New Entries in the CoasterBuzz Top 100

The only time I rode Ghost Rider was in 2002 or 2003 after Xcelerator opened. It was heavenly and first opened my eyes to how good a wood coaster could be (up to that point I had almost exclusively ridden the large, poorly maintained monstrosities at corporate parks). I'm very curious to see how it fares now.

The GCI overhaul and train replacement on GhostRider really did make a big improvement. I didn't exactly hate it before, but I still found it to be a completely different experience (for the better) on my last visit.

I rode GhostRider in 2008 and thought it was fantastic, but haven't been back to Knott's since. It sounds like my rating went from accurate, to propping up a poor ride, to potentially being accurate again without even knowing it (assuming I'm an "influencer"). I wonder if there are any rides I was on 20 years ago that stink now. Do people re-rate? I don't think I've ever done that.

That was going to be my point. Of Ghostrider’s three “phases”, I rode during the second one- the one when it had gone to hell. Perhaps many of our respondents hit it around the same time, causing a low rating. And in order for it to improve, many of us will have to circle back around for a phase three experience.

It seems to me I’ve had the opportunity to re-rate rides in the past, but I can’t recall which one(s) or why. It may have been a relocation scenario.

Was there some modification that created the second phase or was it simply prolonged neglect?

Hey, look at what coaster debuted as number 100 on the list today... SPOOKY

It was built by CCI, their rides have a reputation of not aging well.

I don't think that's it entirely. A lot of them just need to be well maintained.

It's definitely how well they are maintained. Rampage in Alabama was neglected for a long time and it was pure crap but after they got a team that actually cared for it, the thing easily made my top 10 wooden list. It's all in how you care for a coaster and the level of money you are going to put into it.

I was going to say, some of them like Boulder Dash and the Holiday World woodies are still in fantastic shape.

Twisted Cyclone with a splashy debut at #12.

I've still only ridden two RMC conversions - anyone want to opine on its positioning on the list? I kinda enjoy how little consensus there is on how they rank generally (besides the obvious #1).

Let's also note that El Toro and Lightning Rod just flip-flopped places, as did Twisted Timbers and Iron Rattler.

Ghostrider deserves to be right up there with Goldstriker , if not higher. It's running fantastic.

Interesting to see Orion finally make it on the list at #43. Below Diamondback, and all of the other Gigas.

Feels pretty accurate to me.

That's interesting. I wish I could have had a lap on it this year. But let's be real, anything in the top 100 is still pretty good.

I'm not enthusiatic about Orion or Millenium Force. They're nice, but just don't quite thrill me much for whatever reason. I found I liked Diamondback better than Orion. Hopefully designers can figure out what to do with gigas other than just "big hill, go fast"

I feel like B&M figured it out pretty well with Fury 325.

Bigger hill, go faster?

That, yes, but also how they focused more on high-speed turns for the first half of the ride. There’s that tall overbank, but then you absolutely haul through those turns on the way to the treble clef. I think that was a brilliant design strategy. They didn’t waste the ridiculously high speeds early on with airtime hills. They stuck with speed maneuvers first, and then threw in airtime once the energy bled off a bit. It was a very effective strategy, in my opinion.

Remember when everyone complained about how B&M's were all the same, now they don't build a copy of Fury and they suck. 🤷‍♂️