50 years of coasters – 2014

I’ve spent most of January trying to get all the trip planning for this year back on track, so writing this series took a sideline amongst all that nervous excitement. With that in mind and how long I’ve already dragged this out, it’s going to be 52 years of coasters if I don’t finish up before the end of March (fingers crossed). Let’s give that a go at least.
Something about this year strikes a chord with me, but I can’t quite put my finger on it. Was there a particularly notable ride built? I think so.

Various clones on the extreme end of the spectrum could have filled this spot at the moment, with my personal 2014 roster not quite being as fleshed out as I would like it to be. Altair is one of several lap bar editions of the original record breaking 10-looper Colossus at Thorpe Park that exist in varying conditions around the world. I wasn’t as bowled over by the experience as I had hoped. It was fun for sure, but I thought the new found freedom in the riding position would lend itself to some cool moments. Instead it mainly served to highlight how underwhelming the layout of endless inversions is.

Not much of a coaster really, the Mack powered inverted hardware lends itself rather well to dark ride sections and scenery instead. Arthur pulls this off reasonably well and has a couple of magical moments to offer outside of it’s faffy queue and operational system. Padding the list a bit though I feel, things need to pick up a bit.

This Beijing Jiuhua built mine train was a surprise hit for me, they’ve come up with a (hugely welcome) custom layout that keeps on building in intensity very nicely and it blends into that rockwork a treat, enhancing the experience even more. One of my favourite Chinese coaster designs to date.

Back to Cinecittà again, the other Intamin coaster in the park is far more exciting, even though you can’t see it. A thrilling indoor experience complete with a powerful drop track section and some rather dark theming makes for a standout ride in this all-new-for-2014 park.

This might be the most gorgeous family coaster ever. Gerstlauer have a real knack for this type of experience, the combination of profiling and rolling stock on these models is always spot on when trying to find that happy medium between thrilling and fun. Beyond that, who needs a drop track when you can have fire, explosions and a backwards launch?

At last we’re in the big leagues. B&M are back, with their first entry being yet another wing coaster, continuing to prove how popular they were in this decade. This flight of the demons is an experience greatly enhanced by both the visuals and the haunting soundtrack that accompanies it. A twisted mess of that signature track always looks great when embedded into a landscape and it just so happens to be a really solid, interesting layout too.

But it can’t compete with how good this bird looks, nor with how good the layout is. As a complete opposite in design, it really has a ton of room to breathe, soaring between massive elements before dipping in and out of the glorious landscape. Everything about my experience with the parrot seemed to be well thought out, it’s a masterclass in creating a signature coaster for a park.

Here’s that other Mack Mega Coaster I promised in 2013. Though the layout of this one is highly unoriginal, being just too damn similar to Intamin’s Megalite, it’s still a top 3 today (for now). It’s testament to how incredible the ride that gave the inspiration is, that a well executed equivalent by another manufacturer is also ridiculously good. Though it doesn’t quite pack the same punch overall, their trains for this are second to none and I’d take it over any clone but Piraten, any day.

The pinnacle of the S&S air launch design for me. A breathtaking, world-beating acceleration into a massive, airtime-filled top hat, followed up an incredible sequence of elements. So many other launch coasters that came before just couldn’t deliver these things in anywhere near the same magnitude and that makes this ride really special to me. (Let’s not mention today that it’s also a clone).

Oh yeah, now I remember. My favourite rollercoaster of them all was built in 2014. Still searching for that perfection.

I’m rather excited to see just how many there are still to come out of this year. It was only back in 2010 that I became worried by lists appearing to already be set in stone, though there’s loads more to look forward to today:
One of the last great B&M inverts I’ve got my eye on is Banshee, I’m doubly intrigued by the seemingly mould-breaker styling and how the vest restraints will perform on that particular model.
RMCs are going to be a reasonably obvious addition to these lists from now on, ridden or otherwise, with Goliath and Medusa Steel Coaster being no exception.
I gave Iron Shark a shout out in 2012, so why not give it’s Colmbian clone Kráter a look in too. Certainly a rare one for the collection.
I’ve heard great things about Lightning Run and am always happy to get brand new ride types under my belt, of which the one and only Chance Hyper GT-X certainly is.
Nefeskesen is one of two red Intamin launch coasters in Turkey and, most enticing to me, is the custom layout of the two.
You potentially can’t beat a good family-sized Gravity Group woodie like Roar-O-Saurus when it comes to consistency.
Or can you? The memories of seeing super-sized Gravity Group woodie Time Travel closed, from the window of a taxi, still haunt me to this very day. This one is about as high as it gets on my to-do list, so I don’t think we can top that here, now.

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50 years of coasters – 2013

Here we go again. I might be detecting the slightest hint of a drop in quality here compared to how amazing some of the progress in the last few years had been. However there are by far the biggest number of coasters yet recorded in the RCDB for the year 2013 (with a massive jump of 50), so a different kind of positive sign for the industry at the very least. With an ever expanding lineup, that’s plenty more opportunities for the future.

S&S first put lap bars on their El Loco model a couple of years prior to this, but this was the first time I came across the combination and of course it’s a vastly superior experience for it. The freedom of movement in your upper body just adds an extra spice to all those interesting and fun elements like the stupidly steep drop and the downwards inversion.

Lap bars again, this time as part of Gerstlauer’s introductory year to their biggest and best ride type to date – the Infinity Coaster. Building on their brief dabble with standalone launch coasters and then launched versions of their Eurofighter model, Karacho showed a real turning point in what this lot were truly capable of with that, let’s say it again, freedom of movement. You can finally really feel all that funky stuff they’ve got going on.

With Wood Coaster already existing I think we hit a certain point where I see rides like this as ‘just some GCI’. And just some GCI is undoubtedly a solid coaster, a loud and fast paced wooden romp that’s bags of fun at the very worst, but I just don’t get that excited about some of them, like this one, after experiencing a lot more of the diverse sections of their catalogue. Should I play the winter card? It was cold (striker).

A late entry for this series, as I had it all planned out well before I ended up in Austria last September, but a welcome one. I loved Rattenmühle, it was pretty much everything I wanted it to be as a fabulously fun Gerstlauer Bobsled and then the surprise level of the theming and detail in the station and surrounding area took it up a few gears again.

Definitely leaning towards a bit of a family-thrill approach again this year, this time with Intamin giving their Family Launch coaster a much needed boost, literally. Jet Rescue set the precedent for how good this ride type could be back in 2008 and this time with some more room to breathe, larger and faster elements they once again proved it could pack a punch and compete with the biggest of coasters.

Wait, this was the one and only Gerstlauer Infinity to not feature lap bars, how come it was better than Karacho? Am I a fraud? Probably, but there’s just so much more good layout going on here and Smiler has been a real grower on me over the years. It would be absolutely insane feeling those 14 different inversions with lap bars and I wish it was a thing, but I’ll just have to settle for what it is – an intense, disorientating semi-masterpiece.

The multi-launch features again and will continue to do well for me for all time, always. There’s something magical the way it injects an extra energy into a ride and it is particularly well needed in Full Throttle with such a short length of track to play with. That tends to be a criticism of this bold attempt from Premier Rides but I’ve ended up as one of it’s biggest fans. The ridiculousness of the size of that loop, the silly airtime coming back over the top of the same piece of structure and the fun in between – love it.

I can’t get enough of the Disney mine train aesthetic, it’s such a quintessential theme park experience. Big Grizzly brought something new to the table and it was very welcome. The light-heartedness of the theme, and the stunning surroundings that were created just for this ride combined with all the surprises and tricks that the hardware has to offer just can’t fail to bring a smile to anyone’s face.

Oh, how I wish there were more of these. With a few years to think about it, Mack must surely have seen Intamin’s Megalite design and thought ‘we can do something like that.’ Their Mega Coaster was born. Storm was all we got, other than a near-clone of the Intamin that we’ll be seeing very soon (spoilers) and it’s a blast. Not only does it carry some powerful airtime, they chucked in a gorgeous inversion for good measure and the late night openings of this off-the-beaten-track park give the opportunity for some real special moments.

Back where we started in Tianjin, Fjord Flying Dragon was the star attraction that came with Happy Valley’s latest park and sadly the most recent time the company dealt the Gravity Group after such a strong trinity of a start. It’s the strongest of their three combined efforts for me and that’s saying something, with how much I love the 2009 winner of this series. It caught attention nonetheless and they went on to do even greater things with a certain rival park chain in China, but that’s a tale already told on here.

What else are we looking at?

I really want to try Abyss, even though it’s basically Australian Saw: The Ride, both for the alternative theme and setting and the fact that it’s just so damn obscure a location for coasters in general, all the way out there in the West.
A notable absence from B&M this year after being a staple of the lists for so long. This is entirely my fault, having not yet ridden either of their 2013 creations. Gatekeeper looks rather stunning, I love the way Cedar Fair have turned a signature coaster into an eye catching entrance plaza. Nitro as it was named back at opening could well be a surprise hit, but almost undoubtedly an entry just by merit of it’s existence here.
Also at Imagicaa in India, from the same year, is Deep Space, another potential hit for Premier. I love an indoor ride and in particular a space theme.
Some real contenders are running loose this year in the form of a couple of RMCs I haven’t managed to pick up. Perhaps that’s why I’m seeing a bit of a downturn in 2013, it shows that I’m slipping. From everything they’ve given me so far, Iron Rattler and Outlaw Run could just go all the way to the top here.
Just for fun, we’ll have a chuckle at Ring Racer. The layout isn’t going to be winning any awards and it only operated for a handful of days before it all went wrong so it’s highly unlikely it’ll happen anyway, but still, what a silly thing.

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50 years of coasters – 2012

This year was supposed to be the end of the world if I recall correctly. Feels like we’re a lot closer to that now than we were back in 2012 but, more importantly, what was going on the coaster world at the time? Great things by the looks of it.

Mack had the genius idea of taking their revolutionary launch coaster model to the next level by introducing it to the concept of multiple launches. Sadly it resulted in a rather jarring transition in which the train slows down rather than ‘hitting the launch running’, a shortcoming which future projects managed to put to shame even more strongly. Outside of that moment, it’s a perfect blend of a family thrill package with a lot to offer.

Following on from the more scary theming seen during the debut of B&Ms wing coaster in 2011, it was time to see what other parks could do with the concept. Dollywood decided to put some sweet-looking eagle shaped trains in a more eye-pleasing environment and accompany it with a fitting theme song. I love the use of landscape on this one and even without any theming of particular note it manages to do the ride type justice by creating many near-miss moments with it’s own support structure.

Thorpe Park on the other hand said we’ll have the exact same alien trains and try to use them in an even more desolate landscape. This narrative worked rather well with the impending Mayan calendar apocalypse and the park did a memorable job with lore-building during the construction phase, which is perhaps even why I still associate it so strongly with 2012 to this day. It wasn’t quite the remarkable coaster we hoped for at our home park, but it’s only grown over time and offered plenty of memorable experiences along the way.

Europe’s second B&M hyper after 10 long years is one of the most visually stunning pieces of coaster hardware around. The sluggish nature of the ridiculously long trains with their stadium seating appear to hold it back from delivering the types of sensations I tend to prefer from my 250ft coasters, but I can’t deny that Shambhala is a masterpiece in its own way.

Multiple launches, a vertical drop track and a fun storyline make this the standout attraction at Busch Gardens Williamsburg for me, even amongst a very well stacked lineup of rollercoasters. I particularly adore the little details, homages to the ride that formerly stood in the same spot and the fact that it has multiple indoor sequences make it a blast to ride over and over again.

Aside from some lesser-known quantities amongst their terrain-hugging monsters, Wodan is GCI’s tallest project to date. And it shows, with this striking structure and highly memorable first drop experience that just plummets through the mess of timbur. It has some amazing queueline theming, an awesome soundtrack and really rounds off the Iceland area of the park perfectly.

After claiming the top three places in 2011, the boom in China over the last decade is showing no signs of slowing down. Dinoconda is the most recent of the rare breed that is the S&S 4D coaster and these are notorious for being one of the most extreme ride types ever created. I’m not sure my head was in the right place at the time of riding this one, which may well have been to do with the overwhelming effort of the visit itself. Looking back on Dinoconda now I have a massive amount of appreciation for it, but for whatever reason it just didn’t strike me at the time and I’ve only more recently discovered how insane these can truly be.

Wuhan was the fifth city in China to receive a Happy Valley park and opened its gates with this massively ambitious duelling wooden coaster from the Gravity Group. While Chinese park chains come up with all these eye-catching, bright ideas, there seems to be very little long term effort towards sustaining them so you’re unlikely to catch these in all their duelling glory. Luckily as a standalone wooden coaster, it’s world class, as we’ve come to expect from the manufacturer. It’s still a goal of mine to one day experience this with both sides operating however – I feel there could be more to give.

Despite being the very first park in the chain, it took Happy Valley Shenzhen until 2012 to get a signature attraction that would stand out on a global stage. Bullet Coaster was the second layout of the newly rejuvenated S&S air launch coaster, following on from the revival in Beijing the previous year. It’s even more effective in the way that it delivers any number of powerful sensations throughout the layout, complementing that life-changing launch.

Almost a clean sweep for China, but the States have an ace up their sleeve. There aren’t many rollercoasters in the world that can downright terrify a seasoned enthusiast, yet the unique blend of violent forces and minimalist restraints on Skyrush do exactly that. There may have been some sacrifices in comfort along the way and for that very reason we may never see anything exactly like this built again. That just makes it all the more special though and for me it’s an easy top ten in the world.

There has to be more out there though, surely.

Plenty more in the B&M catalogue for starters – I missed out on Firebird during its transition phase from stand-up to floorless coaster, though I think a better chance lies with Leviathan – their first coaster to top 300ft. The wing coaster sold very well in its second year for such a major piece of hardware, with X-Flight being a third unique creation.
I’m struggling beyond their contributions however, perhaps lap-bar Eurofighter Iron Shark has an outside chance of making an impact but this field looks too strong to break.

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50 years of coasters – 2011

Just as the quality of coasters was really picking up, this 50 years series ended up on a several month hiatus to make way for many, many trip reports. It was great to finally be able to write about some fresh overseas experiences and it definitely made the best of a brief window of opportunity this year.
Now as I sit here in December with the world locking down again, wondering whether I’ll ever ride a coaster built in the 51st consecutive year, let’s pick up where we left off and continue to look at the most exciting decade for the industry so far.

The most recent of B&Ms major ride type innovations is now 10 years old, leaving everyone to wonder what the esteemed manufacturer will bring to the table next. Raptor was the first of these wing coasters and simultaneously introduced the concept of pairing the hardware with near miss scenery elements to give them that extra edge. The use of terrain seems all backwards on this one, leaving the pacing to feel a bit off, but it felt like a solid first attempt at showcasing some potential.

It took some witchcraft to fit a wooden coaster with this much runtime into the space available here in Stockholm, but it seems the Gravity Group are always up to the task. Twister isn’t my go-to creation for what their miniature coasters do best, but they’ve never really set a foot wrong as far as I’ve experienced.

It was typical Fuji-Q to get something this intense and Gerstlauer were the ones who stepped up to the task, taking their Eurofighter model to new heights. Setting a new record for steepest drop in the world wasn’t enough, they also chucked in a punchy launch section and countless dizzying inversions that made this coaster one of a kind – until someone had to take that status away from it…

Family coasters have always been a strong point for Gerstlauer too, though there’s nothing particularly family friendly about the theme of this indoor masterpiece. With tight turns and special effects cranked up to the max, Van Helsing is one of those well sought after perfect combinations of hardware and theming.

More horror theming now, this time with the premise of being swallowed whole by a Krake(n). The concept works really well for this smaller B&M dive coaster and though the subsequent sequence of elements from splash effect to airtime hill are teasingly short, they pack a punch. As does the soundtrack.

And punch is what we’re all about from here on out. Seeing this as Maurer’s best coaster to date after 10 years makes me wish for them to get back in the game properly and stop messing around with silly projects. The market for mixed bag launched looping coasters has come a long way since then, but I think there’s still room for these X-cars amongst it, especially if they’re anything like Shock.

Feels like I haven’t spoken much about Hair Raiser on here, and I should, because it’s awesome. As we enter a more modern era for B&M they tend to see more scrutiny for ‘playing it safe’, but there’s nothing safe about this one. With a location to die for, perched atop a mountain in the sea, Hair Raiser has a very different feel to its layout that really stands out. It was also, for whatever reason, stupidly rough when I rode it, completely uncharacteristic of the manufacturer, and that only added to the experience.

In fact they were just going from strength to strength as far as the Asian market was concerned. Starry Sky Ripper was a ridiculous achievement, not least for containing a 540° twist and vertical loop, on a flying coaster. It’s these sorts of elements that make the ride type B&Ms finest for me just because they bring the concept of intensity to a whole new level.

You can tell something big was going on in the Chinese coaster scene this year. Aside from a couple of early OCT and Chimelong hits, 2011 appears to be the year that things really kicked off for the country and it’s been manic ever since. I’m forever trying to play catch up with all the world class coasters they keep laying down for us. Extreme Rusher was a landmark return for the S&S air launch after ten long years of silence and it took the type to world beating status in a different way by actually doing something significant and thrilling with the layout outside of ‘we need to set records’.

Well what a year. We’re finishing on a personal top ten ride now, as China pushed the limits of another manufacturer to a new extreme, this time wooden warriors GCI. A ride like this shouldn’t be able to exist in such an environment and yet it does, although it’s notably hard to actually catch it operating. Most importantly of all, they didn’t compromise one bit on the layout when making it happen and the end result is mind-blowingly spectacular.

Anything left in the 2011 pool for me?

Cheetah Hunt is the first to jump out, particularly as we’ve unusually not seen anything from Intamin here today. Their next step in the multi-launch revolution has always fascinated me.
Speaking of revolutions, this was of course the debut year of hot topic RMC. New Texas Giant paved the way for the manufacturer to take the coasting world by storm and I’d love to see how it rides.
Two more Gravity Group coasters excite me greatly of course, I already dropped a reference to Wooden Warrior above and should have ridden Zippin Pippin by now but… you know.

We’re done. These to-do lists are definitely getting shorter, a double-edged sword I feel.

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