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The Mitch Hawker 2013 Wood Coaster Poll Thread!


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I've ridden 6 of the Top 20. Including "Wooden Coaster" which

is the one in Knight Valley, China. And our own Coaster in

Vancouver was .....#21.

 

 

(But it has moved back up, number-wise woo hoo!)

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I'm a Boulder Dash fanboy here, and I just want to say "congratulations" to El Toro once again. It's an unbelievably amazing coaster with a well-deserved spot; and even though I like Boulder Dash just a smidge more, I can definitely live with these results. The list is also a darn good reminder that I have to get on an RMC ASAP.

 

I've only ridden 4 of the top 20 coasters, but if things go well for me this summer, I might just finally get on the Phoenix this year.

 

And finally, I'm happy I get to join the fight in bumping Coaster up more spots. I can't remember the last time I had so much fun while simultaneously being convinced that I was going to die.

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El Toro is one of the few wooden coasters that I think has gotten better as it has aged long term. Compared to when it first opened it flies through the final twister section, especially the second half where it used to limp up onto the brake run. I think they changed the wheel setup after it valleyed a few years back.

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I don't know about Revine Flyer 2 or Drauling Dragons, but Fireball's roughness was around Mean Streak level. I've heard someone lives in Wuhan said Drauling Dragons also beat the cr@p out of you.

I'd say that Ravine Flyer II is in great shape. The only part that I'm not the biggest fan of is the quick directional change before the turnaround, but other than that it's absolutely fantastic. I had no trouble going thirteen (maybe fourteen?) times in a few hours.

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The results this year ended up pretty much as expected (at least in my opinion). El Toro is my favorite wood coaster, so I'm glad to see it win again. Everyone loves Outlaw Run, so I expected it to place in the top ten at least (given that it's ranked as America's 2nd best wood coaster I really hope I get a chance to ride it this year). I do think Gold Striker will drop over the next couple of years, likely settling around the mid-20s (it's good, but certainly not better than Thunderhead). I'm a little surprised to see so many Gravity Group coasters at the top as it seems their rides tend to deteriorate quickly. Voyage is dropping every year, and I'm guessing the Chinese ones will probably take a hit after the next group trip to China. Finally, Hades 360 debuting in the bottom 10? Could this wind up being the biggest failed "improvement" ever?

 

Just for fun, here are a few random notes about my personal statistics:

 

-I have been on 4 of the top 10 coasters (El Toro, Boulder Dash, Ravine Flyer II, and Voyage) and 6 of the top 20 (the previous plus Gold Striker and Thunderhead). Though not in the same order, these 6 coasters make up my top 6 wood coasters. If all goes according to plan, I will be riding two more top 10 woodies this year (Outlaw Run and Phoenix).

 

-The only bottom 10 coaster I've been on is Grizzly (CGA). It is my least favorite coaster.

 

-Comparing the order of coasters in the results to the order they were ranked on my ballot...

 

I ranked 5 coasters significantly higher (Grizzly (KD), Mighty Canadian Minebuster, Rebel Yell, Thunder Road, Woodstock Express (KD))

 

I ranked 4 coasters significantly lower (Blue Streak (CP), Comet (Waldameer), Giant Dipper (BP), Wooden Warrior)

 

I ranked 6 coasters exactly where they ended up (Boss, Comet (GE), El Toro, Excalibur, Grizzly (CGA), Thunderbolt (SFNE))

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Is Fireball seriously that amazing to deserve a 11th place? I think most of the woodies I've been on are much better. Even including Screamin' Eagle, American Eagle and Blue Streak.

 

I thought it ran great during it's opening year. Unfortunately, going back to ride it again is quite expensive, so my only impression of the ride is based on that. That's why there is a column asking if you have been on a ride in the past year or not in the poll, to try and account for that!

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I was surprised by a few of the results, namely how low Lightning Racer, Wooden Warrior and The Beast landed. But that may just reflect how many quality woodies are out there these days.

 

Boulder Dash definitely deserves a spot in the top 15 but was running pretty rough this year, would be interested to see where this one ranks among "recent riders".

 

Kind of amusing that "favourite steel" would have been ranked at #1, while in last year's steel coaster ballot "favourite woodie" came in at #1 there. Grass is always greener I guess...

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Is Fireball seriously that amazing to deserve a 11th place? I think most of the woodies I've been on are much better. Even including Screamin' Eagle, American Eagle and Blue Streak.

 

I thought it ran great during it's opening year. Unfortunately, going back to ride it again is quite expensive, so my only impression of the ride is based on that. That's why there is a column asking if you have been on a ride in the past year or not in the poll, to try and account for that!

 

It was running great during the TPR trip in 2012. The park had done a lot of retracking work, and most of the group was pleasantly surprised.

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I'm so mad, because I made a trip to SDC with the obvious intention of getting on Outlaw Run... and it was closed. All day. So I never got on it, just got to stare at it. Fortunately, it was my first time to the park, so I did get to enjoy everything else, but that was a pretty bad taunt now made even worse.

 

But I am glad I saw this list. Not knowing any better, I was about to make a trip to Wisconsin Dells. Guess we'll be going elsewhere now.

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El Toro is one of the few wooden coasters that I think has gotten better as it has aged long term. Compared to when it first opened it flies through the final twister section, especially the second half where it used to limp up onto the brake run. I think they changed the wheel setup after it valleyed a few years back.

 

El Toro was hardly in my top ten when I first rode it a few years ago. The past couple years something changed I don't know what but this year I thought I was going to die riding that thing.. Even the final hills what I remembered having no airtime had awesome lats and air. The only downside is that it definitely rides a bit more rough simply because it's so violent..

 

I was surprised by a few of the results, namely how low Lightning Racer, Wooden Warrior and The Beast landed. But that may just reflect how many quality woodies are out there these days.

 

Boulder Dash definitely deserves a spot in the top 15 but was running pretty rough this year, would be interested to see where this one ranks among "recent riders".

 

Kind of amusing that "favourite steel" would have been ranked at #1, while in last year's steel coaster ballot "favourite woodie" came in at #1 there. Grass is always greener I guess...

 

Boulder dash was running very very rough this year. It dropped down a couple spots for me. Wooden warrior is in my top ten I'm not sure why it's so low on the list relatively..

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This list is fantastic and makes sense. When friends who know coasters said that Outlaw Run was at least as good as El Toro, it's easy to believe and the results speak for themselves. Can't wait to ride it.

 

I always end up in a spot where my number 1 always changes from El Toro to Boulder Dash or Phoenix but then in the same year, I'll ride El Toro again and it jumps back to number 1. The fact that Mitch's poll takes this into account is great.

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And our own Coaster in

Vancouver was .....#21.

(But it has moved back up, number-wise woo hoo!)

 

Bill, were there any years where Coaster was neglected and ran poorly? That certainly could effect the ratings since only 29 people ranked it. You don't see any other coasters outside of the Top 20 that so many well traveled enthusiasts have ranked in their personal Top 10.

 

Coaster is such an out of the way coaster that many might only ride it one time.

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Can someone please explain to me why in the hell Mean Streak is not in the top 5?

 

Yes. It is really quite bad.

 

lol... At least its pretty to look at!

 

This is true.

 

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Its prettyy impressive that CCI still has 2 coasters in the top 20 after all these years. If more CCI's got some topper track like Tremors I could see a couple more potentially rising back to the top (boss, ghost rider, legend?) I think aside from Phoenix, the rest are all relatively new and modern.

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