Top 10 Roller Coasters at Disney World
This list ranks the best roller coasters at Walt Disney World, several of which are big-budget new additions that have opened within the last decade. Since the top thrill rides are also the most popular attractions in Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, and Hollywood Studios (and one of the highest wait times in Animal Kingdom), this should help you determine the coasters to prioritize.
Actually, this isn’t just a list of the top rollercoasters at Walt Disney World. Since there are not 10 great coasters at Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, DHS, and DAK combined, we’ve expanded it to the best Disney Parks coasters in the entire world. Most of those (8 out of 10) are at Walt Disney World, so that’s where this list is most useful–but it also works at Disneyland (4 out of 10) and beyond.
There not being 10 great roller coasters at Walt Disney World might be a red flag, and that’s a worthwhile starting point. We’ll be blunt: Walt Disney World is not the place for thrill seekers. Don’t get us wrong–Walt Disney World is home to a few world-class roller coasters and a couple of iconic, historically-significant ones. However, you absolutely should not seek out WDW–or any of the Disney Parks–as roller coaster destinations.
Honestly, it always surprises us when we hear from visitors (often in response to our rankings of all rides at Walt Disney World) who list mostly roller coasters as their favorite attractions at Walt Disney World. There are a couple of reasons for this. The first is that, as mentioned, Disney just does not excel at thrill rides. Its roller coasters are mostly on the short side and fairly tame by thrill-seeking standards. You’re better off at countless other theme parks, including Universal Orlando!
Second, Walt Disney World charges premium pricing for its immersive themed design and extraordinary world-building. Of its attractions, thrill rides are often the least impressive and what’s done better by its competitors. Again, there are some exceptions, but by and large, Disney does not best the competition when it comes to roller coasters in the same way it does with dark rides and other lavishly-designed attractions.
To put it in blunt terms: you’re far better off heading to a regional amusement park, like Six Flags or Cedar Point or Busch Gardens, if you’re interested in roller coasters. They do big thrills better than Disney, and usually at a much lower cost!
This is not to say that Walt Disney World isn’t fun for teens or adults who enjoy thrill rides. It definitely can be! But thrill rides are simply one offering at the veritable buffet that is Walt Disney World. If you’re a thrill-seeker who only wants the roller coaster “dish,” then you should seek out one of those parks that prepares that best.
To that point, there are also a lot of other more-highly Imagineered attractions that offer thrills. Rides like Avatar Flight of Passage, Soarin’ Around the World, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, DINOSAUR/Indiana Jones Adventure, Tower of Terror/Mission Breakout, and Radiator Springs Racers all offer thrills as one component of highly-immersive attractions that are not roller coasters. (And thus, also not ranked here.)
One final note on methodology before we get going. This list ranks the roller coasters based primarily on their quality as roller coasters as opposed to attractions. Which is to say that standard criteria are mostly what’s considered: intensity (and enjoyment thereof–it cannot just punish riders), ride smoothness, variety of elements, originality, flow and pacing, duration/track length, and more.
Accordingly, don’t be surprised to see divergence between this list ranking the roller coasters and our other attraction rankings. With that said, we do take into account subjective factors to the extent that they add to or detract from the ride experience. Thematics do come into play as a tiebreaker in several cases where it’s too tough to choose which rides rank higher or lower as coasters.
Let’s dig into the best roller coasters at Walt Disney World and beyond…
BONUS. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train — As an attraction, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train is top-tier. Its strengths are stunning show scenes, cool Audio-Animatronics, themed design, music, and novelty level. There’s a lot to love about the attraction, especially when viewed as a dark ride with some mild thrills and big views of Fantasyland and Magic Kingdom as a whole.
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train is probably the most “Disney” roller coaster in existence, which is to say it focuses on what Imagineering does best and the thrills take a backseat. Despite its popularity among the general public, we’d argue that Seven Dwarfs Mine Train is underrated among Walt Disney World fans–it’s destined to become a modern classic.
All of this means that Seven Dwarfs Mine Train doesn’t really deliver as a roller coaster. The novelty of the swinging seats doesn’t do much and, if anything, eases intensity as the trains wind around turns. There’s one decent drop, but most of the ride is about soaking up the scenery.
However, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train is a great rite-of-passage roller coaster for small children (or thrill-averse adults) that runs circles around Barnstormer, and an attraction that I love. I’d be remiss if I didn’t include it, even if thrill seekers should look elsewhere–you’ll probably come away underwhelmed given the higher wait times.
10. Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith — This is the most intense roller coaster at Walt Disney World, with a fast launch and the only one with an inversion. The thrills are all in the dark, there are backlight prop pieces, and the coaster is set to music by Aerosmith (for now), which adds to the fun. It’s short but satisfying, and some might say it helps deliver a “Sweet Emotion.”
Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster also has a fun pre-show, queue, and loading area that help make the experience more interesting and not simply a “basic” roller coaster. It straddles the line between an Imagineered attraction (scoring lower on the overall list as a result) and the kind of roller coaster you could find an amusement park.
Frankly, I think that Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster is overrated. This was Walt Disney World’s first truly intense roller coaster and fans have formed nostalgia as a result. Loop aside, there’s nothing all that novel about it, and the layout is fairly middling. If RnRC opened today, it wouldn’t be nearly as beloved as it is–fans would complain of its simplicity and short duration. To each their own, but I don’t think it stands the test of time like some of the even older coasters higher up this list.
9. Matterhorn Bobsleds – No Disney roller coaster is more iconic than the Matterhorn Bobsleds. With two bobsled tracks (one on the Fantasyland side of the mountain and the other on the Tomorrowland side), this was the first roller coaster built in Disneyland and the first tubular steel coaster anywhere in the world.
It’s also the only entry on this list with a connection to Walt Disney. While visiting the set of Third Man on the Mountain in Zermatt, Switzerland in 1958, Walt became fascinated with the peak which towered over the ski village in the Swiss Alps. The alpine summit captivated Walt’s imagination and inspired him to create his own version, a scale model in Disneyland. There are even archival photos of Walt Disney riding it during testing, and crashing into hay bales to slow down the attraction. Hey, it was a different time!
Hay bales were eventually replaced with water, and the iconic “bobsled splashdown” is one of the most memorable moments of the Matterhorn Bobsleds. Before that, the coaster twists and turns around the mountain, speeding through dark caves, darting under icy precipices and past waterfalls, and climbing 80 feet up into the mountain on a six-person bobsled. The great track layout, stunning views, and cool show scenes punctuated by brief yeti encounters are all highlights of the Matterhorn.
The only problem with this over 65 year old attraction is that, as you can imagine, it’s no longer smooth. Every time I ride Matterhorn, it’s a painful experience due to the vibrating of the bobsleds on the track. The rickety ‘ole roller coaster makes me feel like a rickety ‘ole geezer after I get off. Yet I keep getting back on to relive nostalgia for bygone days. And so goes my love-hate relationship with Matterhorn, which I will never stop riding, even though my body is pleading with me to give it up!
8. Slinky Dog Dash — The crown jewel of Toy Story Land, which isn’t really saying a ton. Slinky Dog Dash delivers pleasant thrills, a nice track layout, and scattered details. Even though unambitious, it’s fun.
When judged as an attraction, Slinky Dog Dash underwhelms. It has a relative lack of Imagineering, with a boring queue (that’s often quite long), and little to see during the ride itself, and no show scenes—albeit a cute ending. It’s arguably the most straightforward roller coaster at any Disney park, with a threadbare story excuse for the exposed track.
When judged as a roller coaster, opinions are bound to be more mixed on Slinky Dog Dash. It all depends on expectations and acknowledging its status as a rite-of-passage roller coaster. Personally, I think it’s quite good. There’s a mild launch, slow mini-top hat, and fun bunny hills. Slinky Dog Dash is incredibly smooth, offering virtually no airtime and only the mildest of thrills. For the target demographic of children and non-coaster people, it’s a winner.
7. Expedition Everest — As an attraction, Expedition Everest takes a page out of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad’s playbook and improves upon it in almost every conceivable way. Expedition Everest features a foreboding queue, incredible details, a plausible plot, interesting ride vehicles, awe-inspiring ascent, and on-ride encounters with a (disco) yeti. Even with so many broken effects, Expedition Everest excels.
Expedition Everest is impressively fun and was Walt Disney World’s most ambitious roller coaster until the last few years. It’s fairly intense, featuring a short drop followed by banked turns before reaching (spoiler alert) a dead-end that climaxes with an intense backwards 540 degree helix, 80 foot drop into another banked turn, before another 540 degree helix–this time forwards.
Expedition Everest ranks high as both a roller coaster and an attraction from objective perspectives. Subjectively, I have to admit that helixes aren’t my personal jam, and I find those sections to skew a bit too much towards uncomfortable rather than thrilling. To each their own, though. I felt differently in my twenties!
5. Incredicoaster — Formerly California Screamin, this roller coaster has been rebranded as the Incredicoaster, and props from the Incredibles have been scattered around its track. None of this is an upgrade in any way whatsoever. If anything, all the Pixar junk along the way makes for a worse attraction and more distracting roller coaster experience.
The great thing about Californian Screamin’ was that it didn’t have any pretenses about being anything other than a really fun and satisfying roller coaster. It was a vibe, as the kids say, and felt distinctly Californian (albeit not distinctly Disney). Incredicoaster adds in storytelling pretenses, but does a terrible job with them.
As a roller coaster, it’s still fantastic. There’s solid airtime over the hills, the drops are really-for-real thrilling (not just “Disney thrills”), and the bunny hills are fantastic. The loop is also a great, and the coaster’s home stretch is really good. When judged solely as a thrill ride, this is one of the most satisfying roller coasters Disney has ever done. On a good day, I love doing Incredicoaster again and again via the Single Rider line!
5. Space Mountain – Where this roller coaster ranks probably varies based on the version and your own personal preferences. Quite frankly, I don’t see much daylight between the 3-7 entries on this list (the case could be made for any of them at #3, or at #7), so I’m just putting all of the Space Mountains at #5. My unpopular opinion is that Magic Kingdom’s Space Mountain is better than Disneyland’s.
Space Mountain at Walt Disney World features two tracks (with slight differences between Alpha and Omega) and single file seating–a bit like the Matterhorn! Meanwhile, Space Mountain at Disneyland offers one track and train cars that seat two riders side-by-side per row. That version is smoother, having been rebuilt in the last couple decades, and features with on-vehicle speakers blasting an original synthesized sci-fi score by Michael Giacchino.
Both versions are roller coasters in the dark of space with cool details, twists and turns, and drops. It’s a fun and mildly thrilling ride, with the element of surprise being Space Mountain’s biggest asset. Like other entries on this list, it also scores points for historical significance. Tokyo Disneyland is in the process of rebuilding its Space Mountain, to open in 2027, and that roller coaster will be totally different. Perhaps somewhat similar to the #1 entry on this list.
4. TRON Lightcycle Run – The ultimate “wish fulfillment” roller coaster. It doesn’t matter if you’re a fan of the films, straddling the lightcycle and racing through the Grid is an experience that will be etched in your memory long after the specifics of TRON Lightcycle Run–and most other rides you did on vacation at Walt Disney World–fades away.
The punchy launch, music, visuals, pacing, and thrills are all top notch. Then launch is exhilarating, the indoor sequence is a ton of fun with a ‘challenge’ that makes the smooth curves feel more thrilling. The outdoor sequence under the canopy–especially at night–coupled with the novelty of the lightcycle restaurants is what makes the ride, both as a roller coaster and an Imagineered attraction.
TRON Lightcycle Run is not intense or punishing as a roller coaster, but it’s immensely satisfying–to a degree that it’s difficult to properly articulate. The biggest downside is duration–you’re left wanting more, and perhaps not in a good way. Even another 15 to 20 seconds would’ve done wonders (especially when compared to #1 on this list, which opened only one year earlier).
TRON Lightcycle Run also adds a ton to Magic Kingdom. Simply standing under the Upload Conduit canopy gazing up and around at night is an experience that’s excellent for anyone who can’t ride. The unique nature of the ride plus the kinetic energy of the canopy and vibe it adds to Tomorrowland makes TRON Lightcycle Run a strong addition to the Walt Disney World ride roster and Magic Kingdom’s atmosphere.
3. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad – A guest favorite to the point that Big Thunder Mountain Railroad exists in 4 parks: Disneyland, Walt Disney World, Tokyo Disneyland, and Disneyland Paris. For those keeping score at home, the one in France is far and away the best version, and the most unique of the bunch.
The commonality among them all is that this rollercoaster is themed as a runaway mine train on a ride through the barren landscape of the Old West, with fun visual gags and storytelling along the way. Hang onto your hats and glasses, because Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is “the wildest ride in the wilderness!” It has chaotic twists and turns, hills, and is very satisfying in every incarnation.
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is very satisfying as both an attraction and a roller coaster. It also gets out of its own way from a storytelling perspective, with no exposition or a lengthy pre-show, and backstory that’s there to take or leave. Not as intense or innovative as the newer entries on this list, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad still holds up–it’s iconic and historically-significant for a reason.
2. Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars – This is arguably and quietly Disney’s best roller coaster in the world or top 2. While everything else on this list has high hype in various fan circles, Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars remains a relative unknown. Think of it as Big Thunder Mountain Railroad meets Expedition Everest with a slight dash of Country Bear Jamboree.
As a roller coaster, fans seem mixed on Big Grizzly. I can understand why, as it’s smoother and less chaotic than Big Thunder (it doesn’t whip you around as it’s “runaway” in a different way), but the moderately strong launch, along with the (spoiler alert) backwards section that comes out of nowhere, and decent force in the turns delivers exactly what I’m looking for.
This is one of my personal favorite Disney’s attractions for me anywhere in the world, thanks to thrills, details, and lovable bears. It’s truly an example of perfecting the little things, from the exterior facade (and surrounding gulch) to the queue to the track layout. Those endearing bears peppered in the ride are the icing on the cake. This is another exemplar of an Imagineered roller coaster, combining thrills with theme.
Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars would claim the #1 spot for me, but I’m not sure I’m being entirely objective about it. The next entry is definitely the #1 roller coaster at Walt Disney World, and probably Disney’s objective-best roller coaster anywhere, so I’m giving it the nod.
1. Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind – An incredibly satisfying attraction from start to finish, with a queue and pre-shows that provide depth, a couple of wow-moment effects, hilarity & hijinks, and a compelling story set-up. Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind is the perfect intersection of Imagineered attraction and thrilling roller coaster.
The roller coaster itself is satisfying in duration and has fantastic flow and fluidity–thanks to the mix of the music and the motion, it feels a bit like dancing. The track offers tremendous variety, from a memorable (spoiler alert) reverse launch to twists & turns, nice hills, and brief bits of airtime. It’s also ridiculously smooth and that plus the controlled spinning really does make it feel like you’re dancing through space.
Above all else, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind is just flat-out, fantastic fun. It’s one of the most fun attractions in all of Walt Disney World and far and away the best roller coaster on balance. It hits all of the right notes, and is just a non-stop hoot from start to finish. In large part, this is owing to the Marvel characters, humor, and use of music. This is the #1 roller coaster at Walt Disney World, and by a fairly wide margin.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Which roller coasters at Walt Disney World are your favorites? Which do you think are overrated and skippable? What about underrated and not to be skipped? Think there are any old school thrill rides that are superior to the shiny new ones? Do you agree or disagree with our list? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
Guardians of the Galaxy is the worse ride ever and Tron is right on its heels. Disney hasn’t put out a good ride in years.
Ooh, the one topic I feel prepared to talk about (and yet, I’ve only done the WDW coasters).
Unranked: So, the last time I rode this was in the mid-2000s – it was down or under repair when we’ve gone recently. I remember thinking it was fine, but I was going in with very high expectations and expecting to compare it to rides of the Cedar Points and Kings Islands of the world. Excited about the Muppets rebrand.
7. Seven Dwarves Mine Train – It’s a mine train, lol. The theming is fun, but it’s a mine train.
6. Space Mountain – I still have fun with Space Mountain because I realize it’s 50 years old and my kids can enjoy it. It has nostalgia going for it.
5. Slinky Dog Dash – It’s funny because you and I have opposite opinions. I think the queue is a lot of fun and the actual ride is blah. It’s a kiddie coaster and I’m glad my 7 year old likes it, but this ride is just fine. I do LOVE the propulsion in the middle that fixes an issue of multiple lift hills that I have with the next ride on this list.
4. Big Thunder Mountain – I may just be getting old, but I’m over the rickety-ness. The theme is really well done (but every amusement park has a wild west theme), and while I appreciate the length of the ride, there are three (3!) chain lifts that break up the ride too much. It’s a mine train on steroids. Still a good time though.
3. Tron – Honestly, I love the theming, love that there’s a skywalk where you see the lightcycles shoot off. Two problems – you have to ride it at night. Riding it during the day completely removes the immersion! And it’s incredibly short.
2. Expedition Everest – Agree that it takes BTM and improves on it, which is why I’m ranking it higher and not lower on the list 🙂
1. Guardians – This is truly a special ride. My expectations were high and it exceeded them. Incredibly fun, so smooth, and the music makes this one of the favorite new Disney memories.
I’m truly looking forward to a Monsters Inc coaster – Disney needs an inverted ride – even if it’s on the same scale intensity of a Slinky Dog Dash. Hopefully the Villains area has something with high thrills to it.
I actually love the lift hills on Thunder, I like that it breaks up the ride and provides an opportunity to soak in the atmosphere and the staging. As a thrill ride (as is the case with most/all of Disney’s thrill rides) it’s very mild, so I don’t mind the slowing of the pace with the hills, as I think it adds more than it takes away.
Also, if it didn’t slow down, I wouldn’t have as much time to pay proper homage to the Goat God
I just realized I forgot to put Crush’s Coaster on my list! Lol. It’s the most underrated Disney coaster in the world, with Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars. It’s very thrilling, intense, spins, drops, twists and turns, has great theming, detail and story, and is very enjoyable from start to finish. The theme too is just so awesome and very fun for all riders.
I think the best Disney coasters in the world are:
1. Hyperspace Mountain (Disneyland Paris)
2. Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars (Hong Kong Disneyland)
1 and 2 are almost practically tied, both excellent in their own ways hard to say which is better per say
3. Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind (EPCOT)
4. Big Thunder Mountain (Disneyland Paris)
5. Incredicoaster (California Adventure)
6. TRON Lightcycle Run (Shanghai Disneyland, Magic Kingdom)
7. Crush’s Coaster (Walt Disney Studios Park)
8. Expedition Everest (Animal Kingdom)
9. Matterhorn Bobsleds (Disneyland)
10. Slinky Dog Dash (Hollywood Studios)
*BONUS* Avengers Assemble: Flight Force (Walt Disney Studios Park)
You should do a top 10 Universal Studios worldwide roller coasters list now!
Great list! I’m also not big on Everest as I don’t like it’s backwards helix motion, it’s nauseating and more uncomfortable then thrilling/enjoyable. Only thing is I feel Crush’s Coaster definitely deserves a spot on here especially above Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster!
I think the best Disney coasters in the world are:
1. HyperSpace Mountain (Disneyland Paris)
2. Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars, 1 and 2 are almost practically tied, both excellent in their own ways hard to say which is better per say
3. Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind (EPCOT)
4. Big Thunder Mountain (Disneyland Paris)
5. Incredicoaster (California Adventure)
6. TRON Lightcycle Run (Shanghai Disneyland, Magic Kingdom)
7. Expedition Everest (Animal Kingdom)
8. Matterhorn Bobsleds (Disneyland)
9. Slinky Dog Dash (Hollywood Studios)
10. Avengers Assemble: Flight Force (Walt Disney Studios Park)
You should do a top 10 Universal Studios worldwide roller coasters list now!
Love that pic of you and Sarah riding Space Mountain with Megatron. None of that “rider switch” crap in the growing Bricker household!
(I had to Google to realize this was a photo spot in Tokyo.)
The article title & content needs some scrubbing….unless the Matterhorn (and several others) have made their way to Disney World and I missed the memo! 😉
Great list though and having been on all of them, I can’t argue with your rankings.
List is largely good although the nostalgia picks of space mountian and big thunder mountian are too high. Big thunder mountain Paris deserves a spot on the list but the WDW version does not. Seven Dwarves mine ride is better then the WDW Big thunder mountain.
And I dont like the argument that people who like coasters should just go to six flags instead. Many people who like coasters also love theming. Why is there an assumption that coaster lovers only want thrill and nothing else. A themed coaster is much more interesting then an unthemed one. Guardians is a fantastic ride not simply because of its thrill level. Its the combination of thrill and theming that make its one of the greatest rides in the world. As with Everest.
Disney needs to move away from slow dark rides and more into heavily themed coasters. Its the themed coasters that people want to repeat. Whether they be family coasters or thrilling coasters.
I respectfully disagree. While many people enjoy thrills, there is still an audience for more family-friendly rides. We’re not a big thrill-seeking coaster family. BTMR is about as far as we go when it comes to coasters. The laid-back, easy-going dark rides are more fun for us, and the fact that WDW has many of these makes it ideal.
What Disney could do is just add more of both and please everyone.
Guardians all the way! The music! The thrills! It is my favorite ride ever (and I am no spring chicken so I am happy that it does not make me sick like other rides may do). Agreed on the BTM Paris being far, far superior than the rest. I feel like Slinky Dog is a little more of a thrill than you wrote because it was surprisingly thrilling to me the first time I rode. And the music helps Tron a lot but you are right about the 10-15 second addition making things feel more satisfying if added.
Our family found TRON to be a disappointment, and don’t even bother trying to ride it anymore. There’s a coldness to the story and queue that doesn’t hold our interest, and the ride’s inside portion is bland and forgettable. It’s too bad, given how much we were looking forward to it, during those years (and years) of construction.
This is a nice list, and I enjoyed reading it, but I’d agree that you have Everest ranked too low. It’s the perfect version of a Disney roller coaster to me, though Guardians might be more purely fun.
Agree completely with this. Tron has an awesome initial launch, followed by . First time we rode it, my granddaughter asked me how Disney could spend that much on an attraction that’s not as fun as Slinky Dog Dash, lol.
I think if Grizzly was just a smidge faster and more thrilling I’d totally agree with you. Just lacked the thrill, but as a ride it was great and loved it. Just lacked the thrill that I look for in a coaster. As an attraction I think it earns its spot, but since this was a coaster list I just don’t know if I’d put it up there. Great articles as always!
Throwing every Space Mountain into one category is kind of difficult for me, since I’ve been complaining about one of the tracks of the WDW version on the internet for over THIRTY years! Steel tracks should not feel like a lightly maintained 100+ year old wooden coaster in the world’s most mediocre “Six Flags” park. (I’d rate the Matterhorn higher than the WDW SM in part because it’s no rougher than it was thirty years ago, thanks to pro-maintenance local Disneyland fans being a bigger percentage of guests on the left coast.) I like the SDMT’s outside “swoop” over the landscape more than Tom does – it reminds me of the Big Bad Wolf that way – but I wish it “swooped” twice *and* had some Canal Boat-like miniature village to “swoop” over.
Other than that, this is a great list, though I would have noted which park in China BGMRMC is in since I know Tokyo and my sister’s been to Paris. Like Revenge of the Mummy at Universal, it’s absolutely possible to get sucked into the theme and story of GOTG and forget there’s a great coaster in that space. As MK #2, BTMR’a twists and turns are the next best thing to wide “swoops” and is definitely worth doing day *and* night.
Maybe I missed it, but I couldn’t figure out which park is home to Big Grizzly?
I had to look it up. It’s in Hong Kong
Thanks!
Seven Dwarfs is THE most disappointing *attraction* I recall doing in two visits to WDW. Wildly overrated, dull theming, slow coaster and insane queues round the clock. Personally I would say Slinky Dog Dash is the best ‘small’ coaster on park by a distance. Super fun and good for all ages.
Slinky has a much better layout than 7 Dwarfs no question. It’s probably one of the best family coaster layouts in general. I only like Big Thunder more. But it has next to no theming. 7 Dwarfs is arguably half a dark ride. I think the fact it combines both a coaster and a dark ride is what makes it less satisfying for a lot of people. The dark ride portion is good, but not long enough. And the coaster part is not thrilling or fun enough.
I haven’t ridden #2, so I’ll trust your judgement on that. Of the rest, I’d bump Everest up to #3 and probably leave the rest as is. Just like you talk about the Tron canopy, Everest is a great ride even if you don’t ride it; it adds a beautiful visual to the park. I really enjoy R&RC, but I’d agree with your place at the end of the pack. Another negative to R&RC is the outdated restraint system. Modern coasters with inversions have much more comfortable restraints that don’t bang your head like this one.
I’m curious, since you expanded this to the whole world, does Crush Coaster not make your top 10? It might bump off R&RC for me. It’s more fun and has similar levels of detail (i.e. some, but not a ton), but is held back by the very low capacity. (DLP Indy/TDS Raging Spirits definitely outside of the top 10, though I like them more than most of the fan community.)
Fair point about Expedition Everest. It arguably feels a bit too low, and perhaps I’m letting my bias against the helixes could my judgment.
I think Crush’s Coaster is one of the most underrated Disney rides on earth, but it still arguably deserves a spot as much (if not more) than RnRC. The “problem” I guess is that this list started as a top 10 of WDW coasters and then I realized I’d need to expand it to other parks unless I wanted to include Barnstormer…which I did not. So it leaves off a couple that are perhaps more deserving than RnRC.
I think Everest is a great coaster as well, even disregarding the theming. Though the reason it’s a great attraction is how well it combines both a coaster and theming, similar to Big Thunder. Given this list is just rating the coaster part of the ride, I can see why it was ranked lower.
Taking Everest as an attraction, it’s a top 10 WDW attraction for sure.
This is actually an interesting topic for me because while I’m a *theme* park fan first, I’m also a coaster enthusiast.
Ignoring theming, my top WDW coasters would be:
1. Everest because it has the best drop, backwards segment, and strong positive Gs in parts.
2. Space Mountain. I’ve done California’s and the former Tokyo one, but this is the best because it’s jankier and more pronounced drops/turns. The single-file seating leads to some strong ejector airtime.
Of the rest, Tron has the best launch and cool seating. Guardians is too smooth for me to the point that it’s kind of dull (I get why people like it, but I’ve never been the biggest fan of this ride thrill or thematic-wise). Seven Dwarfs has some surprising whip and does its job perfectly as a family ride, and I have a soft spot for Big Thunder.
I’d love to get the chance to ride Grizzly and re-ride Matterhorn.
On the one hand, you rank Everest #1 so maybe you’d rank Big Grizzly highly–they’re similar. On the other hand, you rank Cosmic Rewind low, and Big Grizzly arguably borders on “too smooth.” It’s definitely smoother and milder than Everest.
The smoothness of Guardians to me helps the fun of the ride. It makes it feel like you’re flying in space. I think the elements still give enough thrill imo. There are mini drops and hills, and turns that give you Gs. It’s definitely not an intense coaster for those are used to coasters, but it’s fun (and still more intense than a typical family coaster).
I would change the name of the article to reflect that it includes coasters that aren’t specifically at WDW (Top 10 roller coasters at Disney Parks, or maybe something cheeky like “Top 10 roller coasters all around Disney’s World of theme parks”) and name specific versions. I know for myself, for example, that while I’m happy to get on any Big Thunder Mountain, my absolute favorite version is the one in Paris; my personal favorite Space Mountain is the one at Disneyland; and so on.
For whatever reason I was never huge on California Screamin’, but changing the ride to Incredicoaster has completely killed the ride for me. I don’t need to have characters yammering in my ear on a coaster ride.
I debated doing that, but I really wanted to include every worthwhile Walt Disney World coaster, and that wouldn’t happen if this were truly a best of list of the entire world. I figured it was better to simply mention that DLP’s BTMRR is the best without further elaboration. Trying for a mix of fun and practical here.
Perhaps I’ll add an “& Beyond” to the title…but I still think that might be a bit confusing.