New Entries in the CoasterBuzz Top 100

I find it mildly interesting that all three US wingriders are in consecutive order in the countdown, 37,38, & 39.

Heh. Good catch. I hadn't noticed that.

Looks like things are beginning to slow as we get deeper into fall.

Only movement in the top twenty is Manta and X2 exchanging places at 17 and 18.

Three biggest movers of the week:

• American Thunder drops six spots from 29 to 35
• Silver Bullet up four spots from 90 to 86
• Titan (SFOT) up three spots from 61 to 58

It's that time of the week again and there's actually a few things to talk about - even this late into October.

• Shuffle in the top 10 with Intimidator (Carowinds) and Thunderhead swapping the 9 & 10 spots as Thunderhead drops below Intimidator.

• Nitro and Prowler do the same dance at 13 & 14 with Prowler falling below Nitro.

• Apocalypse comes from nowhere (literally off the charts) and plants itself at the #53 position.

• Other big mover of the week is the defunct Rampage at Alabama...errr, Splash Adventure jumping up 9 spots from #54 to #45

• Tons of other little one and two spot moves all over the place.

I just added Maverick and Gatekeeper. No mention of those two?

Apocalypse didn't actually come from nowhere. That's just the first time it appeared with the right name. I never updated it. :)

So it was more the Big Bang than the Apocalypse, the Alpha instead of the Omega?

I don't know why you say goodbye, I say hello.... ;~P

Sorry, feeling a little silly. Waiting for White Lightning to make an appearance... :~)

White Lightning is gonna need a lot more experienced riders to crack in there. It's a pretty great ride though!

Q) Jeff, a coaster that has been relocated, like Dominator (Geauga Lake/Kings Dominion), are the ratings from the multiple locations calculated separately or together?

Separately.

So it would be possible for a coaster like Dominator to appear twice if there were enough experienced riders rating it at both locations.

Yes. You can, after all, add it to your track record twice.

I see that's possible.

The rule I have made for myself is to only count a coaster once. So on my track record I only add the coaster at the park where I first rode it. This way I can be in self-denial that I'm a credit whore.

Yeah, I hear you. When I originally wrote the code for the track record stuff, I decided I didn't want to enforce that rule on others, so I leave it up to them.

Relocated wooden coasters are a more reasonable question, IMO.

The only two I've ridden at more than one location are Starliner and Little Dipper from Kiddieland/SFGAm. The kiddie was pretty much unchanged (thankfully!)....but Starliner was quite a bit *punchier* at Cypress, lost the Dragon tunnel, and added a below-grade drop. Arguable...

I think we've had our highest debut this week... New Texas Giant at #9. It's particularly interesting because it only has 49 riders, and to have that few and make the list, it has to be mostly riders with big track records.

It is a pretty amazing ride. I'm sure Iron Rattler and Outlaw run will eventually have a high debut as well.

Rattler was surely no Giant. Can't comment on OR. Giant is currently my #1 coaster overall. It beats out Bizarro SFNE, El Toro, Voyage, and my old favorite, Phantom's Revenge. It beats Toro by a little, and everything else by a lot.

I'm surprised NTG has taken so long to debut. Maybe I should consider that coasters only rank here once our members have had a chance to visit. But what happened to cause it to show up now, and not, say, at the end end of last season? Maybe I should consider that coasters only rank here once our members think to update their lists.

Anyway, I thought NTG was spectacular and certainly counts as an example where the re-incarnation outshines the original. And I'll say it again, but I can think of so many examples out there that would benefit by such treatment.

I keep going back to Outlaw Run, though, as probably the most thrilling ride I've ever taken. It seems rather short in length, but maybe that's ok. There's not a dead spot or even a lull anywhere. It's non-stop action and increasing speed through OMG elements and lapbar-straining airtime. I understand that this year they've added seat belts and have changed the shin bars, so maybe that will affect how I feel about it. I just got my SDC season pass in the mail, but I'll be using it for discount admission to DW (and Elitch if they still offer it) before I get back to SDC in the fall.

I would expect OR to also have a high debut here once more of our members have a chance to get on it.

As a SFoT homer and having Outlaw Run and NTG under my belt (SFGAm. Goliath and Ratter are both on tap for this summer - crosses fingers), I think both of them are in the "outstanding but not world class" category. I still have Bizarro, MF, and Phantom above NTG. Outlaw Run was probably somewhere around 6 or 7 on my wood list. I can't exactly put my finger on it, but neither of them had that "OMG!!!" vibe. I definitely think Outlaw Run was worse for having those last two barrel rolls instead of another air hill or something else.