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Top 10(ish): 2024 Edition - page 124

Just got Iron Gwazi today so time to revisit the top 10! On my first ride I was a bit unsure of where to put it - felt Zadra was a more complete/better paced ride - but rides in the back later in the day put it just above and in contention for the #1 spot. It absolutely hauled through the layout.

Velocicoaster still reigns supreme due to the immersion of the ride itself.

I was in San Antonio for a wedding earlier this month and got to hit SFFT. Surprised at how great the park was. Dr Diabolical and Superman were both excellent; a pleasant surprise. Wonder Woman was cool but super beat up and almost too forceful. Definitely needs some TLC. Iron Rattler was great but a bit too short to crack the list. No additions from there but def recommend making the trip.

1. Velocicoaster
2. Iron Gwazi
3. Zadra
4. Steel Vengeance
5. Phantom's Revenge
6. Skyrush
7. Incredible Hulk
8. Nemesis
9. El Toro
10. Maverick
 
My annual revision (with the usual over-engineered explanation).

The only difference between this and my revised list in the ‘rank your last cred thread’ are:

- Shambhala swapping with Space Mountain.
- Red Force (edit: and Goliath Walibi!) entering the ‘honourable mentions’.

*****

The order of the ranking within each ‘group’ is relatively marginal and loose.

S+ Rank

1 - Steel Vengeance

2 - Iron Gwazi

3 - Lightning Rod

4 - Maverick

5 - Zadra

6 - Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure

S Rank

7 - Mystic Timbers

8 - The Phantom’s Revenge

9 - Millenium Force

10 - Intimidator 305

11 - Untamed

12 - The Beast

13 - The Ride to Happiness

A+ Rank

Everything A+ rank and higher is what I consider ‘Elite’.

14 - VelociCoaster

15 - Hyperion

16 - Lech Coaster

17 - Nemesis

18 - Pantheon

19 - Expedition GeForce

20 - Twisted Timbers

21 - Taiga

22 - Helix

A Rank

23 - Fury 325

24 - The Voyage

25 - Shambhala

26 - Space Mountain (Orlando)

27 - Storm Runner

28 - The Legend

29 - Orion

30 - El Toro

Honourable mentions i.e. other ‘A Rank rides’: Red Force, Goliath (Walibi), Balder, Gatekeeper, Montu, Taron, Storm Chaser (Kentucky Kingdom), Mako, Nitro, Kingda Ka, Gemini, Revenge of the Mummy, Wodan and Stealth.

Notable rides that don’t make ‘A Rank’: Skyrush and F.L.Y.
 
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Mrs. Nitefly’s updated list, very similar tastes but she liked Taiga a lot and Goliath (Walibi) made the cut!

“Official List:

1 - Hagrids

2 - Steel Vengeance

3 - Iron Gwazi

4 - Maverick

5 - Lightning Rod

6 - Intimidator 305

7 - Zadra

8 - The Beast

9 - Taiga

10 - Untamed

11 - Ride to happiness

12 - Expedition GeForce

13 - Storm Runner

14 - Millennium Force

15 - Pantheon

16 - Velocicoaster

17 - Mystic Timbers

18 - Twisted Timbers

19 - Lech

20 - Phantoms Revenge

21 - Helix

22 - Taron

23 - Fury 325

24 - El Toro

25 - Orion

26 - The Voyage

27 - Nemesis

28 - Goliath (Walibi Holland)

29 - Hyperion

30 - Woden”
 
1 Zadra (Energylandia)
2 Ride to Happiness (Plopsaland De Panne)
3 Toutatis (Parc astérix)
4 Gotham City Escape (Parque warner)
5 Untamed (Walibi Holland)
6 Lech Coaster (Legendia)
7 Fury (Bobbejaanland)
8 Taron (Phantasialand)
9 Kondaa (Walibi Belgium)
10 Fønix ( Fårup Sommerland)
 
Provisional T15 post-Madrid, Paris & UAE trips. Things could still shift a little once opinions start to settle since a lot of it is all still fresh in my mind.

1. Zadra - Energylandia
2. Taron - Phantasialand
3. Formula Rossa - Ferrari World Abu Dhabi
4. Texas Stingray - SeaWorld San Antonio
5. Hakugei - Nagashima Spa Land
6. Wildfire - Kolmarden
7. X2 - SFMM
8. Manta - SeaWorld Abu Dhabi
9. FLY - Phantasialand
10. Flying Dinosaur - Universal Studios Japan
11. Toutatis - Parc Asterix
12. Railblazer - Californias Great America
13. Gotham City Escape - Parque Warner Madrid
14. The Ride to Happiness - Plopsaland De Panne
15. Iron Rattler - SFFT

Formula Rossa ended up as high as it did purely just because of the front row rides. Even with the trim hill, the sense of speed from being pelted in the front row by the wind and the low to the ground moments on the turns is constantly playing over in my head. It's easily become one of my core coaster memories.

Manta was my biggest surprise out of all this. I went into the ride expecting a "Cheetah hunt but a bit better" type ride but it ended up being really quite good. Surprisingly punchy and whippy for such a new gen Intamin and it paces extremely well through out the layout.

Toutatis and GCE each have their pros and cons. GCE has the bettter moments on the ride, but Toutatis has the better overall flow/layout and I think that's what I prefer between them even if I'm not the biggest fan of the top hat trim on Toutatis when towards the front of the train.
 
Finally feel like I have a decent top 20 after a European trip this year

1: Untamed, Walibi Holland
2: Nemesis, Alton Towers
3: Taron, Phantasialand
4: Silver Star, Europa Park
5: Shambhala, PortAventura
6: Blue Fire, Europa Park
7: Wodan Timbur Coaster, Europa Park
8: Lost Gravity, Walibi Holland
9: Goliath, Walibi Holland
10: Stealth, Thorpe Park
11: Oblivion, Alton Towers
12: Nemesis Inferno, Thorpe Park
13: F.L.Y, Phantasialand
14: Wicker Man, Alton Towers
15: Star Trek: Operation Enterprise, Movie Park Germany
16: Dragon Khan, PortAventura
17: Fēnix, Toverland
18: Smiler, Alton Towers
19: Red Force, PortAventura
20: Swarm, Thorpe Park
 
New creds, so new Top 25:
1. Iron Gwazi
2. VelociCoaster
3. Wildcat's Revenge
4. Wonder Woman Golden Lasso Coaster
5. Medusa Steel Coaster
6. Boulder Dash
7. Fury 325
8. Lightning Rod
9. The Voyage
10. ArieForce One
11. Steel Vengeance
12. Coaster (Playland PNE)
13. Helix
14. Lightning Run
15. El Toro
16. Phoenix
17. Skyrush
18. Wild Mouse (BPB)
19. Boardwalk Bullet
20. Colossos (Heide)
21. Goliath (SFGAm)
22. Nemesis
23. Roar-O-Saurus
24. Thunderbird
25. Leviathan
 
Are we doing a CF's Favourite Coasters this year @Hixee , @Hyde , @Pokemaniac ? Well, just in case, here's my 2 cents worth.

I make no apologies for accuracy or any discrepancies with previous lists I may have posted - I've practically given up on ranking coasters these days, it's just too hard. I think I can probably pin down a Top 5 with some degree of certainty, but after that it becomes a bit vague. Nowadays I tend to just group things into 5 main categories:

Top 1% - basically the aforementioned special top 5-ish that I'm able to pin down.

Top 10 - self explanatory, but can change on a weekly basis, depending on mood.

Top 10 worthy - former Top 10 rides or rides that I'd consider good enough to be Top 10 if I had enough room for them.

Top 10% - other notable coasters that I particularly enjoyed.

All the rest.

However, I do like to have an input into the annual CF poll, so here is my Top 10 ish that I'm gonna make up on the spot based on how I'm feeling today and what coasters I wish I could be riding right now, new in bold.

1. Steel Vengeance
2. The Ride To Happiness
3. Helix
4. Shambhala
5. X2
6. Iron Gwazi
7. Mako
8. Untamed
9. Wildfire
10. Taron.

Top 10 worthy:

11. Tatsu
12. Behemoth
13. Kondaa
14. The Voyage
15. El Toro
16. Top Thrill Dragster
17. Hagrid's
18. Velocicoaster
19. Outlaw Run
20. Nemesis
21. Zadra
22. Pulsar
23. Expedition GeForce
24. Montu
25. Guardians of the Galaxy

And here is a bunch of Top 10%-ers in no particular order:


Goliath (WH)
Hyperion
Railblazer
Leviathan
Intimidator 305
The Beast
Banshee
Thunderbird
Revenge of the Mummy
Colossos
Balder
Kingda Ka
Red Force
Oblivion
Griffon
Verbolten
Time Traveler
Wildfire (SDC)
Storm Chaser
Monster (GL)
 
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Are we doing a CF's Favourite Coasters this year @Hixee , @Hyde , @Pokemaniac ?
Of course! It's just that I need to find time for it. I'm sort of in the middle of a moving process, but I hope to manage to squeeze it in before the holidays.
 
Finally get to update my list, last time i had coasters to add was from 2019 😭 I only rank coasters that give me a oh dam feeling hence the odd number but its hard to pick one over the other.

New in bold.

1: Steel Vengeance
2: Batman Gotham City Escape
3: El Toro - SFGA
4: Skyrush
RIP Top Thrill Dragster
5: Lightning Rod
6: Shambhala
7: Kondaa
8: Ghostrider
9: Voyage
10: Ride To Happiness
11: Maverick
12: Phantoms Revenge
13: Diamondback
14: Storm Runner
15: Thunder Bird
16: Beast
17: Phoenix
18: Ravine Flyer II
19: Kingda Ka
20: Nemesis
21: Stealth - Thorpe

New explained
BGCE - The first coster ive done where every element is at least great. Its brilliantly themed, the speed, power, smoothness and airtime are all fantastic, love this thing.

Kondaa - It's not a hyper but it beats most ive done, its incredible solid, no matter the seat it gives a great whippy airtime filled experience.

RTH - An odd one, the more i rode it the further it fell down my list as i got used to the spinning. Its still a fantastic coaster however that gives a different ride each time with everything after the second launch being incredible.
 
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After some re rides and some new local creds...also, I never explain rankings so here we go

  1. Lightningrod
  2. Iron Gwazi
  3. X2
  4. Velocicoaster
  5. Twisted Colossus
  6. Thunderhead
  7. Xcelerator
  8. Montu
  9. Hollywood RIP Ride Rockit
  10. Ghostrider
  11. Kentucky Rumbler
  12. Hagrids I refuse to say the rest
  13. Afterburn
  14. Nighthawk
  15. Copperhead Strike
  16. Wonder Woman FOC
  17. Ice Breaker
  18. Mako
  19. Intimidator
  20. Silver Bullet KBF
  21. Viper SFMM
  22. Tatsu
  23. West Coast Racers
  24. Cheetah Hunt
  25. Apocalypse
 
Bold are new for this year. The Intamins all delivered, varying but similar experiences, all of them have stand out moments, and all of them have **** moments. I think Taiga was probably my fave of the three as the stall was dreamy and had some excellent airtime moments. The only downside is the front half is a little weak.
Both Batman and Toutatis were really good at the end of the day though, but the extended hang on Batman was disgusting, otherwise it would be a lot higher.

1 - Steel Vengeance
2 - Zadra
3 - Lightning Rod (V1)
4 - Skyrush
5 - Taron
6 - El Toro
7 - Storm Chaser (KK)
8 - Helix
9 - Outlaw Run
10 - Fury 325

11 - Renegade
12 - The Voyage
13 - Flying Aces
14 - Wildfire (Kolmarden)
15 - Phoenix
16 - Taiga
17 -
Toutatis
18 - Batman Gotham City Escape

19 - Maverick
20 - Formula Rossa
 
Top 25

1. Ride To Happiness
2. Eejanaika
3. El Toro
4. Zadra
5. Fury 325
6. Voyage
7. VelociCoaster
8. Kondaa
9. Steel Vengeance
10. F.L.Y.
11. Untamed
12. Maverick
13. Lightning Rod
14. Intimidator 305
15. Shambhala
16. Iron Gwazi
17. Flying Dinosaur
18. Hakuegi
19. Expedition GeForce
20. Twisted Colossus
21. Diamondback
22. Wildfire (Kolmården)
23. Taron
24. Der Schwur des KÄRNAN
25. Skyrush
 
Another year done, 53 new creds so let's see how that affected my Top ten. My overall top ten is all Steel coasters so I'll do a separate one for the woodies. New creds from this year in bold.

Top 10
  1. Steel Vengeance
  2. Taron (I actually count this as joint first with SV because the rides are so different, but equally amazing)
  3. Wicked Cyclone
  4. Goliath (SFOG)
  5. Shambhala
  6. Millennium Force
  7. Nemesis
  8. Batman GCE (Parque Warner)
  9. Lightning Rod (steel version)
  10. Kondaa

Top 10 Woodies
  1. Wildfire
  2. Thunderhead
  3. Goliath (SFGAm)
  4. Joris en de Draak (Fire)
  5. Cú Chulainn
  6. Wild Mouse (BPB)
  7. Timber Terror
  8. The Beast
  9. Rutschebanen (Tivoli Gardens)
  10. Mystic Timbers
Dropping out of my overall Top Ten were Hyperion and Diamondback, usurped by more interesting layouts.

Pretty low key year for the Top Ten, with just a couple of entries at the lower end. I did ride a lot of really good family-level coasters in Denmark though and not too much kiddie crap, so the overall quality was pretty good. Honourable mentions for this year are FLY, Polar X-plorer, Falken and especially Fonix, which was a solid Top 20 ride.
 
After a semi-surprise visit to Hersheypark and a revisit to Busch Gardens Williamsburg, my coaster 2023 is now complete! With that, my top 20 is finalized for the year.

1: Voyage
2: Intimidator 305
3: Iron Gwazi
4: Steel Vengeance
5: Toutatis
6: Skyrush
7: ArieForce One
8: VelociCoaster
9: Fury 325
10: El Toro
11: Phantom’s Revenge
12: Expedition GeForce
13: Ravine Flyer II
14: Pantheon
15: Wildcat’s Revenge
16: Maverick
17: Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind
18: Phoenix
19: Twisted Timbers
20: Taron

In 2023, 6 of my top 20 coasters were rides I rode for the first time this year. I’ve had a great past few years for this hobby, and I can’t wait to ride more next year! Topping the to-do list are the likes of Boulder Dash, Rampage, and RailBlazer. See you all in the new year!
 
Is it just me, or is Lightningrod getting more love recently. Maybe more people are finally getting on it, or the steel track really helped. I don't know, just found it interesting.
 
Is it just me, or is Lightningrod getting more love recently. Maybe more people are finally getting on it, or the steel track really helped. I don't know, just found it interesting.
In our first annual ranking of CoasterForce's favourite coasters in 2018, it was #2. It has since been on a downward trend: #4 (2019), #3 (2020), #3 (2021), #10 (2022). Who knows where it will be this year?

Speaking of which ... I guess I finally have time to make that compilation today.

EDIT: Might as well sneak in my own Top 10 as a last-minute addition so it joins the rankings:

1. Helix, Liseberg
2. Expedition Everest, Disney's Animal Kingdom
3. Balder, Liseberg
4. Formula Rossa, Ferrari World Abu Dhabi
5. Piraten, Djurs Sommerland
6. Stealth, Thorpe Park
7. Swarm, Thorpe Park
8. Dragon Challenge, Islands of Adventure
9. Rutschebanen, Tivoli Copenhagen
10. Den Aller Minste, TusenFryd
 
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Ooh I got one more little update to round off the year.

1. Steel Vengeance
2. Skyrush
3. Voyage
4. Lighthing Rod
5. Wildcat's Revenge
6. Piraten
7. VelociCoaster
8. Ravine Flyer II
9. Wildfire
10. Iron Gwazi

11. Twisted Timbers
12. Fury 325
13. Storm Chaser
14. Maverick
15. Nemesis
16. Phoenix
17. Untamed
18. Shambhala
19. Mako
20. Phantom's Revenge

21. Colossos
22. Wicked Cyclone
23. Renegade
24. Mystic Timbers
25. Fønix
26. Pantheon
27. Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure
28. Millennium Force
29. Raven
30. Silver Bullet
 
Ooh I got one more little update to round off the year.
A bit too late, as I did the tally earlier today, but fortunately that's of no consequence since we only count the top 10. I sometimes get a little curious how it would impact the rankings if we took the occasional top 15 or top 20s into account, but it'd be a pain and a half to work with the spreadsheet. With top 10, I have enough space to keep the spreadsheet on one half of the screen and the topic to scroll through on the other.

By the way, massive thanks to those of you who label your Goliaths. Six Flags (and to some extent, Disney) really must hate statistics people and pollsters.
 
Ready to make this park my whole personality.

#1 Taron - Phantasialand
#2 Untamed - Walibi Holland
#3 Ride to Happiness - Plopsaland De Panne
#4 Storm - The Dragon Legend - Tusenfryd
#5 Helix - Liseberg
#6 FLY - Phantasialand
#7 Piraten - Djurs Sommerland
#8 Balder - Liseberg
#9 Juvelen - Djurs Sommerland
#10 Cu Chulainn - Emerald Park
#11 Megafobia - Oakwood Theme Park
#12 Smiler - Alton Towers
#13 Black Mamba - Phantasialand
#14 Lost Gravity - Walibi Holland
#15 Goliath - Walibi Holland
#16 Stealth - Thorpe Park
#17 OzIris - Parc Asterix
#18 Colorado Adventure - Phantasialand
#19 Valkyria - Liseberg
#20 Icon - Blackpool Pleasure Beach
#21 Saw - The Ride - Thorpe Park
#22 Big One - Blackpool Pleasure Beach
#23 Big Thunder Mountain - Disneyland Park Paris
#24 Lisebergbanan - Liseberg
#25 Speed Monster - Tusenfryd

Tomorrow I'll (probably) edit this post and do my whole 'pay a bit of homage to the rides that fell out of the top 25 and write a paragraph about them' thing, sit tight.
 
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