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The Switchback Railway at the Brooklyn beachside community known as Coney Island is widely credited as the first roller coaster designed as an amusement for the masses. But it had some drawbacks. Cars had to be manually pushed to the top, and riders had to get out and climb a second 50-foot tower to get back to the starting place. But the ride was a huge hit. Within four years, designer LaMarcus Thompson had built more than 50 coasters around the world.

Michael Crichton may be best remembered as a novelist, but he directed half a dozen feature films in the 1970s and ’80s, including two well-reviewed thrillers in 1978: the medical drama Coma with Michael Douglas and the period heist movie The Great Train Robbery with Sean Connery.

The Formula Rossa coaster, which opened in 2010 in the UAE’s Ferrari World park, reaches a top speed of 149 miles per hour in just 4.9 seconds and exerts a maximum force of 4.8 gs. (The park provides free goggles to protect your eyes.) But the ride’s record may soon be shattered by the Falcon’s Flight coaster now under construction in Saudi Arabia’s Six Flags Qiddiya City. That ride, due to open in late 2024, promises to be the world’s tallest (at 650 feet) and fastest (at 155 miles per hour).

Walley World is clearly based on the Disney theme parks, only with a moose mascot instead of Mickey Mouse. But the original film shot its final scenes at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California. You can still ride on a revamped version of the Colossus roller coaster (called Screaming Mimi in the film) that thrilled the Griswolds.

Ole Kirk Christiansen, a Danish carpenter who specialized in making wooden toys, chose the name Lego from the first two letters of the Danish words leg godt, which mean “play well.” In the late 1940s, he shifted from wood to plastic for his toy bricks, and in 1958 he patented the company’s signature “stud-and-tube coupling system.” The company operates 10 Legoland parks worldwide — with U.S. locations in California, Florida and New York — with three more opening in China in 2024.