If you’re building a 2026 travel wish list, USA TODAY’s 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards just gave roller coaster fans an unexpected headline: Fire Runner at Lost Island Themepark (Waterloo, Iowa) took the No. 1 spot in the outlet’s annual Best New Theme Park Attraction rankings for 2025.

What helped it win? Manufactured by Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC), Fire Runner is touted as the Midwest’s first single-rail coaster, and it’s built for quick-hit thrills: a 1,950-foot-long track, three inversions, and reaches speeds up to 52 mph. Riders are seated inline, straddling a single rail, which provides a closer connection to the track and amplifies every twist, turn, and drop.

Fire Runner completes its course in just 32 seconds and includes a dive loop and a series of airtime hills and barrel rolls. Its 12-car trains are longer than earlier Raptor models, increasing the ride’s capacity while preserving its high-thrill design. 

And it didn’t win the crown against light competition, either.  The top 10 included heavy hitters and headline attractions—like Cedar Point’s Siren’s Curse and Top Thrill 2, both of which landed in the rankings as well.  

USA TODAY 10Best: Best New Theme Park Attraction (results released for 2026 travel)

1. Fire Runner — Lost Island Themepark (Waterloo, Iowa) 

2. The Big Bad Wolf: The Wolf’s Revenge — Busch Gardens Williamsburg (Williamsburg, Virginia)  

3. Rapterra — Kings Dominion (Doswell, Virginia)  

4. Siren’s Curse — Cedar Point (Sandusky, Ohio)  

5. Wrath of Rakshasa — Six Flags Great America (Gurnee, Illinois)  

6. Top Thrill 2 — Cedar Point (Sandusky, Ohio)  

7. Dawn Breaker — Kalahari Resort Sandusky (Sandusky, Ohio)  

8. Georgia Gold Rusher — Six Flags Over Georgia (Austell, Georgia)  

9. Twizzlers Twisted Gravity — Hersheypark (Hershey, Pennsylvania) 

10. Conservation Tower — Zoombezi Bay (Powell, Ohio)  

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(Photo courtesy Lost Island)