Having rode a total of 96 roller coasters thus far, a handful of notable manufacturers have produced a good chunk of my favorite rides.
As I approach a total of 100 roller coasters rode this summer, I began thinking about what makes a coaster great to me following a recent visit to Carowinds in Charlotte last month.
While I’ve been fascinated with coasters for as long as I could remember, I certainly didn’t leave the womb as an adrenaline junkie, as it took me until I was 14 years old before I rode anything above 100 feet in height.
Since then, visiting amusement parks has become a summer pastime of mine – lending me the opportunity to ride a wide variety of coasters throughout the U.S. while getting a good idea of the different styles and elements manufacturers employ on thrill rides.
With over a century of amusement park history stateside, there has been remarkable evolution in the process of designing roller coasters – coming an incredibly long way from the days of the Switchback Railway at Coney Island and other primitive rides.
In addition to redefining what’s possible with height, drop length and speed, coaster manufacturers have also pushed boundaries when it comes to drop angle, launch speed and inversions, giving riders an incredible variety of ways to experience thrills on a given visit to a large amusement park.
Throughout the major amusement parks in North America, coasters tend to be dominated by a few major companies that have set the tone for the industry over the years. While defunct manufacturers Philadelphia Toboggan Company, Arrow Dynamics and Schwarzkopf still have coasters scattered throughout parks today, new coasters are often made by S&S, Rocky Mountain Construction and Intamin, among a few others.
Over the years, each coaster manufacturer has employed a distinct style for its rides as well – characteristics that are noticeable to the average rider in the form of track and train appearance as well as what elements are typically prioritized.
Through my time as a coaster enthusiast that dates back to 2010 in earnest, I’ve been able to develop a good idea of what I look for in rides in terms of intensity, elements and restraints, which has in turn led to me picking some favorites when it comes to the makers of my favorite coasters.
With 96 roller coasters in my credit list, here’s a look at the four manufacturers I have singled out as my favorites:
4. Arrow Dynamics
Though defunct for 25 years now, Arrow’s impact on roller coasters in its heyday remains immeasurable, with a legacy that will continue to live on far beyond even today – a quarter-century after the company ceased operations.
Emerging as an innovator with implementing inversions into coasters, many smaller, looping coasters that remain at parks today are a product of Arrow’s capitalization on this end of the market, providing a healthy amount of entry-level thrill rides to prospective enthusiasts.
Though rides like Demon at Six Flags Great America/California’s Great America and Corkscrew at Cedar Point exemplify this, the company was also known to push boundaries in a time before computer-aided design was standard in the roller coaster industry.
First pushing these barriers with mega-loopers like Viper at Six Flags Magic Mountain and the defunct Shockwave at Six Flags Great America, Arrow’s magnum opus doubled as the world’s first hypercoaster – with Magnum XL-200‘s opening in 1989 at Cedar Point as the first coaster of 200 feet or greater in height kicking off what are now known as the Coaster Wars.
Though one can’t reasonably expect a glass-smooth ride on any Arrow coaster in 2026, they continue to serve an indispensable purpose in major amusement parks, with their small loopers and runaway mine trains reamining a fixture of the theme park experience and a must for any coaster rider, young and older.
Top bucketlist ride: Tennessee Tornado, Dollywood
Favorite ride: Magnum XL-200, Cedar Point
3. Intamin
A longtime fixture in the coaster world out of Liechtenstein, Intamin has consistently held a reputation for putting thrill and intensity above all else – a track record that is well reflected with the brand’s extensive portfolio of record-settters and breakers.
While my experience with the manufacturer largely revolves around iconic coasters such as Millennium Force and the now-defunct original Top Thrill Dragster at Cedar Point as well as American Eagle at Six Flags Great America, Intamin has routinely made a name for themselves near the top of recordbooks for a litany of other rides.
This attention is almost solely centered on Falcons Flight now, the exacoaster at Six Flags Qiddiya City that features a dizzying 640-foot elevation change with a maximum height of over 534 feet.
That coaster, while extreme, represents what Intamin has always been about as a manufacturer – reaching new frontiers for the medium while providing elements that were previously viewed as impossible.
Intamin also showed they can do this without chasing the record books, seen with Cedar Point’s Maverick, a ride that is widely seen as having ended the Coaster Wars where parks and manufacturers battled with one another to hold new records.
Their portfolio may not be filled with crowd-pleasers, but the true enthusiasts and thrillseekers will likely love just about all that Intamin has to offer.
Top bucketlist ride: VelociCoaster, Universal Islands of Adventure
Favorite ride: Millennium Force, Cedar Point
2. Rocky Mountain Construction
The newest major manufacturer on the scene, RMC opened up shop in 2001 and have emerged within the last 15 years as the premier innovator within the coaster world.
While several of their ground-up roller coasters, including the soon-to-be-closing ArieForce One, are renowned by enthusiasts, RMC has built their reputation based on their reimagination of deteriorating wooden roller coasters from yesteryear.
Debuting in 2011 with New Texas Giant, RMC pioneered a process of utilizing an existing wooden coaster’s structure and topping it off with either its trademark steel I-Box track or wooden topper track to allow for elements that would not at all be possible on a traditional wooden roller coaster.
In the 15 years since its first coaster, many of RMC’s biggest hits are coasters that gave new life to a closing wooden roller coaster, such as Steel Vengeance at Cedar Point, Twisted Colossus at Six Flags Magic Mountain (a personal favorite of mine) and Wicked Cyclone at Six Flags New England.
If that wasn’t enough, RMC has also opened up a new frontier with single-rail roller coasters, an innovative design where riders are seated one-across on a single-rail track, meant to give even more whip and intensity to the rider. Though I’ve yet to experience one of these, rides such as Stunt Pilot at Silverwood and RailBlazer at California’s Great America have been met with praise.
With a penchant for vertical drops and rampant airtime alongside their signature lapbars with leg restraints, RMC coasters exemplify an ideal marriage of intensity and creativity.
Top bucketlist ride: Iron Gwazi, Busch Gardens Tampa
Favorite ride: ArieForce One, Fun Spot Atlanta
1. Bolliger & Mabillard
No manufacturer is as ubiquitous and loved by casual riders and enthusiasts alike as Bolliger & Mabillard, which takes the top spot on my list without much debate.
Starting out as a company centered on innovation, the Swiss manufacturers burst out of the gate in 1990 with Iron Wolf, a stand-up roller coaster at Six Flags Great America that debuted as the tallest and fastest of its kind.
Just two years later, B&M shattered all expectations and boundaries within the coaster world with the opening of Batman: The Ride, also at Six Flags Great America. The world’s first inverted coaster, Batman immediately became one of the most influential coasters of all-time, kickstarting a subset of coasters dominated by B&M where riders hang from below the track with their feet dangling beneath their seats.
While inverts are undoubtedly beloved by many riders, B&M has pioneered several other models that are often viewed as the smoothest and most thrilling rides in the parks they call home. These include the dive coaster, which dangles riders above a vertical or beyond-vertical drop at the crest of its lift hill, as well as flying coasters, which put riders on their stomachs to simulate a flying sensation.
None of their models are as treasured as the hypercoaster however, known as tall, fast, crowd-pleasing rides that emphasize smoothness and floater airtime while typically including massive, euphoric first drops.
This isn’t even to mention the company’s wing coasters, innovative rides that sit two riders on both sides of the track, providing for noticeably different ride experiences based on which wing a rider chooses to sit on.
Though Raging Bull at Six Flags Great America and Fury 325 at Carowinds stand out as my favorite B&M coasters, there really is no way to go wrong with any of the rides in the company’s massive portfolio.
Other favorites of mine from B&M that I’ve gotten a chance to ride include Diamondback and Orion at Kings Island, Goliath at Six Flags Over Georgia and Scream at Six Flags Magic Mountain.
Top bucketlist ride: Yukon Striker, Canada’s Wonderland
Favorite ride: Fury 325, Carowinds
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