What coaster do you love that everyone else hates?

[dragonskeep]

To add to my growing list of this type:

 

Kumba

 

I've heard absolutely terrible things about this B&M, but MAN did it pack one seriously intense punch!

 

First of all, who said something bad about Kumba, that's just not very nice, (as my niece would say), and un-American. I also liked Gwazi more with the PTC's but only for a front car ride. I have had some awesome laps on Gwazi in those old trains.

[Simipour'sTrainer]

I'll have to say Ghostrider and Boomerang at Knott's Berry Farm. Both of them are pretty jerky (Ghostrider being even more so), but I do find them to be very fun rides. Plus, Ghostrider still looks amazing at night.

[singemfrc]

It's pretty well known that I'm the biggest (only?) Kong fan. I'm a sucker for corkscrews or heartlines, even on a Vekoma.

[molemaster43]

Kingda Ka. I am not sure how many hate this ride, but I know some do. I loved it in Row 7.

[Voxelmatic]

Ninja at Six Flags Over Georgia. I don't love it so much, but it has a fun layout, and I didn't get the crazy-rough ride people said it would have.

[Tomes1225]

Mantis at Cedar Point. I really enjoyed it. I rode 5 times my last visit. It is intense and has a fun layout. I've never experienced any pain either, all you have to do is stand up straight.

[IronWolfman]

IRON WOLF @ SFGAM

Demon @ SFGAm

(Original) Corkscrew @ Silverwood*

*EDIT* Apparently some people hat G.I.B.'s, so Aftershock @ Silverwood

[cfc]

I kind of like Viper at Magic Mountain. As old Arrow multi-loopers go, it isn't bad.

[screaminkid2005]

Wood: It has to be Cyclone at SFNE! I loved that ride ever since I was a kid!

 

Steel: the former Great American Scream Machine at SFGAdv. Sitting in the front row, that hill that went into the MCBR had awesome ejector air! I miss that ride so much!

[MayTheGForceBeWithYou]

Space Mountain in DLRP...at least the De la Terre a la Lune version. Maybe it was because I liked reading Jules Verne stories as a kid, maybe because I liked the different approach they took versus the futuristic ones, bit I still liked it.

[rcdude]

I've added a few new ones to my list this summer. Although I wouldn't say I love all these rides, I definitely like them significantly more than the average enthusiast.

 

Space Mountain: Mission 2 (Disneyland Paris-Disneyland Park): A lot of people consider this a below-average coaster, but I actually thought it was the best of Disneyland Paris's four coasters (yes, I preferred it to Big Thunder Mountain). In fact, I rode three times during my one day visit. The ride wasn't really painful, just very shaky, and while it's not the most intense coaster in the world it certainly is the most intense and thrilling Disney coaster I've been on. Not as good as California's Space Mountain or California Screamin', but I definitely feel the ride is deserving of a much higher ranking than the 261 it has on Mitch Hawker's poll (more like the 125 range in my opinion).

 

Dragon Fire (Canada's Wonderland): While certainly not the best Arrow Custom Looping Coaster, this is my favorite of the somewhat common 2 loop, 2 corkscrew models (beating out the higher rated Canyon Blaster and Demon). I think it's just the unusual backwards corkscrew that sets this apart from Arrow's other similar coasters.

 

SkyRider (Canada's Wonderland): I've only been on a handful of Togos, but this is easily the best of the four I've been on. Not too rough, and very strong airtime over a couple of the hills. I rode twice on my visit to Canada's Wonderland last summer despite the coaster not being included on Fast Lane, which definitely says something about my opinion of the coaster.

 

Mighty Canadian Minebuster (Canada's Wonderland): Yes, it doesn't really do much, but the ride is smooth and is re-rideable. It's a great first big coaster for kids, and a good middle-intensity coaster for adults. For me, it was a nice break after Time Warp, Flight Deck, and SkyRider all in a row, and it was the only Canada's Wonderland woodie I rode more than once (excluding ERT).

[MrSum1_55]

-The Vekoma flyers- It seems that everyone hates these things. I do not. On my visit, Firehawk was running very smooth, comparable to a B&M. Nighthawk, although it rattles quite is bit in the corkscrews, I also found to be enjoyable overall. How some people think these are among of the worst designs in the world, worse than SLC's, is beyond me.

-GIB's- I have never gotten any major headbanging on these, and, even my worst of rides were helped by the heavily padded restraints. On many rides, I have even been able to raise my hands not not hit my head.

-Mantis- Actually my favorite standup. It was running quite rough in 2009, but the roughness seemed to have gone away by 2011. On a similar note, Dominator's rattle seemed to have inexplicably dissappeared by this summer, as it was running fairly rough last summer.

[texcoaster]

Now I wish I could've ridden Viper to see for myself, after reading all these comments.

 

I wish I could go back and UNride it. I don't know if maybe shorter people could take it better, just like on SFAW's Ultra Twister... but I'm not short and I felt like I had been the loser in a heavyweight bout at the end of the one ride I did.

 

It was the only coaster in the park that I only rode once.

[australianalex]

I actually REALLY liked Saw the Ride at Thorpe Park and think it's by far the best coaster in the park. It has a great combination of airtime, intensity and theming, and the head banging wasn't too bad. I found Colossus much more painful. In fact I actually didn't like Colossus at all, despite all the love it seems to get on here. I've ridden smoother Arrow loopers. It's only good points for me is the awesome setting it has and its heartline roll finale, which was smooth and intense.

[andybarnes84]

Seems a lot of coasters being mentioned here aren't ones that are generally 'hated' and I'm struggling to come up with one myself but I'll mention Thirteen at Alton Towers, find it to be a fun coaster that most other enthusiasts seem to disagree with.

[jjune4991]

I loved my only ride on Deja Vu at SFOG before they moved it. I hope I caught it on a good day, cause many people have said they were happy to see it go!

[Hilltopper39]

^I got on Deja Vu at SFOG and SFGAM and thought that both were really pretty good. It wasn't the smoothest ride experience in the world but it wasn't brutally painful either, and the 200ft vertical spike was one of the more terrifying parts of a ride that I've ever been on.

[ajfelice]

Predator at Darien Lake.

 

This fall I took a ride during a rainstorm, no trim, and filled with ejector air. No pain either!

 

Even in good weather, Predator runs much better than people give credit to.

[JonnyRCT3]

Mean Streak.......lengthy, plenty of drops, full of head-choppers, just an overall great ride.

 

Mantis......forceful,great first drop, nice location and color scheme, great 2nd half.

[GayCoasterGuy]

Demon at SF Great America It's usually worth the headache.

[fraroc]

Iron Dragon.

I don't care if you stone me, Iron Dragon is one of the last of its kind, a great starter non/kiddie coaster for kids, a perfect mellow, chillout coaster after riding coasters like Millenium Force, Maverick, Mantis, TTD.....And I hope CP never gets rid of it.

 

Corkscrew is a classic no-frills looping coaster. Once again, a great starter coaster and a timeless classic.

[GigaG]

Lets see-

 

I was sad to see SoB go, but then again, it has been 4 years and I just felt sorry that I didn't get my last ride in 2009 because - get this - I thought the line was too long.

 

Mean Streak is a good time waster when everything has a huge line, especially the one time in the rain when the trims were off and there was ejector air on the last hill before the MCBR.

 

I'm also OK with riding Corkscrew @ CP and Vortex @ KI.

 

Time Warp @ CW (Zamperla Volare) was fun to me.

 

SLCs - I had a great experience on Thunderhawk at Michigan's Adventure (again, 4 years ago), making it one of my favorites there (Looking back, I thinkShivering Timbers, takes the cake. When I took the precaution of riding the older Flight Deck @ CW up front to reduce headbanging, it was a fun ride. That was more recent. My research shows that Thunderhawk got new restraints and padding, however, so maybe it was that I was riding it in its first year of operation at its new park (I know that because I remember calling my dad back at home asking him about what Kings Island had just announced - Diamondback. It was also before I was 54 inches tall - 2008 being the last year I was that short - and unable to ride the Swan Boats at MI by myself.)

 

I read something earlier in this topic about Vekoma flyers being bad, but Firehawk is awesome and quite smooth. Those padded restraints would make it hard to be a headbanger.

 

I liked both of the Boomerangs I went on - Carolina Cobra at CW and the Boomerang at WoF. Carolina Cobra, of course, was great with the new trains, but somehow I liked WoF's, and I repeat-rode it a lot considering it had no line.

[Midgetman82]

A lot of the rougher coasters, including a few infamous Vekoma coasters. T2 at Kentucky Kingdom was one of them.

[odene497]

I really like Predator at Darien Lake. It was my first big coaster, so I like it for sentimental reasons, but they've also done a decent amount of track work, and I think it has some neat rough air up front.

[Schrecken]

There are a few coasters I've ridden that I have/had a bit of a soft spot for that most everyone else either disparages or, at best, badly under-rates. One is Flashback at SFMM. Granted, I always felt like I was riding in a big box I could barely see out of, with the ever-present risk of having my head bashed, but there was something about that coaster that I appreciated. It always intrigued me, especially before I knew a whole lot about coasters, and I wondered about the B&M like track (and roar) and the unique hairpin design. I always thought Flashback was rather like Charlie Brown's Christmas tree - it could have been something special with a little love (like if they had put new trains on it or modified the original ones).

 

Another is Mind Eraser at SFA. I couldn't care less about most SLCs, but this one is special to me. Not because of the ride, but because this is the first inverted coaster I ever rode and the coaster that I spent the summer of 97' riding over and over to finally banish 21 years of severe coaster phobia. I have fond memories of the Mind Eraser (and back then it was practically brand new, and hence not as rough as many of these rides have become over the years) - riding it at night, riding it on hot summer days, riding it on frigid nights around Halloween, riding it in the fog....

 

The only other coaster I can think of (can't say I've ever heard anyone say they hate it, but it certainly tends to be relegated to undeserved obscurity) is the Exterminator at Kennywood. It suffers from being a wild mouse, and wild mice don't ever rate very highly anywhere. But I can't for the life of me figure why it doesn't rate more highly, mouse or not, especially since it never had to live up to the hype that Dark Knight at SFGA and SFG Adv tried to live up to. IMO it's one of the best rides at Kennywood.