Matt N
CF Legend
Hi guys. Intamin are one of the most prominent coaster manufacturers on the scene, with numerous revered rides all over the world; my personal favourite of mine from Intamin is VelociCoaster at Islands of Adventure, which is a truly sublime coaster in every sense of the word! Here in the UK, we have 6 currently operating Intamin roller coasters, with a 7th set to join our ranks later in the summer. With this in mind, I’d be interested to know; how do you rank the UK’s Intamin coasters? Which of the country’s Intamin coasters is your favourite? I’d be really interested to know!
Personally, I have ridden all 6 of the UK’s currently operating Intamin roller coasters, although I am yet to ride The Wave following the sit-down conversion. I will rank/review Shockwave in its standup form, as I last rode it, for now, but do bear in mind that my views on it will most likely change once I reride it in its new sit-down form.
With all this in mind, my current favourite UK Intamin is Stealth at Thorpe Park, and my wider ranking of the UK’s Intamins is as follows:
But I’d be interested to know; how do you rank the UK’s Intamin coasters? Which UK Intamin is your favourite? I’d be really intrigued to know!
Personally, I have ridden all 6 of the UK’s currently operating Intamin roller coasters, although I am yet to ride The Wave following the sit-down conversion. I will rank/review Shockwave in its standup form, as I last rode it, for now, but do bear in mind that my views on it will most likely change once I reride it in its new sit-down form.
With all this in mind, my current favourite UK Intamin is Stealth at Thorpe Park, and my wider ranking of the UK’s Intamins is as follows:
- Stealth - Thorpe Park: Stealth may be short, but it is certainly sweet, in my view! That initial launch to 80mph packs absolutely incredible acceleration, and you really feel the speed, particularly if you’re sat at the front of the train! Once the launch is over, I also absolutely love the huge top hat element; you get great airtime in this element wherever you’re seated in the train! In the front, you get pushed over, and get a wonderfully sustained bout of strong airtime, whereas in the back, you get pulled over into a really strong moment of ejector! There’s also a nice bonus pop of air at the end, and overall, I do love Stealth; I think it’s such a rush, and it’s so, so rerideable! It is short, and if I’m being really nitpicky, I don’t think the trains are the best in the world either, but these are minor nitpicks; I overall love Stealth, and I think it’s just a brilliantly thrilling coaster that does everything it needs to do! 9/10, #11/113
- Rita - Alton Towers: Rita is commonly disliked, and indeed, I once shared this opinion, but I must admit that these days, I don’t get the hate for it. It’s no Stealth, don’t get me wrong, but I think it’s a really decent coaster in its own right, personally! The launch, while not quite as punchy as Stealth’s, still packs a real punch, and the ride also has two rather awesome pops of ejector airtime! However, I do think that the drawn-out turns don’t really add an awful lot, and the trains not being the best in the world, as with Stealth, is perhaps an exacerbated issue on Rita due to its increased lateral motion. With that being said, I haven’t had a rough ride on Rita in recent years, with all of my rides in the last few years being reasonably smooth; the most any of my recent rides have had is a bit of a rattle. Overall, I do really like Rita, and I don’t personally hate it as much as most do; I think it’s a really decent, enjoyable coaster on the whole! 8/10, #25/113
- Sik - Flamingo Land: I think Sik is prime proof of how much trains and restraints can make or break a coaster. I’ve never been the biggest fan of the original 10 inversion coaster, Colossus at Thorpe Park, in large part because I’ve always found the trains and restraints very uncomfortable. Sik has a very similar layout to Colossus, but has much more comfortable overhead lap bar restraints, and I have to say that these are an absolute game changer, as I found Sik to be a decent coaster overall! The first half of the layout is absolutely brilliant, with a vertical loop, a cobra roll and two consecutive corkscrews all being very potent and thrilling and providing great sensations and an airtime hill providing a fun, albeit mild, pop of airtime. Another aspect of Sik that I feel improves the ride compared to Colossus is also located in the first half, and that is its first drop. Whereas Colossus does a slow saunter around to the left and curves down gradually, Sik replaces this with a far more dramatic curved drop to the left, and I think this makes the ride feel much faster and gets things off to a more exciting start! Sik is also perfectly smooth, with not a hint of roughness or rattle to be found anywhere. With that being said, I am still not a fan of the second half of this layout. I don’t like the consecutive heartline rolls in a row at the end, as I find them a bit nauseating and disorientating for my liking. While Sik’s lap bar restraints make this marginally more comfortable than it is on Colossus, I still don’t personally care for it, and this does limit how highly I rank the ride overall. All in all, though, I think Sik is a decent coaster; the lap bar train does the 10 inversion layout far more justice! 8/10, #27/113
- Thirteen - Alton Towers: Thirteen is a good, fun family thrill coaster! The outdoor section has some fun twists and turns, as well as one or two nice pops of air, and the indoor section is always a laugh, with the drop track and backwards section being a good, fun sequence of elements! However, if I’m being really nitpicky, I think the outdoor section could maybe do a bit more; it has its moments, as mentioned above, but there’s not too much going on in this section overall in terms of airtime or forces. Nonetheless, I think Thirteen is a good, fun coaster that’s always a good laugh, particularly for the indoor sections! 7/10, #31/113
- Colossus - Thorpe Park: Colossus is very similar to Sik above in terms of layout, so much of what I said about Sik could also be applied to Colossus. However, as I mentioned, I don’t like Colossus nearly as much for two reasons. The first is that Colossus is quite a bit rougher; my most recent rides have not been as bad as some I’ve had in the past in this regard, but it is still definitely a bit rough in places, which detracts from the ride. Secondly, the trains and restraints are very uncomfortable; legroom is very tight, and I find that the OTSRs really dig into my thighs throughout the ride and make me feel really pinned in, even though I’m by no means big in any dimension. These cars are particularly uncomfortable during the second half of the ride with the consecutive heartline rolls, which I’m already not a huge fan of even without that aspect. It’s a shame, really; if Colossus was a bit smoother and didn’t have such uncomfortable trains, I’d rate it a fair bit more highly! 5/10, #63/113
- Shockwave - Drayton Manor: Shockwave was admittedly unique in its standup form, but I unfortunately did not overly rate it. For starters, I found the standup riding position quite uncomfortable and awkward, which definitely detracted from the ride for me. The other thing I didn’t particularly rate about the ride was that it was quite rough; it definitely had some nasty moments of headbanging. Last time I went to Drayton Manor, I rode Shockwave a couple of times, and I came home with an ear that was sore for over a week after my visit! With all that said, I look forward to reriding it following the recent sit-down conversion; the layout had some good elements, with that zero-g roll being a particular highlight, and the change to a sit-down train should have solved most of my key issues with the ride, so I’ll be interested to see how it rides now! 4/10, #80/113
But I’d be interested to know; how do you rank the UK’s Intamin coasters? Which UK Intamin is your favourite? I’d be really intrigued to know!
