Roller coasters are built for safety. But that fact does not comfort some fans who are not yet ready to fly heels over head on an inverting coaster. Yet even fans who are okay with wild inversions sometimes like to choose coasters that keep you upright, above the track. With no inversions to provide thills, the best non-inverting coasters rely on speed, show, and airtime to keep their fans coming back, again and again.
According to Theme Park Insider readers, here are the 10 best roller coasters without inversions in the United States. Let's start the countdown at number 10.
10. The Voyage, Holiday World
This Gravity Group hybrid coaster offers a wood track atop a steel frame, allowing for a wild through the Indiana wilderness, reaching a top speed of 67 mph that often feels much faster.
9. Phoenix, Knoebels Amusement Resort
The oldest coaster on our list, this 1985 Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters production wins raves from fans for its classic wooden coaster ride.
8. Mako, SeaWorld Orlando
This Bolliger & Mabillard Hyper drops riders down a 200-foot hill at 73 mph, making it one of the top thrill rides in the theme park capital of the world.
7. Expedition Everest, Disney's Animal Kingdom
Probably the most ridden coaster on our list, thanks to its location at Walt Disney World, this custom Vekoma creation is known for its surprise halfway through.
6. Lightning Rod, Dollywood
Rocky Mountain Construction is known for wild designs that twist former wooden coasters in all sorts of fresh directions, but this original RMC production goes for raw speed instead twisting inversions. A new lift hill also has improved uptime for this popular coaster.
5. El Toro, Six Flags Great Adventure
Intamin's 4,400-foot wooden beast uses a prefabricated track to accomplish specs previously seen just from steel coasters, including a 176-foot drop and 70-mph top speed.
4. Project 305, Kings Dominion
Losing its Intimidator branding this year, Kings Dominion's Intamin Giga continues to wow fans with its 90-mph top speed.
3. Fury 325, Carowinds
This Bolliger & Mabillard Hyper goes even faster, topping out at 95 mph, making it one of the faster coasters in America.
2. Millennium Force, Cedar Point
Another Intamin Giga, Millennium Force remains one of the most popular coasters on America's Roller Coast - Cedar Point on the shore of Lake Erie in Ohio.
1. Hagrid's Magical Creature Motorbike Adventure, Universal's Islands of Adventure
But our number one is another new Orlando classic. Set in the Forbidden Forest of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Hagrid's is a master class not just in magical creatures but also storytelling on a thrill ride.
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I really think that Cosmic Rewind has to be in this list. It is like Space Mountain, Aerosmith, and Gringotts all came together. Seriously fun.
I would tend to agree about GotG:CR, but I think from a coaster standpoint, it's pretty mediocre. As a complete attraction, CR is world class, but if you eliminate all the show, it would probably rank below most other WDW coasters.
The one that I think is missing here is Phantom's Revenge which I would place in the bottom third of this list.
There are a few other coasters meeting the criteria I'd personally put above some on this list: Phantom's Revenge, Superman the Ride, and Skyrush. While rides like Expedition Everest or Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure are undoubtedly fantastic attractions, from a coaster perspective I'd say most quality hyper/mega coasters outrank them, as do several of the non-inverting launch coasters out there.
Delighted to see El Toro and Project 305, the latter of which is not ranked very high in some coaster polls,on this list. Agree with Russell and AJ that Phantom's Revenge merits a spot on this list. Mako is OK but nothing special. The latter part of the ride is weak and after a while all of these B&M hypers tend to blend together.
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What no Cosmic Rewind?