The Best Dueling Roller Coasters
Dueling roller coasters were the next obvious evolution after the racing coasters of years past. Like racing coasters, duelers have two tracks. The major difference is that on dueling coasters the tracks interact with one another. Exciting near misses and fly-bys are common on these roller coasters.
3 – Gwazi at Busch Gardens Africa (Tampa, FL)
Located at Busch Gardens Africa, Gwazi was
named after a mythological creature with the head of a tiger and the body of a lion. It features dueling tracks with 6 near misses. Unfortunately, Gwazi rarely duels anymore. When I visited the park in 2005, only the lion track was operating. Luckily, I was able to ride it back in 1999 when it opened and the dueling really added a lot to the experience. Gwazi Tiger has an element that gives riders a slalom sensation, while Gwazi Lion offers a number of spirals. Here’s a full POV video from Gwazi Tiger. Looks like Lion was M.I.A. on this day.
2 – Dueling Dragons at Island of Adventure (Orlando, FL)
Dueling Dragons takes the dueling idea to another level with inversions involved in the near misses. The Fire and Ice Dragons live in the back of Islands of Adventure. It features some of the best pre-ride theming I’ve ever seen. The castle that acts as the ride queue and station is amazing. I felt like I went back to the Middle Ages.
There are five duels on Dueling Dragons. At times the trains pass within only 18 inches of each other. (That must be why there’s a maximum height requirement.) Each track has its own unique layout, each with five inversions. You can see a drawing of the Dueling Dragons layout here. It’s not my favorite dueler. Because of the nature of the inverted trains, you don’t always realize when you do those near misses. Check out this heavily produced video and you’ll see what I mean.
1- Lightning Racer at Hersheypark (Hershey, PA)
Lightning Racer at Hersheypark is one of the best wooden coasters around. It’s ranked 5th on my top wooden roller coasters list and 10th on my overall top roller coasters list. It’s fast, fun, and most
importantly smooth. Riders choose between the lightning (red) and thunder (green) trains. Not only are there several fly-bys and near-misses, but as Lightning Racer’s name suggests, the trains race to a finish line. When it opened in 2000, it was the first racing and dueling roller coaster in the world. In my opinion, it’s reason enough to take a trip to Hersheypark. Here’s a shaky onride video from the lightning train.
Photo 4 courtesy of CoasterImage.com
Got a comment or question about this week’s T3 Thursday? Leave ‘em below.
May 25, 2009 at 11:14
Lightning Racer is your number 1 dueler, and number 5 woodie. Can you please produce review?
May 31, 2009 at 11:10
Sure. I'll have a Lightning Racer review up in the next month or so.
July 22, 2009 at 08:21
Coaster Critic, can you review what you think of Dueling Dragons? ( and the lake that has almost no water in it? It is in the shape of a dragon!
September 12, 2009 at 14:22
Dueling Dragons and Mummy reviews!
October 25, 2009 at 06:07
i found this POV video of dueling dragons ice and you can actualy see the dueling effects on it, heres a link.
http://americacoasters.com/video/?page=Duelingdra…
October 18, 2011 at 13:32
When I was dueling dragons they weren't dueling. Same with Gwazi
December 18, 2011 at 06:59
Good list, but I think mine would be different (I haven't ridden all of them, so It's just an hypothetical list) :
-3:Batman & Robin: The Chiller
-2:Battlestar Galactica
-1:Dragon Challenge (not dueling anymore)