A.J.

More stats! This time, we're looking at best from each manufacturer, again based off of the combined list (because some manufacturers do wooden AND steel coasters). The manufacturers here on the list all have at least a few coasters that are at / near the top, and all of them meet our ridership requirements for ranking. If you really, really want me to do something like best Zamperla coasters, or best Soquet coasters, or some obscure list like that, well, then you really don't have a life and I feel sorry for you. Arrow Dynamics: X2, Magnum XL-200, Steeplechase (Pleasure Beach), Tennessee Tornado, Bat (Kings Island) B&M: Fury 325, Shambhala, Katun, Flying Dinosaur, Nemesis Chance / Morgan: Lightning Run, Phantom's Revenge*, Steel Dragon 2000, Steel Eel, Wild Thing Custom / in-house / unique: Cannibal, Coaster (PNE), Beast, Giant Dipper (SCBB), Space Mountain (DLR) CCI: Boulder Dash, Shivering Timbers, Raven, GhostRider**, Legend Gerstlauer: Schwur des Kärnan, Gold Rush (Slagharen), Fluch von Novgorod, Monster (Adventureland), Smiler Gravity Group / Gravitykraft: Ravine Flyer II, Voyage, Mine Blower, Twister (Grona Lund), Wooden Warrior GCI: Gold Striker, Mystic Timbers, Troy, Renegade, Kentucky Rumbler Intamin: El Toro (Great Adventure), Maverick, Expedition GeForce, Intimidator 305, Skyrush Mack: Helix, Lost Gravity, Blue Fire clones, Space Fantasy The Ride, Star Trek Operation Enterprise Maurer: Winjas Fear, Winjas Force, Formule X, Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit, Dragon's Fury Premier: Revenge of the Mummy (USS), Mr. Freeze (SFOT), YOLOCoaster, Revenge of the Mummy (USF), Mr. Freeze (SFStL) RMC: Medusa Steel Coaster***, Lightning Rod, Wildfire (Kolmarden), Outlaw Run, Storm Chaser S&S: Do-Dodonpa, Powder Keg, Eejanaika, Tranan, El Loco (Adventuredome) Schwarzkopf: Olympia Looping, Shockwave (SFOT), Lisebergbanan, Mind Bender (SFOG), Teststrecke Vekoma: Tron Lightcycle Power Run, Big Grizzly Mountain, Expedition Everest, Big Thunder Mountain (DLP), Xpress Platform 13 * Phantom's Revenge is considered a Morgan even though it runs Arrow trains and has sections of Arrow track. ** GhostRider was renovated by GCI but still maintains the original CCI layout. *** Medusa Steel Coaster is the #1 steel coaster but actually placed third among RMCs in the combined poll behind Lightning Rod and Wildfire.

Oh, for goodness sake. Do you honestly think that the majority of people in Japan of all places care about Steel Vengeance's silly "records"?

Bingo. You can fit any coaster you want in any park you want but only the parks know how easy (cheap) or difficult (expensive) it will be to put a certain coaster in a certain place. Don't always assume that a certain coaster can be built in whatever open space a park has - sometimes, the ground just isn't suitable for development. Obviously Cedar Fair and Canada's Wonderland are willing to eat the cost to make that dive coaster fit - otherwise, they would not have done all the site work, draining the lake, making the tunnel, etc to get this far.

Sheesh, they're really taking a machete to that thing, aren't they? Obviously a Rocky Mountain renovation is always worth it, but I'm going to miss that "one of the most photogenic coaster elements in the world" spiral there near the lift.

I've heard that Knoebels fans are pretty good though!

It is on the first post of the thread, but for posterity's sake: We had 366 completed ballots. A completed ballot counts when a user scrolls down to the bottom and clicks the "I'm done" button.

So, I was poking around YouTube and stumbled across something... As if the death machine known as Extasy couldn't get any crazier, behold! It got floorless seats for the 2018 season!

We've been spreading this around our socials as well, but big thanks to Intamin Amusement Rides for the shout-out! https://www.intaminworldwide.com/the-tpr-2017-coaster-poll-results/

More stats! We received a request from [REDACTED] for this one. How about themed roller coasters? That's a tough one because there are so many different definitions of exactly what a themed roller coaster is. To some it could be as straightforward as having a themed vehicle or station platform. To others, a themed coaster is one that resides in a theme park rather than a traditional amusement park. Let's break it down! First, let's look at the top 15 coasters that have, at the very least, a themed vehicle, station platform, or queue: #1. El Toro - Six Flags Great Adventure #2. Lightning Rod - Dollywood #3. Wildfire - Kolmarden #4. Medusa Steel Coaster - Six Flags Mexico #5. Outlaw Run - Silver Dollar City #6. Maverick - Cedar Point #7. Intimidator 305 - Kings Dominion #8. Superman The Ride - Six Flags New England #9. New Texas Giant - Six Flags Over Texas #10. Taron - Phantasialand #11. Wicked Cyclone - Six Flags New England #12. iSpeed - Mirabilandia #13. Shambhala - PortAventura Park #14. Iron Rattler - Six Flags Fiesta Texas #15. Katun - Mirabilandia Not much difference from the regular list, right? Most coasters have at least some sort of theme. Let's take it a step further, and look at the top 15 coasters exclusively located in theme parks: #1. Lightning Rod - Dollywood #2. Outlaw Run - Silver Dollar City #3. Taron - Phantasialand #4. iSpeed - Mirabilandia #5. Shambhala - PortAventura Park #6. Katun - Mirabilandia #7. Flying Dinosaur - Universal Studios Japan #8. Nemesis - Alton Towers #9. Tron Lightcycle Power Run - Shanghai Disneyland #10. Montu - Busch Gardens Tampa #11. Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars - Hong Kong Disneyland #12. iSpeed - Mirabilandia #13. Blue Fire Megacoaster - Europa Park #14. Kumba - Busch Gardens Tampa #15. Cheetah Hunt - Busch Gardens Tampa Finally, let's check out what I like to call "immersive" roller coasters. These coasters can be indoor, outdoor, or a combination of both, and what makes them "immersive" is that they are story-based and heavily-themed from start to finish, and they may also have their own ambient or coordinated musical scores. This list is based on my own ongoing experience working in the theme park industry, your mileage may vary. Here are the top 15 immersive roller coasters: #1. Taron - Phantasialand #2. Nemesis - Alton Towers #3. Tron Lightcycle Power Run - Shanghai Disneyland #4. Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars - Hong Kong Disneyland #5. Revenge of the Mummy - Universal Studios Singapore #6. Schwur des Kärnan - Hansa Park #7. Black Mamba - Phantasialand #8. Space Fantasy The Ride - Universal Studios Japan #9. Star Trek Operation Enterprise - Movie Park Germany #10. Winjas Fear - Phantasialand #11. Fluch von Novgorod - Hansa Park #12. Expedition Everest - Disney's Animal Kingdom #13. Winjas Force - Phantasialand #14. Revenge of the Mummy - Universal Studios Florida #15. Baron 1898 - Efteling Some of the highly-ranked coasters that are pretty well-themed but don't make the "immersive" cut (in my opinion, mind you) are Flying Dinosaur, Lost Gravity, Hollywood Dream The Ride, SeaWorld Orlando's Manta, Alpengeist, California Screamin', Juvelen, and Silver Dollar City's Wildfire. If we extended this list to 25 or 30 entries it would include several Big Thunder Mountains, Joris en de Draak, several Space Mountains, and Escape from Gringotts.

Escape from Gringotts might not be on next year's poll for this very reason, but as tracked rides become more immersive (such as with Gringotts and the upcoming Mission Ferrari) the line might be blurred. We'll see!

To add to this, we'll be gradually entering new coasters into the poll in batches, and we'll let you know when we do so. For example, we know that Twisted Timbers just opened, but we're going to wait for Steel Vengeance, Wonder Woman, and others to open as well and just drop them all in at once.

All right, let's break this down. It's no surprise that the dominating manufacturers on our poll are B&M, Intamin, and Rocky Mountain Construction. Out of the top 100 coasters, 28 are B&Ms, 26 are Intamins, and 11 are Rocky Mountain coasters. In fact, I believe that Rocky Mountain Construction may be the only manufacturer on our poll to have every single one of their coasters in the top 100 (and they barely stay in the top 50), but keep in mind that Rocky Mountain only really makes the kind of coasters that we as enthusiasts enjoy. Intamin, B&M and the like cater to so many more demographics than Rocky Mountain does, and they've made so many coasters. In fact, there are 137 Intamin coasters currently existing on the Roller Coaster Database, which means that Intamin couldn't even keep all of their coasters in the top 100 if they tried! With that in mind, here are the best coasters from a selection of manufacturers: Arrow - X2, Magnum XL-200, Steeplechase, Tennessee Tornado, Bat (Kings Island) B&M - Fury 325, Shambhala, Katun, Flying Dinosaur, Nemesis Chance / Morgan - Lightning Run, Phantom's Revenge, Steel Dragon 2000, Steel Eel, Wild Thing Custom / in-house / unique - Cannibal, Coaster (PNE), Beast, Giant Dipper (Santa Cruz), Space Mountain (Disneyland) CCI - Boulder Dash, Shivering Timbers, Raven, GhostRider, Legend Gerstlauer - Schwur des Kärnan, Gold Rush (Slagharen), Fluch von Novgorod, Monster (Adventureland), Smiler Gravitykraft / Gravity Group - Ravine Flyer II, Voyage, Mine Blower, Twister (Gröna Lund), Wooden Warrior GCI - Gold Striker, Mystic Timbers, Troy, Renegade, Kentucky Rumbler Intamin - El Toro (Great Adventure), Maverick, Expedition GeForce, Intimidator 305, Skyrush Mack - Helix, Lost Gravity, Blue Fire (and clones), Space Fantasy The Ride, Star Trek Operation Enterprise RMC - Lightning Rod, Wildfire (Kolmarden), Medusa Steel Coaster, Outlaw Run, Storm Chaser Schwarzkopf - Olympia Looping, Shockwave (Over Texas), Lisebergbanan, Mind Bender (Over Georgia), Teststrecke Also, if you removed the "big three" from our poll, this is what the top fifteen would look like: #1. Phoenix - Knoebels Amusement Park and Resort (PTC) #2. Helix - Liseberg (Mack) #3. Boulder Dash - Lake Compounce (CCI) #4. Lightning Run - Kentucky Kingdom (Chance / Morgan) #5. Lost Gravity - Walibi Holland (Mack) #6. Phantom's Revenge - Kennywood (Chance / Morgan) #7. Cannibal - Lagoon (custom / in-house) #8. Tron Lightcycle Power Run - Shanghai Disneyland (Vekoma) #9. Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars - Hong Kong Disneyland (Vekoma) #10. Blue Fire Megacoaster - Europa Park (Mack) #11. Coaster - Playland at the PNE (custom / in-house) #12. Steel Dragon 2000 - Nagashima Spa Land (Chance / Morgan) #13. Ravine Flyer II - Waldameer Water World (Gravity Group / Gravitykraft) #14. Do-Dodonpa - Fuji-Q Highland (S&S Worldwide) #15. Olympia Looping / Munich Looping - Traveling (Schwarzkopf)

So, no rider has more or less weight compared to another, though the more coasters you rank, the more accurate the final results will be. So even if you have your top 25 in ranked order and then your bottom 100 all tied together (like with rank #573 or some arbitrary number larger than 25), that's still better for the poll then only ranking your top 25 and leaving the rest alone and not dragging them into position on your "ranked" list. For example, if you ranked El Toro as your #1 and only ranked your top 25, El Toro would only be "better" than 24 other coasters on your individual ballot. But if you included your bottom 100 other coasters afterward, even if you tied them, El Toro would be better than 124 coasters instead of 24. Does that make sense? Another thing that the poll takes into account is how many people have ridden a certain coaster. Pretty much everyone who has ridden T Express at Everland has loved it very much, but because less than twelve people marked it as "ridden" and ranked it in their ballots, it technically doesn't count when generating the final results. That twelve-rider rule is subject to change next year. I'll get those for you later tonight!

Thanks for the kind words everyone! This has been a huge undertaking, and we're not even completely finished working yet! My regards go out to Robb and Chase as well, job well done! Yes, you're correct! It means that more people preferred certain steel coasters over Boulder Dash than they did Balder. Our worst coaster on the combined list is Walygator's Anaconda, but our worst on the wooden list is Movie Park Germany's Bandit (our only legitimate zero score). On the combined list, Bandit places higher (though just ever so slightly) because some people thought that certain steel coasters were worse than it. What trends are you interested in? If anyone wants to know any specific trends / statistics, such as best from _____ manufacturer or best coasters of a certain type / category or best coasters in _____ country / region or any other trend, just let us know and I'll draw up that info for you!

What's a Blitz coaster? I wouldn't expect a super-crazy steel coaster, they just got Fury 325 after all.

For all we know the area could be themed to a gulch or a canyon that is heavily dependent on rockwork.

Looks to be the same janky brakes though!

That's true, but consider that (at least this was true when I was a kid) small children like to role play / play pretend. A group of children will get a kick out playing the roles of their favorite Paw Patrol characters in a setting that supports their playtime. Apparently there have also been instances of mascot characters making appearances at certain events and shopping malls around the world, this area allows for the opportunity for a "permanent" meet and greet with the characters as well. If Paw Patrol weren't such a popular children's franchise I would totally agree with the disappointment. I'm not saying that we SHOULDN'T get a ride to replace the Atomic Collider, but they could have done a lot worse with that particular space.

This is the correct take.

I'm very excited to go on Sunday. I've never attended a "special-ish" event before!

Maybe it's just me, but I feel like most of the people that consider this a "disappointment" don't or haven't ever had children. Their Facebook page is buzzing with parents excited about having a new spot to take their kids. Coming from someone who grew up with Nick Jr's old programming, children are going to have their minds blown when they get to see Paw Patrol in real life. Not every addition has to be geared toward our demographic, y'know. One more awesome play space never hurt anyone. Theme parks need more of those.

Maybe I'm just crazy, but if Steel Phantom continued to exist in its Arrow looper state, it would be often ranked as one of the worst coasters every year due to roughness. Phantom's Revenge is consistently ranked as one of the best. [Mostly] EVERYONE likes it better. Also, funny story, next season, Phantom's Revenge will have been operating in its current state for double the time that Steel Phantom operated.

Great photos Dave. For those of you keeping score, the suspended family coaster is an Intamin. Not sure about that flight trainer thing though.

Sheesh, I thought that post in the Kennywood thread was short-sighted... A "cloned" coaster does NOT rub off poorly on a park. If anything, a cloned coaster, especially one that is fun or at the very least exciting, would mean that a guest wouldn't necessarily have to drive halfway across the country for a certain coaster when they have that exact same coaster within a shorter driving / flying distance. Roller coasters are often cloned so park brands can keep a distinct identity. There's a reason why most Batman clones are themed to Batman unless another Batman coaster already exists in the park, OR that Fantawild calls all their Boomerangs Stress Express OR that nearly every Legoland has a Zierer Force Five Dragon or Mack Park Wild Mouse Project X OR that Magic Kingdom and Shanghai Disneyland have effectively traded coasters with Tron and Seven Dwarfs. It means that when a guest goes to their "local" park, they do not feel like they are missing out on something that another park in the chain might have. Their experience isn't hindered. In fact, at this very moment, I am working on something that will likely incorporate a cloned coaster, and the opinion that it will have your so-called "regressive effect" has never, and will not ever, come up in discussions - and that's coming from me, a card-carrying enthusiast. There is something to be said about a proven design, and even then, nothing is stopping a company like Vekoma from making little tweaks to their design or manufacturing processes as the years go on to perfect the experience. I'll accept your argument when Fantawild and OCT stop purchasing brand new Vekoma Boomerang coasters (or an equivalent clone). But until then, please respectfully keep your judgments to yourself. That's the "bad" kind of coaster enthusiasm, y'know.

This might be one of the most short-sighted posts I've ever read. Archiving this one. Have you seen what Vekoma has built in the last few years, and what they have lined up for the next? I would absolutely love to see Vekoma take the family suspended coaster and do a terrain layout (a la discount Eagle Fortress) in the ravine with Phantom's Revenge and Thunderbolt. That would be great, and if they did it with one of their wacky new looping coasters it would be even better. Vekoma has always been a volume player with their boomerangs, suspended looping coasters, and junior coasters, but they've been stepping up their game in terms of layout design in the past few years. Lech Coaster is on my bucket list. EDIT: Have you not SEEN this thing? It looks crazy awesome!