New roller coasters, new thrills
Just like new businesses and apartment buildings can gentrify a neighborhood, the addition of new roller coasters can bring unprecedented new life to amusement parks. And with roller coaster season beginning, here's a look at the biggest and baddest new roller coasters speeding into American parks this year.
Some of 2015's thrill rides are completely new additions. Others -- like Twisted Colossus at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California -- are reimagined and reinforced classics.
Twisted Colossus
When Six Flags' iconic wooden coaster Colossus opened in 1978, it was the tallest and fastest roller coaster in the world.
In the 37 years since, it's been overtaken in those stats by newer steel coasters. So, in August of 2014, Six Flags closed the classic ride... but not for long.
They're reopening the California coaster this summer as the world's longest wood and steel hybrid; maintaining much of the original wooden structure fans loved, but adding in brand spanking new steel-enforced inversions that send riders head-over-heels.
Wicked Cyclone
The same company that's breathing new life into Colossus has also been busy modifying the notoriously rough coaster Cyclone at Six Flags New England in Agawam, Massachusetts...
Yet another anxiously anticipated hyrbid, rising like a phoenix from the ashes of an outdated wooden coaster, this summer.
Wicked Cyclone
The new and improved Wicked Cyclone, at Six Flags New England, will feature a series of thrilling inversions that its former wooden incarnation couldn't offer riders.
It will also be the first coaster of its kind to have a 200-degree stall and two zero-gravity rolls.
Fury 325
A "giga coaster," much sought after by thrill seekers the world over, is a ride that breaks the 300-foot height threshold.
And at a towering 325 feet, Fury 325 at Carowinds in Charlotte, North Carolina, reaches 95 miles per hour; rendering it the tallest and fastest giga coaster in the world.
Fury 325
North Carolina's newest coaster, Fury 325, stands 325 feet tall and offers riders a 3-minute 25-second bone-rattling trip.
It opened to the public on March 25, 2015.
You guessed it... 3/25.
Thunderbird
Thunderbird, the newest addition to Holiday World in Santa Claus, Indiana, is a what roller coaster enthusiasts call a "wing coaster."
That means, riders board extra-wide trains and are positioned on either side of the track with their legs dangling in the air.
Thunderbird
Thunderbird, a $22 million endeavor from famed Swiss designers Bolliger & Mabillard, will propel riders from 0-to-60 miles per hour in just 3.5 seconds. As such, this Indiana thrill ride will be the first wing coaster in the U.S. with a magnetic launch.
Like other coasters of its kind, Thunderbird will then appear to narrowly avert disaster, by turning on its side to pass through a small keyhole in a barn its racing toward, at the last possible second.
Batman: The Ride
From a wing coaster paying homage to a bird, to a wing coaster paying homage to a bat...
Batman: The Ride is 2015's newest addition to Six Flags Fiesta Texas in San Antonio.
Batman: The Ride
The world's first "4D" wing coaster, Batman: The Ride will feature seats that rotate independently in the fourth dimension; offering riders a slew of unscripted spins, in addition to the inversions on the coaster's course.
With its innovative "free spin" feature, this Dark Knight-themed coaster is not for the faint of heart. Even its POV promotional video, seen here, can be tough to watch at times.
So, if your dad isn't a fan of flips and dives, it'll probably be a Dark Knight in hell before he escorts you on this disorienting Texas thrill ride.
Impulse
Knoebels Amusement Park in Elysburg, Pennsylvania is a hotspot for coaster enthusiasts, who prefer traditional wooden structures to soaring steel ones.
However, this summer, the family-run park is unveiling its first major steel coaster: Impulse.
Impulse
Impulse -- a looping steel coaster with 2,000 feet of track -- is the largest construction project in Knoebels history.
In addition to upside-down loops, Impulse will feature a top hat hill, heartline and cobra rolls, and a 90-degree free fall drop.
In short, it's a major coaster score for Central Pennsylvania.
Laff Trakk
In a year of many roller coaster firsts, Laff Trakk is certainly one of the most unique ones.
The newest addition to Hershey Park in Hershey, Pennsylvania, Laff Trakk is the country's first indoor, spinning glow-coaster.
What does that mean exactly? It means this ride is a cross between a roller coaster and a fun house ride.
Laff Trakk
Arguably, the most intriguing coaster in the 2015 lineup, Laff Trakk sends riders through a series of loops and high-banked curves... all inside a black-lit funhouse.
Oh yeah, and -- a la Batman -- it does so in cars that spin 360 degrees, independently of the scripted twists and turns in the track.
So, imagine funhouse gags intertwined with gags of nausea, and you probably have a pretty good grasp on the Pennsylvania's Laff Trakk experience.
Tempesto
Tempesto -- the newest addition at Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, Virginia -- is based on the classic Italian daredevil Tempesto.
And as such, it sends riders on a wild ride to recreate his signature stunt.
Tempesto
Riders on Virginia's newest coaster, Tempesto, will race into super tight turns and defy gravity, as they roll through a complete inversion, 154 feet in the air.
Tempesto also has three separate launches, which propel rider up to 63 miles per hour.
Cannibal
Cannibal -- the new mega-coaster at Lagoon Amusement Park in Farmington, Utah -- swallows riders whole, as they race 70 miles per hour and reach 4.5 Gs of force.
Its most notable feature is a 116-degree free fall through an underground tunnel.
For those of you counting, that's a drop angled beyond 90-degrees... a.k.a. beyond straight down. So, hold on to your hats.
Switchback
Switchback -- the 2015 addition to ZDT's Amusement Park in Seguin, Texas -- is the world's first and only wooden shuttle coaster.
It is inspired by America's first ever roller coaster, Coney Island's Switchback Railway, which opened in 1884 and shuttled riders back and forth along a straight wooden track at 6 miles per hour.
Switchback
Switchback -- the modern locomotive-themed coaster at ZDT's Amusement Park in Texas -- will allow riders to run the entire course of the track twice without sacrificing the initial over-hill drop, by employing a track switch at the end.
Rougarou
2015, it seems, is a year, in which what's old is new again.
So -- just like Six Flags Magic Mountain and Six Flags New England -- Cedar Point Amusement Park in Sandusky, Ohio has resurrected a coaster past its prime as a cutting edge new ride, named Rougarou.
Rougarou
A rougarou is a creature from Laurentian French lore, similar to a werewolf.
So, appropriately, its namesake coaster dives down 137 feet into the depths of a watery swamp, heaving riders through howl-inducing twists and hairy inversions.
Puns aside, though, thrill seekers across middle America are anxiously awaiting Ohio's newest coaster, with fingers crossed it's as legendary as the creature its named for.
