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Have you ever ridden a coaster that scared you silly? Which is the biggest and baddest in YOUR book?
Superman the Escape
Six Flags Magic Mountain
Valencia, California
No cape required:
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Faster than a speeding bullet and sparkling new, "Superman the Escape" at Six Flags Magic Mountain has eclipsed coasters from California to Krypton. The L-shaped, steel contraption claims top spot on the coaster charts as both the fastest (100 mph) and tallest (415 feet) in the world. Forget leaping tall buildings -- this supercoaster slams straight up 41 stories, leaves rattled riders weightless for 6.5 seconds, then plummets back to base.
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The Cyclone
Coney Island
Brooklyn, New York
Ride like the wind:
One of the best-known roller
coasters in the United States is Coney Island's "Cyclone," a 100-second, nine-hill coaster which opened in 1927. Just because it's a septuagenarian doesn't mean it's tame. With a 58.6-degree elevation, "Cyclone" is one of the steepest wooden coasters in the world, and -- by many breathless accounts -- one of the most thrilling. It was named a National Monument in 1991.
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The Wildcat
Hersheypark
Hershey, Pennsylvania
Here kitty, kitty:
"The Wildcat" at Hersheypark shows that no matter how fancy those high-tech, high-speed, multi-helixed, steel-track scream machines get, there's nothing like the rumble of a wooden coaster oscillating in your molars. This newcomer's no kiddie ride, despite its classic airs: "The Wildcat," which opened last spring, covers two acres in a knot of over-unders that begins with an 85-foot plunge and tops out at a respectably follicle-flapping 40 mph.
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White Cyclone
Nagashima Spaland
Mie Prefecture, Japan
Ride it if you dare:
At Nagashima Spaland in Mie Prefecture, Japan, it doesn't matter if you can't speak the native tongue -- as long as you can scream. The park's "White Cyclone," just three years old, is one of the largest wooden roller coasters in the world. It is built entirely of Southern Yellow Pine which was imported from the United States.
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Magnum XL-200
Cedar Point
Sandusky, Ohio
Bite the bullet:
The first drop is a doozy on Cedar Point's "Magnum XL-200." At 60 degrees and 205 feet, the inaugural hill is one of the steepest in the world's coaster coterie. And that's just the start -- the roughly two-minute ride reaches 72 mph as it whips through three tunnels and full-force fresh air on 5,106 feet of steel tubular track. For the truly coaster-crazed, Cedar Point has 11 other roller coasters (including one for kids), more than any other park in the world.
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