The 25 Most Significant Theme Park Rides This Century

The Rides That Defined the 21^st Century, So Far

Take a look around the amusement industry. Notice all the creativity and innovation. Theme parks, as we enjoy them today, are spectacular because of the progress from yesteryear.

Groundbreaking rides throughout theme park history have paved the way for modern masterpieces and marvels. As for this century, monumental rides have pushed the industry even further.

Coming up, we’ll recognize the most significant theme park rides of the 21^st century, but first, let’s clarify what this list is.

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What are the Most “Significant” Rides?

This is a list of the 25 most “significant” theme park rides, specifically roller coasters and dark rides. To be considered significant, the attraction has to meet certain criteria like influence, achievements, exceptional quality, or longevity; not every ride featured will check all those boxes, but each is significant in its own way.

This is not necessarily a list of the “best” rides from this century; more specifically, this is a celebration of the most important attractions that have inspired and contributed to the betterment of the theme park industry. For instance, revolutionary rides that failed may not make the list, and newer attractions that have yet to make an impact may be excluded.

Of course, with only 25 spots available and countless attractions worldwide, many deserving rides will unfortunately not make the cut. Rides that are similar to other significant attractions may also be left out to avoid overlap.

To pull the curtain back, this was a difficult list to put together. I tried to be as objective as possible to avoid a list of my personal favorite rides. For full disclosure, I have not had the opportunity to ride about half the attractions on this list.

I had to be extremely selective to whittle it down to just 25 rides. Some choices were very close, and you will probably disagree with some. But, don’t worry; honorable mentions will be acknowledged throughout. Feel free to continue the conversation in the comments on YouTube.

With all that out of the way, here are the 25 most significant theme park rides since 2000, so far, presented in chronological order based on opening date.