Plenty of new roller coasters placed on our Best New Attractions list yesterday. But none of them could unseat our reigning champion as Best Roller Coaster overall. Once again, Universal Orlando's Jurassic World VelociCoaster reigns as our Theme Park Insider Award winner.
The Intamin launch coaster has topped our annual reader poll ever since it opened in 2021. The ride's nonstop momentum in a themed environment, coupled with memorable elements such as its concluding Mosasaurus roll, have made this coaster an enduring favorite of Theme Park Insider readers.
A former Best Roller Coaster winner claimed the second-place spot in our 2025 poll - Cedar Point's Steel Vengeance. And the third step on the podium also went to a former Best Coaster winner - VelociCoaster's Islands of Adventure sibling Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure, also from Intamin.
Theme Park Insider readers, as one might suspect from the site's name, love themed coasters, as evidenced by EPCOT's Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind taking fourth place in our survey this year. And another well-themed park, Dollywood, claimed the fifth position with Rocky Mountain Construction's Lightning Rod. That gives RMC two of our top five, to go with Intamin's two and one for Vekoma.
A new coaster, Universal Epic Universe's Stardust Racers, claimed the sixth spot in its first year in the poll. Another Mack Rides creation, Europa-Park's Voltron Nevera - last year's Best New Attraction winner - took the seventh position.
A third RMC, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay's Iron Gwazi, came eighth, followed by a pair of coasters from Germany's Phantasialand to complete our top ten: Vekoma's F.L.Y. and Intamin's Taron.
Thank you to all the Theme Park Insider readers who voted this year. Check in tomorrow as we reveal the Best Attraction winner in the 2026 Theme Park Insider Awards.
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Great popular coaster....
I wrote a story\thread a while back regarding coaster design and whether it was better to have the Thrill hill at the beginning or the middle of the Ride.
This is a Great example of the middle and how exciting it can be.
And most of us here only go to a few parks so we do not experience all the coasters like Russell said...
I agree that B&M deserves a top spot. . .and I'm even more surprised that Lightning Rod makes it so high considering the loss of its launch.
Well, at least Velocicoaster won. That's all I care about.
@VelocicoasterFan - While I haven't ridden Lightning Rod since the switch to a more traditional lift hill, all accounts are that the experience is not that much different than it was with the LSM hill, which was more like first set of LSMs on Maverick and not a real "launch" per se. The actual layout on Lightning Rod is pretty incredible and unique compared to RMC's other creations, though it lacks the head choppers and other near miss elements you typically find on more traditional wooden/hybrid coasters
@Russell... The $4 upcharge to ride Gwazi is a disgrace, and I'm thankful I've ridden it plenty of times to not make me twitch as I walk by.
I'm just hoping sooner rather than later, United parks see sense, and eventually go to free lockers.
Kudos to VC, and I agree, it's a ride many on here have ridden, so to be expected. But no way is it better than R2H, or in my opinion, Gwazi for what's it worth.
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I'm not too surprised by this list, because Universal and Disney coasters are always going to get more attention due to the fact that more people experience them. I do think Velocicoaster is one of the best coasters in the world, but feel that both Hagrid's and GotG:CR are each a bit overrated with rankings that are buoyed by the sheer number of people that have experienced them.
Personally, I think Iron Gwazi is better than Steel Vengeance (I always feel exhausted when I get off the latter, while the former I could marathon for hours). However, I could see Iron Gwazi dropping further in the ratings because of BGT's new metal detector and paid locker procedure (Sea World finding yet another way to nickel and dime guests). I simply cannot endorse an attraction that forces guests to empty their pockets AND charges them to store those items while riding. So you either have to PAY to ride this coaster now, or you have to bring a friend willing to not ride to hold your phone/keys/wallet to escape the locker charge.
It's great to see 3 coasters from Germany make the top 10, but I'm surprised Ride to Happiness and Zadra (2 coasters I haven't personally experienced, but always rate high, and typically higher than both Taron and F.L.Y., on well-traveled coaster fan ratings) weren't in this elite company.
The biggest shocker for me is that not a single B&M cracked the top 10. Incredible Hulk used to be a mainstay because it was so widely ridden being at a destination park, but Fury 325 and Mako are both highly respected creations that are often found amongst coaster fans' top rides.
It will be interesting to see if Tormenta, Falcon's Flight, or Nightflight Expedition can crack the top 10 next year. Given that Formula Rosa hasn't appeared on this top coaster list before suggests that Falcon's Flight probably won't either since not enough people will ride it to give it the necessary votes to crack to top 10. Tormenta looks like a supersized clone of other B&M Dive Machines with no theming to distinguish itself to warrant a high ranking. However, if Dollywood's upcoming attraction is seen as a coaster by enough people and is as complete of an experience as their marketing is suggesting, it might be able to finish highly next year.