Rollercoasters – they have their ups and downs…

It’s hard to keep ‘track’ of these high speed stats!

Rollercoasters, of sorts, have been around since the 16th century, although the first types of coasters recorded consisted mostly of large slides made out of ice in Russia

It wasn’t until the 1800s that Coasters made of wood first appeared in Western Europe, and then steel rides after that in the mid-20th century

What’s the oldest rollercoaster, and which are still in operation today?

The first structure that could properly be called a “rollercoaster” was the Promenades-Aériennes, or “The Aerial Walk” in Paris in 1817. The ride was 24 metres at its highest, travelled at 40 miles per hour (mph) and was almost 200 metres long

The oldest ride still in operation today is the woode Leap-the-Dips ride at Lakemont Park, USA, which opened in 1902 (120 years). The oldest steel ride still in operation today is the Montaña Suiza at Parque de Atracciones Monte Igueldo in San Sebastián, Spain, which opened in 1923 (99 years)

The oldest British ride still in operational is often thought to be the Big Dipper which opened at Blackpool pleasure beach in 1923, but it is in fact the Scenic Railway ride at Dreamland Margate, opened in 1920

The first rollercoaster was constructed in 1817 in Paris, reaching 24 metres high and a max speed of 40 mph

Nowadays, rollercoasters are much safer than these original rides but can be just as, if not more, thrilling

How many rollercoasters are there today?

There are over 3,000 rollercoasters around the world, with at least one on every continent other than Antarctica

The United States has the most rollercoasters globally with 624, followed by Japan (240) and the UK (160)

Six Flags Magic Mountain in California, USA, has the most rollercoasters of any park, at 20, followed by Energylandia in Poland (19) and Canada’s Wonderland (17)

Where is the most popular Theme Park?

The theme park with the most annual visitors is Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom in Orlando, Florida, USA, which has 20.9 million visitors in 2019, not including any of Disney’s other three parks in Florida

Overall, Disney had the four most visited parks globally in 2019 including Disneyland California, Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea as runners ups

Because of the pandemic, Disney fell out of the top spot behind Song Dynasty Town in Songcheng, China, which had 7 million visitors in 2020 behind Disney Magic Kingdom’s 6.9 million

Which rides hold the records for best rollercoaster?

There is no way to determine exactly which ride is the best in the world, but there are a number of ways which theme park owners will compete against each other to try and earn this accolade. Here are some examples of current world records for rollercoasters:

• Tallest: Kingda Ka at Six Flags Great Adventure, USA - 139m tall (roughly the same as a 45-story sky scraper)
• Longest: Steel Dragon 2000 at Nagashima Spa Land, Japan - 2,473m long (equivalent to 23.5 football fields, if the track was spread in a straight line)
• Fastest: Formula Rossa at Ferrari World, Abi Dhabi - 149 mph max speed
• Most inversions*: The Smiler at Alton Towers, UK, and Eejanaika at Fuji-Q Highland, Japan - 14 inversions
• Highest G-Force: Tower of Terror at Gold Reef City, South Africa - 6.3 G’s (similar to the highest G’s experienced in Formula 1)

Although not necessarily a stat (and no records are broken) it is widely agreed in the rollercoaster community that the following rides could be considered the best and most thrilling rides in the world (based on public opinion alone):

• Steel Vengeance at Cedar Point, USA
• El Toro at Six Flags Great Adventure, USA
• Twisted Colossus at Six Flags Magic Mountain, USA
• Iron Gwazi at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, USA

Three of these are the new RMC hybrid steel-wood model, a coaster type that has taken the world by storm. It can also be used to renovate old wooden coasters to create a new ride layout and encourage sustainable coaster replacements

There are also some less desired records:

• Most expensive: Expedition Everest, a yeti-themed ride at the Animal Kingdom in Disney World Florida, USA, which cost $100 million when it was constructed in 2006
• Most deadly accident: The Big Dipper in London, UK, in 1972. This crash was caused when the chain lift snapped and resulted in the deaths of 5 people, plus another 13 injuries

But are they really safe for me to go on?

Overall, theme park rides are safe to go on with a 13 million to 1 chance of being killed (compared to a 700,000 to 1 chance of being struck by lightning)

Globally, c. 30,000 people suffer some form of injury from a ride, although the majority of these being minor and only a handful dying in the last decade

For example, there were 63 deaths from rollercoasters in the US between 1987–2000, or 4.5 deaths per year

Nowadays, deaths are even more uncommon but can still happen. The most recent, well known incident being with a child who fell from a drop tower ride in ICON Park in Orlando, Florida, USA in March 2022

And the final award…

Most dangerous theme park: Action Park in New Jersey, USA. 6 people died between 1980-87, on top of a number of other severe injuries, before closing in 1996 because of the number of lawsuits that had been filed against the park

To find out more about Entertainment, check out one of our other GoodStats:

• Our 12 points go to… In the words of Eurovision Legend Jon Old Sand, ‘take it away!’
• Cuz reading this article is whaaat? FUN-DA-MEN-TAL!
• Everything is Awesome! Suitable for ages 4–99

Inversions*: an inversion is a single loop where the ride goes upside down before returning to the correct way up

Source: NPR; Nation Master; Coasterpedia Parks; Coasterpedia Records; Flowracers; Guiness World Records; Mission Legal Centre; Far And Wide; BMW Law; Travel and Leisure; Park DB;