2019 – Year in Review

2019 is over and a new decade is upon us. It’s time for us to take a step back and review the new attractions that we covered this past year. Yes, there were indeed a lot of them! Without more introduction, here’s a brief rundown of what we got a chance to experience this past year.

Copperhead Strike at Carowinds

Copperhead Strike is a Mack launched coaster that is the first of its kind to arrive in the US, following up Time Traveler (Silver Dollar City) and Mako (Sea World San Diego). The ride is clearly influenced by Icon (Blackpool Pleasure Beach). The ride is non-stop fun starting with a roll out of the station, to a themed pre-launch building, to two launches and 5 inversions through its custom layout. The ride sets itself apart being a trendsetter for featuring a launched airtime hill. Check out more photos of Copperhead Strike here. Copperhead Strike is a Mack launched coaster that is the first of its kind to arrive in the US, following up Time Traveler (Silver Dollar City) and Mako (Sea World San Diego). The ride is clearly influenced by Icon (Blackpool Pleasure Beach). The ride is non-stop fun starting with a roll out of the station, to a themed pre-launch building, to two launches and 5 inversions through its custom layout. The ride sets itself apart being a trendsetter for featuring a launched airtime hill. Check out more photos of Copperhead Strike here.

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Top 10 Launched Roller Coasters

Roller coasters these days are not always propelled by a lift hill.  Launches can provide a more thrilling way to start a ride.  They provide differentiation for the parks that have them.  Launches come in all different methods from using magnets (LIM or LSM) to hydraulic launch, to more primitive methods such as a winch, weight drop, or tires.

These are the launched roller coasters that we believe are the best in the business today:

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Top 10 Roller Coasters that drop over 200 feet

Since Cedar Point’s Magnum XL-200 roller coaster debuted in 1989 as the first roller coaster to drop from 200 feet, dozens of roller coasters have been built eclipsing that milestone.  Each hyper coaster (over 200 ft), giga coaster (over 300ft), or strata coaster (over 400ft) is typically its park’s signature ride.  Currently, Intamin and B&M are the most common manufacturers for this style of roller coaster. They build upon the legacy of Arrow Dynamics and Morgan.

These are the roller coasters that drop over 200 feet that we believe distinguish themselves from the rest:

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Top 10 Wooden Roller Coasters

With Dollywood’s Lightning Rod just days from opening, it feels the right time to take a step back and recognize some of the best wooden roller coasters in the world today.  GCI, Intamin, Gravity Group and Rocky Mountain Construction are the primary manufacturers of wooden roller coasters today.  They build upon the designs of the past from legendary ride designers such as John Miller, Harry Traver and Herb Schmeck.  These are the wooden roller coasters we believe distinguish themselves from the rest:

Honorable Mention: Gold Striker at California’s Great America
Would it be built, wouldn’t it be built?  For a while there, we weren’t sure what was to come at California’s Great America.  Fortunately this ride was built, and it definitely is a hit.  Built by GCI in 2013, this ride packs a great punch.  Gold Striker contains sound shields around its first couple drops to keep the noise of screaming riders inside the park and not in the business parks it sits besides.

10: Wodan Timburcoaster at Europa Park
While some of the wooden coasters later in this list may be more thrilling, none is more themed than Wodan.  Built by GCI, Wodan is a short, but thrilling ride.  What sets it apart is its interaction with Nordic scenary, its immaculate station complete with flythrough and a fairytale queue.

9 : Raven at Holiday World
This former Golden Ticket Award winner for best wooden coaster still holds a special place in many coaster enthusiast’s hearts.  Built by CCI, the Raven is a terrain coaster that does not let up as it dives you in and out of a valley beside Lake Rudolph.

8: Phoenix at Knoebels
Dubbed by some as the perfect ride, Phoenix contains maybe the most floater airtime of any ride in the world.  This ride was designed by Herb Schmeck and originally built in Playland Park in San Antonio.  Knoebels rescued the ride and the rest is history.  On this ride, you will find yourself more often out of your seat than in.

7: Beast at Kings Island
The Beast, perhaps, may be the most notable wooden coaster.  Designed by Kings Island in house, this wooden coaster is the longest in the world.  It contains several tunnels, two lift hills, and a signature double helix finale during its course through the Maumee river valley.

6: Thunderhead at Dollywood
Thunderhead is GCI’s gem.  This wooden twister set in the heart of the smoky mountains was the first ride to contain a station fly-through mid course.

5: Ravine Flyer II at Waldameer Park
Ravine Flyer II was another ride that was in the works for seemingly a decade, in fact, Ravine Flyer 3 came before it.  The wait did not disappoint.  This CCI masterpiece crosses a bridge across the Presque Isle entry road twice.

4: Outlaw Run at Silver Dollar City
Let’s face it, everything RMC is touching is turning out amazing!  Outlaw Run was their first custom wooden coaster layout and they did not go for something simple.  Outlaw Run has gone and done what Son of Beast before it could not, successfully add inversions to a wooden coaster, and not just any inversion… a double barrel roll!

3: El Toro at Six Flags Great Adventure
Intamin’s prefab track changed the wooden coaster game.  El Toro provides possibly the smoothest wooden roller coaster experience ever.  Add a cable lift (think Skyrush and Millennium Force) and relentless ejector airtime and you get this ride.  Very easily this ride could have been #1.

2: Boulder Dash at Lake Compounce
Boulder Dash is a terrain wooden coaster that is built entirely onto a cliff.  Boulder Dash sets itself apart from the rest based on its unique layout and awesome airtime.

1: The Voyage at Holiday World
No ride touches the Voyage in terms of airtime, excitement, and intensity.  This ride goes underground 8 times on its 1.2 mile course.  The Voyage’s signature elements are a spaghetti bowl and a triple down after its mid course brake.  This is the one ride you absolutely need to ride at night.

Top 10 Inverted Roller Coasters

Inverted roller coasters distinguish themselves by their style where you fly underneath the track.  B&M, Intamin, and Vekoma are the primary manufacturers of inverted roller coasters, each has their own distinct track and train styles.  These are the inverted roller coasters we believe distinguish themselves from the rest:

 

Honorable Mention: Batman the Ride at Six Flags Great America
In the 1990’s, this model of inverted roller coaster seemed to pop up in every (Six Flags) park.  The layout is a winner.  While short, this ride provides one of the most intense experiences on any roller coaster.  Lately Six Flags has begun to reinvigorate the ride by adding backward facing trains on the ride.  We’ve given the award to the original ride, but clones can be found in Six Flags Great Adventure, Six Flags over Georgia, Six Flags over Texas, Six Flags St. Louis, Six Flags Magic Mountain, Six Flags Fiesta Texas, Sea World San Antonio, La Ronde, and many more parks.

10: Great Bear at Hersheypark
Great Bear is a custom layout roller coaster by B&M on which you soar over Comet Hollow.  While relatively short, Great Bear’s interaction with other rides including superdooperlooper and Coal Cracker make the ride experience special.

9 : Volcano at Kings Dominion
This Intamin inverted coaster launches you two times.  The second time vertically out of a fire-spewing volcano.  The ride is very unique and earns this recognition through its excellent use of theming as well as a thrilling ride experience.

8: Afterburn at Carowinds
This underappreciated ride at Carowinds has a very intense layout featuring one of the rare Batwing elements on a B&M roller coaster.  This ride was originally dubbed Top Gun by Paramount Parks.

7: Nemesis Inferno at Thorpe Park
This UK roller coaster is inspired by the classic: Nemesis at Alton Towers.  The theming on this ride and queue surpass that of almost all of the other competitors.

6: Dragon Challenge at Universal Islands of Adventure
This ride is an engineering masterpiece by B&M.  This is actually a pair of completely different inverted roller coasters themed to Harry Potter lore: Hungarian Horntail and Chinese Fireball that contain 3 near miss moments and 5 inversions.  Chinese Fireball provides the slightly more intense and better experience in our experience.  Unfortunately the ride no longer duels due to safety concerns dropping it down in the rankings.  This ride was originally known as Dueling Dragons.

5: Raptor at Cedar Point
The tallest and fastest inverted roller coaster when it opened, Raptor built upon the foundation created by Batman the Ride to create an intense ride experience with 6 inversions.  This was the first inverted coaster to feature a cobra roll.

4: Montu at Busch Gardens Tampa
Montu one ups Raptor with a 7th inversion.  This ride contains two strong ride halves, the second half taking you underground several times.  This ride is found in Busch Garden Tampa’s Egypt section.

3: Alpengeist – Busch Gardens Williamsburg
Built a year after Montu, Busch Gardens Williamsburg introduced what is still the world’s tallest complete circuit inverted roller coaster.  Themed after a ski ride gone wrong in Germany, Alpengeist swoops you in and out of the River Rhine valley.

2: Banshee – Kings Island
Opened in 2014, more than 20 years after the first inverted coaster, Banshee reimagines the inverted coaster.  Built by B&M on the site of the former Son of Beast, this roller coaster layout brings back the intense layouts the company used to design in the past.  What sets Banshee apart is its modest theming package, excellent pacing, and track length.  Banshee is the world’s longest inverted roller coaster.  It utilizes a new train style similar to that found on wing-rider coasters that contains much more open over the shoulder restraints.

1: Nemesis – Alton Towers
The title of best inverted coaster goes to the UK, and it isn’t close.  Nemesis bills itself as the world’s most extreme ride experience.  While that is probably not true, the layout of this ride is one that is literally impossible to be duplicated.  Almost the entire ride is situated below ground level where riders gets turned upside down 4 times.  All the time soaring through caverns and rushing through rock blasted quarries.  This is one ride not to miss.