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Best and Worst Roller Coaster Manufacturer

Edward M

Strata Poster
Some rides are incredible. Some are less so. This can depend on the age or, more commonly, the company. Sometimes companies just seem to always put out bad rides or great ones. Which do you think is the best and worst manufacturer.

I have to say the best is Intamin followed right behind B&M. I think GCI would be third for me. I also love Arrow. I haven't ridden an RMC coaster yet but I think it might, in the future, be one of, if not, the best company.

The worst is probably Zamperla. They produce more half-assed and dangerous rides. I would say Vekoma is the wort but Disney makes their rides good. I currently have been on one TOGO and thought it was pretty good. When I go to Vegas though, my opinion will probably change.
 

JJLehto

Hyper Poster
Hmmmmm, for best I'll say Intamin. Worst is Vekoma.

Togo is down there as well, if I've ridden more maybe they'd have the last spot.
Arrow is down there, but they have some good rides and a lot of history.

Most others are pretty good to very great: B&M, CCI, GCI, GG, Premier, RMC, Mack. All at least good manufacturers.
 

Ian

From CoasterForce
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Social Media Team
Without a doubt, the worst coaster manufacturer to ever lay their creations on this Earth is Reverchon.

I despise the Wild Mouse coaster type as much as Kim Jong-Un hates America. I bet after Kim Jong-Un has nuked the world (he won't, that's just Western propaganda talking), the only things left standing will be those **** spinning wild mouse coasters.

I don't mind Reverchon rapids and and flume rides, they're ok, but the vile wild mouse contraptions are awful. Pointless, horrible spinning. Uncomfortable turns. Uninspiring layout. All too common. I'm really glad that Reverchon went bust. **** knows why Zamperla wanted to the rights to the spinning coaster after the Reverchon/Zamperla agreement failed in 2005.

The best manufactuer has to be Intamin. They've got a good range of coasters, drop rides and rapids. They might age badly, but there's something exciting about an Intamin ride that I can't put my finger on. I'm not sure if it's the appearance of the track, the unpredictable roughness and airtime or because they hold many coaster records. There's something special about them. When I've worked it out what it is, I'll post in here.

Honourable mentions for "best" also go to B&M and Great Coasters International.

Zierer can also have a positive mention for their Tivoli coasters which offer unrivaled vibrating bottom action.
 

ignace

Mega Poster
Best for me is Intamin. For wooden coasters GCI.

Worst... I have to say Zamperla, did they made a coaster so far that didn't suck? I like the pinfari Loop things actually :D.
 

Edward M

Strata Poster
JJLehto said:
Arrow is down there, but they have some good rides and a lot of history.

I have yet to ride a bad Arrow. I have loved the loopers of theirs. They seem pretty smooth. I loved Magnum! It is the best Airtime Machine in my opinion.

I also said that Intamin was my favorite in the topic. While I still think that, I didn't give B&M it's do. I have just ridden losts of meh B&M and one horrendous one this year while I rode MF, El Toro, Maverick, and TTD also in 2012. I didn't like Mantis, Raptor, or Wild Eagle. I also thought Diamondback was lacking. I liked Nitro better. 2011 was a much better B&M year for me. I rode my first Batman, Goliath, and Dominator. B&M is really great and is always consistent. When you hear there is a B&M you get excited! When you hear it's an Intamin, you ask which one, but when you hear a Vekoma you start to cry (assuming you aren't at Disney :p ).
 

Hyde

Matt SR
Staff member
Moderator
Social Media Team
Best - Intamin. After reflecting on the B&M vs. Intamin topic, while B&M is consistent with manufacturing good quality coasters, Intamin still comes out on top in my rankings. Yes, Intamin has made some not-so-hot roller coasters. But they also have made Maverick.

Worst - RCCA. How can such good looking wooden coasters be so abysmal?
 

JJLehto

Hyper Poster
Youngster Joey said:
Worst - RCCA

Do I really need to defend this?
Crap! Forgot about them.
At least Vekoma did some good work and supposedly their woodies are decent to good. So yeah RCCA takes the mantle, what junk!


Hyde244 said:
How can such good looking wooden coasters be so abysmal?

I know they look so damn beautiful : (
 

JJLehto

Hyper Poster
TBH I didn't think Viper at SF:GA was soo bad. Just had to prep yourself but that was a wicked lil ride, but it did still hurt a decent bit.
 

Hyde

Matt SR
Staff member
Moderator
Social Media Team
And I would say that Dinn isn't too bad. I have ridden four of their creations; and while Raging Wolf Bobs was absolutely vile; Timber Wolf, Mean Streak, and Georgia Cyclone are all pretty good wooden coasters.

And FWIW, Dinn Corporation's founder Charles Dinn was the designer and Director of Construction for the Beast at Kings Island - which completely validates Dinn Corp.'s entire existence. :lol:
 

JJLehto

Hyper Poster
Mean Streak was OK before the reprofiling. It ran very inconsistent...sometimes it was decent. I forget RWB entirely, so that can't be good.
I actually liked Hercules it was fast and rough! I fully admit it probably was only enjoyable since I'm a wooden coaster masochist.
 

Jason Voorhees

Hyper Poster
Best: B&M Unlike Intamin, They're reliable for safety and making their rides work normally. Honarable mentions are GCI, Gravity Group and RMC.

Worst: A ten way tie between RCCA, Pinfari, Reverchon, Vekoma, TOGO, Zamperla, Golden Horse, Setpoint (because them damn idiots made boring rides besides the flyers at IoA but you'll never get on it and the one from Caro is gone and I honestly think that Roller Soaker won't be bought for a while) HZMEMCL, and Dinn Corporation.

But really the worst of those is Golden Horse. They copy everyone and make rough coasters and I never heard about them until I found out about Happy Valley...
 

BBH

Giga Poster
Hyde244 said:
And I would say that Dinn isn't too bad. I have ridden four of their creations; and while Raging Wolf Bobs was absolutely vile; Timber Wolf, Mean Streak, and Georgia Cyclone are all pretty good wooden coasters.

And FWIW, Dinn Corporation's founder Charles Dinn was the designer and Director of Construction for the Beast at Kings Island - which completely validates Dinn Corp.'s entire existence. :lol:
Um, NO. Apparently.
 

madhjsp

Giga Poster
^ Sorry, but I don't think you can really challenge someone's opinion on a ride unless you've ridden said ride.

For what it's worth, I actually don't think Mean Streak was all that bad either. Not great, by any means, but not as terrible as most people make it seem. I'm the same way with Georgia Cyclone. The original at Astroland is better, but this one isn't a bad imitation.

Also...

Jason Voorhees said:
Worst: A ten way tie between...

Come on, man.. have you even ridden any of those? Same thing applies here. You just can't slate rides you haven't tried, much less the entire body of work of the companies that designed them.
 

Youngster Joey

Strata Poster
madhjsp said:
Jason Voorhees said:
Worst: A ten way tie between...

Come on, man.. have you even ridden any of those? Same thing applies here. You just can't slate rides you haven't tried, much less the entire body of work of the companies that designed them.

Vekoma is saved by Disney making vekoma's tolerable to great.

Togo also has some great rides, but from what I understand are wildly inconsistent from ride to ride.

BTW Jason, have you ridden rides from any of those 10?
 
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