Travel Guides Family Friendly Amusement Parks
Europa-Park/YouTube
Blake Taylor
Love a good roller coaster? Then you’ve got a lot to look forward to in 2024. From a first-of-its-kind Donkey Kong coaster to a gravy-themed thrill ride, new roller coasters being introduced at theme parks and amusement parks across the globe in 2024 will make you want to throw your hands in the air and enjoy the ride.
Among the list below, you’ll notice how excitingly different each attraction is from the next. You’ll also notice some fierce competition among various parks, with nearly every new coaster claiming a record-breaking title of some sort. Since the park industry likes to throw around impressive-sounding vocabulary that’s generally gibberish to the public at large, we’ve done our best to clarify and define what these record-breaking claims actually mean.
You may notice a few major American destinations suspiciously absent from this list. Walt Disney World is still fresh off its back-to-back debut of two recently opened coasters — Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind and TRON Lightcycle / Run. Oppositely, Universal Orlando is rapidly building Epic Universe, its new theme park expected to open in 2025. Aerial construction photos show multiple roller coaster tracks already in place. Though 2024 may be quiet for those respective destinations, there are still plenty of fun coasters at Walt Disney World and thrilling coasters at Universal Orlando to enjoy. In other destinations around the world, though, 2024 is shaping up to be an incredible year of new roller coasters to add to your bucket list.
Catapult Falls — SeaWorld San Antonio (San Antonio, Texas)
SeaWorld San Antonio/YouTube
SeaWorld San Antonio says Catapult Falls will be the “world’s first launched flume coaster.” That’s a fancy way of saying it’s a log flume whose vessels propel down its biggest hill by being launched forward rather than descending from a traditional lift hill.
Speaking of lifts, Catapult Falls will boast the “only vertical lift in North America.” Instead of slinking up an incline with the telltale sound of a chain moving the vehicle from below, the logs of Catapult Falls will zip upward in their own elevator of sorts before being launched down the ride’s big splash.
With a 53-degree drop, Catapult Falls will be the “world’s steepest flume coaster.” Though SeaWorld originally announced Catapult Falls would open in 2023, the attraction will now debut in 2024. The park promises the much-awaited ride will feature “thrilling ascents, freefalls, and decelerations that will take your breath away” along its five-minute journey.
Donkey Kong Country Roller Coaster (Name TBA) — Universal Studios Japan (Osaka, Japan)
Nintendo of America/YouTube
This is it — perhaps the coolest ride on our list. In 2021, Universal Studios Japan opened its Super Nintendo World area, featuring Mario Kart and Yoshi rides. In 2024, the land will expand with a Donkey Kong roller coaster, and although the official name of the coaster has yet to be confirmed, it’s rumored to be named Mine Cart Madness. Come 2025, a similar Donkey Kong coaster is set to debut in the United States when Universal Orlando opens its new theme park, Epic Universe.
As longtime players of “Donkey Kong Country” video games may know, DK’s adventures sometimes involve a runaway mine cart traversing a thrilling wooden track. Every so often, the cart arrives at broken track pieces, and players must maneuver the cart to jump over the hole and make it to the other side.
Ingeniously, as seen through aerial views of the coaster’s construction, Universal’s upcoming Donkey Kong coaster will likely mimic the same movement by having two layers of track: One layer appearing to be made of wood, with visible holes where the track has gaps, and the real track underneath, hidden from riders’ viewpoint. This clever illusion will allow guests to feel like they’re jumping the track, just like Donkey Kong.
Fire In The Hole — Silver Dollar City (Branson, Missouri)
Silver Dollar City Attractions/YouTube
Yes, Fire In The Hole is the name of a guest-favorite ride at Silver Dollar City that opened in 1972 and will close forever at the end of 2023. However, Fire In The Hole is also the name of a completely new, altogether different roller coaster opening elsewhere in the park in spring 2024. Though the upcoming coaster shares a name with its predecessor as a nostalgic tribute, the ride itself will feel very different from the 50-year-old original.
The coaster will include three drops and even a few splashes. Brad Thomas, president of the Silver Dollar City Company, calls the new Fire In The Hole “the Heartland’s largest indoor coaster,” as stated in an announcement shared by Silver Dollar City. (The park is nestled within the Ozark mountains.) Rocky Mountain Construction, which previously collaborated with Silver Dollar City to build Outlaw Run, returns to the park to bring the $30 million Fire In The Hole to life.
The new ride’s narrative is based on the real incident of the Baldknobbers vigilantes burning down the town of Maramos. According to the coaster’s lore, riders will hop aboard a fire wagon to help “save their town.” Silver Dollar City is owned and operated by Herschend Family Entertainment, the same company behind Dolly Parton’s Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee — worth a visit in its own right.
The Flash: Speed Force — Warner Bros. Movie World (Oxenford, Australia)
Warner Bros. Movie World
Opening in April 2024 at Warner Bros. Movie World, The Flash: Speed Force will be what’s known as a half-pipe shuttle roller coaster. It will be “the first ride-within-a-ride experience in the Southern Hemisphere,” according to the park. Riders will sit in a circle, facing outward with an over-the-shoulder harness. The circular mechanism itself sits on a skateboard-shaped vehicle that travels along a halfpipe-shaped track 67 meters long (or 220 feet to us pesky Americans who don’t use the metric system) at speeds of up to 43 mph.
The coaster is loosely themed to The Flash, one of the superheroes in DC Comics’ ensemble of characters. The ride, somehow, is supposed to mimic a face-off between The Flash and The Reverse-Flash. While The Flash’s movie may not have hit it off with audiences in 2023, Warner Bros. Movie World hopes guests will feel differently about the hero’s coaster. The Flash: Speed Force will be located within the shadow of Superman Escape, another of the park’s coasters that will mesmerizingly traverse around the halfpipe-shaped track.
Good Gravy! — Holiday World (Santa Claus, Indiana)
Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari/YouTube
Good Gravy! No, like, that’s the name of the coaster — exclamation mark and everything. When it opens at Holiday World in May 2024, Good Gravy! will be the park’s first family coaster. Described as a steel boomerang coaster, Good Gravy! features a 77-foot spike, in which riders scale forward and then backward in the direction they came, thus like a boomerang, reaching up to 37 mph.
Of all the adventurous lore that theme parks write for their attractions, we’re willing to bet you’ve never ridden a coaster whose storyline asked you to “save Thanksgiving dinner,” as noted by Holiday World. Apparently, your host, Grandma Gracy, has run out of gravy for the big meal. Holiday World says of the new roller coaster, “As you whisk up a fresh batch of gravy, you’ll dodge gigantic kitchen accessories and ingredients, including a chicken timer, whisk, rolling pin, Koch Dairy bottle, and a box of Ruth’s Stuffing.”
The ride will include a tunnel resembling a giant can of cranberry sauce (because, of course it will). Good Gravy! will be manufactured by Vekoma, a company whose extensive, worldwide roller coaster portfolio includes Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, a family coaster at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom.
Iron Menace — Dorney Park (Allentown, Pennsylvania)
Dorney Park/YouTube
Dorney Park invites you to “forge your own fate” on Iron Menace, its new dive coaster opening in 2024. Dive coasters typically pause at their highest peak, tilting coaster trains forward and giving riders a heart-stopping moment to take in the view (or keep their eyes firmly shut) before taking a stomach-pummeling dive.
Designed by Bolliger & Mabillard as the first dive coaster in the northeast, Iron Menace will drop riders from 160 feet in a 95-degree descent — that’s narrower than a right angle — and ultimately reach speeds of up to 64 mph.
If you stan fictional roller coaster backstories, strap in because Dorney has practically written a treatise to support the lore of Iron Menace. So the story goes: In the early 1900s, a power-hungry businessman named Hiram S. McTavish built a steel mill with an insane machine to speed up productivity. As riders, you’re meant to be traveling through the “mill’s decrepit shell” all these decades later.
Jungle Rush — Dreamworld (Coomera, Australia)
YouTube
Come late 2024, Dreamworld will unveil Rivertown, a newly themed area replacing the park’s ABC Kids World. Rivertown’s anchor attraction will be Jungle Rush, which Dreamworld describes as a “new, world-class family rollercoaster.”
Jungle Rush will feature “the world’s first inclined turntable,” which we assume will mean at some point in the ride, the track itself will pivot while being positioned slightly upward, the coaster train firmly attached to the pivoting track piece. The coaster will carry riders forward and backward along the journey. Vekoma will build Jungle Rush, which is being designed with families in mind.
Alongside Jungle Rush, the Rivertown area will include Murrissippi Motors, which will relocate the former Vintage Cars Adventure and upgrade the favorite attraction’s vehicles. Concept artwork for Rivertown depicts a fallen tree log bearing the entrance sign, coiled by a snake with abundant foliage in the terrain behind it.
Midnight Flyer — Santa’s Village (Jefferson, New Hampshire)
Yes, there is a theme park in New Hampshire where it’s Christmas every day — or at least, on the park’s operating days, May through December. Santa’s Village features a variety of on-brand amusements, from an elevated sleigh ride to a Yule log flume. While Santa’s Village may not boast the most thrilling rides on our list, its roster is certainly a contender for the most charming.
In 2024, Santa’s Village will debut Midnight Flyer, a new family coaster manufactured by Vekoma. Midnight Flyer will replace Rudy’s Rapid Transit Coaster. In contrast to its predecessor, Santa’s Village says Midnight Flyer “coasts a little faster, rises a little higher, and will glide through a variety of twists and turns before returning to the station.”
Concept art shows the coaster train adorned with reindeer paraphernalia, indicating that perhaps Midnight Flyer will imagine riders soaring with Santa’s reindeer on Christmas Eve, as did Rudy’s Rapid Transit Coaster before it.
Snoopy’s Soap Box Racers — Kings Island (Mason, Ohio)
Kings Island/YouTube
Come 2024, Kings Island will re-imagine its kids’ area, Planet Snoopy, into Camp Snoopy (a change several other Cedar Fair-owned parks have already implemented). Camp Snoopy will be a wilderness haven featuring the beloved Peanuts characters like Snoopy, Charlie Brown, and their friends.
While a handful of existing attractions will be spruced up as part of the transformation, Camp Snoopy will also debut an all-new coaster, Snoopy’s Soap Box Racers. Kings Island says the new ride “takes the classic fun of a soap box racing derby to a whole new level.” Snoopy’s Soap Box Racers will be a boomerang coaster, traveling forward and backward upon the same track.
The coaster, manufactured by Vekoma, will reach nearly 74 feet in the air and gain a maximum speed of 36 mph. Though tame by some standards, that’s pretty intense for a kids’ area coaster and much more thrilling than what would be considered a kiddie coaster. Snoopy’s Soap Box Racers looks like it will produce some happy campers!
Top Thrill 2 — Cedar Point (Sandusky, Ohio)
Cedar Point/YouTube
Brace yourself. Top Thrill 2 is easily the most thrilling roller coaster opening in 2024 and should be at the top of every coaster head’s vacation plans for the year. In 2003, Cedar Point opened Top Thrill Dragster, an Intamin-built coaster that continued the park’s (self-declared, but admittedly accurate) reputation as “the coaster capital of the world.” (Though Cedar Point has many family-friendly thrills, regardless of whether they enjoy coasters.)
Now, Zamperla is giving Top Thrill Dragster a major upgrade. Themed to motorsports, Top Thrill 2 will combine existing elements of Top Thrill Dragster with new components. This includes a new “tower” — a portion of the track that basically goes straight upward, crests, and heads straight downward, appearing like a very narrow arch from a distance — that riders launch into backward. Top Thrill 2 will command a height of 420 feet and speeds of up to 120 mph. Like Top Thrill Dragster before it, Top Thrill 2 will easily earn its spot on the list of scariest coasters in America. Top of the thrills, indeed.
Ultra Surf (Name TBA) — Six Flags Over Georgia (Austell, Georgia)
Six Flags Over Georgia/YouTube
Georgia isn’t exactly known for being a surfing hotspot, but Six Flags Over Georgia hopes to change that. The park will open what it calls an “ultra surf coaster” in summer 2024. Riders will sit in a circular formation atop a large, surfboard-like contraption. As the surfboard launches forward and backward along the track, the circular mechanism on the ride vehicle will spin.
Intamin will manufacture the coaster, which will reach speeds of 60 mph and a height of 144 feet. As the coaster train reaches ground level, water curtains on either side of the train provide the opportunity for riders and onlookers to get spritzed. (It means serious business; there’s a splash zone.) In August 2023, Six Flags gave fans the opportunity to submit ideas for the new coaster’s name. The winning selection is yet to be announced at the time of this writing.
SeaWorld Orlando opened a self-dubbed “surf coaster” of its own, Pipeline, in May 2023. However, Six Flags’ “ultra surf coaster” seems to be a different type of ride altogether. Pipeline has its riders stand up and doesn’t go backward or spin. The two coasters don’t share much in common other than their similarities in branding and visual aesthetic.
Wizard of Oz Roller Coasters (Names TBA) — Warner Bros. Movie World (Oxenford, Australia)
Warner Bros. Entertainment/YouTube
You’re not in Kansas anymore — and you won’t feel like you’re in Australia anymore, either. In 2024, Warner Bros. Movie World will open what they describe as “a world-first ‘Wizard of Oz’ precinct,” according to their website.
That claim might technically be true if we’re to assume “precinct” means “themed area within a larger theme park,” but it neglects the fact that an entire park dedicated to “The Wizard of Oz” opened in North Carolina in 1970 (and later closed; now it operates in September only). Semantics aside, families will be able to follow the Yellow Brick Road and experience for themselves the world of “The Wizard of Oz,” widely revered as one of cinema’s greatest treasures.
The “Oz”-themed area at Warner Bros. Movie World will include multiple family-level rides. A suspended coaster, with the track above riders rather than beneath them, will take riders 62 feet high at nearly 42 mph. A boomerang racer coaster will position two tracks side by side, allowing the respective coaster trains to race each other as they travel up to 72 feet in the air at 36 mph.
Voltron Nevera powered by Rimac — Europa-Park (Rust, Germany)
Europa-Park/YouTube
Europa-Park talks a big game for Voltron Nevera powered by Rimac, opening in the summer of 2024. The park says the ride will break records as the world’s steepest launch (105 degrees) and the world’s highest count of inversions (seven) for a launch coaster. Europa-Park also says Voltron Nevera will be the world’s first “stryker coaster” but stops short of describing what exactly a stryker coaster is.
Built by MACK Rides, Voltron Nevera will have a fictional backstory taking place in Croatia. Europa-Park paints the picture, complete with a fully produced short film to go along with it. As Europa-Park’s streaming platform VEEJOY explains, “The inventor Nikola Tesla discovered a new method of transport: Turning people into energy with the help of a device and transporting them from A to B as a bolt of lightning. Did it really work?”
Whatever kind of coaster it is and whatever story the ride tells, Voltron Nevera looks like a thrilling addition to the park, worthy of the hype its team is building up.
