This summer, a new crop of highly anticipated roller coasters will launch riders to dizzying heights, take them on beyond-vertical plunges and let them drift like drag racers.
Too much adrenaline? There are also plenty of less intense family-friendly options that will leave fewer people sitting it out to be designated bag holders (though we thrill seekers thank them for their service).
Here are five of the most exciting offerings at U.S. theme parks.
Universal Studios Hollywood
Themed after the popular “Fast & Furious” film franchise, the ride, set to open this summer at Universal Studios Hollywood, in Universal City, Calif., includes multiple launches and inversions and reaches a top speed of 72 miles per hour. Its vehicles are patterned off the cars in the movies, so you can ride in the Dodge Charger that the character Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) drives, as well as a Mazda RX-7, a Toyota Supra and a Nissan Skyline GT-R. The cars spin individually to give riders the feel of drifting while maneuvering the twisty track. The ride, set to be a stunning new addition to the park, will make great use of Universal’s hilly terrain. Plus, I love a coaster that goes all in on a theme. The “Fast & Furious” movies have been a mixed bag over the last 25 years, but when this one finally hits the finish line, it should be a bright spot for the franchise.
Like so much in Texas, this coaster goes big. Tormenta Rampaging Run marries a “giga coaster” — one with a height of 300 to 399 feet — with a “dive coaster,” a type that pauses riders at the top before making a nearly vertical (or beyond vertical) plunge, to create the world’s first giga dive coaster. The ride opened on July 9 at Six Flags Over Texas, in Arlington, making it only the eighth operating giga coaster on earth.
The park advertises Tormenta, themed after the running of the bulls, as the world’s longest dive coaster, with nearly 4,200 feet of track. Once this ride gets to the top, a dizzying 309 feet, it pauses so that riders can get a good look down before plummeting into the madness: a 95-degree drop, and a top speed of 87 miles per hour. Oh, and did you say you like vertical loops? This coaster has the world’s tallest one, at 179 feet. Each train has three rows, seating eight people across, so riding will be a truly communal thrill experience. Some dive coasters have occasionally felt a little underwhelming after taking that first dramatic drop. It seems as if this ride’s manufacturer, Bolliger & Mabillard, has taken that note and ramped up the elements throughout.
Legoland
The Legoland parks get points for the blocky charm that makes them fun destinations for families. But historically, their roller coasters haven’t quite reached the same level of excitement as their theming. This year, they decided to up their game and make a major investment in a space-themed coaster at their parks in Winter Haven, Fla., and Carlsbad, Calif.
That ride, Galacticoaster, has interactive and immersive elements that will appeal to kids, yet enough thrills to keep adults from being bored. The fun starts before the coaster begins, when passengers can design their own spacecraft on an interactive screen and then, as the ride starts, see themselves on another screen in the vehicle they designed. And before boarding, they meet an animatronic Lego astronaut who briefs them on their cosmic mission.
The indoor coaster, which reaches speeds of up to 40 m.p.h., starts with a launch into starry imagery, then the vehicles rotate, so riders are immersed in a Lego-piece galactic setting during key moments in the ride. At around 45 seconds from launch to station, the coaster is brief, but it peppers fun moments, like an animated Lego asteroid encounter, throughout.
Kentucky Kingdom
Kentucky Kingdom, a regional park in Louisville, Ky., has been steadily beautifying and modifying itself, adding a new themed area, Discovery Meadow, in 2025. And it has a couple of rides that have become true talkers among coaster enthusiasts. In 2021, the park was acquired by Herschend, the same company that runs Dollywood, in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., and Silver Dollar City, in Branson, Mo. This year, the park invested $14 million in Flying Fox, a big, green family coaster with a crop-dusting theme that takes riders on a sweeping flight in chairs that hang from the track. It’s the kind of coaster that makes kids feel as if they are riding something more grown-up, while keeping the intensity levels on the lower side (a maximum height of 65 feet and speed of 37 m.p.h.). But the layout is a beauty, with the track going both over and under walkways and swinging out to create just the right amount of exhilaration. Flying Fox adds to the buzz of its thrill-a-second older sibling, Wind Chaser, made by one of the country’s best coaster manufacturers, Rocky Mountain Construction.
Make your stance nice and wide for this straddle coaster, the kind you ride like a motorcycle, at Six Flags New England, in Agawam, Mass. These kinds of coasters work best when there’s plenty of track to traverse and take you on a trip, and that’s the case here, with Six Flags billing this as New England’s first dual-launch straddle coaster, meaning that it shoots riders up two separate times. You traverse an impressive 2,604 feet of track.
The ride, which plays up its steampunk theme with cars that look like time machines, gets moving pretty quickly out of the gate. Its initial launch sends you into a sharp upward turn. But it’s the second launch that makes all the difference, picking up more speed and propelling you higher. The ride, which has a top speed of 45 m.p.h., has some exciting moments where riders interact with the track, zooming over and under parts of it.
Open since this spring, it’s a welcome addition to Six Flags New England, which hadn’t had a new coaster since 2017.
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