Six Flags Debuts Record-Setting New ‘Goliath’ Rollercoaster

The largest wooden ride on Earth delivers 1,203 feet of pure terror.

Roller coaster enthusiasts rejoice: After nine months of construction, Guernee, Illinois’ Six Flags theme park has unveiled the Goliath, a 1,203-foot-long track that is now the fastest, tallest, and steepest wooden roller coaster on Earth. Riders plunge 180 ft. at a near 85 degree angle on the initial drop, and travel into various twists and turns at 72 miles per hour.


The coaster is the new crown jewel in Six Flags’ world-beating coaster collection, but it is not the only sizeable ride opening this summer. A few states over in Kansas, the Schlitterbahn’sVerrückt is slated to open later this week. The ride will snag a Guinness World Record for being the tallest water slide in the world, coming in at more than 168 feet high. The German word Verrückt translates to “crazy” in English, which seems apt.