Flat rides sometimes don't get notices as much as their Coaster neighbors in the Amusement park. In the early days of Amusement Parks, back when Coney Island was alive, flat rides were among the most popular attractions at the beach. In the late 1900's, however, these attractions, including carnival rides such as the Scrambler, Tilt-o-Whirl, and other famous attractions died out and crept into the "B Ticket" rides of many parks. Quite recently, new ride manufacturers have been able to integrate today's high speed technological development to create the latest in innovative thrills.
As one of the most popular thrilling alternatives to the Roller Coaster, the new Flat Ride is a usually smaller in size, but not smaller in action. Join us as we take a peek at some of the most popular new flat rides, including Drops, Spinning rides, and many more crazy attractions that we thought should be recognized as the best of the best!
#10: Intamin Freefall Rides | Located at Various Parks
Our current photo shows us Demon Drop, located at Cedar Point, one of the biggest Amusement Parks in North America containing a wide range of over 15 coasters. Demon Drop was installed from Intamin during a period where they were some of the most popular flat rides. Although its appearance may resemble a coaster with its steel-pylon support structure, it is not a complete circuit and is considered a drop ride. Small 4 person cars carry passengers up over 10 stories. The cars are then pushed onto a drop mechanism that hooks the wheel bearings onto a new piece of track that it will eventually drop from. Without any notices, riders are dropped immediately to the ground.
#9: Drop Zone Stunt Tower | Located at Paramount's King's Dominion
Quite possibly one of the newest and most popular thrill rides being built all over the world is the roto-drop ride. As riders assend 305 ft. tower, the car rotates 360 degrees so guests are able to get a bird's eye view of the park. One of the really great things about this attraction that we were so impressed by was its incredible ride capacity. Unlike other tower attractions (Such as Supreme Scream, and Power Tower, which only hold 20 guests per car), Drop Zone cars can hold 56 people in one cycle. Drop Zone is also among one of the fastest drop towers ever built. At speeds of nearly 75 MPH, riders feel a sensation of skydiving while dropping.
#8: Shockwave | Located at Paramount's Canada's Wonderland
As riders are lifted up nearly 70 feet in the air, individual cars rotate and perform intense inversions, making the average person feel absolutely distorted. We selected this specific ride as our top 10's most intense flat ride, because of its very intense g-forces, as well as the stunts that the ride performs for riders on board.
#8: Shockwave | Located at Paramount's Canada's Wonderland
