50 years of coasters – 1996

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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50 years of coasters – 1995

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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50 years of coasters – 1994

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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50 years of coasters – 1993

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Himeji Central Park

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

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

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

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

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

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50 years of coasters – 1992

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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