Jurassic World VelociCoaster opened on June 10, 2021, and almost immediately became what enthusiasts had been anticipating: one of the best roller coasters in the United States. Built by Swiss manufacturer Intamin and designed by Universal Creative, it delivers twin linear synchronous motor launches, four distinct inversions, twelve airtime moments, and a finale that sends riders through a barrel roll just inches above the park’s central lagoon.
What separates VelociCoaster from the crowded field of great American coasters is the complete absence of filler. From the first launch through the towering 155-foot top hat and into the Mosasaurus Roll, every second of the roughly two-minute ride earns its place. Wrap that layout in Universal’s immersive Jurassic World theming — animatronic raptors in the queue, a Dr. Wu pre-show, the film-franchise soundtrack playing as you board — and you have something genuinely hard to top.
Quick Answer
No, VelociCoaster does not have a traditional vertical loop. It has four inversions instead: an Immelmann loop (a half-loop into a half-roll), a dive loop, a 100-foot zero-g stall, and the Mosasaurus Roll — a heartline barrel roll that finishes the ride just above the lagoon. If you’re picturing the classic full-circle loop from coasters like Kraken or Superman, VelociCoaster doesn’t include one, but it delivers more total inversions and more variety than most coasters that do.
So Does It Actually Loop, or Not?
This trips up a lot of first-time riders because ‘loop’ gets used loosely. A true vertical loop is a continuous, roughly circular piece of track — the train goes up, over, and back down through the same closed shape, like the loops on Kraken at SeaWorld or the corkscrew loops on older Arrow coasters. VelociCoaster doesn’t have one of those.
What it has instead is an Immelmann — named after a World War I flying maneuver — which is essentially the first half of a vertical loop followed by a half-roll that redirects the train onto a new heading instead of bringing it back around to where it started. Riders go fully upside down during an Immelmann, so it reads as a ‘loop moment’ in the experience, but structurally it’s a different element than a closed vertical loop. The other three inversions (dive loop, zero-g stall, and the closing barrel roll) are also open-ended shapes rather than closed circles.
Stats at a Glance
Park: Universal’s Islands of Adventure, Orlando, FL. Manufacturer: Intamin (LSM launch coaster), designed by Universal Creative. Opened: June 10, 2021.
Height: 155 ft (47 m). Drop: 140 ft (43 m) at 80 degrees. Top speed: 70 mph (110 km/h). Track length: 4,700 ft (1,400 m). Inversions: 4. Airtime moments: 12. Max G-force: 4.38 Gs. Ride duration: approximately 2 minutes. Height requirement: 51 inches (130 cm). Restraint system: lap bar only — no over-the-shoulder harness.
Two Launches, One Relentless Layout
VelociCoaster’s two LSM launches do very different things. The first rockets the train from 0 to 50 mph in about 2 seconds, sending it through a ground-hugging section of tight transitions and overbanked turns that the park calls the raptor paddock. There is no slow build — the coaster is at full intensity from the moment the restraint checks are done.
The second launch, fired from a brief mid-course holding brake, is more aggressive: roughly 40 to 70 mph in under 3 seconds. From there, the train crests the 155-foot top hat — the silhouette visible from much of the park — then drops 140 feet at an 80-degree angle before heading into the back half of the layout, where the inversions and airtime compound. The ride sustains that energy all the way to the final element with no noticeable dead stretch in between.
The Four Inversions: What You Actually Experience
The four inversions are meaningfully different from one another, which matters at this intensity. The Immelmann loop pulls the train through a half-loop and then rolls it upright, redirecting the layout. The dive loop does the reverse — you drop into it from the top, rolling as you descend rather than climbing into it.
The zero-g stall is the crowd-pleaser among enthusiasts: a 100-foot-long sustained inversion where the train holds upside down long enough to produce a lingering moment of weightlessness rather than a quick snap. The finale is the Mosasaurus Roll — a heartline barrel roll executed at roughly 50 mph directly over the park’s central lagoon. Named after the massive marine predator from the first Jurassic World film, it’s the element most riders are still talking about in the parking lot.
Because the restraint is a lap bar rather than an over-the-shoulder harness, the upper body is completely free during every inversion, making all four feel far more exposed than the loops on a traditional looping coaster.
Why Lap Bars Change Everything
Most coasters with this many inversions use over-the-shoulder restraints that lock the rider’s torso in place. VelociCoaster uses lap bars only, and that single design choice is foundational to how the ride feels — inversions that would feel contained on another coaster feel genuinely open here, and the twelve airtime moments register fully because nothing is holding the upper body down.
The tradeoff is a firm 51-inch height requirement and a test seat at the ride entrance that guests with larger waist measurements should check before queuing. For riders who clear the bar, the lap-bar configuration is a significant reason VelociCoaster stands apart from coasters that are objectively large but rely on more restrictive harnesses that mute what you feel.
Theming and Queue Experience
The queue is worth arriving early enough to actually experience. The fully indoor line begins with the Jurassic World theme score and moves through a detailed raptor paddock environment, with animatronic versions of the film’s raptor pack — Blue, Charlie, Delta, and Echo — secured behind metal restraints in individual stalls. A video pre-show features Dr. Henry Wu briefing guests on the raptor training program, with safety information woven into the narrative rather than tacked on separately.
A standout moment in the queue is the launch-tunnel viewing room, where windows along one wall let guests watch the first launch in real time — trains visible accelerating from a standstill to 50 mph through a lit corridor. The theming holds from the moment you enter the queue to the moment you exit — something very few coasters at any park manage to pull off.
Why It Consistently Ranks Among the Best
VelociCoaster topped Theme Park Insider’s annual reader poll for best roller coaster every year in the years immediately following its 2021 opening, and it won Amusement Today’s Golden Ticket Award for Best New Roller Coaster the same year it debuted. The reasons cited by enthusiasts tend to cluster around the same qualities: no wasted track, lap-bar restraints that maximize every element, two launches instead of one, and four distinct inversions that each feel different from the last — even without a traditional vertical loop among them.
does VelociCoaster have a loop FAQs
Does VelociCoaster have a loop?
No, not a traditional closed vertical loop. It has four inversions instead: an Immelmann (half-loop, half-roll), a dive loop, a 100-foot zero-g stall, and the Mosasaurus Roll barrel roll finale.
How many inversions does VelociCoaster have?
Four: the Immelmann loop, the dive loop, the zero-g stall, and the closing Mosasaurus Roll barrel roll over the lagoon.
Is VelociCoaster upside down at any point?
Yes — riders go fully inverted during each of the four elements above, including a sustained 100-foot stretch upside down during the zero-g stall. There’s just no full 360-degree circular loop like on Kraken or older Arrow coasters.
Why does VelociCoaster use lap bars instead of shoulder harnesses?
The lap-bar-only restraint keeps the upper body free during inversions and airtime, which is part of why the ride feels more intense than coasters of similar height and speed that use over-the-shoulder harnesses. It also means the height and body-shape requirements are stricter, with a test seat available at the entrance.
How tall do you have to be to ride VelociCoaster?
51 inches (130 cm). There’s a test seat near the entrance for guests unsure whether they’ll comfortably fit the lap-bar restraint.
How fast does VelociCoaster go?
Top speed is 70 mph, reached during the second launch, which takes the train from about 40 to 70 mph in under 3 seconds.
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