For guaranteed family fun, theme parks never go out of style. One reason: constant new rides and attractions that up the thrills and add to the fantasy. As always, coasters are among the big, bold, dare-you-to-do-it debuts. The new season's models not only zip the fearless down tracks at dizzying speeds, but also twist riders in new ways. Both Dollywood's Mystery Mine and Busch Gardens' Griffon add Immelman loops, a heart-pounding combo of a loop and a roll. The Disney parks take wish fulfillment to a new level and Hersheypark adds the nostalgia of a seaside getaway with its new water-themed boardwalk.

Costa Rica's Eco-Adventures

Eco-adventures abound in Costa Rica. You and your kids can explore volcanoes, raft rivers, stroll gorgeous beaches, and hike through rain forests where macaws cry, monkeys chatter and parrots screech. Nestled between the Caribbean and Pacific seas, and serving as a land "bridge" between North and South America, Costa Rica boasts an incredible diversity of ecological zones from cloud forests to mangrove swamps, rain forests, marshes, and coral reefs. A visit here enables you to teach your children to value nature by experiencing it. Here are some great adventures:

Rain Forests
At Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, a 25,000-acre reserve, the winds create clouds that envelop the mountain peaks. You hike through mist-shrouded woods past lush ferns, mosses, vines, and trees from whose limbs dangle sprays of orchids. The forest shelters more than 400 species of birds, hundreds of varieties of orchids, and such exotic wildlife as jaguars, ocelots, and quetzals, although these are rarely encountered. Since only 120 people are allowed in the reserve at one time, be sure to book ahead for a guide through your lodging.

Carara National Park is known for its scarlet macaws. Bold red, brilliantly feathered, and long-tailed, the macaws are gorgeous. Ferns, massive trees, tall banyans with intricately fingered roots, and thick, leafy branches form a dense green canopy. Look out for the droves of leaf cutter ants trooping together, each bearing a piece of leaf on their backs. Corcovado National Park, a huge expanse of lowland rainforest, is home to abundant wildlife, including scarlet macaws and the biggest bird of prey, the harpy eagle.

Volcanoes
From San José, Costa Rica's capital, it's an easy day trip to two volcanoes. The windy roads en route to Paos treat you to scenic valley views of coffee plantations with dark, green bushy fields outlined by willowy palms, and slopes lush with mango and guanacosta trees. Poas' wide crater steams and bubbles with sulphurous waters. You can drive to the barren summit of Irazu. The minerals in Diego de la Haya, one of its two craters, make the lake appear green or even red.

Arenal, the country's most active volcano, still erupts. The red-hot lava tubes snaking down the slopes look most impressive at night, but clouds frequently enshroud the slopes. Even if you miss the fiery show, during the day you can bike on the gravel and dirt roads that ring the volcano and then soak in the region's soothing mineral springs. Tabacón Hot Springs Resort welcomes day guests.

Beaches
Rafting Although often crowded, Manuel Antonio National Park is worth a visit for its wildlife and beautiful beaches. Troops of white-throated capuchin monkeys swing from tree branch to tree branch and sloths (difficult to spot) nestle on tree limbs. There's good snorkeling off Playa Manuel Antonio, one of the stretches of sand.

Rafting
In Costa Rica you can have your rivers mild or wild. For an easy float, try the Corobici River from Cañas. It's best to go in the afternoon when the wood storks and white cattle egrets feather the banks, flocking home to their evening roosts.

The swift-moving Pacuare River is designated one of the top ten whitewater runs in the world for its combination of easy access, cascading rapids and wilderness scenery. You paddle past tall ceiba trees, swirl by waterfalls and boulders, and in the calm of a canyon, you can get out of the rafts and float along, admiring the rock walls and the blue sky.

Big resort hotels include El Parador, near Manuel Antonio National Park, and the Four Seasons Papagayo, in the Guanacaste region. Small Distinctive Hotels of Costa Rica offer a range of boutique properties, each with a local flair. Among these are the Hotel Grano de Oro, San Jose, which has flower-filled interior courtyards and individually decorated rooms; the Hotel Capitán Suizo, a collection of eight bungalows and 22 rooms on the golden sands of Playa Tamarindo; as well as Lapa Rios, on the Osa Peninsula near Corcovado National Park. At the Lapa Rios, located on a 1,000-acre nature reserve near where the Golfo Dulce meets the Pacific, opt for kayaking, surfing, fishing or even camping out at night in the jungle (506-258-0150; www.distinctivehotels.com).

Walt Disney World, Orlando, FL and Disneyland, Anaheim, CA

The Disney theme parks have always been in the business of selling dreams and never more so than through December 2007. During the 15-month celebration "Year of a Million Dreams," which began October 2006, the parks add special experiences designed to maximize the magic.

The wishes-come-true items include being guest of honor in a parade, becoming a pirate of the Caribbean, and sleeping overnight in the new Mickey Mouse Penthouse at Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim (begins December 1, 2006) or bedding down in the Cinderella Castle Suite in Walt Disney World, Orlando (beginning late January 2007).

Other possibilities: winning a 15-day, 14-night tour of the worldwide Disney parks or a ten-day Disney Cruise Line Mediterranean cruise. The lucky are either chosen at the parks or by entering www.disneyparks.com/rules.

New attractions at the Orlando park include The Seas with Nemo and Friends, a ride through a coral reef in Epcot (fall 2006) and "Finding Nemo-The Musical," (opening late 2006 in the Animal Kingdom). California's Disneyland debuts Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage, in (Tomorrowland, summer 2007 (www.disneyparks.com).

Busch Gardens Williamsburg Williamsburg, VA

Busch Gardens Williamsburg, a pastiche of faux European villages with thousands of flowers and beautiful landscaping, frequently wins the "Most Beautiful Theme Park" title. The park combines roller coasters and other fun rides with German, French, Italian, and Irish villages.

For spring 2007, the park unleashes Griffon, billed as the world's tallest-205 feet high-and only floorless dive coaster. This monster plunges riders 90 degrees straight down at more than 75 miles per hour. The gut-wrenching thrills also include loops, rolls, twists, and turns. Griffon joins such other park coasters as Apollo's Chariot, which hurls riders down nine drops totaling nearly 1,000 feet at speeds up to 73 miles per hour and Alpengeist, which flips the fearless six times, dropping them a dizzying 95 feet.

Little kids especially like the child-friendly Land of the Dragons play area and the kid-sized rides. The park's shows provide welcome breaks from all the walking, especially for little feet. At Jack Hanna's Wild Reserve see gray wolves and hand-feed lorikeets, colorful, tiny birds. Don't forget to visit the Clydesdales and board the Rhine River boat for a scenic ten-minute cruise (800-343-7946; www.buschgardens.com).

Cedar Point Amusement Park Sandusky, OH

Cedar Point, a frequent winner of best amusement park, also takes the title of home to the world's largest collection of roller coasters-17 with the debut in 2007 of Maverick. The steel scream machine features two launches-one in the dark-plus a 400-foot tunnel, a 95-degree drop and a top speed of 70 mph. Among the park's other coasters are Top Thrill Dragster, a 420-foot-high monster that propels riders at speeds of up 125 miles per hour; Magnum XL200, which rises 205 feet tall and races along at up to 72 miles per hour, as well as Mean Streak, a 161-foot-tall wooden wonder with dips and drops calculated to make you shriek.

For little ones, there's Camp Snoopy whose highlight is the Woodland Express, a 38-foot-tall family coaster. At Castaway Bay, an indoor waterpark attached to a hotel operated by the park, splash in the 100,000-gallon wave pool, slither down slides, get propelled upstream on the water coaster, and get doused by a giant tipping bucket and interactive sprays at the family funhouse (419-627-2350; www.cedarpoint.com).

Hersheypark, Hershey, PA

There's an old-fashioned sweetness to Hersheypark, from Chocolate World's ride through look-at-the-candy factory to real hugs from Reese's Peanut Butter Cup and the rest of the characters. The 110-acre theme park celebrates its 100th birthday by debuting the Boardwalk at Hersheypark on Memorial Day. Along with eateries, arcades and shops, the new 4.6-acre site pays tribute to a day at the beach with five new get-wet attractions.

With East Coast Waterworks, the centerpiece, kids can slip down seven slides, crawl through two tunnels, cross 225 feet of bridges and play with nearly 200 interactive water toys. Families can zoom down Coastline Plunge, a slide complex that will bring the board game Chutes and Ladders to life, swim at Bayside Pier, the new pool, and try hanging ten on Waverider. Tots can splash at Sandcastle Cove, a new wading area.

The park's Midway America, a nostalgic nod to traditional amusement parks, features a 100-foot Ferris wheel. Other park favorites: Lightning Racer, a wooden roller coaster that shimmies and shakes as it zooms down the track, and Storm Runner, a high-speed coaster that zips riders at speeds of up to 72 miles per hour, dropping them 150 feet (800-HERSHEY; www.hersheypark.com).

Dollywood, Pigeon Forge, TN

Dollywood, the theme park begun by megastar Dolly Parton in the hills of her hometown just five miles north of the Gatlinburg entrance to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, debuts a mega-coaster for the spring/summer 2007 season. Mystery Mine, set in an abandoned coalmine, plunges riders into the dark, then drops them a stomach-churning 85 feet at 95 degrees. Along with half-loops, rollovers and other gut-wrenching twists, the ride features special effects. The coaster joins the popular Thunderhead, a wooden coaster with 100-foot drops and speeds of up to 55 miles per hour and the Tennessee Tornado, with drops of 128 feet at speeds up to 65 miles per hour.

Mountain heritage--crafts and music--is as important in Dollywood as monster rides. The park offers daily demonstrations of blacksmithing, hand-blown glass making and other skills.

There's plenty of music at Dollywood. All the sounds aren't country, although the "Kinfolks Show," a tribute to Dolly, has plenty of twang. "Dreamland Drive-In" is a toe-tapping fifties and sixties rock n' roll revival and Naomi and the Wood Brothers put on a lively bluegrass show (800-DOLLYWOOD; www.dollywood.com).