The 25 Most Significant Theme Park Rides This Century

2010–2014

Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, Universal Islands of Adventure, 2010

The selections on this list are open for debate, but this next ride absolutely deserves a spot, no question about it. Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey at Universal Islands of Adventure is easily one of the most significant rides from this century.

It’s an impressive attraction in every way, from the realistic Hogwarts castle facade, to the detailed queue through the school, and on the technologically advanced ride itself. Using a KUKA robocoaster ride system, Forbidden Journey captures the magic of the Harry Potter franchise with a balance of practical and multi-media scenes.

Before opening The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in 2010, Universal Orlando Resort was falling short of its mousy competition across town. The success of The Wizarding World, which positioned Universal as a serious competitor, started a domino effect in the Orlando theme park market. Disney made major investments into fully immersive, single-intellectual-property worlds such as Pandora – The World of Avatar and Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.

Universal Orlando has flourished in the years since Forbidden Journey, debuting several world-class attractions and the $7 billion Epic Universe. That park’s most impressive attraction, Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment, is widely considered Universal’s finest work yet, and it was made possible by the innovations of none other than Forbidden Journey.

Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, also being featured at Universal Studios parks worldwide, was a breakthrough for Universal Orlando, and its significance has shaped the modern theme park industry.

New Texas Giant, Six Flags Over Texas, 2011

The next attraction on this list originally opened in 1990, but its 21^st-century steel overhaul—and the company behind it—twisted the coaster industry.

Rocky Mountain Construction, an attractions manufacturer out of Idaho, developed a roller coaster track type that could be installed on wooden supports for hybrid coaster conversions. RMC could repurpose and modify the structure of existing wooden coasters to support custom, modern layouts made from steel I-Box track.

Six Flags Over Texas, looking to improve the troubled Texas Giant, was the first park to hire RMC for its hybrid coaster transformation services.

Now topped with a red, ribbon-like steel track, New Texas Giant was nearly unrecognizable when it opened in 2011. RMC engineered the former wooden coaster to be taller, steeper, faster, and more extreme than before.

This was just the beginning for RMC and its twisted transformations. In the years since, RMC has manufactured some of the most admired coasters on the planet, including but not limited to Steel Vengeance at Cedar Point, Hakugei at Nagashima Spa Land, Iron Gwazi at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, Zadra at Energylandia, and ArieForce One at Fun Spot America Atlanta—the latter two being ground-up installations, not conversions of existing attractions.

RMC pushes the boundaries with its nontraditional elements, such as inventive inversions, beyond-vertical drops, and forceful airtime moments. This imaginative approach has likely been the inspiration for other manufacturers to be more experimental; some newer coasters feature more creative elements than in the past.

RMC’s work has reimagined the possibilities of coaster engineering. The one that started it all, New Texas Giant, certainly belongs alongside the most significant rides this century.

Radiator Springs Racers, Disney California Adventure Park, 2012

This next selection was a race between two Disney E-tickets: Journey to the Center of the Earth at Tokyo DisneySea and Radiator Springs Racers at Disney California Adventure Park.

Both these attractions make good use of the Test Track slot car system, mixing dark ride elements with moderately thrilling racing sections. Journey to the Center of the Earth is an exceptional original attraction that doubles as the icon of what many consider to be Disney’s most beautiful park. Radiator Springs Racers is arguably just as important to its respective park, being the standout attraction of California Adventure’s transformation.

With all due respect to Journey to the Center of the Earth, the ride experience of Radiator Springs Racers seems to be slightly more appreciated. For that, Radiator Springs Racers narrowly took the lead on this list.

The ride, which opened in 2012, is a spectacle from both the pathways and the passenger seat. Radiator Springs Racers is one of the very best Disney, and all theme parks this century, have to offer.

The Smiler, Alton Towers, 2013

Some rides are significant for their statistics. The record-breaking numbers mentioned, so far, speak volumes because of their magnitude: 300 feet, 400 feet, 120 mph, $100 million, and so on. By comparison, this next record-breaking number—14—is not nearly as massive, but it is just as impressive.

The Smiler, one of the revolutionary coasters at Alton Towers, holds the world record for most track inversions on a roller coaster: 14. That’s four more than any other operating coaster and twice as many as famous loopers have; none in North America have more than nine.

This Gerstlauer coaster, which flipped the record in 2013, reaches only about 50 mph at just under 100 feet tall. However, riders have 14 reasons to smile through its compact, disorienting layout. The variety of corkscrews, rolls, and dives are packed into two halves of the course, split by a vertical lift.

The Smiler is a dizzying yet mesmerizing coaster that is more than just a record holder. The record books and the coaster’s devoted fan base agree: The Smiler is one of the most significant rides this century.