Thrill Quest

By Sammy Mack
Published: June 24, 2008
Last Updated On: January 16, 2012

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An adventurous teen tests Florida's wildest coasters.

Adventurers, thrill seekers, adrenaline junkies – those are just a few of the names for people like me, people with a penchant for thrill rides.

I'm also a teenager, but you don't have to grow up on MTV to appreciate a good roller coaster. There's no age limit for living with a sense of adventure.

As an excuse to spend the last sweet days of summer riding the fastest, wildest rides in the Sunshine State, I assembled a small group of friends to accompany me on a tour de force of Florida's best coasters before we headed off to our freshman year at college. We set our sights on the twisting, turning and topsy-turvy rides at the varied parks of Universal Orlando Resort, Walt Disney World Resort, SeaWorld Orlando and Busch Gardens Tampa Bay.

At Universal's Islands of Adventure, one of Universal Orlando's two theme parks, the first ride on the list of must-screams was The Incredible Hulk Coaster. Located in Marvel Super Hero Island, one of the park's seven themed areas, the Hulk is a giant, twisting track of steel painted green, The tracks are hollow, so it roars – an added thrill to this exhilarating ride.

The Hulk had us hitting the ground running. In a matter of two seconds, we went from 0 to 45 mph, and didn't take a break until the coaster car was docked at the other end. For two minutes and fifteen seconds of vertical loops and cobra rolls, my companions and I screamed in approval. Nobody was surprised that the Discovery Channel ranked the Hulk as the "#1 Steel Coaster in the World," when it opened in 1999.

Marvel Super Hero Island at Islands of Adventure is also home to The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman, a ride that relies on simulation rather than raw speed and height to conjure screams. Combining 3D animation with a moving car and gigantic sets, Spiderman is a full-sensory assault. When 3D villains jumped on our car, it dipped as though weighted down where they stood. While an animated, watery villain hovered above, water dripped on our faces and arms. The highlight was a "sensory drop" that made us feel as if we were falling 400 feet at incredible speed.

Another themed area at Islands of Adventure is The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, which is home to three attractions, including the "Best New Attraction for 2010," Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. This amazing attraction allows guests to travel through the Floo network and begin their adventure as they soar over Hogwarts, narrowly escape a dragon attack, have a close encounter with the Whomping Willow, get pulled into a Quidditch match and more. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is also home to another outstanding coaster – Dragon Challenge. Inspired by the first task of the Triwizard Tournament, guests may choose between the Hungarian Horntail and the Chinese Fireball as they embark on one of two high-speed intertwining roller coasters. Each coaster provides a completely different experience.

Next door at Universal Studios Orlando, Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit is a radically-innovative roller coaster that combines hit music, first-ever maneuvers and highly sophisticated audio and video for a one-of-a-kind ride experience. On this coaster, riders can rock out to a song of their choice while going 65 miles-per-hour and 167 feet in the air.

Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios aren't the only Florida theme park with serious coasters. My friends and I headed to nearby Walt Disney World Resort for more hair-raising thrills.

We discovered stomach-turning free falls at Disney's Hollywood Studios appropriately named Twilight Zone Tower of Terror™. This wild elevator ride through the Hollywood Tower Hotel is like spending 10 minutes inside the nightmares of Twilight Zone host Rod Serling.

The car climbed higher and higher in the creepy hotel through a maze of elevator shafts and hallways, building our anxiety before the inevitable drop. Everyone let out a scream as we plummeted 13 stories, bounced up and then shot down the shaft again.

"I don't think I like free fall drops," said one of my coaster cohorts, Dennis Lang, just before he climbed into the ride.

The car climbed higher and higher in the creepy hotel through a maze of elevator shafts and hallways, building our anxiety before the inevitable drop. Everyone let out a scream as we plummeted 13 stories, bounced up and then shot down the shaft again. The ride was so scary, and the drop gave us such a rush, that despite Dennis' initial trepidation we rode it three times

We also discovered at Disney's Hollywood Studios that you don't have to be a groupie to get a limo ride with Aerosmith. On the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith®, we hopped into a coaster car made to look like a stretch-limo. The limo peeled out to 60 mph in a mere 2.8 seconds. We were whisked away on an indoor, black-lit coaster that had us looping through the "O" of the Hollywood sign and flying past famous rock venues.

As if the corkscrew and two rollover loops weren't enough to convince me it was a rocking ride, each seat had its own speakers that played Aerosmith tunes, including "Love in an Elevator" reworked as "Love in a Roller Coaster."

"Now that was cool," said Alisha Price, another of my companions, as we stumbled off. I had to agree.

After regaining our balance, we were off to Disney's Magic Kingdom to experience the famous Space Mountain®.

For people who dream about flying or falling, Space Mountain is a dream come true. Though the ride itself lasts only a matter of seconds, the adrenaline it induced made me feel as if I'd spent a lifetime orbiting the 183-foot-tall Space Mountain® at turbo speed. Stars and planets, the only lights on this indoor coaster, whizzed by so fast and close, I was sure we were going at least 50 mph. I was shocked when I learned that the ride actually tops out at 28 mph.

While most parks have coasters and classic water flume rides, SeaWorld Orlando has Journey to Atlantis®, the first ride to combine both.

My friends and I sat in something that looked like a boat, but it was a roller coaster car on a submerged track. After a short ride through the lost city of Atlantis, we went screaming down a 60-foot, near-vertical flume. Just when I thought the ride was over, our boat suddenly flew through a twisting, turning coaster track inside a cavern where we were soaked even more than by the flume.

SeaWorld also boasts Kraken®, billed as the tallest, longest, fastest and only floorless coaster in Orlando. After climbing 15 stories in the air, the devilish Kraken® sends you spiraling to earth at close to 65 miles per hour, feet dangling and head spinning.

An hour away in Tampa, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay has Gwazi, the ultimate in wooden roller coasters. Gwazi has two separate tracks on its massive wooden frame, making it the largest dueling coaster in the Southeast. I fell in love with Gwazi the second we took off. The ominous click, click, click sound of the car passing over the wooden planks as it crawled 90 feet to the first drop made me clutch my lap bar. "Is it supposed to sound like that?" I wondered for the fleeting second before we careened downward at over 50 mph. The lack of shoulder restraints made me feel that if I lost my balance and leaned forward I would tumble out. Busch Gardens also has the Montu, an inverted coaster that I've ridden many times. It whips around a 60-foot-vertical loop and pulls nearly 4 Gs. Unlike in most coasters, the best seat is in the back. Because of the way the car takes turns, if you sit in the left corner of the last row this coaster seems to snap your spine into alignment.

When it was all over, three days of thrill seeking had left me and my friends simultaneously exhausted and invigorated. After surviving more inverted corkscrews, flat spins and vertical loops than an astronaut in training, I walked away wobbly-kneed yet confident that I could handle just about any curve college throws at me.

If you go: (Should you decide to embark on your own thrill quest, you'll find all the theme parks in this story are within easy driving distance of one another.) Busch Gardens Tampa Bay: 888-800-5447; www.buschgardens.com; SeaWorld Orlando: 888-800-5447; www.seaworldorlando.com; Universal Orlando: 407-363-8000; www.universalorlando.com; Walt Disney World Resort: 407-824-4321; www.disneyworld.com.

More Thrills
Looking for a vertical challenge? You'll find two in Old Town, Kissimmee. The Slingshot (407-396-7166) slings daredevils 365 feet into the air at 100 mph. Next door, Skycoaster (407-397-2509, www.skycoaster.cc) combines bungee jumping and hang-gliding by strapping thrill seekers into a sling harness for a 130-foot free fall.

Calling all race fans! If you prefer ground-level thrills, accept the challenge of the Richard Petty Driving Experience (1-800-237-3889, www.drivepetty.com).