I must admit for years I was a complete wimp when if came to coasters. My fear of heights always put me off them. Even now that I've discovered my love of them on my last trip to Orlando, I prefer the ones that launch you at speed to the slow climb upwards of the tradition coasters.
List time:
1. Rock'n'Roller Coaster (Disney Hollywood Studios, Orlando)
2. The Hulk (Universal Island of Adventures, Orlando)
3. Revenge of the Mummy (Universal Studios, Orlando)
4. Expedition Everest (Animal Kingdom, Orlando)
5. Big Thunder Mountain (The Magic Kingdom, Disney)
I really need to check out the coasters in the UK parks, not done a single one of them!
Can't believe I forgot The Mummy! What a great experience that ride is! It's got fire, 3D effects, a fake ending, a trip to hell, a launched bit and loads of mummies!
I'm a big fan of launched coaster too! I love Kingda Ka, Hulk, Xcelerator, Stealth, Space Mountain (EuroDisney), Rita, Rock n Roller Coaster and Superman.
Alton Towers and Blackpool are the obvious places to vist, Hawkeye, but there's some other fun little parks. Obviously, they can't compete with the American parks, but they've still got some fun rides.
Oakwood: Hydro, Speed, Megafobia Drayton Manor: Storm Force 10, Apocalypse, G-Force, Shockwave, Golden Nuggets Thorpe Park: Nemesis Inferno, Colossus, Saw: The Ride, Stealth
Blackpool pleasure beach has the most unique coasters in the world (steeple chase is now one of a kind) and is excellent for 'woodies' but outside of 3 or 4 (admittedly very good) modern rides, there's a big focus on older rides. No entrance fees so it's a great park to walk around (especially considering the density of the rides)
Thorpe Park is a pure coaster park now after they ruined The Flying Fish (it's so slow now occasionally it fails to make it round) and their excellent ghost train burnt down. It's got some very modern and extreme coasters though.
Alton Towers is something of a flagship park for the Merlin group. They put most of their 'first in europe' type rides there and there's an excellent mix of coasters and family rides. Nemesis is considered one of the best rides of its kind in the world due to the design, has an excellent runaway mine train too. It's a pain in the arse to get to.
Chessington World of Adventures: family park, has some coasters but nothing too extreme.
It's not a roller coaster but the X scream ride in las vegas is one I would like to have a go on.
The wild mouse is hilarious. When I first passed my driving test, me and my mates would trek up to Blackpool quite regular, and the mouse always had us in fits of laughter...and pain. Back in those days it was just as much entertainment watching all the sprogs come off balling their eyes out cuz they got bashed about inside.
Blackpool pleasure beach has the most unique coasters in the world (steeple chase is now one of a kind) and is excellent for 'woodies' but outside of 3 or 4 (admittedly very good) modern rides, there's a big focus on older rides. No entrance fees so it's a great park to walk around (especially considering the density of the rides)
Correct me if I'm wrong but they introduced an entry fee this year. Just like Alton / Thorpe et al.
Rumour has it it's going to be called "Surrender", but it's not set in stone. It's also believed they'll re-theme Ug-land to be spooky to fit in with this new £12million coaster.
The Ug-land theme always sounds like cavepeople having sex. "Urrrgggh. Urrrrgh UUUUuurgh".
It's being built by Intamin AG, who, as well as building Rita, have done some of the best roller coasters in the world: Superman The escape, Millennium Force, Colossus, Xcelerator, Top Thrill Dragster, Kingda Ka, T Express, Maverick and Farenheit.
Alton Towers has to have innovative rides rather than big rides due to local planning restrictions, something which meant the demise of the awesome thunderlooper which used to be there.
The best coaster i've been on is the Manhatten Express in Las Vegas, it has a bit of everything.
Cedar Point is the place i'd like to visit, maybe the best set of coasters in any park.
I've been on X and it was one of the worst coasters I've ever been on.
I queued for hours as it looks amazing. The first drop is brilliant as you go up on your back then it flips you so you do the vertical drop face-down.
After that it just hurts.
It's been tarted up with new seats, music, fire effects and colour scheme, but it's still advised to sit in the inside sites for the "smoothest" ride.
It's a real shame, but it's OK because Six Flags Magic Mountain is crammed full of other awesome rides: Goliath, Batman, Superman, Colossus, Ninja, Riddler's Revenge, Revolution, Scream and Viper to name but a few.
I'd love to travel to Cedar Point one day, but a day trip to Six Flags Great Adventure is well worth it if you go to New York.
Presented at the 2009 IAAPA convention, a video displaying S&S Worldwide's product lineup. This video was featured in Westcoaster.net's part 1 update…
Just spotted that video of S&S (coaster manufacturers) advertising their latest designs. I believe that guiness records one is in a UK park (flamingo land?).
That Free flying one looks incredible, especially for a wuss like me.
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