The Official Mitch Hawker 2012 Steel Coaster Poll Thread!

[cfc]

Mega Lites are excellent rides--lots of crazy airtime.

 

Just noticed that Verbolten came in at 104--not too shabby for a family coaster.

Edited March 6, 2013 by cfc

[azza29]

Well I'm happy that Superman Escape managed to get enough votes to appear on the poll this year at #21, probably due to TPR's 2011 trip to Australia

 

Australia represent! Let's just ignore the fact that our next best is Scooby Doo at #150...

 

Interesting that "Favourite El Loco" has come in at #182 - Green Lantern at Movie World is fairly high on my own list. Perhaps the 4-across seating improves the ride experience compared to other El Locos and it just hasn't been ridden by enough people yet. Ditto for "Favourite Motocoaster" (#262), although I may have just been on the better ones.

 

The fact that there are still some really fun rides sitting two-thirds of the way down the list suggests that coaster enthusiasts have plenty to be happy about!

[cfc]

Superman Escape is a great ride--the "dark ride" section is a definite plus, and the coaster portion is brief, but lots of fun.

Edited March 6, 2013 by cfc

[Rastuso]

Three megalites ( Intimidator is just a giga megalite).

[_koppen]

To all of you who have ridden more than one mega-lite, is there really any difference between them?

Except for the "more rattle" one one, or one running amazing due to the weather that day.

 

I know it's a hard question to get the real answer for, due to every day being different, but for you who have ridden several of them, please share you're experience.

 

And it's nice to have Geforce back on the top!

Edited March 6, 2013 by _koppen

[JJLehto]

I share that question ^

And yeah I figured the mega lites are forceful/packed with airtime.

 

It's not size and speed per se, but how they relate to each other.

I have faith in Mitch and my fellow enthusiasts...just have to accept I'm in a small minority that finds MForce epic

 

 

I305 would totally own if it wasnt for the last part, which isn't that bad but still. Wish they'd un-trim the hill and smooth out the remainder.

[CGM]

As someone who has actually ridden Shambhala, I think it's fully deserving of its high ranking. I preferred it to Nemesis but would put it behind Expedition GeForce, so these results reflect my opinion quite nicely.

 

I think it's worth saying that I didn't expect Shambhala to be that great at all. Having ridden Silverstar and finding it forceless and boring I was expecting more of the same, but Shambhala pleasantly surprised me. It's not an intense coaster as such but the first drop lasts forever and the amount of sustained floater airtime it offers is incredible. And for people that say that B&M don't do ejector airtime, the speed hill has it in spades.

 

Shambhala is like a refined cocktail of airtime. An Intamin coaster such as EGF is more like a hard spirit. If you don't go for cocktails, that's fine but that doesn't mean the people that do are wrong to do so. In any case, I'd recommend riding it before passing judgement, it definitely surprised me.

[chargersmichael]

How is the Backlot Stunt Coaster at Kings Dominion ranked at 226 while the one at Kings Island ranked at 241. Aren't they the same ride?

[Yamez]

Happy to see my top two coasters on there (Maverick, I305). Verbolten appearing at 104 seems like a nice spot for it, but I think it could move up a bit in future years.

 

Millennium Force isn't really all that great past the first drop. Its fun, but not spectacular. I'm curious about the Backlot Stunt Coaster's positions in the poll. They're all exactly the same coaster, yet they're ranked 7+ slots apart. Any ideas?

[cfc]

To all of you who have ridden more than one mega-lite, is there really any difference between them?

Except for the "more rattle" one one, or one running amazing due to the weather that day.

 

I know it's a hard question to get the real answer for, due to every day being different, but for you who have ridden several of them, please share you're experience.

 

And it's nice to have Geforce back on the top!

 

I found the three Mega Lites I've ridden (Piraten and the two in China) to be about the same; so, I grouped them together on my ballot.

[scbt]

I'm rather surprised at how high Oz'Iris was ranked (34) after hearing about how it was forceless and rattly.

 

Also, I'm rather confused at why Possesed ended up ~30 spots lower than V2 at SGAm and Steel Venom.

[TyRush]

So thrilled at Skyrush being #7! Such an awesome ride!

 

^I agree! If only I305 wasnt trimmed at that hill, it would probably be even higher.

All in all, most accurate poll out there!

[Blue Fire Guy]

I'm surprised at how low CGA's Flight Deck ranked (83) considering it is one of the intense old-school B&M inverts. Makes me wonder how OzIris (heard that ride was really disappointing) ranked at 34. While Flight Deck is a short ride, it is VERY forceful (upward helix following the loop sometimes grays me out) and whips you through every element, and still has a good amount of power when it hits the brakes. When I watch a POV of OzIris, I don't see that kind of ride: it runs out of steam in the second half, it doesn't look like it has grayout-worthy forces, and it doesn't whip you through the flat spin or zero-g roll the way Flight Deck (and I'm sure other old-school B&M inverts) does.

 

That said, I think Flight Deck deserves a MUCH higher ranking than what it has currently, and am very curious as to why it ranked 83 and OzIris ranked 34.

Edited March 7, 2013 by Blue Fire Guy

[Angry_Gumball]

^

Had Flight Deck been a bit longer, length-wise/ride time, I'm sure it would have ranked higher even with all the others out there. Flight Deck is definitely a pretty intense ride and pretty smooth considering its age in relation to another certain B&M that lives in the same park (Ok, so it isn't really using true B&M rolling stock...)

 

Glad to see some of my local coasters not quite at the bottom of the barrel, at least within the first 100-range. One of these days I need to take one of these top 15 coasters or so a spin, as much as it may spoil it for me when it comes to re-riding my local rides

Edited March 7, 2013 by Angry_Gumball

[rollin_n_coastin]

Not surprised about NTG, I305, Maverick and a mega lite or two in there. Phenomenal rides. A bit surprised about Shambhala. The only new B&M mega that I haven't ridden is Intimidator but so far, I think Shambhala is the best of the new B&M mega/gigas, etc built to date. If at least one had to pop up, I guess that would be the one.

 

One day, hopefully riding Expedition GeForce will happen

[JJLehto]

Difference between Silver Star and Shambhala being SS is trimmed to death on pretty much every hill...while Shambhala can actually move!

 

Again, I think it looks awesome and probably better than Leviathan (though ridden neither so can't really judge)

 

Huzzah for force! Glad people still do like intense, forceful rides...seems the more vocal people on forums always complain about rides being too intense...

[MINICoupe]

Firstly, it's good to see EGF back on top. As good as Bizarro is, EGF's drop, pacing, and setting are world-class and edge it over the top for me.

 

I was concerned that not having TxGiant on the ballot early on (and not in the drag/drop version at all) would cause it to place poorly. I was wrong.

 

I'm not familiar with all the coasters, but it appears that Mindbender (Alberta) is the top-ranked Schwarzkopf at #23. That's a great design, but the restraints kill it for me. Riding backward is brutal.

 

S:KC way down at #54? Seriously? That should get a substantial boost in next year's poll when hoards of folks get down there for iRat and rediscover what a great coaster S:KC really is.

 

Riddler's Revenge at #108... it would've been lower if I'd filled out the poll after my trip to SFMM a few weeks ago. Don't remember it being that uncomfortable before, nor do I remember the headache and sore ears, either. Ugh. I don't remember what I ranked it, but it was too high.

 

Interesting how the 20-second long Iron Shark placed higher than other, longer, more themed Eurofighters. Lesson learned: LAP BARS, not OTSRs!

 

Poltergeist at #154, wow. It was SCREAMING last Saturday, even in the cold weather. Very intense.

 

Heide Park's Schweizer Bobbahn and Parc Asterix's Trace du Hourra down below 200? Where's the bobsled love? Both those rides are awesome!

 

Gold Reef City's Anaconda would've placed #9 if it had been included. TPR needs to do a South Africa coaster safari to get more riders to that worlds-only Giovanola inverted coaster. Long train, smooth as glass, wicked layout. It's in my top 5.

[Schotcher]

I don't get all the hate on Silver Star. Sure it's my least favorite B&M hyper of the three I've ridden, and it's not the most forceful coaster in the world, but this whole spiel about it being "trimmed to death" and "there's zero airtime and zero force" is a complete exaggeration.

[IronWolfman]

Well my favorite coaster ended up at #283.... Guess I'm one of the only people who ever had a good experiences on it, let alone experiences that were so great they beat out others at the same park like S:UF, Raging Bull, Batman, V2 as well as those from outside SFGAm, going as far as to say Bizarro at SFNE! Oh well.....

[azza29]

The results make for very interesting reading - kudos to Mitch for organising this and collating the votes, and to everyone who participated.

 

I find it intriguing that the highest 'grouped' coaster (favorite Schwarzkopf Shuttle Loop) is at #158. Suggests that perhaps unique coasters rank more highly simply because they're unique?

[MINICoupe]

I don't get all the hate on Silver Star. Sure it's my least favorite B&M hyper of the three I've ridden, and it's not the most forceful coaster in the world, but this whole spiel about it being "trimmed to death" and "there's zero airtime and zero force" is a complete exaggeration.

 

I rode it in its second year of operation and I'd have also said forceless and trimmed to death.

I rode it again last summer and thought it was great. Hardly any trim action and some decent airtime over a speedy course. It moved up several spots on my list.

[hyyyper]

I'm rather surprised at how high Oz'Iris was ranked (34) after hearing about how it was forceless and rattly.

 

 

Well, I guess you had to be lucky to ride it on a good day. When I rode it, it was the smoothest coaster I've ever ridden, with some decent

forces in the drop, loop, immelman and helix. Which is almost opposite of some other stories I heard so I guess there's a lot of variation in

the ride experience.

 

Nevertheless, I think 'new' coasters are always placed higher than they should be. I guess it'll drop a bit in the coming years.

[australianalex]

Ditto for "Favourite Motocoaster" (#262), although I may have just been on the better ones.

I'm disappointed that all Motocoasters from different manufacturers were lumped like that. I believe there should be a single entry for all Zamperla Motocoasters as they're all pretty much clones, but the two Intamin motocoasters should be seperate as they are extremely different from the Zamperla ones. Hell, the two Intamin motocoasters are extremely different from each other - Jet Rescue is my #11 while Mick Doohan's Motocoaster is around #40 out of 46 coasters. I didn't notice wether the Vekoma motocoasters were lumped in that entry as well, but I know that they are very different from the Zamperla and Intamin ones too.

 

On a different note, these results just made me extremely excited about my East Coast USA trip this year considering I'll end up riding the #4 and #7 rated steel coasters (not to mention the #1 rated wooden coaster!).

 

One last observation for now, I'm surprised X:/ No Way Out is in the bottom 10 with abysmal rides like Goudurix and the Zamperla Volares. Sure, it's a pretty lame ride but Imo it's also stupidly fun and unusual. I think the bottom 10 should be reserved for really painful rides that make you wish you never rode them, and X:/ No Way Out isn't that.

Edited March 7, 2013 by australianalex

[rcdude]

I've got a chance to go through the rankings and this year's top twenty-five or so seem to be pretty much right on when it comes to the general enthusiast crowd. The bottom ten also look about right, and judging from Goudurix's ranking I'm guessing I didn't miss much by choosing Disneyland Paris instead (although OzIris ranked 34...since that's higher than Afterburn (which is generally considered excellent) and OzIris seemed to have the consensus of "just okay" I'm guessing this is inflated somewhat). Other things I found interesting/surprising (mainly based on coasters I've been on):

 

-Coasters that were ranked significantly lower than I expected include Anaconda, Gemini, Manta, Mystery Mine, Riddler's Revenge, and Carowind's Vortex. Manta, Mystery Mine, and Riddler's Revenge are all among the best of their type and I expected them to be more around 70 or so. I'm really surprised Gemini is all the way down at 231, as I figured it would be more in the 140-150 range considering I've heard a lot of people call it Cedar Point's biggest surprise.

 

-With all the negativity Space Mountain: Mission 2 seemed to recieve in this thread, I'm a little surprised it managed to rank at 260, as I thought it would be below 300

 

-I found it interesting that Dark Knight ranked higher than Favorite Wild Mouse even though many people seem to dislike that ride. I also found it interesting that Demon ranked higher than Anaconda and that CGA's Vortex ranked higher than Carowind's Vortex.

 

-Comparing the results to my personal rankings, the highest rated coaster I've been on is SFNE's Bizarro and the lowest rated is the Zamperla Volare. The coaster I rated highest on my ballot compared to its final ranking is Space Mountain: Mission 2, while the one I rated lowest compared to its final ranking is Intimidator 305. When only the coasters that were on my ballot are ranked, Afterburn, Apollo's Chariot, Avalanche, SFNE's Bizarro, SFMM's Goliath, Maverick, Raptor, Space Mountain, and V2: Vertical Velocity would all be at the same location on my ballot as they are on the results.

 

I'm glad to see the return of the steel poll, and hopefully it will continue to be run every year. Based on the results, it looks like I need to start working on trips to Texas and Pennsylvania (International trips are out of my budget at the moment, unfortunately). Maybe I'll just have to find some way to get to a Texas Giant bash if there is one this year.

[XII]

I'm generally impressed with the results of this years Steel Coaster Results. I'm glad to see that I've ridden 5 of the coasters in the Top 12 and that the results for the Top 2 and Worst Steel Coaster perfectly match with my Top 10 List.

 

I was definitely surprised to see OzIris place so high at #34 considering the reviews of all the people from the TPR Europe Trip, and the fact that its essentially the French Equivalent of Silver Bullet.

 

I'm also relatively pleased about where Manta (SWSD) placed. I know a lot of people felt it was ranked too low, though I feel that for a new small family coaster to rank in the Top 110 out of 365 coasters and be in the Top Third, thats a pretty impressive (and rightfully deserved) ranking for Manta.