New Entries in the CoasterBuzz Top 100

JayMay42:

What kind of coaster site is this??

The kind that doesn’t talk about coasters.

BrettV:

I can't believe they have.

I'm going to be in ATL in ten days. It has not even occurred to me to visit. So I think "maybe it is worth a detour?"

Calling that location "Atlanta" is awfully generous.

Haven't ridden AFO (you're welcome), but I'll object to it anyway because...do we really need another RMC high on the list? At 5 entries in the top 10, I already feel like they are a bit overrepresented.

It’s not supposed to be a diverse list of equal representation. Besides, if you move Iron Rattler* out and Maverick back in, Intamin and RMC would each have 4. 🤓

*It’s good but it’s not top 10 good (IMO)

I'm not arguing what the list should or shouldn't be. The list is what it is based on the chosen method and the math behind it, and god knows we don't need to rehash any of that. I guess I'm coming from the point of view of when I look at, does it feel right? And with five RMCs it's like, enough already.

Technically yes, including Maverick would put four Intamin coasters at the top, but those are four dramatically different experiences:

• Giga
• Wooden out and back
• Launched twister
• Bigger and badder launched twister

So maybe Maverick and Velocicoaster are close cousins, but still those are four pretty unique rides. Just my dumb opinion. I've only ridden one of the top RMC coasters so it's possible I'm full of it.

You’re certainly not wrong about them being similar. I’ve somehow ridden 4 of those 5 (8 of 10) and they are all unique and exceptional. They all toss and turn in a forceful manor but feel unique in a way that a something like a B&M does not.

JayMay42:

Oh, hell……. What kind of coaster site is this??

I'll be at staying at the Atlanta airport for a good part of 2 months very soon and am planning on making a special trip to Fun Spot for AFO. Because it's nearby. I'm sure I'll enjoy it, but I don't rank coasters and therefore don't take part in the CBT100 list. I have an all time favorite coaster, Phoenix at Knoebels. I have many others that are "one of my favorite coasters," or "an amazing ride," (and plenty of "sucks") but that's about as far as I can rank stuff. I'd have a real hard time putting together even a top 5.

AFO looks like everything I dislike about RMC (I've been on like 15 of them at this point)... Not saying that to be annoying, but the ending sequence of that ride just looks like pure torture to me.

I much prefer the larger models I've been on (Iron Gwazi, Goliath, Wildfire, Zadra) over any of the smaller ones (although Untamed was pretty good) with the exception of Steel Vengeance... I just don't really enjoy it much, mainly due to the last 1/3 of the ride. I just can't stand what they did with that final sequence. Unpopular opinion, I know.

Iron Gwazi and Zadra are the best I've ridden, easily. Wildfire is pretty good too... All the others get lumped somewhere in the "I could do without" category.

Give me a nice B&M any day (especially an old-school invert, thank you!)

I just added Velocicoaster to my track record since I just got around to riding it a few weeks ago. I didn't rate it though, because I just don't anymore. Could that end it's short lived rank at the top?

I like RMCs, but I don't LOVE them. I agree that they are torture, but I always liken that up to my weight. I forcibly squeeze my body into those restraints, and then endure the pain of ejector airtime with a very tight lap bar, because I love coasters so much. Whenever I can't fit into them, I know it's time to lose some freekin' weight.

That said, looks like my favorite RMC, Steel Vengeance is currently at number 17 on my CoasterBuzz track list. It's has its moments.

SteveWoA:

Vengeance... I just don't really enjoy it much, mainly due to the last 1/3 of the ride. I just can't stand what they did with that final sequence. Unpopular opinion, I know.

Not as unpopular as you might think. Once you get past the fanboys, of which there are many, I'm sure a lot of people will agree. CP is my home park and I'm pretty much over SV. (The locker situation doesn't help. Not the fact that we have to use them, but how poorly it's incorporated into the queue.)

I always say I wish I could just get off the ride at the MCBR. SV had so much potential but instead CP just had to chase a bunch of pointless records.

I describe most RMC coasters as “a workout”. I have been in a position to potentially marathon rides like Twisted Timbers, Steel Vengeance, and Lightning Rod but after a few turns I had to give up- it was too much for me. Once I did a total of 11 rides in one day on Steel Vengeance and I was quite stiff and sore the next day. Ouch.

I think there are a couple of design flaws on most RMC’s. One is the lack of a well-positioned grab bar, or something to hang on to while riding. They give you little places to grip on to but they’re low and are built into the vertical parts of the lap bar. Not only do I find them a little dangerous, (a ride op at KD pushed down on the bar when I wasn’t ready, badly pinching my fingers between the restraints), but ergonomically are inconvenient. And I know it’s psychological, but there’s something about hanging onto that part of the lap bar for dear life when that’s the part that will send me out of there if there’s a fail. (I know there won’t be but still…)

The other thing I’ve grown weary of is the outward banked turn or bunny hop. SV has them, high and low, and they seem to sap all my strength. The first one of those appeared on SDC’s ground-up woody, Outlaw Run. I remember seeing photos of that element and just gasping, not even sure what I was looking at. It seemed impossible. The ones higher up like on SV and Lightning Rod are the most thrilling and seem to be a little less forceful. The low to the ground outward banking hills can be excruciating especially in rapid succession.

I haven’t been to AFO yet but I can tell you right now those bunny hops at the end will absolutely try to kill me. They look to be even more challenging than those that close out a ride on SV and that’s saying something.

There. Just a couple of rants from an old Boomer.

Tommytheduck:

but that's about as far as I can rank stuff

I agree with you, there's no way I could try to say whether, say, Jersey Devil is better than Rougarou. What I like about the rating system is I don't really have to rank anything. Basically just vibes. Some of mine, I'm sure, don't make much sense if you compare Corkscrew Coaster 1 to Wooden Coaster 2. But I don't care.

To be clear, the CB100 is calculated on ratings, not rankings. You can do both in your track record, but only the rating is used.

It would be an interesting logic/programming question to figure out how to use rankings. (I am not suggesting you do this, Jeff, I'm just interested in how.)

You couldn't use absolute rankings as the input - if someone has only ridden ten coasters and one of them is CGA Grizzley (presumably #10), that's not going to be accurate. You could say, of 100 rankers who have ridden both, 51 liked KI Racer over CP Blue Streak, so it's Racer over Blue Streak - but that would surely result in some circular logic (A > B > C > A). Maybe you could divide rankings into deciles or percentiles, and say Coaster X is in the top decile of 82% of riders, so it's better than Coaster Y which is in the top decile of 79% (obviously much more detailed than that).

One of y'all should pose this in a Comp Sci class.

There used to be an old-school ranking (maybe from the usenet news days?) that more or less did this, considering each pair as a game with W-L records. So your #1 coaster is undefeated, and your last coaster is winless. Steel and wood were done separately. I forget the details. Here's an example from 2005 (which might the the last year it happened? I have no idea, nor do I know why a high school hockey site has this stuff.)

https://www.ushsho.com/deta...ts2005.htm

Wasn't that the Mitch Hawker poll?

I think that's it, yes! I could not remember the original source.

And ... there we have it.