The 10 Oldest Roller Coasters in America You Can Still Ride

The oldest operating roller coaster in the United States still rides the rails at Kennywood, a 90-acre, National Historic Landmark-designated amusement park on the banks of the Monongahela River. Jack Rabbit may be a vintage ride now, but it was a trendsetter when it opened in 1920, known for its pioneering double-wheel construction. Called up-stop wheels, the carts featured one set of wheels running above the tracks and another set below. The innovation allowed Jack Rabbit to rapidly drop from 68 feet of elevation without lifting off the tracks. This kind of drop gives riders a sense of airtime, but keeps them safe.

Confusingly, the second-oldest roller coaster still in use has the same name as the first. (You’ll note a lack of originality in naming many older rides.) This Jack Rabbit is memorably pretty, painted white and red and rising 60 feet tall atop a grassy hill. The coaster’s design uses the undulating landscape to its advantage, at one point dropping 75 feet into a natural ravine.

Seabreeze initially opened as a lakefront park and picnic area in 1879, the same year the local Rochester trolley opened a rail line out to Lake Ontario. Over the ensuing decades, the park expanded with a carousel, dance hall, a saltwater pool, a hall of mirrors and—among many rides—four roller coasters, including the Jack Rabbit.

Family-run Lagoon Amusement Park, a half-hour drive from Salt Lake City, offers something for everyone: a “beach” area with sand originally imported from California, a frontier pioneer village and a collection of thrill rides that includes the 1921 wooden Roller Coaster. The ride’s unimaginative name has been used regularly since it opened, but through the years it’s also been called the Lagoon Dipper, the Silver Coaster and the Giant Coaster.

When the park unveiled the Roller Coaster, The Salt Lake Telegram reassured hesitant readers that while it was “full of thrills,” it was “as safe as a rocking chair.” It was so bucolic, in fact, that until around 2000, sheep grazed in the heart of the oval track layout. In 2004, after years of regular maintenance, repairs and upgrades, the attraction began to undergo a transformation. Its white-painted wood was replaced, piece by piece, with unpainted wood, treated against the weather, giving the Roller Coaster a new raw and primitive look.

Constructed in just seven weeks—to the whimsical specifications of park planner Arthur Looff for a “combination earthquake, balloon ascension and aeroplane drop”—the magnificent Giant Dipper opened to the public in 1924. The roller coaster, white with red tracks, runs parallel to the beach along the Monterey Bay waterfront in Santa Cruz, California and its cars reach speeds as high as 55 mph. Six full-time mechanics ensure that the 100-year-old Giant Dipper is operating safely. The historic marker at the Giant Dipper quotes legendary San Francisco Chronicle writer, Herb Caen, calling the ride “a tooth-loosener, eyeball-popper, and one long shriek.”

Kennywood was originally Kenny’s Grove, a plot of land beside the Monongahela River outside Pittsburgh used for picnicking from around the 1860s. In 1899, it officially opened as a “trolley park”—a destination developed by trolley operators and real estate developers to lure city dwellers out to the suburbs—with a carousel, a restaurant and dance hall, and eventually playing fields, a bandstand and a movie theater.

Thunderbolt, originally called The Pippin, was a terrain-hugging coaster, using the site’s natural ravine to enable a dramatic 95-foot drop. In 1968, the Pippin’s tracks were partially redesigned, expanded from its center, and the coaster was rebranded as Thunderbolt. While the roller coaster may be old, it still offers thrills, including a 50 foot drop right out of the loading platform.

It was simply called The Coaster when it opened in 1924, but the venerable wooden roller coaster at Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom was rechristened Thunderhawk in 1989 to better fit in with the park’s other more dramatic coaster names.

Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters Inc., the company that built the original roller coaster, was brought back in 2016 to refurbish the classic wooden beauty. In 2021, in anticipation of its 100th anniversary in 2024, the 75-foot-tall Thunderhawk received Roller Coaster Landmark status from the nonprofit American Coaster Enthusiasts (ACE), organizer of the annual CoasterCon.

Belmont Park, home of the Giant Dipper, was originally built as Mission Beach Amusement Center by San Diego booster and real estate developer John D. Spreckels (he’d later own the city’s iconic Hotel del Coronado).

When the park opened, the Giant Dipper was the largest roller coaster in the United States. But things went downhill dramatically after a 1976 bankruptcy. The amusement park, now called Belmont Park, and its historic roller coaster were closed. Demolition seemed inevitable, but citizen advocates formed a 'Save the Coaster Committee' and won the coaster National Historic Landmark status in 1987. Restored and ready, the Giant Dipper celebrates its 100th birthday in 2025.

In June 1927, Coney Island was already a favorite breezy summer destination for millions of New Yorkers. But when a new roller coaster opened beside the beach, with super steep drops and speeds up to 60 mph, it made an immediate hit with the public, who lined up to pay 25 cents for a thrill ride.

The Cyclone experienced some ups and downs over the years with changing ownership and local economic challenges, but in the 1970s, the neighboring New York State Aquarium proposed an expansion that would require the ride’s demolition. A public outcry saved the coaster, which was then refurbished. In August 2024, the Cyclone closed two weeks for emergency repairs, but reopened and finished out the season. The coaster kicked off 2025 with a celebratory egg cream toast for the first 75 riders.

Since it opened in 1927 at Kennywood, the aptly named Racer operates two four-car trains at a time, “racing” them side-by-side on tracks that are cleverly designed so that they loop around like a figure eight. The riders enter the car from a platform on the left and then at the end of the ride, find themselves getting off on the opposite side. The continuous loop design, called single-track, is still unusual. Racer is one of only three single-track roller coasters in the world.

The Wildcat, a soaring beauty with a white wooden trestle traveled by fire-engine red cars, has been enchanting riders in the northeast since it was built in 1927. Its home, Lake Compounce in Connecticut, opened in 1846, making it the oldest continuously operated amusement park in the United States.

The coaster closed for the 2023 season for a little facelift: More than 800 feet of the Wildcat’s 2,700-foot long rails were replaced with new tracks, making the ride much smoother and less clackety.