There are over 250 hundred amusement parks across the United States, ranging from small local traditional parks to giant corporate parks featuring everything from kiddie rides to wild looping roller coasters. Among these parks, several of them offer America’s most exciting rides and attractions, including Cedar Point, Six Flags Magic Mountain and Six Flags Great Adventure.
Cedar Point, Sandusky, Ohio
Sandusky’s 364 acre Cedar Point, often referred to as America’s Roller Coast, gets its nickname from its breathtaking location on a peninsula extending into Lake Erie. The scenery adds to the thrilling fun of Cedar Point’s exciting rides that reach up to 420 feet in the air! It is the only amusement park in the world to feature four roller coasters that are taller than 200 feet, debuting with the Magnum XL-200 in 1989. The 310 foot Millennium Force opened in 2000, followed by the 215 foot Wicked Twister in 2002 and 420 foot Top Thrill Dragster in 2003!
Altogether, Cedar Point is home to 15 roller coasters and is preparing to debut its newest thrill machine, Gatekeeper, in 2013. In addition to the coaster lineup, the park features an amazing assortment of exciting rides sure to please thrill seekers of all ages. The maXair attraction is a giant spinning pendulum ride that swings to a height of 140 feet, while the Skyhawk is a huge pendulum swing ride reaching swoops up to 125 feet in the air! Not for the faint of heart, Cedar Point’s 300 foot Power Tower offers riders a choice of blasting up the tower or being raised up slowly to the top only to be dropped at a freefall. The 301 foot Windseeker, one of the tallest swing rides in the world, gives rides a beautiful view of the park and Lake Erie at the top of its tower.
Six Flags Great Adventure, Jackson, New Jersey
Nestled in beautiful wooded property just miles from New Jersey’s busy Turnpike, Six Flags Great Adventure is the world’s largest amusement park featuring an incredible assortment of thrill rides, family rides and even a Wild Safari animal park attraction. The park currently features 13 amazing roller coasters, including some of the most exciting in America.
Kingda Ka, the world’s tallest roller coaster, climbs a height of 456 feet via a train launched at 128 miles per hour in 3.5 seconds! Six Flags Great Adventure’s El Toro wooden roller coaster opened in 2006 to rave reviews and is currently the fastest wooden coaster in the world. As if these two were not enough, the 230 foot steel Nitro coaster, Bizarro floorless coaster and Green Lantern stand-up coaster provide delight among thrill seekers.
Six Flags Magic Mountain, Valencia, California
Located north of Los Angeles in the suburb of Valencia, Six Flags Magic Mountain claims the title of having the most roller coasters of any amusement park in the world! Many of Six Flags Magic Mountain’s coasters also feature unique designs not found anywhere else. The X2 roller coaster features a train with seats that can flip along the twisted course, and Superman: Escape from Krypton launches riders up a 415 tower at speeds of up to 100 miles per hour.
In an incredible move, Six Flags Magic Mountain added a drop ride to Superman: Escape from Krypton’s structure in 2012, resulting in the world’s tallest drop tower ride! Other notable thrilling coasters include the Tatsu flying coaster, the seven-loop Viper and the stand-up coaster, Riddler’s Revenge.
Kevin Caldwell is a creative writer for www.bellinghamairporthotels.com. Kevin travels often and enjoys sharing tips and advice with others who are planning trips.
