And no, Kings Dominion didn't pay him to say that, although admittedly, his fervor amounts to free publicity for the park. I have never accelerated faster in my life,'' he said. And yes, he's ridden the Superman ride at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Santa Clarita, Calif., the world's fastest coaster with speeds of up to 100 mph. The XLC, as Kings Dominion's 11th roller coaster, gives the park the distinction of being the only one in the world to have the most coasters driven by a catapult system, Ruben said. The other two are Flight of Fear and Volcano, both of which use electricity to catapult riders.
Big coasters mean big business for amusement parks.
It wasn't always that way. Though the roller coaster's numbers rose to 1,500 in North America in the Roaring '20s, the Depression and World War II saw the number of coasters plummet. Over the past 21 years, however, the number of North American roller coasters has more than quadrupled, from 145 in 1979 to about 593 last year, Ruben said. There's Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., and its new multibillion-dollar neighbor, California Adventure, which opened last month. Miles away, in Buena Park, Calif., is Knott's Berry Farm, the nation's first theme park, founded in the '20s by Walter and Cordelia Knott as a boysenberry farm.