Mitch Hawker's 2008 Wood & Steel Coaster Poll Results

[rollerboy]

^ JZ, as you know I went to movie world last month. Sadly Scooby was closed! I was thinking of you just a minute ago whilst posting in the post a picture of your favorite coaster thread; due to my favorite coaster being Superman Escape. Which I know you did not get chance to ride.

 

So back on topic. I couldn't ride Scooby! Is it really that great?

[CreditCrazy]

I'm not too surprised by the results. T-Express looked awesome ever since I saw the POV. I knew it'd get a high rating. But S:ROS getting first again? It looks good, but I just can't see how it's better than some other coasters.

[RCFreak]

^ I've been on basically the same ride (I believe even the same layout) at Europa Park. It was also not trimmed and hauling a$$.

 

I still can't see how any Wild Mouse would be someone's #1 coaster in the world, but hey, to each their own!

 

--Robb

 

But as the Space Mountain's are more then just a coaster in the dark, Scooby Doo is more then a just a Wild Mouse in a box. The layout of the actual mouse portion may be the same, but the dark ride experience is actually what made the whole ride for me and made it my #9 Steel. In my opinion, it's just as fun as Winjas was (even though Winjas was my number 2, and yes I'm an odd duck!) with mid 90's Disney quality theming.

[downunder]

With Scooby Doo, the part prior to the actual Wild Mouse section is really cool like the dipping under the swinging blades, and other fun things like the crazy elevator up to the top of the wild mouse section, and the backwards drop.

 

For what it is, I think it's excellent, as an overall ride that is. But I ranked it fairly lowly in the coaster poll because I rated it on the basis of what it was as a coaster in comparison to other coasters.

 

My #1 Wild Mouse though, above the grouped mouses and any listed stand alone mouses that I had been on.

[Gav]

^ I've been on basically the same ride (I believe even the same layout) at Europa Park. It was also not trimmed and hauling a$$.

 

I still can't see how any Wild Mouse would be someone's #1 coaster in the world, but hey, to each their own!

 

--Robb

 

Nah, not the same layout (Matterhorn blitz doesn't even have a backwards drop or turntable) the only common element is that weird tipping lift.

Mack actually have an image of the layout of Scooby Doo on their website:

http://www.mack-rides.com/lang-en/c121/default.html

 

So basically the first half plays out as a ghost train with a few dips, then its the vertical lift, then you drop out backwards into a huge dark "warehouse' with tons of lasers and a rock version of the Scooby Doo theme blaring, and the rest of the layout is like a standard wild mouse. At the end however it has a little suprise....

 

If you weren't well ridden then it could potentially be your #1 (It was my #2, behind Superman Escape prior to my trip to the US) so now it is just my #2 Australian coaster.

 

So I'd struggle to put it at #1 by any means, but it is definitley one of those 'surprise' coasters.

 

Edit: I had a search through the ballots to see where people put it, one person had it at #2 out of about 300 coasters (George from bannister.org)....I think it is a case that not many people with large track records have been able to place it.

[Noxegon]

I didn't vote, but I'd gladly put Scooby Doo in my top twenty.

 

It is without question the best wild mouse coaster I've been on anywhere in this world.

[ParkTrips]

I still can't see how any Wild Mouse would be someone's #1 coaster in the world, but hey, to each their own!

Winjas and HeiBe Fahrt are both near the very top of my lists too, and they are both very similar to a wild mouse. Maybe I should give up the hobby too.. wait I pretty much have

[packfanlv]

I agree that Scooby Doo was a pleasant surprise, but it isn't in my top 20 as a coaster. With that said, I wish that when parks here in the U.S. build a mouse in a box, that they would follow the Scooby Doo model. It is such a fun ride!

[robbalvey]

I still can't see how any Wild Mouse would be someone's #1 coaster in the world, but hey, to each their own!

Winjas and HeiBe Fahrt are both near the very top of my lists too, and they are both very similar to a wild mouse. Maybe I should give up the hobby too.. wait I pretty much have

I don't think Winjas or HeiBe Fahrt are anything at all like your traditional Wild Mouse coaster.

 

And yeah, you pretty much have given up on the hobby.

 

I had no idea that Scooby Doo had all that extra stuff so I stand corrected. I thought it was Matterhorn Blitz in a box.

 

--Robb

[downunder]

There's a POV of Scooby Doo floating around somewhere, I'll post a link if I find it.

 

Robb when you finally get to Australia you can check Scooby Doo out, along with the plethora of Intamin booster bike interpretations. Though these guys will be waiting for you in Feb 2010 if that's when you come:

 

http://www.smh.com.au/news/environment/funnel-webs-out-and-looking-for-love/2008/12/29/1230399131577.html

[robbalvey]

There's a POV of Scooby Doo floating around somewhere, I'll post a link if I find it.

Turns out we have on on TPR TV!

 

[tprtv]http://www.themeparkreview.com/coastertube/play.php?vid=ScoobyDoo_1[/tprtv]

 

I have to say though, whoever said it wasn't anything like Matterhorn Blitz seems incorrect. From what I can tell after the elevator lift the layout is the same as Matterhorn Blitz with a backwards first drop.

 

While there is no way I'm going to judge a coaster by a video (especially a poorly shot one) I will say that it does look a lot to me like a "Wild Mouse in a box." The effects look great, but it reminds me a LOT of Evolution at Bobbejaanland, and the dark ride section is reminiscent of Legoland's Dragon, both of which are freaking AWESOME rides, but nowhere near a "top ten" coaster IMO.

 

--Robb "I will reserve judgement for when I eventually ride it..." Alvey

[Gav]

^They can't be the same layout though.....After the backwards drop the layout is virtually the same as a standard mack mouse.

On the other hand Matterhorn Blitz is 100% custom, with an odd sort of triangular layout and more random turns (On the upper and lower part of the layout) :

Credit goes to the Mack website, Coastergrotto, and europaparc.skyrock.com

[robbalvey]

^They can't be the same layout though.....After the backwards drop the layout is virtually the same as a standard mack mouse.

On the other hand Matterhorn Blitz is 100% custom, with an odd sort of triangular layout and more random turns (On the upper and lower part of the layout) :

You may be right. I think I'm thinking more of the standard "large" version of the Mack Mouse that Legoland and Kings Dominion has. But then again, those rides also seem very similar to Matterhorn Blitz to me, minus the elevator lift and without all the theming.

 

I'll be honest, I'm not into memorizing the layouts to the nth degree as much as other poeple. I go mostly by memory. To *me* watching that video seemed a LOT like Matterhorn Blitz except with a backwards drop instead of the forwards drop.

 

I honestly don't really care if it's exactly the same, somewhat the same, one has 16 more bolts than the other with 2 degree more banking and a small extra turn, etc, it just seemed very similar to me.

 

--Robb "Those pictures you posted look VERY similar to me..." Alvey

[Gav]

Yeah, you are right...rccb said that Matterhorn Blitz is identical (after the elevator) to the larger KD, CW, Legoland etc ones.

And of course on the other hand, Scooby Doo is just based on the smaller 'normal' design.

[therooboy]

Scooby is a great themed dark mad mouse with a couple extra tricks , but the real reason to visit is Superman Escape.

A must ride for coaster buffs.

[downunder]

Superrman Escape is another great example of Movie World combining a themed Universal style ride with a coaster.

 

I rated Superman Ecsape #22 out of 135 and Scooby Doo #70, while Scooby Doo's rating may seem harsh it was just that everyhthing above it were bigger, faster, more thrilling coasters albeit none of them had Scooby's level of theming.

 

That Atlantis Adventure looks quite impressive, aquatrax represent.

[Wood Dragon 1988]

^Been wondering about Superman Escape. I watched the POV video today on TPR TV after watching to Scooby one. It seemed a bit short and even slow? It must be good though with its ranking I guess.

[downunder]

Superman Escape goes pretty good, it launches 0 - 100km/h in 2 seconds and does it over a very short distance which gives it a kick.

 

The ride isn't that long though there is a themed part of the ride before the launch which may not have been in the video which is like a Universal ride with an earthquake and rattling locker, a crashed police car and bursting pipes.

[milst1]

Very solid/fair/accurate top 10 IMO. Had I remembered to vote, my ballot would have been very similar.

 

Eagle's Fortress and the Mega-Lites are the real deal. AMAZING rides.

Aha! So you were one of the TWO people needed for Kawasemi to qualify? Didn't Dave also not fill out the steel ballot?

 

I'm actually quite dissapointed in some of our Asia travelers who didn't fill out the ballots. There are very few people in the world who have been on some of these coasters, and we had enough people on the TPR trips to help make them qualify.

 

Hopefully next year they will see that their ballots DO count!

 

--Robb

 

Sorry Robb, Cheryl was too busy/distracted to do the poll and I didn't want to do it for her. She had her head banged around on Eagle's Fortress and would've ranked it way lower than me. It totally blew me away. Ride after ride in the dark was freaking incredible!

[odie]

So last night I made this chart of wood coaster companies and the coasters they have in the top 100. I thought it was pretty interesting so I think I thought I'd post it.

 

The way I scored each company is on their top five (much like how you would score a cross country meet, if any of you know about that?). Each company gets one point for every spot on the list (Example: 3rd place adds 3 points to that companies total). So the company with the least amount of points is technically (because it's only based on their top 5) the best wood coaster builder. Then I also did the average of their top 5 also because GG, Vekoma, and S&S didn't have 5 woodies made yet. So here it is...

Wood Companys '08.bmp

2008 Wood Coaster Companies.

[DBru]

^Thanks for doing/sharing that!

 

Interesting that Vekoma seems to be much better at building woodies... Hopefully with Fireball opening in 2009, TGG will rise up even further on that list!

[odie]

Interesting that Vekoma seems to be much better at building woodies... Hopefully with Fireball opening in 2009, TGG will rise up even further on that list!

 

Yeah, TGG will definitely be up there, that's one reason why I did the averages. I thought it was interesting that CCI came out on top of GCI. I think this was because CCI has so many coaster out there and more of a chance to have a couple good hits though. Taking only the top 5 of each company probably also affected the outcome of this too.

[SFjunkie2010]

The steel coaster top 10 looks nearly identical as last year's...very consistent.

[DBru]

^Eh...what?

 

2008

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

 

2007

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

2) Expedition GeForce - Holiday Park

*Eagle's Fortress - Everland

4) Millennium Force - Cedar Point

5) Katun - Mirabilandia

6) Nemesis - Alton Towers

7) Goliath - SFOG

8) Goliath - Walibi World

9) Nitro - SFGAdv

10) Maverick - Cedar Point

 

 

Those lists are nearly identical?

[Jew]

^6 of the top 10 remained in the top 10 from 2007 to 2008. I don't think he is THAT far off-base with that comment.