50 years of coasters – 2000

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Click here to continue the timeline.

50 years of coasters – 1999

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Click here to continue the timeline.

50 years of coasters – 1998

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Click here to continue the timeline

50 years of coasters – 1997

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 already elaborated 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Click here to continue the timeline.

50 years of coasters – 1996

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Click here to continue the timeline.

50 years of coasters – 1995

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Click here to continue the timeline.

50 years of coasters – 1994

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Click here to continue the timeline.

50 years of coasters – 1993

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Himeji Central Park

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

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

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

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

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

Click here to continue the timeline.

50 years of coasters – 1992

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Click here to continue the timeline.

50 years of coasters – 1991

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Click here to continue the timeline.