National Roller Coaster Day is Friday, and Central Florida is a smart place to celebrate it. Between Orlando, Lake Buena Vista and Kissimmee there are 33 coasters in operation, from the flattest of kiddie rides to the dramatic tall, fast, thrilling attractions.

SeaWorld Orlando is marking the occasion with a Quick Queue Hunt in which park visitors look for 50 VIP passes that give fast access to its coasters. It’s also offering annual passholders two rounds of behind-the-scenes tours of Penguin Trek, which opened this summer. Those tours will be held at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., with eligible folks signing up at the SkyTower Tour Desk. There is limited availability, and the slots will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis.

For everyone else, we’ve created a list of Orlando-area coaster superlatives. The first part involves things that can actually be measured: speed, height, age. And we’ll use the statistics from the Roller Coaster Database to rank the top three in the categories.

Then, we’ll go subjective with the idea of encouraging debate and coaster enthusiast discussion. It’s less of a ranking than a talking point, but hang on, nevertheless.

Oldest

1. Space Mountain, Magic Kingdom, opening in 1975

2. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Magic Kingdom, 1980

3. Barnstormer, Magic Kingdom, 1996

Note: Interesting that all three are from the same park, even though SeaWorld, Epcot, Universal Studios and Disney-MGM Studios all opened before Barnstormer arrived … but without coasters.

Newest

1. Penguin Trek, SeaWorld Orlando, opening July 2024
2. Pipeline the Surfing Coaster, SeaWorld Orlando, May 2023
3. Tron: Lightcycle/Run, Magic Kingdom, April 2023

Note: These three plus Epcot’s Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, SeaWorld’s Ice Breaker and Jurassic World VelociCoaster at Universal’s Islands of Adventure, represent six big coasters opening in the area in the span of three years.

Tallest

1. Mako, SeaWorld Orlando, 200 feet tall
2. Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit, Universal Studios, 167 feet tall
3. Jurassic World VelociCoaster, Islands of Adventure, 155 feet tall

Note: SeaWorld’s Kraken and Manta peak at 149 and 140 feet, respectively.

Fastest

1. Mako, SeaWorld, 73 mph
2. Jurassic World VelociCoaster, IOA, 70 mph
3. Incredible Hulk, IOA, 67 mph

Note: SeaWorld’s Kraken and Universal’s Rip Ride Rockit are on the heels of Hulk, each 65 mph each, according to rcdb.com.

Longest rail

1. Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, Epcot, 5,577.4 feet
2. Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure, Islands of Adventure, 5,053 feet
4. Mako, SeaWorld, 4,760 feet

Note: Also cracking 4,000 feet long are VelociCoaster and Kraken.

It’s supposed to do that, right?

• The extended, backward, pitch-black stretch on Expedition Everest, Animal Kingdom.
• The barrel roll that seems scientifically unsound on Mine Blower, Fun Spot in Kissimmee.
• The upside down and somehow overwater move of VelociCoaster, IOA.

Assuming unusual positions

• It’s a flying position, a la Superman, but also seated and sort of in a straightjacket aboard Manta at SeaWorld.

• IOA’s Hagrid ride (fun to say: Hagride) offers an upright (and exposed) motorcyclist plus a sidecar seat for double the usual variations. The driver position is repeated on Tron, just bend forward.

• Many would call Pipeline a standing coaster, but whilst riding the waves you kind of also end up galloping.

Air time of note

• Sure, that first drop is a doozy on Mako, but that immediately leads to the second hill, where riders are out of their seats for the duration.

• It’s a sensory overload on the VelociCoaster drop with visuals including the waterfront, Discovery Center, Wizarding World of Harry Potter and the rest of IOA.

• They’re old-fashioned looking, but White Lightning (Fun Spot Orlando) and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (Magic Kingdom) have a surprising amount of lift.

Queues are us

• Expedition Everest’s Himalayan theme may remind folks of the oft-told tales of Imagineering trips to soak in (and later represent) the atmosphere.

• It gets more intense at Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster once you get inside, have a super-stretch limo ordered and then step out to see the vehicle zoom right past you into the first stretch. •

• Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind queue is divided into multiple segments ranging from grand entrance/planetarium to faux Epcot pavilion to not-of-this-Earth jump points/mind games.

Jumping ahead

• Four roller coasters are planned for Epic Universe theme park, scheduled to open next year. They include Hiccup’s Wing Gliders, Stardust Racers, Mine-Cart Madness and Curse of the Werewolf.

• The recently announced “Monsters, Inc.” land set for Disney’s Hollywood Studios will include a suspended coaster that travels through the film’s Laugh factory. No timeframe has been announced.

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