Mitch Hawker's 2008 Wood & Steel Coaster Poll Results

[ginzo]

The results are in:

 

Here are the Wood results:

http://www.ushsho.com/woodrollercoasterpollresults2008.htm

 

1) T Express - Everland

2) The Voyage - Holiday World

3) El Toro - SFGAd

4) Boulder Dash - Lake Compounce

5) Balder - Liseberg

6) Phoenix - Knoebel's

7) Aska (S) - Nara Dreamland

8) Troy - Toverland

9) Ravine Flyer II - Waldameer

10) Colossos - Heide Park

 

I also look forward to the inevitable whining about TPR's influence on the new #1 and the number of votes cast for T-Express.

 

And rounding out the bottom 10:

166) Mean Streak - Cedar Point

167) Magnus Colossus - Terra Mitica

168) Rattler - Fiesta Texas

169) Coaster-Express - Parque Warner Madrid

170) Underground - Adventureland

171) Lil' Dipper - Camden Park

172) The Bandit - Movie Park

173) Predator - Darien Lake

174) Son of Beast - Kings Island

175) Anaconda - Walygator Parc

176) The Grizzly - Great America

 

Steel results:

http://www.ushsho.com/steelrollercoasterpollresults2008.htm

 

1) Superman - Ride of Steel - Six Flags New England

2) Eagle's Fortress - Everland

3) Expedition GeForce - Holiday Park

*) Kawasemi - Tobu Zoo

5) Piraten - Djurs Sommerland

6) Nemesis - Alton Towers

7) Behemoth - Canadas Wonderland

8) Goliath - Walibi World

9) Katun - Mirabilandia

10) Dragon Khan - Port Aventura

11) Pyrenees - Parque EspaNa

12) Millennium Force - Cedar Point

*) Atlantis Adventure - Lotte World

14) Goliath - Six Flags Over Georgia

15) Maverick - Cedar Point

16) Nitro - Six Flags Great Adventure

17) SheiKra - Busch Gardens Africa

18) Montu - Busch Gardens Africa

19) Ride of Steel - Darien Lake

20) Apollo's Chariot - Busch Gardens Europe

 

And dead last:

358) Goudurix - Parc Asterix

 

Goudurix retains its spot at the bottom.

 

Have a look at the worlds new #1 wooden coaster:

[tprtv]http://www.themeparkreview.com/coastertube/play.php?vid=t_express_youtube_5[/tprtv]

[robbalvey]

I also look forward to the inevitable whining about TPR's influence on the new #1 and the number of votes cast for T-Express.

There is no doubt our group had some influence on T-Express as well as many others on that top ten list.

 

Heck, several of the coasters appear on my personal top ten list:

1) T Express - Everland

3) El Toro - SFGAd

4) Boulder Dash - Lake Compounce

5) Balder - Liseberg

6) Phoenix - Knoebel's

9) Ravine Flyer II - Waldameer

10) Colossos - Heide Park

 

Not in the same order, but they are there. I do think it really says something when 4 Intamin woodies are now in the top ten worlds best wood coasters!

 

--Robb

[ginzo]

There is no doubt our group had some influence on T-Express as well as many others on that top ten list.

 

Absolutely. And it's a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy that a bunch of Intamin fans would make the trek to ride T-Express in its first season.

 

But everything is above board: T-Express is available for anyone to ride. And anyone can vote in the poll. It says a lot that the ride impressed a group of well-traveled enthusiasts this much.

 

When I see a new ride shoot up in the poll like this, my natural reaction is, "I need to figure out a way to get out and ride that." But we know some people are going to have a different reaction.

 

In short, I really need to make it out to Everland!

[robbalvey]

There is no doubt our group had some influence on T-Express as well as many others on that top ten list.

 

Absolutely. And it's a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy that a bunch of Intamin fans would make the trek to ride T-Express in its first season.

In all fairness, though, I do believe only two of us on that trip would qualify as die hard "Intamin Fans." And keep in mind, one of the two die-hards actually ranked T-Express #3! (Elissa) I think for anyone else who was on the TPR trip to Everland, their rankings of T-Express was based on it's own merit without any biases towards the manufacturer.

 

--Robb

[thunderguy345]

a little bit bummed about balder not being top 3, but what the heck. T express is the best!

[Loefet]

^ The last part of T-Express is so close to Balder that it fooled me, so that the turn that T-Express have instead of the brake-run on Balder took me by surprise every time I rode it, guess that I have ridden Balder a bit much

 

A big factor for me to vote T-Express is the ejector moment down the first drop and that the last part is Balder.

[Team Thriller]

Why is Aska on there? Has really that many people been on it?

 

--James

[rollerboy]

Does anybody know when the steel ranks will be announced?

Sorry if this is a dumb question but I cant seem to find out anywhere!

[robbalvey]

Why is Aska on there? Has really that many people been on it?

 

--James

I'm actually not sure why that SBNO coaster has remained but others have been removed. Probably to draw attention to it in hopes that another park would pick up a "top 10 woodie" for cheap. If I recall it's been SBNO since 2006.

 

Does anybody know when the steel ranks will be announced?

Sorry if this is a dumb question but I cant seem to find out anywhere!

Soon...patience!

[Guest]

Well Red Streaker was on there until like this year....And there were a couple other odd ones. I'm not sure how/why he picks the SBNO/demolished coasters that he does.

 

Good to see Dash in the top 5 but I was really hoping it would beat Voyage.

[Ziggy Stardust]

I really like Mean Streak.

[XII]

^Yes, well there's no such thing as a perfect Top 10 list since everyone has been on different rides and has different opinions on each of them. This is just the closest thing to a perfect Top 10 list. There were some woodies that I personally should've been higher on the list, but that's just how people voted.

[BeemerBoy]

I really like Mean Streak.

 

Keep the faith. It'll beat Grizzly one day.....I can feel it.

 

At the other end of the poll, California's Grizzly made it 14 straight years of 'domination'.

[ScubaSteve442]

Why is Aska on there? Has really that many people been on it?

 

--James

I'm actually not sure why that SBNO coaster has remained but others have been removed. Probably to draw attention to it in hopes that another park would pick up a "top 10 woodie" for cheap. If I recall it's been SBNO since 2006.

 

I think it's a combination:

Does anybody know if Aska has been removed?

The removed SBNO coasters from last years poll seem to be ones that have finally been victims of the wrecking ball. Maybe he just did a little house cleaning?

 

Zingo is the only one I saw that isn't actually SBNO, but it is supposedly coming back, isn't it?

[downunder]

I thought the poll was fair, and at the end of the day what people like in a coaster is subjective though some things have broader appeal like airtime.

 

I'm pretty standard in my tastes, I've ridden 5 coasters in the top 10 and 4 of those 5 were my my top 4 coasters (Phoenix, Boulder Dash, El Toro, Ravine Flyer II).

[niiicolaaah]

Man, I really can't wait to ride the Voyage to see what all the fuss is about. Also, nice debut for Ravine Flyer II!

[Manic Monte]

Interesting that a "mild" airtime ride even made it in there. Is Troy really that good?

 

And Boulder Dash offers proof that a ride can rebound into a top 5 woodie with some TLC from it's owners. Are you reading this Knotts!?

[JFrombaugh]

I also look forward to the inevitable whining about TPR's influence on the new #1 and the number of votes cast for T-Express.

 

When I saw that T-Express was the new #1, I immediately thought of that LOL. I bet HW is pissed, Voyage has dropped to second place.

[Manic Monte]

Why would Holiday World be pissed? Perhaps the Voyage fanboys will be. But Holiday World will simply tag a 2007 in front of the #1 and call it a day.

[ginzo]

Interesting that a "mild" airtime ride even made it in there. Is Troy really that good?

 

I didn't think so at all. To me, Thunderhead and KY Rumbler are both vastly superior rides.

 

But it seemed that the vast majority of the TPR Europe this trip absolutely loved this ride. It may well have been the favorite woodie of the trip.

[SharkTums]

^I also agree that Troy was one of the weaker GCI's. If you ask me the reason it was rated so highly is because of the Europeans voting in the poll. They don't have too much else, and they have nothing like Troy.

 

I vastly prefer Colossos and Zeus, but I can understand the Europeans liking GCI a lot.

[King of Ka]

Steel results:

 

1) Superman - Ride of Steel - Six Flags New England

2) Eagle's Fortress - Everland

3) Expedition GeForce - Holiday Park

*) Kawasemi - Tobu Zoo

5) Piraten - Djurs Sommerland

6) Nemesis - Alton Towers

7) Behemoth - Canadas Wonderland

8) Goliath - Walibi World

9) Katun - Mirabilandia

10) Dragon Khan - Port Aventura

11) Pyrenees - Parque EspaNa

12) Millennium Force - Cedar Point

*) Atlantis Adventure - Lotte World

14) Goliath - Six Flags Over Georgia

15) Maverick - Cedar Point

16) Nitro - Six Flags Great Adventure

17) SheiKra - Busch Gardens Africa

18) Montu - Busch Gardens Africa

19) Ride of Steel - Darien Lake

20) Apollo's Chariot - Busch Gardens Europe

 

Once again, IMO this list was very influenced by TPR; TPR members are probably the main reason Eagle's Fortress even ranked. Both the Intamin mega-lites debuted into the top five. I'm willing to bet we'll see a lot of pissed Cedar Point fanboys who are disappointed with Millennium Force's spot.

 

And dead last:

358) Goudurix - Parc Asterix

 

Goudurix retains its spot at the bottom.

[ginzo]

^Looks like Intamin Mega Coasters are this year's big success in the steel poll. They occupy 80% of the top 5!

 

And why didn't Kings Island go with Intamin again???

[Manic Monte]

Wow at the plunge of Maverick and some of Cedar Point's other staple top tens.

 

But yay for the mega-lites! I can only hope that SFMM's 2010 ends up being one of these!

[kayoss]

Why is Aska on there? Has really that many people been on it?

 

--James

I'm actually not sure why that SBNO coaster has remained but others have been removed. Probably to draw attention to it in hopes that another park would pick up a "top 10 woodie" for cheap. If I recall it's been SBNO since 2006.

 

I think it's a combination:

Does anybody know if Aska has been removed?

 

It hasn't. It's still there, and according to these pictures taken September of this year, it looks to be in pretty decent condition.

http://www.uer.ca/forum_showthread.asp?fid=1&threadid=59791&currpage=1&pp#post0

These new current pics of Dreamland (which I CAN'T BELIEVE slipped under my radar) are just spectacular... look at the fountain's pipe system... the growth coming up down the fake "main street". It gives me freakin' chills! Next trip to Japan, I'm so going there with an expensive camera and a ninja plan to take like 5000 photos. Just imagine what the 'build your own theming' attraction looks like NOW! God, I'm squealing like a little girl now...

 

FYI... the UER (of which I'm a huge fan and increasingly frequent contributer) is a hobby of mine... everyone should check out their insanely large photo database of abandoned theme parks from all over the world.

 

Mmmmmmmm. Post-apocalyptic Disneyland.