A.J.

Thanks for the compliments, but this was a team effort - with Robb leading the charge and Chase doing a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff to make the poll work the way it does. Noted! We'll look into it, it might be analyzing the top 50 in order of ridership or something. We can't say with certainty where they would rank unless they have the ridership. Based on our current projections, Zadra would have placed in the top 25, and Maxx Force in the top 100 for sure. I'd file it under being "just a new coaster" as opposed to "the coaster everyone's been waiting for" that is Steel Vengeance. I anticipate it and Steel Curtain will get rankings on the 2021 poll at the latest. We can't do that, because of the low ridership, it's tough to get an estimate / projection apart from "top XX". We'd rather cut them off completely than include something that might come across as inaccurate. It's unfortunate because a lot of those coasters, especially some of the newer rides in China, have been extremely well-received. In some cases, Wooden Coaster A would be ranked above Wooden Coaster B in the wooden poll, but it would be the other way around on the combined poll, if that makes sense. We didn't want any ambiguity there. We included the "hyper space warp" variant found at several Fantawild parks with the launched one this year. Right now, anyway, we believe that the difference between the "normal" and "hyper" variants is not really more significant than, say, Mind Eraser vs Blue Tornado (with the bonus helix). Those are both SLCs, these are both space warps.

While I personally adore Untamed and put it at my own #2, I suspect there's a bit of "new hotness" hype going on. However, more than half the people that rode it ranked it in their top 3, with the vast majority ranking it in their top 10. Once that new Raptor Track coaster gets built at that water park, Wonder Woman and RailBlazer will no longer be ranked and the clones will get a singular entry. That will open up two more spots for top 25 coasters as well. We had a few people rank it relatively low, but their ballots check out. Different strokes for different blokes! The highest rated inverted coaster was Nemesis at #28, followed by Pyrenees at #41, Katun at #42, and Montu at #45.

The top steel coasters got a little bit of a shakeup this year because we put the "clone" protocol into effect in full, which changed how the Mega Lite coasters were treated. All three 2019 Rocky Mountain coasters had an overwhelmingly good response - Zadra and Hakugei would have both placed above Untamed had they received enough riders. Hakugei was close but Zadra had a ways to go there. Beast placed at #31 this year.

The TPR 2019 Coaster Poll Results are in! https://coasterpoll.com/ The Theme Park Review Coaster Poll is an ongoing effort by myself (A.J.), Chase (Comeagain?) and Robb (robbalvey). We're continuing to work hard to develop THE definitive annual ranking of the world's roller coasters! The reason why this poll exists is because the Mitch Hawker poll, which was considered by many to be the quintessential roller coaster poll for nearly 20 years, had kind of fallen into a black hole leaving few polls or awards that exist that we would put real faith into the results. This year, we had over seven hundred people submit ballots! We would like to thank everyone who took the time to submit one - you're helping fulfill the poll's mission! The way Mitch’s poll worked is that instead of being a “popularity contest” of “he who gets the most votes wins”, it actually ranked and weighted people’s real life riding experience against each other. It took into account how many coasters you’ve ridden and how those rankings compare against others with similar experiences. It also meant that no matter if you’ve ridden 50 or 500 coasters, the results were “fair and balanced.” Due to confusion in last year's poll, we will NOT be running a "combined" set of results. Wooden and steel coasters are being ranked separately this year! As a refresher, these are the rules: To qualify for the poll, a coaster has to be the size of a wild mouse or larger, with a select few exceptions To qualify for the poll, a coaster has to both have operated for the majority of the previous season (2019) AND be scheduled to have opened during the current season (2020, though current world events may have prevented this). To receive a numbered ranking, a coaster must have been marked "ridden" and ranked by at least 12 (twelve) people; any with less than that are given a provisional ranking and not included in the "top" lists Individual installations of roller coaster clones (Vekoma SLC, Mack Blue Fire, etc) do NOT count in rankings; Instead, their votes are all averaged together, and they are ranked as a single entry; A clone is defined as any coaster with three near-identical installations or more Any coaster that is standing but not operating (SBNO) is not ranked Are you excited yet? Here come the results! 2019 Top 25 Wooden Roller Coasters 1. Lightning Rod - Dollywood 2. El Toro - Six Flags Great Adventure 3. Outlaw Run - Silver Dollar City 4. Wildfire - Kolmården 5. T Express - Everland 6. Phoenix - Knoebels Amusement Park and Resort (+1) 7. Voyage - Holiday World & Splashin' Safari (-1) 8. Boulder Dash - Lake Compounce 9. Colossos Kampf der Giganten - Heide Park Resort (returned from SBNO) 10. Balder - Liseberg 11. Coaster - Playland (at the PNE) 12. Ravine Flyer II - Waldameer Water World (+1) 13. Goliath - Six Flags Great America (-1) 14. Wooden Coaster Fireball - Happy Valley Shanghai 15. Mystic Timbers - Kings Island (+2) 16. Shivering Timbers - Michigan's Adventure (+8) 17. Mine Blower - Fun Spot Kissimmee (-1) 18. Renegade - Valleyfair (+3) 19. Tremors - Silverwood (+4) 20. Gold Striker - California's Great America (-1) 21. GhostRider - Knott's Berry Farm (new to top 25) 22. Troy - Toverland (-2) 23. Prowler - Worlds of Fun (new to top 25) 24. Wodan Timbur Coaster - Europa Park (new to top 25) 25. Cú Chulainn - Tayto Park (new to top 25) 2019 Top 25 Steel Roller Coasters 1. Untamed - Walibi Holland (new for 2019) 2. Steel Vengeance - Cedar Point (-1) 3. Expedition GeForce - Holiday Park (+1) 4. Maverick - Cedar Point (-2) 5. Medusa Steel Coaster - Six Flags Mexico 6. Twisted Timbers - Kings Dominion (-3) 7. Skyrush - Hersheypark (+4) 8. Taron - Phantasialand (+7) 9. DC Rivals Hypercoaster - Warner Bros. Movie World 10. Helix - Liseberg (+4) 11. Fury 325 - Carowinds (+1) 12. Twisted Colossus - Six Flags Magic Mountain (-2) 13. Intimidator 305 - Kings Dominion (-7) 14. Millennium Force - Cedar Point (-1) 15. RailBlazer - California's Great America (+5) 16. Intamin Mega Lite coasters - various parks (-8) 17. Flying Dinosaur - Universal Studios Japan (new to top 25) 18. Lech Coaster - Legendia (new to top 25) 19. Wonder Woman Golden Lasso Coaster - Six Flags Fiesta Texas (+5) 20. Twisted Cyclone - Six Flags Over Georgia (-4) 21. Wicked Cyclone - Six Flags New England (new to top 25) 22. Storm Chaser - Kentucky Kingdom (-3) 23. Goliath - Walibi Holland (-2) 24. New Texas Giant - Six Flags Over Texas (+1) 25. Superman the Ride - Six Flags New England (-8) 2019 10 Worst Wooden Roller Coasters 10. Tomahawk - PortAventura Park 9. Ghoster Coaster - Canada's Wonderland 8. Wildcat - Lake Compounce 7. Predator - Darien Lake 6. Little Dipper - Six Flags Great America 5. Underground - Adventureland (Iowa) 4. Grizzly - California's Great America 3. Anaconda - Walygator Parc 2. Coaster Express - Parque Warner Madrid 1. Bandit - Movie Park Germany 2019 10 Worst Steel Roller Coasters, all things considered 10. Comet - Walygator Parc 9. Tulireki - Linnanmaki 8. Canyon Blaster - Great Escape 7. Arrow Dynamics Loop & Corkscrew coasters - various parks 6. Dragon - Adventureland (Iowa) 5. Goudurix - Parc Asterix 4. Vekoma Corkscrew with Bayerncurve coasters - various parks 3. Zamperla Volare coasters - various parks 2. Big Apple Coaster - New York New York Hotel and Casino 1. Cobra - Tivoli Friheden 2019 10 Worst Steel Roller Coasters, not including clones 10. X / The Walking Dead The Ride - Thorpe Park 9. Ninja - Six Flags St. Louis 8. Master Thai - Mirabilandia 7. Comet - Walygator Parc 6. Tulireki - Linnanmaki 5. Canyon Blaster - Great Escape 4. Dragon - Adventureland (Iowa) 3. Goudurix - Parc Asterix 2. Big Apple Coaster - New York New York Hotel and Casino 1. Cobra - Tivoli Friheden Thanks again to anyone and everyone who took the time to vote in the 2019 poll. Look out for myself and Chase to keep the thread going with fun, interesting, and random stats! As always, please comment / post if you have any questions, and we can't wait to do this again next year! Some notable coasters that did not receive a rank due to low ridership, in alphabetical order: Dinoconda, Dauling Dragon, Dueling Dragons (China), Dynamite, Euro-Star, Falcon, Fjord Flying Dragon, Flying Wing Coaster, Gravity Max, Hakugei, Junker, Maxx Force, Mindbender (Galaxyland), Mystic, Oscar's Wacky Taxi, Python in Bamboo Forest, Roar-O-Saurus, Soaring with Dragon, Steel Curtain, Steel Dolphin, Taiga, Timber, Wood Coaster (Knight Valley), Wood Express, Zadra If you want to see any of these coasters ranked on the poll, be sure to go out and ride them! See the full wood results here! See the full steel results here! Want more? Check out the following "top lists" throughout the thread! Top 25 coasters organized by ridership Top 15 wooden coasters running PTC trains What additional fun and interesting "top" lists do you want to see? Leave a post!

Some Disney fan sites are reporting that Disney has told cast members to continue to stay home based on Orange County's mandate... I'm surprised Disney hasn't made a formal announcement yet as well.

Oh my goodness you caught that near-miss. I literally had no idea.

Anyone have any Bamboo? I'm starting to get DIY recipes that use it and I haven't gotten any Nook Miles islands that have it.

A.J. here! SW-8292-0136-2627 Town: Gosselynne Fruit: Apple

I knew they looked familiar. They're pretty much two-car Cannibal trains. Fascinating.

On weekends, yes, though I've never gone on a weekday. You'll never wait more than a cycle for a ride, but everything is always running.

Fascinating, they're actually still open! Not-pocalypse fallout shelter! Free Four Rivers Barbecue and Auntie Anne's pretzels for everyone! Save $6 when you buy online!

Forbidden Caves was silly. I'm not afraid to say it. Great continuation Andy, Fury was such a fun start to the trip.

Now that I presented the facts, opinion time: The travel suspension is very likely going to have some sizable impacts on the tourism economy here in Orlando. It's pretty much the lifeblood of the area and I can see many people having to deal with reduced hours or even layoffs because of it. I'm even concerned about my own job.

To our European readers, here's what Elissa is referring to: the United States government is prohibiting travel from all European countries, with the exception of the U.K., into the United States, for thirty days, starting this Friday (March 13). It's not clear if you will be able to fly into the U.S. if you connect through an airport in the U.K. (or Canada), nor is it clear what the procedures are for Europeans who need to fly OUT of the States.

Huh. Maybe I should plan to go to Busch Gardens this weekend after all.

We'll see what starts to happen once Florida goes back to being Florida here in the next few days.

...of 2022.

Sounds like Rocky Mountain wants to take extra steps to ensure that Iron Gwazi doesn't turn into... Gwazi.

I wouldn't say it's too far off. What gets people is not necessarily the cost of the test itself, but pretty much everything surrounding it. So, hypothetically, if someone started showing really bad COVID-19 symptoms and needed a visit to the Emergency Room, they'd be on the hook for that. Or, if you have multiple tests run on you when you're there, you're on the hook for all of those too. In the United States, most healthy people choose a health insurance plan that is less expensive on a monthly basis, but will require them to pay much more out of pocket before their insurance company will start paying for their treatment. That amount could be as much as several thousand dollars. So I wouldn't necessarily disagree with someone who decided to go the "health tourism" route, but that's just me.

The Waikiki Wave style still exists, though Vekoma doesn't make it. There's the Moser Rides Maverick, Zamperla Backflash, and KMG Discovery.

I was going to go Saturday, but I decided to spontaneously go for a park closing tonight and I'm glad I did. It's seriously excellent. It's not as ambitious as Rise of the Resistance or as immersive as Flight of Passage, but I really don't care. It's energetic, bouncy, bubbly, wacky fun and that's why I love it. It's a ride that must be ridden several times to truly experience it, because so much happens in every single direction. The cars are far enough apart from each other that car #1 may have a somewhat different visual experience than car #3, based on position and timing. The theme song is woven throughout the ride and is incredibly catchy. The pre-show is really convincing and, without spoiling anything, there is continuity after the ride ends. Posted wait time when I entered the queue at 7:45 PM (45 min to park close) was 105 minutes, but I probably waited 60-65 minutes including the pre-show. It's a capacity monster. Can't wait to do it again, and again. It's about a must-do for me at Hollywood Studios as Spaceship Earth is at EPCOT.

I WISH that it was always a walk-on. If there have been any serious impacts to the theme park industry, they're certainly not visible, apart from outright closures. The Walt Disney World parks have been just as crowded as they always are these past few weeks. I've been going every weekend and it still is just as psychologically painful as usual.

The animation style is based off of the retrro-modern 2013 Mickey Mouse shorts, which have won and / or been nominated for a plethora of awards such as Annies and Emmys. They're very good, as a fan of old-school Disney / Looney Tunes slapstick, I enjoy them. They probably used this style of animation for the ride because it's based in Hollywood Studios (and eventually Toontown). If this were a Fantasyland dark ride in either park I could see how they would want to go with the "vanilla / inoffensive" Mickey Mouse design.

Petition to switch the thread title and subtitle.

Saturday can't come soon enough!