Here is week two of the Top Ten Coasters, making it coaster number 9 on your list.
My coaster count actually went up in the past 3 months with my visits of a few UK theme parks, and what do you know, we had a new addition to the Top Ten. Sorry Alpengeist, you’ve been bested by another B&M Inverted coaster. It’s actually the same color, but it’s a completely different ride. It’s Nemesis at Alton Towers.
Nemesis is one of the most unique roller coasters in the world, for a couple of reasons. See, Alton Towers is a theme park in northern England that was originally just a park that surrounded an old castle (well, a castle in American standards). When the company that owned Alton Towers wanted to start building Amusement rides on the site the town council allowed it, but with quite a few restrictions. These rules ranged from noise restrictions (which still plague the park today, see http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/Ne ... story.html for more on that) to a rule that said the park could never build a ride that rose above the tree level. Well, in the 70s that wasn’t too big of a deal, roller coasters generally didn’t rise above 100 feet in America, and coaster size in the UK is even smaller.
Then the 90s came, and thrilling roller coasters got bigger and more intense. Alton Towers (now owned by the Tussauds Group) wanted to blow the minds of thrill seekers in the UK, so they thought up SW1, SW2, and SW3 (standing for “Special Weapons 1, 2, and 3 respectfully) and SW3 eventually turned into Nemesis - an inverted roller coaster that dove through tunnels with tight turns and loads of inversions. Alton Towers literally dug out trenches and ravines and dug into bedrock to give this coaster (which goes over 50mph) it’s signature thrills. Combine that with some cool cheeky 90s theming and a river that always runs pink, Nemesis is purely awesome.
It’s actually pretty tough to get solid photos of Nemesis because the train is beneath you so often. The ride experience is like none other, especially for a steel coaster with lots of inversions. Tunnels in wooden coasters are fairly common, for a ride that’s less than a minute long and puts you upside down four times? Riding this beast in the front row is absolutely incredible, as the entire time you have a great view of the next death defying stunt the train is about to do, with plenty of foot, arm, and entire body choppers that makes you feel like you need to make yourself into a tiny ball to keep your extremities.
I was lucky enough to get on Nemesis about 10 times this autumn. Easily my favorite coaster in the UK right now (we’ll see what Swarm has in store for us, but I have my doubts) and it really lives up to its reputation. Loads of forces that keep you pinned to your seat and provides for a great thrill.
I'm really not sure if we'll see another coaster like Nemesis for a long time. The amount of work and investment that went into this ride must have been off the charts, but it clearly paid off as it still kicks ass 15 years later.
Top 5 wood-5-Goliath 4-Ravine Flyer II 3-Phoenix 2-Voyage 1-El Toro Top 5 Steel- 5-Velocicoaster 4- Maverick 3- Fury 325 2-Steel Vengeance 1-X2 Coaster Count: 444
Nemesis is a damn good ride. Black Mamba at Phantasialand was built in the same style as Nemesis, being mostly in trenches and/or underground, but the layout itself ended up being rather lame with 5 rapid fire inversions to start the ride, which was great, then literally 20-30 seconds of meandering around aimlessly before limping into the final brakes making for a whole ride ruining ending.
Anyways onto my list, and since Steel and Wood have such a huge divide in my rankings, I'll just go for #9 for both wood and steel for me.....
#9 Wood Twister at Grona Lund
I'll be honest, I was expecting more, although I think the trains hurt it alittle for me, kept it out of the top 5. On one ride I got hit real good in the elbow by the steel bar wrapping around the top of the car, it left a pretty impressive bruise. Also the general lack of padding of any sort was a little weird, though the ride was butter smooth, if it wasn't though, it would have been an absolute disaster. It gets huge amounts of points for the setting right on the water, being in an incredibly awesome park, having some sick airtime and an impossibly tight layout. And still #9 out of 693 coasters, that's not bad at all...
Now #9 for Steel for me is Titan at SFOT.
I like Crushing G forces. Also I like the trains, long wheelbase which makes the little airtime it has better than the B&M single row hyper trains which pivot you forwards more than throwing you upward. Trains are comfotable as well i guess.
Also since I didn't do it last week... #10 steel is Goliath at LaRonde. If it didn't have single row cars, it'd probably be higher, but it was a good quality mini-hyper of which I really liked the turnaround. Besides that every hill was fairly effective including the non inverting corkscrew(s), which I always like quite a bit.
Favorite Wood Coasters: The Voyage, Ravine Flyer II, Thunderhead, Balder Favorite Steel: Voltron Nevera, Steel Vengeance, Expedition GeForce, Olympia Looping Parks visited: 232, Coasters Ridden: Steel: 894, Wood: 179, Total: 1073
Avalanche Timber Falls I'd like to emphasize this is a front row ride. Back in 04-06 or so it was manageable but now you get the crap kicked out of you near the back of the train. But in the front its still a top 10, this dinky little coaster is one of the most bizarre and insane wooden coasters I have been on.
Batman The Ride SFGAm This ride is perfect, nothing much else to say. I've been on all of the "highly ranked" inverts in North America, but this one still takes the taco for my favorite. Also my favorite of the BTR clones as this one fits in with the surroundings much better, whereas most of the clones feel like...well clones since most are out in the middle of a field (though LaRondes is has a nice setting and is a great ride also it automatically loses points because its at LaRonde).
RE Titan and Goliath Laronde, I haven't ridden Titan but have ridden Goliath at SFMM and while it's an OK ride the short length combined with lack of air keeps me wanting more when the ride is over. Kind of ironic considering BTR is in my top 10 which is very short also, but it doesn't leave me wanting more. The helix at the end though definitely lives up to it's name "helix from hell" and is pretty sweet.
Canadian Goliath I agree is really good and I do remember liking it better than Behemoth for some reason, but other than it being a very solid hyper I don't remember anything too amazing about it except for the girls sitting in the row directly in front .
Nemesis is probably the one ride in the world I haven't been on but want to go on most. Not really because the ride looks amazing or super intense, but I just want to see it. The theming combined with the way the layout is and how it fits that park is looks remarkable.
Believe it or not, the extra helix on Titan actually makes it feel like it's the proper length. I get the same thing on Goliath at SFMM in wanting more. And I got lucky at LaRonde, at 10am when the park was supposed to open it was downpouring, it cleared up and the park ended up opening late, like right after noon, but once they were open, everything ended up running at some point during the day except for one side of Le Mostere and there was literally no one there. To the point where I scored a solo ride on their standup after waiting literally 20 mins for more people who never showed up. From what I hear the park is usually miserably crowded and the operations suck, but with no one there, it was impossible to judge operations, and the park seemed pleasant enough aesthetically. At the in park subway me and the person i was there with got about a dozen cookies for free with our food cause the girl there knew they'd eventually be thrown away due to lack of business.
Favorite Wood Coasters: The Voyage, Ravine Flyer II, Thunderhead, Balder Favorite Steel: Voltron Nevera, Steel Vengeance, Expedition GeForce, Olympia Looping Parks visited: 232, Coasters Ridden: Steel: 894, Wood: 179, Total: 1073
There's really not that much to say about Blue Streak but that it is very underrated. Those first two bunny hops after the main drop are full of ejector airtime. Because Raptor is an early entry ride and Blue Streak is not we were able to catch the first train of BS way by standing in front of the entrance. We were there before the Normal Entry. We were also able to do this with Wildcat because it doesn't open until 11.
^Totally agree with you there. Blue Streak is one of my favorite coasters at Cedar Point, and even I underrate it. It's always forgotten about until you head to Raptor and pass it and realize "Hey, we haven't hit Blue Streak yet!"
Top 5 wood-5-Goliath 4-Ravine Flyer II 3-Phoenix 2-Voyage 1-El Toro Top 5 Steel- 5-Velocicoaster 4- Maverick 3- Fury 325 2-Steel Vengeance 1-X2 Coaster Count: 444
^Now that you mention it BS's entrance is hidden. If i remeber correctly you have to walk under Raptor's Zero G Roll. Not to mention you can barely see it with Raptor in the way
I did not do 10 last week, so I'll do both this week. Just to let you know I've been to 21 parks and my count is 135 (99 steel, 35 wood, 1 liquid).
Wood Honorable mention goes to: Racer at Kings Island, Avalance at Timberfalls, Viper at SFGAm and Raven at Holiday World
10. Screamin' Eagle at Six Flags St. Louis Just a classic woodie with and awesome layout. The setting at the top of the park is perfect for this ride. Never has too bad of a line and once and a while you can get re-rides. Has some decent airtime, but the real winner of this ride is its layout. On top of the park then into the woods. If you're looking for a classic fun ride go to St. Louis! More from Missouri very soon..
9. Renegade at Valleyfair! At first I thought this ride was "meh", until I rode it at night. Imagine GCI craziness in pitch black. This ride is just plain fun. I'm sure you've all seen the 'S" drop it has, which is really unique. It's not the most special layout in the world but it works, and the transitions are really smooth. Definatley going to check out if you're near Minneapolis.
Steel Honorable mentions: Bizarro at SFGADv, Montezooma's Revenge at Knotts, Montu at Busch Gardens and Viper at SFMM
10. Mr. Freeze at SFSTl What can you say? This ride is nuts. Taking the top hat backwards is absolutley insane. I never waited more then 20 minutes for for front row, which is awesome. I really wish SFGAm would have gone through on plans for this, because it's a kick ass ride.
9. Raging Bull SFGAm Been on it almost a hundred times and it's still a great coaster. The first drop is one of the best out there.The only other steels I've been on that have a better drop are X2, Spongebob, Maverick, and TTD. The airtime on the first drop is also incredible. After that, it's not an amazing ride but still fun. Without the trims it'd be a much better ride. I'm still very thankful to have it at our park.
My #8's will definatley surpise you guys! Thanks for reading.
Top 5: 1) El Toro. 2) Maverick. 3) Millenium Force. 4) Diamondback. 5) X2. Coaster Count: 167 (41 Wood, 125 Steel) @Coaster_Cole on Twitter
Had this list been made last year, this would have been my 2nd to last place coaster. The new trains and track work made a world of difference on this ride. The pain is gone giving a great dueling ride (when the park actually runs both sides.) Nice airtime on both side and unique layouts help a ton. Also a very underrated coaster at night due to the fact the park's limited night time hours.
Steel: Manta @ Sea World Orlando
Clean sweep for the Sea World Parks with Manta ranking in at number 9. The ride holds the honor of my top ranked queue line with the wonderful aquarium. Best of the flying coasters I've ridden that blows superman out of the water (pun intended.) The coaster does an amazing job with working with the theme of the ride and providing an intense ride.
My #9 Steel in Goliath at LaRonde Awesome ride, tons of great sustained bunny hills, cool landscape, fun.
My #9 Wood is Coaster at Playland Vancouver This coaster surprised the sh!t out of me when I rode it back in 09. The trains are cool and you sit very very deep in the seats. The lap bar is a single position lap bar that rests a couple of inches above your stomach with lots of room. I was filming in the back row so I wasn't holding on during my first ride and the first drop was insane. I was seriously standing up in the car...and not like your typical stand up airtime which is limited by PTC lapbar...this was legit. The rest of the ride was just a series of steep and abrupt drops with a few twists and the overall tracking was extremely smooth. For an old coaster in a small community park, the ride is in top notch condition. This coaster also appears in many TV shows, commercials, and movies (Aflak, Final Destination, Roller Coaster (2003 vr.), and others that I can't think of at the moment.
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