Nice dinner? Check. Your Tinder date was who they said they were? Check. Ice is broken and you're conversing somewhat naturally? Check. This individual seems very nice, you're sharing life stories, and she's learning that you're a bit of an adventurous soul that's got stories from all over America. You're telling her about the coaster trip you just went on, and she stops you when you tell her where it was, and asks, "all the places in the world and you go there for roller coasters? Why?" When you told her you were a roller coaster person, she probably guessed you spend your time in Florida or California, maybe Tennessee, Ohio, or the Jersey Shore if she really knows her tourism industry, but you spit out some random flyover state that maybe doesn't have as much identity as other parts of the world. Why bother driving for four hours between Cowtown and Nowhere, USA, when you can just go to Disney or Cedar Point?
Here we will cover four states that maybe don't always get their due for coasters, in the eyes of enthusiasts and non-enthusiasts alike. My selection pool was simply limited to places I had actually been, so of all my travels around the United States, these are the ones I felt maybe aren't as lauded as much as they should be for roller coasters. So sit back, read with an open mind, and who knows? Maybe you'll be planning your next trip around one of these states?
Utah (Lagoon, Park City Mountain, Utah Olympic Park)- My most recent destination and one of two states on this list that inspired me to write this article, Utah is home to only one major park, but it's a major park on the same level as the nostalgic parks that make Pennsylvania the preservation destination it has come to be. It could be argued that Lagoon is the Knoebels or Kennywood of the West, with classic coasters where thrill might take a backseat to nostalgia operating alongside modern terror machines like Wicked and Cannibal. Custom in-house dive coaster Cannibal with its elevator lift and 116-degree drop rules the park alongside Schwarzkopf's Colossus: The Fire Dragon and its soul-crushing double loops. Roller Coaster, simply called the white roller coaster by the locals, also celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2021, and shares the park with everything from Zierer's only tower launch coaster in the world as well as an old timey Schwarzkopf jet star. Outside of this, the state is also home to two alpine coasters, one at Snowbird and one at Park City Mountain. While its status as a credit is debatable at best, Utah Olympic Park also has their Summer Bobsled Experience, where coaster enthusiasts can actually roll down a dry bobsled course driven by a pilot in an intense experience similar to a coaster. The coasters in the Beehive State are unique, thrilling, quirky, and ultimately fun. Add in all the cool nature tourism there is to do here, you can never go wrong with a trip here!
Indiana (Holiday World, Indiana Beach)- Indiana's wooden coaster will show anybody Hoosier daddy! This state often takes a bit of a back burner to its neighbor Ohio, boasting big bad Kings Island and Cedar Point, but a short drive east will offer some very different juxtaposition. Indiana's two mid-sized parks, one theme park and one boardwalk-style amusement park all boast great wooden coasters in every shape and size, proving there's no end to the numerous ways a good ol' fashioned timber track can leave you awed and shaken. Holiday World, famous for its Holiwood Nights enthusiast event, features three legendary wooden coasters as well as the only launched B&M wing coaster in the United States. As its name suggests, the park features a very cool holiday theme divide, with different areas celebrating different parts of the calendar, such as Fourth of July and Halloween. Meanwhile, north of Indianapolis, Indiana Beach is a Custom Coasters International fanboy's dream come true, with an out and back, twister, and unique themed wooden coaster all with their standout moments. Not into wood? The park also has the original S&S El Loco, Steel Hawg, and is slated to get a traveling Schwarzkopf of its own for 2021! Both parks, particularly Holiday World, can also be incorporated with Kentucky's parks, and while Kentucky didn't make the list, their two amusement parks definitely deserved to be talked about here because it's super easy to do those along with the Indiana parks, much moreso than the Ohio parks, I might add.
Virginia (Kings Dominion, Busch Gardens Williamsburg)- I mean, why doesn't a state with literal legislation called the Kings Dominion Law not get the recognition it deserves? The contrast between the state's themed amusement park and theme park is key to Virginia. One gets a ton of praise for its great coasters, one is praised for its beauty and theme, but nobody ever talks about the strengths of one park in the other, or the fact that the two fierce competitors work together as well as they do. Kings Dominion will show you a thousand ways to get that adrenaline rush you crave, be it yanked from your seat on Twisted Timbers, having your vision sucked away as Intimidator 305 pulls the blood from your head, getting flipped upside-down high in the air as your feet dangle on Dominator, or a simple wooden coaster raucously clattering along on Grizzly. At Busch Gardens Williamsburg, you can tour Europe in a day, from a mysterious Irish village to the grand parties of Germany's Oktoberfest. Kings Dominion, while not consistently ranked among the most beautiful parks in the world like its neighbor might be, is also not bad to look at, as the park sits tucked in the backwoods of the northern Old Dominion state. On the other hand, Busch Gardens also has some great coasters that play beautifully with the park's hilly terrain, and as of this article, they have a high-dollar Intamin multi-launch called Pantheon on the way. Often lumped in with other Mid-Atlantic parks such as Hersheypark, Six Flags America, and Carowinds, these two parks contrast and compliment each other fine on their own, but there's also a ton to do just beyond the state lines.
Missouri (Six Flags St. Louis, Silver Dollar City, Worlds of Fun)- This, right here, is the state that made my Tinder date scratch her head when I told her I went there for Six Flags St. Louis. You hear Missouri, you never think about much of anything, let alone roller coasters. Granted, I am missing one of the state's major parks, Worlds of Fun, the first two alone are more than enough to cement its place in my eyes as the most underrated coaster state in the United States. The Great American Road Trip is very much alive here, as old Route 66, and Interstate 44 which largely follows its path, run right through the heart of the Show Me State. Just half an hour past the bridge over the Mississippi and Gateway Arch sits Six Flags St. Louis off the highway, one of the three original Six Flags home to three great wooden coasters, all from different eras of wooden coaster technology, as well as a great LSM shuttle coaster in Mr. Freeze. Continue your road trip from St. Louis to Branson, pass the old gas stations, motor inns, and towns that grew up along America's Mother Road, and you'll get to Silver Dollar City, which offers a different kind of pioneering spirit. This Herschend property celebrates the culture of westward expansion in the 1880s and features a collection of unique, quirky coasters. Outlaw Run, their RMC Topper Track coaster, is the most normal coaster in a lineup of 90 degree spinning drops out of stations, layouts that travel fully downhill before taking a lift hill back up, and tracks that slide into powerful air launches. I have personally not been to Worlds of Fun, but this Kansas City area park, loosely themed to Jules Verne's Around the World in 80 Days, boasts a respectable lineup of a GCI wooden coaster, Morgan hyper, B&M invert, and more, and I hope to make it out there soon. It also boasts interesting non-coaster stops, staring with Illinois's Cahokia Mounds just outside St. Louis, then adding the Gateway Arch, Table Rock Lake, and more as you pass through. This is a three park state, with plenty of coasters rivaling those in Texas, California, and Ohio between just the two parks there that I've been to, and this land of rolling hills, Route 66, and adventurous spirit has more than earned its right to run with the big dogs in coaster geography.
