Mitch Hawker's Wood & Steel Coaster Poll 2008

[OldJJman]

^^ & ^

 

 

DIE!

[texcoaster]

Anyone else having probs with the CoasterFanatics poll helper?

 

I get everything done and ranked, then click "go to step 4" and I get the home page again.

[ParkTrips]

There was probably an error. It saw you ranking Boardwalk Bullet near the top of your list and it threw off a red light and escaped before the server exploded

 

(kidding, of course)

 

I only rode 5 new coasters this year so my ballot will be easy. I'm only in here for the Jeff Johnson jokes

[larrygator]

Anyone else having probs with the CoasterFanatics poll helper?

 

I get everything done and ranked, then click "go to step 4" and I get the home page again.

 

I glad I'm not the only one that had this problem after working on the wood version for 30 minutes. I ended up doing it the old way, so in the end the wood portion took me 90 minutes.

[robbalvey]

I highly reccomend doing it the old fashioned way. Personally, and this is no dig on Ted's helper because I think it's great for the lazy folk, but if you are SERIOUS about the poll, I think the old spreadsheet method is the best way to go.

 

It gives you a nice clean list that you can sort through and reference when you're done.

 

But if you've just got a few coasters and you want to do it quickly, use the helper.

 

--Robb

[CoasterFanatic]

The problems on the CoasterFanatics.Com helper were caused by a session timeout. It was no coincidence that it was happening to only people with large lists to rank.

 

I have extended the timeout

 

I really wish I could have caught this earlier. Sorry to anyone affected.

[Loefet]

^Even more interesting than the T-Express factor will be to see how Eagle's Fortress does in the poll now that even more people have ridden it and have experienced the amazingness that this Arrow Ride is!!?!!??

For me Everland had a top 2 finish for both polls, with wood higher ranked then steel

 

Everland FTW!!

 

T-Express mainly since its Balder and then some and also the awesome ejector moment down the drop.

Eagle Fortress for it's insane awesome kick-ass ride.

[texcoaster]

How much time do I have before the timeout?

 

Getting my 100+ woodies probably won't be a problem, but I'm leery about doing 300+ steelies and then having it crap out on me.

[cfc]

I had the same problem with the CoasterFanatic poll yesterday, but it seems OK now. Here's my top ten wooden coasters, if anyone's curious:

 

El Toro, SFGAd

Balder, Liseberg

Colossos, Heide Park

Troy, Toverland

Thunderhead, Dollywood

Tonnerre de Zeus, Parc Asterix

Phoenix, Knoebel's

Lightning Racer - T, Hersheypark

Lightning Racer - L, Hersheypark

Wild One, SF America

 

I think anyone who was on the Europe trip can guess which two went straight to the bottom.

[CoasterFanatic]

How much time do I have before the timeout?

 

Getting my 100+ woodies probably won't be a problem, but I'm leery about doing 300+ steelies and then having it crap out on me.

 

The timeout has been increased from 20 minutes (system default) to 8 hours. I hope that is enough time

[Groteslurf]

^

 

I had the same problem with the steel poll. It took me probably more than 20 minutes to get the coasters in the right order.

 

My wood ballot is in any case out. I'll redo my steel ballot tomorrow.

[Six Flags Enthuseast]

Question: I'm 13. Am I old enough to vote?

[JimmyBo]

Just sent both my Steel and Wood Ballots in. I did it the very old fashion way and ranked them all a number. I know...I'm a nerd.

 

Here's my top ten for steel...(out of 163 on the poll)

1. Nemesis

2. Millennium Force

3. Riddler's Revenge

4. Expedition GeForce

5. Dragon's FUry <-- which was not on the list so I was a little bummed

6. Superman: La Atraccion de Acero

7. Kraken

8. Montu

9. Xcelerator

10. Alpengiest

 

Here's my top ten for wood...(out of 72 on the poll)

1. Voyage

2. Balder

3. Thunderhead

4. Troy

5. Thundercoaster

6. Tremors

7. Timber Terror

8. New Mexico Rattler

9. Viper

10. Legend

 

Feel free to b*tch and moan about my top ten if you want.

[Wood Dragon 1988]

Wow I had the same problem with doing my wood poll with Coasterfanatics yesterday! At least I got mine in on the second attempt. My only question is, if I submitted my ballot, aren't I supposed to get a confirmation email?

[CoasterFanatic]

^ Mitch will typically send one within a day or so. It could a little longer though. Since both polls are running at the same time, he is probably getting slammed with ballots.

[robbalvey]

FYI - Mitch has updated the ballot with some coasters from China. If you were on the TPR China trip you may want to take a look:

 

http://bestrollercoasterpoll.com/

 

--Robb

[Mike Austin]

I got my confirmation E-Mail earlier today, and I submitted it last night.

 

My top 5 woodies (out of 31) are:

1. Boulder Dash

2. Phoenix

3+4. Lightning Racer

5. El Toro

Coming in dead last was Hurler.

 

My top steel coaster was Talon, with X:/WTF coming in last.

 

[cycamps]

^I just got an e-mail confirmation today also. I noticed that you have to wait to see the results this year.

[Wood Dragon 1988]

Yea I did get my confirmation email. However, I forgot exactly what I voted for. What I do remember was:

 

1. Phoenix

2. Boulder Dash

3. El Toro

4. My favoirte Steel

5. Silver Comet

45. Mean Streak

[ahecht]

I will post my modified grouping method that I use, although I haven't filled out this year's ballot yet:

 

Don't forget that ties are okay, and that it doesn't matter how much one coaster beats another by (so coaster A being 1 and coaster B being 1.1 is the same as Coaster A being 1 and coaster B being 100, as long as there are no rides in between)

 

1-10: My top ten coasters (I actually had a top 12 last year since there was a 4.5 and a 6.5)

11: Coasters that are so good that I would go to the park just for that ride, but didn't make the top 10.

12: Coasters that I would definitely ride if I was at the park, regardless of the line.

13: Coasters that I would ride if there was a reasonable line.

14: Coasters that I would ride only if there was a very short line.

15: Coasters that I would only ride for the credit, and never re-ride (painful rides).

16-20: My bottom 5 coasters. Rides that you couldn't pay me to ride again.

 

I've seen other people rank 1-20, rank the meh coasters in the middle all 30 (with a few 29s and 31s thrown in), and then rank 40-60.

[TheCoasterCritic]

^Even more interesting than the T-Express factor will be to see how Eagle's Fortress does in the poll now that even more people have ridden it and have experienced the amazingness that this Arrow Ride is!!?!!??

 

Our night time ERT on it put it solidly in my top three!!!! (as if there was any doubt from last year!)

 

As for my count, depending on your counting system it's between 953 - 1054! (Or if you use the Jeff Johnson system, it's somewhere at a number that Nasa is still researching)

 

Eagle Fortress definitely raised some eyebrows last year ranking 3rd best in the world with only 6 riders if I remember correctly. Six isn't a lot of riders, but Mitch's marking with an asterisk was good enough for me. I rather him include the data than throw it out. Others were pretty bothered by it though. It will be interesting to see if there are any more rides like this that shake things up at the top this year.

 

I think my only change to my top coasters was from Ravine Flyer 2. Awesome RF2 video by the way Robb! Seeing Alabama's Adventures Rampage high ranking on Mitch's Poll encouraged me to drive 2 hours out of my way last summer. And I'm glad that I did!

[ahecht]

Maybe I was influenced by my big Florida trip this year, or maybe I'm just getting older and raw intensity isn't as important, but my rankings this year tended to favor themed coasters more than in past years. Also, SFNE's S:RoS was pushed down below favorite wood into a tie with Nitro based on how rough it has been running this year. Hopefully it will be back on top again next year after the redo.

 

My top 10 (okay, 12 since there are two ties) are as follows:

 1. Favorite Wood Coaster Any Park Anywhere  **
2. Superman - Ride of St SF New England     MA
2. Nitro                 Six Flags Great Ad NJ
3. SheiKra               Busch Gardens Tamp FL
3. Griffon               Busch Gardens Euro VA
4. California Screamin'  Disney CA Adventur CA
5. Space Mountain        Disneyland         CA
6. Apollo's Chariot      Busch Gardens Euro VA
7. Storm Runner          Hersheypark        PA
8. X2                    Six Flags Magic Mo CA
9. Expedition Everest    Disney Animal King FL
10. Rock `n' Roller Coast Disney's H Studios FL

[lil jimmy norton]

Question: I'm 13. Am I old enough to vote?

 

I don't think there is an age limit.

[Thom25]

I just filled out my ballot - Thank you Rob for posting the links! This poll truly is the best of the best, and wish it was promoted more aggressively throughout the general media. It's hard to argue with the results, given the methodology.

 

With all due respect Rob (TPR), why do you support the "cut and paste" method? I've avoided this poll in the past because it is so time consuming to fill out. Yes, it's a labor of love, but when you've ridden over 400 coasters, it's a monumental task ranking all of them accurately.

 

The Coasterfanatic site, in my opinion, makes filling out the poll light years easier. My only suggestion would be making moving coasters up and down even easier. I believe that as Coasterfanatic makes improvements, the more submissions they will receive. Let's be honest, the more ballots they receive, the more valid the results.

[Manic Monte]

I just finished mine.

 

Top 5 wood:

 

1) Voyage

2) Hades

3) El Toro

4) Thunderhead

5) Boulder Dash

 

Top 5 steel:

 

1) Nitro

2) Goliath (SFOG)

3) El Loco

4) Superman (SFNE)

5) Tatsu