50 years of coasters – 2004

There’s a bit of a mild mannered start to this year’s list as we continue to ride the downturn that seems to be following that millennium boom. The sheer numbers of new coasters opening across the world are back up again, but it generally looks like a quieter year for big spend on the big name manufacturers with Swiss stars Intamin only having two rides to their name (one of which is a stock model clone) compared to an impressive seven the previous year. Will they make it count?

I remember, somewhat tongue in cheek, declaring this the best coaster in Belgium back in 2016, so it’s alarming to think that this custom Vekoma Junior had a potential twelve years at the top of the game. Of course they had some bigger and badder stuff around, just nothing that really jumped out as worthy of recognition for me. Luckily the country has had a massive coaster revolution that’s looking to take the world by storm and I now find myself constantly thinking ‘I’ve got to get to Belgium as soon as possible.’

A consecutive annual appearance for French manufacturer Soquet, this fun little mine train gives a solid and characterful ride experience. Since my last visit the coaster has received an elaborate decorative overhaul and looks barely recognisable. New love for an old attraction is something that’s always great to see.

It’s starting to look like white/cream was the ‘in’ colour in 2004. After five years slowly gathering momentum in Europe, this was the year that Gerstlauer went global, breaking into both America and Asia with several different types of family coaster model that showed off their already diverse offerings. Aqua Wind was the next of the Bobsled model and brought some welcome thrills to this recently established Japanese theme park/water park hybrid.

This unsuspecting Senyo Kogyo coaster is cropping up everywhere on here, both from being one of my major milestones and a backwards blast. It ticks all the various boxes to stand out amongst a crowd of filler for me, with that custom layout, jet coaster aesthetic and circumstantial hilarity of an intense thunderstorm that all give it an edge over the competition.

The saga of S&S wooden coasters concludes just one year after it started. Only one of these made it outside the US and it’s the only one I’ve tried so far. It’s surprisingly good for the size, with decent tracking and agood range of forces. Not a game changer by any means and perhaps a reason they failed to stand out in this market, but I admire the attempt.

GCI were continuing to build that momentum however, with what were becoming their signature fast paced, twisted layouts. If anything there was too much emphasis put on that with a ride like Thunderhead, which laid claim to some form of world record for number of crossing points and turns. The end result is the basic aggression of wooden tracking is the overbearing sensation, with little else in the way of notable forces. This was also their first model to make use of the station flythrough element though, a moment I’ve come to love over the years.

A recent visit reminded me that I had left it far too long before becoming reacquainted with my local Maurer spinner. As far as I’m concerned it’s the best of the bunch for having that unique sprawling layout that just whips up a storm in a very natural manner, with none of those wild mouse turns that try and sometimes fail to get a rotation going. It sets Dragon’s Fury apart from your standard off the shelf spinning coasters by a significant distance.

It wouldn’t be a top 3 these days without at least one B&M. This glorious looking invert is on the lower end of the spectrum amongst its kind, perhaps one of the first to show a softer approach to the model with that gentle build of momentum in the first drop. With 6 inversions it’s obviously no slouch, but I’m not sure it’s as effective as it could have been. The interaction with the surroundings is top notch though.

Squeezing one of their Floorless models into central Copenhagen must have been an interesting challenge to say the least, but once again B&M pulled off an effective demonstration of just how good their rides are, as standard. I love the unnatural layout of Dæmonen and the front row experience is not something to be missed on this one, again, given the location and surroundings.

Yes. Intamin did make it count. In a welcome deviation from raw speed and height on their hydraulic launch coaster, Storm Runner performs a number of fabulous manoeuvres that make it by far the most accomplished version of the model for me. It still has that breathtakingly short ride time, but every moment is packed with something fresh and fun, from powerful airtime to crushing positives, floaty inversions to snappy transitions. Love it.

What are we missing here?
Obviously the other two S&S woodies intrigue me, though one of the 2004 builds, Avalanche, is no longer in action. Hell Cat has just recently been rescued from extinction and shot way up my priority list for the next planned US trip for this very reason.
I keep managing to miss out on Heiße Fahrt whenever I’m in the area, no doubt a worthy rival to the other Gerstlauer that made this list.
Both US editions of Revenge of the Mummy opened this year and though I’d love to see how they hold up against the Singapore version that’s so close to my heart, I’m also apprehensive and have so far actively avoided an encounter with one of them.
I never knew Iran had their own coaster manufacturer, but that’s just the kind of reason I love to trawl through these lists. Obviously something else I need in my life.
Morgan’s Mexican Superman swan song could be another good shout. Some form of conflict between Six Flags and the government dragged this one’s opening out far beyond the time that the company was bought out by the equally elusive (for me at least) Chance Rides.
I already mentioned the sad demise of Twister in the Maurer Spinner rankings but again, just look at that setting.
And in the absence of anything else major to mention (things are looking pretty good for Storm Runner right now), here’s something give you nightmares. It’s now on my list.

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50 years of coasters – 2003

I would go straight to the honourable mentions again but… there don’t appear to be any. 2003 seems to be a down year for output after that Millennium boom and there’s simply nothing I can see that I have both ridden and isn’t in the list below that deserves any particular nod. Are we feeling the loss of the likes of Arrow, Togo and CCI already? Who will step into their shoes, or at least the shadow of the Swiss?

Well Japan have still got Sansei Yusoki on their side, just a tiny bit. Not the most prolific of manufacturers, we last saw them feature 12 years ago and they’ve only built about 20 coasters in total over a span of 50 years! I’ve just noticed that 2003 isn’t even confirmed here as the official opening date, but we’ll roll with the entry for now as it would only otherwise end up being something the same as the one below.
What makes this coaster entertaining, aside from the name, is the more modern steampunk rebrand with screens and effects in a show section which enhance a fairly unremarkable (yet unnecessarily shoulder restrainted) indoor ride. Not that that would have helped in ~2003, though I tend to give bonus points to any old ride in a building anyway.

Apparently this Gerstlauer Bobsled is custom, though it looks and feels awfully familiar. This was one of two of the model to open this year, with popularity seeming to start to pick up since the 1998 debut of the company and ride type. Although the counterpart has some impressive interaction with other coasters, Drachenritt is nicely decorated with this castle theme, watery setting and bonus helix inside a snake. Can’t go wrong with that.

Elsewhere in Europe, French manufacturer Soquet were fleshing out a couple of local establishments like this zoo park that received their next, biggest, though that’s not saying much, coaster in 2003. I like Azteka more than I perhaps should, there’s just something about it that amuses me, from the unusual (and slightly disturbing) train decoration to the way it rides, with an endearing clunkiness that only certain small companies can get right.

A massive looping Intamin in a mall in Malaysia seems a bit out of place, particularly when you visit these days and find that over half of the floors and premises in said mall are completely deserted and unoccupied. Someone obviously had some cash to splash back in 2003 and this fascinating piece of hardware was the result. It doesn’t quite have the elegance of the multi inversion layouts that were being built over the last couple of years (an elegance those have also since lost), particularly with the older, extra clunky trains on this one, but I find myself endlessly admiring the way it integrates into the surroundings.

B&M followed up their first year of flying coasters with two more copies of their second design, identically named and themed, in true Six Flags fashion. This layout made a name for itself with the ridiculously intense pretzel loop element, a polarising inversion that has riders diving head first towards the ground before pulling out at high speeds onto their back and up into the air again. It remains one of the most hard hitting parts of any coaster, still to this day. The rest? Still needs work.

Magic Mountain also received a mirrored clone of another ride in the chain, the first ever B&M floorless Medusa at Six Flags Great Adventure to be precise. As both Superman and Batman were already accounted for elsewhere in the park, Scream! got to start out with it’s own identity as an attraction, rather than being assigned a superhero name tag, although it’s probably more commonly known as ‘the car park coaster’ instead now.

This densely situated amusement park next to the Tokyo Dome has been thrilling riders with crazy coaster concepts since 1968 and Thunder Dolphin was the spiritual successor to a humble Togo jet coaster that used to run the park perimeter. Intamin kicked it up a gear of course, reaching 262ft into the sky, amongst the skyscrapers, and attempted to weave in some of that hyper coaster magic they’d been spreading over the last few years. The layout comes off a little strange with the obvious limitations and it doesn’t quite live up to that magic, but it’s a ton of fun and a spectacular visual experience nonetheless.

The old faithful inverts are still generally outperforming the other B&M ride types (for now) and the UK’s second installation took a bold chance by opting to share the name of a British legend. In the eyes of most fans of the original, the association didn’t pay off. It has none of the storytelling grandeur or gamechanging aesthetic of OG Nemesis, but it’s a damn good rollercoaster regardless and one that seems to only ever get better with age.

Intamin had the monopoly on Asian capital city projects this year it seems. We’ve seen Seoul’s Lotte World before in this series of course and once again it’s thanks to the Swiss manufacturer with that special ability to cram something spectacular into an impossible place. Situated in and around the rockwork beneath the park’s signature ‘inspired’ castle centrepiece, the world’s only Aquatrax (a fact that’s often lamented) features a powerful launch, an unusual mid course lift hill and a collection of fantastic moments in comfy, open seating. It’s supposed to also feature water jets that hit the track, hence the name, though unfortunately I’ve never seen them in action.

Not the first time Liseberg have topped the list for a year and, spoilers, it certainly won’t be the last. Intamin’s second pre-fab woodie is much more compact than the original and yet, with brutal efficiency, it manages to pack in far more of that signature ejector airtime. It’s a very by the numbers design (other than that extremely wild first drop) of corner, hill, corner, hill that effectively showcases what the manufacturer was doing better than anyone else at this particular time in history and why they’re really starting to place so highly here.

As with the lack of honourable mentions I’m not finding a huge amount that’s potentially missing from this list either, so it’s a good thing we’ve had such solid examples already or I’d be starting to get worried for the future I already know the outcome to.
The obvious headline for the year was Top Thrill Dragster at Cedar Point, the first ever 400ft monster, undoubtely an exhilarating experience, particularly with those lap bars, though it feels like I know exactly what to expect having done most of Intamin’s other accelerators of the same ilk.
Perhaps seeing an opening in the market, S&S tried their hand at their first wooden coaster with Timberhawk: Ride of Prey.
In other, slow, wooden news, Nicco Park in India decided that they wanted to replicate the Cyclone from England’s Southport Pleasureland by working with the original’s owners at the time, Blackpool Pleasure Beach, as consultants, and following in the footsteps of another Indian Park, Esselworld, who had pulled off this process 8 years prior.
It’s distressing going through these lists and finding old Pax relics I probably can’t ride any more. The silly looking Looping is the only known powered coaster with an inversion and, as we’ve come to expect from the Russian manufacturer, comes across as entirely mad, in the best way. There is hope for me though, this one’s still on the travelling circuit somewhere, waiting for me.

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50 years of coasters – 2002

I’m currently contemplating foregoing the usual introductions from here on out in favour of a few honourable/dishonourable mentions that didn’t make the cut for me. This year, for example, finds a triple threat from Vekoma who were, in this era in particular, struggling to match the quality of certain other major manufacturers.
After 8 years of terrorising guests with the standard suspended looping coaster, two brand new layouts were thrown into the mix. Odyssey at Fantasy Island became and still is the tallest in the world of this particular model and I can’t really say that this does it any favours.
Snow Mountain Flying Dragon was just a little taller yet slightly shorter in length than the standard model and is surprisingly inoffensive in comparison, but inoffensive isn’t enough to make the list any more now that things have hotted up significantly.
Disney’s own take on the launched indoor spaghetti bowl of a coaster first seen from Premier in 1996 had spawned the world famous Rock’n’Rollercoaster from Vekoma, in Florida, back in 1999. The Paris park got in on the (moteurs) action in 2002 and, some 13 years later when I finally found the courage to ride it, the on-board speakers were broken and it just hasn’t stood the test of time. Hopefully the revamp that’s currently taking place will breathe some new life into it.

Speaking of rides that haven’t stood the test of time, we begin with this old classic, my local ten-looping sensation that I can’t really find the motivation to ride any more. I used to have a real fondness for it, we have a lot of history together, it’s just slowly deteriorated both in presentation and ride quality, while at the same time I’ve become infinitely fussier.

Intamin were going all out this year alongside breaking that inversion record. This was the start of something big for them, the birth of the hydraulic launch coaster that would eventually see them take the reins on many more world records. The story goes that this propulsion method was born out of a local lack of juice to fuel those LSM launches that had been steadily taking over the industry (ridiculous S&S air launches aside) and the alternative engineering solution is quite something to behold in both speed and power.

Move aside Vekoma, B&M want to have a crack at that flying coaster concept. For passenger loading alone, they had it sorted – none of that tilting back onto your head nonsense, well, until halfway through the layout at least. The layout was competent, swoopy and fun but as the years went by we started to see that this prototype played things a little safe. They’ve come a long way with this model (and subsequently Vekoma decided not to touch it again for a good 20 years).

Both Swiss manufacturers were keeping themselves busy on both sides of the pond. This floorless B&M was the smallest of its type to date and goes through the standard formula of inversions for these, minus the cobra roll, giving it somewhat of a different pacing. Solid fun, if a little predictable, the world was now crying out for this concept to step things up a gear as well.

The first time Maurer have cracked the list since their 1996 debut and they did it in style with this one. With tricks and insanity like the world have never seen before, these two indoor coasters (Fear and Force) took the spinner to another level and put the German manufacturer at the top of the game for this style of ride for a good many years to come.

Riding on the back of pure insanity, the legendary X (no ‘2’ at the time of opening of course) should have walked this year and probably would if anyone else was making this list. I came at it from the unusual angle of having ridden both of S&S’s follow up models of the ridiculous 4D coaster and this really highlighted how relatively pedestrian the Arrow prototype was. It’s a mindblowing experience by default, with that face first drop of doom and the bouncy rotations that will grind your calves down to the bone, but this one doesn’t even scare me any more. The other two do.

Big year for Batman, he’s landed himself multiple entries. We’ve been seeing this infamous cloned layout of the B&M invert for a few years already now, but this one happens to be my favourite of the bunch, it had that extra little spark that rode just that much better (to the point that it was almost too much). If anything it’s testament to how good this ride type is by default that it can just keep on delivering the goods.

Just next door we’ve got his rival Superman. Parque Warner Madrid must have really splashed out for their park’s opening year with this double trouble of B&Ms. Unlike the earlier Batman, this one is far from little. It has all the classics, the 7 inversions that make the staple. It has a couple of other moments that help it stand out from the crowd though, namely an extra little punch in the first drop, an unexpected airtime hill and a trim brake with some genius comedic timing.

The ride that taught me what airtime was for the very first time has faded into obscurity over the years. It was a top ten for sure, when I could barely scrape ten together, but that formulaic sequence of hills has worn down over time both in delivery and by proxy. Considering how Expedition GeForce was ruling the world one year prior, I’d say Goliath was actually a step down for the design, even though it’s still an impressive ride and, like the B&M invert, is testament to how good any Intamin ‘airtime machine’ is by default.

I really need to get back and ride this thing again. It keeps winning out in lists and I keep doubting myself on that because I already know it’s inherently flawed. Unless we were sat near or at the back, this just wasn’t that impressive a ride, though that can equally be said for the previous two entries. 2002 is an extremely solid year for sure, although there’s no real gamechanging outliers this time around and, just like within Europa Park, being above average is enough to scrape top spot. Something about that combination of the usual B&M hyper stuff that doesn’t really get me going, along with some actual surprise ejection sprinkled in for good measure just makes for a happy rider and Silver Star always get those bonus points for the theme song (a song which is no longer played, maybe I shouldn’t go back).

Elsewhere in the world, an almost-Colossus opened in Guatemala with 8 inversions instead of 10. The original trains look astonishingly hideous, but the rest of it seems rather nice.
Along with the other Spanish entries we saw, Coaster Express opened up with the park, a woodie with a not so good reputation that we didn’t get the chance to try as it wasn’t up and running. It can’t be that bad, surely?
Pax are back again with this striking looking creation, I just love their creativity and wish it was still with us.
Of course the original Tilt Coaster has to make the cut, I really need to get around to doing Taiwan one day if only for this marvellous contraption, you’d think I would have by now.
What were CCI up to this year? Sadly 2002 was when it all ended for them, and their Swan Song was the New Mexico Rattler, a ride I hadn’t actually even heard of until today. Hope they went out with a bang (and not a rattle).
The Roller Soaker concept always fascinated me, even though it didn’t last very long and would never threaten anything else in the list. The modern equivalent was a blast at least.
Sahara Twist looks suspiciously like our 1995 winner. The ride type is the same but it’s much shorter in track length. The fact that there’s a massive Comet strapped to the front of the train and it looks hilariously out of place in a field in Taiwan. I’d be fascinated to find out how much the setting impacts the performance of the model.
Hmm… I don’t see many real threats there, looks like it’s all hinging on that Europa revisit.

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50 years of coasters – 2001

There’s an interesting lull in the number of pages of entries on the Roller Coaster DataBase for 2001. The quantities had been building and building up to that big millennium spend we saw in the previous year, but it won’t hit that peak again for a good while yet, almost as if some parks just wanted to get it out of their system. Importantly though, the quality hasn’t dipped, consolidation and improvement could well be the focuses of the day, yet there’s still plenty of innovation going on too.

As things stand today, Japan’s most recent wooden coaster was built more than 20 years ago. Interestingly as a nation they only ever used manufacturer Intamin when it came to constructing coasters of this material and this became Intamin’s last traditional build before they transitioned to their critically acclaimed pre-fab style of woodie.
The result here was a humble affair, a reasonably small family coaster with unremarkable forces and a reasonably generic layout but that’s not to say it doesn’t fit the park perfectly. In the context of this list, it’s an example of how fast times were changing.

I anticipated more out of the theming from this rare Morgan mine train and instead got much more out of the layout than expected. The tame first half lulls you into a false sense of security before hitting the second obscured lift hill that leads to another section of layout that runs with a surprisingly enjoyable vigour throughout the terrain. I also like the rustic look of this one, you wouldn’t necessarily think it was from 2001.

Vekoma’s second attempt at their Flying Dutchman model appeared to have worked out most of the unfortunate kinks of the prototype and having suffered through the original on the very same trip, I was surprised by how much more enjoyable Batwing was. It allowed for an appreciation of the anticipation brought about by ascending the lift hill on your back, facing away from what’s to come. It allowed for appreciation of the swift changes in elevation and spectacular sensation of actual flight. It allowed for appreciation of the intense inversions without causing physical harm. In a way it’s sad that the design ended here, I’d like to have seen them battle it out with B&M on this concept over the next decade at least.

Previously known as California Screamin’ (loved that name), this is the signature coaster that opened with the second gate of the Disney California resort and has remained one of the focal points of the park ever since. I do admire the boardwalk aesthetic, the highly unusual layout and the sheer scale of the project – at over 6,000ft it’s still among the top ten longest operating coasters today. All that track makes the pacing of the ride a very mixed bag, but it’s a lot of fun regardless.

On the subject of aesthetic, the station of Intamin’s next (and surprisingly most recent) full circuit suspended coaster, with it’s organic looking integration into the rockwork, is yet another one to be admired. The highlight of the attraction for me is the heartline roll through this very station, which looks spectacular from both an on- and off-ride perspective, but it also has some other good moments of interaction throughout the surroundings and delivered a significant step up in overall experience over the previous one of these.

This coaster is famed for having the fastest acceleration of any on the planet and the record still stands to this day. Sadly I never experienced OG Dodonpa with it’s notorious airtime spike, in 2017 it was replaced with ‘one of the’ tallest loops in the world and, perhaps unbelievably, the launch system was juiced up even further. As I’d already been built up on S&S air launches (and record breaking loops) prior to riding this one I think I’d have preferred to have tried the hill as there’s really nothing else like it in the world any more. It’s an insane contraption that put some real fear into me before boarding, but now I just see it as a big softy.

In the very same year that Elf ended an era, Colossos burst onto the scene showcasing what Intamin could really do with a wooden coaster. Taller, steeper and with more airtime than ever before, this was already something to rival the steel hypers (and giga) they had been putting out over the last couple of years. Lessons had to be learnt along the way though, I happened to ride this one in its final year before being closed for a highly extensive overhaul and though I could see the potential, it was drowned out by Colossos just not behaving as it should have in the comfort department. Parks need to take good care of these beasts.

It looks like a strange year, knowing what we know now, when the Vekoma woodie beats out the Intamin. This may not have been true of the match up at the time as obviously I didn’t ride either of these last two close to how they initially started out. In the case of Thundercoaster, the trains were upgraded to Timberliners from the Gravity Group over the original rolling stock which, to be honest, were the main issue I had with the only other two wooden coasters ever made by this manufacturer – I didn’t get on with their lap bars. A good deal of credit goes to the layout design as well though as, comfort aside, it’s a far more ambitious, exciting and terrain based sequence that I ended up loving far more than I could ever have anticipated.

Nitro is one of those coasters you’d just grow up knowing if you played RCT2 at all (it had one of those little scenery signs from the Six Flags set that were always far too specific to use in almost any situation). I finally caught up with it many years later and it didn’t disappoint, for what it was. I’m yet to be fully sold on B&M hyper coasters as contenders for the best of the best in the world (he says, after one of them took the win in a previous year) but Nitro was certainly one of the more impressive versions I’ve come across so far, with some solid variety in the forces it delivers.

A gamechanger for sure, Intamin had been trying out these giant hyper coasters for a couple of years now and finally found the potential of this specific ride type to provide clinical airtime like the world had never seen before. The height was dialled back a little, but in order to compensate every single hill delivers in an overwhelming fashion. There’s a reason this ride was considered the best ever for so long and I have a massive amount of respect for it. It deserves all the marathons it can get.

Having less pages to sift through is great when it comes to writing this part, though it technically means there’s less for me to get excited about visiting one day. I’m sure we can come up with something.
Cornball Express leads CCI into yet another charge, these things just keep on coming. News from Indiana Beach was a bit of a rollercoaster in itself last year, but I’m glad they’ve got back on track with some new ownership.
Insane Speed is of course on the hit list. The words ‘custom’, ‘B&M’ and ‘Taiwan’ are more than enough for me.
The excitement ends rather abruptly when defunct entries start to hit home however. HyperSonic XLC seemed like a project that was doomed from the start and it’s surprising how successfully it’s fellow entry in this list has stood the test of time. It also had the spike, so of course it would have been great to experience.
We first met up with Russian manufacturer Pax in the list for last year and they had an insane looking indoor version of the model in Bahrain, the surroundings of which would no doubt have only enhanced the insanity. A terrible loss for the industry.
Back to B&M again, there’s another Invert on the horizon, they’ve always done some damage to these lists so far and I hope Talon is no exception.
Giovanola’s follow up to last year’s Goliath with Titan should be interesting as there’s just so few of this style of ride out there.
Sadly there’s nothing out there at all any more when it comes to Premier’s water coaster model, though Vonkaptuous couldn’t have taken the fall for a better reason.
And we’ll finish on one more positive outlook with Wildfire, the modern yet classic looking looper with the gorgeous looking setting. Soon.

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50 years of coasters – 2000

Along with all the fads that came with it, the year 2000 seemed like a great excuse for many parks to build massive coasters. A bit of a coaster race, or even war, had been looming on the horizon for a little while now and if it wasn’t just a coincidence, maybe it was marketing opportunities that pushed things over the edge. There’s scale on this list like we haven’t yet seen before, with nearly everything standing at well over 100ft the time for filler is finally drawing to a close.

Intamin continued to be the sole caterer to Japan’s wooden coaster market and this year saw a small zoo on the outskirts of Tokyo go for their largest coaster to date. They aren’t the most thrilling of designs, but they do give a good general sensation of the shake, rattle and roll associated with big woodies and I’m sure the experience complemented the neighbouring jet coaster well at the time of opening.

The rarely seen Russian manufacturer Pax had been kicking around for the last decade or so, honing their skills well off the beaten track when it comes to the more established world of coasters, in countries such as Costa Rica, Saudi Arabia and of course back on their home turf.
The skill they developed most is actually in making coasters far more wild and exciting than they appear on the surface, as is well evidenced by Wild Train here. Don’t let less than 50ft of family coaster and by far the smallest ride on this list fool you, the shaping of the track is ridiculous and can provide some unnervingly powerful forces.

Might be time for B&M to take a back seat this year, their follow up Floorless coaster lacked a lot of character for me. Where the first few examples of each of their other ride types all stood out and tried a few different things, this one seemed destined to repeat the same patterns over and over, struggling to find that special spark of its own. It’s a great ride of course, though I think we’ll start to see the company slip into ‘dependable’ status for a while at least, following on from their gamechanging period.

The spiritual successor to Eurosat wasn’t quite as ambitious in size or scale, but it still manages to deliver a lot of entertainment with a good family frolick in the dark and the actual building that houses the attraction is a particularly striking design. I really liked it and think it’s a shame that Mack haven’t had a few more opportunities with these sorts of projects over the years.

One year after the original of these was installed at Darien Lake, a mirrored copy was built not too far away in Maryland. While the fundamental ideas for these steel monsters with airtime like the world had never seen before were beginning to manifest in some form or another, something about the delivery of the earlier layouts just isn’t all there when viewed from a modern persective, what with many speed sapping helices and several silly straights. All part of the learning experience I guess.

Having one GCI wooden coaster wasn’t enough for Hershey as only a few years later they decided to purchase another pair specifically to go with a racing concept. It’s an impressive mess of twisted track and I always love a bit of two train interaction, but I don’t think the company had found their killer streak just yet – at the very least it shows the makings of something that could be far Greater.

Perhaps at the time, Superman may have seemed like the standout hyper for those moments of aforementioned airtime, but from riding these two giants in later years and with much more to compare to, I prefer the rare Giovanola attempt for bringing something slightly different to the table. Goliath just does its own thing and there’s something about that first drop that manages to deliver a lot more than rivals of a similar stature.

Except, confusingly, we’re not done with Superman just yet. Another slightly more refined layout of the Intamin design also went up this year. It has a bit less faffing about, a bit more airtime and some interesting interactions with the pathing around one end of the park as opposed to the uninspired wasteland that may have contributed to the comedy of the original. A step in the right direction but I personally don’t think it’s held up that well and we now know they can do much better.

One more bite at the apple for B&M this year with another massive inverted coaster over in Europe. Interestingly enough I found this one to have similar issues to Medusa earlier in the list in that it doesn’t really stand out in a sea of similar designs, so this positioning is mainly testament to how much I prefer the ride type in general.

Though it’s been a year dominated by giants, I can’t say I’m particularly enthralled with any of my top three or four picks. Their status in the industry is huge and, other than Katun, they were pushing boundaries like never before, so that makes them respectable at the very least. I like Steel Dragon, but I wanted to like it a lot more. You hear these tales of legendary beasts in Japanese parks and then when meeting your heroes, it turns out it’s a big softy really.
Admittedly I’m broken, but the tallest drop of it’s day and one that has remained near the very top ever since, just doesn’t feel that much more significant. The actual fun part of the ride is in the second half when you’re flying through many consecutive hills much closer to the ground and perhaps thats a lesson at least some of the industry has learned over time, looking back at this age of giants. Size isn’t everything.

If you haven’t spotted yet, the obvious coaster missing here is the other Y2K giga from Intamin, Millenium Force. it’s been on the actual trip horizon for me for at least the past 18 months and I’m determined to actually catch up with it to see what it’s really all about.
Other big things were going on too, CCI delivered another massive design to Six Flags St Loius with Boss, a coaster with an equally interesting reputation. Perhaps their most highly regarded design of all time however came with Boulder Dash this year and the terrain goodness up for grabs there really does seem like it would suit my tastes extremely well. It was yet another busy year for them with Legend at Holiday World, along with the eventually upgraded Medusa at Six Flags Mexico and the now defunct Hurricane, Mega Zeph and Villain. Huge roster, it’s a shame that so few remain.
The Dania Beach Hurricane seems like yet another sad loss to the woodie world. Coaster Works Inc. had a very limited portfolio and one that I’ll now never be able to experience.
I’m hoping that Kraken and Superman Krypton Coaster were the ones that managed to do the B&M Floorless justice this year, they certainly have the visual aesthetic to back it up.
Fabbri entered the compact invert scene with this interesting looking design, I’d love to find out what that turned out like.
Doing this ending list is confusing me now as it’s the first year so far in which I’m having to differentiate between significant rides I already have and have not yet ridden, reminding myself that this is a list of what could potentially make the cut it in future for me, not a list of interesting attractions that I personally know haven’t already made it.
So on that note, done.

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50 years of coasters – 1999

Time to close out the ’90s. It’s been a good run, we’ve seen B&M hit their stride and start to dominate the scene with several wins, though they’ve had some sporadic competition from the quirkier end of the spectrum, one ride of which came from a certain rival Swiss manufacturer who will no doubt have a powerful presence in the next decade or two. Sadly (for me at least) it’s unlikely that we’ll be seeing old mate Togo again, but at least they managed to pulled a couple of victories out of the bag and we have also seen the birth of many more names with something to prove in the meantime.

Mack decided to join the compact steel wild mouse market around this time and introduced a new version that utilises an ingenoius elevator lift hill to start, which is both fun to watch/be a part of and provides opportunity for a bit of a theming element. Sadly that part of the design hasn’t appeared to have caught on at all, though the layout is now in almost every corner of the world, thanks to Legoland.

After going all out with their previous invert, Intamin dialled it down a little for this traditional lift hill version of their new ride type. Though decent, this one ended up as a surprisingly unremarkable attraction for me, lacking the style, grace and force of rival B&Ms. At least it’s not just another SLC though.

And here’s not just another Vekoma looper. An unusual layout and location works wonders for Millenium, which starts above the street outside the park and interacts with the monstrous Odyssey. It’s also unnervingly smooth for both the style and vintage when it comes this particular manufacturer and I have no insight as to why that’s the case, especially when you consider the performance of it’s neighbour.

We’ve seen this spaghetti bowl layout of a premier launch coaster before, only it was hidden in darkness under the name Flight of Fear. Seeing this version out in the open gives you a real sense of appreciation for the twisted mess of track and supports and the spectacle even manages to enhance the onboard experience in its own way.

One of Arrow’s final legacies from their looping coaster career. It’s a satisfying layout in a gorgeous location with a lovely aesthetic and stands out as one of my favourites from this more ‘classic’ era. Bonus points for being at Dollywood.

Bandit is sometimes considered the worst wooden rollercoaster in the world, though the claim only enhanced our enjoyment of this seemingly rather inoffensive woodie. Many around this sort of age seem to have their good and bad days, I’m glad it was the former during that one particular snapshot.

Rollercoaster backdrops don’t get much more intense than this. Ocean Park is well known for the views and this ride perhaps uses it most to its advantage amongst all the coasters in the park. There’s a solid layout here too, with a decent first drop, the gradual helix build into a reasonable airtime hill and the final moments out over the cliff are nothing short of unnerving.

The debut of the B&M floorless coaster – an alternative to their highly successful danglefoot experience, this time with legs situated above the track, Bizarro (named Medusa at the time) builds on all the ideas of the manufacturer’s traditional sit downs with a plethora of inversions and probably once dominated its surroundings here, though it now manages to appear as rather small change amongst the rest of the current park lineup.

The B&M invert is back on form again, with a powerful display of pacing that reminds the floorless competitor who’s boss. This ride type is still dominating the age and B&M have managed to take all three podium positions to clse out the ’90s on a high, so what else have they been cooking up?

Their own hyper coaster, that’s what. Two were built in the inaugural year of the type and this one at Busch Gardens became the first, instantly finding fame by getting a celebrity rider hit by a goose. The common debate as to what counts as a hyper/giga coaster may well have started on day one, as this only ascends to a height of 170ft, then using terrain to its advantage in order to boast a 210ft drop. For me, having that terrain aspect enhances it all and there are some great moments on this ride, though that turnaround is just so underwhelmingly uninspired. I’m sure they’ll come up with something even better in future.

Of course the other hyper was Raging Bull, one that I am yet to ride. It doesn’t appear to be the most highly regarded amongst the ride type, but it did actually breach the 200ft barrier, relative to the station, if that matters at all.

1999 also saw the likes of Diving Coaster: Vanish, a fun looking Japanese coaster that I’ve stood underneath only to be told it won’t run in the rain, and then gone on to ride a far more impressive Japanese coaster the very same day, in the rain, one that also shoots copious amounts of water onto itself just for the sheer fun of it. Makes sense to me.

The first ever B&Ms to die, I feel like everyone else in the world rode Dragon Challenge at Universal Studios. Sadly not me, and it will forever haunt me. I believe they went for a good cause though.

The first ever GCIs to die, Gwazi was just down the road comparatively, seems the Florida climate doesn’t treat it’s coasters too kindly. A massive mess of duelling woodies that was reportedly a bit of a nightmare to ride. I believe they went for a good cause though.

In fact this was the year of Islands of Adventure opening altogether and along with the Dragons we also got the Hulk. This one has survived, after receiving a huge makeover more recently. I desperately need to try it one day, if only for the fact that it inspired the launched lift hill piece on rollercoaster tycoon, characterising the ride type with something B&M never really chose to repeat.

Montezum has recently fascinated me after discovering it through a Geoguessr game. I like the unusual colouring for a woodie and the fact that it goes under the road. Who knows if it’s actually any good.

Powder Keg has a complicated history, starting out as a Premier built water coaster and later receiving modifications by S&S. The idea fascinates the hell out of me.

This is turning into such a huge list, looks like the world of coasters is really kicking off. Intamin built also built their first ‘mega coaster‘ (that happens to be a hyper coaster) this year. I’ve ridden the mirrored clone and it’s super underwhelming to the point of comedy compared to their later work, but it would probably still crack the top 5 here.

There’s a a wooden wild card at Knoebels with their in-built Twister.
Of course there’s the obligatory CCI I haven’t ridden entry, Tremors.
The final one to catch my eye is Steel Eel, more Morgan. Still don’t know what to say about them just yet. Sounds fun, even for the name alone.

And with that I think we’re done for this millenium. Exciting times.

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50 years of coasters – 1998

1998, the year I rode my first coaster (or was it? – this will forever haunt me) on a humble birthday trip to Legoland, blissfully unaware of what else was going on in the theme park world at the time. The stronger moments of the ’90s seem to be coming in waves, perhaps investment cycles and drive from competition create patterns and trends and I’d say this year was a slight downturn again before things really kick off. I keep saying they’ll kick off. They will. Eventually.

Proud winner of my SLC collection so far, if only for the fact that it happened to be operating three trains and didn’t cause me any specific harm. Wouldn’t have expected one of these to crack the top ten as late as ’98, but it’s looking like slim pickings to start with.

Staying in Italy, there’s another unremarkable highlight in the form of this vicious Italian-built wild mouse style coaster. The highlight of our overwhelmingly disappointing experience with this park took place on this ride, reducing us to hysterics with it’s abrupt transitions and general calamity.

This ride marked the birth of German manufacturer Gerstlauer, who have gone on to have some great successes in more recent times. This entertaining bobsled coaster model is somewhat of an evolution from the wild mouse and is integrated particularly effectively into the surroundings here at Tripsdrill, a park that would go on to host more than one prototype from the company.

My first ever Japanese cred was a total blast and I’m sure you can tell that from the picture alone. It sparked a love affair with jet coasters of all sizes and parks of this vibe in general. Not everything has to be a world beater, sometimes all it needs is to be endearing.

The most substantial stand up coaster ever built is somewhat of a marathon to ride all in itself. A relentless onslaught of inversions that goes on for a surprising amount of time, this particular B&M version of the model can be enjoyable as long as you manage to position yourself just right and I do admire the spectacle of such a monster

On board sound has the power to take attractions to another level and the ride soundtracks of Efteling are amongst the finest in the world. This is just a small indoor Vekoma, but it’s the package that makes Vogel Rok rather special to me, from the foreboding atmosphere in the station to the disorientating romp in the dark, singing along all the way. Aside from all that, just look at the face.

As far as I can tell the world’s first vertical drop rollercoaster and the original B&M dive machine made a huge impact on the scene with its abstract sinister theming and unparalleled ride experience that played up fear like never before. I was too young to appreciate the full extent of this, though it became a firm favourite for a while in later years, eventually fading for me as the ride type grew and developed into far more, even though this was arguably the finest conceptual design for the hardware.

After a year of silence following their debut, GCI continued to build their portfolio, this time making a name for themselves in the Six Flags chain who went on to snap up several more over the years. This was the last time PTC trains were used with their hardware, just before the manufacturer’s famed Millenium Flyers came into being. The layout appears to somewhat reflect this, being quite unconventional against their style today with larger hills and going less full on with the twists and turns. The end product was solid, if a little unremarkable amongst the wooden coaster scene.

After storming last year’s list my entry from B&M is a little more reserved this year. Great Bear has an interesting interaction with its surrounding landscape which allows for some great spectator moments, but that comes with some slightly questionable on-ride moments. The starting portion of the ride is a welcome change of pace, but strange S-bends over mud in an attempt to get back to the station before running out of steam felt like a bit of an afterthought and the signature intensity of this ride type appears dialled down for perhaps the first time in its history.

And so CCI sneak in and steal the crown, though there’s likely a bit of cheating going on here and GCI will have to take some of the credit. Knott’s Berry Farm’s large wooden coaster saw a fair amount of deterioration over its lifetime and after 17 years of operation was closed to undergo some extensive refurbishment. CCI were no longer around to oversee this, so GCI stepped in to retrack large sections of the ride and give it some of those new Millenium Flyer trains (they’re back). The result was first class, a masterpiece of variety in all of the wonderful sensations that a woodie has to offer and I hope it reflects well on the original glory of this design.

Elsewhere in the world, Premier Rides continuned to innovate with their LIM launch systems with the unusual and ambitious Batman and Robin: Chiller attraction that involved much interactive shuttle madness. Sadly this one didnt last, being sold off to a Brazilian park but eventually being scrapped. A similar concept with a singular layout was also built at two other Six Flags parks this year, but must I keep depressing myself with these things that were never meant to be?

Other companies were innovating at this time too, Mack made their first water coaster for Sea World Orlando, something I’ve always wanted to try, though mainly for the dark ride aspect of the attraction.

Intamin built their first Inverts, two vastly different designs – a legendary, complex one in a volcano (perhaps the first true attraction to be designated with what would eventually become a highly sought after feature – multi launch) and an Impulse coaster, another LIM shuttle design, bizarrely squeezed into the middle of Tokyo. Both have unfortunately been retired, though the Impulse went on to sell a fair few more models, even very recently.

CCI had other an insane number of other projects in Excalibur, Rampage, Shivering Timbers and Twisted Twins. I keep putting them in this maybe pile in the hope that one day another will surprise me as much as GhostRider, though the last of that list has since moved on to a higher purpose and become an RMC.

Morgan had another go with another hyper coaster at Worlds of Fun. I have even less experience with this style of ride than I do with the CCIs, but I’m ever the optimist.
Hmm, that doesn’t sound right.

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