Infusion
Where: Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Blackpool, England

Cool fact: The planet's first looping 'coaster running entirely over water

This is the hair-raising new ride being put through its paces at Blackpool Pleasure Beach. The £8m beast whisks riders upside down an amazing five times and soaks each passenger with jets of water from its huge fountains.

Infusion will be open to the public this summer and is expected to attract record numbers to the Pleasure Beach. Andy Hine, chairman of the Rollercoaster Club, said: "The G force is incredible - not quite a rocket taking off, but you can't move."



Poseidon
Where: Europa Theme Park, Rust, Germany

Cool fact: It's a rollercoaster and log flume combined

Another water-themed ride is Germany's 'Poseidon'. This unique scream machine offers the best of air and water with sharp turns, dramatic dips and a plunge into water at the end. Don't worry about getting wet — The Poseidon hits the water at such speed that it merely creates a mini tidal wave as 40-foot flumes of water spray up on either side of the car.



Shockwave
Where: Drayton Manor, Staffordshire, England

Cool fact: Europe's only stand-up rollercoaster

In 1994, Drayton Manor stood up to the industry giants by offering Shockwave. The £4 million white-knuckle ride of a lifetime whirls passengers to a dizzy height of 120 feet, then swirls them through nearly four times the force of gravity in a series of loops, corkscrews and turns.



The Big One
Where: Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Lancashire, England

Cool fact: Europe's tallest rollercoaster

Sheer drops and terrifying twists put the Big One right up there with England's elite rollercoasters. The slow climb to the top offers riders an opportunity to soak up the seaside views, and to marvel at the ride-packed Pleasure Beach below!



Eurostar
Where: Travelling fairs, Germany

Cool fact: This portable 'coaster visits fairs across Germany

This epic tangle of dark purple track would be a jaw-dropping sight at any theme park, but the very idea that the whole thing is temporary simply catapults the ride over the edge of believability. If that wasn't enough, it also just happens to be one of the most frantic, intense, and exhilarating 'coaster's you could ever wish to ride.



ThunderCoaster
Where: TusenFryd, Oslo, Norway

Cool fact: An old-fashioned 'coaster sprinkled with modern-day technology

The ThunderCoaster is a perfect blend of old-fashioned fun and modern technology. The second drop is enough to make any 'coaster-fan shudder. The train descends in such a way that makes the track seem as if it has disappeared from beneath the car. Not to mention that riders spend more time hovering above their seats than they do planted firmly to them, making for a wild, airborne ride.



Megafobia
Where: Oakwood Theme Park, Pembrokeshire, Wales

Cool fact: Megafobia put Wales firmly on the rollercoaster map

Megafobia is considered Europe's best wooden 'coaster. Andrew Hine, Chairman of the Roller Coaster Club of Great Britain, explains how this ride delivers sensational "air" time and never lets up.



Oblivion
Where: Alton Towers, Staffordshire, England

Cool fact: The world's first vertical-drop rollercoaster.

The heart-stopping Oblivion features a groundbreaking 90-foot face-first free-fall. The reclined seats give the sensation of lying flat on one's back as the journey begins up the first steep hill before plummeting facedown into a cavernous, vapor-filled hole in the ground.



Dragon Khan
Where: Port Adventura, Tarragona, Spain

Cool fact: The only rollercoaster in Europe with eight inversions

With loops and turns bearing titles such as "cobra roll" and "diving loop," this rollercoaster whips riders around with all the fury and fight of an angry dragon. But for all of its action, Dragon Khan is a smooth ride that prompts many to laud creators Bolliger and Mabillard for the finesse and sleekness of its twists and turns.



Nemesis
Where: Alton Towers, Staffordshire, England

Cool fact: The first inverted rollercoaster built outside the United States

Nemesis lets your legs dangle and your heart skip a beat with every twist and lurch. As the story goes, an evil monster was angered at Alton Towers and created a giant hole in the ground — riders swoop over and about this hole and the irate monster chained below. Red waterfalls dripping into creepy pools of "blood" heighten the effects of the ride as well as the scenes of wreckage left behind in the monster's path of destruction.