Theme Park Discussion / The Official "What's Your Favorite Coaster" Thread

When you describe it that way, I have to agree that it fails to meet your specifications for "total package". Though I wasn't the one who initially claimed it was, I just disagreed with the statement that Millennium Force was "severely lacking airtime".

I suppose that could be interpreted similar to saying a BMW Z4 is "severly lacking in speed" for a drop-top because you're measuring it against a Ferrari F458 Spider, but without mentioning the F458 in question.

I agree that Millennium Force is lacking in airtime when compared to some coasters, but it's certainly still solidly above average in that department in my experience (92 according to coaster count, though I think their system for racing coasters is bogus).

Ride6's coaster count thingy

It's obviously not my favorite ride or nothin'. I actually think it's severely overrated since most Michiganders (and other midwesterners) seem to believe it's pretty much the end-all be-all of coasters.

Ride6

Steel:
1. Millennium Force
2. Phantom's Revenge
3. Tatsu

Wood:
1. Boulder Dash (circa 2008 when the GCI re-tracking was new)
2. Phoenix
3. El Toro

Steel:
1. Expedition GeForce (Holiday Park) [Incredible First Drop and Air Time]
2. Tatsu (SFMM) [Fun Ride and the pretzel loop is really great]
3. X2 (SFMM) [The coaster-layout is cool and the type really exciting]
4. Blue Fire (Europa Park) [Fun launch and cool layout]
5. Revenge of the Mummy (Universal Studios)

Wood:
1. Apocalypse (SFMM) [Just awesome]
2. Wodan (Europa-Park) [Good interaction and nice layout]
3. Colossus (SFMM) [The Drops are fun]

For Parcificoaster:I`m from Germany look---Hallo ich bin aus Deutschland und habe ein Trip in der USA gemacht.

Are you sure you´re from Germany? Doesn´t sound like it...

Since everyone is pulling a list out now:

Steel:
1. Expedition GeForce @ HolidayPark
2. Monster @ Walygator
3. BlackMamba @ Phantasialand
4. OlympiaLooping @ traveling coaster
5. BlueFire @ EuropaPark

Wood:
1. Wodan Timbur Coaster @ EuropaPark
2. Collossos @ Heidepark
3. The rest aren´t worth mentioning...

The Incredible Hulk @ universal studios
Nemesis @ Alton Towers
Kraken @ Sea World
The Ultimate @ Lightwater Vally

After my BGT and SDC trips.

Highly anticipating Iron Rattler!

1.New Texas Giant
2.Montu
3.(tie)Superman:Krypton Coaster
3.(tie)Kumba
4.Powder Keg
5.Titan

Only been on 5 wooden coasters lol. Missed Gwazi.

Wood
1.Texas Giant (defunct)
2.Rattler (defunct)

Steel: 1. Nitro, 2. Storm Runner, 3. Kingda Ka, 4. Sky Rocket, 5. Great Bear

Wood: 1. Boulder Dash, 2. El Toro (SFGAdv), 3. Phoenix, 4. Ravine Flyer II, 5. Thunderhead

Nr. 1 is definately X2 (Six Flags Magic Mountain (SFMM)). Waited 3 hours for it, but it was definately worth it.
2. Tatsu (SFMM). Powerfull and the Pretzel is awesome!
3. Deja Vu (SFMM). Glad that I did him, awesome coaster!.
4. Black Mamba (Phantasialand). Although only first three seats, behind that it shakes too much.
5. Riddlers Revenge (SFMM). My first (and till now only) stand-up coaster.
6. Troy (Toverland). The best coaster in the Netherlands. Simply awesome.
7. Goliath (SFMM). High coaster with the most powerfull first drop that I've ever had.
8. Rock 'n Rollercoaster (Disney Land Paris Studio's). Combination of the launch, music and theming is just perfect.
9. Batman the Ride (SFMM). Nice inverted, powerfull and compact.
10. Blue Fire (Europapark). First Launchcoaster from Mack. Simply awesome, just not the best.

Intimidater 305 at Kings Dominion Doswell Virginia

Steel:

Montu
Tatsu
Maverick

Wood:

Prowler
Screaming Eagle
The Boss

damn, I need to get on more woodies

1. Shambhala - Port Aventura: amazing first drop and lots of airtime!
2. Silverstar - Europa Park: I was very impressed by this, not so much anymore now I've done Shambhala.
3. Colossos - Heidepark: A huge smooth woodie with ejector airtime!
4. Superman la Atraccion de Acero - Parque Warner Madrid: This is just the best coaster with loops I've done, it is just awesome.
5. Black Mamba - Phantasialand: Amazing at front row, tearing over and trough rocks.
6. Goliath - Walibi Holland: So much airtime...
7. Megaphobia - Oakwood: A very wild woodie, with a nice amount of airtime
8. Nemesis Inferno - Thorpe Park: Better than expected, has more interaction with the landscape than Batman, that makes this one better for me.
9. Joris en de draak - Efteling: A wild woodie which stays close to the ground and has a lot of good cornering.
10. Colorado Adeventure - Phantasialand: This is just how a mine train should be!

Next year a trip to the USA and this list will be completely different

wood, Anaconda in walibi france, don't remember wich park, but biggest in europe and the first drop just doesn't end...

Anaconda in Walygator. But you got to be trollin'... That thing is one of the worst woodie's I've done. It has anti rollback on almost every hill because it doesn't get enough speed. It feels like he can rollback any given moment. First 2 seats are not available btw, there are sandbags in it... And it is far from smooth. Maybe it was much better earlier, when you rode it.

It's not the biggest woodie in Europe. Colossos in Heidepark is the biggest, almost twice as heigh as Anaconda.

Living in an area with two amusement parks within 300 miles (Which in mind, have a total of 4 roller coasters), it's difficult to get to a good roller coaster. (But, the Wooden Coaster at Playland is still amazing) I only get to go on bigger roller coasters during vacations, but from experience, my favourite roller coaster still has to be Manta in Sea World Orlando.
I just love the g's you get and especially the forward pretzel loop, which is amazing. But again, only having been to a limited number of amusement parks severely handicaps my ability to give a really good coaster =P

Steel:
1. Expedition GeForce (Holiday Park) [Incredible First Drop and Air Time]
2. Tatsu (SFMM) [Fun Ride and the pretzel loop is really great]
3. X2 (SFMM) [The coaster-layout is cool and the type really exciting]
4. Blue Fire (Europa Park) [Fun launch and cool layout]
5. Revenge of the Mummy (Universal Studios)

Wood:
1. Apocalypse (SFMM) [Just awesome]
2. Wodan (Europa-Park) [Good interaction and nice layout]
3. Colossus (SFMM) [The Drops are fun]

Update after visiting the Netherlands, Belgium and Orlando (Bush Gardens and Islands of Adventure):

Steel:
1. Expedition GeForce (Holiday Park) [Still awesome]
2. Montu (Bush Gardens) [Just a great Coaster overall and an insane Batwing]
3. Tatsu (Six Flags Magic Mountain) [See above]
4. The Incredible Hulk (Islands of Adventure) [#datlaunch, so good, very unique coaster]
5. Batman: The Ride (Six Flags Magic Mountain) [I don't know why, but when I think of it, I liked it a lot]
6. Anubis (Plopsaland de Panne) [Launch and G's]
7. Dragon Challange (Islands of Adventure) [Especially the blue one]
8. X2 (Six Flags Maic Mountain) [hm]
9. Goliath (Walibi Holland) [Fun to ride]
10. Sheikra (Busch Gardens) [The Drop is insane, and you get wet]

Honorable mention: Vliegende Hollander (Efteling)[Not a great coaster, but an insane themed ride)

Wood:
1. Troy (Toverland) [Just sick]
2. Apocalypse (Six Flags Magic Mountain) [Great]
3. Wodan (Europapark)
4. Joris en de Draak (Efteling)
5. Robin Hood [Walibi Holland)

Hooray I get to update my list!

1. Intimidator 305 - All 11 times I rode it I grayed out in the turn after the first drop, then was brought back instantly by the airtime on the next hill. And the rest of the ride just never lets up.
2. Maverick - Was number 1, such a complete ride in my opinion. Great forces and great airtime on the drop and first hill.
3. Storm Runner - Took my by surprise, top hat with ejector? Yes please.
4. Millennium Force - 13 years old and still going strong. Drop is amazing and the speed the rest of the ride is fantastic.
5. Gatekeeper - Again, a surprise. The drop is nuts and the rest of the ride is surprisingly forceful with great hang time in the inversions.
6. Diamondback - Fantastic airtime and a butter smooth ride.
7. Manta - Great pretzel loop, with weird flyer airtime in the front, and insane positives in the back.
8. Wild Eagle - Yet another surprise. Essentially a smaller Gatekeeper.
9. Thunderhead - Crazy, crazy ride. Smooth and full of airtime in places you wouldn't expect airtime.
10. Apollos Chariot - Good airtime in the back, with ejector off the MCBR and in the final hill.

11. Phantoms Revenge
12. Griffon
13. SheiKra
14. Fahrenheit
15. Afterburn
16. Montu
17. Volcano: The Blast Coaster
18. Lightning Racer
19. Top Thrill Dragster
20. Alpengeist

Just to give some context, here's what my top ten was before 2013:

1. Maverick
2. Storm Runner
3. Millennium Force
4. Diamondback.
5. Manta
6. Phantoms Revenge
7. SheiKra
8. Fahrenheit
9. Montu
10. Lightning Racer

I-305 claims another top spot. Mhwahahaha!

Since people seem to be doing hybrid lists (not separate wood and steel)... I-305 is easily my #1 steel, but #1 overall goes to:

1 - The Voyage (Holiday World)
2 - Intimidator 305 (King's Dominion)
3 - Cornball Express (Indiana Beach)*
4 - Millennium Force (Cedar Point)**
5 - Diamondback (King's Island)**
6 - New Texas Giant (Six Flags Over Texas)
7 - Superman: Ride of Steel (Six Flags America)***
8 - Shivering Timbers (Michigan's Adventure)
9 - Raging Bull (Six Flags Great America)****
10 - The Beast (King's Island)

*Most underrated ride ever. Backseat (or even just near backseat) rides during dusk and after dark are loaded with airtime, with buzzbars on the nice (stuffed leather or vinyl or something) PTC trains). The ride isn't large or particularly lengthy, but re-rides are always possible.

**These two are pretty much interchangeable. I seem to flip-flop every time I visit either park; and not always in favor of the ride I'm on that day.

***This is getting pretty sketch since I haven't ridden it since 2002... I remember it having excellent ejector airtime on several of the hills and good floater elsewhere. The helixes are obviously forceless/boring, but I don't recall them detracting from the experience.

****Raging Bull, of any coaster (other than maybe Maverick), has the ability to move up this list quickly. Without the trims this ride could be a force to reckon with; instead it's just great. The Beast also has this problem, though to a lesser extent (the brakes before the ravine drop need to go completely and the ones before the final helix should be backed off a bit). Speaking of coasters ruined by brakes, Mean Streak comes to mind. I've had nearly trimless (just minor stuff at the MCBR) rides on that thing that would put it somewhere around the middle in my wooden top-10, and I've had super-trimmed rides that were the worst experiences I've ever had on a coaster.

Moving along to Maverick; I think it could move into my top 5 overall, and probably #2 steel with a change to I-305's fabric restraints. The AWFUL orange "visual security straps" are the bane of that ride's existence (and happen to karate-chop me in the neck)... it's insane ejector air and slick inversions make up for it enough that I still ride, but it's still a boom or bust ride for me depending on how well I lean into the corners.

King's Island is the only park to have two rides in my hybrid top 10 (Diamondback & Beast)... This throws me a little bit mentally since if it was just steel coasters Cedar Point would be dominant with 4 (Millennium Force, Gatekeeper, Raptor, Maverick). My wooden coaster top-10 drops off pretty hard after the top-4 and basically becomes a debate over which "above average" coaster was slightly better or worse than another imo. No park that I've been to has had two wooden coasters that really gripped me, though Holiday World comes closest and Hersheypark (also haven't been since 2002) has 3 quality "above average"-type options.

Ride6

1.Great American Scream Machine (SFOG)
2.Mindbender (SFOG)
3.Cheetah Hunt (BGT)
4.Tennessee Tornado (Dollywood)
5.Ninja (SFOG)

Parks I've visited for reference- SFOT, SFFT, SFGAM, SFAW, BGT, SWSA, SDC, DW
Total Coasters ridden-51
Not much change, but Iron Rattler flew to #2. It could very well be #1, but there is some home park bias in there.
My wood list is laughable.

Steel
1. New Texas Giant
2. Iron Rattler
3. Montu
4. Superman: Krypton Coaster
4. Kumba
5. Powder Keg
6. Cheetah Hunt
7. Wildfire
8. Sheikra
9. Steel Eel
10. Shockwave (SFOT)
11. Raging Bull
12. Titan
13. Mr. Freeze: Reverse Blast
14. Great White
15. Superman: Ultimate Flight (SFGAM)

Wood
1. Old Texas Giant
2. Old Rattler
3. Judge Roy Scream
4. Arkansas Twister

Top Parks
1. Busch Gardens Tampa
2. EPCOT
3. Animal Kingdom
3. Six Flags Fiesta Texas
4. Magic Kingdom
5. Disney Studios
6. Six Flags Over Texas
7. Six Flags Great America
8. Silver Dollar City
9. Seaworld San Antonio
10. Six Flags Astroworld

Parks potentially in Planning- Cedar Point, Kennywood

Update after visiting the Netherlands, Belgium and Orlando (Bush Gardens and Islands of Adventure):

Steel:
1. Expedition GeForce (Holiday Park) [Still awesome]
2. Montu (Bush Gardens) [Just a great Coaster overall and an insane Batwing]
3. Tatsu (Six Flags Magic Mountain) [See above]
4. The Incredible Hulk (Islands of Adventure) [#datlaunch, so good, very unique coaster]
5. Batman: The Ride (Six Flags Magic Mountain) [I don't know why, but when I think of it, I liked it a lot]
6. Anubis (Plopsaland de Panne) [Launch and G's]
7. Dragon Challange (Islands of Adventure) [Especially the blue one]
8. X2 (Six Flags Maic Mountain) [hm]
9. Goliath (Walibi Holland) [Fun to ride]
10. Sheikra (Busch Gardens) [The Drop is insane, and you get wet]

Honorable mention: Vliegende Hollander (Efteling)[Not a great coaster, but an insane themed ride)

Wood:
1. Troy (Toverland) [Just sick]
2. Apocalypse (Six Flags Magic Mountain) [Great]
3. Wodan (Europapark)
4. Joris en de Draak (Efteling)
5. Robin Hood [Walibi Holland)

Favourite Theme Parks:

1. Europapark (Germany)
2. Efteling (Netherlands)
3. Busch Gardens Tampa Bay (USA)
4. Phantasialand (Germany)
5. Islands of Adventure (USA)
6. Six Flags Magic Mountain (USA)
7. Tripsdrill (Germany)
8. Toverland (Germany)
9. Universal Hollywood (USA)
10. Holiday Park (Germany)

After my USA trip, Outlaw Run is my new favorite coaster! And well ahaed of my new nr 2, Top Thrill Dragster. I have to decide the rest of the top 10 yet. Rode 115 coasters in 3 weeks

^ that sounds nuts dude! That's more than I've ever ridden.

My trip to CP today really stirred up my top ten. You can see my former top 15 just a few posts up. CP rides highlighted.

Steel

12- Raptor
11- Cheetah hunt
10- Powder Keg
9- Kumba
8- Maverick
7- Gatekeeper
6- Mantis
5- Superman Krypton Coaster
4- Montu
3- Iron Rattler
2- Texas Giant
1- Millennium Force

Wood
1- Mean Streak



New #1! Millennium. What an incredible ride, easily unseated TG as my favorite. I find it hard to believe a coaster can be better than that thing. Oh yes. So good. Will post a full review on each ride later.