4. Leviathan (2012)

Location: Canada's Wonderland
Opened: 2012
Height / drop: 306 / 306
Manufacturer: Bolliger & Mabillard

Remember those three B&M hypercoasters gifted to the former Paramount Parks – Canada's Wonderland, King Island, and Carowinds? The installation at Canada's Wonderland had been the 230-foot tall Behemoth – named for a Biblical beast holding dominion over the land – living up to its name by towering over the park with almost-poetic parabolic airtime hills in its out-and-back layout. Like all B&Ms – but especially their crowd-pleasing, inversion-free hypercoasters – Behemoth was a fitting "big" coaster for any self-respecting thrill park. (Despite feeling ubiquitous, 200+ foot tall coasters are still a relative rarity, and serve as very good "anchor" attractions for thrill parks.)

So you can understand the shock and awe when Cedar Fair announced that despite just having gotten Behemoth in 2008, Wonderland's 2012 season would introduce its sister: Leviathan, Biblical monster of the seas. Leviathan would be a gigacoaster – only the fourth on Earth, mind you! – but not just any gigacoaster. It would be the first 300-foot beast built by B&M.

By most any account, Leviathan is a legend. In keeping with B&M "tradition," its four-across trains and soaring layout are butter smooth, high-capacity, and incredibly beautiful. 

If there's a complaint to be had (which, of course, only coaster snobs would bother having), it's that Leviathan is... well... not much different than Behemoth. Sure, it's 70 feet taller – which is nothing to sneeze at – but ultimately, B&M's gigacoaster feels... a lot like its hypercoaster: soaring airtime hills, perfect parabolas, and giant, sweeping turns. It's a whole lot of fun, and certainly a bigger ride than its sister... but not a fundamentally different one. 

And therein lies the trade-off, right? B&M is tried-and-true; trustworthy; reliable; generally appealing. Operationally, any park would want a B&M over a risky Intamin with its snapped elevator cables, exclusionary intensity, reprofiling, and infamous downtime. But does a park with a B&M hyper need a B&M giga? We'll let you decide, but Cedar Fair certainly has... After all...

5. Fury 325 (2015)

Location: Carowinds
Opened: 2015
Height / drop: 325 / 320
Manufacturer: Bolliger & Mabillard

In the 2010s, Cedar Fair started to get serious about Carowinds – a former-Paramount Park that straddles the border between North and South Carolina. Time and time again, then-CEO Matt Ouimet referred to the park as a "Cedar Point of the South" waiting to be developed – a park low on competitors and high on potential. Its own NASCAR-themed B&M hyper (plain-old "Intimidator," no 305) opened in 2010 as the beginning of that investment.

And just like Canada's Wonderland, five years later, Cedar Fair announced an even larger follow-up. Named in homage to the Charlotte Hornets NBA team, Fury 325 at least feels like a bit more of an experiment for B&M, and a divergence from the hypercoaster model. Fury tests out some unorthodox maneuvers that feel drawn from the Intamin and even RMC playbook! 

Technically both the world's tallest (325 feet) and fastest (95 mph) gigacoaster, its first half isn't continuous, parabolic airtime hills, but low-to-the-ground twists, speed straightaways, and unusual banking. Even the turnaround of its out-and-back layout skips the traditional hammerhead turn or overbanked turn common on B&M hypers in favor of a rising treble clef, and the return trip of the 6,602 foot long ride keeps up the personality. Fury feels different! It's a very, very good coaster, and a great omen for B&M gigacoasters going forward! Including...

6. Orion (2020)

Location: Kings Island
Opened: 2020
Height / drop: 287 / 300
Manufacturer: Bolliger & Mabillard

Once more, Cedar Fair returned to the home of one of its B&M hypers for a giga-sized encore... but this one took a while. In the gulf between 2009's Diamondback and its 2020 giga follow-up, Kings Island did add a B&M inverted coaster (2014's Banshee) and a GCI woodie (2017's Mystic Timbers) leaving fans guessing that – for one reason or another – they simply weren't going to follow Wonderland and Carowind's hyper-giga pattern.

However, the 2018 retirement of Firehawk (a Vekoma flying coaster salvaged from Geauga Lake) opened a beautiful plot of land in the park's sci-fi-themed zone, and after leveling some of the forest that surrounds the park, the blazing blue Orion arose. 

Arguably, Diamondback & Orion share the same kind of relationship as Behemoth & Leviathan in that they come across as a little "same-y" – same trains, same out-and-back skeleton, same airtime hills, etc. such that even casual guests could probably note their relationship. That's not necessarily a bad thing – just an odd thing, and for some, a testament to the need for for custom coasters packed with personality over B&M's beautiful-if-bland creations.

Obviously, Orion is an immense thrill with a breathtaking first drop and a unique helix finale... but it's also the shortest of the gigacoasters (and actually, shorter than several hypercoasters). In fact, its iconic first drop leads to a unique, 174-foot tall banked airtime hill (very cool!), which is then immediately followed by the ride's turnaround to head on back toward the station – an odd use of the park's limitless forested space. Despite it all, make no mistake: Orion is a triumph, and one of the most amazing coasters on Earth... so far...

But the story isn't over... and you may be surprised where the next gigacoaster – only the seventh in the entire world – is rumored to be heading...