Ask enthusiasts to name the best wooden roller coaster in the country and El Toro comes up almost every time — and it only exists at one park. El Toro is the signature wooden coaster at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, New Jersey, and it has spent nearly twenty years redefining what wood-track engineering can do.
This guide covers everything tied to searches for El Toro at the New Jersey park: whether it’s still running today, exactly where it sits inside Great Adventure, the technology that makes it ride like a steel coaster, its full stats and current awards ranking, what happened during its 2021-2023 closures, and what’s changed heading into the 2026 season.
Quick Answer
Yes, El Toro is still open and operating at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, New Jersey, for the 2026 season. It’s the 181-foot Intamin prefabricated wooden roller coaster in the park’s Plaza Del Carnaval section, hitting 70 mph off a 76-degree first drop with nine airtime moments across a 4,400-foot layout. It ranked 3rd on Amusement Today’s 2025 Golden Ticket Awards list of the world’s best wooden coasters, and it previously held the #1 spot in 2012 and 2017.
Is El Toro Still at Six Flags? Current 2026 Status
El Toro has not been removed, retired, or relocated — it remains one of the headline attractions at Six Flags Great Adventure, right where it’s been since 2006. The confusion some visitors have comes from a real history of extended closures: a 2021 partial derailment, a 2022 injury incident that led New Jersey inspectors to briefly declare the ride structurally compromised, and a resulting shutdown that stretched from September 2022 to June 17, 2023. Since reopening in mid-2023, El Toro has run every season without another extended closure.
For 2026, Six Flags has confirmed that substantial sections of new track are being installed on El Toro ahead of the season to improve smoothness and consistency, while keeping the drop angle, speed, and airtime that define the ride unchanged. In other words: still the same El Toro, just tightened up. If you want to confirm same-day operating status before you visit, check the ride status list on the official Six Flags Great Adventure app or the park’s own El Toro page linked above.
Where El Toro Is Located at Six Flags Great Adventure
El Toro sits in the Plaza Del Carnaval section of Six Flags Great Adventure, at 1 Six Flags Boulevard in Jackson Township, New Jersey, just off Interstate 195 in Ocean County. Its cable lift hill and 181-foot summit are visible from much of the park, including the nearby Movietown area, so it’s one of the easiest coasters at Great Adventure to spot while walking around.
El Toro exists only at this New Jersey park — it isn’t a shared ride name across the Six Flags chain. That makes it, along with Kingda Ka and Nitro, one of the handful of rides that specifically define Great Adventure rather than Six Flags parks generally.
Stats at a Glance
Park: Six Flags Great Adventure, Jackson, New Jersey. Location within park: Plaza Del Carnaval. Manufacturer: Intamin (prefabricated wooden), constructed on-site by Rocky Mountain Construction. Designer: Werner Stengel. Opened: June 12, 2006. Height: 181 feet. Drop: 176 feet at 76 degrees. Top speed: 70 mph. Length: 4,400 feet. Ride duration: 1 minute 42 seconds. Zero-gravity moments: nine. Inversions: none. Minimum height: 48 inches.
Two trains operate simultaneously, each with six cars seating riders two across in three rows — 36 riders per train. A cable lift hill carries each train to the 181-foot peak faster than a traditional chain lift, and then gravity takes over entirely.
What Makes Intamin’s Prefabricated Track Different
Traditional wooden coasters are built on-site: thin strips of wood are bent to shape and layered up by crews working section by section. It’s craft-built and site-dependent, so small inconsistencies accumulate. As the structure settles and seasons cycle, those inconsistencies show up as vibration and rattle — the roughness many riders accept as part of the wooden coaster experience.
Intamin’s prefabricated system takes a different approach. Large laminated wooden sections are precision-machined in a factory, then shipped to the site and bolted together with tolerances closer to how a steel coaster is built than how a traditional wooden coaster is built. El Toro benefits from this on every run: the track holds its profile consistently, letting the ride carry real speed through each hill and deliver forces cleanly rather than in chaotic jolts. It was the first Intamin prefabricated wooden coaster built in the United States, with construction handled by Rocky Mountain Construction years before RMC became known worldwide for its own steel-topped wooden hybrids.
The Ride Experience
After the cable lift delivers you to the 181-foot summit — nearly 19 stories up — El Toro pitches into its 176-foot first drop at 76 degrees. The structure frames overhead as you plunge, creating a pronounced headchopper effect early in the descent. By the bottom, the train is traveling at 70 mph.
What follows is why enthusiasts travel specifically for this ride. A sequence of camelback hills — 112 feet, 100 feet, and 82 feet — produces sustained negative G-forces on each crest, lifting riders forcefully out of their seats in rapid succession. This is ejector airtime: a sharp, repeated shove skyward rather than a gentle floater, and it catches first-timers completely off guard. Six Flags counts nine of these zero-gravity moments across the out-and-back layout before it finishes with banked turns, a twisting section, and the final brake run.
The back row amplifies every airtime moment — you get yanked over each hill rather than pushed over it. The front row delivers an unobstructed view down the near-vertical first drop with a half-second of anticipation before the train commits. Either seat rewards the wait.
Awards, Records, and Current Rankings
When El Toro opened in 2006, it held the record for the steepest drop angle on any wooden roller coaster in the world at 76 degrees — a record it held until South Korea’s T Express surpassed it in 2008. It also became the world’s fastest operating wooden coaster at 70 mph in June 2009, after Kings Island’s Son of Beast permanently stopped running, and held that title until Goliath at Six Flags Great America opened at 72 mph in June 2014. El Toro remains among the tallest, fastest, and longest-dropping wooden coasters anywhere.
The Golden Ticket Awards, administered by Amusement Today and considered the benchmark poll in the enthusiast community, gave El Toro the top spot for best wooden coaster in 2012 and again in 2017. It slipped as low as 6th in 2024 but rebounded to 3rd place in the 2025 rankings, behind Knoebels’ Phoenix and Holiday World’s The Voyage — still comfortably a top-tier wooden coaster nearly twenty years after opening. USA Today’s 10 Best Awards named it the best wooden coaster in the country in 2022.
Closures, Incidents, and Track Upgrades Through 2026
El Toro’s reliability history is one of the most-searched topics tied to the ride, and it’s worth laying out in full. In August 2013, a malfunctioning lift motor forced a several-week closure while the part was sent to Intamin for repair. On June 29, 2021, a train partially derailed when the rear car’s up-stop wheels moved out of place; all riders exited safely, but the ride stayed closed for most of the 2021 season pending an Intamin investigation, and the park was fined for a delayed incident report.
El Toro reopened for the 2022 season on April 2, but on August 25, 2022, a malfunction caused injuries to several riders, prompting an indefinite closure. New Jersey regulators briefly classified the ride as structurally compromised while Intamin and state inspectors reviewed the track and supports. Repairs and re-certification took roughly ten months; El Toro reopened on June 17, 2023, and has operated every season since without another extended shutdown.
For 2026, Six Flags is replacing substantial sections of track ahead of the season — standard, expected maintenance for a coaster approaching its 20th anniversary, not a sign of another closure. The park has described the goal as smoother, more consistent running while preserving the original speed and intensity.
Riding Tips: Seats, Height, and What to Expect
You need to be at least 48 inches tall to ride. There is no dedicated single-rider line at El Toro, so odd-numbered groups typically get split across rows by the operators rather than routed through a separate queue. Because the trains hold 36 riders and run two at a time, the line moves briskly for a wooden coaster even without a virtual queue option.
First-timers should expect the ejector airtime on the camelback hills to feel more violent than a typical wooden coaster — it’s the ride’s signature and the main reason it’s ranked among the best in the world, but it surprises people who go in expecting a mellow, classic-style wood coaster. Loose items are not permitted in the seating area, so use the provided lockers or bins near the station before boarding.
El Toro roller coaster status and stats FAQs
Is El Toro still open at Six Flags Great Adventure?
Yes. El Toro is operating for the 2026 season at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, New Jersey. It has run continuously since reopening on June 17, 2023, following a lengthy 2022-2023 closure for track and safety inspections.
Has El Toro ever closed or had accidents?
Yes, twice for extended periods. A 2021 partial derailment closed it for most of that season, and a 2022 malfunction that injured several riders led to a roughly ten-month shutdown while New Jersey regulators and Intamin reviewed the ride’s structure. It reopened in June 2023 and has run normally since.
Is El Toro the tallest or fastest wooden roller coaster?
No longer the record holder outright, but it’s still elite: El Toro’s 76-degree first drop was a world record from 2006 until 2008, and it was the world’s fastest operating wooden coaster from June 2009 until Goliath surpassed it in June 2014. It remains among the tallest, fastest, and steepest-dropping wooden coasters operating anywhere.
How does El Toro rank among wooden coasters today?
El Toro placed 3rd on Amusement Today’s 2025 Golden Ticket Awards list of the world’s best wooden roller coasters, behind Knoebels’ Phoenix and Holiday World’s The Voyage. It previously held the #1 spot in 2012 and 2017.
How tall do you have to be to ride El Toro?
The minimum height requirement is 48 inches.
What makes El Toro different from other wooden coasters?
It uses Intamin’s prefabricated wooden track system, with factory-machined sections bolted together to steel-coaster tolerances rather than built board-by-board on site. That precision is why it rides smooth and fast instead of rough and rattly like many traditional wooden coasters.
Is El Toro getting new track for 2026?
Yes. Six Flags confirmed substantial sections of new track are being installed ahead of the 2026 season to improve smoothness and consistency, without changing the drop angle, speed, or layout.
Get More from El Toro roller coaster status and stats
Log the coasters, stadiums, and venues you’ve experienced, rate El Toro roller coaster status and stats, and see what your friends thought. Get the ThrillZing app.
Want the day’s theme park news in your inbox? Subscribe to ThrillZing Daily — free.