Coasters you're surprised to see in the top 100

I was just wondering if there are any coasters that you think don't belong in the top 100. I was very shocked to see the Cyclone at Lakeside on there. I live about 40 minutes away from there and have ridden it a couple of times. I know it's an old classic, but it was just so boring in my opinion. I thought Lakeside's wild mouse coaster was more exciting than that. What do you think? Which ones were you surprised to see?

Oh, I loooooved Lakeside's Cyclone. I was there just last week (I still owe a trip report) and I rode that ride over and over. So, I'm glad to see it in the top 100, I think it deserves a spot. I rode Wild Chipmunk 4 times, I think, and must be a glutton for punishment. I liked it well enough, it had great action, little (if any) braking along the way, and it's one of the last of its kind out there. So, all that was good in my book, but it also scared the S out of me, and each time I felt lucky to have made it back alive.

I don't see any real surprises in the top 100, I think they all look like likely candidates. I might quarrel with where certain rides land on the list, but all I can do about that is rate my list according to how I see it and know the rankings depend on the average votes. What's always interesting to me is the number of riders for each ride ranked, and what a wide variance there is. It looks like pretty near all of us have been to Cedar Point, but rides like Behemoth, Verbolten, and Prowler carry low rider count but still manage to rank.

I think the thing to remember, and this has been discussed before, is our CoasterBuzz 100 is a small slice of coaster fans who take the time to do rankings. It's just us, and is a tool for those of us who are interested in seeing how the rest of us think. All CoasterBuzzers might be enthusiasts, but not all enthusiasts are Buzzers. (and that's not a bad thing, right?)

Gonch usually provides us with thoughts about these matters in his (almost) monthly update of the Top 100, including any significant changes in the entries.

Ravine Flyer II is a coaster that I just did not get. Also most of the highly regarded GCI's (san Prowler, which I have yet to ride) I don't get either. KRumbler and Ozark Wildcat were the only ones that I got anything out of, but they paled in comparison to the CCI's "back in the day." And I did like Sky Rocket, but I liked quite a few 80-100 coaster significantly more.

ApolloAndy said:

Ravine Flyer II is a coaster that I just did not get.

This.

I'm right there with you.

I loved RF2 and thought it was way better than I'd anticipated.

I don't get why Intimidator at Carowinds is on there. Solid ride but not really top 100.

Wow. Banshee made quite an impact in it's debut. I wonder how much of that is "new coaster smell" and will wear off and how much is actually long term ride quality.

Tekwardo said:

I don't get why Intimidator at Carowinds is on there. Solid ride but not really top 100.

By "on there" I assume you mean top 10 rather than on the list at all, seeing as Raging Bull is on there and I can't imagine Intimidator is worse.

I was worried that Banshee's "new coaster smell" had worn off already this past Friday, because row 4 was surprisingly, annoyingly bumpy (shades of Hydra). Then I rode the front and all was blissful again. Yesterday I had row 6 twice and it was just like media day, so I don't know if row 4 is always that way or it was just a fluke. All I know is, Banshee makes my nose drain a little when it picks up speed halfway through.

Scrolling through the top 100, I can't say I'm 'surprised' by any of the ones I've ridden being on there. For example, The Legend isn't my favorite but I'm not surprised it's at 64 on the list because I know a lot of other people rate it highly. I increased my rating on it a few years ago just after they'd done a lot of track work, but I haven't had anything close to that experience in my visits since then.

Apollo Andy.

Im surprised that Ravine Flyer II is up there, 6 out of 100 is not bad at all i don't think alot of people bothered to make the trip to boring erie to ride, but i think the reason its that high is it constant 5 min wait on the weekdays even with 1 train operation, Also the floater airtime over the arch bridge is the best moment of airtime i have yet to get on a roller coaster and the fact you go over it twice is fantastic.

Even B&M's are prone to bad wheels. As intense as this ride is, I wouldn't be surprised if they wear a lot faster than other rides.

Andy, yes, I added an extra zero. It's top 50 ish.

I find it interesting that Afterburn at Carowinds doesn't rank higher. Montu comes in at 20, Alpengeist is 46, while Afterburn is tied for 61. I vastly prefer Afterburn to Alpengeist and would say it only barely trails Montu.

How did Banshee break into the list with only 47 riders? I think that's the lowest I've seen.

Because it's mostly experienced riders. Pretty much all if I had to guess.

Interesting. So basically the coaster ranks very highly with people who have been around.

So why don't we see more inverted coasters?

And don't give me this "duplicate coaster type" crap either. Plenty of parks have multiple wooden coasters. Or multiple steel sit-down rides. Or whatever.

Would anyone really have a problem with a park having a Banshee and Raptor or Banshee and Montu or Banshee and Alpengeist in their lineup? A good ride is a good ride.

I can't think of many better ways to spend the money. B&M inverted coasters have always delivered and this proves they still do.

Especially the parks whose only inverts are SLC's. SFNE, SFA, and SFDK come immediately to mind (V2.1 doesn't really count). Is it just that these things aren't as marketable?

I rode GateKeeper last night for the first time. Loved it, and a lot of that love was because of how comfortable the ride is. Seeing as Banshee has this next-gen restraint, I'm all for a new generation of Beemer inverts popping up...

Gonch, I think that there actually is a difference between having several wooden coasters and having several of a particular type of steel coaster in the same park, at least as it pertains to multiple examples of the same style of looping coaster from the same company. Looping coasters often tend to be element-based in their design with the stylization being getting from one to the next. Wooden coasters may have similar stylizations, especially when built by the same company, but as whole, they're often very different rides. That's the same reason why I think Behemoth and Leviathan work at the same park. There's enough stylistic variation between the two that they seem complementary as opposed to "overlapping."

For example, take the B&M floorlesses here in the states. With the exception of Hydra, they're all more or less the same basic concept. You throw Dominator and Kraken in the same park and you've basically got the same experience copied down. That's the same reason I don't think you see two inverts from B&M at the same park. Perhaps if one lacked inversions or at least standard ones, it'd be a different story, but while Banshee certainly is a departure from the norm, I think that throwing a Raptor in the same park is still pretty redundant.

Again, I'd probably have a different thought if B&M really sought to bring a degree of individuality to each ride, but I just think that going with a floorless and an invert is better than two inverts. I don't think that two inverts would be some unacceptable affront, but I think that if you're going to build two elementally-designed rides, build two different types.

I don't know... to me that's an enthusiast's point of view, not a member of the general public's point of view nor a corporate number-cruncher's point of view.

I can understand that. However, and I know this is a bit of a stretch, don't you think most guests at the Magic Kingdom would notice two Space Mountains next to each other, or just the enthusiasts? Again, I know that's an exaggerated example, but you get the idea.

However, I look at it from the standpoint of how that would reflect the attitude of the park. I'm a firm believer that the best parks are the ones who really try to deliver unique, special experiences. There's a reason Walt Disney World gets my money at least once every year when I don't even find the overwhelming majority of its rides to be overly thrilling. Disney probably could've gotten away with shortcuts here and there, but they didn't take them, and if for no other reason than attention to detail, they've got me for life. Being generic just because nobody will notice just seems sloppy to me. If the ride is going to cost you $20,000,000 no matter what, at least throw some individuality into it.

I'm kind of on the fence on this one (or maybe I don't care enough) but just to play devil's advocate, I kind of map all the B&M loopers into the same place in my brain: Floorless, invert, sit down etc.

In fact, IOA basically has 3 of the same thing, as far as I'm concerned (all of which are well above average for a coaster, so it's not a bad thing).