Stop What You’re Doing Right Now, Because Here’s A List Of The Best Amusement Attractions Around The Country!
The general consensus amongst theme park/roller coaster nerds is that the best rides are divided into sort of sub-categories, with which I'll try and give a few of the most widely-loved in each.
Producer’s note: Someone on Quora asked: What are the coolest amusement park rides in America? Here is one of the best answers that’s been pulled from the thread. Thank you to the team at Quora for making this happen!
The general consensus amongst theme park/roller coaster nerds is that the best rides are divided into sort of sub-categories, with which I’ll try and give a few of the most widely-loved in each.
Thrilling Theme Park Attractions
- Spiderman at Islands of Adventure
- Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey at Islands of Adventure
- Splash Mountain Disneyland and Walt Disney World (WDW’s is better, though)
- Test Track at Walt Disney World
- Big Thunder Mountain at DL and WDW
- Expedition Everest at WDW
- Tower of Terror at DL and WDW (WDW’s is better)
Dark Rides and the tamer themed attractions
- Haunted Mansion at DL and WDW
- Pirates of the Caribbean at DL and WDW (DL’s is much better)
- Peter Pan at DL and WDW
- Soarin’ over California at DL and WDW
Roller Coasters (this is a very abbreviated list, preferences are strong and varied, but these are some of what are generally considered the best)
Wooden:
- The Voyage and Raven, both at Holiday World
- El Toro at Six Flags Great Adventure
- Boulder Dash at Lake Compounce
- The Phoenix at Knoebel’s
- Tennessee Tornado at Dollywood
Steel:
- Bizarro at Six Flags New England
- Dragons’ Challenge at Islands of Adventure
- Millennium Force at Cedar Point
- Diamondback at King’s Island
- Goliath at Six Flags Over Georgia
And then, if we’re talking rides that are just really cool but not necessarily the best, I would add these:
- Kingda Ka at Six Flags Great Adventure and Top Thrill Dragster at Cedar Point (basically the same thing)
- Grizzly River Rapids at Disney’s California Adventure
- Maverick at Cedar Point
- The New Texas Giant at Six Flags Over Texas
- Hades at Mt. Olympus
- Men in Black at Universal Studios Florida
- Matterhorn at Disneyland (first ever tubular steel track roller coaster)
- Toy Story Midway Mania DL and WDW (awesome interactive game format)
- Kilamanjaro Safaris at WDW
- Powder Keg at Silver Dollar City
Mind you this is not a definitive or ranked list, just rides that consistently come up in conversations regarding this topic.
