Your year in review - 2022 edition

[Niles]

- Coaster count at start of 2022: 303

- Coaster count at end of 2022: 324

- New coasters ridden in 2022: 21

- New parks visited in 2022: 6

- Park visits (number of days) in 2022: 8

- Best new-to-you coaster: Rollercoaster Great Yarmouth, nice long smooth coaster, flying through the timber makes it feel faster than it is and there is some air.


- Best new-to-you non-coaster: If it counts the funicular railway that takes you to the park at monte igueldo, very pretty ride.


- Favourite new-to-you park of 2022: I would say Crealy as it reminds me of Paultons before it took off, still a nice park with a good selection of rides and we had a great day. Technically however i went there when i was little soooo ill give it to Monte Igueldo, historical attractions, beautiful and the best theme park food ever.


- Best park visit: Pleasurewood Hills with my dad, everything was a walk on and we just had a great day, the boomerang was interesting to get on but Cannonball Express was a serprisingly great coaster.


- Highlight of 2022: My trip to Spain with Gf and her family, saw lots of great places and ate many yummy things.


The breakfast every morning how terrible


- Biggest surprise of 2022 & Most Painful Ride: Luckily getting to ride the Toboggan, however it dam hurt


- Biggest disappointment of 2022: Thankfully nothing, but i guess smacking my face on a pipe in a pool on the first day of my Spain trip

- Best individual coaster lap: Dragons Fury giving me an insane spin this year.

- Best Zoo: Thought i would add this as i really liked this place, the Cotwolds Wildlife Park is one of the only zoos i have been to where the animals have great enclosures, loads of species variety, caring & knowledgeable staff and some very well kept gardens.




- Proudest accomplishment as an enthusiast: Since riding The Ultimate and it closing soon after, this year i had a bunch of classic, unique or just strange coasters in the UK i wanted to ride incase they went before i could ride them and i did get all of them. Spook Express, Tyrolean Tubtwist, Rollercoaster-Yarmouth, Cannonball Express, Montaña Suiza.


- Most surprising coaster: Mad mouse at Gateway Resort, a surprise i got to ride it and a crazy out of control spin.

- Funniest coaster/park/enthusiast moment: Me and my dad squeezing into a Tyrolean Tubtwist car and regretting it instantly due to pain then having to do the bumpy out of control layout or me and Gf fighting on the bumper boats at Crealy, they had water jets you can shoot and we soaked each other, great times .


- Most exciting announcement For 2023: Batman Gotham City Escape as i hope to be going on it if all goes to plan next year.

 

[Rupert]

Bit of a quieter year than some of the great ones in this thread!

- Coaster count at start of 2022: 172
- Coaster count at end of 2022: 182
- New coasters ridden in 2022: 10
- New parks visited in 2022: 2 (Plopsaland & Wiener Prater)
- Best new-to-you coaster: Ride to Happiness obviously. When I wrote about it in my trip report I didn’t think it would make it into my top ten as just too intense, but now I’d say it’s in the top three, it’s just so good.
- Best new-to-you non-coaster: Probabiy Dino Splash, love a classic flume
- Favourite new-to-you park of 2022: Plopsaland
- Best park visit: easily Plopsaland - I wrote about the trip here
- Highlight of 2022: walk-on Ride to Happiness
- Biggest disappointment of 2022: my first Volare being even worse than I imagined - I wrote about it here
- Best individual coaster lap: First ride on Ride to Happiness like others in this thread!
- Best non-park travel moment: finally getting to the Temples of Angkor in Cambodia
- Most surprising coaster: Ride to Happiness, particularly the airtime straight after the first launch then all hell breaking loose after the second launch. What a coaster.
- Most exciting announcement For 2023: got to be Toutatis

 

[Peet]

- Coaster count at start of 2022: 344
- Coaster count at end of 2022: 381
- New coasters ridden in 2022: 37
- New parks visited in 2022: 10
- Park visits (number of days) in 2022: 23
- Best new-to-you coaster: JW Velocicoaster
- Best new-to-you non-coaster: Big Shot at the Stratosphere Tower
- Favourite new-to-you park of 2022: Busch Gardens Tampa
- Best park visit: BGT
- Best seasonal event: AT Scarefest (just for the night rides on Nemesis and WM)
- Highlight of 2022: BGT again
- Biggest surprise of 2022: Actually getting to ride Nighthawk
- Biggest disappointment of 2022: Finding out just too late that I'd missed a chance to ride a Chance toboggan
- Best individual coaster lap: JW Velocicoaster in the dark
- Best non-park travel moment: Attending a wedding in Vegas
- Most surprising coaster: Hagrid's genuinely being as good as people say.
- Funniest coaster/park/enthusiast moment: Green eggs and ham for lunch at Islands of Adventure
- Most exciting announcement For 2023: I'm basically not going to be able to travel at all next year, so the most exciting new ride for 2023 for me is Chessington's B&M, because it's the only one I'll actually get to ride.

 

[Hutch]

- Coaster count at start of 2022: 241
- Coaster count at end of 2022: 338
- New coasters ridden in 2022: +97. By far my best year
- New parks visited in 2022: 15
- Park visits (number of days) in 2022: 26 different parks, with 28 days.
- Best new-to-you coaster: Piraten
- Best new-to-you non-coaster: Icarus
- Favourite new-to-you park of 2022: Tie between Djurs Sommerland and Port Aventura… Djurs is the better park, but Port Aventura had that magical feeling that I haven’t had at a theme park in years.
- Best park visit: Double header of Djurs Sommerland and Farup Sommerland in one day. Got all the creds, new favorite European coaster, and 300 on Fonix. All at two of the most fun and adorable parks out there.
- Best seasonal event: Coastin' by the Ocean at Morey's Piers
- Highlight of 2022: @CoasterMOG's birthday rager, and getting back to some European theme parks after 8 years.
- Biggest surprise of 2022: Jetline at Grona Lund being incredible.
- Biggest disappointment of 2022: Helix not delivering on its reputation.
- Best individual coaster lap: Back row right side on Piraten after it had warmed up. Ragdoll airtime all the way.
- Best new for 2022 ride: Iron Gwazi
- Proudest accomplishment as an enthusiast: Stumbling across a random park in Saint-Tropez that I had never heard of during my post-grad Europe Adventure which didn’t prioritize theme parks.
- Best non-park travel moment: Exploring Madrid and Bordeaux, my two favorite cities I visited this year. Also trying a bunch of fantastic Iberian and Mediterranean food.
- Most surprising coaster: Jetline again. Honorable mention to Bobbahn.
- Funniest coaster/park/enthusiast moment: Witnessing @CoasterMOG attempt to sink his log flume at Farup Sommerland.
- Most exciting announcement For 2023: Gotham City Escape is probably the best looking ride, but I’m most excited for Wildcat’s Revenge as I’ll most likely get on that.

 

[Jared]

- Coaster count at start of 2022: 415

- Coaster count at end of 2022: 512

- New coasters ridden in 2022: 97

- New parks visited in 2022: 21

- Park visits (number of days) in 2022: ~50

- Best new-to-you coaster: Velocicoaster

- Best new-to-you non-coaster: Rise Of The Resistance

- Favourite new-to-you park of 2022: Islands of Adventure

- Best seasonal event: HHN

- Highlight of 2022: Going to Florida

- Biggest surprise of 2022: Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind

- Best individual coaster lap: Back row with epic spin on Ride to Happiness.

- Best new for 2022 ride: Iron Gwazi

- Proudest accomplishment as an enthusiast: Breaking the 500 Creds Milestone

- Most surprising coaster: Ride to Happiness

- Most exciting announcement For 2023: World Of Jumanji @Chessington

 

[emoo]

Started the year on Ride to Happiness, ended with The Time Machine (traveling spinner). Close enough in a couple of ways

The stuff in the middle was nothing to be sniffed at either.

Very exited for next year, hope you all have a good one too.

 

[Wazzupnerds]

Only got one new credit this year with Cheddar Chase, and Alabama Adventure was my only park.

Wanted to do more with the year but life got in the way.


However, I am excited for 2023, going to be at least 2 new credits by the end of next week (WHOOOO DOUBLE THE CREDITS ALREADY), and I am just waiting for Arieforce 1's opening date to drop. Looking at finally hitting San Antonio to hit SFFT and SWSA also.

 

[Peter Immelmann]

- Coaster count at start of 2022: actually not counting

- Coaster count at end of 2022: actually not counting

- New coasters ridden in 2022: around 80

- New parks visited in 2022: 15

- Park visits (number of days) in 2022: 24

- Best new-to-you coaster: Steel Vengeance

- Best new-to-you non-coaster: Actually, the food in "Green Room" at Liseberg

- Favourite new-to-you park of 2022: Dollywood

- Best seasonal event: Not really into seasonal events, but Christmas Town at BGW was pretty and I had lots of fun there (actually two days ago)

- Highlight of 2022: Going to Cedar Point for the first time

- Biggest surprise of 2022: Liking Pantheon (BGW) much more than expected. Actually getting some re-rides two days ago my opinion about that coaster raised again. Very well rounded coaster. (What a pity it didn't get a bit more theming.)

- Biggest disappointment of 2022: El Toro. Rode it in May and even though I really liked everything up to the first turnaround a lot, that turnaround (plus another few spots later in the ride) were so neckbreaking rough that I couldn't really enjoy the rest of the ride. Hope it gets fixed and becomes decently smooth again.

- Best individual coaster lap: My almost-zen-ride on Steel Vengeance in the middle of the day. The ride was shut down for an hour or so. Now, just before the ride opened again, the railroad gate closed and a train passed by cutting off the entrance plaza from the rest of the park. By chance just another rider and l were on the Steel Vengeance side. Pretty funny feeling to get a ride almost for yourself given it was a relatively crowed day.

- Best new for 2022 ride: Pantheon

- Proudest accomplishment as an enthusiast: Having made my way all the way up to Finland to finally ride Taiga

- Most surprising coaster: Juvelen (the second half)

- Most exciting announcement For 2023: Don't know, maybe Circuit breaker (if it will be 2023) or the tilt coaster at Energylandia. ArieForce and Toutatis also look very promising. Actually pretty undecided.

 

[Indy]

- Coaster count at start of 2022: 556

- Coaster count at end of 2022: 632

- New coasters ridden in 2022: 76

- New parks visited in 2022: 28

- Park visits (number of days) in 2022: 31

- Best new-to-you coaster: Ride to Happiness

- Best new-to-you non-coaster: If you don't count powered coasters, then Dragon Gliders at Motiongate Dubai. If you do count powered coasters, then Batman Knight Flight at Warner Brothers World Abu Dhabi

- Favourite new-to-you park of 2022: Tough call. It's either Ferrari World or Plopsaland De Panne

- Best park visit: Ferrari World

- Best seasonal event: SeaWorld Orlando's Christmas Celebration

- Highlight of 2022: Belgium. I was spurned by Walibi Belgium and Ride to Happiness last year, and I've wanted to visit Bobbejaanland for years. I got to check off a lot of big items in Belgium this year and generally enjoyed all of it.

- Biggest surprise of 2022: How incredibly detailed and amazing Warner Brothers World Abu Dhabi is.

- Biggest disappointment of 2022: Showing up to Phantasialand in the middle of the afternoon after a 9 hour flight with no sleep and a 3 hour drive only to be turned away at the gate because it was after 2pm.

- Best individual coaster lap: Ride to Happiness. The ride is very inconsistent with the lap quality, but when it hits, it hits.

- Best new for 2022 ride: Iron Gwazi by a substantial margin

- Proudest accomplishment as an enthusiast: Hitting 600 was nice, but I think I'm most happy to have ridden the fastest coaster in the world.

- Best non-park travel moment: Spending a weekend of solitude wandering around Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps during the Belgian Grand Prix.

- Most surprising coaster: Rocket Cycles at Adventureland (UAE). Honorable mention to the small, obscure spinning coasters of Twistrix at Drievliet and Cosmic Spin at Magic Planet. All were stupidly fun.

- Funniest thoosie moment: The Blizzard ride op at Festival Land warning me that the coaster was dangerous, and then realizing that he wasn't making a joke.

- Most exciting announcement For 2023: Circuit Breaker

 

[Lord-Summerisle]

- Coaster count at start of 2022: 59

- Coaster count at end of 2022: 64

- New coasters ridden in 2022: Taiga, Pilotti, Python, Baron 1898, Vliegende Hollander, Vogel Rok, Moritz

- New parks visited in 2022: 1: Efteling

- Park visits (number of days) in 2022: 11 days: 8 Blackpool visits, Alton Towers, Linnanmäki & Efteling

- Best new-to-you coaster: Taiga

- Best new-to-you non-coaster: Symbolica

- Favourite new-to-you park of 2022: Efteling

- Best park visit: Blackpool on last day of the season, but also Linnanmäki & Efteling for different reasons.

- Best seasonal event: Oktoberfest

- Highlight of 2022: Last rides on Nemesis.

- Biggest surprise of 2022: When my missus said (having just got off Grand National) "lets go again!"

- Biggest disappointment of 2022: Not getting to go to Hamburg fair in August (Travel plans changed) and not going to Heide Park as we where too knackerd after a week at Wacken Open Air and crashed out in our hotel room.

- Best individual coaster lap: First time on Taiga, front row and first ride of the day. &

- Best new for 2022 ride:

- Proudest accomplishment as an enthusiast:

- Best non-park travel moment: arriving at Helsinki airport... such a lovely airport. even has a little quiet forrest area to wait in

- Most surprising coaster:

- Funniest coaster/park/enthusiast moment: Last day of the season, in the Big One queue for the last rides of the day.

- Most exciting announcement For 2023:

 

[LiveForTheLaunch]

I didn't get to do much in 2022, but 2023 will definitely be a different story!

- Coaster count at start of 2022: 565

- Coaster count at end of 2022: 584

- New coasters ridden in 2022: 19. Weak!

- New parks visited in 2022: Magic Mountain, although I consider Knotts about half new since I had about an hour there the first time I went

- Park visits (number of days) in 2022: Only 5

- Best new-to-you coaster: Twisted Colossus and Superman Escape from Krypton

- Best new-to-you non-coaster: I tend to avoid flats now so I can't really speak to this

- Favourite new-to-you park of 2022: Magic Mountain

- Best park visit: I want to say Magic Mountain, but getting back to Cedar Point especially after me and my boyfriend looked forward to it throughout the pandemic was also pretty special. Magic Mountain was all walk ons and more creds though,

- Best seasonal event: Didn't get to do any this year, if we're talking Halloween at parks

- Highlight of 2022: Taking my son on his first coaster and to Cedar Point for the first time

- Biggest surprise of 2022: Superman: Escape from Krypton and Hangtime!

- Biggest disappointment of 2022: Maybe X2? After having been on Eejanaika, it felt really tame

- Best individual coaster lap: Front row, Steel Vengeance

- Best new for 2022 ride: I don't even know if I rode anything new for 2022? Sad.

- Proudest accomplishment as an enthusiast: Finally getting to Magic Mountain, because it was the only really big park I've slacked on in America apart from Valleyfair

- Best non-park travel moment: I think landing in Toronto Pearson for the first time as a pilot, if that counts?

- Most exciting announcement For 2023: I really need to keep up better on what's happening in the coaster world because I couldn't say off hand. I'm excited they're getting the RMC at Hershey though. Everyone seems to be saying Toutatis, but I need to rewatch a POV.

 

[Pokemaniac]

- Coaster count at start of 2022: 43, I think?

- Coaster count at end of 2022: If the above is correct, then 44.

- New coasters ridden in 2022: One.

- New parks visited in 2022: Zero.

- Park visits (number of days) in 2022: Two.

- Best new-to-you coaster: HuriHuri, by default.

- Best new-to-you non-coaster: Stupet at Kongeparken.

- Favourite new-to-you park of 2022: N/A.

- Best park visit: TusenFryd one day in summer.

- Best seasonal event: N/A

- Highlight of 2022: Strolling around TusenFryd with a friend who had worked there for many years, looking at how the park had changed since my last visit (for the better, I might add!)

- Biggest surprise of 2022: TusenFryd actually giving TLC to their existing attractions. There are custom signs now!

- Biggest disappointment of 2022: HuriHuri. More specifically, its abysmal throughput. It's not a very special ride per se, but it is highly popular among the younger demographic of TusenFryd, and it's sad to see they haven't established any good routines for its operation. The ride ops spent a lot of time faffing around while the queue just grew longer and longer. In the end, it dispatched approximately once every five minutes, which is bad for a single-train coaster.

- Best individual coaster lap: Bukkerittet at Kongeparken, with me and my little cousins placed along the bench in order of weight. The car ended up massively imbalanced, which induced a lot of spinning.

- Best new for 2022 ride: HuriHuri, by default.

- Proudest accomplishment as an enthusiast: Visiting a park for the first time since 2019.

- Best non-park travel moment: Driving up to Tromsø with a friend, seeing the sights of the city and crossing the Arctic circle along the way.

- Most surprising coaster: HuriHuri, by default.

- Funniest coaster/park/enthusiast moment: N/A.

- Most exciting announcement For 2023: Has to be Storm at TusenFryd for me. Or maybe Luna at Liseberg?