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.)
David Walter Banks / LUCEO for Newsweek
Six Flags Over Georgia, Atlanta
THRILL FACTOR: 95-FOOT DROP
No branding tie-ins here. No special effects and no meta-narrative backstory. Just a nerve-racking, 95-foot vertical takeoff, followed by its namesake dive. The drop eventually levels out into high-speed corkscrew inversions known as "rings of fire." According to Phil Hettema, a ride designer and theme-park planner, the roller-coaster industry may have nearly exhausted its arsenal. "We're probably not far from pushing the limit in terms of ways you can experience G-forces," he says. "But there will always be a market for the biggest, baddest, best thrill ride."
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