With the opening day of many parks just a month away and with lots of projects seeing their final parts put into place, I'd like to take the time and suggest a list of the rides to really watch out for this summer. Many of which are just different takes of rides already made, but others are truly unique rides
entirely.

10. Lex Luthor's Drop of Doom at Six Flags Magic Mountain- This was something most of us knew that Magic Mountain needed. With all their coaster collection, they did seem to lack other rides that normally support a coaster collection that large. Never fear as the Mountain will be delivering a drop tower. Its not quite your average drop tower. This one will be perched on the same 415 ft tower as Superman: Escape from Krypton, meaning on occasion, you'll feel the tower vibrate and sway quite a bit as a car or two comes rocketing up at 100 mph with all the commotion that goes with. If that weren't enough, the Lex Luthor ride will be the tallest free fall tower in existance at that magic 415 ft. You and 7 others will be at the mercy of a 41 story plummet as Lex Luthor comes to take Six Flags Magic Mountain by storm.

9. Leviathan at Canada's Wonderland- Over the past few year's we've seen a company known for its standard designs, being Bolliger and Mabillard, come out of their box a little bit. The new wing riders surely are unique, but they've also upped the size of their rides considerably. Case and point, Leviathan. No one ever thought they'd ever breach 250 ft, but with this 308 ft giga, they've smashed all previous thoughts of their boundaries. The ride utilizes the standard 4 across trains, but its what those standard trains do that makes the ride unique, the 300 ft drop angles as high as 80 degrees as it descends, clocking at 92 mph as it levels off. The next highest hill doesn't surpass 183 ft, meaning the ride will potentially be packed with air time. A few lower hills and elevated curves within the layout is something else B&M's don't normally contain, so this speed course will be something truly unique from the Swiss firm.

8. Divertical at Mirabilandia- This is Mirabilandia's unusual take on water coasters. The ride seems to be a combination flume and coaster. Intamin comes in with this monster ride, featuring a life similar to Pilgrim's Plundge at Holiday World. However, instead of a simple drop and splash, Divertical comes through with quite a few banked turns and drops in between a total of 3 splashes. Something else a bit remarkable is the fact it does so without any additional lifts. Rides like Journey to Atlantis at Sea World have mutliple lifts to send riders down other large descents to create big splashes. Divertical does the splashes and gets around the course all under its own momentum. Quite an achievement considering how long the ride is.

7. Iron Shark at Galveston Island Historic Pleasure Pier- Sure we've seen Eurofighters pop up like flies recently, but this one really shows off the compact nature of the ride design, especially for parks starting to run out of room. With a pier as its home, it surely makes the most of the room it has. The ride will be a staple Eurofighter, 100 ft in height with the signature beyond vertical drop. After that, it surely looks to be one of the more unique layouts among Eurofighters, including a dive loop, a vertical loop, Immelman, and an outside top hat.

6. Manta at Sea World San Diego- Lots of people know of the huge flying coaster over Orlando's Sea World called Manta, but San Diego's water world is also sporting a Manta coaster. This one will be quite a bit different. Mack, after having the huge success of Blue Fire, has come back to the launch coaster scene with this smaller, family friendly launcher. The 54 ft tall ride will go up to 40 mph as it swoops around the midway and through a lush, highly themed area fitting of the ride's name sake. The rolling stock will be similar to that of Blue Fire but with smaller guests in mind, plus the cool manta ray shaped zero-car.

5. Shambhala at PortAventura- This is among the similar aspects of Leviathan, except with this mega coaster, B&M has gone all out in including new aspects to their hyper coaster. The 250 foot ride will reach over 83 mph, and along the super long course, an incredibly high banked helix turn around which is quite an eye catcher. The ride will also feature the new v-style seat trains similar to Diamondback, Behemoth and Intimidator along with a splash mimicking Diamondback. The ride looks to tower over Dragon Khan as the blue,white and grey track seems to sprint all around the former inversion record holder including what looks to be a 2nd drop of 200 ft or more.

4. Verbolten at Busch Gardens Williamsburg- A replacement for Big Bad Wolf seems like an impossibility. The once popular Arrow suspended filled all who rode it with the joy of flying through the makeshift village at high speeds, and the finale could not be beat. Zierer looks to make such a ride with a highly themed launch coaster in the form of Verbolten. Themed to a Sunday drive gone bad, the car themed trains traverse through the woods at 53 mph as the haunted woods and the Black Witch look to mystify and terrify. After a brief drive, riders will plunge into the event room, which will have the entire track with the train drop like a drop tower some 16 ft. After exiting, the ride will come to a crawl on a bridge before dropping 90 ft, traversing Wolfie's old hunting grounds before careening into the final brakes.

3. Skyrush at Hersheypark- Hersheypark isn't a stranger to big rides. Intamin in particular has been great to the park, and with the successes of Storm Runner and Fahrenheit, it seemed only fitting the firm come through with the park's first hyper coaster. The ride will start with a quick elevator lift. Unlike most coasters with these lifts, the tight area has the lift angle as high as 50 degrees. After ascending to 200 ft, the ride angles down to a near vertical descent, hitting 70 mph. The compact ride only has a 80 ft 2nd hill, and with the double out and back layout, the ride is sure to feature tons of exciting g forces including some wicked air time. Along with that, Intamin has concocted a new rolling stock. Similar to B&M's floorless design, the Intamin cars will only have an overhead lap bar, meaning it could very well be the most open seating ever made for a coaster, all while screaming through a Rita-esque layout.

2. Superman: Ultimate Flight at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom- Out of any new ride this year, this has to be by far the most unique. Premier seemingly made a comeback last year in Kennywood's Sky Rocket, but with this 150 ft launcher in California, they're showing what they're capable of. The ride will feature the same 3 bench stock as Sky Rocket, also similar to the X-car stock. The ride itself seems to be Premier's answer to Intamin's impulse rides. The ride will make several launches at increasing speeds, managing to get higher and higher up the first hill. By the 2nd launch, a second set of LSM's will drag it to the top where it will slowly inch forward. After a descending barrel roll, the ride will dive into a partial top hat and circle through a non-inverted loop before finishing in the enclosed station.

1. Wild Eagle at Dollywood, X-Flight at Six Flags Great America, and Swarm at Thorpe Park- There had to be a three way tie here for the real entry is for B&M's new train, the wing rider. Certainly an interesting seating arrangement, and the layouts using them in Tennessee, Illinois and England certainly look like they know how to make the most of the lateral movement. The later 2 will feature twist and dives as their initial drop and feature more compact layouts while the Dollywood ride will focus a lot on size and the sheer feel of flight throughout it's journey. Could this be the next major fad among steel coasters, much like we saw with the inverted coaster in the 90's?