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So what were the best new coasters of 2014?


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I would call Helix the all-mountain ski of roller coasters. A coaster that is good at everything, but not exceptionally good in any specific area.

This was my biggest issue with Helix. I felt that it has a lot of "good" moments, but not really any "great" moments. The airtime moments were both good, but not better than the wooden coaster on the other side of the park.

 

I would have preferred the ride to be "F**KING AWESOME" at just one thing rather than "Pretty good" at a variety of things.

That's too bad, I was hoping this ride would be on par with rides like iSpeed and Maverick.

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I would call Helix the all-mountain ski of roller coasters. A coaster that is good at everything, but not exceptionally good in any specific area.

This was my biggest issue with Helix. I felt that it has a lot of "good" moments, but not really any "great" moments. The airtime moments were both good, but not better than the wooden coaster on the other side of the park.

 

I would have preferred the ride to be "F**KING AWESOME" at just one thing rather than "Pretty good" at a variety of things.

That's too bad, I was hoping this ride would be on par with rides like iSpeed and Maverick.

Having rode both said coaster multiple time this year I would say Helix's airtime is much more intense than Balder.

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I've only ridden 3 of the new coasters for 2014. Here's what I think of them.

 

Thunderbolt: Very great looking ride visually, but once you get on it, whole different story!! I don't know how it hurts so badly, I really think that the trains they're using are to blame. Very weird ride, I was hoping to enjoy it, I was wrong. Zamperla should stick to the flat rides market. Probably my least favorite new coaster of 2014.

 

Helix: Very fun and exciting ride experience from start to finish. I really enjoyed our rides on Helix this past summer on the Scandi Trip. Our ERT session was a blast! Helix is a solid ride at a beautiful and amazing park. My only complaint about the ride is that the launches did feel a bit weak. It's definitely a top 15 ride for me and my favorite new coaster of 2014.

 

Firechaser Express: Very fun family coaster! Loved the setting of the ride, it felt very "Disney-esque". All I can say is Dollywood built a great family coaster.

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After reading all of the posts, I am a little surprised no one has gotten the chance to ride Medusa Steel Coaster. I have been following Themeparkreview since 2007 but I had never created an account. It was just until now that I finally decided to create an account for myself after 6 years. But apart from that, I am 20 years old and I am from Cancún, Mexico. I am currently living in Mexico City for college and I just bought my season pass for Six Flags México this past weekend. With that said, I got to ride Medusa 3 times last sunday, and let me tell you, it is one of the best rollercoasters I have ever ridden. I haven´t had the opportunity to ride any of the other RMC creations, so I can´t compare Medusa with any of them. However, Medusa Steel Coaster just packs so much into its layout.

The drop is amazing and you even get hang time while going down upside down. The ejector airtime on the middle and backseats is great through the entire ride, and there´s plenty of airtime on the last little hill before your onride picture is taken. I personally think the lenght and speed of Medusa are perfect. It is just long and fast enought to enjoy the entire ride. It is a really enjoyable coaster. It was smooth, fast and had an unpredictable layout as soon as the coaster goes by the back of the park and through the woods. Lastly, the zero-g-roll at the end grabs you by surprise and it is a nice inversion before coming to an end.

 

Overall, Medusa is a great RMC construction coaster, and one that was really in need of a hybrid transformation. It did live up to my expectations as to what any RMC coaster should be, and it delivers a great punch every ride.

 

Leo

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While I got a ton of new credits this year, I haven't ridden any of these new ones. I had high hopes for getting up to Coney to ride Thunderbolt but then the so-so reviews came in and it became less of a priority - tho I have close friends in Brooklyn so maybe in 2015.

 

Based on the POV's the ones that look the most appealing to me are Helix, Banshee and Medusa. I think we'll be getting something similar to Medusa w/ Wicked Cyclone, so that's something to get excited about.

 

Goliath I'm sure is great but as noted by many it seems very short. El Loco sure looks like a fun little thing, I wish Morey's would get something like that.

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The only new-for-2014 coaster I rode was Thunderbolt and I actually kind of liked it ..... or rather, I like it more than most people do. The two rides I got were rough, but weren't quite "ruin your ride" rough; and aside from the awkward restraints, I got a lot of enjoyment out of the airtime hills. So it's not a top 10 or 20 (or 100?) coaster for me, but I had fun.

That being said, there really is no excuse in this day and age for a brand new coaster to ride like the way it does, especially for a company that does engineer quality rides. So I completely understand where the hate for the coaster comes from. I really hope that Zamperla does some serious work on the coaster during the off-season, they're the best thing to happen to Coney Island in a long time.

 

As far as the most appealing looking roller coaster that I haven't ridden, it has to be either Banshee or Lightning Run. I'll jump on that bandwagon, those rides look awesome!

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The only new ride I've rode this year was Angkor in PortAventura, and given that my expectations weren't that high given the rather marmite opinion people have on splash battles, I really enjoyed it. Still think it will look better a few years down the line once/if they let the vegetation grow out a bit.

 

 

As for my opinion on the other rides, my top 3 would be:

 

1. Medusa

2. Lightning run

3. Banshee

 

Although I only have the POVs and other peoples reviews to base this on, so if I ever get a chance to ride them, my opinion might change.

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After reading all of the posts, I am a little surprised no one has gotten the chance to ride Medusa Steel Coaster. I have been following Themeparkreview since 2007 but I had never created an account. It was just until now that I finally decided to create an account for myself after 6 years. But apart from that, I am 20 years old and I am from Cancún, Mexico. I am currently living in Mexico City for college and I just bought my season pass for Six Flags México this past weekend. With that said, I got to ride Medusa 3 times last sunday, and let me tell you, it is one of the best rollercoasters I have ever ridden. I haven´t had the opportunity to ride any of the other RMC creations, so I can´t compare Medusa with any of them. However, Medusa Steel Coaster just packs so much into its layout.

The drop is amazing and you even get hang time while going down upside down. The ejector airtime on the middle and backseats is great through the entire ride, and there´s plenty of airtime on the last little hill before your onride picture is taken. I personally think the lenght and speed of Medusa are perfect. It is just long and fast enought to enjoy the entire ride. It is a really enjoyable coaster. It was smooth, fast and had an unpredictable layout as soon as the coaster goes by the back of the park and through the woods. Lastly, the zero-g-roll at the end grabs you by surprise and it is a nice inversion before coming to an end.

 

Overall, Medusa is a great RMC construction coaster, and one that was really in need of a hybrid transformation. It did live up to my expectations as to what any RMC coaster should be, and it delivers a great punch every ride.

 

Leo

It does indeed look like a great ride. I haven't had the chance to try a RMC yet (hopefully in 2016 I will) but medusa may be my favourite (based on POVs). And your description seems to suit what I thought.

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Edited to add Banshee

 

Banshee - I'm not much of a B&M fan so initially I wasn't too excited for Banshee. The reviews here made me optimistic, but I didn't want to get my hopes up. Banshee far exceeded my expectations and it's fun from start to finish. B&M showed us that they can make an intense coaster and I hope they continue down this path. Chances are Banshee is a one time deal. Anyway Banshee is my favorite new for 2014 coaster.

 

Thunderbolt - I thought this was going to be a decent coaster, but I loved it. I don't care much for inversions, but the inversions on Thunderbolt are very fun. The hills have ejector airtime, which was a big surprise. Thunderbolt is a well rounded coaster and I can't wait to ride it again.

 

Goliath - I was very happy that my home park was getting an RMC, but I didn't set my expectations too high. My first ride was underwhelming, but the subsequent rides were much better. The first drop doesn't have airtime, which is really disappointing. The over banked turn is better than I expected and this is where the fun really starts. The airtime hill has ejector air and this is my second favorite part of the ride. The dive loop is cool and always reminds me that there's only a lap bar. The zero g stall is awesome and it's my favorite part of the ride. The final turn has sideways airtime, which is weird and fun. I really like Goliath and I think it's the best ride at SFGAm. It loses points due to a lack of airtime and length. I think it's a shame that Wilderness Theater wasn't removed in order to expand Goliath's layout. Nevertheless, Goliath is fun and I am more excited to ride RMC's other coasters.

Edited by IntaminLove
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My only noteworthy "New for 2014" coaster was Helix. I thought it was a great ride. Not my favorite in the park (Balder), but it's in my steel top ten.

Medusa and Lightning Run look like they'd also be likely contenders if I'd ridden them. Medusa looks amazing and Lightning Run looks like the next best thing to an Intamin airtime machine. Probably in 2015.

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