Back at the start of the 2020’s, I took a hard look back at the previous decade of attraction development to determine what (and where) the best themed roller coasters built between 2010 and 2019 had been created.
It was an impressive list of 14 creations that went beyond the usual construction of a roller coaster, wood or steel, to create something extra special, either through the use of a themed structure, running them through an impressive worldbuilding landscape, or perhaps cramming them inside a massive structure full of projections and special effects.
In short, the creative teams behind these attractions did everything they could to disguise and transform these massive amusement attractions to make them look even more impressive and different.
As I mentioned the last time around, it is amazing what a difference adding a little scenery, landscaping, special effects, and even a semi-coherent storyline can make in upgrading a regular thrill ride and turning it into something next level.
My #1 themed coaster from the past decade, opening in 2019, was Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motobike Adventure at Universal’s Islands of Adventure.
This amazing ride really set an entirely new high bar for what can be achieved with roller coaster theming in this era.
This is a follow-up to show off all the roller coasters that have come since, including those that are preparing to open this year, as we run down the 21 best themed roller coasters of the 2020’s so far… and a tiny glimpse into the future as well.
21.Dønnervind at Freizeitpark Plohn - Germany, 2026
While this is technically a water ride on the surface, this new creation from Mack Rides will combine the company's classic Water Coaster concept with a magnetic launch system.
This will shoot the flume boats across the water and up into a wild terrain-style coaster layout that runs around the forest, up and over waterfalls, and back again for a fun near-miss pass over the waterfall.
It then comes in for a fun splashdown landing before making the slow cruise back to the station.
While Dønnervind has yet to open, some fantastic footage has already been posted online showing the ride making full-speed test runs through the course, and it looks like an absolute blast.
Now we just have to wait for the final theming to be added, the water elements to be turned on, and a grand opening to take place.
20.Decepticoaster at Universal Studios Beijing - China, 2021
Decepticoaster is based on another popular Universal themed ride, Islands of Adventure's The Incredible Hulk Coaster
Image courtesy of Universal
An opening-day attraction for the new Universal Studios Beijing park, the launched coaster from B&M is also a slightly modified clone of Universal’s acclaimed Incredible Hulk coaster, which first opened in 1999 at Islands of Adventure.
Instead of being given a Marvel Comics theme, the Decepticoaster and the surrounding land have been themed to the Transformers universe, including a themed queue, a special-effects launch tunnel, and an on-board soundtrack.
19.Iron Rattler at Six Flags Quiddiya City - Saudi Arabia, 2025
This extreme Vekoma Tilt Coaster concept opened at the very end of 2025 at the brand-new Six Flags park in Saudi Arabia.
It features beautiful, highly themed trains that resemble giant drilling machines and include onboard night lighting effects.
After going through a themed queue experience to board the train, it then climbs up a massive steampunk-themed tower 208 feet in the air before taking the plunge and running non-stop through five intense inversions.
When it comes to iconic attractions in the new park, the record-shattering Falcons Flight takes the cake, but the gigantic Iron Rattler tower catches all eyes while in the park.
18.Toutatis at Parc Astérix - France, 2023
Toutatis, named after the Celtic god of the Astérix comics, is the fastest and tallest roller coaster in France
Imace courtesy of Parc Astérix
This incredible new coaster from Intamin arrived to take the dominant position in the extreme-thrill-ride category at the French theme park.
While it features just three inversions, the experience here is about speed as the train whips through several launch zones (including a swing-style multi-pass launch element) and through the terrain of a heavily themed landscape.
Toutatis has quickly become the favorite ride of most coaster enthusiasts who visit the park.
17.Scooby-Doo Spooky Coaster at WB MovieWorld - Australia, 2025
This themed indoor mouse-style roller coaster actually first opened way back in 2002 and has thrilled guests for many years. It was shut down in early 2023 when the park decided it was due for an extreme refurbishment, along with some retheming and new special effects.
As such, Scooby-Doo was closed for almost all of 2023, 2024 and 2025, before finally reopening to guests just before Christmas 2025.
The attraction combined the thrills of a wild mouse with the themed environment of a haunted-house dark ride.
16.Galacticoaster at Legoland California & Florida - USA, 2026
Galacticoaster blends storytelling, thrills and advanced ride technology to take families on a customisable Lego space adventure
Image courtesy of Merlin Entertainments
Merlin Entertainment opted to build two of these indoor launched family coasters from ART Engineering at the same time, one in California and the other at the Florida Legoland theme parks.
The attractions feature a themed queue and spinning cars with an on-board soundtrack that are launched into outer space to divert an asteroid.
According to Merlin Entertainment, the budget to create the two coasters hit $90 million, making it the largest in-park project to date across the Legoland theme park chain, which also includes the creation of the surrounding Lego Galaxy themed lands.
15.Cétautomatix at Parc Astérix - France, 2025
Cétautomatix features cars that spin unpredictably as they navigate steep slopes, tight turns, and unexpected accelerations
Image credit Sylvain Cambon
Parc Astérix has been very busy over the past few years, and following the opening of the praised Toutatis, the park tapped Gerstlauer to create this unique new spinning coaster concept.
Themed as a creation of the village’s head Chariot maker and blacksmith, the ride experience is extremely wild as guests fly around the Chariot garage and Cétautomatix’s workshop, with the vehicles propelled by a traditional chain lift hill as well as a launched “booster” track along the way to keep the speed to a maximum.
14.DarKoaster at Busch Gardens Williamsburg - USA, 2023
The family-friendly attraction is located in the building that housed the theme park's former Curse of DarKastle dark ride
Image courtesy of Busch Gardens Williamsburg
This launched Intamin Straddle Coaster, themed like a snowmobile, was given an interesting home to inhabit with a little bit of history.
The haunted castle structure at the park actually started out as a home to an amazing dark ride, similar in concept to Universal’s Spider-Man ride, called The Curse of DarKastle, which opened in 2005 before closing for good in 2018.
Gutting the interior of the castle, the park was able to reuse the themed structure and queue to create this new launched dark coaster experience that continues the story of the “Mad” King Ludwig character from The Curse of DarKastle attraction.
13.Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift at Universal Studios Hollywood - USA, 2026
Universal Studios Hollywood started track testing the new Fast & Furious coaster in October 2025
Image courtesy of Universal
While this attraction has yet to open to the public, crew member testing has begun, and a grand opening is expected soon.
This is actually the third Fast & Furious-themed attraction to be featured in the Universal Studios Hollywood park, but unlike the first two, which were simply part of the Studio Tour through the backlot, this is actually the park’s first outdoor high-speed roller coaster.
It features a new coaster design from Intamin that allows for highly themed cars resembling Fast & Furious-style vehicles, while still handling launches and a variety of inversions.
It also has the ability to manipulate the direction the cars will face at all times through a motorized turntable system under each car. This will allow the unique ability to recreate the sensation of “drifting” as the roller coaster rides along the track.
12.Verbolten: Forbidden Turn at Busch Gardens Williamsburg - USA, 2026
This just opened, but it also comes with a bit of history. The original Verbolten roller coaster opened in 2012 and ranked #13 on our previous list.
The launched roller coaster took riders through a wild spin through the “dark forest” and eventually launched up into a giant show building for a special effects sequence and a hidden “freefall” style trick drop track, before launching back out into the woods for an epic finale dive down a hillside towards the park’s Rhine River.
The original version of Verbolten closed early last year.
It has been under renovation to update the queue, add some animatronics, and completely revamp the look and feel of the indoor portion of the ride to really bring the Black Forest to life as riders take a very wrong turn and “awaken forces long forgotten” within the woods.
11.Mission Ferrari at Ferrari World - Abu Dhabi, 2023
Mission Ferrari features roller coaster elements as well as story-driven media
Image courtesy of Ferrari World Abu Dhabi
A unique “SFX Coaster” from Dynamic Attractions, the crazy Mission Ferrari attraction began construction way back in 2015, but after numerous construction delays and technical setbacks, it did not open until 2023.
The unique attraction is part roller coaster and part dark ride, featuring a number of unique and very specialized track elements and LSM launch segments in order to take the riders along on a spy-like adventure that is like nothing else you have ever seen before.
10.Rock ‘n Roller Coaster Starring The Muppets at Disney’s Hollywood Studios - USA, 2026
The new Muppets-themed Rock 'n' Roller Coaster opened on 26 May
Image courtesy of Disney
Disney was looking to update the popular Rock ‘n Roller Coaster attraction, featuring Aerosmith, that first opened back in 1999.
The park has also made the tough decision to close the MuppetVision 4D attraction to breathe new life into that section of the park by creating a new land themed around the Monsters, Inc. film series.
Somewhere along the way, a brilliant idea was hatched that would allow Disney to both update the roller coaster and provide a new home for the Muppet characters within the theme park.
The new creation is now known as Rock ‘n Roller Coaster Starring The Muppets, and it features an updated queue and pre-show experience featuring Muppets on screen and as animatronics.
This time, it is the “Electric Mayhem” band (Dr Teeth, Animal, Floyd, Janice, Zoot, and Lips) who need rapid transit from the recording studio to perform live in concert.
Guests are treated to one of five different audio soundtracks each time they ride, making this a very re-rideable concept.
9.Hiccup’s Wing Gliders at Universal Epic Universe - USA, 2025
Themed to the incredibly popular How to Train Your Dragon film series, this launched family terrain coaster from Intamin, complete with an on-board soundtrack, takes riders on a complete tour of the entire Isle of Berk land within Universal Epic Universe.
Smooth and fast, with no inversions, makes this a very family-friendly ride that is just as popular with adults as with children.
This includes a few fun little moments along the way with themed characters from the films, including a playful encounter with Toothless, who launches the train into the sky!
8.Mine-Cart Madness at Universal Studios Japan & Epic Universe - Japan, 2024/USA, 2025
Universal Creative built two identical versions of this new-style roller coaster system (one in Japan and the other in Orlando), which it has named and patented as a “Boom Coaster”.
While looking like a traditional mine cart-style roller coaster, the track you see under the train is actually a complete fabrication, while the true coaster track is “sideways” and hidden below and to the side of the cars.
The purpose of this bit of deception is to allow the cars to run through a wild themed Donkey Kong video-game style landscape that includes sections of broken track and large gaps that the carts need to tilt to get past or jump over chasms to land on the other side.
Riders pass through a themed queue and a completely themed environment on all sides as they experience the world’s first Boom Coaster concept.
7.Voltron Nevera at Europa-Park - Germany, 2024
Voltron Nevera multi-launch roller coaster is part of a new Croatian-themed area at Europa-Park
Mack Rides wanted to create a true showcase of an attraction to promote its new Stryker roller coaster system, as well as an anchor attraction for an entirely new themed land within Europa-Park.
Themed around Croatia’s most famous inventor, Nikola Tesla, guests are taken through a highly themed experiential laboratory where Tesla is testing theories about transmitting energy through the air.
Tesla’s goal is to create a way to transport people from one place to another via a series of massive energy towers based on Tesla’s authentic design for the “Wardenclyffe Tower”.
The coaster itself is incredible, featuring several launch and booster track sections, seven inventions, a unique “bounce” track element, and a mid-course station turntable that will rotate the trains and send them back again on a second section of track after a swing-launch.
I selected Voltron as the best new roller coaster of 2024 when it opened, and it continues to live up to that reputation even today.
6.Uncharted: The Enigma of Penitence at PortAventura - Spain, 2023
PortAventura World opened the new Uncharted-themed dark ride coaster in 2023
Intamin worked with PortAventura and Sally Dark Rides to create a unique Multi Dimension Coaster attraction themed around the Sony movie and video game series Uncharted.
The attraction itself, much like the Mission Ferrari SFX coaster, is part roller coaster and part dark ride.
It features a number of unique track elements, launch points, turntables, and several show scenes featuring projection screens and animatronics to help move the story along as you travel through the massive indoor attraction towards an explosive finale.
5.Avengers Assemble: Flight Force at Disney Adventure World - France, 2022
It is interesting to note that this attraction actually started out as a second Rock ‘n Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith attraction when it first opened back in 2002.
As Disney began renovating and updating the Walt Disney Studios Paris theme park (now known as Disney Adventure World), it decided that the section of the park around the coaster would become a new Avengers Campus land in 2022.
Aerosmith was out… and Iron Man and Captain Marvel moved into the building as heroes to take you on a new adventure into space to stop a series of Kree warheads from striking the Earth.
While the coaster layout is the same as before, a series of large projection screens were added to bring the sci-fi space action heroics to life as you race around the cosmos, luring the missiles away so Iron Man and Captain Marvel can destroy them.
4.F.L.Y. at Phantasialand - Germany, 2020
F.L.Y. is part of Rookburgh, a highly themed immersive Steampunk city at Phantasialand
Image courtesy of Phantasialand
To my knowledge, F.L.Y. is currently the world’s only flying coaster from Vekoma.
This is not the same flying coaster style that Vekoma started out with (aka: the Flying Dutchman) as with Stealth at California’s Great America.
Instead, Vekoma created a new two-across seating-style train for a launched flying coaster system with a unique and efficient loading system.
As the trains enter the station, the track rolls sideways while the riders seats are able to turn as well to stay level, with the end result of being able to load and unload a train of rides with the seats in an upright position, side-by-side, in the station, without the need of a more cumbersome seating style that needs to either lie-flat or rise-up into a flying posture.
The F.L.Y. coaster then launched out and through a highly themed steampunk-ish environment in the park, created just for this attraction, called Rookburgh, which even features some guest hotel rooms within the themed space.
To this day, I’m still surprised no one else has tried to create their own version of this concept at another park.
3.Tron: Lightcycle / Run at Walt Disney World, Magic Kingdom - USA, 2023
Tron Lightcycle / Run coaster at Disney's Magic Kingdom followed the success of Shanghai Disneyland's Tron coaster
Image courtesy of Disney
While the original Tron-themed coaster was an opening-day attraction at Shanghai Disneyland in 2016, Disney quickly decided it needed to bring a version to the USA and set to work building a copy in the Magic Kingdom park next door to the original Space Mountain.
While I haven’t seen the Shanghai version myself, I’m told that the Florida version is essentially identical to the original in most respects, featuring a themed queue and station area, an on-board soundtrack, and the same outdoor-to-indoor coaster layout for the launched coaster experience that has become so popular.
Disney did surprise everyone in late 2025 when it temporarily updated some of the effects and the soundtrack of the roller coaster as a promotional tie-in with the Tron Ares film when it was released in theaters.
2.Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind at Walt Disney World, Epcot - USA, 2022
Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind sees riders being launched backwards
Image courtesy of Disney
One of my favorite rides to date that Disney has created is the new Guardians of the Galaxy-themed coaster at Epcot.
One interesting note about the attraction is that the queue and loading station are located within Epcot’s former Universe of Energy pavilion. However, the main portion of the coaster itself is housed in a massive special building constructed entirely in the back area of the park.
As riders depart the station and travel through the initial theme portion of the slower ride experience within the old Energy pavilion structure, they are then launched backwards through a long tunnel across the park and into the enormous show building.
The trains built by Vekoma for this unique attraction are also designed with a controlled spinning base, so that riders can be pointed to view in any direction they need to see the various show scenes and projected effects, all while flying around in the dark, space-themed building.
Ultimately, the experience is very disorienting… and extremely fun, as you are placed in the center of the action at all times.
Making the experience even better is that the on-board musical soundtrack you listen to will be one of 6 different randomly chosen audio tracks, ranging from Earth, Wind & Fire’s September, Blondie’s One Way or Another, A Flock of Seagulls' I Ran, Tears for Fears’ Everybody Wants to Rule the World, Gloria Estefan’s Conga or The Trammps Disco Inferno.
Everyone has a favorite track, and many guests will try to ride more than once to try and listen to the different versions.
The attraction also features all the cast members from the Guardians of the Galaxy films, playing their characters under the direction of film director James Gunn, who also helped create the character footage for the Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission: Breakout attraction in California.
1.VelociCoaster at Universal’s Islands of Adventure - USA, 2021
VelociCoaster is a high-speed roller coaster where riders race alongside a pack of velociraptors through twists, turns, and near-misses
Image courtesy of Universal
Finally, we get to the best of them all… Universal’s follow-up to Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure was to create a lean and mean Jurassic World-themed launched roller coaster unlike anything we have ever seen before.
The VelociCoaster features a themed queue, complete with animatronic raptors, and themed footage shot specifically for the attraction, featuring Chris Pratt as Owen Grady and Bryce Dallas Howard as Claire Dearing from the film series.
(And yes, this means you can enjoy Chris Pratt at both Disney and Universal in Orlando on the area’s two top themed roller coasters.
Designed by Intamin, the launched VelociCoaster lives up to its namesake, as it launches riders into the Raptor Pen at high speed; you’ll weave in and out and through rock formations, trees, and even Raptors themselves.
It then drops down into a mid-course boost tunnel where the ride hits full speed and sends you soaring to the top of a 150-foot-tall Top Hat element poised ride along the central lagoon of Islands of Adventure.
Diving down from this height, the coaster takes on a new attitude, focused on speed and unique inversions as you fly around the edge of the lagoon.
The experience ends with one of the most impressive roller coaster elements I’ve experienced, which Universal calls the Mosasaurus Roll, as the train performs an extreme heartline roll, flipping everyone upside down very quickly at full speed, only a few feet above the surface of the water.
The common joke is that if you watch carefully, you can see the rider’s souls leave their bodies just momentarily as they pass through the intense and highly disorienting element, just before you rise up into the brake run.
Add in a fantastic on-board soundtrack that really adds to the feel of the action, and I’d still rank the VelociCoaster as one of the best roller coasters in the entire world.
I’d like to give one other attraction an honorary mention, too, as it was expected to open in 2026, but construction delays are pushing things back.
It may open later this year or perhaps be delayed until next year. As one of the most highly anticipated themed rides of 2026, I’d be remiss if I did not include a mention of NightFlight Expedition at Dollywood (Tennessee, USA) in this list somewhere.
A new all-indoor Mack Rides “Rocking Boat” creation, it is expected to combine elements of a flight simulator, a flume ride, and a roller coaster into one massive dark ride.
Dollywood is expeted to open the new $50m NightFlight Expedition ride in 2026 Image courtesy of Dollywood
Another worthwhile mention is the various themed roller coasters that have been promoted to open near the end of the year at the new BON Luxury Theme Park in Mexico.
The new themed park, built into a luxury resort experience, is supposed to feature a number of highly themed coaster rides, including Delia’s Adventure, Speed of Light, Ashara: Goddess of Fire and the Tecuani Beast.
Unfortunately, we won’t know just how well these attractions will turn out until the park is ready to open.
As I said before, the themed roller coasters of the previous decade have really set the bar so much higher, and so many more themed coasters seem to be opening each year now.
As we enter the second half of the decade, we already know of quite a few projects we can expect to see over the next year or two.
This would include a second Fast & Furious Hollywood Drift coaster opening in Orlando in 2027 with a very different layout, the brand-new Space Mountain under construction at Tokyo Disneyland to open in 2027, and a MineCraft-themed roller coaster coming to Chessington in the UK for 2027.
Then we can set our sights on Disney’s new Spider-Man-themed roller coaster coming to Shanghai Disneyland in 2028 or 2029. Truly, the future is looking fantastic!
