The Best Roller Coaster and Thrill Ride in Every State

Sitting two abreast, this original 1998 coaster has new life in Alabama. The 120-foot-tall wooden Rampage sat dormant for years, but in 2015, Alabama Splash Adventure reopened the refurbished twister that sends riders on a 3,500-foot-long ride with speeds up to 55 miles per hour and a drop of 102 feet.

With no permanent roller coaster in Alaska, we turn to the Icy Strait Point Zipline and its ability to send visitors 60 miles per hour during a 90-second course. Ready to zoom down 1,300 feet at a 24-degree vertical drop while racing up to five parallel lines at the same time?

At Castles ‘N Coasters, riders can speed up to 50 miles per hour and drop 85 feet while experiencing a pair of inversions on Desert Storm. The looping steel track gets as high as 90 feet as riders sitting side-by-side experience the tallest thrill in Arizona.

Gaining speeds of 65 miles per hour, riders invert on the steel coaster that reaches heights of 152 feet on the 492-foot-long track—and it’s one of the few coasters that does inversions without shoulder restraints. The coaster sends you straight up from the start before a backward quarter-loop hangs you upside down ahead of a complete corkscrew and speedy vertical drop.

With dozens of permanent roller coasters peppering the state, X2 at Six Flags Magic Mountain may not hold all the tallest and fastest titles, but it does offer something different in its design. The 3,610-foot-long steel coaster places riders in cars that independently rotate on either side of the track, keeping everyone guessing during 215-foot drops, 88.5-degree descent angles, inversions, twisting front flips, back flips, and crazy turns. Did we mention this all takes place at 76 miles per hour?

Apologies to the nation’s highest-elevation roller coaster, Cliffhanger, and to the six upside-down experiences of Boomerang at Elitch Gardens. The winner is the tallest coaster in the state, the wooden Twister II ride at Elitch Gardens. It offers the craziest drop—80 feet with 3.1 Gs of force across a 4,640-foot ride that reaches 55 miles per hour.

Based on the design of the Mr. Twister ride at the same park, expect plenty of twists and turns—and even a tunnel—before the drop.

Don’t mind the cliffs of Southington Mountain, the home of Boulder Dash. This uniquely-designed wooden coaster hides in the mountain foliage, so when the 115-foot drop comes flying off a cliff, not only do you get the thrill of the drop, but the surprise of the cliff.

In all, the 4,752-foot-long coaster tracks at 60 miles per hour and uses the mountainside to hide much of the upcoming thrill.

Funland may not have a roller coaster at its Delaware location, but the Superflip 360 hangs riders and then swings them in a full rotation of 360 degrees (not just a clever name) at a height of 40 feet.

Billed as the tallest, fastest, and longest roller coaster in Orlando, the Sea World attraction named after a shark carries riders 4,760 feet at speeds up to 73 miles per hour. Reaching 200 feet in height— and with a drop to match—this coaster certainly has the height and speed to create fear. Just like a shark.

Built upon the Georgia Cyclone coaster, this wood-and-steel hybrid at Six Flags Over Georgia offers up three inversions while dropping 100 feet at a 75-degree angle. With speeds of 50 miles per hour over 2,400 feet, the Cyclone 2.0 improves upon the original’s drop height, hills, and declines.

A few zipline options await in Hawaii, but heading to the north shore of Maui offers seven different lines with heights of 70 feet and speeds up to 40 miles per hour. With a 900-foot-long line included in the mix from the NorthShore Zipline Co., expect an experience that’s both beautiful and zippy.

Silverwood Theme Park offers the state’s bounty of roller coasters. While the park features some fun oldies, such as Tremors, Aftershock offers the tallest coaste—over 190 feet—and includes a drop of 177 feet while running 65 miles per hour. Add in the backward ascent, six inversions, and loops—and then doing it all again in reverse—and there’s plenty to offer in northern Idaho.

The drop of Goliath at Six Flags Great America runs 180 feet and continues underground. The 72 miles per hour reached on this wooden coaster creates plenty of speed, along with an inverted zero-G stall, banked turns, and a tunnel that keeps what was once a world-record-holding wooden roller coaster still in the game.

At 6,442 feet, The Voyage at Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari offers 1.2 miles of ride that boasts 24.2 seconds of “air time.” With five underground tunnels, drops up to 154 feet at 66 degrees of angle, crossovers, and banking while topping 65 miles per hour, there’s plenty to enjoy in the length of ride that has been named one of the top wooden coaster rides in the world.

With a 133-foot-tall roller coaster featuring an angle of descent of over 100 degrees, Monster at Adventureland boasts one of the steepest drops in the Midwest. Along with the steepness comes 2,500 feet of track that includes five inversions and crossings across the park.

With seven ziplines that include a fantastic 40-foot freefall at the end, Wildwood Adventure Park gives Kansans their own special thrill ride, now that the Schlitterbahn water park has closed up the deadly, tallest waterslide in the world (and may not reopen the park at all).

Terror to the Third Degree at Kentucky Kingdom suspends and loops across 2,172 feet of track, offering five inversions at 50 miles per hour. The suspended style of T3 improves on T2’s train design and places riders on steel track 102 feet high, with drops of 86 feet.

A backward climb helps build anticipation for the 5.2 Gs of force that comes from a 125-foot drop at Dixie Landin’. Sure, it’s only 875 feet in length, but that doesn’t mean Ragin’ Cajun skimps on inversions, with six total during the ride.

In a state not known for roller coasters, the state’s only big-time wooden coaster reaches 100 feet in height and boasts 2,700 feet of track. With an 88-foot drop and speeds up to 55 miles per hour, Excalibur at Funtown Splashtown U.S.A. mixes wood with its other water rides.

At 5,350 feet in length and a drop of 205 feet, the tallest rollercoaster in Maryland also takes riders to speeds over 70 miles per hour. Superman: Ride of Steel at Six Flags America includes plenty of hills and drops—with the air time to match—and runs for over two minutes in a mammoth display of coaster construction.