As of tracking down some fresh creations in 2020, it turns out that I have now ridden at least one coaster that was opened in each year from the last 50 years. 1970 still eludes me and most likely will forever now, as it seems there are no rides from that particular year currently operating in their original locations. Even if we start considering relocations, there is only one surviving Schwarzkopf Wildcat, that started out at Cedar Point that year and has since moved around a lot, currently residing in Maryland. It’s not high on the agenda.
Obviously the quantities are a lot lower for the further we go back in history, as only the lucky few rollercoasters get well looked after and manage to live to a ripe old age, so today I’ll be picking just one highlight installation from each of the first 10 years, ones that I’ve personally ridden at some point and as I continue the series and head towards modern times we can begin to look at each subsequent year in much more depth.
The ’70s appear to be a time when the modern industry was still being shaped and finding its feet. For at least the last decade, steel had been steadily taking over the world as the primary material of choice for coaster track and alongside the market being padded out with many common stock builds, the big names we still look back on with fondness now – Arrow, Schwarzkopf and Togo (sadly all no longer with us today) were innovating and paving the way to a brighter future for theme parks with their ever bigger and better custom designs.
1971 – Gold Rusher, Six Flags Magic Mountain (USA)
We begin with a mine train from Arrow Dynamics which happens to be my only coaster from this year. It opened with the park back on 29th May 1971 and it’s hard to believe that Magic Mountain, currently home to more rollercoasters than anywhere else on earth, had only two to begin with, the other being a second hand kiddie coaster from Bradley and Kaye, one that’s notoriously difficult to add to the count these days. Gold Rusher appears to be amongst the strongest builds to open this year anyway, with most of what was going on back then being multiple stock models of Zyklon Galaxis and yet more Schwarzkopf Wildcats. This was a fully custom layout integrated into the unique terrain of the park, with two chain lifts and some thrilling sections of track that wind their way up and down the hillside. Arrow mine trains are always solid family fun and this one was a fine addition to the collection.
1972 – Racing, Bakken (Denmark)
As the second and last of the default picks for the whole series, Racing is my only experience with a 1972 coaster and has unfortunately been retired as of the end of last season. This Zierer Flitzer became a fairly common sight across the world over a surprisingly long time frame mainly because they were fundamentally designed as travelling coasters and moved round different parks all the time or fairground circuits all the time. It’s a simple layout with single file seated cars that traverse banked drops and turns, spiralling their way through a compact plot of land and it was alright, nothing to write home about. Glancing through the 1972 list there are a few more coasters that interest me a lot more, ones that I will hopefully pick up in the near future: Fire in the Hole is a vintage dark ride coaster at Silver Dollar City from the same year and Kings Island also has 3 wooden coasters from ’72 – two racing Racers and family woodie Woodstock Express which from my previous experience at fellow Paramount/Cedar Fair park Kings Dominion should all be decent entertainment.
1973 – Carolina Gold Rusher, Carowinds (USA)
As we enter 1973 I finally have a choice in the matter, though admittedly not a good one just yet. It was between another Arrow mine train and a certain wooden coaster at Six Flags Over Georgia that tried to injure me. Just like the last mine train in the list, this one debuted with the opening of the park back on 31st March 1973 as Carowinds’ one and only rollercoaster. While this one doesn’t have much in the way of terrain to help it along there’s still two chain lifts and a tunnel to keep things playful! However I think the most enticing installation for me from this year looks to be this wild looking Japanese jet coaster that has since found a new home in Mexico and is definitely an attraction I want to pick up one day, sooner rather than later.
1974 – Woodstock Express, Kings Dominion (USA)
And here it is, the family woodie I alluded to just moments ago. Kings Dominion actually opened a year later than this ride in 1975 and acquired the already existing ‘Scooby Doo’ at that time. For the size, this ride is surprisingly thrilling and one of the main contributing factors to this is the lap bar restraints that only have one closed position – the smaller you are, the further you can fly out of the seat. The rest of 1974 looks all too familiar with mostly the same names we’ve already seen popping up yet again – Galaxis, Flitzers, Wildcats, when will it end? There were a further two Arrow mine trains at Hersheypark and Six Flags Great Adventure, both of which I have also ridden and neither of which happen to stand out as much as this little woodie. The only other notable installation back in Europe was the world’s first Zierer Tivoli at Tivoli Gardens, another ride type that went on to be an extremely prolific clone, particularly in my own personal catalogue.
1975 – Racer 75, Kings Dominion (USA)
We’re now staying at Kings Dominion for a second year running as, in continuing with their parellels with Kings Island, they opened this larger pair of racing wooden coasters. I do love a bit of racing and interaction on a coaster so this concept is perfect for me. The simple out and back layout is effective, consisting of just many hills and one big flat turnaround and the only downside for us, 44 years later, was that they chose not to run both tracks at the same time during our first visit. What else happened in 1975? The Arrow Dynamics Corkscrew coaster hit the scene, making its namesake corkscrew element the first example of a ‘modern inversion’ to be seen. The atttraction that jumps out to me more though is the legendary Space Mountain at Disney’s Magic Kingdom. Yes, I’m still basic and haven’t been to Florida yet, but don’t worry, it’s not the last time that name will appear in this series.
1976 – New Revolution, Six Flags Magic Mountain (USA)
Speaking of modern inversions, this iconic vertical loop was constructed back over at Magic Mountain in 1976. While obviously at the time it didn’t have an attractive looking B&M dominating the surround hillside with some extra interaction, this Schwarzkopf is a really good coaster experience, especially for the era, no doubt as butter smooth then as it is now and full of terrain based goodness. I liked it a lot. The world of coasters was definitely opening up in 1976, it’s the first year to have multiple page entries on RCDB so bear with me while I trawl through those… Arrow continued their campaign with several more Corkscrew installations but, more importantly, started building fully custom looping coasters too – this world record was only taken by a matter of weeks. Perhaps even more important than anything else this year was the debut of Valle degli Gnomi, the amazing, custom, terrain, dark ride sectioned inspiration to what is now the simple Wacky Worm, currently the most common coaster on the planet.
1977 – Sooperdooperlooper, Hersheypark (USA)
The Schwarzkopf streak continues over in the land of chocolate. Again at the time it wouldn’t have been dominated by a monster of a B&M, this was just another humble looping terrain coaster built onto the side of a slightly less impressive landscape. It may have even been better back then as the construction of Great Bear seemed to have opened up the land a bit more, making it rather bare and perhaps less quaint, though I do of course appreciate the interaction we got instead. It was also in 1977 that the manufacturer first unleashed their Shuttle Loop model, with the inspired ‘weight drop’ launch system. Arrow also released their own Launched Loop the same year, using a high up station and gravity to their advantage. North Korea acquired their first rollercoasters this year too, thanks to Japanese manufacturer Meisho – they’re somewhere on my to do list, because why not. And finally California got their own Space Mountain, a version which lasted for 26 years before the entire coaster was replaced and rebuilt into the modern equivalent I know today.
1978 – Mindbender, Six Flags Over Georgia (USA)
Hat trick! While I wasn’t perhaps as enthralled with this Schwarzkpof looper as some are, I can definitely appreciate that, at the time, these were likely the best rides out there – with the superior quality of finish that Arrow lacked a little on their equivalent custom looping coasters, as evidenced by Loch Ness Monster the same year. As much as I enjoyed that classic too, the charm predominantly came from how questionable the design process was. Mindbender uses the terrain rather nicely, also came with two vertical loops and almost feels too well refined in comparison. Elsewhere in the country, the monster racing woodies of Colossus were born back at Magic Mountain, a structure that was destined to become one of my all time favourite coasters at the hands of RMC some 40 years later. The other Schwarzkopf from the same year, Shockwave in Texas seems like a good rival to this one and I look forward to seeing which one comes out on top at some point.
1979 – Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Disneyland (USA)
I can now finally get a Disney coaster on here and show that sometimes the hardware of this era was secondary to the surrounding theming and overall experience. The Big Thunder Mountain rides are perfect testament to that, a joyous experience of thrill and adventure from start to finish. California was the first to get one this time and while it’s no longer the best of the bunch, it’s the clear standout for me in 1979. The notorious Beast opened at Kings Island in this year, remaining to this day the longest wooden coaster in existence – with the mixed reception it will be an interesting contender for me to say the least. Over in Japan, the world’s first Stand Up coaster was born and in Europe, Vekoma were breaking onto the scene with their Arrow inspired compact corkscrew coasters.
1980 – Nessie Superrollercoaster, Hansa Park (Germany)
And it’s back over to Europe that we now go in order to bring in the ’80s. Schwarzkopf are at it again with their consistently rewarding custom looping coasters and for me it was the fish mouth tunnel at the end of the ride (sadly now gone) and the interaction with the neighbouring Vekoma junior coaster (which wouldn’t have existed at the time) that made this one a standout in an already amazing park. This was another big year for the manufacturer with many more Shuttle Loops and Looping Stars being spread around along with stateside rival Scorpion which could well be a contender here. It also seems to have been a huge year for Meisho in Japan, theyre absolutely everywhere in the database for 1980, I’ve got just one of the jet coasters from the list but there’s another that has just caught my eye. Looks like I’ve found yet another way to do some obsessive trip planning.
Myth is a dome theatre based dark ride attraction found at several OCT properties within China, including their Visionland brand of parks. The ride is designed and built in house by the chain owners, under the name Shenzhen OCT Vision who also produce the films and media to accompany such attractions. A queueline decorated with ancient drawings leads to this instructional video and batching room, in which we can see the hardware is essentially a Flying Theatre on steroids. Riders are mounted perpedicular to a large platform which has the ability to rotate in all directions inside a more fully encompassing 360° giant screen.
This greatly enhanced my excitement as, while the regular theatres rely on compelling and attractive visuals (sometimes smells), the accompanying movements are a little sedate – if you pause to think for a moment about the ‘ride’ part of the experience there really isn’t much going on when there perhaps should be. In this instance, there are moments where you can be tilted right back into a face-up lying down position, perhaps even putting guests out of their comfort zone a little more and it just overall increases the dynamic of the whole package when you never quite know what your body is going to be subjected to next as the story unfolds.
The storyline focuses on Nuwa, a Goddess from Chinese mythology and obviously a popular one, as she now boasts a variety of different attractions that revolve around her character across the various theme park chains in China, from Fantawild to Wanda/Sunac. Nuwa is responsible for both creating humanity and mending the heavens when the sky fell apart, and where these tales are often portrayed as, or adapted into, a more action based sequence of scenes for other dark rides, Myth instead spends more time on the general wonder and spectacle of the events, with awe-inspiring results. The whole thing really is rather epic, as well as making a nice change from the usual fight scene frolicks – it’s rather hard to do it justice with just words, as with all dark rides it simply has to be experienced in person to be appreciated fully.
Overall this attraction is the highlight of Visionland Liuzhou for me (even with an empty Intamin Megalite to marathon just around the corner), it’s well worth the visit on its own, along with being, in my opinion, OCT’s finest in-house achievement to date. I’m really glad to see a bit of healthy competition brewing between the giants of the Chinese theme park industry and can’t wait to see where it leads. With the world becoming steadily more saturated (even I can’t keep up) with Soarin’ inspired rides that gently hover over either local or far flung tourist destinations, Myth ups the standards by which they should all be measured, and in more ways than one.
It’s coming up to 5 years since I last visited the most well attended theme park in Europe outside of Disneyland. 2016 was a time when Europa Park had more coasters than anywhere else on the continent, when Energylandia was just a small(er) handful of Vekomas, the ridiculousness of Wonderland Eurasia was still under construction (only to close almost immediately after opening) and the permanent funfair setup of Wiener Prater hadn’t quite reached the dizzying numbers we see today. Since that time Europa themselves have only added their smallest coaster to date, choosing to mainly focus on investments in other areas such as dark rides, hotels and a water park and it makes sense not to play the numbers game – they are by far the superior destination in terms of a complete theme park package.
This was also a time in which I had barely done any rollercoaster riding, relatively, something that’s quite hard for me to imagine now. The visit was part of what we consider our first true ‘theme park trip’ outside of the UK and there was much less experience to draw on when forming opinions about new rides, a process which became entirely unavoidable the more I came to learn what I liked and disliked the most. With all that time to dwell on this place over years, opinions have primarily come down to those standout memories and moments that have stuck in my mind. One thing I do remember is not really walking away with a definite favourite and I think I’m still going to struggle today to pick one.
We could call that a weakness of a park lineup, with no one standout attraction making you desperate to return for more (and though the opportunity has arisen, I haven’t yet done this), but in this series we see this as a strength, a sign of a great park. And it really is one of those, for many other reasons. We just don’t know how the list is going to turn out (I don’t, even now), there’s no obvious pick for the top spot and there’s definitely a large and well rounded set of high quality coasters in between, which is always an achievement in itself – keeping the roster both broad and equally enticing.
I’m sure I will visit again at some point, perhaps when they get round to their next big coaster or maybe even sooner just to pick up several new dark rides – another collection aspect of the hobby that is heading towards the forefront of my interests right now. In the meantime, let’s get on with this list as I see it today, excluding Baa-a-a-Express of course.
#12 Alpenexpress Enzian
We begin with the park’s powered coaster which, while not an objectively bad attraction by any means (I do have to point out that nothing in this list actually is, well done Europa) was severely hampered at the time of our visit by the recently popularised Virtual Reality trend in the industry. I don’t have any good pictures of the ride but it looks great from the outside and does pass through this heavily themed indoor section of the park that is a bit of a hidden gem in itself and I really don’t see why you’d want to strap a mobile phone to your face to watch a crude video that may or may not even work and subsequently miss out on all of this.
#11 Atlantica Supersplash
The predominant emotion throughout this ride was fear of getting my bag wet as it was perched precariously on top of the restraint as instructed by the ride hosts. Water coasters are fine and all that, they usually look rather nice and it’s a +1 to the count of course, but I just don’t think there’s much to be said about the actual coaster part, particularly on this type of installation. Unless it’s really hot and you want to get soaked, it’s an obvious one and done.
#10 Poseidon
So it’s a good thing the park has two of these then, isn’t it? We see a little here how Europa is also a showroom for Mack Rides, the owners of the establishment. Two different styles of their water coaster model are present in different areas of the park and while the other one shows off turntables and backwards drops, this one demonstrates smaller boats and a more significant coasting section with some twists and turns. It’s equally well themed, equally wet and almost as equally uneventful as an actual ride.
#9 Schweizer Bobbahn
I really admire how this one is squeezed in, around and on top of the Swiss land which it inhabits. The theme is perfect for the ride of course and it’s a good time to give a shoutout to how intensely efficient the operations are in this park. If you stand in this spot there will likely be something whizzing past you more than once a minute. As far as Mack Bobsleds go, having since ridden them all across the world, this original is just a bit smaller and weaker, never really getting the chance to get properly going and feel in any way out of control – paving the way for a better future.
#8 Matterhorn Blitz
A fairly standard Wilde Maus, of which Mack are one of several competing manufacturers. They churned out a bunch of the most commonly seen layout just before the turn of the millenium, but this home installation was the first to have a different layout and also came with the bonus feature of an elevator lift. Going up in the lift as it tilts unnervingly to one side and back again is the most fascinating part of the experience these days, with chains such as Legoland having since snapped up an extortionate number of the same model, sans lift. I wonder why it didn’t interest anyone.
#7 Arthur
I feel like I’m being a little generous in this placement but I’m going to give Arthur the benefit of the doubt for what it is, or at least tries to be. Truthfully I remember very little of the on-board experience and for some reason have no personal photos to jog any further memories. What I do know is that the whole attraction process rubbed us up the wrong way, from the awful locker process to the seemingly sporadic intent of the ride system. As an inverted powered coaster with train rows that independently swivel, the hardware is best suited to that of a dark ride experience, which the only other Mack built model to date proves to an extraordinary extent (let’s not talk about the Beijing Shibaolai shambles). Arthur half does this, half doesn’t, taking some time to meander around some outdoor portions of track that break the momentum somewhat. The storyline was completely lost on me along with all the actual theming and screen based activities and so the single standout moment was swooping down over the publicly acessible indoor section of the main area, full of the hustle and bustle of guest activity. A spectacle that should definitely become a signature of any future installations.
#6 Pegasus
The other of the two VR experiences we had in this park was found on Pegasus, the debut of Mack’s Youngstar model. Sadly this far superior piece of hardware hasn’t taken off on anywhere near the same level as certain designs above, likely with such stiff competition from the prolific Vekoma Junior. I really like the Youngstars for what they are – family coasters with a bit of fire in their hearts, a few more forces than your average attempt while being almost unnervingly smooth. The VR itself was actually better here too, though still not something I’d actively choose to have, it had an unusual and jarring moment that has always stuck with me – one of the pictured characters leaps up out of the seat next to you, mid-ride, and if your brain has come to subconsciously accept that the characters just are just regular guests by this point, it’s quite the shock to suddenly notice one of them is no longer restrained and is free to invite physical injury. It demonstrates the real power of VR psychology that I have not seen used effectively, in the slightest, on any theme park attraction since, making it a total waste.
#5 Euro Mir
I think we’ve now hit the heart and soul of this park. This big crazy spinning coaster loosely themed to Russian space travel has an incredibly long spiral lift system filled with the thunderous sounds of an entertaining techno tune. While inside you can look up (or down) and just see endless track and, more amusingly, several other trains making their way up to the top with you, not something you’d have on any conventional lift system for sure. It’s a great system for holding suspense and padding the runtime (and capacity) significantly. The outdoor portion begins with many high up turns in and out of the striking structures, similar to that of a wild mouse, but the second half is where things really pick up, with several fast and tight corners over some nice landscaping of rocks and water. It can be a little violent at times, but I respect that.
#4 Eurosat
Except Euro Mir wasn’t even the first to do the whole spiral lift hill in darkness, music blaring bit. Eurosat does it even better, with a gorgeous soundtrack that still reaches me on a deeper emotional level even today. There was so much quirk about this ride that I simply adored, most significantly the astronaut whose projection mapped face was stuck through a wall, talking inaudibly to the train that had just departed the station. The coaster section was wild, vicious and out of control, taking place entirely indoors and hurtling down through some retro planetary theming and I loved the layout as much as the rest of the attraction. Narratively it didn’t fit into the France area of the park at all, but that made it all the more endearing to me. This fact has since been rectified (broken) by a retheme of the ride to Moulin Rouge and may well be an active factor in why I have been cautious of a return visit. I don’t want my memories of Eurosat to be potentially ruined without a very good reason.
#3 blue fire Megacoaster
At the time of the visit, Blue Fire was definitely a strong contender for my park favourite. As perhaps the most successful of all their prototypes to be showcased here, we’re now approaching double figures for the number of installations of this exact layout to crop up around the world. And I’ve ridden my fair share of them since then too. So while I still really enjoy the ride, it now loses out to the leaders here on pure lack of uniqueness. This still remains the greatest example of the layout as far as I can tell. The landscaping and aesthetic is particularly gorgeous and the fact that it has a soundtrack specifically tailored to, and synced with, the onboard experience is one of my absolute favourite things about this park. The coaster itself is well rounded with a launch, inversions that are either graceful or intense and a smattering of airtime for good luck. Can’t really go wrong with this one.
#2 Wodan
The other coaster in the Iceland area further enhances the vibe of what is generally considered the best area in the park. The way the rides loosely intertwine with each other, while still having a separate and impressive entrance area and set of theming makes it feel all the more magical as you enter into the realm of Wodan. The queue goes on for an age through dense rocky caves before emerging up the stairs into the station where you’re treated to both the signature GCI flythrough and some creepy statues that turn their heads to both greet the train on arrival and see it out on departure. I massively enjoyed this woodie on the whole, it was a significant step up from almost any other I’d experienced before though it would be a lie to say I was as completely enthralled by it as I would liked to have been, knowing now what the manufacturer can really do if they put their mind to it – they could have made it a clear winner here. It starts off relentless and had me quietly chuckling with joy by the end of it, with some less eventful bits in the middle. Can’t really go wrong with this one.
#1 Silver Star
I think I’ve just about settled, in this very moment, for the B&M hyper to come out on top. And that’s not very indicative of my tastes these days, as I tend to like these rides less than most it seems. However, Silver Star still remains one of the strongest examples of the type for me and I’m reasonably confident that that’s not just down to lack of experience at the time. It behaved differently, with more moments of pure ejector and less of the faffy floater than I’ve come to expect. The main caveat is that this only worked in the back row. If we move to the front of the train it’s business as usual, a bit more sluggish and less exhilarating and that would be enough drop it at least a couple of spots in this list – it’s that close up here at the top. Can’t really go wrong with this park.
It feels like I haven’t raved about Gravity Group woodies for at least a week now so let’s take a look at one of their miniature European offerings. Wood Express opened at Parc Saint Paul in France on the 1st July 2018 and in my eagerness to experience even more of the manufacturer’s goodness we managed to hop across the channel and try it out just a couple of weeks into operation.
Outside of the absolute monsters they also happen to construct, the company have developed a bit of a reputation for creating some of the world’s best ‘family’ woodies, smaller wooden coasters with lower height restrictions aimed at younger guests, but due to the effectiveness of their layouts these are good fun for just about anyone. Standing at a mere 50ft tall, Wood Express is a perfect testament as to why this concept works so well (and would do so for just about any amusement establishment in the world).
The short 6 car Timberliner train with its as-standard cushy seats and comfy lap bars carries a remarkable amount of momentum out of this first drop, which is best experienced in the back row for that initial short burst of signature airtime. In following a reasonably classic out and back style, the first outbound leg of the journey consists of a (relatively) large airtime hill and a quick slight right turn under some structure into a faster shallow hill before banking hard and coming back on itself.
The exit of this turn contains a sharp hop of a transition while levelling out and then surges up into the next largest hill in a ‘double-up’ type affair. A further two airtime moments are squeezed into this straight section with both a leap over the first stretch of track and a reverse equivalent of the transition into the next floor hugging hairpin, back at the station end of the layout.
To compliment the earlier little ‘double-up’ we now get a mini ‘double-down’ in the same manner upon leaving the second turnaround. It’s an unusual sequence that’s hard to see coming and even harder to predict when the expected time spent out of your seat is rudely interrupted for the briefest of moments before resuming normal service.
While still carrying an astonishing amount of drive there’s yet another hill of almost the same height as the previous largest which somehow manages to not skimp on any of the force. This leads to the final, sharpest corner which performs a reverse of the first speed hill under the structure and a quick slight left into the tiny home stretch, consisting of a quick transitional pop and an enthusiastic little burst into the brake run.
Wood Express always left me wanting more, though in no way did I ever feel short changed by the amount of quality ride time it packs into just 1,500ft of track. It’s ridiculous fun for what it is and the perfect excuse to keep lapping again and again. There’s a satisfying bit of symmetry or even Feng shui going on in the layout, making use of what little there really is to play with in terms of height, speed and what anyone could realistically do with the footprint, but yet the experience still manages to feel significantly wild, unpredictable and out of control, sticking to the roots of what makes me prefer this style of coaster to other more simplistic ‘airtime machines.’
With that in mind, though I’m not usually one to count moments in the interests of maintaining that lack of anticipation in any given instance, I did find myself instinctively adding them up in my head on this ride over the course of a few rounds. The result is a mind-boggling 12 (13 in the back) and while none of them are obviously spectacular in their own right, I find the best part about the whole experience is how consistent in delivery and force these moments are from start to finish. There’s no real sense of slowing down, weakening or pausing for thought and it just seems to defy the inherent physics of a rollercoaster, which is nothing short of top notch design in my eyes.
As we enter the top half things get a lot more interesting, for me at least. It’s out with the world records and in with the exciting bits in between. I’m a firm believer that by no means does a launch coaster have to be all about the launch – where in the earlier days it may have been the main selling point, draw or appeal on an attraction, with the sheer volume of these installations that now exist it has since become just another means of dynamic propulsion to add a degree of excitement to the core of what actually makes a rollercoaster fun for me: the layout.
#16 Incredicoaster – Disney California Adventure Park (USA)
I’m rather conflicted on this one. The ride suits and visually compliments the whole vibe of the Pixar Pier (formerly Paradise Pier) area it encompasses and it’s a great spectator attraction. I wasn’t impressed, for Disney, at the retheme of the ride itself and the onboard experience is also rather mixed. The unusual layout, pacing and flow is all in good fun, with the launched first half and lift hill/drop combo in the second half, I do like a bit of variety to keep me guessing. It’s also really long ride time, but that’s not to say it’s particularly well used.
#15 Formula Rossa – Ferrari World (UAE)
I had a change of heart and bumped this one just over the halfway point because it’s more fundamentally interesting than anything in the previous list. I thoroughly enjoyed my very first lap in the front of this ridiculous machine (goggles and all). The unmatched speed is physically exhausting, totally admirable and there’s even decent airtime to be found on all the parts of the layout that aren’t just ‘bigger Rita.’ Watching the water cooling system kick into action on the brake run was a highly satisfying moment in my own world of enthusiasm. You could go as far as to say I loved Formula Rossa, for a couple of hours… I then ruined the ride for myself with a subsequent lap in the back where I discovered a jarringly violent, headache inducing vibration throughout the fast bits – namely all of it. Though I declared that physical discomfort was behind us in the last post, it reared its ugly head for 50% of my time spent on the world’s fastest rollercoaster and therefore I just can’t say that it deserves any better than this position without a return visit to try and skew that percentage in its favour. As a wise ride host on Dæmonen once said to me – ‘front row 4 life.’
#14 Furius Baco – PortAventura Park (Spain)
As Intamin’s only fully winged coaster to date, it’s fair to say there have been some issues with this one. It’s often regarded as rough and unpleasant due to the stresses involved on the outside seats that really shake and bounce up and down as the train traverses the short but effective layout – a physical issue that has carried over to many of the B&M successors of the ride type, only with far less extreme speed involved. Personally I found this sensation (in what should be the worst seat) unintentionally hilarious and right on the edge of tolerable. After an amusing onboard preshow (the whole ride looks gorgeous by the way), the hydraulic launch catapults riders over an airtime hill to land with a real crunch before absolutely tearing around the rest of the track which, other than the wonderfully executed inversion, feels like exactly what it needed to do.
#13 Red Force – Ferrari Land (Spain)
I remember following the announcements of Ferrari Land and being highly skeptical about the whole thing. Already being unenthralled by this over-simplified style of Intamin coaster and firmly believing that no longer using the hydraulic launch to execute it would further sap it of any real impact, expectations were set very low. While the sheer ugliness and corporate unpleasantness delivered exactly as promised, the ride itself was a decent surprise, with a great lurch of shock factor in the initial LSM acceleration and far superior lap bar restraints to finally provide a sense of openness and spectacle on board a ride of such massive scale. Even the weird lumpy brake run at the end managed to be a success.
#12 Superman Escape – Warner Bros. Movie World (Australia)
More points for the dark ride section than the layout itself for me here. The attraction begins with a long indoor section of kicker wheels transporting the train around various themed set pieces to provide a bit of context as to why Superman himself is glued to the back of the train. An amusing launch sequence follows and the catch car hurls riders out into the blinding sunlight over this airtime filled top hat. The restraints do hamper this effect somewhat and the remainder of the track is nothing we haven’t seen before – yet another Rita variant, but each of the twisty hills are at least hit with a greater momentum.
#11 iSpeed – Mirabilandia (Italy)
There’s been a lot of praise around this attraction over the years and at a glance it seemed to me to finally be an upgrade over the earlier concepts of top hat + more like we’ve already seen with Xcelerator. Whilst I do appreciate what it was going for, the execution fell rather short for me, with the trains still being detrimental to the experience there just wasn’t enough else to make it stand out from the pack. Riding iSpeed 10 years after opening just made it seem like the glory days were far behind it, sadly.
#10 Jet Rescue– Sea World (Australia)
With a long string of extreme thrill coasters preceding us it feels a little unusual to suddenly start talking about family rides again, but I honestly think a lot of what we’ve seen so far has been a bit too focused on the inital launch over the whole package, which you may well have noticed by now just isn’t my cup of tea. Jet Rescue feels like the perfect blend of thrilling and fun, with the main focus being on tight, forceful and twisty turns around a nicely landscaped area. The design never even leaves the ground by more than a few feet, there are no hills to speak of but, perhaps most importantly of all, it contains a second, rolling tyre launch – the first we’ve seen in the topic so far. While standing launches rarely get me going any more, I find the sensation of an extra burst of acceleration part way through an attraction you’re already enjoying to be infinitely more appetising.
#9 Yukon Quad – Parc Le Pal (France)
The bigger brother of the above model does try for some hills, maybe even some airtime, though there’s little of it to write home about. Aside from that the longer ride time is more satisfying, more forceful in certain places and the second tyre launch is surprisingly vigorous, always catching me off guard, particularly in the back as it whips you into the subsequent corner.
#8 Juvelen – Djurs Sommerland (Denmark)
Although exactly the same ride, the original version of the previous entry is more highly themed, including a superior preshow before the launch track and much better detailed landscaping around the bulk of the layout that leads to some great near miss moments in such satisfyingly open seated trains. This ride made me fall for the type and it hasn’t let me down since.
#7 Speed Monster – Tusenfryd (Norway)
It seems like it took me forever to fully appreciate an Intamin hydraulic launch coaster as a complete package and Speed Monster was the first one to pull it off. Aside from the gorgeous location and landscape that it lives in, I finally felt that the sequence of elements that follow the launch were specifically designed to overpower the speed and acceleration itself (contrary to the name). I just love the flow from that incredible norwegian loop into the rest of the layout – it was born on this ride (hence the name) and is one of my favourite inversions around. Every moment is potent and full of purpose and I highly suspect that Helix drew some significant inspiration from this relatively nearby neighbour, for which I will be eternally grateful.
#6 Storm Runner – Hersheypark (USA)
With my faith in the type finally restored, the very next example I rode took it one step further. Storm Runner shocked me with how much intensity and variety of force it packed into the layout. The lopsided top hat into the first inversion took the air from my lungs, the flying snake dive remains one of a kind and the final uphill slither is brutally well delivered – the whole experience from start to finish is just such a refreshingly satisfied approach to what was seeming like such a tired old one trick pony concept and it really stands out for me.
#5 Atlantis Adventure – Lotte World (South Korea)
A legend in the industry for having such an unusual quirk – the unique selling point for the Aquatrax is the availability of ‘interactive water features’ which, in the case of the only example to exist in the world, means a few jets of spray aimed towards the rails of the track in certain places. I’ve been twice and never experienced this in person so what are we actually left with? The short 8 person cars share the same seating as the earlier family coasters with a simple lap bar in a quadbike style position and this massively amplifies the impact of the punchy and dynamic layout, which begins with a powerful LSM launch into a violent twisted indoor top hat. Due to the special location and styling in play there are some glaring pacing issues throughout the rest of the experience, including the return of the strange mid course lift hill, but I simply adore this totally unorthodox approach to making conventional water coasters seem even more blundering and boring than they already are.
#4 Duelling Dragons (Green) – Guangzhou Sunac Land (China)
Let’s not spend too long talking about the operational issues that still haunt me to this day and the fact that I only got to experience one half of this otherwise mind-blowing spectacle of an attraction. It took nearly 20 years for Intamin to have another attempt at a full scale inverted coaster with any layout to speak of and the main advantage of the long wait is that this one uses their now much coveted lap bar restraint. With this comes an awesome sense of freedom and terror never before felt on this style of coaster – from the unnerving airtime in the reverse spike of the triple launch to the glorious suspense in the huge loop. It lacks the grace, flow and forcefulness from the best of current invert kings B&M, but I’d love to see more of this style and believe they could easily take that crown with another design.
#3 Soaring with Dragon – Hefei Wanda Theme Park (China)
The first of the huge Intamin triple launch pseudo shuttle coasters made a real impact on the scene with its striking appearance of massive elements, insane theming statue and gorgeous trains. I really admired the overbearing presence of this ride over its surroundings, with the roaring sound of the LSM launches audibly intimidating would be riders throughout the closing stages of the queueline. Each onboard moment that Soaring with Dragon delivers is excellent and it’s just a shame there are so few of them. My only real criticism is that it always left me wanting more.
#2 Taron – Phantasialand (Germany)
And what better attraction to give you more than the legendary multi launch with its endless entanglement of twisted track. Taron kickstarted the golden age of coasters we’re seeing at the climax of this list and never has the sensation I described earlier of being relentlessly wrenched into a second half of a ride you’re already loving, with even more speed than before, been more satisfying than in the depths of Klugheim.
#1 Taiga – Linnanmäki (Finland)
But while some believe the creature above to still be the pinnacle of this Intamin design, for me the smug bird has swooped in and destroyed all notions of that idea. Though Taiga doesn’t deliver the glorious second launch with as much impact, it does absolutely everything else far better than anything in these lists and we’ve come full circle on the notion that it simply isn’t the sensation of acceleration that make these rides special for me – it’s what you do with it afterwards. With countless standout moments in this layout, some way beyond what we’ve seen from the manufacturer before, this coaster is the one and only from Intamin that makes me even consider that they could ever best the best of the Mack launch coasters with a future design of this ride type. I can’t wait for the day that happens.
Whilst they currently manufacturer almost any theme park hardware you can think of, Intamin have become particularly renowned for their record breaking and often world beating launch coasters. They began using LSM technology back in 1997 in order to immediately smash both the height and speed world records for a rollercoaster with back to back installations of the Reverse Freefall model on either side of the planet.
By 1998, they had switched over to the subtly different LIM system for their suspended coaster range, creating both a one of a kind ride in Volcano, The Blast Coaster (R.I.P.) – an early pioneer of the full circuit multi-launch concept, along with their relatively popular compact shuttle rides known as Impulse coasters.
In 2002, an alternative engineering solution for train propulsion was developed for Knott’s Berry Farm, giving birth to their range of Hydraulic launch coasters which, throughout the same decade ended up repeatedly pushing the boundaries yet again. This type of launch enabled Intamin to continually surpass their own record for tallest coaster, holding it ever since they first took the title, and culminated in 2010 with what remains to this day as the all time fastest out in the UAE.
As technologies have grown and changed, the Hydraulic launch appears to have been phased out again in favour of the more energy efficient LSM technique. 2007 saw the start of this uprising with the ride type now commonly labelled by enthusiasts as the Blitz coaster. As the race for raw statistics began to tail off, the drive for more fundamentally well rounded experiences took over and this revised launch model became the foundation of their now highly regarded multi launch coasters we both know and anticipate today.
In that very same year, the family market was also tapped into using yet another system of tyre propelled launches. Although a shaky start (I’ll soon tell you why), this simpler concept also remains active to this day, complementing the available lineup with rides from the smaller end of the scale.
Outside of all this we’ve seen any number of innovations from Intamin that also happen to involve launches. From Half Pipes to Wing Coasters and from the legendary Aqua Trax to an exciting upcoming single rail project in Australia, it seems there’s nothing they can’t do with them. But records and engineering aside, which ones are the best to ride? Yes, it’s time for another ranking list and, as I’ve opened this field up to absolutely anything with a launch, there’s quite a lot to sift through. “Heads back, face forward, hold on tight and brace yourself.”
#32 Half Pipe – Chimelong Paradise (China)
Though there is more than one of these on the list, this one gets a special dishonourable mention for either doing it wrong or me doing it wrong. The entire experience can be summed up by being launched sideways in a jerky fashion on every single pass, with an unforgiving shoulder restraint just to the side of your head/neck ready to absorb the impact. The live band out front was a nice touch at least.
Displaying the aforementioned beginnings of tyre propelled launches on smaller coasters, this early motorbike design is awkward and uncomfortable in almost every way. The parts of the ‘seating’ on which your knees press against for the riding position used to have a layer of padding which, at the time of my riding, had partially worn away, leaving a knobbly mess of remains and hard plastic to grind away at your flesh and bone through every vibration from the train. It also actively made children cry around us – is this what you want from a family coaster?
#30 Vertical Velocity – Six Flags Discovery Kingdom (USA)
The surprise at finding this Impulse coaster didn’t share the layout of all the others was not enough to overlook the fact that I also found it surprisingly rough and shaky for a ride of this nature. Like the Half Pipe it’s a bit of a gimmick to be bouncing back and forth between two spikes as your entire layout and if there’s discomfort involved then there’s very little merit to the experience.
#28 & #29 RC – Hong Kong Disneyland & RC Racer – Disneyland Paris Studios
We now leave the realm of physical discomfort and enter one of simple monotony and disinterest. These look like Half Pipes again, tamed down without the added rotation of the seats and yet the whole seating setup feels oversized, clunky and unnecessarily claustrophobic for what you would imagine the target demographic to be on a Toy Story ride. It bothers me more however that this is becoming a stable product of Disneyland parks – a lazy, small footprint ‘coaster’ (barely) that doesn’t even tie into the ‘theme’ (barely) very well.
#27 Half Pipe – Särkänniemi Amusement Park (Finland) [defunct]
With pain removed from the equation, these are actually alright, but still not great. I appreciate the more open seating with dangling legs for the effect they’re trying to go for, particularly against the example just above us. It’s all just semantics at this stage though, it’s nice to stick these on the list and call them a +1, but do they even feel like rollercoasters?
#26 Tower of Terror II – Dreamworld (Australia) [defunct]
The same can be applied here – a big straight line and not even two spikes, just one. This one sits directly behind the following entry as the queueline, theming and atmosphere was all very tired, dated and neglected giving absolutely no impact to what was once a highly significant attraction in the coaster world. Glad to have got it, shan’t miss it.
#25 Superman: Escape from Krypton – Six Flags Magic Mountain (USA)
Slightly taller, slightly faster and in a better physical location – jutting out of the hillside for a bit of extra perceived height. This one just about edges it for me, though you honestly can’t tell the difference in stats to ride it. As perhaps the worst of any coaster to bear the name ‘Superman’, this one manages to make 100Mph feel surprisingly unremarkable – quite the feat.
#24 Turbo Track – Ferrari World (UAE)
You’d think this one would have a bit more going for it with what looks like an airtime hill, the opportunity to face in either direction and lap bar restraints, even just some more modern techonology. After suffering through far too much pre-show for a ride of this length, the result was entirely a non-event for me. The spike exiting the building to pop outside and give you some cool views even falls flat on its face by not going high enough to matter. When will this string of shuttle coasters end?
Right here. We can actually start saying I like these rides moving forward, so that’s a plus. Baby Kanonen was the smallest of the hydraulic launch coasters to be built and ended up with a certain awkwardness about it. The stunted top speed with the size and scale of the track, trains and layout just didn’t add up to a good sense of pacing and flow. It wasn’t anything special (and the park clearly knew it too, giving it only 10 years before selling it on and buying something far better), but entertaining nonetheless. I particularly enjoyed the non-chalance of the station announcement – “place your head… against the headrest.”
#22 Rita – Alton Towers (UK)
If you want an equally disinterested piece of audio on a ride, there’s still Rita. Ever since it got consumed by the Dark Forest of Thirteen and lost the subtitle – Queen of Speed, a man quietly declares that “you must escape” before uttering in the same tone “go, go… go…” It’s just so amusingly anticlimactic for what is admittedly a decently powerful burst of acceleration to start this ride. Crank up the beans on these hydraulics and things get more impressive for sure, particularly if you’re a big fan of launches.
#21 Desert Race – Heide Park (Germany)
I’m not that bothered about the sensation of launches any more though (my loss) and so it’s time to start focusing on the layouts that come after it. I didn’t finish what I was going to say about Rita because Desert Race is exactly the same ride. I’ve always been of the opinion that this one rides noticeably smoother, slightly showing off those twisted hills that break up the almost unending fast banked turns. The layout made sense for Alton Towers as they had to stay below the tree line, but in reality I’d just call it a compromise in performance compared to their past projects that faced the same restrictions and not quite exciting enough for my tastes.
So with that in mind, enter the one up, one down product range that was used to surpass the world records of the big ol’ spikes we talked about earlier. Zaturn opened one month after Stealth at Thorpe Park, is exactly the same and, standing at a massive 205ft tall, is only ‘medium-sized’ for what this ride type has achieved. There’s very little to the layout obviously, but the sensations of an even faster launch, along with the entry and exit of the top hat, plus the violent burnout of all the wasted potential energy into the brake run is always decent fun. I just can’t get overly jubilant about a ride that’s over almost as soon as it begins and this one had no soul.
#19 Kingda Ka – Six Flags Great Adventure (USA)
The tallest coaster in the world had no soul either, and that disappointed me. I expected the park to play up the fear factor, on this of all rides, but all we got was this parking lot coaster, some generic disco vibes and guests (including ourselves) having distracted conversations while sitting on the launch track about to experience 128Mph to the face and see the world from 456ft in the air. How can you possibly turn this hardware into a non-event, a one and done? A Six Flags way was found.
#18 Xcelerator – Knott’s Berry Farm (USA)
Whilst the hydraulic coaster started out with more than just a top hat element, I’m not sure Xcelerator had the right approach either. Fast turns and a sensation of speed are all well and good but it even lacks any further key moments after the starting sequence and even misses that extra bit of fun over the brake fin humps found on later models. Solid ride, but ended up a little forgettable outside of the history for me.
#17 Stealth – Thorpe Park (UK)
More of the same of course but this one stands out from the pack due to a solid theme and great sense of fun throughout the zone it resides in. Having grown up with the park I do have a bit more of a sentimental attachment as well and at one point in the past the whole concept was absolutely terrifying and intimidating to me, feelings that had long since faded by the time I reached any of the others in this list.
Whilst we’ve already seen some impressive hardware here today, I’d say none of these rides really show off what the mad lads at Intamin can do to a full extent. The technology and the ideas are there, but the layouts and standout moments that keep me coming back for more are not. Join me in the top half where we’ll at least have some context into how much better things get compared to this motley crew.
Hotel Transylvania, located at Motiongate in the UAE, is a trackless dark ride from ETF with a storyline that is of course based on the film franchise of the same name. I knew little of this attraction on arrival (or even the park in general) and having never seen one of the movies there could be no form of IP bias going into this experience. I could even go as far as saying the opposite – as a brand it actively didn’t excite me, though of course a dark ride will always get me though the entrance. Turns out I really enjoyed this attraction and it has actually managed to increase my interest in watching the source material, so a job well done by any standards.
Vampirism seems like an appropriate topic for parks in the Dubai area as I was practicing the art myself during the daytime portion of my visits. With the sun feeling like it was searing skin almost immediately upon impact, the best tactic was always to dart around between patches of shade to avoid inevitably catching fire. It was in this rushed state, further increased by my use of some time limited lockers elsewhere in the park, that I stumbled into the entrance of Hotel Transylvania for the first time, without taking those important extra moments to slow down and absorb the atmosphere of a themed attraction such as this.
I had many moments at Motiongate of entering an area and having an almost stunned reaction at what I was seeing. While there were greater examples elsewhere in the park, the scenery here had a similar effect on me and this was perhaps driven by the sheer lack of expectation. There’s such a contrast in the transition from outside to inside and I found it to have a rather magical vibe about it. The fact it was almost entirely empty and I often had the queue and ride to myself no doubt helped as well.
The queueline was nicely detailed for the relative small size of it and though it’s a shame to not have any form of preshow or other media to set the scene, being almost immediately greeted by a cute little Mystic Mover trackless vehicle (hmm, that name sounds familiar) is always a welcome sight for me. Within the first corner, the full range of styles in scenery is on display, from large physical set pieces through holographic projections to your standard, often lamented, media screens.
After this introductory area, the cars enter the main hub of the track layout which comprises of a vast corridor and side rooms, with other vehicles criss-crossing in all directions. I like an overwhelming sense of scale in certain moments on my dark rides, rather than relying solely on tight enclosed spaces at every turn, and that delivers here, though it almost gets taken too far in the opposite direction – I feel it’s best to strike a balance with some more intimate moments too.
While the system doesn’t utilise the trackless aspect to the same degree as perhaps certain Disney attractions, the ride fan in me did always enjoy watching the simple spectacle of several cars popping in and out of view at all times and covering the same ground at all sorts of different angles. This ride would be high on the list for guest interaction if you had any other familiar parties riding at the same time as you (or if Japanese waving culture caught on).
This aspect perhaps trumps any interaction between the scenes in the side rooms and the riders themselves. It’s much more of a sit back, watch and enjoy type of experience as opposed to there being any real action, adventure or even storyline that you may or may not have expected from the franchise, I suppose more in the classical style of a haunted house attraction. Between that, the audio and the ride system itself there was more than enough to keep me entertained and coming back for more, amongst a multitude of other significant coasters and dark rides in the park, which says enough for me.
Yes, that’s right, the place in the Arctic. #0 – nothing. The end.
Formerly known as Mitsui Greenland, this amusement park currently has claim to the second highest number of rollercoasters in Japan, though this can mostly be attributed more to decline than investment in much of the local industry at the moment. Like similarly scaled rivals, the park hasn’t seen a new coaster in over a decade and it does make me wonder/worry about the business side of affairs.
This was the first park I ever visited in this fine nation. It’s not the most well known of places amongst enthusiasts, particularly those only seeking out that next best coaster as there isn’t really anything in the way of a standout attraction to get overly excited about, but what they do have is a varied and interesting mix, of which it’s much harder to pick a favourite than your average park with filler and a clear winner. Creds are creds as well and sometimes the fun is in acquiring the obscure, whether that be the destination itself or a rare type of hardware on offer.
It should make for a passable list topic in any case.
#10 Ladybird
I’m not one to rag on kiddie coasters. They fit their target market nicely and it just so happens to overlap with the more obsessive counters among us. At the end of the day though, this twin helix powered coaster can be found almost anywhere and it’s just a number to me.
#9 Nio
Speaking of numbres, the park is home to a Vekoma SLC. I’ve recently covered the topic of this notorious coaster design in great length on here and, basically, it’s not one to get excited about.
#8 Spin Mouse
Alright, one more. This common spinning wild mouse setup is often seen at travelling fairs and that’s just where it belongs to be honest. I’ve nothing against the type, they can even be rather entertaining, depending on the often hugely unpredictable performance on the day, but for a permanent installation – could do better.
#7 Blackhole Coaster
I don’t remember much of the Meisho/Zamperla international collaboration powered coaster here to be honest, in fact I was fascinated just to learn that that was a thing. Set indoors, with a sprinkling of alien theming and much cornering, most hardware of this nature tends to all blend into one – I guess that’s what happens when you don’t confine yourself to the design limitations created by gravity.
#6 Grampus Jet
And on the subject of coaster collaborations, during their demise Arrow passed the torch on to Vekoma for the suspended swinging coaster design, one of the key results of which was these happy Orca faces. Even if I thought the last coaster was full of corners, this one makes a mockery of it and that does have a bit of an impact on excitement, but I respect this one. Only three in the world exist and this is the last to retain the original trains.
#5 Sphinx
Something about this ride is just so adorable. I could barely fit in the car, it involved more struggles than the actual smallest cred here, but what a custom layout. Many straight lines winding down the hillside like a low key terrain coaster. Fun theming, amusing train, enthusiastic staff. The whole package.
#4 Milky Way (Pink)
The pink standard sit down side of this Togo racing coaster currently has the benefits of on board music and the drawbacks of shoulder restraints. It’s not the most significant and intense of layouts so it’s hard to see why the latter is necessary, but the ride is great fun for the interaction between trains alone. Despite the bad rep this manufacturer has earned from installations in the USA, the local examples are, to me at least, a fine relic of their era.
#3 Ultra Twister Megaton
As further evidenced by these amazing creations. This one might look familiar – a different angle of the ride tends to plaster anything online with my name attached to it. I was very happy with my first Ultra Twister mainly because it’s just so… ambitious. The trains look like torture devices and the vertical lift and drop sequence, although a lot more common right now, 35 years after these were first made, is terrifying simply because of that fact. They’re actually surprisingly comfortable though, if you don’t mind a bit of a car crash on the brakes, and the rest of the forces, both forwards and backwards, are always a pleasant surprise.
#2 Gao
So much charm. My introduction to Japanese jet coaster life provided the perfect example of what they do best. Cast aside any notions of force, intensity, airtime, this is a machine that simply rumbles around like an amped up transport ride. And it’s joyous. Huge, goes on forever, a dinosaur on the train and a dinosaur on the track. A dinosaur is the track (‘Gao’ is how dinosaurs roar in Japanese by the way). Not trying is the key to not disappointing. I can’t fault it.
#1 Milky Way (Blue)
I have to give the number one spot to this one based on sheer surprise though. There were a lot of firsts for me in this park but this stand-up was the greatest surprise among them, subverting all previous notions of the ride type being a dud. Never has the standing position been more accurately simulated nor unnervingly exposed on a coaster. Standing worried on a metal plate that gets carried up 125ft into the air, feeling every click of the chain and bump in the track straight though the legs. Then it starts racing the other train, all smiling and waving. Then, distracted, you get thrown into the air on the hills with no semblance of control. Togo are the kings of this specific game and I want them back in business for that alone.
Even though Mack Rides have now been building rollercoasters for 100 years, they were rather late to the hyper coaster party with their HyperCoaster model. On New Year’s day in 2016 their very first build to exceed 200ft opened to the public at Lewa Adventure in China, over a quarter of a century after that same height barrier was first traditionally broken.
Flash comes with a twist though and it was certainly worth the wait in my humble opinion. Traditional hypers always ended up as lots of straight hills, often boring corners and never went upside down, nothing like the stunning work of art you’re seeing pictured above then. This vertical loop matched the world record for tallest of its kind at 160ft, forcing Full Throttle at Six Flags Magic Mountain to share this title for 18 months until the modification of Do-Dodonpa in mid-2017, and is the first of two inversions found in this rather groundbreaking layout.
This ride is currently solely responsible for putting Xi’an on the map for coaster enthusiasts, already one of the country’s top 3 most visited cities largely thanks to the Terracotta Army – so it has to be said that they were disgracefully slow on the uptake when it came to building amusement parks! In 2018 I experienced both, and you can no doubt guess what was the highlight of the visit was for me.
I arrived at the entrance first thing in the morning to find that the park were equally slow on the uptake as daily testing had not yet been completed. Very unusually for China, a small gathering of either keen guests or already avid local fans were camping out the entrance in anticipation – a display of good taste! General experience has shown that this is rarely a consideration out here, particularly when other attractions in the park are available and notions of coaster fandom are far younger. Ever the professional, I joined in with this waiting game, mind firmly set on boarding that sacred first train of the day.
Light entertainment to pass the time was found on the entrance sign. All the important details are documented on here so you don’t even need my review now, but here it comes anyway. After some particularly extensive operational procedures had taken place, I took my seat and was greeted with the following view:
I’m a fan of intimidating framing on rollercoasters and this one surely fits that bill. A reasonably brisk climb takes the train up through the centre of the impending loop, providing somewhat of an illusional effect that you’ll never make it out the other side – the track appeared at least as high as the first drop until the moment it left my field of view. That’s not going to work, surely. The real fun begins at the first drop, which is no world beater, but it does provide a satisfying blend of forces with decent airtime, a sharp twist and some strong positive forces in the still curved pullout.
Turns out I’m a fan of huge loops too. There’s just something about them once you hit a certain scale; the sustained sensation of surrealism in being upside down (but not feeling the adverse side effects) for so long, having a quiet moment to yourself to look around and appreciate that fact, even subtle little visual cues like noticing how tiny you and the train feel against all that track. Things have come a long way with these rides and it’s beautiful to behold.
Traditional hyper coaster service resumes with the first huge surging airtime hill of the layout. POV watchers may have spotted the trim brakes present here, often a pet peeve of mine too, but I’m happy to report that they made no impact on the ride experience for me, to the point that I flat forgot they existed.
Keeping things highly varied and also providing a slight change of direction, the crest of the following hill banks at 90° to the horizontal, somewhat gracefully hanging riders out to one side through a slightly more subdued airtime moment, but one that delivers well with an extra twist both in and out.
Another faster and lower airtime hill completes the outbound sequence of elements and is perhaps the most potent of the entire layout.
There is a solid reason why I keep mentioning traditional hypers one too many times, here it comes again. Where we might often find a huge and largely uninteresting sweeping turn at this point to turn such a massive chunk of steel back in the other direction and break the flow of the ride, on Flash we find this exciting pseudo-inversion (doesn’t quite hit that golden angle), almost-immelman type turnaround with a forceful start and whippy finish.
The second and final actual inversion hits next in the form of a beautifully executed Zero-G roll. Sometimes this element can feel a little overused, out of place or even unnecessary in a layout, particularly in more recent times, but there’s something about Mack’s versions that always seems to hit the spot for me, perhaps complimented by such wonderful freedom of movement in the seating – I forgot to mention this ride of course has my favourite trains, a.k.a. Helix trains. This one is perfect.
While navigating the next two slightly twisted airtime hills I may have started to notice the only real issue I see with this coaster – it’s not quite aggressive enough for my personal tastes. I do like a ride to get a bit wild at some point and really give me something to think about and feel like this part would have been the golden opportunity for that. The experience remains highly competent and polished here, if just the tiniest bit underwhelming. Let’s overshadow that thought now by asking have I mentioned how gorgeous Flash looks?
The final sequence involves a sharp and forceful corner that brings the train right to the ground for a little twisted S-bend slither, some semblance of a tiny overbanked turn and a hop into the brakes. I love the change of pace in these final moments here and they emphasise a little more the point which I alluded to in the previous paragraph – more violence please.
What a ride though. Easily one of the worlds finest and, for me at least, a significantly greater experience than any traditional hyper I’ve ridden to date. Almost everything about the varied and forceful layout just suits me down to the ground, from the powerful airtime moments to the graceful inversions, from the cracking visuals to the wonderful trains. It exists amongst the absolute best in terms of all round coaster packages, particularly across this scale and height, though it just never truly exceeds at any one thing, leaving it to somewhat lurk in the shadows behind some of the more bombastic attractions amongst my favourites. Dare I say it’s almost too well designed? It lacks a little in what I often coin as ‘character’ by feeling so damn competent, even just a bit of theming or music or one wacky moment could have pushed this one over the edge for me. Maybe it’ll come with maturity – there’s a plaque stating a 50 year shelf life on this one and I certainly hope it lasts that long.
Look at that – I managed to make it to the end without once moaning about the fact that it got cloned and built in Turkey with a generic-ass name, further robbing it of any charm and individuality! Bah.
Forwards seems to be the recommended direction of travel for most things in life, but some rollercoasters like to buck that trend. The concept of having both forwards and backwards has seen a major resurgence in recent years following on from the Shuttle Loops and Boomerangs of old, with compact launch coaster designs permeating many markets. But what about starting out backwards in the station, sometimes even staying that way for good? That’s a lot harder to come by.
In fact there are only a few major coasters out in the world that can offer it at the moment and based on personal experience so far – we need more of it! I’ve elaborated before on the negative effect that anticipation can have on certain coaster elements and what better way to completely remove any pre-emption than to turn the ship around and physically stop guests from seeing what’s up next?
Which way is which?
I think there’s a bit of a stigma attached to the concept currently, either being seen as a bit of a gimmick, an oversimplified marketing ploy or perhaps something to be feared amongst the age old expectation of thrill rides making people feel nauseous – not looking where you’re going will likely make those susceptable to motion sickness feel even worse. Personally I’ll advocate it all day long, as I relish every unique experience I can find in the coasting world and the simple action of turning a seat around can be both a tremendous enhancement and a well earned selling point for any attraction.
The focus today will be on any coaster that goes backwards for at least 50% of the layout (ideally more) and, as usual, those that I’ve personally tried out. Let’s see how much of an impact they made on me.
#10 Tower of Terror II (defunct) – Dreamland (Australia)
This attraction is no longer with us, though the taller American brother can still be enjoyed (twice over) at Six Flags Magic Mountain. It was originally designed as a Reverse Freefall coaster with a forwards facing launch up a vertical spike leading to, as the name would imply, a freefall in reverse, but in 2010 Tower of Terror became the first of the two models that was modified to begin the journey backwards. Accelerating to 100Mph before quickly seeing the ground run away from you sounds like quite the exhilarating experience, but although they’re rather special, I don’t particularly rate these straight lines very highly as coasters. Hence the #10.
#9 Music Go-Star – Miroku no Sato (Japan)
It was a total ordeal for me to get on this ride as the place was, in the true style of all minor Japanese parks, ridiculously quiet and they took half a day to get it up and running. I had noticed on arrival that they had turned the back two cars of the train around, something previously undiscovered as far as I was aware (along with the new name and some fountains) and this revelation made the waiting seem far more worthwhile. As it turned out, bit of a rough one. What could have been some impressive backwards airtime in the first drop and subsequent big camelback ended up rather bouncy and jarring, taking the edge off proceedings. It still made it better than your average two hills and a corner layout though!
#8 X:\ No Way Out – Thorpe Park (UK)
There’s that gimmicky feel. World’s first!, with a caveat – in the dark. This indoor Vekoma did actually start life in 1996 as a backwards experience though, finally losing that claim in 2013 to a bit of a rebrand and a train turnaround to conventional mode. It’s an unusual layout when travelling in either direction, with a lot of stop and start action on multiple block sections as the ride winds its way down inside the pyramid shaped building. The sinister feel that the original theming package carried did work rather well with the extra disorientation, though in the end it turned out to be just as enjoyable a ride when moving forwards. The audio visual effects are the real stars of the show here.
#7 Rocky Coaster – Suzuka Circuit (Japan)
Here we have another Japanese creation with a couple of cars they decided to turn around for fun. Unlike the previous entry from this side of the world, Rocky Coaster rode really well and was further enhanced by a number of factors including a sudden thunderstorm. Not only did I have no idea what the layout involved, we were half blinded by torrential rain and left with a sensory overload of a rollercoaster experience which I believe may have been significantly less remarkable had we not also been travelling backwards.
#6 Cobra – Connyland (Switzerland)
Alright, another cheat. For 2020, this unique Pax take on the shuttle loop coaster received new trains that featured both fowards and backwards facing seats. As a complete experience you obviously still get pretty much 50/50 of each direction, but the extra fun in starting out backwards in the station here comes with the higher speed carried into the two airtime hills that precede this insane element. There’s no way you can see these coming, or the following wild inversion goodness, and the ride is made all the better for it.
#5 Fury – Bobbejaanland (Belgium)
Fury offers the unique feature of presenting riders with a choice of which direction they wish to travel in throughout the ride. Voting takes place using buttons in the restraint before the train reaches a turntable within the launch track. If you wanted backwards, it’s fingers crossed for a left turn. I really wanted this for my very first try and luckily my wish was granted. Basically it’s better that way round and I love the extra jeopardy involved in the decision making process.
#4 Swarm – Thorpe Park (UK)
For a limited time only Thorpe Park introduced two rows of reverse facing seats on the Swarm trains dubbing the experience ‘Brave It Backwards‘. I already liked this coaster even though it can be considered more graceful than exhilarating for the most part, but I was not ready for how big of a difference the new seating arrangement would make. As soon as I found myself being dragged through that first inversion, totally unexpectedly, I was thrown into an uncontrollable fit of joyous laughter. With no idea what was happening throughout, the result was amazing, infectious even. I only wish that this feature had become a permanent one.
#3 Eejanaika – Fuji-Q Highland (Japan)
Hmm… Who can really say which direction this monster has it’s victims facing once things get going. A large part of what I adore about this ride is never knowing which way is up and the mystery surrounding that isn’t going to stop me from including it on this list, though perhaps with a slight penalty in ranking position. Where the backwards significantly enhances Eejanaika is the first turn out of the station and the lift hill. It teases and terrifies from the moment of dispatch, tipping riders right back almost onto their heads before levelling out the seats again. The steady 250ft reverse climb is an absolute nervous nightmare, never knowing when the first drop is actually coming to kill you. All you can do is attempt to distract yourself with the scenery or try and find something to hold onto – not much at all.
#2 Hollywood Dream – Universal Studios Japan
Hollywood Dream alone is a great coaster and I totally fell for the aesthetic of this ride upon arrival with it’s mould-breaking B&M hyper styling, satisfying visuals, selection of onboard audio (via buttons in the restraint again) and unorthodox layout. Since 2013, as advertised by the Backdrop suffix, a separate queueline has been introduced that leads riders to board a backwards facing train. We finally tried this out late at night, right towards the end of a very long day and something totally magical happened. I’ve never felt airtime like this on a B&M, before or since, arms and legs were uncontrollable flailing everywhere and it was such a special series of moments. For such a simple idea, it truly is a top notch enhancement.
#1 DC Rivals HyperCoaster – Warner Bros. Movie World (Australia)
DC Rivals is the current king of backwards. Where others above have simple dabbled with the idea or played it safe with middling hardware, this ride started out as a world class coaster and has carried a reversed final car from day one. Mack achieved greatness on so many levels here, providing both Australia and by extension the Southern Hemisphere with an attraction to finally brag about on the global stage. It’s also the manufacturer’s largest rollercoaster project to date, offering ridiculously twisted vertical first drop, bucketloads of airtime and a massive non-inverting loop. Oh, and for a small fee you can experience all of that backwards. It’s honestly amongst the best single (well, several) ride experience I’ve ever had. So many surprise moments, so many forces that the direction of travel happens to make even better and, most importantly, so much fun. At this stage I’m willing to believe you can improve absolutely anything this way.
Japan have been trying to dominate this list but Australia have made it their own. Thanks to this striking beauty of a coaster, all the parks on the GoldCoast now seem to have latched onto the idea and we’ll soon be seeing competition from a Gravity Group woodie with the back of each train reversed. If this rides like any of my currentfavouritesplus all the good stuff outlined above, then I’m definitely not ready for it and words can’t describe how excited I am by that prospect. More please.
