Condor

1999- Riddler's Revenge and Viper turn me into a coaster enthusiast 2002- First visits to Islands of Adeventure, Busch Gardens Tampa, and Sea World Orlando. Kraken becomes my first ever "favorite coaster." Now it's barely hanging onto my top 20. 2009- WDW College Program where I worked at the Yacht & Beach Club. Numerous weekly visits to all the Disney parks, Busch, Sea World, and Universal 2012- I finally visit some of the East Coast parks I've always dreamt about. Trip includes SFNE, Lake Compounce, SFGAdv, Dorney, Knoebels, and Hershey. I have a new top four coasters in Skyrush, Boulder Dash, El Toro, and Phoenix.

1998: Riddler's Revenge 2000: Goliath (SFMM) Speed: The Ride 2002: Wicked Twister 2003: Top Thrill Dragster Scream 2004: Revenge of the Mummy (USH) 2006: Tatsu Expedition Everest 2009: Manta (SWO) Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit 2011: Cheetah Hunt Green Lantern: First Flight 2012: Skyrush Superman: Ultimate Flight (SFDK)

Does not include relocations or SBNO. Space Mountain '77 (Disneyland) Windjammer (Knott's) Psyclone (SFMM) Rattler (SFFT) Son of Beast (KI) Disaster Transport (CP Wildcat (CP) Villain (GL) Double Loop (GL) Lightning Bolt (MGM Grand) High Roller (Stratosphere) Speed: The Ride (Sahara)

It would need to be something long, comfortable, and thrilling, plus have interesting scenery so not to get boring. And preferably wood so as to give a greater variance of experiences from one ride to the next. Easily Boulder Dash!

End of discussion. In all seriousness, I too will go Anton and say Scorpion at Busch Gardens Tampa.

Canyon Blaster at Circus Circus Adventuredome. Still the best coaster in all of Nevada....

^^I think the real reason we don't have a mega-lite over here is that one would simply be a tough sell to the public as a major attraction, and thus a less rewarding investment for the park. To the GP in America, a mega-lite looks like an ordinary coaster with no gimmicks, inversions, or anything to set it apart. True hypers and gigas can get away with this because their size and power are draws themselves, but that same formula won't appeal to those less educated when the ride is in the 100-150 foot range. So for American parks, something like a wing coaster or a launched looper is probably a better investment that will draw bigger crowds. Parks in Europe and Asia may not face this same problem with their customer base as often.

I've always been a huge Gemini fan. It takes a lot of what Magnum offers and repackages it with an added racing element into a coaster that's much more accessible to families and those who are intimidated by hypercoasters. In many ways it's really a steel equivalent to the wooden racers of the 70s (Racer @ KI, Colossus, American Eagle, etc.) and still survives in its intended form with solid airtime and a (relatively) smooth ride. I think many Cedar Point regulars would rank it right up there with some of the headlining coasters.

For sheer quantity I would have to say Phoenix. But for strongest "this coaster wants to eject me into the parking lot" airtime, Skyrush without a doubt.

Best steel: Tatsu (Runner-up Flight Deck. This coaster doesn't get enough praise. So what if it's short.) Worst steel: Kong Best wood: Ghostrider (even though it's a shadow of its old self, I still slightly prefer it to Apocalypse and Giant Dipper) Worst wood: Grizzly

New parks: Kennywood Conneaut Lake Waldameer Park Worlds of Fun Silver Dollar City Six Flags St. Louis Revisit: Cedar Point (first time since 2004) Hersheypark Six Flags Magic Mountain Knott's Berry Farm (only to grab the Coast Rider credit) Disneyland Disney California Adventure California's Great America Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk

It's not unlike watching that video of Saddam's hanging.

^Agreed. Sidewinder is the worst boomerang I've ridden. As for worst overall though, I'm saying Manhattan Express. Togo or not, it's a coaster that had all the tools to be good, or at least fun and unique, but squanders everything and has the BALLS to ask you to pay $14.00 for it alone. After five years living in Las Vegas, there is no coaster I hate more.

1. Raptor 2. Dueling Dragons Fire 3. Montu 4. Flight Deck 5. Dueling Dragons Ice 6. Great Bear 7. Talon 8. Batman: The Ride 9. Silver Bullet Glad to see Raptor getting some love around here. It usually gets overlooked in favor of some of B&M's later creations, but I still contend it was the zenith of invert design from a pacing/intensity perspective (though Nemesis is probably an individual exception). Raptor is one of the few standard B&Ms that finishes as strong as it starts, has a set of non-inversion elements uniquely its own, is still untamed by trim brakes, and isn't so big and drawn out that you lose that lightning-quick pacing started with B:TR. I understand why some people don't like it, but I can look past two spots of brief headbanging for everything else it does well.

^I hope I'm wrong, but I get the feeling that we've become too politically correct over here for many new parks to do Christmas events that don't already. It's too bad because there are a lot of parks that could pull off very nice ones.

Pleasant: Cyclone @ SFNE. I knew it recently received topper track, but I still expected an uncomfortable, boring ride crippled by reprofiling. It was fast, smooth, had some great laterals, and felt like a true throwback to an era of woodies manufacturers try to distance themselves from these days. Comet @ Hersheypark. Anticipated a long, slow, trim braked cousin to the Phoenix. While there was no airtime to speak of, the layout was fun with interesting pacing and good visuals throughout. Still hard to believe two Herb Schmeck coasters from the same era are so far apart in intensity, but exceeded my expectations nonetheless. Actually preferred this to Wildcat. Zoomerang @ Lake Compounce. Easily the best Vekoma boomerang I've ridden. Smooth with nice forces in the loop and cobra roll. Unpleasant: Bizarro @ SFNE. I actually really liked this ride, but I didn't think it was anywhere near the #1 ranked coaster I've heard so much about. Felt slow in parts, almost like there was extra resistance or friction of some kind. Airtime on every hill, but actually felt weaker than Nitro which I rode the following day. Twister @ Knoebels. Again, I still liked this, but the helix certainly didn't feel like the "lateral buffet" from Robb's POV video I was anticipating. Much less out of control than I had hoped. Can anyone tell me if the helix was retracked and the banking increased at some point? Even Phoenix had stronger lats on one of the turnarounds.

Because America is sue happy and parks are requesting less intense rides from them to appease the weak American public (this is also why we don't see too many Intamins being built in America along with their reliability issues). Well, let's look at the B&Ms built over the last five years including what we know so far for 2013. 2009: Diamondback (US) Diving Coaster (China) Manta (US) 2010: Intimidator (US) 2011: Hair Raiser (Hong Kong) Krake (Germany) Raptor (Italy) Sky Scrapper (China) 2012: Leviathan (Canada) OzIris (France) Shambhala (Spain) Swarm (UK) Wild Eagle (US) X-Flight (US) 2013: Gatekeeper (US) "Flying Over the Rainforest" (China) Not saying you're wrong, but it doesn't look to me like the US is getting short changed in "good" B&Ms compared to any other country.

Desperado could be a SBNO candidate any time within a few years, though it's obviously an exception not being located in a traditional park. I haven't kept up to date on Primm since I moved from Vegas a year ago, but Buffalo Bill's and the other stateline hotels were certainly struggling then. But then again, Terrible's management might be able to do a better job with the place.

I'd rather see Knott's take care of Ghostrider before they build a second woodie, even if it's from GCI. That said, from a guest experience perspective, I could see the wooden shuttle being a good fit for the park.

Let's hope they don't. From all accounts I've read, Furious Baco sounds pretty terrible.

How long did the fire and fog effects last? I don't recall if I ever rode when they were working.

Finally made it around to all of the US ones this year. 1. Kraken 2. Superman Krypton Coaster 3. Medusa 4. Dominator 5. Bizarro 6. Scream 7. Hydra 8. Batman: The Dark Knight Kraken and SKC are the only real standouts for me and the only floorless coasters in my top 20, though I may be underrating Dominator. I rode it back when it was at Geauga Lake and don't remember it that well.

^What did you really expect from a park like Knott's in the mid 90s? High quality, near Disney-level theming with artificial terrain plus tunnels and water features?

24 now, my first was Big Thunder Mountain at Magic Kingdom back in 1994 when I was 6.

Maverick. Well, it'll be new for me.... Otherwise Full Throttle.