=2. Cedar Point (17)
With decades of records and international fame, Cedar Point earns the top spot with 17 coasters. Image via Cedar Point.
What Cedar Point loses in variety it more than makes up for with publicity, fame, and records. The much-toted Roller Coaster Wars of the late 1990s and early 2000s are over, but Cedar Point still has four massive coasters as a testament to the era. And as the first park to break the 100 foot, 200 foot, 300 foot, and 400 foot records with Gemini, Magnum XL-200, Millennium Force, and Top Thrill Dragster respectively, a day at Cedar Point is a coaster lover’s utopia.
Even beyond the “big name” rides, Cedar Point’s Raptor is still a fantastic testament to the force of B&M’s Inverted coaster line, and tallest-of-their-kind rides like Wicked Twister still make for a one-two punch of thrill. In recent years, the park has also worked to expand its family offerings, adding unique, massive flat rides and pronounced kids’ areas for a well-rounded experience, and with Disneyland’s former CEO at the helm of Cedar Fair, we expect that trend to continue. However, new coasters are still very much in the pipeline - and Dive Coaster Valravn made its debut in 2016.
The unassuming Maverick lacks the overwhelming statistics of its peers, but has often come to trump them in popular opinion. Image via Cedar Fair.
Don’t miss: Maverick, the park’s 2007 addition was lamented at its original announcement for foregoing the height and speed of the park’s then-recent record-breaking additions in favor of a “measly” 100 foot drop. The ride’s surprise, though, is in its low-to-the-ground maneuvering through faux canyons set against Ohio’s Lake Erie. Plus, the ninety-five degree drop, rugged slaloming and surprise mid-course launch tunnel earned it a seat of respect among the park’s greatest, with many rating it better than the park’s famed Millennium Force when push comes to shove.
1. Six Flags Magic Mountain (19)
Constructed along hillsides and mountaintops, Magic Mountain is Southern California's thrill park. Image via Six Flags.
Six Flags Magic Mountain – a longtime flagship of the huge park operator – has filled its impressively large collection with a “one of each” type strategy, often opting for cutting-edge technology and supersized versions of classics. Apocalypse: The Ride is a brand-new GCI wooden coaster; Batman: The Ride is a clone of the famous Illinois inverter; Green Lantern: First Flight brought Intamin’s odd ZacSpin technology to America; Superman: Escape from Krypton retro-fitted Intamin’s LSM launch, 400-foot tower ride with backwards-facing cars; Tatsu is heralded as one of the finest examples of B&M’s flying coaster; even the park’s Ninja is one of the few remaining Arrow suspended coasters on Earth. A new family coaster for 2014 brought the park's coaster count up to a ridiculous 19.
The first wing-seat coaster allows full rotation of the seats independent of the track. Photo by Micke Kazarnowicz
Don’t miss: It’s Magic Mountain’s X that redefined the possibilities of the roller coaster, with it’s winged, “4th dimension” style train using an inner guide rail to dictate inversions of the free-swinging seats even along straight track. The endeavor bankrupted the Arrow Dynamics company, but the end result was a truly incredible ride. In 2008, the ride reopened as X2, sporting a new paint scheme, on-ride audio, and flame effects that again pushed the boundaries of theme park variety.
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This past week Cedar Point had a visitor killed by the Raptor roller coaster when the visitor scaled a security fence and entered the restricted area under the ride, to retrieve personal items that had fallen from the coaster when they wrode it.