Texas just did something genuinely unhinged, and I respect it completely.
Six Flags Over Texas opened Tormenta Rampaging Run in July 2026, and the numbers alone read like a dare that got way out of hand. Three hundred and nine feet tall. Eighty-seven miles per hour. A 285-foot drop tilted five degrees beyond vertical — because apparently straight down wasn't insulting enough. This is the world's first giga dive coaster, which is a category that didn't even exist before some engineer in Arlington said "what if we took a dive coaster and made it psychotic?"
Let's talk records, because there are six of them and they're all absurd:
- Tallest dive coaster in the world (309 ft — taller than the Statue of Liberty, for perspective)
- Fastest dive coaster (87 mph — that's "getting pulled over on the highway" speed, except you're upside down)
- Longest dive coaster (nobody's measuring tape survived the construction, but it's the champ)
- Tallest Immelmann inversion (218 ft — a loop so big it has its own ZIP code)
- Tallest vertical loop on any coaster (179 ft — Yukon Striker at Canada's Wonderland is crying into its poutine)
- Longest beyond-vertical drop (285 ft at 95 degrees, because "straight" is for cowards)
The ride's name translates roughly to "storm raging run," which tracks. You climb that 30-story lift hill, teeter at the edge while the train holds you over the drop for what feels like a small eternity (the signature dive coaster stall — a feature that never gets old), and then gravity reminds you who's boss. The 95-degree drop means you're actively pitched past the vertical axis, which means your organs get about half a second to rearrange themselves before the 218-foot Immelmann tries to wring them back into place.
What's especially clever is that this thing is a Bolliger & Mabillard — the same Swiss wizards behind most of the world's great dive coasters. B&M doesn't do half measures. They saw Yukon Striker (245 ft, 80 mph, opened 2019) holding the dive coaster crown and said "cute." Then they built a coaster that beats it in every conceivable dimension while also being the tallest coaster in Texas.
The timing is interesting, too. We're in a golden age of coaster engineering where parks are playing a game of one-upmanship that has no visible ceiling. Six Flags Great Adventure just opened Bakunawa (the Kingda Ka replacement with six of its own records). Now Six Flags Over Texas counters with this monster. It's the Cold War of amusement park thrills, and I am here for every single escalation.
If you're within driving distance of Arlington, go ride this thing before your spine talks you out of it. Your future self will either thank you or need a chiropractor — and honestly, both outcomes are worth it.