by Sharanth Kumarasivan, online editor
During summer, exhaustion from the sweltering heat makes students desperately wish for that refreshing spring breeze to return once again. The best way to catch some wind always has been and remains the acceleration, high drops, and loops of a roller coaster. So don’t let another summer melt before you without checking out this hit parade of California’s top six summer roller coasters.
1. Green Lantern: First Flight, Six Flags Magic Mountain, Valencia
When this ride opens in June, Magic Mountain will hold the world record for most roller coasters in one park. Not only does the opening of the ride coincide with both summer and the release of the new Green Lantern movie, it also happens to be the only coaster of its kind in the United States.
The seats are located to the side of the rails, not directly above them. This way, they are free to fully rotate, meaning that the rider literally goes head over heels while the coaster does its loops, hairpins, and one-of-a-kind vertical zigzag. The word “thrill” has just entered a new galaxy. The photo to the left displays an identical version of this coaster located in Germany.
2. XCelerator, Knott’s Berry Farm, Buena Park
One way to return to summer is to reminisce about the 1967 Summer of Love, which is the theme of this rollercoaster. Your vehicle, a throwback to the Chevy muscle cars of that era, takes one from 0 to 82 mph in 2.3 second on California’s first completely vertical descent, while 60s rock is playing. But don’t worry about the scary drops. Just imagine you’re a hippie on LSD, and it will all be over soon.
3. California Screamin’, Disney’s California Adventure, Anaheim
Here, the kudos goes not to
the screams this ride extracts, but to its masterful combination of the old and the new. It evokes memories of the old amusement piers, but also has the acceleration, drops, and loops only possible on steel coasters. It’s not exactly located on a beach, but with the extreme angles, acceleration, and boardwalk theme of Paradise Pier, Disney at least gives you the momentary illusion that you are at one.
4. Demon, California’s Great America, Santa Clara
For many Bay Area residents, it doesn’t get scarier than the numerous hairpin turns, corkscrews, and inverted loops – all right after each other – on the Demon. All this turbulence leaves riders disoriented just in time for the final descent into the Demon’s Cave. When you come out, you feel almost as if you never went in at all.
5. Medusa, Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, Vallejo
Not very far from San Ramon,
this is the perfect roller coaster to hit up if a big-budget trip doesn’t suit you.
If you haven’t already cringed in fear just by its sheer appearance and size, you will be shaken when you actually ride its 150-foot drops, numerous midair hairpin turns, and seven inversions.
Just when you think you can’t go through another drop, you wind through its one-of-a-kind set of back-to-back loops. cleverly named the Sea Serpent.
6. Giant Dipper, Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk
Built during the Roaring Twenties,
this ride still keeps alive the flame of the glorious wooden boardwalk coasters of old, long after its more famous cousins in LA had given in. Many have tried to create cheap inland imitations of these wooden coasters, but nothing ever compares to the ocean views, sunshine, and salty wind found only on the originals.
Feeling bored of the same old Giant Dipper in Santa Cruz? Then just take a rattle in California’s only other surviving boardwalk coaster,in San Diego. (Oh, did we mention this one’s also called the Giant Dipper?)
