Mitch Hawker 2009 Coaster Poll

Sun Dec 06, 2009 12:05 am

Didn't realise Kumali had its own entry...

I'll have to change my list from about 40 downwards now to slot infusion in #-o

Sun Dec 06, 2009 12:15 am

WOW, you put Manta really high. I’m just glad that my first trip to America is planned for Orlando. Looking at the ending over the water remind me of a few of Airs proposed designs and it looks like one of only two flying coaster to get a great theme. (Crystal wings in case your wandering).
Blue Fire seems popular as well.

Seems 2009 was a great year for roller coasters.

Edit: Here is my list in a spoiler to save space:
[spoiler:18tdb66s]Nemesis
Air
Space Mountain
Oblivion
Stealth
Nemesis Inferno
Furius Baco
Big Thunder Mountain
Pepsi Max Big One
Lisebergbanan
Vampire
Saw - The Ride
Colossus
Shockwave
Kanonen
Rita - Queen of Speed
G Force
Rock n Roller Coaster (I'll put higher next year)
Avalanche
Indiana Jones (DP)
Space Invader 2 (S)
X:No Way Out
Steeplechase[/spoiler:18tdb66s] I know it's so short but i don't get out much 8-[ .

Sun Dec 06, 2009 12:21 am

Is Mantis XL-200 really that bad Dan? It's gets very good reviews, and often Top 10 listings...

Also out of interest what is your favorite wood coaster, at 16?

Sun Dec 06, 2009 12:32 am

I'm sure someone on here rated it above millennium force. I watched a POV of it recently and it didn't look that great though, certainly not in the league of intamin hypers anyway.

Cedar point really is something of a one stop shop for coasters, along with magic mountain (2 stop shop?), both have an insane number of major coasters. I suppose Blackpool is our nearest equivalent, which is rather depressing, as only 2 of theirs are really any good.

Sun Dec 06, 2009 12:56 am

"duckman" wrote:
I'm sure someone on here rated it above millennium force. I watched a POV of it recently and it didn't look that great though, certainly not in the league of intamin hypers anyway.

Cedar point really is something of a one stop shop for coasters, along with magic mountain (2 stop shop?), both have an insane number of major coasters. I suppose Blackpool is our nearest equivalent, which is rather depressing, as only 2 of theirs are really any good.

Milly Force doesn't look that great to me. Too many overbanked turns and turns in general. Intamin airtime machines should do one thing and one thing only - climb up a big hill, go down it very fast, then ejector airtime hills, turnaround again and ejector airtime hills back to the station. Job done.

Magnum looks like it does that job much better than Milly Force, and those bunnyhops on the way back look vicious. Should also be commended for being one of the only coasters (only coaster?) to have that beautiful pretzel loop thing shown below. But come on guys, are any of us serious suggesting these two yanky pretenders can match our tower of power, Pepsi Max?!

A beautiful ride.

Edit: Wiki says it's a 'pretzel turn'. It also says for the first year of it's operation, it had upstop pads instead of upstop wheels, and Gemini at the same park still has upstop pads. :shock:

Sun Dec 06, 2009 12:56 am

"Sam!" wrote:
Is Mantis XL-200 really that bad Dan? It's gets very good reviews, and often Top 10 listings...

It was over a year ago so do admit my memory isn't that great. I remember it being a tad on the rough side though

"Sam!" wrote:
Also out of interest what is your favorite wood coaster, at 16?

Troy. As usual though i have changed my mind and feel Troy deserves higher than 16 but can't change it now!

Sun Dec 06, 2009 1:09 am

That's why I keep putting off posting mine, I keep changing my mind and want it to be 'right' when I submit!

Never heard of upstop pads before, I'd imagine magnum now runs faster than intended as wheels would have less friction. In which case, yay more airtime!

RE: MF. I think lack of airtime was one of the complaints. Most of the smaller intamin hypers (bizarro etc) are packed with airtime hills rather than loads of high speed corners, which if rita is anything to go by, are pretty uneventful.

Hark · Sun Dec 06, 2009 8:14 am

"duckman" wrote:
How come you haven't done any woodies if you've been to blackpool?

Put it this way, never visit a theme park with a stroppy (now ex) girlfriend :P I only managed Infusion, PMBO & The stupid Alice ride :(

---- Post Info Added ----

"Sam!" wrote:
X:NWO better than PMBO Hark?! And what did Avalanche do to be even worse than the above two, and the Corkscrew? :P

For me X:NWO - even though it's at 'that' park, give me more of a thrill - I don't know why, I find it a little more forceful - As opposed to PMBO which is just the height, first drop - then zzz. In my opinion anyway, not that I have anything against PMBO it is a reasonable coaster, but after Silver Star I don't think I see it in the same way again.

The Mack Bob Bahn beats Avalanche because it has a cool advertising board at the end xD

Sun Dec 06, 2009 8:54 am

My wood poll was very short and seem to have lost it, but it basically went;

1. Tonnerre de Zeus (Parc Asterix)
2. Favourite steel (Nemmy)
3. Big Dipper (PBB)
4. Wild Mouse (PBB)
5. Grand National (PBB)
6. Rollercoaster (PBB)
7. Stampida (Port Aventura)
(sure i'm missing a few but can't think at the mo)

Hope to add to that list considerably next year :)

The steel list I submitted but am now not too sure about was...

RANK THE FOLLOWING RIDING SENSATIONS <-LEAVE
Abrupt Airtime_____________________________,y,y,1
Out of Control Feeling/Directional Changes_,y,y,2
Sensation of Speed_________________________,y,y,3
Positive G's/Loops_________________________,y,y,4
Floating Airtime___________________________,y,y,5
Lateral Forces_____________________________,y,y,6
COASTER NAME PARK LOC <-LEAVE
Favorite Wood Coaster Any Park Anywhere **,y,y,1
Nemesis Alton Towers UK,y,y,2
Blue Fire Megacoaster Europa Park DE,y,y,3
Silver Star Europa-Park DE,y,y,4
Dragon Khan Port Aventura ES,y,n,5
Kumba Busch Gardens Afri FL,y,n,6
Stealth Thorpe Park UK,y,y,7
Euro-Sat Europa-Park DE,y,y,8
Rock n Roller Coaster Walt Disney Paris FR,y,y,9
Knightmare Camelot Theme Park UK,y,y,10
Fav X SC2000/3000 Any Park Anywhere **,y,y,11
Avalanche Blackpool P.B. UK,y,y,12
Nemesis Inferno Thorpe Park UK,y,y,13
Kumali Flamingo Land UK,y,y,14
Saw - The Ride Thorpe Park UK,y,y,15
Oblivion Alton Towers UK,y,y,16
Shockwave Drayton Manor UK,y,n,17
Poseidon Europa-Park DE,y,y,18
Rita - Queen of Speed Alton Towers UK,y,y,19
Crush's Coaster Walt Disney Paris FR,y,y,20
Fav Jet Star II Any Park Anywhere **,y,n,21
Colossus Thorpe Park UK,y,y,22
Air Alton Towers UK,y,y,23
Trace Du Hourra Parc Asterix FR,y,y,24
Euro-Mir Europa-Park DE,y,y,25
Fav JS III/Jumbo Jet Any Park Anywhere **,y,n,26
Mumbo Jumbo Flamingo Land UK,y,y,27
Fav Mack Supersplash Any Park Anywhere **,y,y,28
Fav Vek Susp Loop SLC Any Park Anywhere **,y,y,29
Pegasus Europa-Park DE,y,y,30
Vampire Chessington UK,y,y,31
Indiana Jones et le t Disneyland Paris FR,y,y,32
Space Mountain Disneyland Paris FR,y,y,33
Fav Vekoma Boomerang Any Park Anywhere **,y,n,34
Big Thunder Mountain Disneyland Paris FR,y,y,35
Pepsi Max Big One Blackpool P.B. UK,y,y,36
Schweizer Bobbahn Europa-Park DE,y,y,37
Matterhorn Blitz Europa-Park DE,y,y,38
Steeplechase Blackpool P.B. UK,y,y,39
Big Thunder Mountain WDW Magic Kingdom FL,y,n,40
Goudurix Parc Asterix FR,y,y,41
Fav Vekoma Corkscrew Any Park Anywhere **,y,y,42
Fav Powered `Coaster' Any Park Anywhere **,y,y,43
Le Vol D' Icare Parc Asterix FR,y,y,44
El Diablo Port Aventura ES,y,n,45
G Force Drayton Manor UK,y,n,46
X:No Way Out Thorpe Park UK,y,y,47
------------------------------------------------0 <-LEAVE THIS LINE

Could easily change a lot of that quite dramatically though.

Website · Sun Dec 06, 2009 11:10 am

"DanB""][quote=""Sam!" wrote:
Is Mantis XL-200 really that bad Dan? It's gets very good reviews, and often Top 10 listings...

It was over a year ago so do admit my memory isn't that great. I remember it being a tad on the rough side though
[/quote]
From my memory Magnum XL200 gives the same kind of ride as PMBO. It's just average and a bit rough. Millennium Force is a great ride, what it lacks in airtime it more than makes up for it in speed. It's just flies around the track from the drop to the final brakes and is really smooth. Very exhilarating.

Mon Dec 07, 2009 2:32 pm

I just looked for the Alton rides last year and found Air at rank 107. I’m hopping it good fortune this year to see if we can get all 3 Secret Weapons in the top 100!

Go Air! (and stay strong Nemesis, let’s see if the 2009 rides don't knock it off its podium).

Thu Dec 24, 2009 10:33 pm

Some preliminary results have been released :D

These are not totally gaurenteed, and places are somewhat likely to change, but it gives us a good idea of the top rankings of coasters in this years poll.

LINK: [url=http://www.ushsho.com/2009_preliminary_roller_coaster_poll_results.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;]http://www.ushsho.com/2009_preliminary_ ... esults.htm[/url]

Wood poll:
1. Voyage
2. El Toro
3. T Express
4. Boulder Dash
5. Ravine Flyer 2
6. Balder
7. Prowler
8. Phoenix
*. Fireball
10. Thunderhead
11. Aska

Steel poll:
1. Bizzaro (SFNE)
2. Eagles Fortess
3. Expedition GeForce
4. Diamondback
5. Goliath (walibi)
6. Piraten
7. Kawasemi
8. Nemesis
9. Katun
10. Millenium Force
11. Pyreneese
12. Blue Fire Megacoaster

No massive shocks there I don't think. Only a few small "suprises" at most.

Merry christmas everybody :D

AstroDan · Thu Dec 24, 2009 10:56 pm

Gutted.

7 of the top 10 offer practically the same sensation (only faster or slower)...

Variety is the spice of life and this poll shows us very little of it now in the top 10. Airtime has completey taken over the top 10.

I thought Eagles Fortress has been shut all season?

[-X

Thu Dec 24, 2009 11:00 pm

*yawn*

Not really a surprising list. Surprised Diamondback did so well, I don't see what it has over Silver Star. How come some other clones are grouped under "Your favorite powered" or whatever but the Mega-Lite clones don't and mess up the top 10?

Surprised Aska and Prowler did so well. Glad to see Eagle's Fortress is hanging in there, when it offers almost the exact opposite sensations of all the other top 10 air-machines except the inverts. It'll be interesting to see if Blue Fire starts creeping up and down the chart from next year...

AstroDan · Thu Dec 24, 2009 11:01 pm

Hasn't Eagles Fortress ben shut all year?

I do feel like the poll is all about "which Intamin offers most airtime" these days...

Still - Nemesis has been ranked as the worlds best looping coaster even though it's lower than at any stage in the past few years.

:)

Thu Dec 24, 2009 11:08 pm

^ Eagles Fortress has been shut all year and unlikely to re-open. Same applies to Aska in the wooden poll.
Nemesis is the oldest currently operating coaster in the steel top 12, as well as being the best looping coaster, so it's definitely not done too bad for itself, despite it's position falling slightly :)

Website · Thu Dec 24, 2009 11:09 pm

I have to agree, these preliminary results do seem slightly disappointing, and I love coasters with airtime. I will be interested to see where Manta finishes in the final results, as having gone on it, I think it is better than some of these airtime machines, though I would need to go on them as well to make a fair comparison.

But on a more positive note, good to see that it looks like Nemmy is going to be in the top 10 again!

AstroDan · Thu Dec 24, 2009 11:12 pm

How on earth as Eagles Fortress and Aska been allowed to enter, then?

#-o

Thu Dec 24, 2009 11:22 pm

"Rob" wrote:
I have to agree, these preliminary results do seem slightly disappointing, and I love coasters with airtime. I will be interested to see where Manta finishes in the final results, as having gone on it, I think it is better than some of these airtime machines, though I would need to go on them as well to make a fair comparison.

But on a more positive note, good to see that it looks like Nemmy is going to be in the top 10 again!

I think Manta is unlikely to beat either Tatsu or Superman based on track & trains. Theming wise it'd be a close tussle between it and the Chinese flier but I think Mitch Hawker voters tend to be more about track & trains than theming.

I too am slightly confused about how shut coasters get in, but I don't think it's unfair. If enough people had ridden them who took the poll it'd only be fair to let King's Island's The Bat in or even the infamous Crystal Beach Cyclone (which I'm sure would be in the wooden top 10). Am I right in thinking both Eagle's Fortress and Aska are SBNO? Maybe they're only disqualified once demolished...

Thu Dec 24, 2009 11:23 pm

I'm not an expert (newb enthusiast...), but to what I know SBNO coasters are always allowed in the poll, which I have no problem with.

But Aska is listed on rcdb as being totally defunct. If it's totally defunct and not just SBNO then I personally don't think it should be listed though.

Slightly off topic, but theres one coaster I'd be very interested to see it in the polls.
ANACONDA - GOLD REEF CITY, SOUTH AFRICA.
From everything I've heard it's a well themed ridiculously forceful madly intense Giovonola invert which has recieved great reviews from almost everywhere. If it was to qualify in the polls it would have come 5th in 2008. But that would only be a rating judged by only 4 riders, so it's not considered accurate enough to be placed in the official rankings. It's pretty high on my Must-Ride list and I'd love to see it get some official placement in the poll sometime.

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