The Coaster Critic's Blog

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Everland's T Express Takes Top Spot Intamin Dominates Top 10
This year's Internet Coaster Poll had a big shake up at the top of the wooden poll as two-time champ The Voyage (Holiday World, Indiana) was unseated by newcomer T Express (Everland, South Korea).

Intamin Pre-fabs For the Win!
Last winter, I covered the T Express construction. I had particular interest because it's an Intamin pre-fabricated woodie. Pre-fabs are similar to steel coasters in that they are assembled like puzzle pieces on-site. Another major difference has been their ultra-smooth, unwooden-like ride. Wooden purists can hate these faux-woodies all they want, but the poll speaks for itself. This year, all four Intamin prefabricated coasters are in the top ten. The only one in America is Six Flags Great Adventures' El Toro. It offers an amazingly smooth and thrilling ride with more airtime than you'd think would be possible. For that reason it's at number 2 in my Top Ten Coasters and number 3 in the Internet Coaster Poll. I've heard great things about Balder at Liseberg (Sweden) which came in at 5th again this year. And Colossus (Heide-Park, Germany) moved up 7 spots to 10th. If that wasn't enough, a traditional woodie from Intamin moved into the top 10 as Aska (Japan) came in tied for 7th place even though its been 'standing, but not operating' for 2 years. I don't think most would have forseen Intamin's sudden wooden dominance.

2007 Top Ten Best Wooden Roller Coasters
1 T Express at Everland (Korea) Intamin (New in '08)
2 The Voyage at Holiday World (Indiana) Gravity Group (1st '07)
3 El Toro at Six Flags Great Adventure (New Jersey) Intamin (2nd '07)
4 Boulder Dash at Lake Compounce (Connecticut) CCI (6th '07)
5 Balder at Liseberg (Sweden) Intamin (5th '07)
6 Phoenix at Knoebels (Pennsylvania) Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters (7th '07)
7 Troy at Toverland (Netherlands) GCI (4th in '07)
7 Aska at Nara Dreamland (Japan) Intamin (11th in '07)
9 Ravine Flyer II at Waldameer (Pennsylvania) Gravity Group (New in '08)
10 Colossos at Heide Park (Germany) Intamin (17th '07)
Complete 2008 wooden roller coaster poll results with all 178 coasters.

Check out this on-ride video of T Express at Everland. It's a massive wooden coaster at 183' feet tall and over 5,300 feet long it's the 3rd tallest and 6th longest in the world!

Other Notable Rankings - The Winners
In all, America now has only 5 of the top ten wooden coasters as one of my all-time favorites Hades (Mt. Olympus, Wisconsin) and Tremors (Silverwood, Idaho) have been bumped out of the top 10. Meanwhile, Ravine Flyer II debuted at an impressive 9th in its first year. Six Flags St. Louis' brand new Evel Knievel debuted at 15th.

Other Notable Rankings - The Not-Winners
Kings Island's de-looped Son of Beast moved up (if you can believe that) to 174th out of 176. Other well-known woodies at the bottom, include Cedar Point's Mean Streak at 166th, and Darien Lake's Predator at 173rd. California's Great America's Grizzly once again retains the title of world's worst wooden coaster.

Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), Son of Beast was closed during my trip to Kings Island. Since it's lost its loop and distinction as the world's only wooden looping coaster, the ride does look a lot less eventful with just a number of huge helixes. I re-rode Darien Lake's Predator this summer and while they'd removed that unforgivable gum monument in the queue, the ride was still much rougher than it should be. I did notice that they were in the process of working on it. Even if it's improved, it may take years for its reputation to improve. Mean Streak isn't by any means a horrible ride, it's just about as dull as possible. And with its size, potential and location at the Coaster Capital, Mean Streak is quite a dissapointment. I've never been to Great America's, but it's Grizzly has the same 'Coney Island Wildcat' design as the Grizzly at my old home park Kings Dominion. I could definitely imagine it super-rough and rickity. I'm surprised Cedar Fair hasn't done a major overhaul and brought in a wrecking ball at this point.

What's Your Take?
What do you think of the 2008 Internet Coaster Poll's Wood Results? Where does your favorite woodie place? Do you agree with the results? Leave a comment below.

Mommy, Where Do B&M's Come From? | How Roller Coasters Are Made
Ever wonder where and how roller coasters are made? NewsPlusNotes has an excellent behind-the-scenes look at a manufacturing plant in Ohio that churns out Bolliger & Mabillard's great roller coasters for the U.S.

The NewsPlusNotes staff were taken through the process that just produced the track for SeaWorld Orlando's Manta along with many other top-notch rides over the years. It's a real in-depth post. Check out the Scott and Carol Present: Getting on Track with B&M, it's some great stuff.

Now on Facebook | Become a Fan!
I now have a "Coaster Critic" Facebook page. I tried this well over a year ago, but I couldn't figure out how to make a page versus a profile. For some reason Facebook just didn't believe that "The Coaster Critic" was my real name. So finally, I took the time to figure it out and set up a page. It wasn't hard, just not very high on my priorities. I've got some of my favorite pictures from my 2008 Theme Park Trips, a short Led Zeppelin video I took, and slots for friends to share their pics and images. Visit The Coaster Critic on Facebook

On MySpace Roller Coasters Are People Too?
I also updated my MySpace page which I hadn't touched in many months. Those of you new to MySpace coaster geekdom might be surprised to find that many of my friends are inanimate objects, but its par for the course on MySpace. The site's littered with roller coasters that have their own profiles, like this Loch Ness Monster profile. Apparently, Loch Ness Monster is a straight married Aries that unfortunately doesn't want kids. It's a shame too, because a "Son of Loch Ness Monster" coaster would probably be pretty sick. Visit The Coaster Critic on MySpace

MySpace vs. Facebook - The Traffic
I'm a web analyst by day, so I couldn't help but share this Alexa chart showing the emergence of Facebook. As many of you may already know Facebook is taking over the social network scene from once king MySpace. This chart which shows the traffic of users with Alexa toolbars illustrates the point. Back in April of 2008, Facebook surpassed MySpace in terms of reach for these Alexa users.Do you frequent Facebook or MySpace? Which do you prefer and why? Leave a comment below.

New Ring°Racer Video Shows the World's Fastest Coaster in Action
Finally, more images and a video has been posted on the S&S web site of the Ring°Racer coaster coming to Nürburgring in Germany. It's called 'F1 Coaster' on their web site, but there's little doubt that this an animated video of Ring°Racer. When it opens in June 2009, it will surpass Six Flags Great Adventure's Kingda Ka which tops out at a blistering 128 mph. Ring°Racer will push the envelope even further with a top speed of 134 mph (217 km/h).

The world's new fastest coaster will have an appropriate home. According to wikipedia, Nürburgring, known as simply "The Ring" by enthusiasts, is a motorsport race track in Nürburg, Germany. Like the infamous Autobahn it includes public acceess roads where anyone with a registered car can drive as fast as they want.

Ring°Racer Takes the Crown
This will be the first time that I can remember the Germans holding a major roller coaster world record. Unlike, the 1990's, I doubt this will kick off another coaster arms race due to the state of the economy, but you never know. Kingda Ka will still hold the height record and is so insanely fast that I doubt Six Flags will blink. Besides, the general public that makes up the majority of the park's patrons will have never heard of Ring°Racer.

Check out this pov video of the ring°racer at Nurburgring:

Ring°Racer's Unbelievable Launch
The ride looks pretty short, but so are Cedar Point's Top Thrill Dragster and Kingda Ka. Obviously, the real draw here is going to be that insane launch of 0 to 134 mph in only 2.5 seconds. Kingda Ka doesn't reach its top speed until 3.5 seconds. The video can't possibly to the launch justice, but it will likel become legendary. Well, at least until it's surpassed by another record breaking roller coaster.

What's Your Take?
What do you think of this future top speed champ? Is it enough for you to hop on a plane to Germany? Any Germans out there excited for Ring°Racer? Leave a comment below.

Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit - Model & Video
More details are starting to emerge on Universal Studios' Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rockit. We already new about the main distinction of the ride. Riders will be able to download a video of their ride and post it on the Web. Details on the layout were a bit sketchy, but the picture's becoming more clear. Now, ScreamScape has posted photos of models from a recent amusement industry convention. Click here for more photos.In lieu of an official video released by Universal, DjJavi5x has created a ride simulation video of Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit using NoLimits. Hopefully, the park

What's Your Take?
Are you excited about Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit? What do you think of the video? Leave a comment below.

Take A Spin Goliath - The Jewel of the SouthEast
Goliath is a towering hyper coaster built at Six Flags Over Georgia in 2006. It may mark the end of an era for Six Flags. Newly appointed CEO Mark Shapiro pointed at the $20 million roller coaster in an interview and said "No more of those." The year it was built Dan Snyder and Mark Shapiro assumed control of Six Flags. They planned to steer the large theme park chain to more family friendly rides and attractions. Goliath towers over Austell, Georgia at 200 feet (roughly 20 stories). Like other Bolliger & Mabillard hyper coasters it offers large camel back hills, a buttery smooth ride, and speed.

Goliath's station had some type of neo-50's theme. The roller coaster's name speaks to the chains continued uncreativity. A la, it's big, we'll name it Goliath. Not to mention the name is used at several other parks. Anyway, I got to the park on Wednesday morning, June 4th. I bought my season pass (that I'd be using later for my trip to Magic Mountain) and headed straight for Goliath. It was a walk-on and I was able to by-pass the now mandatory lockers for storing bags & other loose items. The small crowd that had gathered in the station was quickly dispatched thanks to Goliath's 32 passenger, 4 across, ultra-comfortable trains.

Politics in a Theme Park?
The ride op sounded like he aspired to be a club D.J. He had the station hyped up with and screaming 'yeah' on cue. I appreciated the active and fun ride op until he gave an inappropriate shout out Barrack Obama for clinching the Democratic nomination. There was a weak smattering of applause in response likely from the Georgia Tech and University of Georgia students. I think most, like me, were wondering why this guy brought politics into a theme park. He was young like most ride ops and obviously didn't know any better.

Goliath - The Trip Out
After boarding the comfortable trains, Goliath makes its twenty story climb right over the pathways in 50'sville. There's a great view of the surrounding area and then the first 170 foot drop. As usual, the drop was much better in the back of the train as it makes the relatively (compared to other hypers) short drop feel much longer. The second drop is actually 5 feet longer and then the 3rd offers some excellent floater air time. At the bottom, the train flies close to a pond below and you can really feel the ride's speed. The train climbs up once again to set up a great downward helix. The unorthodox helix has a 'down the drain' feeling and pulls some great g-forces. It trumps sister coaster Nitro's upward helix by a mile.
Goliath - The Trip Back
The next hill drops the train by some trees that the park was smart to keep and next is the highlight of the ride. The train rises back up and does a quick overbanked turn to the right. It a much short overbanked turn than Nitro's hammerhead, but it's very effective. You feel as if you're going to be dumped into the pond below. After, the train traverses a number of bunny hills with decent amounts of air. The final bunny hill drops the train right into the station brakes. Goliath is a solid hyper coaster. It's not only the park's best roller coaster, but arguably the best coaster in the South East (south of Virginia). We're lucky that it was built before the Snyder-Shapiro rule. Final Rating 9.0 (Excellent)

Check out this onride video of Goliath at Six Flags Over Georgia:

What's Your Take?
What do you think of Goliath at Six Flags Over Georgia? How do you think it matches up to other hyper coasters? Leave a comment below.

Class of 2008 - Roller Coasters That Debuted This Year
As predicted in my Top 10 New Roller Coasters for 2008, my top pick Ravine Flyer 2 opened to many positive reviews and it landed at 8 on my Top 10. Read my full review. I'm looking forward to seeing how it fairs in Mitch's '08 Coaster Poll next month. Canada's Wonderland's Behemoth also received a lot of props on the Web and some even hailed it as the best B&M hyper coaster to date. Fahrenheit's reception was mostly positive, but its opening wasn't the smoothest including a session where it valleyed back in May.

Also, a couple of family launch coasters opened. I rode both the Pony Express at Knott's Berry Farm and OCC MotoCoaster at Darien Lake and they were pretty fun. Here's my review of the MotoCoaster. X2 was reborn, but I can't really compare it to its former self. Supposedly, it was smoother. The schizophrenic music was more weird and annoying and done much better on Led Zeppelin. The only special effect that I remember was the super hot flame which was okay. Here's my X2 review.

Dark Knight Movie = A+, Dark Knight Coasters.....
On the far other end of the spectrum, the Dark Knight coasters at Great America (Chicago) and Great Adventure (New Jersey) were slammed with bad reviews and comments. Like this 40 comment post where angry readers left reviews that included words like: 'lame', 'terrible', 'wack', and 'horrible.' Even though they were based on a run-of-the-mill wild mouse, I thought these coasters had potential. Allegedly, I was wrong. SF New England lost their Dark Knight clone due to planning mishaps. They may have actually dodged a bullet. The Dark Knight coaster that was coming to New England is now being built at Six Flag Mexico.

Theme Park Accidents
Like 2007, we saw another high profile, gruesome theme park accident in June. Last year there was a teen girl whose feet were severed while on a drop ride at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom. This year, a teen was beheaded by one of Batman: The Ride's trains. Read the full story including a video of CNN coverage. Since the incident, Six Flags has increased the presence of warning "Do Not Enter" signs around their coasters. Aside from signs and the 6-foot fences there isn't a whole lot Six Flags can really do with incident like this and another one at Magic Mountain where a man was hit by Ninja. For more, read all of my roller coaster accident posts from this year and years past.

Troubled Economy Strikes Amusement Park Industry
One of the biggest stories of the year was the opening, and premature closing, of the brand new $400 million Hard Rock Park. The park sited insufficient marketing funds and Myrtle Beach guests taking shorter trips. As I've said before, I wonder how the park would have done if its first year would have been in a better economy. Read about all things Hard Rock Park including my park and coaster reviews.

Herschend closed Celebration City and canceled Adventure Montain at Dollywood. Cypress Gardens will no longer be a theme park and is selling its theme park rides. And somehow, after talks of being de-listed from the stock exchange, Six Flags faired relatively well according to their latest earnings release. They definitely took noticeable action to combat the down economy with the "everyone pays kids price promotion"
running for much of the summer.

Amusement Industry Continues to Consolidate
PARC Management who also acquired seven former Six Flags parks in 2007, bought Arkansas park Magic Springs, several Family Entertainment Centers and NASCAR Speed Parks. InBev bought American brewing stalwart Anheuser Busch which has major implications for the Busch Entertainment Group which runs the SeaWorld, Busch Gardens, and Discovery Cove parks. Still no word yet on the fate of the parks, but all signs are pointing to the new owners selling off the amusement park arm of the business as InBev likes to stick to their core competencies. I for one think beer and theme parks co-exist beautifully. Well, not really, I just don't want anything to happen to my favorite park chain.

Dubai Explodes with Future Theme Parks Planned
Suddenly Dubai, a city that's literally rising from the desert overnight, is the place to be for the amusement industry. Everyone's looking to or already has planted their flags there. A large Busch multi-park on an island shaped like Shamu was just the beginning. There will be a Universal Studios Dubai, a Six Flags Dubailand (2011), Legoland Dubailand (2011), a Marvel Theme Park (2012), and a Dreamworks Dubailand (2012). I'm sure there are more as well. I might have to find myself a plane ticket to the United Arab Emirates in 5 years or so.

In Memorium
This year, we said goodbye to a few roller coasters. One of the most missed will be Dorney's Schwarzkopf designed looper the Laser. I never heard any official word on why it was sold, but I would assume low ridership or to make room for something new. Super Saturator's gone from Carowinds to make room for the Carolina Cobra. Thankfully, Hypersonic XLC was removed from my old home park, Kings Dominion. I can't say that I'm sad to see it go. Read my Hypersonic XLC review to see why. Six Flags America is selling Two Face after many breakdowns leaving riders stranded. A landmark coaster in the UK was recently removed from Alton Towers. The Corkscrew, was one of the first double-looping coasters in Europe.

What's Your Take on 2008?
Did I miss anything? What do you think was the biggest story of the year? Did you have a favorite ride or really memorable trip to a park? Leave a comment below.

Volcano's Blast Off - Memorable Coaster Moments