Six Flags is well regarded for its roller coasters, with good reason. Its parks are loaded with dizzying, scream-inducing thrill machines.
Six Flags is well regarded for its roller coasters, with good reason. Its parks are loaded with dizzying, scream-inducing thrill machines. Adrenaline-craving visitors love the coasters for many reasons including the crazy heights they scale, the stomach-churning G-forces they impose, the wild acceleration they offer, the topsy-turvy moments they deliver, and the face-melting speeds they reach. But, mostly, it's the speed.
Let's run down the 10 fastest coasters at the Six Flags chain of parks. Get ready for some extreme, knee-buckling rides.
10. 72 m.p.h. – Goliath at Six Flags Great America, Gurnee, Ill.
Opened in 2014, Goliath is a modern-day wooden coaster with a modified track that allows its trains to go upside down. It also enables them to go very fast. Goliath currently ranks as the tallest, steepest, and fastest wooden coaster in the world, and is the only woodie to make Six Flags' top 10 list. Despite its intense speed, inversions, and wooden structure, it is a remarkably smooth ride.
8. (tie) 73 m.p.h. – Superman: Ride of Steel at Six Flags America, Upper Marlboro, Md.
Known as a "hypercoaster," which refers to thrill machines that soar at least 200 feet, Supes' first drop dives 205 feet and tops out at a faster-than-a-speeding-bullet 73 mph. Like most of the rides on the list, it foregoes inversions and instead focuses on velocity and G-forces.
8. (tie) 73 m.p.h. – Raging Bull at Six Flags Great America, Gurnee, Ill.
At 208 feet, it's got a heck of a first drop. The G-forces on Raging Bull are surprisingly tame, however. While its drop is similar and its speed is identical to Superman: Ride of Steel, the Maryland ride really pours on the Gs. Raging Bull is especially deficient in delivering negative G-forces, the giddy out-of-your-seat sensation also known as "airtime."
7. 76 m.p.h. – X2 at Six Flags Magic Mountain, Valencia, Calif.
The unique "5D" coaster has seats that straddle both sides of the track and can spin 360 degrees independent of the train's own flips and twists. The result is a highly disorienting (in a good way) ride, especially when passengers are careening at 76 mph.
6. 77 m.p.h. – Bizarro at Six Flags New England, Agawam. Mass.
The Superman-themed ride features some of the giddiest airtime of any coaster on the planet (that's Earth, not Krypton). Its byzantine course sends riders diving into two fog-enshrouded, underground tunnels. Bizarro is, in my estimation (and I've ridden plenty of rails), the best steel coaster in the country.
5. 80 m.p.h. – Nitro at Six Flags Great Adventure, Jackson, N.J.
Like Bizarro, Nitro is another deliriously smooth hypercoaster that rewards riders with explosive bursts of negative and positive G-forces. Thanks to the precision engineering of its Swiss manufacturer, the ride is both breathlessly fast and remarkably agile.
3. (tie) 85 m.p.h. – Goliath at Six Flags Magic Mountain, Valencia, Calif.
While it bears the same name as the Great America ride on the list (and other coasters in the Six Flags chain), this Goliath is an entirely different beast. This version sends its passengers screaming into a punishing helix that crushes them with powerful positive G-forces.
3. (tie) 85 m.p.h. – Titan at Six Flags Over Texas, Arlington, Texas
Made by the same manufacturer and featuring a similar layout (as well as the same speed) as Magic Mountain's Goliath, Titan also includes a bone-crunching helix element.
2. 100 m.p.h. – Superman: Escape from Krypton at Six Flags Magic Mountain, Valencia, Calif.
The third Magic Mountain coaster to make the list, Superman reaches superhero speeds thanks to its groundbreaking magnetic launch system. With passengers facing backwards, its trains blast straight out of the loading station at an even 100 mph and race about 400 feet up an L-shaped track. After a few seconds of airborne weightlessness, they plummet back down to terra firma at 92 mph.
1. 128 m.p.h. – Kingda Ka at Six Flags Great Adventure, Jackson, N.J.
When Kingda Ka debuted in 2005, it was the world's tallest (456 feet) and fastest coaster. It still lays claim to the height record but has since been eclipsed by a faster coaster in the United Arab Emirates. Still, Kingda Ka's 128 m.p.h. hydraulic launch is a mind-blowing (if gut-wrenching) experience. After rocketing straight up the "top hat" tower, the trains freefall 90 degrees down the other side at brain-curdling speeds.
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