This Theme Park in Saudi Arabia Is Opening the World's Fastest, Tallest, and Longest Roller Coaster

Faster, higher, longer! A new roller coaster being built outside the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh will set world records in all of those areas when it opens at Six Flags Qiddiya in 2023.

The Falcon's Flight coaster will travel about two and a half miles at speeds of up to 155 miles per hour. One of the vertical cliff dives will fall about 525 feet into a valley by using magnetic motor acceleration, the company said in a release earlier this year. Each three-minute ride will carry up to 20 passengers, who will also experience three electromagnetic propulsion launch systems. The ride will be the world's tallest freestanding coaster "featuring a parabolic airtime hill allowing a weightlessness airtime experience," the release explained. For those who aren't distracted by the thrills, Falcon's Flight will also offer panoramic views of the park.

"I will never forget the moment when I was standing at the edge of the 200-meter-high cliff on the Tuwaiq Mountain in Qiddiya, looking into the valley and imagining the creation of a future record-setting roller coaster," Daniel Schoppen of Intamin Amusement Rides, which is working on the coaster's design, said in a statement. "I knew that exactly at this spot, the Falcon's Flight will dive down along the cliff, ending in a unique, exhilarating 250 km/h (155 mph) proximity flight close to the ground. The worldwide unique setting and heights such as the natural cliff will enable us to design an architectural masterpiece in steel."

Falcon's Flight will be the star attraction of the new Six Flags theme park, which will cover 79 acres with 28 themed rides and attractions in its six lands, including the City of Thrills (where Falcon's Flight will be located), Discovery Springs, Steam Town, Twilight Gardens, Valley of Fortune, and Grand Exposition, the park said in a release.

Six Flag Qiddiya, which started construction in 2018 according to CNN, is part of the first phase of the 90,440-acre Quiddiya, set to become a hub of the nation's entertainment, sports, and arts.

Intamin will be beating its own records with its newest coaster, as it currently holds records for fastest coaster, with Formula Rossa, which travels up to 149 miles per hour at Ferrari World Abu Dhabi, and tallest steel coaster, with Kingda Ka at New Jersey's Six Flags Great Adventure, CNN reported. The current record for longest coaster is Steel Dragon 2000 at Japan's Nagashima Spa Land, which travels over one and a half miles and is designed by D. H. Morgan Manufacturing.

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