Happy National Roller Coaster Day: Revisiting some of America's most iconic thrill rides

Arthur Levine, Special to USA TODAY
·6 min read
Happy National Roller Coaster Day: Revisiting some of America's most iconic thrill rides

Sunday is National Roller Coaster Day. Normally, I'd implore you to put your phone away, make tracks for the nearest amusement park, and mark the occasion by screaming like a ninny on a thrill machine. But, you know, COVID.

Sure, some parks are open, and some coasters are rolling. If there is one near you, go for it. But now, in the summer of our discontent, the only ups and downs that many of us are contemplating are the ones on coronavirus and unemployment charts.

Oh, how we long for this thing to be over and to return to normal. In that spirit, let’s honor Roller Coaster Day by taking a look at some of the most iconic rides in the U.S. They aren’t the latest and greatest, nor are they necessarily the best.

But these are the coasters that have stood the test of time, captured our imaginations, and caused lots and lots of knuckles to turn white. They are the ones that have been there through good times and bad and will be there when this thing is over. Let’s look forward to the day when we can ceremoniously toss our facemasks and hand sanitizer into the trash and take a victory lap together aboard one of these iconic coasters.

Coney Island Cyclone, Luna Park

Brooklyn, New York

Coney Island Cyclone, Luna Park (Brooklyn, New York): Built in 1927, it's not the oldest coaster still operating, but it‘s plenty old. And it harks back to the days when Coney Island was the epicenter of the amusement universe.
Coney Island Cyclone, Luna Park (Brooklyn, New York): Built in 1927, it's not the oldest coaster still operating, but it‘s plenty old. And it harks back to the days when Coney Island was the epicenter of the amusement universe.

First up is the Coney Island Cyclone at Luna Park in New York. Talk about ups and downs. After everything the venerable amusement area has been through, it’s kind of a miracle the ride is still standing. But thank goodness it is (and its National Historic Landmark status insures it will remain standing).

Built in 1927, it's not the oldest coaster still operating, but it‘s plenty old. And it harks back to the days when Coney Island was the epicenter of the amusement universe. Still, the Cyclone is not merely a living piece of Americana. It remains surprisingly vital and stands tall, along with the Wonder Wheel, as beacons of a resurgent Coney Island.

There are many other vintage coasters to consider, including Jack Rabbit, Thunderbolt, and Racer, the three glorious 1920s-era rides at Kennywood in Pennsylvania, and the lovingly maintained Giant Dipper (built in 1924) at Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk in California.

Space Mountain, Walt Disney World and Disneyland

Orlando Florida and Anaheim, California

For all of their intrigue, people are often shocked to learn that the two Space Mountain rides hit fairly poky top speeds of 27 mph in Florida and 32 mph in California.
For all of their intrigue, people are often shocked to learn that the two Space Mountain rides hit fairly poky top speeds of 27 mph in Florida and 32 mph in California.

Because they are located at the most popular theme parks in the world, let alone the U.S., the two Space Mountain coasters at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom in Florida and Disneyland Park in California are certainly iconic. They have probably also logged more passengers than any other coasters in the country, and they have near-universal name recognition. Encased in once-futuristic, now-quaint, white-spire structures, the indoor rides are conducted mostly in the dark and retain an air of mystery.

But for all of their intrigue, people are often shocked to learn that they hit fairly poky top speeds of roughly 27 mph in Florida and about 32 mph in California. Built in 1975, the Magic Kingdom attraction is two years older than its Disneyland counterpart. The latter got a major makeover in 2005 with a new track and trains and is smoother than the Florida version.

The two Big Thunder Mountain Railroad coasters, also at Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom, debuted after the Tomorrowland rides and are nearly as iconic. At well over three minutes, the runaway mine train coasters are quite long. Built in 1959, Disneyland’s legendary Matterhorn Bobsleds also qualifies as iconic. The first coaster to feature a tubular steel track, the historic ride ushered in a new era of thrill machines.

The Beast, Kings Island

Cincinnati, Ohio

The Beast took the record as the world‘s longest wooden coaster in 1979 and still holds the bragging rights today.
The Beast took the record as the world‘s longest wooden coaster in 1979 and still holds the bragging rights today.

Spanning 7,359 feet, covering 35 acres, and meandering through Mason, Ohio (located north of Cincinnati), The Beast at Kings Island took the record as the world‘s longest wooden coaster in 1979 and still holds the bragging rights today. After ascending its second lift hill, passengers plummet and navigate a 540-degree helix through a darkened tunnel. How’s this for iconic? Kid-lit writer R. L. Stine wrote two books about the famed ride.

Another Kings Island woodie, Racer, also vies for icon status. Built in 1972, the twin-racing coaster was featured on a 1973 episode of “The Brady Bunch.” (Marcia, Jan, and the gang rode in the red train, which appeared to have bested the blue train.)

Millennium Force, Cedar Point

Sandusky, Ohio

Millennium Force, which debuted in – you guessed it, 2000 – dominates the park’s crowded skyline and sends coaster fans’ hearts aflutter even before they board the literally breathtaking ride.
Millennium Force, which debuted in – you guessed it, 2000 – dominates the park’s crowded skyline and sends coaster fans’ hearts aflutter even before they board the literally breathtaking ride.

Opened in 1870, Ohio's Cedar Point debuted its first roller coaster, the Switchback Railway, in 1892. The ride closed in 1907, but through the years the park has introduced many others and now offers an impressive collection of 18 thrill machines. Perhaps the most iconic is Millennium Force which opened in (you guessed it) 2000 and broke records as the tallest (310 feet) and fastest (93 mph) complete-circuit coaster. (Incredibly, Cedar Point broke its own record in 2003 with the 420-foot-tall, 120-mph Top Thrill Dragster.) Millennium Force dominates the park’s crowded skyline and sends coaster fans’ hearts aflutter even before they board the literally breathtaking ride.

Another record-breaking and arguably iconic ride on Cedar Point’s roster is Magnum XL-200. By cracking the 200-foot height threshold in 1989, it was the original “hypercoaster” and launched the modern-day coaster wars.

The New Revolution, Six Flags Magic Mountain

Los Angeles

The first contemporary coaster to feature a full 360-degree loop, The New Revolution turned heads – literally – when it opened in the bicentennial year of 1976.
The first contemporary coaster to feature a full 360-degree loop, The New Revolution turned heads – literally – when it opened in the bicentennial year of 1976.

The first contemporary coaster to feature a full 360-degree loop, The New Revolution at Six Flags Magic Mountain in the L.A. suburb of Valencia, California, turned heads–literally–when it opened in the bicentennial year of 1976. It has remained a favorite at the coaster-crazy park (which has 19 thrill machines, more than any park in the world), especially after it received some TLC for its 40th anniversary in 2016.

Because of the park’s proximity to Hollywood, a number of films and TV shows have been shot there. The New Revolution reaped plenty of icon cred when it was featured in productions such as the 1977 disaster-suspense movie, “Rollercoaster,” the 1983 classic “National Lampoon’s Vacation,” and one of the world’s greatest guilty pleasures, “KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park.”

“Vacation” stars John Candy and Chevy Chase also took an onscreen ride aboard Colossus, another Magic Mountain coaster that has had cameos in a number of films and shows. The twin-track, wooden coaster ceased operating in 2014, but it didn’t completely go away. Its structure was incorporated into the wooden-steel hybrid coaster masterpiece, Twisted Colossus.

Batman the Ride, Six Flags Great America

Chicago

Batman The Ride gave rise to the the inverted roller coaster trend.
Batman The Ride gave rise to the the inverted roller coaster trend.

Six Flags Great America, which lies north of Chicago in Gurnee, Illinois, introduced a new breed of thrill ride, the inverted roller coaster, in 1992 when it debuted Batman The Ride. Featuring floorless trains that are suspended beneath the track, it looks like a demonic chair lift. It is a wild sight to see passengers navigate Batman’s teardrop-shaped loop with their dangling legs flailing this way and that. With its abrupt changes and tight inversions, the coaster delivers rib cage-crushing positive G-forces.

The popular ride inspired a number of inverted coasters at parks around the world, including exact Batman replicas at Six Flags Magic Mountain, Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey, Six Flags St. Louis, Six Flags Over Georgia, and Six Flags Over Texas.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: National Roller Coaster Day: America's most iconic thrill rides