TPR 2017 Coaster Poll Results!

[Heth]

Thank you for setting up this poll Robb, AJ and Chase, I had great fun completing it.

 

I find a few things on the results interesting, especially compared to the Mitch Hawker polls. I noticed Nemesis dropped much further down the polls than I expected. I imagine this is due to the new rides that overtook it, but it was still surprising. I also noticed Space Mountain Mission 2 in Paris was higher up than I expected. In the old Mitch Hawker polls it was one of the worst, yet it was ranked much higher in this. I wonder why?

Edited April 25, 2018 by Heth

[SLCHeadache]

I'm scratching my head at how Bat KI beat Vortex CW that badly. Aren't they clones, and doesn't Vortex have the landscaping to its advantage?

[TheoB]

short question for you AJ, but how many ballot were completed?

[coasterbill]

That's literally answered in the first sentence of the first post on the first page of this thread.

[Angle O. Descent]

Great job putting this together guys!

 

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

 

[CoasterLover]

Thanks for all the work that everyone put into this! It would be interesting to try and use this data to extrapolate some more data points (for example, the park with the best collection of wooden/steel coasters based on the highest average rating or the park with the best overall collection of coasters [again, based on the highest average ranking, though for something like that, you may need to separate parks into groups based on the number of coasters they have])

[RAWKIN_coaster38]

I haven't been on Medusa, but I wasn't expecting it to get #1 steel. Congrats to them! I'll have to plan a trip down there some time.

 

Glad to see my #1 and #2 wood are appreciated as such.

 

Also, congrats to Kentucky Kingdom for having two steel coasters that make the top 25 list, and one that makes the bottom 10

[boldikus]

Kinda cool that other than Fury, Flying Dinosaur, Shambhala and Helix, the top 20 steel are all Intamin and RMC.

 

I'm also really thrilled that Skyrush made top 10.

[CoasterAuditor]

Excellent work on this poll! Very nice to have enthusiast consolidated rankings back!

[cfc]

It's good to see Lost Gravity in the top 25 steel coasters. It's a great ride that I think is a bit underappreciated.

Edited April 25, 2018 by cfc

[coasterer]

Love it. I echo the thanks for you three putting it together, and am thrilled to have something more recent to look at to gauge enthusiast opinion.

 

Count me in the camp that is thrilled to see Medusa Steel at #1 steel. I looked back at my list and realized I had actually listed it as #1 steel (but behind Voyage). My opinion / memory / nostalgia for it continues to climb. It will be interesting to see what the increase in attention does to it. I don't know if it will hold up to expectation from a more widespread group of riders as much as say El Toro or Outlaw Run or Lightning Rod. I didn't think everyone had as high an opinion of Medusa Steel as I did, so I was a little surprised to see it so high as well. But seriously, what a ride.

 

There are so many interesting nuances! I'm actually more surprised to see Maverick at number 2 (I don't remember it ever it being that high in the Mitch Hawker days), and the Intamin triple launch at Hefei penciled in at number 3!!! Helix is higher than I had expected (hadn't ridden it), DC Rivals earns a super eye-catching placement, and I was actually surprised to see Fury rank lower than both MF and I305. I expected it's really vocal fanbase to carry it a little higher.

 

Superman at SFNE ranking at #13 is the lowest I can ever remember seeing that coaster on a poll, but that's more in line with where I have it in my list, and Katun and Nemesis are lower than they've traditionally been as well (two of my favorites).

 

The wood list is great too. I don't see as many things that stand out, but I was honestly expecting Lightning Rod, Wildfire, or T-Express to come in over El Toro. It's interesting too that there's a fairly significant drop off in win percentage between the first four (El Toro, LR, WF, OR), and number 5. 3 whole percentage points between #4 and #5, when the top four are all within about 1.5% of each other.

 

Anyways, I absolutely love these lists and am thankful for you guys for putting in the hard work to make it happen.

 

Question: In the future, will my ballot remain in the system and be counted again even if I don't change it? That may help ridership numbers substantially in the long run as people won't have to resubmit a ballot every year to get counted. Those who have been to lesser-travelled parks can enter their opinions once, and then the number of riders will only grow from there, not fluctuate up and down from year to year depending on participation. That would be sweet.

[Angle O. Descent]

Hi Robb,

Sorry if it was already posted, just curious what your top ten were?

[805Andrew]

Great list overall, and I'm glad I participated in this poll. Some surprises like Medusa Steel Coaster taking the top steel spot and Coaster at PNE Playland cracking the top ten wood list, mainly because they're not talked about as much as many other coasters on this list. Also I was surprised to see Scream! ranked so high and in the top 66 percentile and above Thunderbolt at Kennywood (which I thought was an awesome woodie) and Eejanaika at Fuji Q (which I thought was smoother than X2) as well as Mystery Mine at Dollywood.

 

My question for next year's poll is when we log in will it save our rankings from this year (minus coasters that may have been deleted due to being retired/removed) if we did the poll this year so we can just adjust accordingly and add new coasters or will we have to rank our coasters from scratch again?

 

I have a lot of random thoughts, but not much time this morning!, so let's start with one!

 

- I love that the first coaster to break the Intamin / RMC Stronghold on the top coasters is Phoenix! Perfect!

Me too! That was my #1 ranked wooden coaster and in my top ten overall, and my GlowRT sessions on it had a big impression on my ranking.

 

I love these lists. I feel like they're totally balanced and they just 'make sense'.

 

... despite my best efforts. Sorry Mystery Mine, I tried but everyone really, really hates you.

I ranked Mystery Mine pretty high too. It was my favorite ride at Dollywood (Lightning Rod was closed). I honestly don't get why it was ranked so low and below Scream!

 

I find a few things on the results interesting, especially compared to the Mitch Hawker polls. I also noticed Space Mountain Mission 2 in Paris was higher up than I expected. In the old Mitch Hawker polls it was one of the worst, yet it was ranked much higher in this. I wonder why?

SPM2 went through a major refurbishment last year in turn which made it a much smoother and better ride. I rode it for the first time last September and I loved it and it became my favorite Space Mountain of the three I've ridden. It's still ranked pretty low at #369 (42.90%) so the people who rode it after it reopened last year (like myself) probably ranked it pretty high while people who haven't ridden it since it was refurbished probably ranked it pretty low.

[Jew]

My takeaway from the poll is I need to travel more again. Haven't been on a lot of the top 25.

 

Kudos to all involved in putting this together.

[A.J.]

And I'm interested in some statistics per ride manufacturer:

All right, let's break this down.

 

It's no surprise that the dominating manufacturers on our poll are B&M, Intamin, and Rocky Mountain Construction. Out of the top 100 coasters, 28 are B&Ms, 26 are Intamins, and 11 are Rocky Mountain coasters. In fact, I believe that Rocky Mountain Construction may be the only manufacturer on our poll to have every single one of their coasters in the top 100 (and they barely stay in the top 50), but keep in mind that Rocky Mountain only really makes the kind of coasters that we as enthusiasts enjoy. Intamin, B&M and the like cater to so many more demographics than Rocky Mountain does, and they've made so many coasters. In fact, there are 137 Intamin coasters currently existing on the Roller Coaster Database, which means that Intamin couldn't even keep all of their coasters in the top 100 if they tried!

 

With that in mind, here are the best coasters from a selection of manufacturers:

 

• Arrow - X2, Magnum XL-200, Steeplechase, Tennessee Tornado, Bat (Kings Island)
  
• B&M - Fury 325, Shambhala, Katun, Flying Dinosaur, Nemesis
  
• Chance / Morgan - Lightning Run, Phantom's Revenge, Steel Dragon 2000, Steel Eel, Wild Thing
  
• Custom / in-house / unique - Cannibal, Coaster (PNE), Beast, Giant Dipper (Santa Cruz), Space Mountain (Disneyland)
  
• CCI - Boulder Dash, Shivering Timbers, Raven, GhostRider, Legend
  
• Gerstlauer - Schwur des Kärnan, Gold Rush (Slagharen), Fluch von Novgorod, Monster (Adventureland), Smiler
  
• Gravitykraft / Gravity Group - Ravine Flyer II, Voyage, Mine Blower, Twister (Gröna Lund), Wooden Warrior
  
• GCI - Gold Striker, Mystic Timbers, Troy, Renegade, Kentucky Rumbler
  
• Intamin - El Toro (Great Adventure), Maverick, Expedition GeForce, Intimidator 305, Skyrush
  
• Mack - Helix, Lost Gravity, Blue Fire (and clones), Space Fantasy The Ride, Star Trek Operation Enterprise
  
• RMC - Lightning Rod, Wildfire (Kolmarden), Medusa Steel Coaster, Outlaw Run, Storm Chaser
  
• Schwarzkopf - Olympia Looping, Shockwave (Over Texas), Lisebergbanan, Mind Bender (Over Georgia), Teststrecke

 

Also, if you removed the "big three" from our poll, this is what the top fifteen would look like:

 

• #1. Phoenix - Knoebels Amusement Park and Resort (PTC)
  
• #2. Helix - Liseberg (Mack)
  
• #3. Boulder Dash - Lake Compounce (CCI)
  
• #4. Lightning Run - Kentucky Kingdom (Chance / Morgan)
  
• #5. Lost Gravity - Walibi Holland (Mack)
  
• #6. Phantom's Revenge - Kennywood (Chance / Morgan)
  
• #7. Cannibal - Lagoon (custom / in-house)
  
• #8. Tron Lightcycle Power Run - Shanghai Disneyland (Vekoma)
  
• #9. Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars - Hong Kong Disneyland (Vekoma)
  
• #10. Blue Fire Megacoaster - Europa Park (Mack)
  
• #11. Coaster - Playland at the PNE (custom / in-house)
  
• #12. Steel Dragon 2000 - Nagashima Spa Land (Chance / Morgan)
  
• #13. Ravine Flyer II - Waldameer Water World (Gravity Group / Gravitykraft)
  
• #14. Do-Dodonpa - Fuji-Q Highland (S&S Worldwide)
  
• #15. Olympia Looping / Munich Looping - Traveling (Schwarzkopf)

[SharkTums]

^Great breakdown, thanks for taking the time to do more random statistics!

[steamedturtle]

Hi Robb,

Sorry if it was already posted, just curious what your top ten were?

 

https://coasterpoll.com/u/robbalvey/rankings

 

You can change the name between the u and rankings to see other members rankings too!

[coasterbill]

My favorite thing is the use of the grouping method until the very bottom of the list where these coasters were deemed so especially terrible that deserved individual recognition for their terribleness.

 

PS: Wow Firefox, no red line under "terribleness"? That's a real word? What a time to be alive.

Edited April 26, 2018 by coasterbill

[Garet]

Sorry if this is rude but I find it quite douchey to post someone else’s views/complete rankings without their permission especially someone who has media relationships with parks and managers.

[robbalvey]

Hi Robb,

Sorry if it was already posted, just curious what your top ten were?

 

https://coasterpoll.com/u/robbalvey/rankings

 

You can change the name between the u and rankings to see other members rankings too!

You know it's pretty damn rude to post something of someone else's without asking me if I actually wanted to post that link, or if maybe I wanted to post the link and talk about it, or something.

 

In short, don't ever do that again or you will find it be your last post here.

 

Sorry if this is rude but I find it quite douchey to post someone else’s views/complete rankings without their permission especially someone who has media relationships with parks and managers.

Ha! I'm glad someone else said it, too. Yeah, it's insanely rude. In fact, I think I'm just going to go give him a 1 week "timeout" for being completely ignorant on human decency.

Edited April 26, 2018 by robbalvey

[Comeagain?]

Question: In the future, will my ballot remain in the system and be counted again even if I don't change it? That may help ridership numbers substantially in the long run as people won't have to resubmit a ballot every year to get counted. Those who have been to lesser-travelled parks can enter their opinions once, and then the number of riders will only grow from there, not fluctuate up and down from year to year depending on participation. That would be sweet.

 

y question for next year's poll is when we log in will it save our rankings from this year (minus coasters that may have been deleted due to being retired/removed) if we did the poll this year so we can just adjust accordingly and add new coasters or will we have to rank our coasters from scratch again?

 

Yes. Your rankings won't go anywhere. It'll still require you to go click "I'm done", but the idea is that you can adjust it whenever you like, as you visit parks, and then next year won't take any significant amount of effort to submit.

[BlahBlahson]

Seeing nothing but SLC's and Volares on the bottom Steel somehow brings me...joy. Also congrats to Medusa Steel coaster for beating so many taller, faster rides. It seems like the world unanimously agrees that the pace of that ride is ridiculous.

 

Mystery Mine and the Smiler seem WAY too low for me. Are they uncomfortable or rough for some? I think they are basically perfectly themed, ultra-loopy, fun, wild-mice thrill coasters. I Love the Gerstlauers. Saw: The Ride to a lesser extent as well.

[A.J.]

Yes. Your rankings won't go anywhere. It'll still require you to go click "I'm done", but the idea is that you can adjust it whenever you like, as you visit parks, and then next year won't take any significant amount of effort to submit.

To add to this, we'll be gradually entering new coasters into the poll in batches, and we'll let you know when we do so. For example, we know that Twisted Timbers just opened, but we're going to wait for Steel Vengeance, Wonder Woman, and others to open as well and just drop them all in at once.

[PKI Jizzman]

Mystery Mine and the Smiler seem WAY too low for me. Are they uncomfortable or rough for some? I think they are basically perfectly themed, ultra-loopy, fun, wild-mice thrill coasters. I Love the Gerstlauers. Saw: The Ride to a lesser extent as well.

 

You pretty much answered your own question, haha. You love Gerstlauer coasters. Everyone likes/loves/dislikes/hates depending on what they prefer and the group consensus gives us the top/bottom.

[coasterbill]

Okay, I have a question...

 

I didn't rank Gringotts because I had no idea how to do it. I'm generally sh*t at ranking coasters, so I just went through saying "If these 2 coasters were right next to each other, neither had a line and I had to pick one which would I rather ride".

 

The problem was that if I did that I would have probably ended up declaring Gringotts my favorite coaster. That seems dumb since when I rode it I didn't even realize it was even considered a coaster and comparing this thing to other coasters is pretty much impossible so I just left it out.

 

I'm not calling anyone out or anything so I hope I don't come off that way, I'm just legitimately curious as to how anyone ranked this thing and how it ended up where it did. There can't be a single person on this planet who truly believes that a family coaster at Quassy Park is a better ride than Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts, right? So how did people decide where to put this thing? Did people just subconsciously bury it because they all sort of agreed that it shouldn't be at the top of a "Best coasters" list?