TPR 2017 Coaster Poll Results!

[robbalvey]

The TPR 2017 Coaster Poll Results are IN!!!

 

First of all we’d like to thank the 366 people who submitted ballots to the poll. I’d also like to send a super HUGE thanks to Chase & AJ! Chase for creating the poll and AJ for being a fantastic moderator helping to contribute to the content side of it.

 

The reason why this poll exists is because the Mitch Hawker poll, which was IMO, the quintessential roller coaster poll for nearly 20 years seems to have fallen into a black hole leaving no polls or awards that exist that I would put real faith into the results.

 

The way Mitch’s poll worked is that instead of being a “popularity contest” of “he who gets the most votes wins” it actually ranked and weighted people’s real life riding experience against each other. It took into account how many coasters you’ve ridden and how those rankings compare against others with similar experiences. It also meant that no matter if you’ve ridden 50 or 500 coasters, the results were “fair and balanced.” I will let Chase go into more details on how those rankings worked later in this thread.

 

I would also like to point out that while we consider this the “official ranking” of the TPR Coaster Poll we consider this year’s poll to be a “live beta test” as we will learn many things from this years poll and make changes based off that learning for next year. Please also remember that the results can and will change the more people that submit a ballot! Your coaster riding experience matters! So if your favorite ride didn’t rank where you hoped they would and you didn’t vote this year, please do so in the next poll!

 

So without any further adieu, here are the results!

 

2017 Top 25 Overall Roller Coasters

https://coasterpoll.com/results/all

 

1. El Toro - Six Flags Great Adventure

2. Lightning Rod - Dollywood

3. Wildfire - Kolmården

4. Medusa Steel Coaster - Six Flags Mexico

5. Outlaw Run - Silver Dollar City

6. Maverick - Cedar Point

7. Expedition GeForce - Holiday Park

8. Intimidator 305 - Kings Dominion

9. Phoenix - Knoebels Amusement Park and Resort

10. Skyrush - Hersheypark

11. Millennium Force - Cedar Point

12. Helix - Liseberg

13. Fury 325 - Carowinds

14† Mega-Lite/Kawasemi/Fly Over Mediterranean/Piraten

15. Balder - Liseberg

16. Storm Chaser - Kentucky Kingdom

17. Superman the Ride - Six Flags New England

18. Boulder Dash - Lake Compounce

19. New Texas Giant - Six Flags Over Texas

20. Taron - Phantasialand

21. Twisted Colossus - Six Flags Magic Mountain

22. Wicked Cyclone - Six Flags New England

23. iSpeed - Mirabilandia

24. Shambhala - PortAventura Park

25. Iron Rattler - Six Flags Fiesta Texas

 

*Please note that some coasters were not included in the final results due to too few riders (less than 12.). Please visit the website to see how these rides *may* have affected the top 25 if they had more ridership.

 

† All four of these Intamin Mega-Lite coasters were ranked close together in the top 30. Based on their close ranking and identical ride experience, we have made the decision to tie all four together. This is the only "clone" we are doing that with this year and we may consider lumping cloned coasters together in future polls.

 

2017 Top 25 Wood Roller Coasters

https://coasterpoll.com/results/wood

 

1. El Toro - Six Flags Great Adventure

2. Lightning Rod - Dollywood

3. Wildfire - Kolmården

4. Outlaw Run - Silver Dollar City

5. Phoenix - Knoebels Amusement Park and Resort

6. Boulder Dash - Lake Compounce

7. Balder - Liseberg

8. Coaster - Playland (at the PNE)

9. Voyage - Holiday World

10. Ravine Flyer II - Waldameer Water World

11. Goliath - Six Flags Great America

12. Gold Striker - California's Great America

13. Mystic Timbers - Kings Island

14. Wooden Coaster Fireball - Happy Valley Shanghai

15. Mine Blower - Fun Spot America Kissimmee

16. Shivering Timbers - Michigan's Adventure

17. Prowler - Worlds Of Fun

18. Troy - Toverland

19. Renegade - Valleyfair!

20. Thunderbird - PowerLand

21. Raven - Holiday World

22. Tremors - Silverwood Theme Park

23. Twister - Gröna Lund

24. Beast - Kings Island

25. Thunderhead - Dollywood

 

*Please note that some coasters were not included in the final results due to too few riders (less than 12.). Please visit the website to see how these rides *may* have affected the top 25 if they had more ridership.

 

2017 Top 25 Steel Roller Coasters

https://coasterpoll.com/results/steel

 

1. Medusa Steel Coaster - Six Flags Mexico

2. Maverick - Cedar Point

3. Expedition GeForce - Holiday Park

4. Intimidator 305 - Kings Dominion

5. Helix - Liseberg

6† Mega-Lite/Kawasemi/Fly Over Mediterranean/Piraten

7. Skyrush - Hersheypark

8. Millennium Force - Cedar Point

9. Storm Chaser - Kentucky Kingdom

10. Fury 325 - Carowinds

11. Twisted Colossus - Six Flags Magic Mountain

12. New Texas Giant - Six Flags Over Texas

13. Superman the Ride - Six Flags New England

14. Taron - Phantasialand

15. Shambhala - PortAventura Park

16. iSpeed - Mirabilandia

17. Wicked Cyclone - Six Flags New England

18. Goliath - Walibi Holland

19. Iron Rattler - Six Flags Fiesta Texas

20. Flying Dinosaur - Universal Studios Japan

21. Katun - Mirabilandia

22. Nemesis - Alton Towers

23. Lightning Run - Kentucky Kingdom

24. Lost Gravity - Walibi Holland

25. Top Thrill Dragster - Cedar Point

 

*Please note that some coasters were not included in the final results due to too few riders (less than 12.). Please visit the website to see how these rides *may* have affected the top 25 if they had more ridership.

 

† All four of these Intamin Mega-Lite coasters were ranked close together in the top 30. Based on their close ranking and identical ride experience, we have made the decision to tie all four together. This is the only "clone" we are doing that with this year and we may consider lumping cloned coasters together in future polls.

 

2017 Bottom 10 Wood Coasters

120. Wild Beast - Canada's Wonderland

121. Twister II - Elitch Gardens

122. Wildcat - Lake Compounce

123. Ghoster Coaster - Canada's Wonderland

124. Pegasus - Mt. Olympus Water and Theme Park

125. Coaster Express - Parque Warner Madrid

126. Predator - Darien Lake

127. Grizzly - California's Great America

128. Anaconda - Walygator Parc

129. Bandit - Movie Park Germany

 

2017 Bottom 10 Steel Coasters

458. MP-Xpress - Movie Park Germany

459. Big Apple Coaster (Manhattan Express) - New York New York Hotel & Casino

460. Flight Deck - Canada's Wonderland

461. Soarin' Eagle - Scream Zone

462. T3 - Kentucky Kingdom

463. Mind Eraser - Six Flags America

464. Mind Eraser - Elitch Gardens

465. Mind Eraser - Darien Lake

466. Condor - Walibi Holland

467. Time Warp - Canada's Wonderland

 

Once again we’d like to thank everyone who took the time to vote in the poll and help with the live beta test of this system. We look forward to continuing the poll in 2018!

#1 - El Toro - Six Flags Great Adventure

#2 - Lightning Rod - Dollywood

#3 - Wildfire - Kolmården

#4 - Outlaw Run - Silver Dollar City

#5 - Phoenix - Knoebels Amusement Resort

#6 - Boulder Dash - Lake Compounce

#7 - Balder - Liseberg

#8 - Coaster - Playland at the PNE

#9 - The Voyage - Holiday World

#10 - Ravine Flyer II - Waldameer

#1 - Medusa Steel Coaster - Six Flags Mexico

#2 - Maverick - Cedar Point

#3 - Expedition GeForce - Holiday Park

#4 - Intimidator 305 - Kings Dominion

#5 - Helix - Liseberg

#6 - Intamin Megalite - Various Parks

#7 - Skyrush - Hersherypark

#8 - Millennium Force - Cedar Point

#9 - Storm Chaser - Kentucky Kingdom

#10 - Fury 325 - Carowinds

[thrillseeker4552]

Awesome! It’s great to see Medusa Steel Coaster get Number 1 Steel! I was not expecting that. I also find it interesting that the top three overall coasters are wood! Sweet. Thank you to everyone involved with the poll!

[JG-77]

Yay! I've been waiting (and everyone else too of course) for quite some time to see these results, and I'm glad to see them. Super happy to see Toro at #1

 

I'm a bit surprised to see Maverick so high. I haven't ridden too many coasters, so I have to base my guesses off of what I've heard from others, but I thought that most people generally regarded GeForce (not to mention others) to be better than Maverick. Also I severly underestimated how much people like Medusa, I guess I'll have to figure out how to get to Mexico (not anytime soon though, I doubt my family's going to Mexico anytime soon ).

 

Anyway, overall I'm very glad to see the results, and I can't wait to see how this poll evolves

[joelwee]

I like how 7 of the bottom 10 steel coasters are SLCs. I need to get out and ride one to experience for myself how bad they are.

 

Thank you to Robb, A.J., and Chase for putting this poll together!

[bert425]

thanks so much for hosting this Robb, and to Chase and A.J. -- FANTASTIC job guys!

 

nice that I've been on several of the Top coasters, and have only ridden 1 of the bottom (NYNY coaster in Vegas).

 

I do admit I'm kind of stunned that Millennium Force didn't crack the top 5, but maybe that's just because I haven't ridden some of those that ranked higher.

[TwistyTie]

It’s kind of funny that the best steel coaster in the world according to this poll literally has ‘steel coaster’ in the name.

[robbalvey]

It’s kind of funny that the best steel coaster in the world according to this poll literally has ‘steel coaster’ in the name.

I actually said exactly the same thing!

[ride of steel]

Why am I not surprised that Predator made the bottom woodie list.

[Manic Monte]

Wow...go RMC. They really have taken over. Very pleasantly surprised to see TC rank so well!

[thesman]

Extremely interesting results! Thought we would see some park bias but that is not that case, shout out to the guys that made it!

 

any interesting trends seen in the data?

[PeoplemoverMatt]

Those are some VERY interesting results! Great job to everybody involved in putting that on!

 

I'm happy to have ridden some of the top coasters including #1, thanks to TPR.

[Condor]

Very interesting! Most of us who have ridden Medusa Steel Coaster love the crap out of it, but how many honestly expected it to be the #1 steel? I bet very few. Great to see it there regardless. Very happy my #1, Skyrush, made top 10 on both the steel and overall lists considering how polarizing it is on here. I frankly expected one of the RMCs to finally topple El Toro from its perch, but it's still holding strong!

 

A question for Chase, Robb, or others involved: How does one coaster rank ahead of another on the wood or steel-only list, yet rank behind it on the combined list? For example, Balder at #15 is ahead of Boulder Dash at #18 on the combined list, yet BD at #6 moves ahead of Balder at #7 on the wood list. Am I correct to interpret this as Balder comparing more favorably than BD to a majority of steel coasters even though BD scores better when only comparing wooden?

[chickenbowl]

Coaster at Playland is SO good! Glad it's getting some love here!

 

Also, I concur that Medusa Steel is amazing. Definitely my favorite steel RMC

 

Everything else seems to check out as expected. I feel privledged to have ridden 18 of the top 25 coasters at this point, but excited to ride 6 more of them in Europe this June!

Edited April 25, 2018 by chickenbowl

[cparkes92]

Wondering where SV will end up in this coming year's poll.

 

Off-topic, but the only thing CP is missing is a decent wooden coaster (all four of KI's woodies are better than Blue Streak IMO)

[JordyC]

This is so awesome! Thanks for all the effort, guys. It is really appreciated.

 

Also, I am very glad to see 5 of my top 10 coasters in the top 25 overall!

[Angle O. Descent]

Wild Beast needs to be replaced by Wolverine (boobie bouncer) Wildcat, then boys and girls, we have ourselves a believable bottom ten woodie list

[scbt]

Wow. I would never have guessed that a Togo Ultratwister would have ended up in the top 30 if it had enough riders.

[Nrthwnd]

 

We're Number 8! We're Number 8! (Wood) ... and Number 44/top50 in all coasters!

 

 

Thanks to all who voted for (my home) Coaster at Playland(PNE).

 

And thanks to Robb, AJ and Chase for putting The TPR Poll all together.

Edited April 28, 2018 by Nrthwnd

[Canobie Coaster]

Thanks for compiling this! El Toro was the only thing stopping RMC from having the entire top 5. That says a lot about RMC. I remember the Mexico TPR trip raving about how awesome Medusa was, but I'm still stunned to see it beat other steel stalwarts like Intimidator 305 or Expedition GeForce. This is definitely something that wouldn't have happened in the Golden Ticket Awards, so that's one reason why I really appreciate this poll being run.

 

Wild Beast needs to be replaced by Wolverine (boobie bouncer) Wildcat, then boys and girls, we have ourselves a believable bottom ten woodie list

 

I actually thought Wolverine Wildcat was a reasonably smooth coaster with some good air. Then again I thought the same thing about Wild Beast.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

Excellent results! The top 25 lists look like I would expect them to; the ones I've been on definitely deserve to be there, amd the ones I haven't I hear others rave about. RMC and Intamin both highly represented...checks out.

[PhilNJ]

Very interesting results. Did not expect 3 wooden coasters to be top 3 overall but can understand why, and appreciate Medusa getting the recognition. Thank you Robb, Chase and AJ for all the work put into this.

[boldikus]

Awesome! Thanks to all involved, this is exciting to see! Congrats to the winning coasters, its exciting to see my top 3 (Maverick, Toro and Skyrush) all place so highly.

[A.J.]

Thanks for the kind words everyone! This has been a huge undertaking, and we're not even completely finished working yet! My regards go out to Robb and Chase as well, job well done!

 

A question for Chase, Robb, or others involved: How does one coaster rank ahead of another on the wood or steel-only list, yet rank behind it on the combined list? For example, Balder at #15 is ahead of Boulder Dash at #18 on the combined list, yet BD at #6 moves ahead of Balder at #7 on the wood list. Am I correct to interpret this as Balder comparing more favorably than BD to a majority of steel coasters even though BD scores better when only comparing wooden?

Yes, you're correct! It means that more people preferred certain steel coasters over Boulder Dash than they did Balder. Our worst coaster on the combined list is Walygator's Anaconda, but our worst on the wooden list is Movie Park Germany's Bandit (our only legitimate zero score). On the combined list, Bandit places higher (though just ever so slightly) because some people thought that certain steel coasters were worse than it.

 

any interesting trends seen in the data?

What trends are you interested in? If anyone wants to know any specific trends / statistics, such as best from _____ manufacturer or best coasters of a certain type / category or best coasters in _____ country / region or any other trend, just let us know and I'll draw up that info for you!

[coasterbill]

Great job putting this together guys!

 

Also, congrats to Time Warp at Canada's Wonderland. You earned it.

[JJLehto]

Awesome! Truly superb job everyone! Also I'm very glad yo see all the intamin mega lites grouped as one. Not a big deal but it did irk me as they are all identical and took up multiple spots. Very interesting to see El Toro remain over LR (never rode it) and medusa tops em all!