The Scariest Summer
Parks are upping the fear factor this year with new coasters, flight simulators, and full-on vertical drops. (Bring your Pepto-Bismol.)
Benjamin Lowy / Reportage by Getty Images for Newsweek
Busch Gardens, Tampa, Fla.
THRILL FACTOR: WILD ANIMALS
This "mega-attraction" joins two seemingly disparate experiences: a crazy-fast roller coaster and an animal park. Along 4,429 feet of track, riders rocket through twists and dives, experiencing weightlessness thanks to an upside-down "airtime parabola," and crest a 102-foot summit before plunging into a series of subterranean trenches. If that's not enough to whiten your knuckles, check out the 13 actual cheetahs who often sprint within sight of the track. "Both the coaster and the cheetahs run at 60 miles per hour," points out Jeff Hornick, Busch Gardens' director of design and engineering.
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