.
Robb Alvey
Robb Alvey is the owner of ThemeParkReview.com, started in 1996 and one of the longest running and largest theme park fan sites with over 3 million followers. Robb travels to theme parks all over the world each year including Europe, Asia, Australia, and all around the Americas, has visited hundreds of different parks and ridden about 2,000 different roller coasters. His background in theme parks started as a cast member for Disneyland when he was 17 years old and has continued more than 30 years later.
Robert Niles
Robert Niles is the founder and editor of Read More
Robert Niles is the founder and editor of ThemeParkInsider.com, an online consumers' guide to the world's leading theme and amusement parks, read by more than 400,000 people each month. It has been named the top theme park site on the Internet by Forbes and Travel + Leisure magazines and was a Webby Award finalist and winner of the Online Journalism Award, presented by the Online News Association and the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. Robert is a former Walt Disney World cast member and has worked as a reporter, editorial writer, columnist and website editor for several newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register.
Robert Niles
Robert Niles is the founder and editor of ThemeParkInsider.com, an online consumers' guide to the world's leading theme and amusement parks, read by more than 400,000 people each month. It has been named the top theme park site on the Internet by Forbes and Travel + Leisure magazines and was a Webby Award finalist and winner of the Online Journalism Award, presented by the Online News Association and the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. Robert is a former Walt Disney World cast member and has worked as a reporter, editorial writer, columnist and website editor for several newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register.
