50 years of coasters – 1996

Here we go again. The sheer numbers are up once more and it’s looking like another stronger year with many exciting developments and far less padding for me to do, so that’s always a plus.

Unironically the best coaster at Seoul Land is this slightly off Wacky Worm design with a violent burst of unintentional airtime. I believe it might be the only attraction of this nature that I’ve happened to ride in the dark too, not sure if that had anything to do with enhancing it.

Speaking of rides in the dark, this year was the debut of Thorpe Park’s first traditional coaster (meaning with a chain lift as opposed to being powered throughout the circuit, nothing traditional about the backwards part obviously), housed inside a giant metal pyramid of all places. I have no idea how this concept fitted in around the rest of the park at the time, so I think I need to go and satisfy my own curiosity with some research on that right now.

As a bit of an icon in the world of seaside amusements this simple layout was surprisingly satisfying, though we rode it with an impending threat of endgame rain (making for nice ominous pictures), so there was an overwhelming dose of relief involved in simply getting it done.

Ever since seeing the skull as a piece of scenery in Rollercoaster Tycoon 2 I’ve been fascinated and amused by this attraction, almost believing it to not exist in real life. Intamin aren’t particularly well known for their family coasters but they sealed the deal with an indoor one here and it’s become rather legendary for punching above its weight, if only for the first drop in the back row.

A new name on the scene this year was Great Coasters International who have gone on to make a huge impact on the wooden coaster market as a breakaway company from relative newcomers Custom Coasters International. Their first install went to a certain nearby chocolate factory and I’m guessing the customer was particularly happy with it, because they ended up with another pair of woodies from GCI just a few years later, making them now home to more of them than any other park in the world.

CCI were still at it as well though, this time with their first international coaster. There are a lot of fond memories for this one to be found around the UK as it was no doubt somewhat of a standout against what we had at the time (potentially still is), particularly on the airtime front. It remains as Wales’ finest contribution to the coaster world at the very least.

This striking design was Maurer Söhne’s first coaster on the market, marking yet another debut for this year. After spending over a century dealing in other fields of construction the company ended up taking over from BHS/Anton Schwarzkopf, names which we’ve seen do rather well throughout this series so far. Maurer seemingly drew upon a lot of inspiration from that era when creating Venus and interestingly they’ve never done anything like this again since, instead choosing to focus on the more compact end of the market rather than use that legacy to continue to take on the remainder of the bigger names in the industry.

More new manufacturers! Premier Rides brought their LIM launch coasters to the world in 1996 too, with both Kings Dominion and Kings Island bagging this design simultaneously. It seems it was also a big year for indoor coasters, with this one being by far the most significant in this list – a disorientating blitz through the dark with multiple inversions, it’s quite the experience.

I don’t believe my opinion of a coaster has ever changed more drastically than it has with Colorado Adventure. I got a bad ride in a bad seat on our first visit and dismissed it as a visually fascinating ride whose hardware was nothing more than a one and done. Just last year we gave it a second chance at the opposite end of the train and the difference was night and day. This thing can terrify even the most hardened of enthusiasts with the completely wild, out of seat moments found in the back row, and it just keeps on giving.

1996 doesn’t get better than this beast for me though. The ridiculousness of a 260ft hyper coaster with flat ~200ft turnarounds coupled with the legendary status that this Japanese park has makes for a real winning combination, especially when you consider some of the shaping of the hills and how they slowly deteriorate (in a good way) as the ride goes on. Togo were still doing me proud throughout this decade and it seems that the sky was the limit.

There is/was plenty more juice out there for this year beyond what I’ve managed to experience so far.
I’m lacking a good B&M from ’96 at the moment, but clearly Montu at Busch Gardens has a lot of potential and wait, what was my policy on relocations again? Orochi opened this year in a field in Japan, eventually to be moved to a field in France 14 years later – I already know that that one’s a winner. Mantis was their first return to stand-up coasters after going so hard on the inverts, though this one has since been updated to the floorless sitdown configuration.
I forgot to mention that D.H.Morgan was another new name on the scene for Santa Monica West Coaster, but they also went far bigger and more ambitious just two weeks prior to that with the opening of Wild Thing at Valleyfair.
It’s easy to also forget that this crazy looking contraption existed at some point. I know from experience what the sensation of extreme height can do to the simplest of attractions and I’m very sad to see that this one didn’t last.
And nor did this, whatever this is. Intamin’s attempt at a Heartline Coaster? I want it so bad, but sometimes things just aren’t meant to be.

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50 years of coasters – 1995

Now that the UK has set the standard in ’94 (never to be matched by themselves again), can the rest of the world keep up? The main thing I’ve noticed here is how varied the different players in the industry have become and how surprised I was that everything in this list is the same age – you wouldn’t think it to look at some of these.

Case in point with this first entry, some unknown manufacturer knocked out this standard loop screw that looks like it’s from the ’70s and so far removed from, say, last year’s winner Nemesis. To be fair, certain Chinese parks are still churning out this look 25 years later and if the lack of information about who built this one is anything to go by, then it could be one of the earliest examples (well, that I’ve ridden at least) of what would commonly be referred to as an Asian ‘knock-off’. Though it has merit in some situations I’m not a fan of the way this phrase gets unceremoniously thrown around at everything these days and to be honest you’d barely know the difference on this one. It was fine. Most memorable for being so overgrown that I took a tree to the face mid-circuit.

Next up, mainly for cuteness factor, we have a Zierer Tivoli ‘small’ with a frog theme that was this park’s very first traditional rollercoaster. The model had been going steady for over 20 years up to this point and it’s far from done yet.

Oh no, not this again. Here we have Disney being lazy once more with a Vekoma Junior, though at least it has a few more frogs. They were doing bigger and supposedly better things elsewhere in the world this year, but I’ve managed to miss out on it several times already – more on that later.

Family coasters on the up, I rather enjoyed this custom Togo just because, well, it’s different. If it stood out from the crowd of Vekoma Juniors and the like for me in 2017 (the year the park sadly closed), then imagine how much it would have done back in 1995. Aliens and water features are a plus of course.

Zierer were also being more adventurous these last couple of years, introducing the Hornet model. Essentially a more dynamic version of the Flitzer we covered all the way back in the ’70s, the many cars with single file seating buzz around the course in an impressive display of block section action. It may not have been worth it, they only ever made two in two years (this being the second), but at least it’s a set I was able to complete with relative ease.

But they didn’t stop there. Things went pure custom over at Knott’s Berry Farm with a larger edition of the Tivoli model that winds its way over pathways and through decorative features with a fun sense of interaction. The type of family coaster experience I can really get behind, though this has no doubt been enhanced more recently than opening year by the added presence of a certain B&M invert.

Back over to the same park in Korea, we have a known quantity this time in the form of a Meisho jet coaster. Contrary to the usual design, this one actually rode with some vigour which, although not entirely necessary for a fan of these such as myself, was of course a welcome surprise. The whole park opened in 1995 along with all four of their current coasters, a lineup hasn’t changed at all to this day, so this one remains the highlight.

The triumphant return of the Arrow mine train to this series. We actually really enjoyed this one and thought it was one of the standout attractions amongst a certain few others that didn’t meet expectations – more on that next. Three lift hills feels like overkill, particularly with how one of the sections of the layout turns out, but it all adds to the comedy and fun.

And this is why expectation management is a tricky business, because I’d struggle to say that I enjoyed this legend any more than the mine train. With B&M ruling the world for the last couple of years, I’d expect them to come out on top again with a record breaking multi-looper, but by the time I reached Dragon Khan it seemed that age hasn’t been so kind to it, particularly compared to their inverts of the same vintage. Looks amazing though, and you’d definitely struggle to believe it was designed and built in the same year as the first entry in this list.

Insanity in coaster form, if only there was a photo to do it justice. This highly unusual Intamin ‘twist and turn’ coaster has long trains of wildly spinning cars that travel through several rooms of ups, downs and booster wheels, rotatingly relentlessly all the way. It’s an absolute blast and gets even better when you stop to consider how it was constructed as the attraction exists entirely underground, in the middle of a capital city, next to a massive lake. It could well have been a dream I had.

So what have I missed? Vekoma SLCs began to spread rather rapidly, though that’s hardly good news in this situation.
As alluded to earlier, Disneyland Paris got their hands on a completely different ride system for the latest edition of Space Mountain. Launched ’90s Vekoma looper doesn’t scream world beater to me, but it’s had some significant work done over the years (usually while I’m there) and I really need to try it one day.
I would have loved to have given Pax’s Astropax 18 a go, only because they’re so rare and silly as a manufacturer, shame I discovered that fact about 10 years too late and I’m still holding out on Chupy Coaster, another jet coaster with amazing views, after failing to get anything out of that park on my visit.
The only real things jumping out at me are CCI woodies, of which I have very limited experience. They kept themselves busy this year with Raven at Holiday World and Cyclops at Mt. Olympus, both now living in the shadows of much more significant beasts, along with the now defunct Cannonball Express. If neither of these can pull something special out of the bag then we may already have our definitive winner.

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50 years of coasters – 1994

After several posts of basically bemoaning my own concept, scraping a top ten throughout the ’90s just because it’s achievable, 1994 steps things up a gear. It’s a famous year on home turf in the UK as it saw what was potentially our biggest wave of attraction investment ever, with the opening of 3 major coasters, two of which remain among our most popular and noteworthy to this day. Things were going well elsewhere too it seems and there won’t be any kiddie coaster padding today, it’s all significant at last, will it last?

The UK entry from this year that perhaps has slipped under the radar in comparison to the others is this Intamin stand up coaster which was both a replacement and significant upgrade from their Pinfari looping coaster. It was a step in the right direction for attracting a larger piece of the local thrill market, though the direction of the park seems to have come full circle and steered away from this again in recent times. As it stands, this is the only remaining coaster of it’s type from the manufacturer still standing, so grab it while you can.

Space World went the way of the dinosaurs in 2017 and we were fortunate to be there in the final year of operation. What was less fortunate was the state in which this Arrow hyper had ended up. Though the trains had been replaced by S&S a few years prior, with some that on paper should have been far superior, they negotiated the layout with what can best be described as calamity. Glad to have tried it, shan’t miss it.

Expectations were low for what was supposedly the aptly named ‘Hurler’. These Paramount origin woodies at both Carowinds and sibling park Kings Dominion had a reasonably bad reputation, with the latter eventually being overhauled by RMC and becoming the tremendous Twisted Timbers I know and love today. This one still stands as a reminder of what once was and it was… ok. A freak thunderstorm made for some very poor vision on-ride, but nothing bad happened.

This will no doubt be the smallest entry on the list for this year, but don’t let the size fool you. As well as being entirely unique in the world – manufacturer Zierer’s only spinning coaster, it packs an alarming punch in one particular moment, hidden from view in a tunnel. I also find a lot of joy in these true ‘free-spinning’ cars that just twirl and mess about at all times, even on the lift hill.

The UK’s tallest coaster and one of Blackpool’s most iconic sights forms the second part of the 1994 trio. It has bags of character and a great location, as well as a ridiculously violent first drop (still surprisingly less so than it reportedly would have been when it originally opened, having since been re-profiled). I generally lament about the rest of the layout of this one and its general pointlessness, but I’m doing my best to stay positive today and it’s a good little sit down really.

The largest of the Mack bobsled coasters ever to be made, sadly we haven’t seen a new one for 20 years now, has an unusual layout with a lift hill at both the start and the end. It gets surprisingly intense at the end and is amongst my favourites of the type. Upon opening it shared the name of the original back at Europa Park (specifically Schweizer, or Swiss) as well as the trains, themed to various olympic bobsled teams, which still remain in operation today.

Surprisingly intense appears to be a recurring theme in this year. This little fairground style Vekoma with it’s single-seater rows on the trains is full of endless forceful turns that never really let up, eventually even taking the wind from my lungs before the ride came to an end. For me it was by far the best attraction in this overwhelmingly coaster heavy park and a real shock to the system.

Finally one of the site’s namesake rides slips into the series, even though they had been kicking around in the world almost 10 years prior, the earliest version I’ve ridden lost out to Eurosat from ’89. The type started out first in central Tokyo and then Six Flags in the USA gave the model a try without much success – they haven’t generally stood the test of time. And it’s a shame, these were hugely innovative and ahead of their game in terms of what they actually achieved, as well as being downright terrifying and a total blast to ride. I love ’em.

Like Megablitz, this rare Mack mine train is full of fast, tight, low to the ground turns that are way more intense than one might expect from what is to be considered a family ride. The double lift, decent theming and impressive interaction with rockwork all push it over the edge as a real standout attraction for me and after personally riding what feels like 100 Vekoma/Golden Horse models the same, the world definitely needs more of these instead.

Of course the real big news and king of the ’94 trio was the legendary B&M invert Nemesis. This attraction rewrote the book on immersively themed thrill coasters and is undoubtedly one of the all time greats in this industry. Most consider it to still be by far the best we’ve ever had in the UK in 27 years and I totally get why that is. This was still very early days for B&M and the model continued to grow into one of their biggest hits, following on directly from last year’s winner and it’s remarkable what they managed to pull off alongside Alton Towers’ specific needs on this occasion.

What else was going on in the world this year?
At the very same time that B&M were dazzling the world with the winner of this list (and Raptor at Cedar Point, which has a cracking layout that I’ve ridden elsewhere), the rivalling Vekoma SLC model made a debut over at Wailbi Holland. You can read plenty about why this didn’t make the cut here.
It was a busy year for Arrow hypers with two already in the list and yet another opening over in Nevada. Desperado looks fascinating with its casino setting and desert backdrop and I’d love to add it to the collection before it’s too late.
Wooden coaster manufacturer CCI continued their busy 10 year streak with Hoosier Hurricane and Zach’s Zoomer (appreciate the alliteration). I really need to get more of these under my belt and see what they’re all about, they’ve been particularly elusive in my worldwide schedule so far.
The other Togo Ultra Twister that I desperately need also opened this year, with a variation in layout. It’s pretty much at the top of my bucket list these days in terms of pure collectables, could it be my new favourite Heartline Coaster?
The final one that looks to be worth a mention is White Cyclone at Nagashima, though it’s most notable to me as being closed for silly reasons on my first visit and having since been turned into the amazing Hakugei. I almost found out if it was a contender, but it just wasn’t to be…
Good to end it on a high.

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50 years of coasters – 1993

1993 looks just like 1992, but without the legends and lack of luck. In other words, lots of not much, then a couple of bangers to finish. Oh well, we’re committed now, and at least we can say B&M are finally on the upwards helix.

We begin again with something really exotic, another Vekoma Boomerang, in cheery Cleethorpes. This park sadly met its demise at the end of the 2016, the only real losses being in their dark ride game. The coaster itself got sold on, finding a new home in Bali, Indonesia, where it now sits proudly on a roof, so that’s nice.

For 2 years in a row a Tivoli Medium makes the cut and that’s more a comment on their quantity rather than their quality. This park needs a lot of support right now, or they’ll go the same way as Pleasure Island above. Save the Ultimate! Plus, you can still ride this one.

Two entries! Obviously this park also opened as a whole in 1993, with a handful of fresh coasters alongside Alton Tower’s relocated 4 Man Bob which has almost visited more parks across the UK than I have. Mini Mine Train was a Vekoma Junior, the 207m model to be specific, and one of the earliest installations of yet another of the manufacturer’s worldwide hits. There’s now 28 of this length alone out there! This particular piece of hardware also lives on in Central Java, Indonesia (same buyer), though it only resides inside of a building as opposed to on top.

If it’s good enough for Cleethorpes, it’s good enough for Disneyland. Four more of an identical layout were sold the very same year and this one of course ended up as the most intricately decorated of the bunch. I understand that Disney just want some reasonably priced hardware to turn into a family friendly experience of their own quality, but it’s a little disenchanting to me knowing it’s just not that special. Don’t let that sentiment rub off on yourself though.

To the same end, the follow up coaster for Paris left a little to be desired in the hardware department. It was a bewildering setup, paying a high end manufacturer (Intamin) to build a low end layout (Pinfari TL-59) ((guess what!? Pleasure Island also had one of these!)) and then chucking it in a temple. The theming obviously glams it up a lot and the attraction even had the extra appeal of operating backwards for a while, but there’s little that can be done to disguise the sub-par ride experience, particularly when compared to the park’s winning entry of the previous year.

And so, just for that transgression, I’m going to put the adorable Sphinx above anything Disney accomplished this year. Sometimes you just don’t have to try so hard and it all comes together in a far more pleasing manner. The train, the tunnel, the station, the terrain – it has more than I could ever need from a coaster.

Himeji Central Park

#4 Labyrinth – Himeji Central Park (Japan)
Elsewhere in Japan, a certain zoo was embarking on expanding their ride lineup in a big way. They’d served almost ten years with just the above pictured Jet Coaster before decided to go for a Meisho Mini Coaster, a wonderful wild mouse style coaster that leans heavily on the wild half of the name. I only wish I was more thorough with this photo-documenting business.

Top three and we’re still on Vekoma Juniors – oops. 13 years prior in these lists we saw my winner of 1980’s coaster of the year, Nessie. It got bonus points for interacting with a nearby family coaster and that was cheating, because Nessie’s best buddy Rasender Roland didn’t open until 1993. Bonus points are going to be handed out again today as I just love this moment of interaction between the two rides, having experienced it on both sides in spectacular fashion – they actually go out of their way to achieve it too. Roland also has an entirely custom design layout to suit, Disney.

1992 was the year of the first B&M Invert ‘Batman Clone’ at Six Flags Great America, but my earliest ridden version so far is this one at fellow park Six Flags Great Adventure. Subtle differences. The chain loved them so much that they ended up buying another 8 of them over a 16 year period and distributing them across most of North America (just the 1 for Europe) and it’s easy to see why. The layout is both compact and highly thrilling as well as being a real gamechanger of its era. It seemed like the stand ups weren’t doing very well, but ‘danglefoots‘ were becoming the new big thing and every major thrill park would race to get one to compliment their lineup over the next decade or so.

But the actual sequel to OG Batman was this bad boy. Another custom layout that was just as viciously intense in its own way. It began life themed to Top Gun, eventually abandoning the franchise and now looking as crude as anything, except it doesn’t matter. Flight Deck features some wicked elements including a strangely positioned upwards helix out of the initial loop and a masterfully positioned (over water) upwards helix out of the snappy final corkscrew.
Onwards and upwards!

So, possible contenders for the 1993 top spot:
Sticking with B&M first, they were simultaneously expanding their portfolio of intense looping coasters with a more traditional ‘sit down’ model this year, beginning with a certain iconic coaster by the name of Kumba. I’m still yet to try the legend for myself and I’d guess that it probably has the best chance of any.
Top Gun fever hit the whole of the states as there was an also an Arrow Suspended by the same name that opened over at Kings Island. Again it ended up being renamed to Flight Deck, although these days it goes by just Bat. I still haven’t ridden enough of these (and the options are running dry) to really get a feel for what they can do, so they continue to intrigue me (and make these lists).
CCI were going bigger and more ambitious after their 1992 debut, I’ve had mixed results with the now devolved manufacturer so far, but Outlaw could yet surprise me.
Was this yet another good year for Arrow? Canyon Blaster looks like a blast if only for the unique indoor setting, Thunderation seems to be regarded as their Mine Train A-game and this ridiculous looking thing decided not to open for us back in 2018 because of a spot of rain… almost had it.
Another revenge quest for me would be getting Surf Coaster Leviathan which again, closed, rain, same trip. I do love a bit of Togo, a bit of Jet Coaster and bit of a unique location – maybe I’ll come back with an important update one day.

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50 years of coasters – 1992

1992 seems like a year of bad luck for the coaster industry. Aside from the fact that I came into the world, there’s a lot of famous/infamous names that are no longer operating and we’ll have a closer look at those once the list is out of the way. The majority of what remains today, or at least that which I have ridden so far, isn’t great to be honest. It gets good at the end, but there’s a lot of questionable picks up the top here and it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

The glamour beings with a Pinfari RC40 in Kettering. As far as I have seen the originators of the global Wacky Worm phenomenon never managed to surpass their original masterpiece in terms of an actual quality experience and something about this design seems to just meet the bare minimum requirements for a existing as an attraction. Uninspired drops and turns can fit the bill for anyone to say “I’ve ridden a reasonably substantial rollercoaster today”, but it really is moving for the sake of motion.

Drako is actually more substantial than I remember it being. I associate the ride with my earliest days of developing this unhealthy obsession, riding even the smallest least relevant attractions in a park for some sense of completion. For some reason this has shrunk it down to a Zierer Tivoli ‘Small’ in my mind, though it’s actually a ‘Medium’ – crossing points and everything! I’ve done far worse since.

If I ever need a reminder as to why I call it unhealthy, I can cast my mind back to Mirabilandia. What a day this was, sweating away in some very long queues for some very sub par rides in what became one of my least favourite parks of all time. The quality of my photo matches the quality of experience here, it’s a slightly decorated S.D.C. (not to be confused with Silver Dollar City, sadly) powered coaster of vague Italian origin and it makes the list by default only.

For reference, this is how you pull off a decent powered coaster experience. Gold Mine Train was made by the experts (Mack) and has a custom layout tailored nicely to the scenery, theming and some interaction with a log flume. Even the queue had a bit of substance to it, so it’s much more of a complete package.

Stepping up the powered coaster game once more this year was Alton Towers with their highly interactive Runaway Mine Train. It has perhaps the greatest height differential of any traditional coaster of this type (that I can think of at least), which is covered by a single thrilling drop down into a tunnel shared with the neighbouring rapids ride – a real standout moment.

Vortex was B&M’s 3rd stand up coaster and is the oldest one still operating under it’s original configuration, i.e. riders still stand up on it. It’s far from an enjoyable experience, they were already doing far greater things elsewhere this year with the debut of their inverted coaster, but although I’ve now ridden umpteen different versions of that creation I’m yet to nab the original and we’re stuck with stuff like this for a while longer.

We’re over halfway through the list and it hasn’t got better than a Boomerang so it turns out I wasn’t joking earlier, unfortunately. One of the most consistently sold models in the industry had been kicking around for a few years already by now, but what made this one special to me was the more recently retrofitted lap bar trains. They’re a bit of an acquired taste, the bar itself is bare, unforgiving metal that can do some damage if you don’t sit right, but the lack of being boxed in amongst cramped, oversized and unnecessary shoulder restraints just elevates the whole hardware just as much as it would with anything else. There are lessons to be learnt here, somewhere.

Vekoma kicked off yet another industry trend this year with a stock model mine train at Walibi Belgium, the two parallel lift hill design that can allow for yet another fun, family experience with plenty of rider interaction. As well as being the original, this was the also the first version I rode and I rather enjoyed it for what it was.
It took a while for the model to shift much and a decade later the Happy Valley chain over in China decided to pick up a few for themselves. In the same year as their final purchase of one of these, Chinese manufacturer Golden Horse had opened their first version of the exact same layout and have proceeded to sell at least twice as many to the local market. I can barely go anywhere in China without seeing one now.

Finally at number 2 we reach a ride I can legitimately get excited about. This was the year that legendary travelling coaster Höllenblitz was first constructed. The attraction has had a long and successful career as an established staple of Oktoberfest funfairs and is one of the greatest examples of how much inventiveness, charisma and technical genius the Germans put into their travelling rides.
Höllenblitz had been on my to-do list for a long time. Rumours that it would come to the UK for Hyde Park’s Winter Wonderland began to circle for several years after fellow touring legend Olympia Looping finally hit our shores, but these were just pipe dreams. Despite all the other issues of 2020, fortune favoured us on this particular front as the ride was doing a stint at German safari Serengeti Park. It was due to leave at the end of summer for an Oktoberfest that never happened, so it stayed put until the end of the season and, as we were taking our road trip through Europe at that time, we finally managed to catch up with it. It didn’t disappoint.

1992 was a notable year for theme parks in Europe, with the opening of Disneyland Paris. The only coaster to open with the park was Big Thunder Mountain, yet another variation on the attraction found at all the other Disney resorts around the world at the time. European manufacturer Vekoma were hired to supply the hardware and the layout ended up being the most ambitious BTM to date, utilising a dedicated island for the majority of the ride duration, with a substantial tunnel to take the train to and from the station on the mainland.
This remains the best version of Big Thunder Mountain for me, along with the usual sense of overwhelming fun and adventure the theming usually brings to the table, the end sequence into this tunnel has an exhilarating build of pace that gets particularly intense for a family ride.

I’ll never truly know what the real highlight of 1992 was with so many contenders already out of action. It pains me to think that I won’t be able to add any of these to the list one day.
The Arrow looping coaster Drachen Fire had a famously short run of just 6 years at Busch Gardens Williamsburg.
The insane looking suspended coaster Eagle Fortress also from Arrow, went before it’s time, with just a single golden year operating alongside the Korean park’s current star attraction.
Yet another significant Arrow suspended by the name of Hayabusa opened over in Japan, but lasted even less time.
Japan also received Fujin Raijin II, a hefty Togo stand-up and successor to last year’s winner of these lists, which met an unfortunate end in 2007 with an accident that took a serious toll on the entire national theme park industry.
Disasters all round then. Or perhaps not quite.
The original Rattler at Six Flags Fiesta Texas opened this year, a wooden coaster that has at least been able to continue it’s legacy in some form as a converted RMC hybrid Iron Rattler.

But are there any potential candidates still operating?
I really want to try Jupiter at Kijima Kogen, though I have my doubts about whether it’s any good. The traditional Intamin wooden coasters are dying out, as are parks of this nature in Japan so it would be a shame to miss any more attractions from this era.
The final BHS/Schwarzkopf/Zierer breed of sit down coasters that I still need, originally from Japan, is currently residing in Russia and it’s another one with intrigue points for me, although the restraints look unfortunate.
Desert Storm at Castles n’ Coasters also interests me, mainly for the fact that I have no experience with the manufacturer.

The answer looks to be no, though I’ll do my best to find out with what I can. I could really do with a time machine for this one.

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50 years of coasters – 1991

As we hit 1991, the amount of rides that I’ve ridden from each year seems to shoot up by a fair amount. It’s not like there were a lot more installed this year than in any of the previous few, but I guess 30 years is a reasonable life span for your average coaster these days and there’s simply more of them still alive and kicking, in one form or other. I have actually been spited by a few from the ’91 line as well – Hersheypark’s Boomerang and Southport’s Pinfari were no big loss but one of a very important collection for me, the Ultra Twister (Heartline Coaster) at Brazilian Park Washuzan Highland, was quite a blow.
Luckily I still managed to scrape a top ten together from that which I’ve already experienced. We’ll also take a look at any future contenders at the end of the list.

We start proceedings pretty low on the scale however. These Zamperla ‘twin helix’ powered coasters are common as muck in the world of coaster counting, although this one is one of the earliest installations. Korea seemed to have a bit of a thing for these in the late ’80s and early ’90s, with 3 of their largest parks snapping the model up. I almost had the national set.

The small collection of amusements found next to a McDonalds in Skegness contains a number of children’s coasters, the most famous of which would be the inverted wacky worm. Runaway Train is a small, spiral shaped affair with a tin roof and a bit of a mountainous centrepiece, but perhaps most intriguing of all it appears to be the only ride on the entire database to be manufactured by Meridian Ltd.
I do like obscurity in the collection.

Apologies for the lack of pictures here, I always seem to be in a hurry in Belgium and didn’t even take the time to snap a photo of the amusing looking washing machine featured in the theming for this humble Vekoma Junior coaster. Update: a certain Ride to Happiness provided a perfect excuse to go back and get some more photos, the washing machine is now a karaoke speaker. Once again this model has become rather prolific over the years but this example was one of the, if not the, very first of its kind. So that’s nice.

Anaconda amused me. It’s not Arrow at their finest, especially given what they put out the year before, but at least it didn’t cause any specific harm with its janky transitions and interesting tracking. The ride was barely making it around the circuit, which resulted in a particularly standout sensation of falling into the restraint while suspended upside down in the two corkscrews towards the end of the layout.

Back on the theme of Vekoma ‘rollerskaters’, here’s another one from their inaugural year that also happens to be an entirely custom layout. It began life in Finland, within an indoor family entertainment centre, but after a few short years found it’s way to this remote German park, who managed to integrate the design into their impressive hilly landscape rather well. In addition to the compulsory extra lap, this attraction also contains a little dark ride scene before the lift hill to help it stand out from the crowd even more.

Back in its day, this was a B&M stand-up coaster (originally called Vortex) and is amongst the manufacturer’s very earliest creations. In 2017 it underwent a transformation that included changing the trains to the more popular floorless sit-down model. It’s an interesting move that has taken place a handful of times now across the States, though not a particularly exciting one. Obviously when designing a stand-up coaster there are more limitations in what one can do with the layout and this was particularly highlighted to me whilst existing in the now much more comfortable riding position – it doesn’t actually do a whole lot. Very generic for a looping coaster.

Featured recently in my ranking of Greenland‘s coasters, the pink sit-down half of this racing coaster is decent fun, enhanced by some rider interaction and the on-board music. At the time of opening this one was also a stand-up, though it made more sense to convert the trains in this case and present guests with the choice between two entirely separate experiences side by side.

Elsewhere in Japan, this lovely little park opened their gates for the very first time in 1991 (without the ‘new’ in their name) and with it this indoor coaster from Sansei Yusoki. The attraction may well have been entirely different at the time, but the current setup involves some space themed pre-show antics before guests board the train in a station at the highest point of the layout. After an exciting experience in total darkness, riders then depart in a separate offload station, leaving the train to complete the lift hill portion of the circuit entirely empty.

At home in the UK, something very strange was happening. Engineers from British Rail, a railway company, were overseeing the construction of what was to be, at the time, the world’s longest rollercoaster. It has the most bizarre and unique layout containing two lift hills amongst two very disproportionately sized, and paced, sections of track. The ambition was insane though and the result is both brilliant and brutal, to a seasoned enthusiast at least. I first tried this one out very early on in my coaster career and came away with a very low opinion, not able to see past the bruises. Having returned in more recent years I have a great deal more respect for the attraction.
Sadly the park aren’t in very good shape right now and we could well lose this unique piece of rollercoaster history in the very near future – make sure to catch it if you still can.

My favourite of all the coasters I’ve ridden from 1991 is the stand-up side of this Togo classic, which provided brand new sensations to me in the form of standing airtime. It’s a rather ridiculous concept to be thrust into the air, against the will of gravity, when all you’re doing is surfing a metal plate, but it works oh so well in this case. I’m always hoping to be surprised by rides these days and it certainly ticked the box on that front.

Could anything beat it though? Potentially. The big name coaster that jumps out at me most from this year is Phantom’s Revenge at Kennywood, although it’s presence in this list would be interesting to say the least. What is now a highly popular Arrow hyper coaster was originally another of their looping coaster designs – a particularly large and ambitious one by the name of Steel Phantom and therefore an entirely different experience. At the turn of the millennium it was massively overhauled and became what it is today. It seems to have been a resounding success and as a particular fan of terrain coasters I can’t wait to experience the madness for myself.

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50 years of coasters – 1981 to 1990

I think from looking at the ’80s the growth in coaster design was more gradual than I expected. Ideas were being refined and developed, but there’s Knott an obvious moment of xceleration when it suddenly ‘got good’, just yet. When comparing standouts to that of the previous decade, there’s still nothing exceptional that I would say holds up to the experience of what we get these days, or even a certain coaster from the 1910s, just some solid efforts and well thought out concepts that build on the recent past.
There was a changing of the guard in manufacturing. Many of the biggest names still present today started kicking around – Vekoma and Intamin were just out of the gate and we have B&M ready and fired up right by the end of the list while we simultaneously saw the loss of Schwarzkopf industries and the beginning of the end for Arrow.
Here’s another set of year by year highlights based on what I’ve actually ridden, along with a few speculations of what else would have contested for an annual coaster award, if there was such a thing back then.

On paper, nothing special these days. This style of loop and corkscrew layout now exists amongst the most common inverting coasters in the world thanks to other manufacturers (particularly in China) latching on to the simplicity of the design. Python has heritage though, as an original, and the park themselves have recently acknowledged this by providing some TLC of the highest order – most of the track was outright replaced for the 2018 season in order to keep it alive for a good while longer.
Looks like I haven’t got a great personal selection here, in terms of other happenings this year across the pond, I think Intamin kicking off their wooden coaster career at Six Flags Great America and the debut of Arrow’s suspended coaster look to have been the most intriguing developments.

And again, I’m just rattling around more Schwarzkopf looping models, this time the most common variant of compact, often travelling design. Like a few winners that came before it, the lap bar really sets this apart in the era and taught us all that you just dont need an overbearing parent of a restraint clamping down on your shoulders to keep you in your seat for a high thrill ride and it’s a pity that lesson still hasn’t been fully taken on board to this day.
Dare I say this was a slow year? The only examples I can see could have come straight out of any of the past 5 years. The odd Arrow, Corkscrew, even the fantastic Fantastic Coaster Rowdy is looking strong in ’82.

This was the year that the world renowned Tokyo Disneyland opened and with it came another Space Mountain. They’re just really cool rides and I’m a sucker for good music, theming and a general ambience that should always comes with indoor coasters – it disguises and elevates what is often some pretty bog standard hardware underneath. But the layout here is surprisingly good, building a sense of speed continuously throughout and constantly leaving you guessing which way the next hairpin turn is going to throw you. These were also very technlogically advanced behind the scenes and often a bit cranky – even in recent times our train ended up taking us to the maintenance shed instead of the lift hill!
The obvious name to me for 1983 is Moonsault Scramble. One of those ridiculous builds that you can barely believe existed at all. It broke ridiculous records in height, (probably) broke people with unprecedented G-forces and it laughs in the face of the future. I don’t understand how it happened, but I sorely wish that I could have tried it. Meisho you madmen, come back to us.

Sticking in Japan for yet another year my personal pick is a quaint little jet coaster from Senyo Kogyo. It wouldnt be my first choice to represent the type as it’s far from the most impressive around, but I’ll take this style of ride over what has now become generic looping sit down coaster by this stage any day.
Ah yes, this year was the debut of the dreaded Boomerang of which there are now over 50 worldwide. The compact shuttle coaster, with 3 physical inversions that become an boastful (for the time) 6 with both forwards and backwards direction of travel through the layout, became a huge success. In terms of rides that would actually have been good though, Big Bad Wolf was a likely candidate as a build on the Arrow suspended concept – like many of the type it eluded me and is sadly no longer with us, though its legacy lives on through Verbolten today. King Cobra at King’s Island was the original version of my all-time favourite stand-up coaster, though I may be in the minority in loving that one.

Intamin had been knocking out several bobsled coasters in the previous year, but I’ve ridden one of those and wasn’t particularly impressed with the execution. Along came Mack the following season with their own version of the design that uses a full length train and it gives a much more cohesive and well paced ride experience. The attraction went straight to their own personal showcase more commonly known as Europa Park, though we only ever got 5 more examples out of it, with the most recent in 2001.
The now unfortunately infamous Mindbender in a mall in Canada could well have put Schwarzkopf at the top for yet another entry (and with the same name no less) and the aforementioned actual installation of the Togo stand-up also opened in Canada this year, eventually moving to Italy where I caught up with it. I’m now torn on how I should count relocations because in the opposite vein there’s the hugely popular Phoenix at Knoebels which was relocated in 1985 and still reportedly performs amongst the best of the best today. I guess we’ll try and keep it simple for now.

He says, immediately breaking his own rule. I’ve got very little to offer from this year other than several Zierer Tivoli family coasters so I feel to keep this interesting we’ll have to go for Wild One which actually dates back to 1917. The ride was rebuilt at Six Flags America in ’86 and was by far my favourite coaster in the park. It does all the things a classic woodie should do just right.
Was this another genuinely run of the mill year? The list got significantly shorter again and I can’t find anything that would have helped me much here, particularly nothing the likes of which we haven’t already seen or talked about before in this series.

I adore this ride, it plays a major role in establishing my favourite area of a park on earth – the Helix hillside. It’s hard for me to imagine one without the other, but for a whole 27 years this wonderful terrain layout stood alone, is still a fantastic experience by its own merit and easily amongst the strongest we’ve seen so far.
Elsewhere in 1987, Tokyo Disneyland got their Big Thunder Mountain, which happens to be a little tamer than I would have liked and the amazingly atmospheric Raptor Attack (or Rat Ride as it was then), which was sadly confirmed to be closed forever just recently, proved again that stock models can be something truly special if you pay particular attention to the presentation.
I think this was a pretty big year, a bit of a turning point, there’s some actual competition amongst attractions I’ve ridden and serious contemplation going on now.

Togo responded to this terrain coaster concept in extraordinary fashion with this monster that reportedly covers over 250ft in overall elevation from top to bottom. It only begins with the weakest of drops, in true Japanese jet coaster style, but the resulting ride is spectacular and far more intense than anything of this nature seen before.
The new Zierer-Schwarzkopf team followed up with Jetline this year – a solid ride that unfortunately couldn’t play to the same strengths as its predecessor. Aside from that, location seems to be a bit of a running theme, with the unusual layout of Ninja off the side of the Magic Mountain, the notorious Orphan Rocker barely existing and this fascinating looking Hopkins looper up in the sky. Boundaries were clearly being pushed in 1988, and with varying success.

We’re back indoors with what on the surface appears to be a standard family sit down but ended up being a ridiculously wild ride and another personal favourite of mine. I think from what we’ve seen so far, outside of Disney at least, the use of media and music wasn’t prevalent enough in olden times and Eurosat made particular good use of it with a track that still holds fond memories for me today, even if the fundamentals of the attraction have since changed.
Vekoma made some big waves this year with Goudurix taking the world record for number of inversions and the ambitious French Revolution being squeezed into Lotte World’s wondrous indoor area ready for the park’s opening day. I think the obvious pick for most this year would be Magnum XL-200 at Cedar Point, the now legendary first of the Arrow hyper coasters, of any hyper coaster as they have become known in the traditional sense (Moonsault says hi again).
Yes, I have a thing for rollercoasters. No, I still haven’t been to the rollercoaster capital of the world.

Arrow managed to match that number of inversions the very next year, though perhaps not quite so elegantly as far as presentation is concerned. It is a marginally better ride though that contains a superior drop, is intense for the right reasons this time and has an overall nicer pace.
It generally appears to be a bit of a down year over the previous, for my tastes, a calm before the storm as it were. Woodies were having a bit of a revival thanks to the Dinn Corporation, Reverchon made their coaster debut with a custom layout way before their deep dive into spinning fairground attractions and, as importantly, the very first B&M came into being, with a stand-up no less, widely regarded as their worst type of ride. Don’t worry, they’ll find their dangling feet soon enough and from here on out I’ll actually have ten separate entries to talk about in each and every year.

That’s right, there’s another 30 list topics still to come. Isn’t that exciting.

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