Roller Coasters
The ups, the downs, the ins, the outs, reviews, tips, news, info, and more about the enduring and reigning king of the amusement park: the roller coaster.
About.com's top-10 picks for the best wood and steel roller coasters.
Do you have a need for speed? Want to test your mettle against the world's speediest metal behemoths? The world's 10 fastest roller coasters are all made of steel (no wood coaster currently cracks the list), come in a variety of designs, and use an assortment of launch systems to catapult their rides into the record books. Hang on tight. Five of the fastest roller coasters reach or exceed 100 mph.
Roller coasters are often known for their speed. But in order to reach mind-numbing speeds, they have to first scale vertigo-inducing heights (at least in traditional non-launched coasters). The world's ten tallest roller coasters listed here make the grade for having the ten tallest drops. Since some of the coasters have underground tunnels or are built into ravines, they aren't necessarily rank…
The top 10 most overrated roller coasters aren't necessarily terrible coasters. But they are overrated in the sense that they don't meet expectations. These are the 10 roller coasters in North America that leave me the most disappointed.
Discover the new roller coasters that theme parks and amusement parks have introduced through the years.
Six Flags Great Adventure will be unleashing Kingda Ka (Swahili for "omigod, what a ride"), a record-shattering rocket coaster, in 2005. Check out my preview and read the amazing stats for this monster.
You go up, you go down, you scream. What more do you need to know about roller coasters? Plenty. Decode the different types of coasters and learn roller coaster lingo by referring to this handy glossary of terms.
In this clip from the series finale of the TV show, "Gilmore Girls," Lorelei mentions "About.com's Arthur Levine" as the mother and daughter discuss roller coasters.
If you're like me, looking at pictures of coasters and reading about them is almost like sneaking a peek at a men's magazine: Wow, look at the curves on that baby! If you're not like me, praise the lord. If you too have a curious fascination with thrill machines however, here are some great books to satisfy your urges. Just keep them out of sight from your children.
