Condor

I don't really see an issue. Pandora as a hostile environment for humans pertains to characters within the film, not the audience. And what are some other potentially dangerous environments for humans that Disney has already adopted for its parks? How about Mt. Everest, outer space, and the center of the earth? Those all play just fine with families and always will. Is not the whole point of themed lands the ability for guests to interact with a place they likely never could in reality?

And..... Coast Rider. Rode it Jan 2nd. I never thought I'd let all of 2013 go without riding the new coaster at the park down the street from me, but I did.

Great description of the psychology that comes with riding Skyrush. It was the first time I felt any sort of on-ride fear (fear of extreme roughness excluded) in years. A big part of why it's my #1 steel. My top three of 2013 were all new to me this year. 1. The Voyage 2. Outlaw Run 3. The Legend I didn't find either of the Holiday World coasters to be overly rough when I rode them in June.

Simply putting a favored coaster above a highly ranked rival doesn't make one a fanboy. But if you have 50 wood credits and ranked Outlaw Run #1, and El Toro, Voyage, and Phoenix at #48,49, and 50 then that would be a suspicious ballot.

Knott's Berry Farm: RMC topper track for Ghostrider and/or a dark ride similar to Wonder Mountain's Guardian at Canada's Wonderland Six Flags Magic Mountain (idealistic): a couple of large flat rides and an Apocalypse retracking Six Flags Magic Mountain (realistic): Iron Colossus

Question for the Voyage critics. Is it strictly about roughness or is there also something about the layout that doesn't work for you?

I was just thinking the other day about when this would come out. Sounds like I wasn't the only one. Glad it's back! My list has come a long way in the last two years. My 2011 ballot had only 17 coasters and the top 3 were Apocalypse, Ghostrider, and The Beast! Boulder Dash Lake Compounce CT,y,n,1 The Voyage Holiday World IN,y,y,2 El Toro SFGAd NJ,y,n,3 Phoenix Knoebel's PA,y,n,4 Outlaw Run Silver Dollar City MO,y,y,5 The Legend Holiday World IN,y,y,6 American Thunder Six Flags St Louis MO,y,y,7 Tremors Silverwood ID,y,y,8 Timber Terror Silverwood ID,y,y,9 Raven Holiday World IN,y,y,10 Lightning Racer - L Hersheypark PA,y,n,11 Lightning Racer - T Hersheypark PA,y,n,12 Prowler Worlds of Fun MO,y,y,13 Twister Knoebel's PA,y,n,14 The Beast Kings Island OH,y,n,15 Screamin' Eagle Six Flags St Louis MO,y,y,16 Giant Dipper Santa Cruz Bch Bdwk CA,y,n,17 Apocalypse S. F. Magic Mountain CA,y,y,18 Cyclone SF New England MA,y,n,19 GhostRider Knott's Berry Farm CA,y,y,20 The Boss Six Flags St Louis MO,y,y,21 Big Dipper (SBNO) Geauga Lake OH,y,n,22 Comet Hersheypark PA,y,n,23 Grt Am Scrm Mach SFoG GA,y,n,24 Racer Kings Island OH,y,n,25 Blue Streak Cedar Point OH,y,n,26 Thunderhawk Dorney Park PA,y,n,27 Giant Dipper Belmont Park CA,y,n,28 Wildcat Hersheypark PA,y,n,29 Gwazi-Tiger Busch Gardens-Tampa FL,y,n,30 Gwazi-Lion Busch Gardens-Tampa FL,y,n,31 Georgia Cyclone SFoG GA,y,n,32 Roar SF Discovery Kingdom CA,y,n,33 Rolling Thunder SFGAd NJ,y,n,34 Colossus S.F. Magic Mountain CA,y,y,35 Timber Wolf Worlds of Fun MO,y,y,36 The Grizzly Great America CA,y,n,37 Thunderbolt SF New England MA,y,n,38 Woodstock Express Kings Island OH,y,n,39 Mean Streak Cedar Point OH,y,n,40 Rattler Fiesta Texas TX,y,n,41 So do we think Outlaw Run will topple one of the perennial contenders and take the top 5? By the looks of our ballots so far it just might.

I can't fathom how anyone that has been to both could objectively pick SoCal. That said, I am surprised that hardly anyone hasn't! Central Florida has them beat whether you're talking coasters, dark rides, family rides, shows, theming, atmosphere, service, crowds, food, or transportation.

Steel: 1. Skyrush 2. Raptor 3. Kumba 4. Millennium Force 5. Goliath (SFOG) 6. Nitro 7. Bizarro (SFNE) 8. Magnum XL-200 9. Storm Runner 10. Mindbender (SFOG) Wood: 1. Boulder Dash 2. Voyage 3. El Toro 4. Phoenix 5. Outlaw Run 6. Legend 7. American Thunder 8. Tremors 9. Timber Terror 10. Raven

We used Gnome's move into Portland State as an excuse to make a five hour drive to the otherwise "too remote to justify the travel expenses" Silverwood across the Idaho border. We met in Seattle and stayed at the Green Tortoise Hostel for no other reason than that neither of us had ever done a hostel before. It was an interesting experience, but not one that we'll probably jump at the chance to repeat in the future. Spaghetti and downtown pub crawls are two things that you'd think would be pretty hard to screw up, but Green Tortoise managed to do just that on both accounts. Glad we tried it, but it was just the preamble to the real reason for our trip: riding some great wooden coasters! Obligatory shot of the world's shortest "tall building," the Space Needle. We had two totally dry days in Seattle, but rain all day at Silverwood. Figures. At least it's not a corporate park. Most rides should still be open. I know what you're thinking: That rain is soooooooooo going to mess up our hair. Want to guess what wasn't open? This guy! Not a huge deal since we had both been on GIBs before, but it's still a credit we may never get. First ride of the day was Corkscrew! We didn't expect much, but we were both looking forward to it since Knott's has been our home park for years and Corkscrew was a few years before our time. It was actually much better than we ever could have thought! Still relatively smooth for an Arrow and it takes the double corkscrew faster than later, trim-braked loopers like Viper. "Dr. Jones, you and I are merely passing through history. This, this *is* history." Kyle is very excited about replacing The Boss as his favorite wooden coaster. "Yes! I finally get to add a legit top 20 wooden coaster to my list!" And... Boss is apparently still tops for him. I probably shouldn't be talking, after all I'm a guy that has Raptor as my #2 steel... We both thought that Tremors was awesome though! Much of this section has been topper tracked by RMC. I've heard parts of Tremors used to be pretty rough, but now the whole thing is perfectly smooth! It pulls some decent laterals through here. Riding Tremors meant getting pelted in the face with rain at 50 mph all day. It was amusing for maybe the first two or three laps, but the backwards-facing Timber Terror was certainly easier to repeat. We still rode Tremors ten times by the end of the day! Both woodies were absolutely flying over the rain-slicked track. Great airtime on Tremors going in and out of the tunnels. I loved Tremors' first drop. Among CCI coasters it's as good if not better than the first drops on Ghostrider or The Legend. Too cold and wet for Aftershock today. Might be Vekoma stall-city otherwise! Tremors' far turn also features topper track. It's always interesting how you can feel a clear difference between stretches with the two track styles. None of it was rough whatsoever. Proud members of the TPR Pepsi rebellion! Timber Terror gives Silverwood a great one-two punch. Yep, it's backwards for Halloween at Scarywood! I've done it before on Colossus and KI's Racer, but this would be my first time facing backwards on a "good" wooden coaster. Mad props to the ride op who manned Timber Terror by himself all day and was still faster than any crew in Southern California! Timber Terror doesn't have topper track and it doesn't need it. Only the pullout of the first drop was on the rough side. The drop is a bit shorter than Tremors' but has just as much air. Silverwood is still relatively obscure compared to the country's larger parks, but when one of its coasters does get attention it's usually Tremors. We had less of an idea what to expect from Timber Terror. Both of us were pleasantly surprised that we could honestly not decide which coaster was better. Terror gets overshadowed but it's every bit as good and the simple out & back plus helix layout actually works to its advantage. That basic layout shows clear progression and ends satisfyingly whereas Tremors feels more aimless and meandering. I'm not sure how much of that appeal had to do with the backwards element and lack of rain in my face, but where I anticipated only one new top 10 woodie, instead I got two! Silverwood is also well-known for its cleanliness and landscaping, and it's easy to see why. Simple, but effective. Spin Cycle was another highlight. It really is the perfect flat ride for this park. The guests love it. This one was a surprise. Panic Plunge was our first ARM drop tower, and holy crap! It's better than Lex Luthor despite being maybe 1/4 the height. The airtime is so strong and sudden. Please... Call me whatever you like, but I don't even do water rides when it's sunny and dry! Looks like a decent flume though if you're into them. Something tells me Silverwood's Thunder Mountain will re-open sooner than Disneyland's. More Corkscrew! You'd never guess from looking at it, but the first drop actually has a solid pop of air in the back car! "People, come out of your rooms so we can play 'The Shining'!" Multnomah Falls on the way to Portland. With enough Photoshop know-how and a little time, I just might be able to forge this as a Gustave Dore painting.

Timber Terror at Silverwood. Tremors is usually the only one that gets talked about, but Timber Terror is every bit as good despite being slightly shorter and having a simpler layout.

41/100. I counted at least 3 that have the wrong picture.

Took my first trip to Silverwood on 9/28 with Gnome. Rained all day but every major ride was open except for Aftershock, which now makes it 3 years since I have been to a park with a working GIB. Understandable on Silverwood's part though, wind plus low temps and rain are not GIB-friendly conditions! I loved the park. Awesome staff and the place looks terrific with nearly flawless landscaping and upkeep. Both wooden coasters delivered and with virtually non-existant crowds we rode each of them ten times and could have gone for more. Tremors is another sterling testament to RMC's topper track and we were surprised to find Timber Terror running backwards! Apparently this is a Scarywood thing, though I had no idea about it. I expected Tremors to clearly be the better of the two, but I think we both actually had a better time on Timber Terror. I don't know how much of this was because of the backwards element, and the fact that riding forwards on Tremors meant getting pelted in the face with rain at 50mph all day. Both are now firmly in my wooden top ten. And who knew that Silverwood was home to such incredible flats? Panic Plunge and Spin Cycle were the first of their kind I have been on and they were pretty amazing. Photo TR coming this week!

While I don't remotely "hate" either of them, I rank both Bizarro @ SFNE and Prowler below plenty of similar coasters that always finish well behind them in polls. Bizarro felt slow and like something was holding it back a bit when I rode in 2012. And this summer Prowler ran fast for me but I didn't get even a trace of airtime. I like Nitro, Millennium Force, American Thunder, and Lightning Racer much better for instance.

Skyrush. A whole different level of ejector air, even compared to other Intamins.

I'll agree that Apocalypse has gotten rougher over the summer but a few people here are acting like it's the return of Psyclone or something. It's no longer what I would consider smooth, but there weren't any jarring, painful spots like a number of the older GCIs out there. I had a great time at WCB by the way! Full Throttle was better than I expected and I picked up two credits on Roadrunner Express and Canyon Blaster that for some reason I had never bothered with.

Wood: Thunderbolt (Kennywood) Comet (Great Escape) Balder Wood Coaster (Knight Valley) Joris en de Draak Tonnerre de Zeus Tremors Thunderhead Steel: Nemesis Maverick Phantom's Revenge Expedition GeForce Intimidator 305 iSpeed Alpengeist Shockwave (SFOT) Iron Rattler Dragon Khan

^ Voyage was running well enough when I rode in June. The "out" section and turnaround were acceptably smooth, the "back" stretch got a bit rougher as it went on, and only the final dive underground and turnaround into the brakes stuck out as being overly rough. I felt at least the first 75% of the ride ran great and then things started falling apart a bit at the end. Basically how you described it.

The strongest moment of airtime for me was the first drop. The air there is about as strong as anything on El Toro save for THE DROP before the twister section. The other hills definitely have strong air, but not the kind of repeated ejector air on El Toro. Outlaw Run has a greater variety of forces and mixes negative g's with laterals. I think the air on Skyrush is stronger than both of them.

Not sure which element the "wall crawler" is (wave turn?) but for me the twist & turn through the lift and wave turn are the best parts. The twist & turn is great because you get sustained airtime at the apex which then gets amplified when the train moves laterally downward for quick directional change. The wave turn is entirely unique in that it's basically an airtime hill turned on its side with a bit of reverse curvature to give simultaneous airtime on both the rider's axis (up from the seat when the rider is sideways) and the true vertical axis from the ground up (anyone with a better understanding of physics feel free to clean this up). The first drop of course has extreme ejector air but it doesn't feel like it lasts as long as on El Toro or Voyage's drops. The barrel rolls are the perfect climax to the ride but don't have the amazing contrast of forces as the twist & turn or wave turn.

Thanks for the pics! I really have to get back to BGT next year. How is the trimming on Montu's MCBR these days? I remember in years past the train almost came to a stop, but on my last visit in 2011 it glided right through almost untouched and the second half became much faster. I'm hoping it's more the latter.

This is great! Hope you do more if you have pics from other parks. edit: Just saw the Dreamland one. Good stuff.

Sorry my humor can be too dry for my own good sometimes. I just thought it was amusing how my thoughts on the coasters were almost the polar opposite when I visited a few weeks ago. No offense intended.

Preface: I say this out of humor rather than criticism (because your opinions are both completely understandable and well-supported) but..... I completely disagree with just about everything you just said. Glad you managed to enjoy the park despite not liking the coasters though.

I did! I rode twice up front and twelve times in the last two cars. Voyage is one of only a handful of coasters I like nearly as much in front as I do in the back. You feel the airtime almost as much and in slightly different places.