Condor

I took a similar trip trip last summer and my biggest suggestion is to spend 2 days at Phantasialand even if it means skipping Movie Park. Like Europa, Phantasialand has a lot to see and plenty of the attractions are good for multiple re-rides. Unless you really care about riding Star Trek, given all the other parks you're visiting, MPG might seem underwhelming. Efteling could fill 2 days as well, but you should be able to do all the big stuff in 1 day as long as you don't mind skipping things like the fairy tale forest. But if you do go to Movie Park, do not miss Side Kick, their Huss Frisbee. That thing runs the craziest, most intense standard frisbee program ever.

Very interesting! Most of us who have ridden Medusa Steel Coaster love the crap out of it, but how many honestly expected it to be the #1 steel? I bet very few. Great to see it there regardless. Very happy my #1, Skyrush, made top 10 on both the steel and overall lists considering how polarizing it is on here. I frankly expected one of the RMCs to finally topple El Toro from its perch, but it's still holding strong! A question for Chase, Robb, or others involved: How does one coaster rank ahead of another on the wood or steel-only list, yet rank behind it on the combined list? For example, Balder at #15 is ahead of Boulder Dash at #18 on the combined list, yet BD at #6 moves ahead of Balder at #7 on the wood list. Am I correct to interpret this as Balder comparing more favorably than BD to a majority of steel coasters even though BD scores better when only comparing wooden?

Yeah but... but... but it's fun and... and... we all have egos to protect and... and... Yeah, okay.

Well, they played on the words hang ten, but by naming it hangtime I don't know how anyone could reach a different conclusion. Hangtime isn't a surfing term.... Trust me, I live in Huntington Beach where the US Open of Surfing is held every year so I know the terminology when I hear it. Yes, it's not a surf term (though I've never heard someone actually say "hang ten!" with any degree of seriousness either), but it does come across as the kind of thing some out of touch executive or marketing guy might think is a surfing term. I just feel assuming that CF deliberately named the ride after the speed at which it's supposed to traverse the inversions is giving them too much credit lol. I think Arthur_Seaton got it right.

I'm getting more and more optimistic about this one. Blue Fire was a bit mild for my tastes but I still really enjoyed it. Icon should at minimum make up for the loss of the Wild Mouse.

Don't know who the meme was directed at but I'm absolutely going to criticize Hangtime if it has too much hangtime once I ride it! It's not like that kind of hangtime is what the park was getting at when they named it. And after riding a few relatively forceful Gerstlauer loopers in Germany last year I was hoping Knott's would get one of their own. But even if not, it sure beats Boomerang!

One thing I'm noticing that worries me a little is that it seems to ease the train off the holding break instead of the sudden release on B&M divers. Hopefully there's still airtime aplenty on it though. It also dawned on me that with this set of elements, Hangtime is almost a direct Gerstlauer equivalent to Fahrenheit at Hersheypark. And I think that's a good thing.

I've got 3 trips planned for now. Second week in May I'll be doing 2 days at Silver Dollar City plus a few hours at Worlds of Fun before my return flight. Then in June I have a 9-day, 7-park road trip lined up from Kings Dominion to Six Flags Great America. Will go like this: Tuesday 19th: Kings Dominion Wednesday 20th: Hersheypark Thursday 21st: Hersheypark (I have a habit of getting rained out when I visit, so I made sure of 2 days this time!) Friday 22nd: Knoebels Saturday 23rd: Waldameer Sunday 24th: Cedar Point Monday 25th: Cedar Point Tuesday 26th: Michigan's Adventure (new park for me) Wednesday 27th: Six Flags Great America (new park for me and the last "big" US park I still need to visit) I may decide to write up a TR for this one. And finally in August I'll take a weekend to head up North for California's Great America and Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. That will make 4 new RMCs for me this year! Might try to do something in October as well, but I haven't made plans yet.

That is actually not true. Lake Compounce had M&V retract Wildcat, and it runs with Millennium Flyers Interesting. That is the first time I have heard of this happening. The ones who told me that GCI requires trains to be run on their tracks was the Director of Rides himself at SFSTL a while back. Maybe things have changed, or perhaps the track just needs to be to a certain standard/tolerance set by GCI. My understanding is that other companies can do the work, but GCI must inspect it to make sure the track is up to their standards before running Millennium Flyers.

Skyrush is my #1 and I liken it to lifting weights. I wouldn't call myself jacked or anything, but I lift heavy about 4 times per week plus cardio and sometimes you just have to endure a little pain and discomfort if you want the flood of endorphins and the results that follow. Skyrush is the same way. It makes you earn it. That won't be for everybody and that's fine.

I bet. That ride and Jungle Dragon both look fantastic. I'm very jealous of those two and all the GG/MVR woodies China is getting. I'm just missing Renegade, Mystic Timbers, Invadr, and Roar (SFA) in the US now and I got add a few European ones last summer. 1. American Thunder - Fast pacing, smooth, and the most airtime of the bunch. 2. Joris en de Draak - A unique layout for GCI, plus the racing and tons of airtime. 3. Thunderhead - Feels the most complete. Maybe a little rougher than others (though not bad at all) but takes advantage of terrain and has lots of "big" moments that stand out. 4. Goldstriker - This one is just relentless. You feel like you could still go another 2,000 feet of track when you hit the brakes. 5. Troy - Felt a lot like Goldstriker but without all the quick pops of airtime around every corner. Still very good. 6. Wodan - The best first drop I've seen from GCI and the size lends kind of an epic feel to it, but lacks some of the air and quick pacing of those above it. 7. Lightning Racer - This one is more "fun" than thrilling. GCI hadn't really evolved the faster pacing found on the more recent ones yet. 8. Prowler - Felt slow and lacking airtime when I rode it in 2013. I'll get to refresh my opinion of it this May. Hoping for the best! 9. White Lightning - The train was practically empty for all of my laps on it. I don't feel like I got this one at its best. 10. Kentucky Rumbler - See above. Never more than four riders per train when I visited. 11. Wildcat - A lot better than it's early GCI contemporaries at the bottom, but there's not much to commend it for either. 12. Apocalypse - I've long ago given up on the thought they will ever take proper care of it. And even if they did, with this layout it still wouldn't rank much higher. 13. Roar (SFDK) - Not Gwazi-bad, but was never going to be any good without a full rebuild, and converting it into Joker was a better choice anyway. 14. Gwazi - No redeeming qualities. Glad it's dead.

That looks awesome! I don't want to get my hopes up, but Taiga looks like it could be a return to the snappier Maverick/iSpeed transitions I felt were missing from Taron.

Looks really good from the POV. It should be nice and warmed-up for me in June! The only drawback I can even think of is the limitations of the original Hurler layout, but I think RMC did a bang-up job given what they had to start with. This looks every bit like the second elite coaster Kings Dominion needed.

The smaller GCIs are my favorites, so I'm glad and not surprised to hear that Wicker Man isn't necessarily the family coaster many dismissed it as. And Alton Towers have outdone themselves with theming this time.

I think the effect of running softer vs. harder wheels on the i-box coasters has been demonstrated by now. Like a lot of coasters, RMC will probably experiment with different configurations on the raptors until they find one with enough friction to run the train at an acceptable speed. I doubt trims will even be necessary.

Given the controlled spinning, I look at this as a sort of next-gen Euro Mir with terrain and inversions. If it's anything like that we could have a really good coaster on our hands. I'll be there to check it out in May!

It actually looks like it takes the course a lot faster than Monster to me. And I think that's a good thing.

Okay let's try this. 1. Maverick (3) + Millennium Force (10) = 13 2. Maverick (3) + Raptor (14) = 17 3. Maverick (3) + Magnum XL-200 (17) = 20 4. Millennium Force (10) + Raptor (14) = 24 5. Voyage (2) + Legend (24) = 26 6. Millennium Force (10) + Magnum XL-200 (17) = 27 7. Superman The Ride (12) + Wicked Cyclone (18) = 30 8. Raptor (14) + Magnum XL-200 (17) = 31 9. Skyrush (1) + Storm Runner (31) = 32 10. El Toro (5) + Nitro (29) = 34 Get ready for a whole lot more italics when Steel Vengeance opens...

I'm really happy they ditched the U bar restraint setup for a V shape. Foot room has always been a problem in RMC trains for me, so this should help. I'm pleased with how this conversion turned out. I was skeptical that the Hurler layout could make a good i-box, but it looks great!

^I actually wondered if you'd spot that since I've seen you sing Raptor's praises on here yourself. As for why it's so far ahead of the other two, trust me, there is no coaster on earth that I want to be in my top 10-20 more than Montu. On paper it should absolutely be there and every time I go to BGT, I think "maybe this will be the time..." but it never quite gets there for me. The batwing is hands down insane, but the drop and first three inversions don't pull as hard as they do on Raptor or Afterburn, and the MCBR always takes off too much speed for me to fully enjoy the second half. I could say much of that for Alpengeist too, though I thought the vertical loop and immelman were a bit better than Montu's.

Thank you to everyone who put this together. Really looking forward to seeing the results in due time. I'll post mine up to 100. *Magnum over Wicked Cyclone and a bunch of other RMCs? You bet! I love the airtime, layout, and setting, and it's not rough if you don't sit on a wheel seat. *I haven't ridden Legend since the modifications. I love intense coasters and laterals and nothing else out there pulls lats like Legend. I can see why it toes the line on roughness for some people, but I've never felt it detracted from anything. *Powder Keg as high as 34? It's such a fun and unique coaster that's actually pretty intense considering that some call it a family coaster. The first half is fantastic. *Olympia Looping actually feels kind of low to me given how much I like positive g's. I rode it at Cranger Kirmes where it runs 5 cars and it felt intense, but not exceptionally so. I suspect I'll rank it much higher if I ride it with 7 cars one day. *Joker is so much lower than other RMCs for two reasons. The pacing feels uneven and there are a few unique elements on it I felt didn't deliver. *Why are White Lightning and Kentucky Rumbler this low? Neither of them had more than 2-3 riders per train at any point when I rode them and I felt a noticeable difference in airtime from GCIs I've ridden with full trains. *Quimera is so much lower than Olympia Looping chiefly due to the "racing harnesses" it uses for restraints. I'm hardly one to complain about restraints (just look at my #1) but these made it too much work to enjoy what would otherwise be a great coaster.

Another great report! Six Flags Mexico is one of my favorites in the chain and Medusa is my favorite RMC. You captured the ambiance of the park really well. Sorry you didn't appreciate Superman as much. The ride is just as much about the positive forces in the swooping turnarounds as it is about airtime and that's not everyone's cup of hyper coaster tea I suppose.

Hangtime looks really good. I became a big Gerstlauer fan after going to Germany last summer so it's exciting to now have an infinity coaster at my home park.

^^Just go to the 'ridden' page and deselect the coaster you don't want to rank. It will disappear from your rankings, then you can go back and select 'ridden' again.

My biggest suggestion is to spend one day each at California's Great America and SFDK rather than two at SFDK. It's really not a two-day park.