Mystic Manor is a trackless dark ride found at Hong Kong Disneyland that opened in 2013 along with the surrounding themed area of Mystic Point. Its closest relatives at equivalent Disney properties are the well known Haunted Mansions and Phantom Manor, though in this case the smallest park in the chain opted for an entirely fresh narrative – a highly welcome change as far as I’m concerned, I do love a unique experience.
And this ride certainly is that. The striking exterior dominates Mystic Point, particularly as it is the only attraction of note in this ‘land’. A lot of care and attention has clearly gone into making this attraction fit into its own suitable surroundings and have a real atmosphere. This is also something I greatly admire, as I believe the biggest and best highly themed rides deserve a certain presence that extends beyond the boundary of the building that contains them. Immersion doesn’t have to start at the queueline entrance, you can already be vibing off of the attraction the moment you set eyes on it.
That’s exactly how I felt as we stumbled up to this one for the first time on a miserable rainy day. Never mind the wet shoes, seeing this in person is a wow! moment to make you stop and admire the intricate details. Does that spiral staircase even function? Due to the weather it was unnervingly quiet for such a major theme park and, I don’t know if this usually happens, staff were at the queueline entrance dressed in maid outfits ready to personally escort guests from this point and into the first preshow. The extra attention was certainly welcome.
The preshow itself introduces the premise of the ride – the owner of the mansion (and his pet monkey) are inviting us to view their museum collection of artifacts obtained from extensive travels throughout the world via a design of his own invention, the clever carriages that form the basis of the ride hardware. A narrated, projected slideshow becomes extraordinary at the point in which the animatronic monkey, Albert, appears for the first time. This is classic Disney theme park magic at it’s finest, an endearing character and awe-inspiring piece of technical design all rolled into one.
Now that the scene has been set, we can be escorted once again to the carriages that await us. We’re already at the third level of wonderment for me here as I just love watching trackless ride vehicles going about their business, particularly in the station area. With sensors working overtime and no real fixed path to follow they hustle and bustle about the loading areas, pausing to let each other by as they approach in a wonderful display of artificial intelligence. This alone continues to entertain me throughout the entire ride sequence as the cars are usually dispatched in batches of four that travel together. Each one will follow a slightly different route to the others in the group, splitting off at certain intervals to view ares from separate angles and perspectives, enhancing the rerideability factor. When they aren’t paused to observe a particular scene or following one of the more linear paths in the attraction the opportunity is often taken to dance around each other, maintaining a satisfying flow and dynamic feel to the attraction, there’s never a movement that feels out of place.
Technological distractions aside, the scenery and soundtrack on this ride is phenomenal, of course. In the first room we meet the real animatronic Henry Mystic before Albert pops up again and ends up disturbing one of the trinkets, unleashing some magic dust that begins to make all the other artifacts come to life. The automated tour begins regardless and guests become witness to several areas of the collection all animated and spiced up in any manner of inventive ways, from projection trickery to physical effects. The deeper we travel into the exhibits, the greater the peril, particularly for our monkey friend who runs into a number of dangerous mishaps alongside us, you really do start to feel for him. It culminates in a spectacular sequence in a room surrounding a central statue who conjures up a storm. The vehicles whirl about in chaotic fashion as the walls themselves begin to tear apart all around, the music and sounds build and soar along with this and everything yet again becomes just wondrous to behold, a real ‘this is why I love this hobby’ freeze frame in time. Luckily, the strange powder manages to end up back in its container and they all lived happily every after.
Mystic Manor took Disney dark rides to yet another level for me. Sadly it’s been a fair few years since I last visited this attraction, though it remains firmly embedded in my mind as an extremely standout experience and their greatest attraction with its own unique story conjured up specifically for the park. From a purely selfish perspective, I did wish sometimes they would strike more of a balance between original ideas like this and the Intellectual Properties that dominate the park lineups. My personal bias lies in wanting to see all the creativity stem from the theme park itself rather than relying on other sources of media (or business sense) to do the thinking. The forming of this opinion is actually mostly owed to Mystic Manor itself, though it has been opened to deeper consideration as the years have passed – after all they did go and prove me wrong a couple of years later!
Contrary to the model name – the Suspended Looping Coaster, these rides have since been classified (amongst enthusiast databases at least) as ‘inverted’ rollercoasters. The first layout debuted in 1994 in the home nation of manufacturer Vekoma, just two years after the introduction of the popular ‘Batman’ B&M Invert. The key difference these inverts had when compared to the ‘suspended’ designs seen throughout the ’80s was that the train is rigidly attached to the track and could therefore perform tighter manouevres, including inversions, and achieve compact layouts on flat land more easily. They also had the novelty of dangling guests legs in the air and thus threw in a bit of intimidation factor for good measure. This new concept soon became a staple investment to be included in any thrill ride lineup and Vekoma’s lower cost alternative managed to tap into a significant portion of that market.
While great news for the manufacturer, this successful business strategy has only ever manifested itself somewhere in between lamentable and loathsome for the coaster counters among us. The ride type is frequently regarded as one of the worst on the planet due to a combination of poor tracking and unforgiving oversized shoulder restraints that commonly result in ‘headbanging’ or ‘earbashing’. In short, the experience is generally unpleasant and not one that leaves you wanting more.
But more is the hand we’ve been dealt. The now prolific Vekoma SLC has been built 33 times while spanning an unusually long career for any coaster model, with the latest having been installed in 2017. Sadly throughout all this time there have been no more than a few variations in layout. There are currently 20 of the standard ‘689m’ version, several other ‘extended’ or ‘bonus helix’ editions of the same original design and a small handful of grim alternatives.
To add insult to sometimes literal injury (purely from this silly author’s selfish perspective), the early 2000s saw various Chinese manufacturers double down on this idea of low cost, highly repeatable SLC design and even ended up replicating both of the standard Vekoma layouts for the vast majority of their installations. With Golden Horse alone now ahead of Vekoma on quantity of sales for this ride type and several other companies striving to do the same, latest estimates would put the number of SLCs worldwide at over 100. A harrowing thought for anyone whose game is to catch ’em all.
How well (badly) have I fared so far then? In terms of the original Vekomas I’m just shy of halfway through the list at 16. By almost actively avoiding anything of this nature in China I’ve also managed to sample just 5 locally built equivalents across 3 separate manufacturers and I shall continue to try and stop myself from making it any more of a habit. For what it’s worth, here’s how these occupational hazards rank from miserable to manageable and any tangential anecdotes that may have helped me in making such ground-breaking judgements.
I rarely use the phrase ‘burn it down’ about anything in the theme park world, but I have done here. Fantawild Adventure parks have a tendency to bring out the worst of me in general and then this ride decided to commence proceedings with two sharp punches to the skull during the first drop and turn. There’s literally no merit to this when it simply stems from poor implementation of a common as muck design. We’re off to a good start.
#20Twister (Beijing Jiuhua Amusement Rides Manufacturing Co., Ltd.) – Quancheng Euro Park (China)
This was an abomination of equal magnitude but it had certain quirks working in its favour. It’s a requirement to wear a green padded vest for this ride, which they supply you with in the station, so clearly they already know that this piece of hardware has the potential to cause physical injury. At least they aren’t afraid to admit this and embrace the fact that it’s going to continue. It’s also not a layout inspired by any Vekoma and contains this weird poorly shaped inversion that throws at least one interesting sensation into the mix. The bad? The cars bounced back and forth really badly while negotiating the track, a usually minor trait that you’ll see later on I had come to even enjoy a little for comedy reasons. This very pronounced equivalent of the effect was rough and unpleasant on the innards as well as the outtards.
#19 El Condor (Vekoma) – Walibi Holland(Netherlands)
The prototype that started it all. What a mess. It had the henchest restraints I had ever seen when I rode this thing and as they are literally already making physical contact there was absolutely nothing to be done to prevent them from gnawing away at your ears from first drop to brake run. Guests audibly swear on this ride more than I’ve heard on anything else in the world.
#18 Dragon In Clouds (Vekoma) – Happy Valley Chengdu(China)
I don’t think I disliked the ride itself as much as I despised the circumstances of this one. The queueline is made up of disgusting metal cages and the staff in this park (by far the worst in China for me) were having arguments with me about pointless seating nonsense while I’m dying inside, desperate to get the stupid thing over and done with. Oh, it was rough though.
#17 Odyssey (Vekoma) – Fantasy Island (UK)
Not even uniqueness can make this one shine in a sea of sludge. The tallest SLC in the world is pure custom goodness and I didn’t like it one bit. They clearly weren’t designed to handle such unprecedented speeds and that only adds to the calamity in this particular case. Odyssey is notoriously hard to catch due to either technical issues or being susceptible to the awful weather on the North East coast of England so there is some joy to be found in all of this – I’m glad I’ve crossed it off the list.
#16 Suspended Coaster (Beijing Jiuhua Amusement Rides Manufacturing Co., Ltd.) – Window of the World Changsha(China)
Having to do the notorious ‘Happy Valley exercises’ in preparation for some of the finest coasters in production is an entertaining laugh and a character building experience. Having to do them for an SLC is an insult and once again I was just dying to get this thing out of the way. It was far newer than the equivalent layout I had already ridden, from the same manufacturer, and therefore hadn’t yet been reduced to a terrible state. Give it time.
#15 Arkham Asylum – Shock Therapy (Vekoma) – Warner Bros. Movie World (Australia)
If I was being cynical I could claim that we had to revisit this park just to ride the SLC and complete the creds. We were actually just being smart and prioritising time spent on DC Rivals over queuing an hour for nothing but the coaster count (I’ve done far worse of course). Having caved and come back anyway there was no queue at all, but that didn’t stop this from being a bad experience. My first encounter with vest restraints on these proved that they do nothing but highlight how sub-par the overall track quality is. These rides aren’t good, in case you hadn’t noticed yet.
#14 Limit (Vekoma) – Heide Park (Germany)
If I was being cynical I could claim that we had to revisit this park just to ride the SLC and complete the creds. Actually I was just being smart and prioritising time spent on B&Ms and Intamin Woodies and then the weather decided to hail and thunderstorm the place into a full closure. Having caved and come back anyway, there were other things to add to the count as well, but that didn’t stop this from being a bad experience. This was still early days for me and I certainly had noticed, these rides aren’t good.
#13 Vampire (Vekoma) – Walibi Belgium
Cheat! The only one on the list that never received the privilege of my photographic recognition. Instead this is a cheeky shot through the trees of the original Walibi SLC from earlier in the list. I’m sure you get the picture by now. They’re almost all the same. Sadly we had to resort to paying for fastrack to add this to the collection, only to be thwarted in our cred running efforts by another Belgian park that day anyway. I remember absolutely nothing of the ride experience.
#12 MP-Xpress (Vekoma) – Movie Park Germany
What an eyesore. This was the first time I noticed the weird motion (mentioned above) that the trains can sometimes do on these which involves pumping backwards and forwards rather than the usual side to side that causes headbanging. In minor doses it doesn’t actually do a whole lot and I found it rather amusing, along with the whole setup of this ride. It’s unashamedly ugly, from the gravel service roads to the tin shed station.
#11 Kumali (Vekoma) – Flamingo Land (UK)
I believe I somewhat liked this one back in the day. It was a glorious time in which I didn’t count coasters, obsess over them on the internet or even comprehend that one day I’d be forced to subject myself to the many, many more ‘Kumalis’ out there. Basically it had character and individuality to me, before all this worldly knowledge that I’m spewing out here ruined that illusion – you’re welcome.
Just cracking the top ten (what an honour) is my favourite Golden Horse in the list. I had some fun running to this one like a man possessed in order to squeeze in the +1 before an appointment with a timeslotted dark ride elsewhere in the park. It was a rather windy day, to the point of threatening ride closure and I actually felt the impact of this on ride through a somewhat unnerving almost-stall in one of the inversions. This particular Flare Meteor performed just fine overall and didn’t leave me with any more than the usual worry about other SLCs from the manufacturer – oh how they would prove me wrong.
#9 Mind Eraser (Vekoma) – Six Flags America
By far the most aptly named of these rides out there, this one promises to do what many further up in this post actually achieve. Fortunately it doesn’t deliver on the promise and was one of the most inoffensive around. It even looks rather nice, comparatively.
#8 Nio (Vekoma) – Greenland (Japan)
Nio is another of which I remember very little about in terms of the ride experience so it was likely fine. The dominating sensation here was that of intense joy – my first day in Japan (and what a way to spend it).
#7 Soaring Dragon and Dancing Phoenix (Beijing Shibaolai Amusement Equipment) – Nanchang Wanda Theme Park (China)
This one has a few things in its favour – they were playing K-pop in the station, it’s (finally) a custom layout and that crude phoenix on the front makes it by far the best attempt at a themed train on any of these that I know of. All of that combined with no major upsets make this my current king of Chinese built SLCs.
#6 Riddler Revenge (Vekoma) – Six Flags New England (USA)
We’re back in vest restraint territory again and I can now say that when paired with adequate tracking, the experience becomes a lot more… inconsequential. Fair play to this one, we saw certain guests choose to ride it more than once.
#5 Golden Wings In Snowfield (Vekoma) – Happy Valley Beijing(China)
I think for some reason, as yet unknown to me, that I slightly prefer this ‘Shenlin’ layout that was born out of another Happy Valley park, when it isn’t trying to hurt me. This one comes with bonus helix and an exceptionally long and well themed queueline that it doesn’t deserve in the slightest.
As does this one. You could get lost for hours walking in the general direction of the station through decorative temple ruins and that would actually count as a good excuse to not board the ride. This was the original ‘Shenlin’ installation, no bonus helix, and I don’t honestly know why it’s stuck with me as one of the better ones. Perhaps some foolishly naive nostalgia about it being my first day in China. Is it possible to have a gut feeling about such a gruesome topic? I have since passed on the opportunity to reride it during a subsequent visit – leave the memories alone.
Straight out of the Vekoma catalogue that forms half of the park lineup at Energylandia, this is the newest build of a Vekoma SLC that I’ve ridden and it seems now that the vests are here to stay. I was welcomed into the station with a complement from a friendly ride host about how beautiful Liseberg is (courtesy of whichever of their shirts I happened to be wearing, sadly I don’t exude such an aura without visual cue just yet). That alone is almost enough to win this list.
My very first SLC experience and unlike any other in the list I’ve unashamedly ridden it several times (though not in recent memory). It’s one of the better behaved ones, not necessarily in a standout way but I guess I just like Blackpool, I like that it’s over water and… nope, that’s everything nice I have to say about it.
#1 Blue Tornado (Vekoma) – Gardaland (Italy)
Three trains. This bonus helix layout was operating with three trains on track. When observing the operational efficiency of a rollercoaster is the most entertaining aspect of the entire experience, you know you’re onto a winning design.
What a mouthful of a name. OCT Thrust SSC1000 is derived from both the jet car (ThrustSSC) that holds the world land speed record and the operating company of the park in which it resides (who knows about the 1000). OCT run a number of theme and amusement properties throughout China, the most well known of which are the Happy Valley parks and this particular S&S compressed air launch coaster lives within Wuhan’s contribution to the chain. This is the most recent installation of the ride type at any OCT property, with the opening of the next at Window of the World Changsha still TBA, and the layout is a mirrored clone of Bullet Coaster from their Shenzhen park – we’ll come to the reasoning later as to why the original won’t be receiving as much of the spotlight here today.
Do-dodonpa – Fuji-Q Highland
The ride is also one of only 7 rollercoasters operating throughout the world with such a launch system. Compressed air launches found fame (notoriety) back in 2001 with the opening of both Hypersonic XLC at Kings Dominion and Dodonpa at Fuji-Q Highland. The former was plagued with reliability issues and had a rather short lifespan for a rollercoaster, sadly I never had the chance to try this one with only 6 years in operation, though the latter has managed to successfully retain the world record for fastest acceleration on a coaster and will celebrate its 20th birthday later this year. It took a whole ten years before the concept was revived and purchased again by Happy Valley themselves but, more importantly, it was also vastly improved upon.
These originals relied on the unprecedented intensity of their launch systems to provide the main thrill, the selling point of the ride and the layouts were much simpler in design. You may well know by now that I’m not a huge fan of this idea, the sensations of a launch alone have never been enough for a coaster to enter my personal big leagues. I believe these specific S&S creations are solely to blame for my current mentality as the Chinese installations introduced a more varied and interesting sequence of elements into the mix. Not only is the launch sequence the most terrifying and violent on the planet, we now have an amazing coaster to complement it, to make good use of all that potential energy. When I first experienced acceleration like this it was unlike anything else that had come before and by the end of the ride I was physically exhausted. I had to sit down on a bench and recover for a while, as opposed the usual run straight back round for a reride. This rarely happens to me at all now, if ever, especially for those exceptional rides which I deem ‘worth’ any physical duress these days. Subsequent launches have invariably felt inferior too (including the king). In other words, I’m broken.
On to the actual ride then. OCT Thrust begins with the train, which now by the way also has 3x the seating capacity, making the power of the launch seem even more ridiculous with all that extra weight, pulling forward onto an unassuming launch track underneath a TV screen you might well find anywhere else in the park that usually shows off some generic Happy Valley promo shots of the ride (poorly edited amongst others from the chain). The train negotiates back and forth a couple of times as the catch car comes into place while unnerving mechanical noises are made. After a tense pause, riders are then mercilessly blasted into the first top hat at an incomprehensible pace. The stats are yet to be officially verified to my knowledge but due to the technology we can assume they most likely sit somewhere between Dodonpa’s world record and the equivalent fastest accelerating hydraulic or LSM launches of the theme park world, so ~80Mph in significantly under 2 seconds.
The launch may as well be instantaneous, as it certainly feels that way, but now the fun begins. Thanks to some open seating design and lap bar restraints, the powerful airtime on the first element can be fully enjoyed as the ride plunges over 220ft into a tunnel below some pathway – a great moment for riders and spectators alike.
Keen eyed readers may have spotted the trim brakes on that first drop but do bear in mind that I would be the first to report on and complain about any negative impact they had on the ride experience – there was none. The exit of the tunnel leads into a banked upwards turn culminating in a second strong airtime moment as the train dives towards ground level again.
As though taking inspiration from more conventional hyper coasters, this track is designed for airtime moment after airtime moment, the third of which comes with a twist at the top providing some satisfying lateral forces in addition to the now expected out of the seat sensation.
The fourth and final hill breaks the mould yet again by being banked completely to the right at 90° to the ground. This gives the unusual feeling of the body being kicked sideways against the will of gravity in an attempt to leave the train and is a feature that has later been included in and popularised by several RMC creations, amongst other coasters.
The last element in the sequence is a tight and twisted double turnaround, this time intense in the positive G department and culminating in a rather brutal snap (possibly unintentional, but I call it character) into the brake run. It feels a little soon but I believe the whole point in this style of ride is to leave you a little dazed and breathless, which it achieves all too well with that ridiculous launch and subsequently ending almost as quickly as it began. The important thing is that all the moments in between are of the highest quality. Why has the ride (and the sky) changed colour? Well I didn’t have a picture of this final section of track for OCT Thrust and so I’ll cheat and say that this is a good point to segue into the key differences with the original installation of this layout – Bullet Coaster.
Strangely enough I want to like the original more. After all it came first, I rode this one first and I’m not exactly an advocate of cloned layouts around here. The Shenzhen installation looks far more attractive too, being set in a Shangri-La themed area with that much prettier colour scheme. Unfortunately this version of the ride fell victim to something which makes this whole ranking clones business a bit more of a nonsense than it already is – a revisit. A reassessment. Let’s just say this second visit wasn’t a good day in the grand scheme of theme park trips and the ride itself felt like it was vastly underperforming. I wasn’t getting the same kick, the same buzz I had since become used to getting from the ride type in general and I was upset by this revelation. The only reasonable way in which I can display this emotion is by no longer giving it the specific credit it undoubtedly deserves in a numbered list.
So it may be less easy on the eye but OCT Thrust hasn’t yet been given the opportunity to let me down (almost, but covid). It currently remains my favourite S&S air launch coaster and takes the honour of being the key representative for the layout, with Bullet Coaster sadly relegated to sitting outside my top 25. Every single moment of the ride delivered with spectacular efficiency during my time spent with it. I love the sequence of elements and the way they all hit the mark, never faltering for one second. The hallmark of coaster design at its finest.
Just to confuse things further, this same logic doesn’t apply to my score cards. The opportunity for an objectively better card (in both theming and opening year) trumps any personal feelings. Have to be sensible about these highly important matters.
It’s a wonderful world we live in when a roadside berry stand can grow into a world famous theme park. From selling jam and chicken dinner to racking up ten rollercoasters alongside an assortment of other classic attractions, Knott’s has a fascinating history, perhaps one of the best in the States. I didn’t know much about anything prior to visiting, believing it was just a quirky name and had even managed to somehow pronounce it incorrectly throughout my life until I heard it spoken aloud in a piece of queueline audio, but it was obvious on arrival – this place has vintage and charm, about as far removed from ‘concrete and rides’ in the US as you can get.
What they also have, which suits one of these lists particularly nicely, is no obvious standout rollercoaster from glancing at the lineup alone. Instead they’ve got a ‘big four’ going on that complement each other nicely, rather than just the one or two dominating signature attractions and the result is generally a very satisfying and varied line up, something you know I like to acknowledge on here. Let’s tuck in.
#10 CoastRider
We’ll start by getting the dud out of the way. Being a too common, off the shelf, Mack Wild Mouse with a bad pun for a name is the least of CoastRider’s crimes. For some reason it has offensively uncomfortable restraints not found on most other models that happen to dig right into the shin bone and ruin any potential funfair fun that could have otherwise been achieved.
#9 Timberline Twister
Being an unashamed credit counter, getting on this ride was a satisfying achievement in itself, though I didn’t take a photo of it to celebrate the occasion – you can have Snoopy and a train instead. It’s a rare childrens’ coaster by Bradley & Kaye, who only ever built less than 10 rides in the 1940s and just two remain in operation today, the other at Six Flags Magic Mountain having a strict no adult policy. Over the course of my multi day visit I patiently waited for the right (no queue) moment to give this one a go and subsequently found myself with loads of room in the car, relatively speaking, being taken on a rather wild journey throughout the unnervingly airtime laden 480ft of track.
#8 Pony Express
Much like the motorbike cars more commonly found on this type of attraction, I don’t find this horseback riding position particularly comfortable on a coaster. It may then count as mercy, but there really isn’t much of a layout here to go with it – essentially a figure of eight. I admire the attempt at interaction but sadly the neighbouring rapids ride was undergoing refurbishment during my visit, so no extra points there. Quaint though, and had some great staff.
#7 Jaguar!
Jaguar is the king of interaction for the park though. This rare, highly customised Zierer Tivoli layout winds its way absolutely everywhere, in and out of other major coasters, over the heads of guests across many pathways and through its own centrepiece of a pyramid themed station building. Though far from thrilling, I always admire this type of attraction integration and there’s just so much to look at and appreciate as it traverses the layout.
#6 Montezooma’s Revenge
The oldest Schwarzkopf Shuttle Loop still in its original location and my favourite to date for the simple elegance of the launch sequence. I only rode this one in the dark, where two satisfying sequential clunks turned all the station lights out and then accelerated the train off into the night. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again though, you can only go so far with an oversimplified layout.
#5 Sierra Sidewinder
This Mack Spinner had the disadvantage of me having already ridden and loved the far more intensely themed indoor edition of the same layout in the UAE. The ride type itself is rather hit and miss as to whether you get a decent spin in the right places and therefore the experience can vary hugely from a tame little family ride to a surprisingly intense thrill coaster. My laps on this one leaned towards the former, but the potential is there. I’ll soon have another version much closer to home to try my luck with again.
#4 Xcelerator
And so begins the big four I alluded to above. Sometimes Intamin launch coasters are an invention of wonder and at other times the entire experience hinges on just the acceleration itself. Sadly for me this one falls firmly into the second category, with very little going on outside of some big overbanked turns after the signature top hat also found on lesser layouts. I’ve often said that launches alone don’t do much for me any more and this ride is a prime example of that.
#3 Silver Bullet
It may be one of the weakest of its type but can we appreciate for a moment how attractive this ride looks. I really wanted to like Silver Bullet, as I do with all B&M Inverts and it even contains some cool and underutilised elements not found on others of the same model to help it stand out from the crowd. Unfortunately it seems to me that the elevated positioning over the walkways led to a rather lacklustre first drop design and the momentum just never really gets going throughout the rest of the layout. It lacks the power and intensity that has become strongly associated with this hardware and though it’s no doubt fun and highly rerideable, I just can’t see past that.
#2 HangTime
I’ve praised my 700th coaster on here a couple of times already and I think I’m managing to fall for it more and more as time goes on. Yet again HangTime looks fantastic but the onboard experience manages to match it this time. That holding brake moment is like nothing else out there and it’s all thanks to the restraints. So many rides around the world could be made better with simple physical details like that and this one stands as a shining example to all.
#1 GhostRider
For all the things I didn’t know about Knott’s Berry Farm before I arrived, this attraction turned into the biggest shock of all. I’d seen the odd account here and there that it was big, rough and a bit past it, then of course heard the news that they closed it for a bit of TLC back in 2015 & 2016. I remained largely sceptical, with the usual fear of bad woodies killing me in the back of my mind. The sight of new GCI trains for the first time as I walked through the queue was news to me however, as was the layout, which was riding particularly well (on the right side of violent) and contained a huge amount of variety – everything that was right up my street for a wooden coaster. GhostRider was hugely popular at all times of the day and night whenever I visited and understandably so. I only wish I could have become more acquainted with this beast. It’s a winner.
Located at Disney California Adventure, this dark ride drop tower is a retheme of what was once The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, a ride still found at Disneyland Paris. The original attraction was designed for the Paris Studios park but happened to open in California first due to some French financial issues. This one then closed in January 2017 to undergo an overhaul and amazingly re-opened just 5 months later.
Of course the new theme for the ride was now based on the film franchise Guardians of the Galaxy, part of the wider Marvel cinematic universe and it was the first attraction in the USA to take advantage of the media acquisition. While I enjoy plenty of Disney’s own film releases, none of them have truly been represented that well for me across their theme parks yet and I have to admit that this one was much closer to my own heart.
In the past I have often been sceptical about rethemes of rides as they are often used as a cheaper alternative to breathe some fresh life into an attraction or even craftily advertise it as ‘brand new’. While this makes perfect business sense a lot of the time, obviously I come from a world where counting new things is part of the fun and this doesn’t really fit the bill. Beyond that though, they can often come across as forced or generally just have an air of less attention to detail and care than an original attraction design.
A perfect example of this was even reinforced to me earlier in the same park when riding Incredicoaster – a ride that previously wasn’t branded with a Disney intellectual property but is now, albeit loosely, themed to the animated films of The Incredibles. A review for another time no doubt, but the changes to the original design felt a little flat to me.
So it was with this mindset that I entered the queue for GoTG – M:B! (bit of a mouthful isn’t it). Did they have a solid plan going into this retheme? Does it have a decent and relevant reason to exist as an attraction in it’s own right? Have they gone above and beyond just assigning it with a more recognisable brand in order to interest a wider audience? The answer to all of these is: yes!
This stunning piece of architecture is home to the Tivan Collection, an extensive assortment of artifacts kept by The Collector, a side character first seen in the film Thor: The Dark World, most prominently in Guardians of the Galaxy of course and then again in Avengers: Infinity War. Somehow he has managed to capture the now famed Guardians themselves and has included them as part of the display. Where do the guests fit into this narrative? We’re here to view the collection as tourists of course.
The first indoor queue area contains a few display items and a video greeting from The Collector himself welcoming patrons to the facility, alluding to how he managed to trick the Guardians and introducing us to the tour, including an important piece of guest interaction that will get us into the first preshow room – we need to raise our hands to be scanned.
Once in this room, The Collector’s office, the next video is interrupted by escapee Rocket the Raccoon who needs our assistance in breaking out the rest of the team. Now that our hand scan gives us access to places, we’re a part of the plan. It’s such a simple idea but I do love it when guests have a reason to be part of an attraction’s narrative, it just adds an extra element beyond being casual observer or forced into an unlikely ride situation with no purpose.
The best part of this preshow is the introduction of the Rocket animatronic (not pictured sadly, that’s just the exit shop). This truly is a mindblowing spectacle, the look, movement and behaviour of the raccoon far exceeds any other piece of Disney magic I’ve come across, it’s closer to witchcraft. Beyond that, this room is just packed with interesting artifacts from the larger cinematic universe, important for a collection of course, but the attention to detail is just so overwhelming and really helps reride(view?)ability, even at the introductory stage. The perfect finish to this sequence is the subtle automated rodent hand grab of Quill’s Walkman from one of the display cases as guests make their way out.
One of a select few jaw-dropping scenery transitions within a queueline happens for me next as we head out into the main lift area. The scale and look of the place is stunning and gets the buzz going for the actual ride part that comes next. Guests are batched into lifts as per the usual process for these attractions and, once seated and strapped in (with nothing but a belt), all manner of amazing things happen.
Once again The Collector is interrupted by Rocket who hooks up the Walkman to the sound system and the signature good time musical vibe of the franchise comes to life for the first time. While he wrestles with the controls for the elevator itself, guests get launched up and down with the signature good time physical vibe of Disney’s drop tower rides. Some on screen action occurs at each pause interval of the elevator system and the combination of these three things results in simply one of the most unanimously joyous attractions I’ve ever had the pleasure of experiencing.
Having not ridden the (life changing) Paris version for several years and, in the interim, trying out the now obviously weaker Tokyo edition I had been left worried that all my recent ride experience had diminished the effects of this type of hardware. Fortunately the powerful, gut punching airtime was back as fresh as ever, as the lift either transitions from upwards to freefall or lurches downwards after a standstill. It’s far beyond any other Disney attraction in terms of physical power, as well as the majority of traditional drop towers, almost unbelievably so. Dark rides can be great for their storytelling and visuals alone but throwing this raw thrill into the mix just puts this type of attraction on another level for me.
I left the buliding absolutely brimming with excitement, a spark I had sorely missed from Disney parks for a good couple of years and proceeded directly to the fastpass machine outside to guarantee another go. Yet another way in which they aid the rerideability of attractions like these is that there are six different audio, visual and physical sequences for the ride. It truly can be different every time and well worth several attempts, but even if there was only the one version I doubt that it would stop me. I could ride this thing all day, if only the resort didn’t have so many other things to offer. Damn you Disney and your well rounded park lineups. Now, if only they had a good rollercoaster along these lines…
Sometimes the overall experience of a park is far greater than the sum of its attractions, but at other times the opposite can be true. Nagashima Spa Land falls under the latter category for me and before this monster RMC was built I didn’t really get on with the place at all. I had visited twice before, once to find Hakugei’s predecessor White Cyclone closed, along with 10 other coasters in the park for the sake of a patch of drizzle and a second time as a near successful attempt at redemption, while the RMC conversion was still taking place.
I returned, almost begrudgingly, on a third visit in order to experience Asia’s first rollercoaster from industry legends Rocky Mountain Construction, who have topped polls for a number of years now and become celebrated favourites by many. I had jumped on that bandwagon myself within the 6 months prior to this particular trip after boosting my RMC count from 1 to 8 and pretty much loving every single one of them, which is why I found myself queueing to be let into Nagashima once again in June 2019.
As the other creds here had already been obtained, there was of course only one item on the agenda for the day – ride the new one as much as physically possible. This began with me surging forward with the initial crowds, getting a bit of a jog on and hoping to be amongst the first in the queue. It didn’t work particularly well as for some reason, I assume as the park is part of a larger resort and it’s possible to stay on-site, a significant number of other guests had beaten me there by other means.
No worries, I’m no stranger to a queue in this hobby. However I was soon hit with a strong reminder of just how slowly attractions are run at this park, watching the single train they had on track bounce around the pre-lift section, half empty, about once every 5 minutes. Let it not be said that I don’t suffer for my art sometimes, as this waiting game was particularly painful. Even without speaking Japanese I can to this day still loop the two minute safety announcement in my head along with the accompanying 20 second clip of the song ‘Thrill Life’ by Doberman Infinity. Just play all of it or none of it.
Upon nearing the batch point for the station lockers, staff members begin handing out wristbands to queuing guests, the purpose of which is somewhat overly complicated. Underneath the station are a bank of free lockers into which you deposit your loose belongings before getting scanned with metal detectors and proceeding up the stairs towards the platform. At the top of the stairs, you are relieved of the wristband so that, upon leaving the ride and joining other guests in the locker area you can’t just sneak back up for another lap. While this is a significant improvement over similar systems found elsewhere in the park that involve lockers on the platform, it is still a rather laborious procedure.
The final irksome policy before I can finally sit down and relax is the regimented batching into rows which does not allow guests any choice of seat. Usually I’m fine with such ideas, provided it has been put in place in order to maximise efficiency and throughput. That clearly isn’t the case here, given the time that everything else takes and particularly when coupled with the slightly more unusual local custom of not grouping strangers together, often leaving the train with several empty seats, as I alluded to earlier.
Why all the negativity here, in what is supposed to be a review of a top ten rollercoaster? It’s a point that rather fascinates me because I have absolutely no quarrels of this nature with any other ride amongst my list of the elite. In an ideal world, the happiness begins upon entering the queue, perhaps even the park itself and never falters for such trivialities. But sometimes these things just stick out in my (admittedly stubborn) mind like a sore thumb and it’s very hard to look past them. It becomes part of the character building of the ride. Does this attraction, or the way it’s being presented, want me to enjoy it as much as I want to? Weird though that may sound, I believe it’s important. Mostly though, this is a true testament to just how amazing this piece of hardware is. It may be cold, calculated and clinical, but Hakugei is just so damn good and highly deserving of a place among my all time favourites. Forget everything else, we’re onboard now, let’s begin that journey.
A signature pre-lift section begins with the slightest momentum out of the station giving way to several oddly shaped humps and bumps that miraculously manage to provide more airtime than most other coasters would care to admit. A huge 180ft ascent leads to a very open summit, with cracking views all round, and a flat unbanked 90° turn that’s taken at a rather swift pace before kicking you up, over and down into that massive first drop.
The seriously powerful airtime that this machine can produce sparks into life here, that little piece of extra emphasis as seen before on a couple of other creations such as Wildfire really does add to the sensation of riders being pinned out of their seats and dragged towards the ground below. It’s a sustained moment. It hits hard. I’d argue that it feels far more significant than the 300ft first drop of a certain giga coaster in the same park.
At full speed the train heads into what must be one of the worlds biggest ‘double ups’, an element which provides two further sharp bursts of airtime in satisfying succession. An unusual turnaround follows with the track banking counterintuitively towards the outside of the corner in a wonderfully whippy transition, similar to that of the green high five moment on Twisted Colossus, but with only the sky to greet you.
This, again similarly, is succeeded by a particularly out of control ‘double down’ section which for me is one of the standout moments of the ride. It’s hard to anticipate, hard to brace for and can be rather brutal on the leg department with how hard it tries to remove you from your seat – all things I love to see on a coaster.
Continuing to draw on the strengths of previous builds, another signature RMC moment hits in the form of a zero-G stall. With the sheer speed at which this ride moves, it isn’t their finest for that other-worldly upside down floaty sensation. This worked better towards the middle of the train but the front and back both provided a different, powerful and unusual mix of forces.
One of the many things I love about Hakugei is that it just doesn’t want to do corners. Corners are boring. To point us in the opposite direction this time we get a strange overbanked turn with multiple elevation changes that deliver some weird sideways kicks, never letting up.
A glorious but standard zero-G inversion comes next, something else the manufacturer can often take pride in. Watching the dense layer of track supports manouevre itself around you is always a sight to behold.
Intensity follows grace with a powerful airtime hill, the first traditional one of these in the entire layout. As it winds out of this through another banked turn and drop we get another of those violent and unpredictable moments that sets this one above others of its type. The third and final turnaround is a low overbank with unnerving lateral forces, far more than I had come to expect from these rides and a highly welcome feature.
Now, buried deep within the intimidating stucture, the final stretch delivers yet more vicious airtime of both standard and then sideways variety, one last inversion and another of my absolute favourite moments – a tiny little twisted hill that never failed to induce shouts of terror and/or pain from all riders. The whale goes out with a bang and I’m left trying to process the insanity.
Often with coasters of this scale there’s a memorable part, a signature sequence of elements that define the ride and then some ‘other bits’ to go with it. Hakugei is a masterclass in layout design from the moment it leaves the station until the moment it hits the brakes and I have a massive respect for anyone that can pull that off. I’ve got my favourite elements of course that I already alluded to, but the flow, the pace, the sequencing of this thing – everything comes together perfectly and feels so… right. Two minutes of coaster heaven. Put this ride in another park and it may well have been Japan’s best for me. Just goes to show it’s so tight at the top that even emotion can swing it.
Obviously it’s not the best of times to be thinking about these sorts of things and I’m likely tempting fate in doing so, but it just seems like the most appropriate topic to begin a new year with. These are all rides I’m actively going to try and experience this year as opposed to a standard ‘bucket list’. I’m generally loathed to write posts about attractions I haven’t yet tried for two reasons, though hopefully I’ve come up with workarounds for both on this particular occasion: 1) I don’t have any nice photos for them yet – instead you can have an external link for further reading and a related picture of another ride to which I can attribute some of my expressed interest 2) Raising expectations is a dangerous game – I can’t pretend I don’t have expectations or this list wouldn’t exist in the first place, I just won’t rank them in any particular order other than geographical
Oh well, here it is anyway.
I could have just filled this list with 10 rides from the 2020 American road trip that wasn’t to be. There were over 100 credits planned and a ton of the industrys big names on the bill. Even if it does happen this time around, in order to keep this post a bit fresher I’ll have give the rest of the world a fighting chance as well. I just can’t go without mentioning a couple of absolute standouts.
(Fjord Flying Dragon, Happy Valley Tianjin)
Voyage, Holiday World Originally destined to be my 1000th coaster, Voyage would likely claim to be the king of Gravity Group woodies. It has the stats to back it up, being the longest and fastest they’ve ever designed and as they are my favourite manufacturer of the moment, the desire to finally get this one under my belt is obviously rather strong. To add another layer of excitement and intrigue, the park holds an annual event intended entirely for enthusiasts and legend has it that the coaster is run at its absolute best (no trim brakes) just for them, for two nights only. I was booked to go last year and I’m already booked again for 2021. Make it happen.
(Hakugei, Nagashima Spa Land)
Steel Vengeance, Cedar Point The hype around this ride is inescapable as it now dominates every rollercoaster ranking system ever conceived. RMC are the most consistently excellent manufacturer around these days and, once again, their biggest creation to date certainly looks like a world beater. I’m already hugely conflicted about Steel Vengeance and I don’t even know much of what it does. While of course I want it to be the best thing ever, something I’ve been searching for for over 5 years now, I don’t know if I want that best thing ever to be the same as everyone else’s best thing ever. It’s a tough spot to be in, but I’m determined not to let anything cloud my judgement when I finally get there.
I’ve still got 9 months of a Chinese Visa left and damned if I’m going to settle for just the one visit on this version when I did so well the last time I had one. There’s always new and exciting stuff appearing over there on an almost weekly basis, so of course I already have a shortlist of attractions around a couple of regions with enough to keep me happy for a week or more, should the opportunity arise.
(Extreme Rusher, Happy Valley Beijing)
Launch Roller Coaster, Sun Tzu Cultural Park For a glorious moment in time I had the full set of these S&S air launch coasters but then China had to go and throw a spanner in the works and order a couple more, both of which have been plagued with mystery and delays in construction. (There’s also one on the US trip now, but enough of that already). I already have history with this one, having intended to make it part of an itinerary back in 2018, except when I arrived in the region it wasn’t anywhere near ready for me. The appropriately named Launch Roller Coaster seems to now be open and of course I’m hugely interested in nabbing it. They’re an amazing ride type that the world needs more of and this one has already thrown some new and exciting elements into the mix.
(Magic Gallery, Oriental Heritage Changsha)
Battle of Red Cliffs, Oriental Heritage Jingzhou After rekindling my passion with Fantawild parks this time last year and having done a lot of recent digging on dark rides (for the eventual benefit of mankind – stay tuned on that one), this resort that I would have originally dismissed as inconsequential due to the atrocious coaster lineup appears to contain an exciting enigma of an attraction. The name directly translates to ‘Burning Chibi’ and as per usual for the franchise should be based around historical events of the region. Images on their own website are fleeting though there’s one of fire, one of some dark ride track and those alone are enough to get me buzzing, but ‘the largest naval battle in history’ as a fresh Fantawild attraction? I’ll be there.
(Mysteries of Chaohu, Hefei Wanda Theme Park)
The Final Sea Battle, Wuxi Sunac Land I know even less about this one and though it comes with less of my romanticised notions of discovery, I’ve been saying for years that Wanda (now Sunac) should up their dark ride game, or at least bring them into the same park as their world class coasters to prevent me from prematurely ending a good marathon and having to visit a separate establishment in a mall afterwards. It would seem this has now happened at the Wuxi park at least and while Falcon is also a must visit, from the little I’ve already learned, I’m rather more intrigued to see how this attraction fares against local rivals.
(Jungle Trailblazer, Oriental Heritage Jinan)
Time Travel, Hot Go Park Another ride I have history with and another set for completion. During a particularly painful moment of the hobby I saw, with my own eyes, this wooden coaster creation hanging off the edge of a hill, but only through the window of a taxi. I was out to collect all the Gravity Group rides of China in 2018 and foolishly let this one slip through my fingers due to a silly little thing called seasonal operating schedules, something I didn’t even know the country had for two long visits prior – it gets cold up north you see. Of course now, several years later, there’s another of their woodies being built and I might forever be chasing my tail because of this mistake, but the the plan is to get both, and for size, location and personal revenge this one still resonates with me far more than any other.
Closer to home, everyone, literally everyone, is going (or at least wanting) to be going to Belgium this year. It’s about the only certain thing for 2021. Why? Because two of the most exciting looking coasters in Europe are due to debut less than 100 miles away from each other and that makes for a perfect little weekend break. You can count me amongst the masses, I’m not one to miss out on these things.
(Goliath, Walibi Holland)
Kondaa, Walibi Belgium Intamin perfected the airtime machine back in the early 2000s but I personally don’t feel the designs hold up very well against their more modern counterparts nowadays. Goliath is due to lose its last Beneluxian statistical records this year to a brand new rival in a neighbouring Walibi park and this move couldn’t be more welcome. Things have come a long way in a short time and it seems that all the top manufacturers are taking inspiration from one another with exciting layouts we never previously would have expected and from the very little I’ve seen (still not one for spoilers) I’m dying to try this one as soon as possible. It’s time to bring the Intamin Mega coaster into the roaring ’20s.
(Star Trek: Operation Enterprise, Movie Park Germany)
Time Traveler(?), Plopsaland de Panne It seems we don’t know the official name yet and I’m very much hoping it’s not this one, because there’s already another Time Traveler, the same ride type, which also could have made this list were it not for me advocating diversity in yet another way throughout this post. It just so happens that this Belgian build looks to be a lot more intense, though perhaps less pretty, and it would be great if I could compare the two in a short time frame, particularly as I’m yet to even try an elusive Mack Xtreme Spinner and there’s nothing else on the market quite like it yet. I love a Mack launch, me.
Florida is the biggest black hole in my theme park arsenal. How can I have been all over the world and still not set foot in what is arguably the capital? With the world’s largest Disney and Universal resorts and biggest named Busch Gardens and Sea World parks there’s enough in this one state to keep anyone, including me, going for weeks. The answer is, simply, I’ve never got round to it. But I want to. And as such, I’ve never even looked in great detail at what’s there. I know the obvious coaster stuff, but not the ins and outs of each resort and it now feels like I’m clinging to that rookie state for as long as possible, just to feel wide eyed and innocent one final time in this hobby.
(Star Tours – The Adventures Continue, Disneyland)
Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, Disney’s Hollywood Studios I know nothing. Absolutely nothing. It’s a trackless dark ride, right? And, and, Star Wars. My absolute favourite film franchise. You can quote me on here as previously saying that I would get excited simply if I ever got to see Crait on an upgraded Star Tours simulator cycle (and those rides just do nothing for me, really), so the fact that there’s a brand new, specifically designed, reputedly next level Disney dark ride themed around the modern material is… well… I’m still not ready for Florida. And I don’t think I ever will be.
(Taiga, Linnanmäki)
Velocicoaster, Universal Studios Islands of Adventure Back in the days of Revenge of the Mummy, Universal were setting the precedent for combining thrill rides with immersive theming and I’m yet to see another project come close to matching the things that I specifically love that attraction for. Velocicoaster would seem to go down a slightly different road, perhaps inspired by ol’ Taron by being a densely decorated Intamin multi launch coaster and while I’m not the biggest Taron fan out there, my experience with their latest and greatest, Taiga, has me overwhelmingly hopeful that these two giants of the industry can pull off something as similarly unrivalled as the Mummy, in its own special way. I’ve also already had a literal, actual dream about this ride becoming my new #1 rollercoaster. Is that setting the bar too high?
Actually, to be fair it was still surprisingly successful in terms of theme park enthusing. I started out the new year in China, while the upcoming apocalypse was kicking off around us on a local scale, so that led to a sneaky two week headstart. Obviously it all went downhill in March, with the spring (Poland) and early summer (USA) bookings taking the hit. I experienced my biggest coaster drought since starting to take this all seriously back in 2015, at a total of 190 park free days, which was eventually broken with some shameless local credhunting. The itinerary that saved it all from total despair ended up being the fortnight driving across Europe, again with everything closing around us. The trip provided me with my 1000th coaster in spectacular fashion and, masks aside, delivered the perfect dose of escaping reality that this hobby does so wonderfully. The important question though, how does this look when presented in numbers?
Not bad at all considering. That’s 109 new rollercoasters for me, which is down by about half on the previous three years but still an increase of over 10% on the overall count, something that is inevitably going to slow down over time regardless of global pandemics. Better still, there were 42 new to me park visits, only 5 less than in 2019, though that can mainly be attributed to a significant difference in the scale of said parks – no US monsters in there sadly. Something not included in these graphs is the fact that I still spent 30 days of this year visiting theme parks. One whole month out of 2020 doing what I love – I’ll take that.
Now that quantifying everything has made me infinitely happier, let’s talk about some highlights.
No doubt about it for me, Zadra the massive RMC at Energylandia takes the top spot. It took two long, intense days to become fully acquainted with the experience on offer here but this truly is a spectacular ride with powerful pacing and a bit of every sensation thrown in for good measure. My favourite individual coaster lap of the year would also have been found on this thing, on the second day, just as the sun was setting and even with the deeply unpleasant sensation of getting swarms of tiny bugs stuck under my eyelids. Top tier coasters are able to earn their respect in the most unusual of circumstances.
I’ve had almost an entire year to sit on this one now and I think I’ve finally settled on the decision that Magic Gallery at Oriental Heritage Changsha is my new favourite dark ride, of all time. Everything about the experience, from the initial setup of not knowing what it was, throughout the spectacularly long and detailed presentation of onboard events and finishing up with the complimentary cup of tea upon exiting the car, was so well tailored to my personal tastes. I get both excited and emotional just thinking about rides like this now.
It’s not time to get off the Fantawild train just yet. My visit to Fantawild Asian Legend this year reignited my passion for the franchise in spectacular fashion by combining a multitude of their amazing dark rides, all reimagined with new themes and storylines, plus a copy of one of my favourite rollercoasters on the planet (something I’d usually despise but I’m just thankful for the opportunity to ride something that good this year). Out of all the overall days of park experiences this one was just so densely packed with joyous moments of discovery from start to finish that it simply has to take the number one position.
It’s good to remind myself the stupid lengths that we end up going to for entertainment every once in a while and that was perfectly summed up this year by riding all 5 coasters in the Karls Erlebnis-Dorf chain across 4 of their parks in a single day. Netting just shy of 1000km of driving across 15 hours on the most ridiculous route from Poland to Hamburg, you’d be forgiven for thinking we’re clinically insane. But it’s a lot of fun and that’s what really counts.
While tinkering with the format for my end of year summary I figured I’d do a bit of a catchup session on the previous 5 years, a fun look back on all the experiences that came before the inception of this site.
2019 feels big in a different way. A lot less frantic, a lot more dense. Of course having spent the new year in California, things kicked off with a strong start through more American adventures. Having acquired the ridiculously cheap season passes for both the Cedar Fair and Six Flags chains and being suitably hooked on the US coaster trip lifestyle, we decided to attack the other side of the country only a few months later.
With the usual routine broken I was back in Singapore in summer rather than winter and took the opportunity for what felt like a somewhat desperate attempt against some unfinished business and I finally bagged my most elusive coaster of all time in China before a whirlwind stint in Japan. The nature of that particular journey highlighted, scarily, that all-new trips were becoming harder to plan and this became even more evident when selecting one more big European adventure for the year. It ended up as an unusual mix of nations, Finland being driven by an exciting new opening and Italy by being the largest country as yet unexplored by us. Numbers please.
There we go. Another record breaking year with 230 new rollercoasters for me, a surprise that can definitely be attributed to the sheer quantity of coasters per park in the USA compared to the rest of the world. For similar reasons, park visits were down rather significantly at only 47 new ones, doing more than 1 a day just isn’t practical in some places and could even be an insult to certain quality coasters. Similarly, the number of days spent in parks was back down to 48, which is still a very satisfying amount and I’m just delighted that one of the records was still broken. I’ve set the bar too high for myself.
Now that quantifying everything has made me infinitely happier, let’s talk about some highlights.
Favourite Coaster in 2019
The biggest year yet (again) deserves a larger list, leaving some of these off would just be too painful.
Honourable mentions – Twisted Timbers (Kings Dominion), El Toro (Six Flags Great Adventure), Wicked Cyclone (Six Flags New England), Lightning Rod (Dollywood), Wood Coaster (Knight Valley), Hakugei (Nagashima Spa Land), Taiga (Linnanmäki) & Untamed (Walibi Holland)
Dense was the correct word to use earlier, with so much quality going into the coaster list – 10 spots in my current top 25 were rewritten over the space of 6 months. In a year dominated by RMCs, one incredible Intamin creation took the crown. Skyrush at Hersheypark wasn’t an instant hit for me, but once the sun went down we strapped ourselves in for the most intense marathon of our coasting career and the ride completely came into its own. It’s difficult to do justice to just how terrifying this attraction is even to the most seasoned of enthusiasts, but know that it had the most profound effect on me.
Disney does it again with the reimagining of a previous winner on these lists. Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT! at Disney California Adventure is a fresh overlay for the well known Tower of Terror attractions and I want to say I was skeptical about this move when the news was announced but the truth is I didn’t pay any attention all. It worked better than I could have ever hoped for anyway, with the combination of a completely unforced narrative, out of this world theming and a franchise I’m massively into resulting in what I consider to be Disneyland’s finest attraction to date.
I’ve never been more at peace in a park than I was at Dollywood and my time spent here managed to completely change my perspective on theme parks. Sometimes the attractions don’t even matter (though Lightning Rod helps of course), all you need is some beautiful scenery, a relaxed atmosphere, good food, country music and (never thought I’d be saying this) a rocking chair. There’s a very unique and specific combination of factors going on here that reached me on levels I didn’t know existed and the result is first class.
Never have I needed to be more persistent in the acquisition of a ride than for Wood Coaster at Knight Valley. I’ve already covered the story several times on here but what cannot be overstated are the levels of ‘cred anxiety’ (yes, there is an accepted medical term for it) that planning for and travelling to experience this attraction created within me. That’s not something to be celebrated at all but mercifully, mercifully, new lows can lead to new highs, the drama paid off and gave me a new top ten coaster for the collection. Now that does deserve a win.
While tinkering with the format for my end of year summary I figured I’d do a bit of a catchup session on the previous 5 years, a fun look back on all the experiences that came before the inception of this site. With no sign of slowing, 2018 was another big year, with by far the biggest East-West and North-South spread across the globe (maybe I should start doing maps in these too).
It began with our first foray into the Southern Hemisphere thanks to some particularly exciting coaster news down under. A return to Spain kept the early season blues away and then I made one final use out of my Chinese visa with a reasonably successful revenge trip to certain regions. It’s actually thanks to work that this became the strongest year yet for number of new coasters – a conference in Abu Dhabi gave me a few days to sneak away and nab a chunk of the UAE’s theme park offerings.
Our France game got stronger in the summer, now that we had become fully accustomed to dealing with the usual Chunnel nightmares and then as if the year wasn’t insane enough, another dream trip to Korea and Japan? Yes please. A revisit to Liseberg and Helix? Yes please. As I approached 700 coasters I had still managed to avoid setting foot on the shores of the USA, a streak that was finally (and thankfully) broken with the New Year spent in California, a New Years eve at Magic Mountain no less. How well will that help the numbers along?
Very. There were 223 new rollercoasters for me, no way this total is ever going to do anything as significant as doubling again but it’s still being beaten year on year and that’s satisfying to watch. The rise in park visits was even more significant, with 72 new park visits in total, a clear sign that there were less coasters on average per establishment than before. I mentioned a future goal in the previous entry of this series and it came true (a foreshadowing cheat), starting and ending the year on such significant trips saw the number of days spent in parks total rise to a record 64, over two months of the year doing what I do best!
Now that quantifying everything has made me infinitely happier, let’s talk about some highlights.
Favourite Coaster in 2018
The biggest year yet deserves a larger list, leaving some of these off would just be too painful.
Sneaking in, literally on the last day of the year, is Twisted Colossus at Six Flags Magic Mountain. It may not have even settled in my mind how highly I would rate this coaster by the time I left that night but a strong session with it just one week later would strongly secure the spot at the top of this already immensely stacked group of attractions. The very first lap in the dark was unreal and exactly the type of moment that this post is all about.
It was likely inevitable that a visit to Tokyo DisneySea this year would put something at or near the top and though expectations weren’t quite met overall, Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Crystal Skull takes the crown. While nearly all the major attractions at the park had incredible visuals and an atmosphere in and around them, the only one to truly compliment that with a gamechanging onboard experience were the wildly out of control tomb raiding expedition vehicles found within this masterpiece. Vast open areas of gorgeous theming, mind blowing special effects and moments of pure hilarity put this ride straight in amongst the greatest of all time. I’m upset we didn’t get a second go – that damn typhoon.
Motiongate caught me totally unprepared. I’d never really read anything positive or negative about the park and spent so much of the trip planning either dwelling on work or quirks of a cultural nature so I was nearly knocked of my feet on several occasions at the staggering beauty of this park. It has a fun and varied coaster lineup with nothing exceedingly special, but what makes this place is the dark rides (just look at that honorable mentions list), the areas in which they are housed, the atmosphere, the friendliness of the staff, the food, the lack of queues… I could go on. It ticked all my boxes and I fell in love, hard.
Persistence in the face of adversity is becoming a running theme for this category and this time it was the weathers fault (another running theme in general). It was a low moment for the hobby to arrive in Barcelona and drive to the top of a mountain only to find the first park of the trip completely rained out and abandoned. The wounds were still sore after a second failed botched attempt at Wood Coaster in Shenzhen a couple of months prior and I remember specifically saying in despair as we headed back to the car – “we just can’t go anywhere any more…” Thankfully we proceeded to have a pleasant evening in Portaventura further down the coast and then took a significant chunk out of our following day there to drive all the way back up here and have what turned out to be an even better evening at the fabulous Tibidabo. It may not look like much by cred alone, but the desperate need to go and catch ’em all is the perfect way to stumble onto gems like this.
