Rollercoaster Ranking – Intamin Launch Coasters (part 1)

Whilst they currently manufacturer almost any theme park hardware you can think of, Intamin have become particularly renowned for their record breaking and often world beating launch coasters. They began using LSM technology back in 1997 in order to immediately smash both the height and speed world records for a rollercoaster with back to back installations of the Reverse Freefall model on either side of the planet.

By 1998, they had switched over to the subtly different LIM system for their suspended coaster range, creating both a one of a kind ride in Volcano, The Blast Coaster (R.I.P.) – an early pioneer of the full circuit multi-launch concept, along with their relatively popular compact shuttle rides known as Impulse coasters.

In 2002, an alternative engineering solution for train propulsion was developed for Knott’s Berry Farm, giving birth to their range of Hydraulic launch coasters which, throughout the same decade ended up repeatedly pushing the boundaries yet again. This type of launch enabled Intamin to continually surpass their own record for tallest coaster, holding it ever since they first took the title, and culminated in 2010 with what remains to this day as the all time fastest out in the UAE.

As technologies have grown and changed, the Hydraulic launch appears to have been phased out again in favour of the more energy efficient LSM technique. 2007 saw the start of this uprising with the ride type now commonly labelled by enthusiasts as the Blitz coaster. As the race for raw statistics began to tail off, the drive for more fundamentally well rounded experiences took over and this revised launch model became the foundation of their now highly regarded multi launch coasters we both know and anticipate today.

In that very same year, the family market was also tapped into using yet another system of tyre propelled launches. Although a shaky start (I’ll soon tell you why), this simpler concept also remains active to this day, complementing the available lineup with rides from the smaller end of the scale.

Outside of all this we’ve seen any number of innovations from Intamin that also happen to involve launches. From Half Pipes to Wing Coasters and from the legendary Aqua Trax to an exciting upcoming single rail project in Australia, it seems there’s nothing they can’t do with them.
But records and engineering aside, which ones are the best to ride? Yes, it’s time for another ranking list and, as I’ve opened this field up to absolutely anything with a launch, there’s quite a lot to sift through. “Heads back, face forward, hold on tight and brace yourself.”

Though there is more than one of these on the list, this one gets a special dishonourable mention for either doing it wrong or me doing it wrong. The entire experience can be summed up by being launched sideways in a jerky fashion on every single pass, with an unforgiving shoulder restraint just to the side of your head/neck ready to absorb the impact. The live band out front was a nice touch at least.

Displaying the aforementioned beginnings of tyre propelled launches on smaller coasters, this early motorbike design is awkward and uncomfortable in almost every way. The parts of the ‘seating’ on which your knees press against for the riding position used to have a layer of padding which, at the time of my riding, had partially worn away, leaving a knobbly mess of remains and hard plastic to grind away at your flesh and bone through every vibration from the train. It also actively made children cry around us – is this what you want from a family coaster?

The surprise at finding this Impulse coaster didn’t share the layout of all the others was not enough to overlook the fact that I also found it surprisingly rough and shaky for a ride of this nature. Like the Half Pipe it’s a bit of a gimmick to be bouncing back and forth between two spikes as your entire layout and if there’s discomfort involved then there’s very little merit to the experience.

We now leave the realm of physical discomfort and enter one of simple monotony and disinterest. These look like Half Pipes again, tamed down without the added rotation of the seats and yet the whole seating setup feels oversized, clunky and unnecessarily claustrophobic for what you would imagine the target demographic to be on a Toy Story ride. It bothers me more however that this is becoming a stable product of Disneyland parks – a lazy, small footprint ‘coaster’ (barely) that doesn’t even tie into the ‘theme’ (barely) very well.

With pain removed from the equation, these are actually alright, but still not great. I appreciate the more open seating with dangling legs for the effect they’re trying to go for, particularly against the example just above us. It’s all just semantics at this stage though, it’s nice to stick these on the list and call them a +1, but do they even feel like rollercoasters?

The same can be applied here – a big straight line and not even two spikes, just one. This one sits directly behind the following entry as the queueline, theming and atmosphere was all very tired, dated and neglected giving absolutely no impact to what was once a highly significant attraction in the coaster world. Glad to have got it, shan’t miss it.

Slightly taller, slightly faster and in a better physical location – jutting out of the hillside for a bit of extra perceived height. This one just about edges it for me, though you honestly can’t tell the difference in stats to ride it. As perhaps the worst of any coaster to bear the name ‘Superman’, this one manages to make 100Mph feel surprisingly unremarkable – quite the feat.

You’d think this one would have a bit more going for it with what looks like an airtime hill, the opportunity to face in either direction and lap bar restraints, even just some more modern techonology. After suffering through far too much pre-show for a ride of this length, the result was entirely a non-event for me. The spike exiting the building to pop outside and give you some cool views even falls flat on its face by not going high enough to matter. When will this string of shuttle coasters end?

Right here. We can actually start saying I like these rides moving forward, so that’s a plus. Baby Kanonen was the smallest of the hydraulic launch coasters to be built and ended up with a certain awkwardness about it. The stunted top speed with the size and scale of the track, trains and layout just didn’t add up to a good sense of pacing and flow. It wasn’t anything special (and the park clearly knew it too, giving it only 10 years before selling it on and buying something far better), but entertaining nonetheless. I particularly enjoyed the non-chalance of the station announcement – “place your head… against the headrest.”

If you want an equally disinterested piece of audio on a ride, there’s still Rita. Ever since it got consumed by the Dark Forest of Thirteen and lost the subtitle – Queen of Speed, a man quietly declares that “you must escape” before uttering in the same tone “go, go… go…” It’s just so amusingly anticlimactic for what is admittedly a decently powerful burst of acceleration to start this ride. Crank up the beans on these hydraulics and things get more impressive for sure, particularly if you’re a big fan of launches.

I’m not that bothered about the sensation of launches any more though (my loss) and so it’s time to start focusing on the layouts that come after it. I didn’t finish what I was going to say about Rita because Desert Race is exactly the same ride. I’ve always been of the opinion that this one rides noticeably smoother, slightly showing off those twisted hills that break up the almost unending fast banked turns. The layout made sense for Alton Towers as they had to stay below the tree line, but in reality I’d just call it a compromise in performance compared to their past projects that faced the same restrictions and not quite exciting enough for my tastes.

So with that in mind, enter the one up, one down product range that was used to surpass the world records of the big ol’ spikes we talked about earlier. Zaturn opened one month after Stealth at Thorpe Park, is exactly the same and, standing at a massive 205ft tall, is only ‘medium-sized’ for what this ride type has achieved. There’s very little to the layout obviously, but the sensations of an even faster launch, along with the entry and exit of the top hat, plus the violent burnout of all the wasted potential energy into the brake run is always decent fun. I just can’t get overly jubilant about a ride that’s over almost as soon as it begins and this one had no soul.

The tallest coaster in the world had no soul either, and that disappointed me. I expected the park to play up the fear factor, on this of all rides, but all we got was this parking lot coaster, some generic disco vibes and guests (including ourselves) having distracted conversations while sitting on the launch track about to experience 128Mph to the face and see the world from 456ft in the air. How can you possibly turn this hardware into a non-event, a one and done? A Six Flags way was found.

Whilst the hydraulic coaster started out with more than just a top hat element, I’m not sure Xcelerator had the right approach either. Fast turns and a sensation of speed are all well and good but it even lacks any further key moments after the starting sequence and even misses that extra bit of fun over the brake fin humps found on later models. Solid ride, but ended up a little forgettable outside of the history for me.

More of the same of course but this one stands out from the pack due to a solid theme and great sense of fun throughout the zone it resides in. Having grown up with the park I do have a bit more of a sentimental attachment as well and at one point in the past the whole concept was absolutely terrifying and intimidating to me, feelings that had long since faded by the time I reached any of the others in this list.

Whilst we’ve already seen some impressive hardware here today, I’d say none of these rides really show off what the mad lads at Intamin can do to a full extent. The technology and the ideas are there, but the layouts and standout moments that keep me coming back for more are not. Join me in the top half where we’ll at least have some context into how much better things get compared to this motley crew.

Rollercoaster Ranking – SLCs

Contrary to the model name – the Suspended Looping Coaster, these rides have since been classified (amongst enthusiast databases at least) as ‘inverted’ rollercoasters. The first layout debuted in 1994 in the home nation of manufacturer Vekoma, just two years after the introduction of the popular ‘Batman’ B&M Invert.
The key difference these inverts had when compared to the ‘suspended’ designs seen throughout the ’80s was that the train is rigidly attached to the track and could therefore perform tighter manouevres, including inversions, and achieve compact layouts on flat land more easily. They also had the novelty of dangling guests legs in the air and thus threw in a bit of intimidation factor for good measure. This new concept soon became a staple investment to be included in any thrill ride lineup and Vekoma’s lower cost alternative managed to tap into a significant portion of that market.

While great news for the manufacturer, this successful business strategy has only ever manifested itself somewhere in between lamentable and loathsome for the coaster counters among us. The ride type is frequently regarded as one of the worst on the planet due to a combination of poor tracking and unforgiving oversized shoulder restraints that commonly result in ‘headbanging’ or ‘earbashing’. In short, the experience is generally unpleasant and not one that leaves you wanting more.

But more is the hand we’ve been dealt. The now prolific Vekoma SLC has been built 33 times while spanning an unusually long career for any coaster model, with the latest having been installed in 2017. Sadly throughout all this time there have been no more than a few variations in layout. There are currently 20 of the standard ‘689m’ version, several other ‘extended’ or ‘bonus helix’ editions of the same original design and a small handful of grim alternatives.

To add insult to sometimes literal injury (purely from this silly author’s selfish perspective), the early 2000s saw various Chinese manufacturers double down on this idea of low cost, highly repeatable SLC design and even ended up replicating both of the standard Vekoma layouts for the vast majority of their installations. With Golden Horse alone now ahead of Vekoma on quantity of sales for this ride type and several other companies striving to do the same, latest estimates would put the number of SLCs worldwide at over 100. A harrowing thought for anyone whose game is to catch ’em all.

How well (badly) have I fared so far then? In terms of the original Vekomas I’m just shy of halfway through the list at 16. By almost actively avoiding anything of this nature in China I’ve also managed to sample just 5 locally built equivalents across 3 separate manufacturers and I shall continue to try and stop myself from making it any more of a habit. For what it’s worth, here’s how these occupational hazards rank from miserable to manageable and any tangential anecdotes that may have helped me in making such ground-breaking judgements.

I rarely use the phrase ‘burn it down’ about anything in the theme park world, but I have done here. Fantawild Adventure parks have a tendency to bring out the worst of me in general and then this ride decided to commence proceedings with two sharp punches to the skull during the first drop and turn. There’s literally no merit to this when it simply stems from poor implementation of a common as muck design. We’re off to a good start.

This was an abomination of equal magnitude but it had certain quirks working in its favour. It’s a requirement to wear a green padded vest for this ride, which they supply you with in the station, so clearly they already know that this piece of hardware has the potential to cause physical injury. At least they aren’t afraid to admit this and embrace the fact that it’s going to continue.
It’s also not a layout inspired by any Vekoma and contains this weird poorly shaped inversion that throws at least one interesting sensation into the mix.
The bad? The cars bounced back and forth really badly while negotiating the track, a usually minor trait that you’ll see later on I had come to even enjoy a little for comedy reasons. This very pronounced equivalent of the effect was rough and unpleasant on the innards as well as the outtards.

The prototype that started it all. What a mess. It had the henchest restraints I had ever seen when I rode this thing and as they are literally already making physical contact there was absolutely nothing to be done to prevent them from gnawing away at your ears from first drop to brake run. Guests audibly swear on this ride more than I’ve heard on anything else in the world.

I don’t think I disliked the ride itself as much as I despised the circumstances of this one. The queueline is made up of disgusting metal cages and the staff in this park (by far the worst in China for me) were having arguments with me about pointless seating nonsense while I’m dying inside, desperate to get the stupid thing over and done with. Oh, it was rough though.

Not even uniqueness can make this one shine in a sea of sludge. The tallest SLC in the world is pure custom goodness and I didn’t like it one bit. They clearly weren’t designed to handle such unprecedented speeds and that only adds to the calamity in this particular case.
Odyssey is notoriously hard to catch due to either technical issues or being susceptible to the awful weather on the North East coast of England so there is some joy to be found in all of this – I’m glad I’ve crossed it off the list.

Having to do the notorious ‘Happy Valley exercises’ in preparation for some of the finest coasters in production is an entertaining laugh and a character building experience. Having to do them for an SLC is an insult and once again I was just dying to get this thing out of the way. It was far newer than the equivalent layout I had already ridden, from the same manufacturer, and therefore hadn’t yet been reduced to a terrible state. Give it time.

If I was being cynical I could claim that we had to revisit this park just to ride the SLC and complete the creds. We were actually just being smart and prioritising time spent on DC Rivals over queuing an hour for nothing but the coaster count (I’ve done far worse of course).
Having caved and come back anyway there was no queue at all, but that didn’t stop this from being a bad experience. My first encounter with vest restraints on these proved that they do nothing but highlight how sub-par the overall track quality is. These rides aren’t good, in case you hadn’t noticed yet.

If I was being cynical I could claim that we had to revisit this park just to ride the SLC and complete the creds.
Actually I was just being smart and prioritising time spent on B&Ms and Intamin Woodies and then the weather decided to hail and thunderstorm the place into a full closure.
Having caved and come back anyway, there were other things to add to the count as well, but that didn’t stop this from being a bad experience. This was still early days for me and I certainly had noticed, these rides aren’t good.

Cheat! The only one on the list that never received the privilege of my photographic recognition. Instead this is a cheeky shot through the trees of the original Walibi SLC from earlier in the list. I’m sure you get the picture by now. They’re almost all the same.
Sadly we had to resort to paying for fastrack to add this to the collection, only to be thwarted in our cred running efforts by another Belgian park that day anyway. I remember absolutely nothing of the ride experience.

What an eyesore. This was the first time I noticed the weird motion (mentioned above) that the trains can sometimes do on these which involves pumping backwards and forwards rather than the usual side to side that causes headbanging. In minor doses it doesn’t actually do a whole lot and I found it rather amusing, along with the whole setup of this ride. It’s unashamedly ugly, from the gravel service roads to the tin shed station.

I believe I somewhat liked this one back in the day. It was a glorious time in which I didn’t count coasters, obsess over them on the internet or even comprehend that one day I’d be forced to subject myself to the many, many more ‘Kumalis’ out there. Basically it had character and individuality to me, before all this worldly knowledge that I’m spewing out here ruined that illusion – you’re welcome.

Just cracking the top ten (what an honour) is my favourite Golden Horse in the list. I had some fun running to this one like a man possessed in order to squeeze in the +1 before an appointment with a timeslotted dark ride elsewhere in the park. It was a rather windy day, to the point of threatening ride closure and I actually felt the impact of this on ride through a somewhat unnerving almost-stall in one of the inversions. This particular Flare Meteor performed just fine overall and didn’t leave me with any more than the usual worry about other SLCs from the manufacturer – oh how they would prove me wrong.

By far the most aptly named of these rides out there, this one promises to do what many further up in this post actually achieve. Fortunately it doesn’t deliver on the promise and was one of the most inoffensive around. It even looks rather nice, comparatively.

Nio is another of which I remember very little about in terms of the ride experience so it was likely fine. The dominating sensation here was that of intense joy – my first day in Japan (and what a way to spend it).

This one has a few things in its favour – they were playing K-pop in the station, it’s (finally) a custom layout and that crude phoenix on the front makes it by far the best attempt at a themed train on any of these that I know of. All of that combined with no major upsets make this my current king of Chinese built SLCs.

We’re back in vest restraint territory again and I can now say that when paired with adequate tracking, the experience becomes a lot more… inconsequential. Fair play to this one, we saw certain guests choose to ride it more than once.

I think for some reason, as yet unknown to me, that I slightly prefer this ‘Shenlin’ layout that was born out of another Happy Valley park, when it isn’t trying to hurt me. This one comes with bonus helix and an exceptionally long and well themed queueline that it doesn’t deserve in the slightest.

As does this one. You could get lost for hours walking in the general direction of the station through decorative temple ruins and that would actually count as a good excuse to not board the ride.
This was the original ‘Shenlin’ installation, no bonus helix, and I don’t honestly know why it’s stuck with me as one of the better ones. Perhaps some foolishly naive nostalgia about it being my first day in China. Is it possible to have a gut feeling about such a gruesome topic? I have since passed on the opportunity to reride it during a subsequent visit – leave the memories alone.

Straight out of the Vekoma catalogue that forms half of the park lineup at Energylandia, this is the newest build of a Vekoma SLC that I’ve ridden and it seems now that the vests are here to stay.
I was welcomed into the station with a complement from a friendly ride host about how beautiful Liseberg is (courtesy of whichever of their shirts I happened to be wearing, sadly I don’t exude such an aura without visual cue just yet). That alone is almost enough to win this list.

My very first SLC experience and unlike any other in the list I’ve unashamedly ridden it several times (though not in recent memory). It’s one of the better behaved ones, not necessarily in a standout way but I guess I just like Blackpool, I like that it’s over water and… nope, that’s everything nice I have to say about it.

Three trains. This bonus helix layout was operating with three trains on track. When observing the operational efficiency of a rollercoaster is the most entertaining aspect of the entire experience, you know you’re onto a winning design.

Rollercoaster Ranking – Stand Up Coasters

Time for a bit of cross-manufacturer comparison in the rankings. This dying breed of coaster has been far from a success story in the industry, the general consensus being that they aren’t very good. This makes me sad however, as some are actually very good, plus it’s a rare and unusual experience and we know how much I care about those. If conservation status ever makes the leap over to ’80s steel coasters, I’d be happy to become an ambassador (for a select few).

The type was first introduced to Japan in 1982 by local manufacturer Togo. Two of their existing coasters at the time were given modified Stand Up trains. One of these still stands today, offering both a seated and standing experience alternately on its daily cycle, but the other has sadly been lost along with the park it called home.

Arrow Dynamics had a go at a similar concept in the following couple of years over in the USA, taking a couple of existing coasters and attempting to retrofit them with new vehicles. Neither appeared to have much success, each operating for a single season before the ideas were abandoned. It took Togo themselves to bring the first purpose built layout over to the States in the form of King Cobra at King’s Island – a layout that was to be replicated several times both in the same region and back home.

Intamin joined the fray in 1986 at Six Flags Magic Mountain with their own version that spawned a couple of sequels, all with the same name for some reason and only one of which remains. Once the ’90s hit, it was B&Ms turn to take what they had learnt from previously helping Intamin and they went on to create the largest ever Stand Up coaster in the very same park. 1999 saw the final build of this type and there has seemingly been no desire or interest in reintroducing the concept this side of the Millennium.

Where once the pioneers were attempting to enhance the traditional sit down coasters by introducing a new riding position, these days B&M have flipped that idea on its head and have been gradually converting their originals back into sit down coasters with underwhelming results. As of writing, only 10 Stand Ups remain in operation across the world and I’m 70% of the way towards completion (sadly only one original layout left to go). Here’s the lowdown on who does it best and which ones you should catch while you still can.

There are many problems with the B&M models as far as I’ve experienced. Firstly, they’ve aged pretty poorly, particularly given the usual smooth and sophisticated nature of their creations. Combined with this, the restraint system is pretty diabolical, with a rock hard shoulder harness rising up on either side of your head, ready to give the ears a right good bashing on the now bumpy track. Green Lantern served this up a treat, even when I knew what to expect and thought I could handle it. For me it remains the worst ride to ever come from the manufacturer. Not a good start.

Aside from general discomfort, the main issue I take with the B&Ms is that they don’t do the sensation of standing any real justice. While clambering into the contraption you’re obliged to park your rear end on something similar to a bike saddle, taking some of the weight off of your legs and essentially putting you in an uncomfortable sitting position rather than actually doing what it was supposed to do in the first place. This was their first attempt and, as above, it was grim.

The only remaining Intamin edition has similar seating issues to the B&Ms but thankfully less of the tracking issues mainly, I assume, due to the fact that it does very little with its layout – a grand total of 4 consecutive inversions and 2 corners. It has been a very long time since I rode this one and I distinctly remember being unnerved by the sensation, while not necessarily enjoying it. So it has that going for it.

I persisted with B&M’s largest in the world layout and it rewarded me with semi-decent returns. Being newer it hadn’t quite been reduced to the same level of quality as the earlier models in this list and in the right seats (middle), in the right row (front), with the correct stance (brace), it turns into a long, fast paced and rather relentless multi looper with some interesting forces. I think there’s some praise in there somewhere.

It turns out Togo are the only manufacturer that did the concept justice in my eyes and they began it all with this one. You truly are just standing on a metal plate, surrounded by complicated, but not invasive, restraints and it’s an extremely surreal experience. Though the layout of this one makes Shockwave look like a masterpiece, the full force and feeling of flex through the legs in that loop is a sensation like little else in this game and I have a massive amount of respect for the madness.

Kick things up a gear and you get a racing coaster that, rather than inverting, contains airtime. I’ll emphasise again that riders are literally stood on a flat surface while being subjected to said forces and as such, standing airtime is a terrifying thing, way out of the common comfort zone of a happy floaty feeling.

Combine the two and you get a masterpiece. After 20 seasons of service, Canada’s Wonderland decided they no longer had a place in their hearts for this model, but thankfully it was saved from near extinction by this small Italian park. And what a gem they’ve salvaged.
Though I’d had unnerving airtime on a Stand Up before, my feet had never even left the floor. On this ride, the large hill after the loop throws riders clear off of their metal plate, into the confusing but not consoling restraints, with both arms and legs flailing in a moment of pure insanity. I’ve never before had to think about how I land myself on a coaster in anticipation of the next corner and for that alone, this attraction is something truly special to the hobby.
Personally I’m hoping that modern technology can revitalise this feeling some day, it certainly has potential. If not, I’d better get started on that conservation fund.

Rollercoaster Ranking – Mack Launch Coasters

If you know what my favourite ride is then there will be no suspense as to how this list turns out. Using what I consider to the best trains in the business, these LSM launch coasters began life as a prototype at Mack’s own testing ground and world renowned theme park – Europa Park. That particular example has spawned at least 7 other clones throughout Russia, Asia and soon to be Australia (with a twist), but with the subsequent addition of multi launch and passing launch features there’s some other massively varied layouts out there already for this model, and what a model it is.

I have successfully ridden all of the unique layouts across the world so far, if we don’t count Slinky (RCDB hasn’t and I’m not going to argue it just yet). It felt like a bit of a personal mission to make this happen as I have been so enamoured with the ride type over the past few years. In the earlier stages I may well have declared it my overall favourite kind of coaster but I think as none of them ever come close to touching the #1, a couple of other manufacturers have slipped into the foreground since. Not to say these aren’t amazing of course, nearly all of them can be found in my top 10% in one form or another – let’s take a look.

Ahh, the sight of those trains has me excited already. This one was, temporarily, the last in the set for me and the first ever multi launch version of these creations. And therein lies the problem, for whatever reason the train has a little pause to itself as it hits the second rolling launch, slowing down before speeding up again and this threw me quite a lot. It doesn’t just upset the pacing, it stunts what should be one of the highlights of the whole experience – that sudden surge of extra momentum to let you know the ride is far from over.
I still liked Manta a lot though, it’s a highly attractive package with some decent twists and turns. Fun for everyone. Of course something had to come last, even if it was really good.

It feels rather harsh putting this one down here too because I massively enjoyed it. The queueline theming almost outdoes the ride experience if you’re a fan of Star Trek: The Next Generation like myself, but that’s not to say the triple launch features, reverse spike, top hat, inversions, weird speed bumps and Borg cube don’t all add to it as well. It literally has a little bit of everything and that really is the core selling point of the rides in this list.

A similar vibe to the above but it felt like the layout flowed a lot better. Each element really hits the spot from both the dead straight reverse spike to the loop and the twisty airtime hill to the Zero-G roll. Mack always seem to nail these inversions for me, they may well be the manufacturer that actually introduced me to enjoying them and that’s yet another reason there’s such a strong showing here.

To plump the list out a bit and because the accompanying theming packages are really rather variable I’m going to list out all the Blue Fire clones I’ve tried individually. I’m not cheating and posting the same ride many times!

Not China’s best effort, this one had generic dance music blaring in the indoor pre-launch section and then other than a few big crystals around the entrance, some barren land and a metal roof. I wouldn’t normally complain about things like that but we’re literally comparing the same piece of hardware four times in a row here.
It’s nice that they kept a nod to the original’s name in at least. I think. I returned the favour by wearing a Europa Park shirt while riding. Not sure if anyone got the reference.

You call that barren land? This is barren land. Scorching hot desert in fact, the kind that you don’t notice while the ride is in motion but as soon as you hit that brake run, every speck of exposed skin screams at the ride to hurry up and get back inside. The pre-launch on this version had some dinosaurs on screens, hence the name, but the effect was ruined somewhat by poor timing and the door opening too early, whitewashing the projections.

Gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous. That’s more like it China. The indoor section (and name) again left a little to be desired, with some rather uninspired decoration of ancient(?) artifacts on a plain background, but those elephants… They’re even tied into the lore of the evening show in this park. And I absolutely love stuff like that.

Sorry, I haven’t actually spoken about the ride yet. Well here’s the original and still the best. The launch and starting overbank are far from the strongest sensations, but they look pretty. From there it’s the classic blend of variety that make these some of my favourite rides, with graceful inversions, some surprise airtime moments then one final in-line twist that’s everything but graceful. It whips your head around with some serious intensity, waking you right up if you dare to think the rest of the ride is forceless. In my earlier, weaker days that element was almost too much for me but now I just love it even more.
Why does Europa’s remain the strongest? The most elaborately themed pre-launch section, that lovely Icelandic decoration, German operational efficiency (4 trains at once? easy (the others all use 1)) but more important than any of that, for the one time out of many that it actually worked – on board music! I love the soundtrack to Blue Fire and that it’s specifically tailored to the coaster experience, synchronised with the elements and the duration of the ride. It creates an absolutely masterful moment.

Now we get serious, entering the true realm of the multi launch masterpieces and first up is my home favourite. I’ve laid out the reasons before on why this is the only coaster in the country that I actively seek out regular rerides on any more and that’s a true testament to the exciting and varied sensations it provides each and every time. Also another cracking soundtrack.

Just inching the lead on the above, the size, speed and footprint of these two multi launchers may lend themselves to some similarity but they’re also vastly different packages. Copperhead’s strengths lie in it’s own little pre-launch show like forebearer Blue Fire, the wackiness of the inversions – inventing brand new sensations with an insane roll out of the station and floptime in the vertical loop. On top of that we have the super weird rolling launch over a hill and seemingly random bursts of airtime anywhere in between.
I don’t believe this one is paced quite as well and I almost wish they went a little harder to really show the US market what these rides can really do, but I had an absolute blast on it anyway, it recompleted the set for me (tick!) and it suits the park remarkably well.

I’m guessing you saw this one coming. As the best rollercoaster on the planet for me, Helix redefined my hobby, almost 1000 different coasters ago now, and it hasn’t been touched since. Location, layout, pacing, power. This is THE Mack launch coaster. Please, let’s have another one this good some day.

Rollercoaster Ranking – Intamin Woodies

The world hasn’t seen Intamin build a new wooden rollercoaster for over 12 years now and it’s a real shame, as a certain few turned out to be particularly spectacular, still holding their own amongst the latest and greatest from the Gravity Groups and GCIs of today. Unlike these rivals, Intamin design and create many other ride types from their edgy and innovative steel coasters to a multitude of water and flat rides, so their portion of the wooden market has always been rather limited.

They began using the material in 1981, boldly putting out the world’s fastest wooden rollercoaster of the time at Six Flags Great America – American Eagle remains the largest set of racing woodies to this day. Over the next 20 years only a handful more were built, with most of the market interest coming from Japan.

Japan’s latest wooden installation in 2001 was also the last to be created in a traditional manner by Intamin. In the same year their now well renowned pre-fabricated design was also introduced over in Germany. This ‘pre-fab’ style involves a unique manufacturing process for the track which allowed woodies to go steeper, faster and smoother than ever before. Only 4 of these have been built so far and though they are still available as a product, all has gone quiet on that front, the most common assumption being that this is due to the comparative cost of purchasing one.

This was always a both desirable and achievable collection to me and I have managed to ride all of the pre-fabs now, along with a couple of the older style (still need that original). There really is no comparision in ride experience between the old and the new – the design is that revolutionary. I feel that I have to flesh out this list somehow though.

This little woodie is cute and fun, much like the park it lives in, but it really doesn’t do a whole lot. Some semblance of airtime and a lot of long corners. I hope this isn’t the reason Japan seem to have given up on wooden coasters.

Sadly now defunct, Regina can only really be described as bigger Elf. It rode largely the same, albeit twice the size – some semblance of airtime and a lot of long corners. It’s hard to believe that these two were installed only 12 months before this game was changed forever. Definitely playing it safe here.

Not playing it safe comes at a price though, and a particularly hefty one for Heide Park. By the time I reached Colossos in 2016 it appeared to be a shell of its former self. The airtime was strong, but it rode very poorly in the bottom of the dips and throughout the long corner (singular this time at least). The ride closed just 3 months later and after what appeared to be much deliberation by the finance department, underwent an extensive refurbishment. Reports would suggest that this didn’t really help much, which is a shame – this legendary coaster started something truly great.

My favourite coaster is complimented by a cracking woodie and it would have to be, to make me even consider walking away from Helix for more than a few minutes. Balder is characterised by being both compact and weirdly smooth, squeezing in as much wild airtime as physically possible between the unwanted return of those long corners. The design is far from my favourite when it comes to wooden coasters as it becomes almost laughably predictable after a couple of goes, even though it’s still an amazing experience.

This remains the most recent installation and it’s hard to wonder how it could be topped. Allegedly the park asked Intamin to design a combination of the two most recently built pre-fab coasters, somehow on the side of a hill, and T-Express was born.
While I adored this ride the above story does bug me, as the second half is almost exactly Balder again, long corners and all. To its credit, the trains are longer and it seems to haul through this part a lot quicker with a slightly more out of control feeling. The first half is where it’s at though.
The steepness of the initial drop still defies belief and the shaping is simply awesome to behold on ride. You can’t even see all of it, it just disappears into nothing below you. The subsequent hill is one of the greatest moments of airtime in the world, ever, providing a sustained and surreal moment of not even knowing what to do with my arm, legs, anything. More of that please.

And here it is. More. El Toro was the last of the collection for me and the perfect way to finish it. Everything I loved most about the others rolled into one mind blowing package.
It has a slightly rougher edge to give it character and the whippiest corners in the business through the ‘bucking bronco.’ That first drop. That hill. That hill again. That other hill. If I hadn’t ridden Skyrush the previous day it would have been the most intense airtime ever.
Bow down to the bull.

Rollercoaster Ranking – Gravity Group

All this talk of Jungle Trailblazers has made me think I may as well get this list out too. You may already know that the Gravity Group are my most favouritest manufacturer right now, because every single wooden coaster of theirs that I have ridden so far is, or tries to be, the bomb. It’s no exaggeration for me, they just perfectly capture the essence of what I love about rollercoasters (specifically wooden ones) and deliver it in the most consistently aggressive package around.

Born out of Custom Coasters International in 2002, a manufacturer no longer with us, the team instantly began to redefine the modern ‘classic’ wooden rollercoaster. It pains me to say that I haven’t ridden their first four creations yet, all of which appear to be just as insane and easily sit on or near the top of my bucket list. I don’t think there’s anything I need more in life right now than the trimless night ride on Voyage that almost happened.

China has completely stolen their market as of late and that’s where I’ve been lapping up all the goodness so far. This list will obviously need a major overhaul once my covid-spited USA trip actually takes place but there’s a good chunk to chat about in the meantime.

Ah, all that praise, but we begin with a small dose of negativity. Twister wasn’t all there for me. I have huge respect for what it achieves in the miniscule footprint, setting the standard for Gravity’s incredible knack for generating pace out of tiny drops, but to fit everything in it ends up as mostly corners with several little hops and that just wasn’t enough. The noise and the steel supports (and the park in general) gave me a bit of a headache, so I probably didn’t give it the fairest of chances. Also the Timberliner restraints were off compared to any other I’ve done since, with the bar coming in much higher and more uncomfortably towards the chest.

Time for confusion. This is the Jungle Trailblazer where the hills were constructed in the wrong order, full details here. The promise was there but it ran out of steam and fell short every time. One of them had to come last I guess.

Ah, Ireland. It took too long for you to get a major coaster but you started in the big leagues. The pacing issues were here again, I managed to divide the ride into definitive thirds as we took our umpteenth lap on this beast. Amazing / good / alright. Bit too long, high bits in the wrong places.

Sweet, baby Timber. This ride is glorious but oh so short. Clearly the bar was set here to not compromise on pacing so with a mere 60ft drop you get bucket loads of stupidly good airtime before being thrust into the brakes crying for more.

Wood Express is where the real magic in France happened. Somehow the same sized drop as Timber then goes on twice as long and delivers 13 punchy airtime moments with near perfect consistency. It defies physics. My only downside with the small ones is that they just don’t have the sheer speed to be truly aggressive.

I really wish I could have experienced the daulers in all their dauling glory, it might well have knocked it up a spot or two because I’m such a sucker for ride interaction. As it was I just had the one side to try and it was great, particularly the dawn of the sideways airtime hills that I admire so much.
A little on the long side, loses pace at the end and certain moments tailored to the intertwined experience have noticeably come off worse for it.

This is the Jungle Trailblazer with the inversion that gave me a headache. I could also say the hills were constructed in the wrong order here, but the best ones are the littlest in the middle and to move them would be to do them a disservice. It’s just the follow up that doesn’t live up. Amazing, in parts.

Throw your hands up and say Wuhu (sorry). Approaching Jungle Trailblazer perfection but that ONE high up turnaround just… wasn’t necessary. The inversion seemed to work better this time and the rest is marvellous. The big spiters had big payoffs.

The other big spiter. I rode this the day before the one above and it just edged it. Love the diversity in style on this one with the more traditional big hills and turnaround, even though it’s more Intamin’s forte. Just as if to remind you that Gravity are better though, it shifts a gear in the second half and gets stupidly out of control as it hurtles and hops between the structure in the wonderfully free and easy old PTC trains. Glorious.

I hadn’t realised how well the PTC trains held up in the grand scheme of things, but they come in at number two as well. Fjord Flying Dragon is an absolute beast and the Jungle Trailblazer equivalent is a worthy tribute (if it had to exist at all). So aggressive, so much varied airtime, so much bruising. Why not number 1? The last one and a half hills don’t live up to the rest. The tiniest of margins.

Which makes it lose to the king. And the other king. Two Jungle Trailblazers in one and I should have resented it but I just love this ride so much. In one of the most amazing runs of my career (sadly unlikely to happen again) I did 4 of this list back to back and this thing came out on top. Raging relentlessness, pacing perfection, the ultimate Gravity Group package.
Your move USA.