The Best New Rollercoaster in the World Is Filled With Raptors

Hold onto your butts! A new, super-popular rollercoaster has just opened, and this one has one thing other rollercoasters have been tragically forgetting to include: Raptors!

As more and more people get vaccinated every day, Americans are able to start doing all of the things they missed during quarantine, including going to theme parks. And Universal’s Islands of Adventure got parkgoers plenty excited by opening a brand new Jurassic World-themed roller coaster called the VelociCoaster.

The ride was an immediate hit with fans, as the length to wait in line on VelociCoaster’s opening day got up to 180 minutes but according to those who rode it, the wait was totally worth it. Theme Park Insider’s Robert Niles wrote about his experience on the ride, praising it both as a totally awesome roller coaster and as a meta-reflection on the franchise as a whole.

The ride takes place in the fictional Jurassic World theme park, as riders are being taken to the Raptor Paddock to get an up-close look at the iconic dinosaurs. Of course, things inevitably go wrong and suddenly these prehistoric hunters are hoping to get a bite of the riders.

“Wait a minute – is this a theme park making fun of a franchise that makes fun of theme parks? How very meta(saur),” Niles wrote. “Whatever it is, I love it. Jurassic World VelociCoaster presents riders with what might be the perfect combination of roller coaster elements.”

After the ride, Niles spoke with Universal Creative Show Producer Shelby Honea about the making of the VelociCoaster and asked her how important it was to have the ride “go terribly wrong” just like what always happens in the Jurassic franchise. She said that like in the movies, what “goes wrong” is people deciding to casually spend time around dinosaurs.

“I think for us, really the thing that goes wrong is you, as a guest at Jurrasic World, thought it was a good idea going to the Raptor Paddock,” Honea explained.

Niles is not alone in praising the VelociCoaster, as the ride has been getting rave reviews from pretty much everyone who has been on it so far. Cinema Blend’s Mack Rawden called the ride “high energy and an absolute thrill from start to finish” and SyFy’s Mike Avila said it was “a stunning roller coaster ride that is the single best thing Universal’s theme parks have ever put out.”

So if you are going to Islands of Adventure, you may want to endure the wait to make sure you ride the VelociCoaster. Three hours is a long time but according to those who already waited, it’s totally worth it.