The rise of the record breakers. Two major coasters that won’t be featuring in the list opened this year, breaching both the 300ft and 100Mph barriers for the first time. I’ve alreadyelaborated on why I’m not a fan of these one trick ponies in other lists, but it has to be acknowledged that they happened and, as the new millenium approaches, we’ll be seeing a few more outrageous attempts at these dizzying statistics.
#10 Dragen – Legoland Billund (Denmark)
As the first of what became a staple attaction for all future Legoland parks across the globe, the Dragon houses an indoor dark ride section filled with many overwhelming Lego builds and wonders before heading out into the open air for some coaster based family thrills. The original is the only version that also happens to be a powered coaster and part of a very exclusive group of those that is able to operate multiple trains at once, through some form of witchcraft.
#9 Mega Coaster – Hamanako Pal Pal (Japan)
They came out on top last year, but I have to say that this was the first time Togo disappointed me a little. Mega Coaster lacked a certain playful spark and was perhaps my best indication so far of what the much lamented American Togo installations (they did have a busy year this year) behaved like. Still a quirky and enjoyable experience overall, particularly with that familiar looking heartline roll.
#8 Highway Coaster – Japan Monkey Park
Local competitors Senyo Kogyo were still managing to churn out some highly satisfying jet coasters, seemingly just for me, and, as they often are, this one is all about location. The layout becomes particularly fascinating due to the dense forest landscaping and interaction with both bridges and roads. The attraction originally opened under the name Eagle Coaster, with a front car designed to suit that very name, but the train has since undergone a striking transformation into a pink Cadillac suited for the highway.
#7 Clone Zone – Milky Way Adventure Park (UK)
Aside from having some fascinating hardware – the world’s only powered Caripro Batflyer, this attraction had many more things going for it, namely the one of a kind tailored queueline experience with staff interaction, walkthroughs and alien attacks that precedes a weird and wonderful dark ride coaster, also with aliens. Since visiting, the ride has received some form of overhaul that now includes interactive shooting on board and I trust that it has retained as much charm as the original concept in the process.
#6 Mine Train Ulven – Bakken (Denmark)
Intamin continued their streak of strong family coasters this year with another fun forest based romp. It’s hard to see what part of this one constitutes a mine train, but the ride type has since gone on to inspire both a far more detailed equivalent of the concept as well as one with tropical jeeps. Yet again the highlight of the entire ride is the unnerving first drop in the back car – a specialty it seems they were developing long before buliding any of their more modern beasts we know and love.
#5 Tonnere de Zeus – Parc Astérix (France)
Now that CCI had broken into the European market, they went bigger and bolder over in France with a mammoth 4000ft installation, their largest to date. Characterised most prominently by the giant statue with striking underwear at the entrance, I don’t think we experienced this one at it’s best (I was very distracted by my attempts to keep my bag safe on board), but I respect what it was going for.
#4 Euro Mir – Europa Park (Germany)
Mack’s original spinning coaster design debuted at their home park a full ten years before it ever got taken on by anyone else. The wild mouse inspired first half of the layout was never seen again, instead favouring the infinitely more interesting sweeping drops and turns that make the actual coaster portion of this ride so much fun. The endless rave on the indoor spiral lift hill is where it’s really at though.
#3 Stampida – PortAventura (Spain)
CCI weren’t done just yet. In Spain they built three coasters all intertwined throughout a single patch of land, including Stampida, two large racing coasters that provide endless fun with rider interaction, jeopardy and all round vigorous wooden action. Throw in some further wild moments such as diving alongside or towards a third train on the family woodie Tomahawk, to the point where you can’t tell where one ride ends and the next begins amongst all the madness, and you’re onto a real winner in my books.
#2 Alpengeist – Busch Gardens Williamsburg (USA)
Step aside though, because B&M are back in contention and they mean business. The ridiculously huge Alpengeist is the tallest inverted coaster the manufacturer have made to date. It’s beautifully presented, contains several elements not seen on any other rides of the type and has gone on to become a bit of a coaster legend. The only downside is that by the time we arrived, it didn’t seem to be behaving as well as I’m sure it would have done in it’s prime.
#1 Pyrenees – Parque Espana-Shima Spain Village (Japan)
And yet everything about the other monster built on the opposite side of the world the very same year was perfect. Pyrenees is essentially inspired by the Batman clones that have been keeping the company busy for the last few seasons, only twice as enormous and filled with many more wonderful elements. The ride puts all of its size into pure fear factor and incredible intensity and remains for me the best of its kind, as well one of my all time favourites from thoughout B&Ms brilliant history.
What else have I been missing out on in the wider world? After alluding to stateside Togos earlier we of course have THE one that causes all the fuss also built in 1997. I may never know the horror for myself now as this very year Big Apple Coaster in Las Vegas has opened with brand new trains from Premier Rides, which you’d hope would alleviate some of the reported issues. I’ll just have to keep on reliving the original, courtesy of this wonderful homage. They weren’t done just there though, how about some duelling, looping wild mice in the neighbouring state? Yet another attraction I’d have just loved to try if only it had lasted. I’ve literally just found out about Delphis at Festivalgate, a ride and place I never knew existed. It might just be the camera angles, but this one in particular looks insane and I’m gutted to have missed out forever on what should have been another Senyo Kogyo classic. Turns out there’s a lot I didn’t know about 1997. World’s first ‘flying’ coaster, at a TV studio in England, named after an event from one of my favourite shows as a child. How was this a thing and why have I failed to get all the best stuff? On to slightly more serious matters, Steel Force at Dorney Park looks like a reasonable contender, a 200ft comparative baby version of what no doubt became Morgan’s record breaking giga coaster (hey, spoilers!) CCI built two Zeus-eses this year, the other being at Mt. Olympus in the Wisconsin Dells. I wonder which is better. This was their third year on the trot building a coaster for the park, so they must have been doing something right.
Fairly confident we already have our winner though.
I’ve already covered the (mostly) wonderful Gerstlauer Infinities on here, but what about the ride type that thrust this company into the thrill coaster market in the first place?
The Eurofighter originally came onto the scene in 2003, 5 years after the coaster debut of Gerstlauer Amusement Rides. The main innovation and selling point of the design was the vertical lift hill and subsequent beyond vertical drop that usually marked the start of the attraction, though this went on to appear in the most surprising of places in the layouts of certain future installations.
They began with a humble 97°, setting the world record for steepest coaster drop and holding onto it over the next 5 years. The S&S El Loco threatened and then smashed this in 2008 before continuing to gradually increase the angle of descent until Gerstlauer edged into the lead again in 2011 with an unnerving 121°. This has since stood the test of time, until perhaps a slightly controversial reported gain of 0.5° on a 2019 equivalent of their very same design.
It’s not just the drops that make these attractions highly marketable though, the style lends itself to tight, compact, high thrill coasters at what I assume to be competitive prices and the size and shape led to several designs that translated well into narrative driven semi-dark rides with intricate theming packages, making the product even more versatile.
As of today, there are 24 Eurofighters across the furthestreaches of the world. I’m clearly slacking here, having only ridden 10 of them myself up until now. However, aside from the 8 custom ones, the ride type can be catchily categorised into various model numbers based on the track length in metres (I can’t wait to ride that ‘500/8’) and each of these groups share the same layout. This then leaves, according to my calculations, only 3 remaining unique designs for me to get out there and try. Here’s some impressions on the 10 so far.
#10 Huracan – Belantis (Germany)
This one looks rather aesthetically pleasing and has a particulaly large and ambitious inversion filled layout, perhaps inspired by that of a B&M looper. Unfortunately I found it quite far from physically pleasing in comparison. Huracan uses the less commonly seen 6 person cars with seats in a slight V-shape, I assume for extra visibility, and these negotiated the circuit somewhat poorly from the very first moment over the top of the lift. It was one to endure rather than enjoy on the day I arrived, though I believe it has received a bit of a spruce up more recently to improve things.
#9 Typhoon – Bobbejaanland (Belgium)
My impressions here can best be summed up by the fact that I didn’t even take a photo to mark the original occasion and then entirely skipped over this attraction on a revisit to the park for their new, vastly superior Gerstlauer. As the second ever attempt at the model, Typhoon takes a rather unorthodox approach with an oval criss-cross layout reminiscent of many fairground style coasters. The high up inversions are interesting, but the whole thing lacks a little finesse, something which may come up a lot more as we go on.
#8 Speed: No Limits – Oakwood Theme Park (UK)
Here we have yet another unique design that this time contains a rather legendary airtime hill after the first drop, something which these models don’t tend to go for, or even suit particularly well for that matter. The tight application of the shoulder restraints in all dimensions hamper the effects of this moment somewhat, and the sensations that follow in the rest of the layout rarely leave me wanting more.
#7 Fluch(t) von Novgorod – Hansa Park (Germany)
The obligatory controversial pick comes next in the list – it’s no secret that I’m no fan of Novgorod. Yes, this one has perhaps the strongest of all the aforementioned theming packages and dark ride sections, but for me there’s just no hiding the fact of how hideously uninspired the actual coaster layout is. The outdoor section, aside from another of those questionably enjoyable airtime hills is more than 50% comprised of this janky turnaround. Perhaps even more disappointing is the use of the vertical lift and drop in the second half which, after much theatrics, simply leads straight into the final brake run.
#6 Rage – Adventure Island (UK)
In spite of a lot of these earlier installations simply not riding that well, I’ve warmed to Rage quite a lot over the years. It’s far from the greatest attraction out there, even amongst my often lamented local scene, but it’s a hard hitting thrill package in the smallest of footprints and I respect the variety that it manages to dish out, from the slightly floaty vertical loop to the forceful turns.
#5 Predator – IMG Worlds of Adventure (UAE)
Rage is, however, the most prolific of the cloned layouts – the ‘320’(+), with or without bonus helix. And that means that this mirrored version of the same design takes the situational edge for me simply by having an incredible ambience, one which is found throughout this entire park. Predator has a particularly ominous presence with the uninviting environment and ungenerous lighting package and, with a name like that, deservedly so.
#4 Dare Devil Dive – Six Flags Over Georgia
Lap bars, it’s about time we had lap bars. This one has yet another impressive looking design and that wild first drop can be appreciated far better with some freedom of movement in the upper half of the body. Looks aren’t everything though and the remainder of the layout here is good, not great, rather unremarkable in the grand scheme of things. Will the curse of the Eurofighter continue all the way to the top?
#3 Mystery Mine – Dollywood (USA)
What Mystery Mine lacks in build quality it more than makes up for in presentation. In true Dollywood fashion there’s a lot of joy to be found on this attraction and to me the climactic indoor vertical lift scene and subsequent set of elements is absolutely everything Novgorod isn’t. I secretly love this attraction and didn’t think I’d ever be saying that about one of these.
#2 Saw: The Ride – Thorpe Park (UK)
Something else I didn’t think I’d be saying is how good Saw: The Ride can be. I can see from experience how easy it is to catch it on an off day and I even once said ‘never again’ myself after a particularly rough experience but, as with Rage, familiarity has fared it well. Although the whole Saw theming shtick has got a bit tiring, I just can’t deny that as a piece of hardware this layout is up there with the best of this list. The outdoor section is fast paced and reckless, particularly when the mid course block section doesn’t do anything and flies out the other side with some vicious ejection.
#1 Takabisha – Fuji-Q Highland
The king for me though is the big one, the record breaker, even though it’s about as unfamiliar to me as it can be. We only managed a single lap on the ride during the most hectic (and amazing) of days and the one thing that really stood out to me is how different it feels to all the other Eurofighters. There wasn’t a single thing offensive about this one, no jarring moments, no poor tracking, the restraints are somehow more comfortable and even the spacing between the seats themselves appeared to be more hospitable – a gripe I often have with this whole design is how much unnecessary shoulder rubbing there can be with your fellow rider. The most important thing is that it was actually good fun, a disorientating blur of ridiculously huge, crazy inversions, much like you’d find on an Infinity coaster these days and it likely paved the way for their introduction just two years later. Takabisha was always a bit of a legend of the industry to me, though I was never sure quite whether it would live up to the name. I think it did.
Quick, let’s end it there before I’m forced to complain about the clone in a mall.
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.
#10 Tikitoc Train – Seoul Land (South Korea)
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.
#9 X:\ No Way Out – Thorpe Park (UK)
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.
#8 Santa Monica West Coaster – Pacific Park (USA)
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.
#7 Skull Mountain – Six Flags Great Adventure (USA)
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.
#6 Wildcat – Hersheypark (USA)
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.
#5 Megafobia – Oakwood Theme Park (UK)
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.
#4 Venus GP – Space World (Japan)
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.
#3 Flight of Fear – Kings Dominion (USA)
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.
#2 Colorado Adventure – Phantasialand
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.
#1 Fujiyama – Fuji-Q Highland (Japan)
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.
There’s a huge disparity between the northern and southern hemispheres when it comes to the world of coasters. While we have countless creations to get excited about up top, that keep those like myself busy for years and years, down under there have so far only ever been a small handful of particularly significant attractions spread across the three continents.
2017 was a massive year for the Australian amusement scene. Warner Bros. Movie World had decided to construct their first custom coaster in 12 long years and not only was it going to be by far the biggest around, it would also include a very special feature and have all the potential to be a real world beater. Based on their previous lineup, Australia had always been a distant dream for me in this hobby, somewhere I’d like to go at some point, but no real hurry. As soon as this ride burst onto the scene we were pretty much on the first plane there.
DC Rivals is the second ever hyper coaster to be built by Mack Rides, the German company with a long and proud history who have only really been pushing intense thrill designs on us for the past 10 years or so. They had debuted this coaster type the previous year over in China with Flash, a 200 foot monster with both massive inversions and soaring airtime hills – two features that rarely go hand and hand in designs of this scale. While Warner Bros. chose to forego any conventional upside down moments, this one was also to be far from your traditional hyper coaster as it features two backwards facing seats located on the rear car of every train.
Before we study the effects of that insanity however, let’s take a look at the layout from a conventional, forwards facing perspective. It begins with a swift and relatively steep climb up to 202ft, greeting the unusual looking Joker faced lighting feature at the summit. The first drop goes pretty much vertical, very quickly, as well as twisting 90° to the right. It creates a violent combination of ejection from the seat and an unsettling lateral shift to immediately put you out of your comfort zone – no mean feat considering how comfy these Mack trains are.The subsequent camel back is ridiculously huge and contains one of the longest and strongest sustains that I have encountered, the kind of which almost leaves you not knowing what to do with yourself – flail, scream, laugh, hold onto your head, slap your knees? Or all of the above, there’s time.
Following on from this is a slight turn to the left, following the outline of the car park and entrance road, into the striking non-inverting loop element. Instead of the traditional hang you’d anticipate from a standard loop of this silly scale, the 360° twist at the peak provides a very unusual mixture of whipping, falling and floating that’s rather difficult to describe. I’ve always found these a visually stunning moment on board any ride that features one as you catch a glimpse of the surroundings from so many angles and really appreciate the such great height.
After such a strong starting sequence, unfortunately the ride wavers a bit for me here in the following section. A high overbanked corner leads into several more twists and turns which, although covering quite a wide range of elevations, the changes are rather shallow and lacking in significant impact. Whilst I appreciate the sentiment of a hyper coaster trying to break the mould of your average out-and-back ‘hill, turn, hill’ design here, this portion of the ride just doesn’t contain any true standout moments and 3 years later I’m even struggling a little to remember what exactly goes on.
So after slightly too long for my own liking, the train enters another twisted moment back under the overbank and negotiates a lower and faster set of turns that intertwine with the non-inverting loop. This picks up the pace again and snakes out towards the station with a couple more sharp transitions before firing riders into what could well be the highlight of the attraction.
Two sequential mini airtime hills that aren’t quite dead straight, with the subtlest of gradual curves the the left throughout both, contain what I’m sure has been claimed at some point in time as the strongest negative Gs on record. While I can’t verify that information, I know that they’re definitely up there as some of the most powerful I’ve ever experienced, to the point of creating an entirely new to me sensation – feeling airtime through my teeth.
The track then dips directly underneath the first drop and hits a highly unusual off-axis hill to finish on before snapping into the brake run with a real vigour. Despite the seemingly slower middle section the ride is still carrying a surprising amount of energy into the final moments and that almost makes up for the imperfections from earlier on. But almost is the key word and whilst I absolutely adore the ridiculousness of this attraction, the layout itself wasn’t quite the game changer I wanted it to be. It had the moments to make it there for sure, just not the complete package.
We’re not done yet though, as there’s a whole different experience to discuss. The backwards row requires an upcharge ticket of 10 Dollarydoos which may seem a little steep, but the timeslot system keeps the crowds at bay (it essentially doubles as a fastrack ticket) and makes it feel that little bit more special. We more than happily laid down the cash on multiple occasions because clearly it’s not every day that you travel to the literal other side of the world to specifically experience something like this. Besides, it’s nothing short of incredible.
To say we went in unprepared on the first lap is an understatement. A casual conversation was taking place on the lift hill which was then interrupted all too suddenly with sheer terror like little else I’ve felt before on a ride. The lack of visual anticipation plays all sorts of tricks on the body and mind and as you plummet vertically downwards, facing the sky, you may well find your heart in your mouth before being wrenched sideways and out into the rest of the layout at the mercy of some relentless machine.
The massive airtime hill is of course spectacular, in either direction really, though as with everything in this seating position, it feels just that but more intense for not really knowing what’s going on behind you.
The effect is even more prevalent in the twisted madness of the non-inverting loop and, perhaps most important of all, it carries well into the following section. Every moment that I felt lacked impact in the middle third of the ride had something more to offer when travelling backwards. It’s quite clear that they were aiming for an intense, out of control sequence here and though it may not have hit the mark in the traditional direction, each snappy transition and each burst of elevation change just has that all important extra kick to it, ragdolling riders around with far more than they may have bargained for.
Here comes airtime, you can’t stop the airtime. I’ve almost suppressed how stupidly good the final two (three) hills of the ride feel in reverse and this leads us nicely into the dilemma that this attraction now presents me.
Almost every ride has its good and bad days, conditions in which it could be running at its prime based on the weather or the crowds, there are countless external factors that can have an impact on how any individual experiences a coaster and this makes it all the more fun for us to review, rate and rank our personal favourites against all the single snapshots we take in on our travels. DC Rivals provides you with a conscious choice to forego most of these effects and guarantee a measurably altered ride experience, and I’d say it was the first elite level rollercoaster to do this.
Speaking from the present, in a forwards facing seat, I would personally put this ride on par with sibling Flash, around the back end of my top 30 in the world – high praise indeed. It’s far more intense and powerful than the original, fixing what is essentially the only flaw I found in that ride, but considering I’m somewhat of a layout and design fanatic, DC Rivals is nowhere near as wholly competent and that will forever irk me. If we ever get a third design that combines the strengths of the two one day, I’ll be in coaster heaven.
Backwards though, it really is something else. I’ve studied some of the effects on this site before and I’d love to see them feature quite a bit more throughout the industry in future, with this attraction being the primary reasoning behind that sentiment. At the time of visiting it was easily amongst my all time favourites that could be counted on one hand and today, with more than double the coasters to my name, it would likely still crack the top ten.
So how can I really rank it? (Oh no, he’s off on one of these again). As far as I can see, there’s two things you can do with it.
1. Treat each experience as two different entires on the list – although perhaps more meaningful from a purist point of view, this leads to a couple of complications such as: At what point do you draw the line between separate experiences and start doing this for other rides? As I mentioned above there are always other factors that have an impact on how well a ride treats you on any given occasion. I already take issue with things having the same name and having to specify which one in the world you mean, so by extension it just feels awkward to say something like ‘My top ten coasters are: Number 5 – DC Rivals Hypercoaster, but only in the backwards seats’ 2. Take an average of the two experiences and place it in the middle of the two positions you might have otherwise secured for the individual parts, even though it’s not objectively better than the ride that now happens to be below it, or objectively worse than the ride that happens to be above it – feels harsh, but the cleaner option.
I went for the second option, though the mere thought of this still keeps me up at night. Occupational hazard.
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.
#10 Hurricane – E-World (South Korea)
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.
#9 Froschbahn – Bayern Park (Germany)
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.
#8 Gadget’s Go Coaster – Tokyo Disneyland
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.
#7 Clipper – Space World (Japan)
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.
#6 Hornet – Flambards Village Theme Park (UK)
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.
#5 Jaguar! – Knott’s Berry Farm (USA)
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.
#4 Camel Back – E-World (South Korea)
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.
#3 Diablo – Tren de la Mina – Portaventura (Spain)
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.
#2 Dragon Khan – Portaventura (Spain)
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.
#1Comet Express – Lotte World (South Korea)
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.
Over this disappointingly long period of downtime I’ve undertaken a project to help out the Dark Ride Database with their expansion into Asia and the rest of the world. I’d often had dreams of one day creating some dark ride hunting tools to rival that of the currentcoaster sites that exist today and that form an essential part of any theme park trip planning but, as is inevitable with the internet, someone beat me to it.
The timing was right for all parties as, until the latest launch today, the DRDb had only gone as far as cataloguing Europe and the Americas, with plans to complete the rest of the globe by their 1 year anniversary on April 1st 2021. I reached out to the team and offered up my research services on all things Asian dark ride, largely spurred on by it being the part of the theme park world I feel most at home with. I believe I enjoyed the lengthy process far too much and am rather deflated now that the bulk of the work is over and done with.
I do hope that the 400+ listings I ended up documenting prove useful to as many trip planners as possible, though I have already established my own selfish gains from the experience – there were some fascinating finds that reignited my spark and desire to get creating future holiday itineraries for myself and eventually be out and about exploring these places again, a process that has of course suffered over the past year.
Here’s a select few that really intrigued or surprised me and that I’m definitely planning to hit up in person as soon as it’s practical to do so.
Amongst the hardest hitting discoveries for me were the parks that weren’t even on my radar and perhaps never would have been because they simply have no coasters. Having a rollercoaster isn’t a be-all and end-all for any theme park of course and parks like Disney’s Epcot, or Futuroscope and Vulcania over in France have, untilrecentlyanyway, proved that fact.
Back in 2014 OCT, the company behind the regions Happy Valley parks, began developing their own dark ride systems under the name OCT Vision, perhaps spurred on or inspired by local rivals Fantawild to deliver entire in-house attraction packages and even have the opportunity to sell some hardware on to other parks.
Timeless China in Beijing plays host to a whole range of these OCT dark ride products and it’s this one in particular that has me fascinated as it appears to be their own version of the Jinshan Temple Showdown ride system (and subsequent show scene) from Fantawild, an attraction which is easily amongst the all time greats of the industry for me. I’m itching to find out what the OCT attempt is like and to check out the others on offer here, some of which seem to have been prototypes for a number of their other attractions across China.
Talking of Fantawild, even after creating my own semi-comprehensive guide I’m still learning about what they have in store for me out there. I’ve tended to gloss over their parks with poor coaster lineups before now, knowing what I already know about how much they love to clone every attraction across the chain and assuming that there will be nothing else new on offer.
Up in the remote city of Jiayuguan there’s a couple of Fantawild parks across town from each other which both perfectly fit the bill for uninviting rollercoasters (each having an SLC as the supposed star of the show). It is, for now at least, a bit of a dead end region for coaster lovers, 7 hours by high speed train from the nearest one of real interest. They do both however happen to house a unique dark ride each. The Adventure park has one by the name of Silk Road, no doubt covering the history and/or fantasy of this defining feature of the area.
From a Fantawild generational standpoint, Silk Road Dreamland should have the more exciting unique attraction though, in Legendary Dunhuang. As always they’re pretty vague with the website description, but anything modern, different and Fantawild dark ride excites me hugely these days, the entrance is inspired by this sweet looking piece of ancient architecture and just the whole exoticism has me wanting to see it for myself as soon as possible.
Over in Indonesia, it’s the hardware that fascinates me most about this one. I’m yet to truly be enthralled by an Immersive tunnel experience, but I think that combining the technology with your classic dinosaur themed log flume has the potential to be particularly entertaining. Simworx, Interlink and Falcon’s Creative Group have some solid attraction history behind them across the dark ride scene so I’d love to experience the result of this hybrid effort.
More dinosaurs! Truth is I haven’t fully figured out what this one is, but it looks about as ridiculously ambitious as the 4D coaster in the same park. I don’t believe this attraction existed when I visited China Dinosaur Park last and if it did, I’m gutted to have missed it, as I already am about the half dark ride, half log flume that was skipped due to time constraints and/or weather. All I can figure out for now is studio jeep tour meets immersive tunnel meets ‘indoor pedestrian experience’ and I sincerely hope it lives up to the concept art.
Coaster time – in this case a custom, heavily themed, indoor Golden Horse with integrated interactivity (also known as guns) for a shooting dark ride like very little else out there. We had something akin to this idea years ago at Fuji-Q that I sadly never got the chance to try, but this one looks like a significant step up, in terms of visual aesthetic at the very least. Oriental Movie Metropolis is located in Qingdao, China and I can’t quite yet fathom the exact setup – there’s ties to a Wanda/Sunac mall park but this appears to be a movie studio based attraction in its own right, for which I haven’t yet found a website. Massively intriguing is an understatement.
Moving away from parks completely for a minute, a science and techonology museum found within the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia happens to utilise a themed dark ride experience for both entry into and exit from the overall attraction. Having been to the towers myself and never known that this was a thing, it’s another perfect example of potential hidden gems that can slip right by fans, unnoticed, if you don’t know where to look for such things.
On the subject of gems, these ones are even more of a wildcard. Gems Gallery is a jewellery showroom at heart with branches found in major cities throughout Thailand. As well as factory tours, aquariums, bars and restaurants to entertain potential customers, two of their four locations contain a dark ride (themed to gems of course) for good measure – certainly not something I expected to find when I embarked on this adventure.
A Korean robot factory with it’s own outdoor theme park looks interesting enough by itself, but there’s some even more weird and wonderful activities going on indoors. Choreographed dancing robot arms and unnerving humanoid replications aside, Robot Land plays host to a dark ride system that takes you on a factory tour to watch robots making robots. Sounds like the future to me.
Alright, one more China park. With nothing more than a couple of family coasters to it’s name, this one had never jumped out at me amongst the overwhelming onslaught of Chinese theme park construction. I’ve now learnt to never underestimate these movie studio parks, for their dark ride game (and overall scenery) can be serious as anything. As with Immersive Tunnels, I’m yet to be blown away by a Flying Theatre experience but I believe this mainly stems from almost all of them being a general touristy sightseeing showcase of local landscapes and landmarks as opposed to existing with their own narrative or story telling for extra emotional impact. There’s two of them here and it’s our old pal Zheng He and his treasure ship again that interests me the most – they can’t both have the same overarching theme, surely, and the building exterior alone looks simply breathtaking.
And so he picks another Flying Theatre to finish with. It’s not so much the attraction itself here that caught my eye but the fact that it’s located at the R&D centre of manufacturer Brogent Technologies in Taiwan, so it comes with the extra bonus of learning about the hardware in an exhibition before and/or after the ride experience. Of course I’m going to be interested in that as well – this is obviously fast becoming my next greatest obsession.
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?
#10 Shockwave – Drayton Manor (UK)
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.
#9 Titan MAX – Space World (Japan)
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.
#8 Hurler – Carowinds (USA)
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.
#6 Big One – Blackpool Pleasure Beach (UK)
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.
#5 Bobbahn – Heide Park (Germany)
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.
#4 Megablitz – Wiener Prater (Austria)
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.
#3 Ultra Twister Megaton – Greenland (Japan)
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.
#2 Gran Montserrat – Parque Espana (Japan)
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.
#1 Nemesis – Alton Towers (UK)
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.
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.
#10 Boomerang – Pleasure Island Family Theme Park (UK)
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.
#9 Ladybird – Lightwater Valley (UK)
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.
#8 Mini Mine Train – Pleasure Island Family Theme Park (UK)
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.
#7 Gadget’s Go Coaster – Disneyland (USA)
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.
#6 Indiana Jones et le Temple du Péril– Disneyland Paris
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.
#5 Sphinx – Greenland (Japan)
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.
#3 Rasender Roland – Hansa Park (Germany)
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.
#2 Batman The Ride – Six Flags Great Adventure (USA)
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 standups 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.
#1 Flight Deck – California’s Great America
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.
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.
#10 Roller Coaster – Wicksteed Park (UK)
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.
#9 Drako – Walibi Holland
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.
#8 Rexplorer – Mirabilandia (Italy)
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.
#7 Gold Mine Train – Nigloland (France)
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.
#6 Runaway Mine Train, Alton Towers (UK)
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.
#5 Vortex – Carowinds (USA)
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.
#4 Boomerang – Wiener Prater (Austria)
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.
#3 Calamity Mine – Walibi Belgium
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.
#2 Höllenblitz – Travelling
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.
#1 Big Thunder Mountain – Disneyland Paris
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.
As we hit 1991, the amount of rides that I’ve ridden from each year seems to shoot up by a fair amount. It’s not like there were a lot more installed this year than in any of the previous few, but I guess 30 years is a reasonable life span for your average coaster these days and there’s simply more of them still alive and kicking, in one form or other. I have actually been spited by a few from the ’91 line as well – Hersheypark’s Boomerang and Southport’s Pinfari were no big loss but one of a very important collection for me, the Ultra Twister (Heartline Coaster) at Brazilian Park Washuzan Highland, was quite a blow. Luckily I still managed to scrape a top ten together from that which I’ve already experienced. We’ll also take a look at any future contenders at the end of the list.
#10 Dragon 2 Loop Coaster – Gyeongju World (South Korea)
We start proceedings pretty low on the scale however. These Zamperla ‘twin helix’ powered coasters are common as muck in the world of coaster counting, although this one is one of the earliest installations. Korea seemed to have a bit of a thing for these in the late ’80s and early ’90s, with 3 of their largest parks snapping the model up. I almost had the national set.
#9 Runaway Train – Botton’s Pleasure Beach (UK)
The small collection of amusements found next to a McDonalds in Skegness contains a number of children’s coasters, the most famous of which would be the inverted wacky worm. Runaway Train is a small, spiral shaped affair with a tin roof and a bit of a mountainous centrepiece, but perhaps most intriguing of all it appears to be the only ride on the entire database to be manufactured by Meridian Ltd. I do like obscurity in the collection.
#8 Rollerskater – Plopsaland De Panne (Belgium)
Apologies for the lack of pictures here, I always seem to be in a hurry in Belgium and didn’t even take the time to snap a photo of the amusing looking washing machine featured in the theming for this humble Vekoma Junior coaster. Update: a certain Ride to Happiness provided a perfect excuse to go back and get some more photos, the washing machine is now a karaoke speaker. Once again this model has become rather prolific over the years but this example was one of the, if not the, very first of its kind. So that’s nice.
#7 Anaconda – Kings Dominion (USA)
Anaconda amused me. It’s not Arrow at their finest, especially given what they put out the year before, but at least it didn’t cause any specific harm with its janky transitions and interesting tracking. The ride was barely making it around the circuit, which resulted in a particularly standout sensation of falling into the restraint while suspended upside down in the two corkscrews towards the end of the layout.
#6 Devil’s Mine – Fort Fun Abenteuerland (Germany)
Back on the theme of Vekoma ‘rollerskaters’, here’s another one from their inaugural year that also happens to be an entirely custom layout. It began life in Finland, within an indoor family entertainment centre, but after a few short years found it’s way to this remote German park, who managed to integrate the design into their impressive hilly landscape rather well. In addition to the compulsory extra lap, this attraction also contains a little dark ride scene before the lift hill to help it stand out from the crowd even more.
#5 Patriot – California’s Great America
Back in its day, this was a B&M stand-up coaster (originally called Vortex) and is amongst the manufacturer’s very earliest creations. In 2017 it underwent a transformation that included changing the trains to the more popular floorless sit-down model. It’s an interesting move that has taken place a handful of times now across the States, though not a particularly exciting one. Obviously when designing a stand-up coaster there are more limitations in what one can do with the layout and this was particularly highlighted to me whilst existing in the now much more comfortable riding position – it doesn’t actually do a whole lot. Very generic for a looping coaster.
#4 Milky Way (Pink) – Greenland (Japan)
Featured recently in my ranking of Greenland‘s coasters, the pink sit-down half of this racing coaster is decent fun, enhanced by some rider interaction and the on-board music. At the time of opening this one was also a stand-up, though it made more sense to convert the trains in this case and present guests with the choice between two entirely separate experiences side by side.
#3 Spaceship 2056 – New Reoma World (Japan)
Elsewhere in Japan, this lovely little park opened their gates for the very first time in 1991 (without the ‘new’ in their name) and with it this indoor coaster from Sansei Yusoki. The attraction may well have been entirely different at the time, but the current setup involves some space themed pre-show antics before guests board the train in a station at the highest point of the layout. After an exciting experience in total darkness, riders then depart in a separate offload station, leaving the train to complete the lift hill portion of the circuit entirely empty.
#2 Ultimate – Lightwater Valley (UK)
At home in the UK, something very strange was happening. Engineers from British Rail, a railway company, were overseeing the construction of what was to be, at the time, the world’s longest rollercoaster. It has the most bizarre and unique layout containing two lift hills amongst two very disproportionately sized, and paced, sections of track. The ambition was insane though and the result is both brilliant and brutal, to a seasoned enthusiast at least. I first tried this one out very early on in my coaster career and came away with a very low opinion, not able to see past the bruises. Having returned in more recent years I have a great deal more respect for the attraction. Sadly the park aren’t in very good shape right now and we could well lose this unique piece of rollercoaster history in the very near future – make sure to catch it if you still can.
#1 Milky Way (Blue) – Greenland (Japan)
My favourite of all the coasters I’ve ridden from 1991 is the stand-up side of this Togo classic, which provided brand new sensations to me in the form of standing airtime. It’s a rather ridiculous concept to be thrust into the air, against the will of gravity, when all you’re doing is surfing a metal plate, but it works oh so well in this case. I’m always hoping to be surprised by rides these days and it certainly ticked the box on that front.
Could anything beat it though? Potentially. The big name coaster that jumps out at me most from this year is Phantom’s Revenge at Kennywood, although it’s presence in this list would be interesting to say the least. What is now a highly popular Arrow hyper coaster was originally another of their looping coaster designs – a particularly large and ambitious one by the name of Steel Phantom and therefore an entirely different experience. At the turn of the millennium it was massively overhauled and became what it is today. It seems to have been a resounding success and as a particular fan of terrain coasters I can’t wait to experience the madness for myself.
