Summer is coming and you know what that means! Back sweat, boob sweat and amusement parks. So in spirit of the new season, here are a list of the craziest, scariest and most idiotic rides around the world.
10. Superman: Ride of Steel (Six Flags New England)
Superman: Ride of Steel is located in Six Flags New England in Agawam, Massachusetts. Being voted as one of the best rollercoasters in the U.S.,Superman: Ride of Steel brings you up almost twenty stories and drops you right back down going at a speed of around 75mph. The ride of fun, fast and extremely frightening.
9. Wicked Twister (Cedar Point)
Wicked Twister is located at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio and earns a spot on this list for being downright scary. The ride shoots you at a speed of 50mph and as you head up the spiraling track, the track seems to end and almost pushes you off the ride, before lowering back and doing the same thing backwards. Just the idea of the track ending right before your eyes is scary enough to make it onto this list.
8. Big One (Blackpool Pleasure Beach)
Big One, formally known as Pepsi Max Big One (a nice, subtle name), is located at Blackpool Pleasure Beach in Blackpool, Lancashire in the U.K. Though this ride has crazy, steep drops reaching heights of 235 feet, that’s not the reason that Big One made it on to the list. The ride has injured a total of 42 people due to brake failure as well as other technically difficulties. The ride remains open to this day.
7. Verrückt (Schlitterbahn Waterpark)
Verrückt, located at Schlitterbahn Waterpark in Kansas City, opened in 2014 and was known as the world’s tallest waterslide standing at 168 ft and 7 in. The ride even got voted as the world’s “New Best Waterpark Ride” at the 2014 Golden Ticket Awards. Things quickly took a turn however, when Caleb Schwab, a ten year old boy, died while riding the slide. The raft he was on went airborne and the boy was decapitated by a metal safety bar at the end of the ride. On November 22, 2016, the ride was officially demolished.
6. Eejanaika (Fuji Q Highland Theme Park)
Eejanaika is located at Fuji Q Highland in Fujiyoshida, Japan. The ride is taking the claim on being one of the first 4D rides, as the seats spin in a full circle while riding the coaster track. This coaster is labeled in the Guinness Book of World Records for being a coaster with the most inversions, tallying off at 14.
5. Kingda Ka (Six Flags Great Adventure)
Kingda Ka, located at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, NJ, is definitely one of the scariest rides in the world. The appeal to some of Kingda Ka is the height and steep drop that awaits. The scary thing about this ride is there is no time to think about what you’re really doing with your life. It starts at 0mph and immediately climbs to 128mph and shoots you down a drop of 90 degrees. The scariest part of this ride in sometimes people don’t even make it past the top and experience a rollback in which the coaster comes shooting back down before making it over the arch.
4. Boeing 747 (Evergreen Wings & Waves Waterpark)
Now this water ride is just down right amazing. The waterpark is centered around a plane, specifically the Boeing 747, which features a set of four different water slides. When riding each slide, you enter in through a plane and the way down the water slide is out the side of the plane. Not only are you in an old jet which was used daily, but you also get to slide out of the plane into a cool water slide.
3. Insanity (Stratosphere Hotel and Casino)
No. What you’re seeing above this text isn’t a fake picture or some cool house from The Sims. This a very real ride located on the roof of the Stratosphere Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. This ride makes the hotel the tallest structure in the state of Nevada being at 900ft. Insanity straps guests into metal chairs and hangs them above the Las Vegas strip, rotating guests at 40 mph. This ride is one of the most sought after attractions in Las Vegas since it’s opening in 2005.
2. Leap of Faith (Atlantis Paradise Island)
Leap of Faith, located at Atlantis Paradise Island in the Bahamas, features a water slide with a 60ft vertical drop from a world famous Mayan Temple. But this isn’t even the craziest part. As you get to the bottom of the slide, you enter into a shark tank and the only thing protecting you is the glass surrounding you and your tube. Now I understand the why they named this ride the Leap of Faith.
1. Cannonball Loop (Action Park)
Action Park was an amusement park located in Vernon, NJ before shutting down in 1996… and then reopening in 1998 under the name Mountain Creek Waterpark… and closing down… and then reopening again in 2014 was Action Park once again. Before Action Park closed the first time, the theme park was notorious for ride related injuries and “fatal attractions.” One ride in particular, Cannonball Loop, was probably one of the worst. The ride featured a drop at a pretty high speed and a quick loop before the ride came to an end. In was open for one month before closing down because of too many injuries. Even before the ride opened, test dummies with come out with missing limbs and sometimes decapitated, but the owners decided to carry on with the ride anyways. Smart thinking.