Mitch Hawker 2011 Wood Coaster Poll!

[RaptorBoyASU]

^^^I think that group dynamics play a HUGE part. I rode Troy 3 times, and wouldn't put it ahead of Prowler or even Renegade. But I have to look at the atmosphere when riding those two, it's probably much closer to what it was like when you guys were on Troy. I thought Troy was about the same level as Apocalypse for me (Terminator), but I rode it with a bunch of Dutch on a rainy cold summer day (2 weeks after riding Prowler and Renegade on the Mid-America trip).

[susie zueck]

EL Toro is easily the best wooden coaster out there!!!!!

[Andrewoplis]

I'm glad to see El toro get the number one spot again, it really does deserve it! And no surprise seeing the Voyage in the top 5, I'm honestly convinced that if they were to add those trains that White Canyon as, there would still be people who love it.

[larrygator]

FYI - technically Balder (.9540) beat El Toro (Plohn) (.9537), but when the percentages are that close Mitch goes to the mutual rider tie breaker.

[viking86]

Ive been on 6 of the top 14 rides, not bad. Its also very similar to my own list. I might put Thunderbird above Balder, but otherwise I think I'd rate it identical. El Toro is definately a fair winner, that ride totally blew me away.

 

1 El Toro SFGAd NJ 307 163 0 0 1.0000

3 Boulder Dash Lake Compounce CT 193 161 2 0 0.9877 7

5 Phoenix Knoebel's PA 228 159 3 1 0.9785 67

8 Balder Liseberg SE 116 155 7 1 0.9540 14

13 Thunderbird PowerPark FI 48 150 12 1 0.9233

14 Twister Grona Lund SE 45 148 13 2 0.9141

[televisedconfession]

These results seem pretty fair to me. El Toro is a fan favorite, and it's not a shocker at all that it remains up at top. When you have such power house coasters up at top, it really is a toss up to me. They're all #1 in my book.

I love doing Mitch's polls, and am now really looking forward to the Steel Poll!

[Randomman295]

It kind of frightens me how there were 666 ballots... But I was even more frightened to find that there were so many GCI coasters on there! Lol, I kid. Go Great Coasters International!

[BC]

Colossos in Heide-Park is no small coaster at all - its the prototype Intamin/Cordes prefab-woodie who is even taller than El Toro.

 

The best woodie in germany if not in europe!

 

Congrats to El Toro. My favourite woodie too!

Biggest surprise to me is Colossos (Heide Park). I was looking so much forward to try it when we went in 2011 (2nd attempt... was closed 1st time I went in 2010).

It was so rough and seemed to be very badly maintained.

 

Having El Toro and Balder as my top 2, I do love an Intamin woodie, so if anyone should have loved Colossos it should have been me.

Nothing less than Terrible! Does not even belong in the top 30! I'm sure it did in its early years, but a ride (park) should be punished bad in these polls when they don't look after their rides, and I am thinking that a lot of people are judging it from past performance.

[Wallfan]

Props for Phoenix! After all of these years, it's still in the top 5.

 

We just booked a trip to Knoebels for May. can't wait.

[Gnome]

This just proves that people prefer steel coasters to wood. *waiting for the debates*

[BeemerBoy]

This just proves that people prefer steel coasters to wood. *waiting for the debates*

Translation: "I'm waiting to see how many arguments I cause as a result of trying to stir the pot."

 

 

Preferred response: "This just proves that people prefer good coasters to bad ones."

[robbalvey]

This just proves that people prefer steel coasters to wood. *waiting for the debates*

Translation: "I'm waiting to see how many arguments I cause as a result of trying to stir the pot."

 

 

Preferred response: "This just proves that people prefer good coasters to bad ones."

Agreed. Can we please not start pointless debates and flame wars for the sake of doing so, please? Thank you.

 

--Robb

[imawesome1124]

Wow, Grizzly (KD) is ranked a lot lower than I thought it would be. I haven't ridden it since ECB two years ago but it was amazing then. Unless it really went in the crapper last year I think it deserved to at least be in the top 60. The highest ranked one I've been on is Lightning Racer (L). I likely won't ride El Toro anytime within the next five years because my parents hate Six Flags with a passion, which is understandable considering our home park, SFA.

[cal1br3tto]

Surprised to see Balder slip so low, and Voyage continue to stay so hi. I can't remember the last time I heard some give a review of Voyage other than it was violently rough and not nearly as good as it used to be.

I know Balder is ranked very highly all things considered, but does anyone have insight as it why it was so "low" this year? Has it gotten a bit rough? Or do some of the voters who've ridden it simply have different preferences?

 

As for Voyage, I managed to genuinely love it in 2010 when it was very rough. But I'm still surprised it ended up so high, since so many people have ridden it recently and denounced it for being so painful. I would've expected that influence to be more apparent despite the people who remember its smoother times. Still...bring on the Timberliners!

[SharkTums]

I know Balder is ranked very highly all things considered, but does anyone have insight as it why it was so "low" this year? Has it gotten a bit rough? Or do some of the voters who've ridden it simply have different preferences?

 

Remember that the poll also takes into account whether or not you rode the coaster this year that you're voting for. I don't think a lot of the voters rode Balder this year, so that hurts it. I'm sure you'll see it go back up when a group trip takes a decent amount of people there to ride it.

[RoCo]

It is heartbreaking to hear that The Voyage has gotten worse and worse over the years. Fingers crossed that the Timberliners do restore it to greatness.

 

But I can't not be overjoyed that El Toro is No. 1.

[Ed Farmer]

Curious to see how much the offseason work helps Voyage out next year. My 1. and 1a. are Toro and Voyage, with Toro getting the slight nod in recent years for the obvious reasons. Hopefully the reprofile, trackwork, and new trains don't take away from the sheer bliss of the ride.

[nymgb44]

Can someone explain Phoenix for me? It's an awesome ride, and I love the constant airtime, but for me it was a one-trick pony, and significantly worse in any other part of the train besides the front. I mean I could see it being mid-20s, but #5?! I've been on Coaster at Playland in Vancouver, and that was better ride, no question. I know there's a lot of Knoebel's love here...I found the park fun, but I didn't quite get that "Knoebel's vibe" that's talked about so often. Twister was fairly miserable, too. I don't intend to bash the park or anything (and the Flyers were kind of epic); I'm just curious as to why Phoenix and its park get so much love.

[viking86]

Surprised to see Balder slip so low, and Voyage continue to stay so hi. I can't remember the last time I heard some give a review of Voyage other than it was violently rough and not nearly as good as it used to be.

I know Balder is ranked very highly all things considered, but does anyone have insight as it why it was so "low" this year? Has it gotten a bit rough? Or do some of the voters who've ridden it simply have different preferences?

 

As for Voyage, I managed to genuinely love it in 2010 when it was very rough. But I'm still surprised it ended up so high, since so many people have ridden it recently and denounced it for being so painful. I would've expected that influence to be more apparent despite the people who remember its smoother times. Still...bring on the Timberliners!

 

I rode Balder in may last year and while I think its a very good ride, its still slow around the turns. If you look at many of the coasters built over the last years, particularly by GCI, they are very fast and doesnt really slow down until they hit the brakes. For me Balder looses some of the 'wow-factor' with the slow turns. As for roughness thats not an issue. Going through the turns you feel its a wooden coaster, but its still an very smooth wooden coaster.

[alpengeist04]

Congrats to El Toro!!!!

 

Based on the results, these are the top 5 woodies in the US:

1 - El Toro

2 - Boulder Dash

3 - The Voyage

4 - Phoenix

5 - Ravine Flyer II

 

Here are mine:

1- El Toro

2- Phoenix

3- Boulder Dash

4- Ravine Flyer II

5- The Voyage

 

...Looks like everyone almost got it right.

 

BTW, I have El Toro, Phoenix, and Boulder Dash all ranked ahead of my favorite steel coaster.

[cal1br3tto]

Can someone explain Phoenix for me? It's an awesome ride, and I love the constant airtime, but for me it was a one-trick pony, and significantly worse in any other part of the train besides the front. I mean I could see it being mid-20s, but #5?! I've been on Coaster at Playland in Vancouver, and that was better ride, no question. I know there's a lot of Knoebel's love here...I found the park fun, but I didn't quite get that "Knoebel's vibe" that's talked about so often. Twister was fairly miserable, too. I don't intend to bash the park or anything (and the Flyers were kind of epic); I'm just curious as to why Phoenix and its park get so much love.

The airtime and killer lats (which I usually don't even like, but they're so terrifying here as to be appealing) do it for me. Like you, I enjoyed Coaster better, though; it had more consistent (and perhaps stronger, though it's close) airtime in the several seats I rode. Phoenix had a couple calmer sections for me, though I'll admit I didn't ride front, back, or 1.3. Not sure how to explain the Knoebels vibe beyond what anyone else has said in the past, but I can say I thoroughly "get" it and it's easily my favorite amusement park. The Flyers are definitely a part of it!

 

I rode Balder in may last year and while I think its a very good ride, its still slow around the turns. If you look at many of the coasters built over the last years, particularly by GCI, they are very fast and doesnt really slow down until they hit the brakes. For me Balder looses some of the 'wow-factor' with the slow turns. As for roughness thats not an issue. Going through the turns you feel its a wooden coaster, but its still an very smooth wooden coaster.

This (along with Elissa's point that it's likely a temporary dip in rankings) gives me a better idea. While I'm not always too fussed about speed, I do love me a good unrelenting coaster. El Toro excels in that for me. It also clearly seems like a wooden coaster to me despite differences from the more traditional versions; a bit of harmless shakiness helped make that even more apparent. I'm looking forward to comparing it with the other Pre-Fabs some day.

[Werner]

I say forget about the Disney Around the World trip that we've been talking about for years...Let's do an Intamin Woodie Around the World trip!!!

 

I'm in for this trip for sure...

 

Go,go... El Toro..!!! The intamin one that is...

 

The GCI one will be on the to do list for this year

[Erik Johnson]

It is heartbreaking to hear that The Voyage has gotten worse and worse over the years. Fingers crossed that the Timberliners do restore it to greatness.

 

But I can't not be overjoyed that El Toro is No. 1.

 

 

Last time I rode it was opening weekend in 2009 and I loved it. Every other time I rode it I found it to be a slamming jackhammering mess. Those other times were later in the season. I was really happy to find that Boulder Dash was running just as well last season as it was right after the GCI referb in 2008. I really love that coaster!

Edited January 30, 2012 by Erik Johnson

[ginzo]

This (along with Elissa's point that it's likely a temporary dip in rankings) gives me a better idea. While I'm not always too fussed about speed, I do love me a good unrelenting coaster. El Toro excels in that for me. It also clearly seems like a wooden coaster to me despite differences from the more traditional versions; a bit of harmless shakiness helped make that even more apparent. I'm looking forward to comparing it with the other Pre-Fabs some day.

 

It depends on your definition of "unrelenting". Balder has unrelenting airtime, much more so than El Toro. And you can actually enjoy the airtime since Liseberg doesn't staple you like Great Adventure does. Or at least they weren't stapling when I rode Balder in 2009.

[I305KD]

As crazy as this will sound, I like Boulder Dash better than El Toro. I love the two as much as anything else in the world. But something about the out of control speed you get on Boulder Dash is just amazing. Not to mention going through the woods AT NIGHT!!!!! But I still love El Toro nearly just as much Boulder Dash. And I still love the extreme ejector airtime (and hairtime) you get on Toro.