2008 Coaster Awards

What a great year! With 2008 ending and 2009 ready to begin, it is time to look back on the highlights of our past year focusing on the best rides and moments of 2008. Starting this blog was something that I promised myself I would do this past year. While it is far from the best site on the web, I still hope that those of you reading have received some information that has helped you on your coaster endeavors. Mainly, the bog itself is a way to fuel my obsession, but oh well. Anyway, in 2009 look for the site to change slightly. I have reviewed a large majority of the top coasters in the United State and Canada. I am sure that no one wants to read a post about kiddie coasters, so I will begin writing more trip reports with updated reviews of the main coasters at the park and smaller reviews of other rides including flats. As usual, there will be plenty of great pics from Julia and Guy who are two of the best coaster photographers in the business. I am hoping to update at least twice a week in 2009. Please let your friends know about us and feel free to post our link on your site.

Now, on to this past years' awards.

Obsession Coaster of the Year: Ravine Flyer II at Waldameer Park. For the past three years, Guy and myself (ok, mainly me) have obsessed about coasters. I normally have one ride each year that I continuously ride online and even dream about. Yep, that's weird but I'm sure there are other 36 year old college graduates who dream about roller coasters, aren't there? Anyway, this year the RFII gets the award. I started with Behemoth this but once I discovered that this wonderful woodie would be up and running it took over the top spot. Diamondback at King's Island is the definite front runner of 2009. 2007 Winner - Maverick at Cedar Point. 2006 Winner - Cedar Point Park (Guy obsessed about this for years).

Best Old School Moment: 10 consecutive laps on the Starliner at Cypress Gardens in January. The Coaster Reviews staff is nothing if not Old School. We listen to old school music, play old school games, and love old school rides. It dates back, I guess, to the hundreds of laps Guy and myself put on the Lake Winnie Cannon Ball (review below) when we were in elementary school. Julia also has some great old school memories of the Giant Dipper out in Santa Cruz. For that reason, this award consists of numerous laps and great times on preferably an old woodie, although our 50 laps on Goliath at Six Flags Over Georgia on opening day received some consideration for the pure number of rides. The Starliner (review below) was one of our best experiences this past January as we never even had to leave our seat. The park was dead, it was freezing cold, but we were bundled up in our hoodies and rode until the park closed. It was a great night to be a nerd coaster enthusiast. Other great old school moments include 10 laps on Blue Streak at Cedar Point, my ride on Great White at Morey's Piers for my 300th coaster, and our 33 rides on the Holiday World woodies in less than 3 hours. 2007 Winner: 10 laps in under an hour on the Ozark Wildcat in Branson, Missouri. 2006 Winner: A front seat ride on the Beast at King's Island

during our first ever coaster trip.

Best View - Ravine Flyer II at Waldameer Park. Looks like my obsession coaster is still an obsession. The RFII offers a great view of the Lake Erie coastline with the water crashing up on the rocks as you crest the first hill. It is absolutely gorgeous. That feeling of peace simply warms you heart, until you dive down and cross the highway at over 60 MPH. Other rides with great views are the Swamp Fox at Myrtle Beach which offers a super view of the Atlantic Ocean and the Skyliner at Lakemont park which overlooks a minor league baseball stadium. 2007 Winner: Desperado in the middle of the Nevada Desert. 2006 Winner: Millennium Force at Cedar Point with its view of Lake Erie.

"New" Ride of the Year. Now, this category does not consist of a "new ride" that has been built in 2008. It is given to the best coaster that we rode during this year that we have never ridden. For that reason, we had some great rides to choose from including Boulder Dash at Lake Compounce, the Coney Island Cyclone, and the other two Superman hyper coasters in both Largo, Maryland and Darien Lake, NY. The argument could even been made for the previously mentioned Ravine Flyer II and Behemoth. However, the winner is the legendary Phoenix at Knoebels. I will not review the ride here since there is a very lengthy review already on this site, however I will say that this is a "can't miss" coaster for anyone reading this blog. 2007 Winner: El Toro in Jackson, NJ and Superman: ROS at Agawam Mass. 2006 Winner: Millennium Force at Cedar Point.

And now for the biggie.....Best Ride of 2008. Once again, let me explain this category. This is not necessarily the best coaster we rode this year. If you are looking for a ranking of the top coasters in the world, you can click on the pics to the left and see our opinions there. Or you can check out Amusement Today's Golden Ticket Awards in which the top coasters in the industry are honored. There is also Mitch Hawker's online coaster poll which has just posted its 2008 results. No, what we are about is the coaster that delivers the best single ride for us in 2008. There were tons to choose from. There was the great front seat ride on Boulder Dash on July 4th in the pitch black of night. A day prior was our great ride on the Coney Island Cyclone, the most famous coaster in the world. There was the front seat night ride on the legendary Beast this past September. There was the infamous "bug ride" on Top Thrill Dragster in which we finally waited for the front and Guy was plastered with about a thousand bugs because he rode on the side with the lights, and finally the Millennium Force ride later that night in which the fog from Millennium Island blacked out virtually all of the lights. However, the winner is a coaster that neither of the three of us even have in our Top

25's. It is also being currently re-themed around that wonderful teen-age magician Harry Potter despite winning the Golden Ticket for "Best Themed Ride" for the past three years. Our Ride of the Year took place in January on the Dueling Dragons inverted coaster at Islands of Adventure in Orlando, Fl in the middle of a lightning storm. Once again, the review (and a lengthy description of the ride itself) is posted on the site so I'll let you scroll down if you want to read the entire thing, but I will say that after this ride I now have an idea what riding a dragon might possibly be like. 2007 Winner: A front seat night ride on Holiday World's Raven as the park was closing. 2006 Winner: My first ever Millennium Force ride, which still holds strong as my favorite coaster.

And there you have it. For those of you that read that entire post, thanks. I have had a great time in 2008 riding coasters and enjoying the fellowship of my best friends. I look forward to much of the same in 2009 as God continues to heap blessing after blessing upon my life.

Voodoo - Dorney Park (PA)

Date Ridden: Summer of 2008. Times Ridden: 1 in back of the train.

Voodoo is a Intamin impulse coaster which was moved to Dorney Park for the 2008 season from the now defunct Geauga Lake in Ohio. I visited Dorney twice this past summer and was lucky that the coaster was up and running on my second trip.

The ride itself is very similar to Wicked Twister at Cedar Point with the only difference being that instead of twisted spikes on each end, there is only one twisted spike and a straight piece on the other side. One the side with the straight piece of track however, on the final climb up the brakes do catch you for a really scary moment before dropping the train back down for its final run up the twisted end.

Voodoo is a short but fun ride which garners an above average rating of 8. The capacity is horrible but we were lucky to hit the ride on entering the park before the line grew too long. It is a solid addition to a very underrated and unique coaster line-up at the Pennsylvania theme park.

The Comet - Great Escape (NY)

Date Ridden: = Summer of 2008. Times Ridden: 3 in the front, middle and back of the train.

One again, I find myself thinking back to great ride this past summer on an old wooden roller coaster with tons of character. The Comet was originally the Crystal Beach Comet which opened in 1948. The coaster was relocated and has been in operation at the Six Flags in which it currently resides since 1994. It is a wooden coaster with steel supports and offers a very fun ride with its lap bars and double out-and-back design.

The Comet is consistently ranked among the top 50 wooden coasters in the world. It is also the only unique ride The Great Escape offers. There is a boomerang, a sit-down looper, a fairly lengthy main train ride, and a toboggan but the Comet is by far the best ride in the park. It is located at the very back of the park so lines according to most observers are normally minimal. I personally rode three times in less than 30 minutes.

The ride itself offers some great airtime at 3 or 4 points throughout the course. The lap bars are not constrictive and the trains are well taken care of. There is also a board in the station telling the history of the coaster which is a nice touch for nerds like myself. While not being the greatest coaster in existence, the Comet is still a great ride that oozes history. It gets a solid 8 from the Coaster Reviews staff.

Ride the Comet below.

Boomers Trip Report (November of 2008) and Dania Beach Hurricane Review

Living in the deep south, winter is definitely not coaster riding season. However, this year I have been extremely blessed to visit Dollywood (trip report forthcoming), Knotts Berry Farm back in October and a couple of weeks ago I long drive down to Miami to ride with of the only coaster in Florida that I had not ridden: the Dania Beach Hurricane. I have to say the the trip was worth it.

Boomers is a medium-sized family fun center offering a number of arcade games, a few different go-kart tacks (including the longest one in the world which is over a mile in length), a couple of mini-golf courses and finally the coaster itself. The coaster is a separate attraction not included in the other entertainment packages. You actually even have to by your tickets at the coaster itself and not inside where the games are. Obviously the best deal is the 12 dollar all you can ride wristband.

We arrived when the park opened and were the first in line for the coaster. We took three rides on it riding in the front, back and middle of the train. There was no line at all, however the park policy is to make each guest get up and walk around the que for a re-ride. This is necessitated by having to re-scan your wristband each time at the entrance to the line. That is a pain, but is still no overly inconvenient since it is a very short walk.

We left the park, (no desire to ride go-karts or play mini-golf and arcade games are not our thing) visited a few sites around Miami, drove a ways our toward the Key West, and then came back that night for another 7 rides. I was really looking forward to night rides, however the coaster is so well lit that there are no dark sections. There is virtually no difference from riding at night time or in the daylight hours.

Now, onto the ride itself. The Hurricane is one of the most underrated woodies I have ridden. Surprisingly, the front set offers the most air with five moments of serious ejector airtime and a number of floater moments. The back is almost as good well the middle part of the train only offers two moments of air. The track offers an out-and-back design with twister elements leading to a very fun and unique ride. The first big drop and the final bunny hills are definitely the best parts of the ride.

Even that night, there was virtually no one riding the coaster. I think 8 people was the most we ever had on a train. I imagine the ride would be much better with a full train, but I will not complain about the short lines. Overall, I will give the Hurricane a very solid 8 and place right up there the Starliner (formerly at Cypress Gardens) as the best woodies south of Thunderhead. Boomers itself looks like a great place to take the kids for a half a day or so with short lines, lots of games and some unique mini-gold courses and go-kart tracks. If you are a coaster enthusiast, the coaster is well worth the drive south from Orlando.

Coaster Types - The (In)Famous Boomerang

As most coaster enthusiasts are aware (and the general public sometimes is not) not all roller coasters are unique. Many coaster companies design a ride and then clone it out to a number of different parks. Batman: The Ride, located at various 6 Flags parks is one such example. Another common type of clone are Mad Mouse coasters which feature a number of switchbacks at the top of the course followed by a few small hills.

And then there are the Boomerangs.

In speaking for most members of the coaster enthusiast community, I can honestly say that these things are absolutely despised. I honestly do not know where the world's first ever Boomerang is located (maybe a visitor to the site might know), but these coasters are so numerous at various parks throughout the world that they are difficult to count. In my 330 coasters alone, there are twelve different versions of Boomerangs. They have various names, are painted different colors, and even offer different rides based on the upkeep of the track and the train wheels, but the designs are all the same.

A Boomerang is a very simple coaster. The train is pulled backward out the station up a lift hill that is normally around 100 feet tall. The chain disengages sending the train roaring the station and into a cobra roll double inversion, through a vertical loop and up the incline where the chain engages again and tows the train up, forward this time. At the top, the chain once again releases and the whole thing is repeated again (except the vertical loop is first this time) with the train coming to stop on the original lift hill and easing back into the station.

For the most part, the rides are very uncomfortable with restraints that come over the shoulders (called OTSR's) and cause lots of ear banging when flying through the inversions. Also, waits are usually very lengthy since the rides are popular with the general public (people like to go upside down and in Boomerangs you go upside down 6 times) and the fact that due to the construction it is only possible to run one train. I have waited up to an hour for one of these before simply to get the credit added to my coaster count.

Most Boomerangs also have down time issues. Once again due to the construction, many problems occur which lead to the coasters being down and not running a great deal of time. So anyway, since this is a review site, how are these scored? Well, the best Boomerang I have ever ridden was in HersheyPark, PA (called the Sidewinder) which I would give maybe a 6 due to its smoothness. Most of these rides score in the 5 range with a couple (Tidal Wave at Trimper's Rides in NJ and the Sea Serpent at Morey's Piers also in NJ) scoring in the 2 range due to roughness. For the most part Boomerangs are below average rides which do not offer anything unique once you have ridden one.

As an alternative, there are number of Boomerangs which feature the same track lay-out but offer trains which set below the track (inverts) and have seats which face one another. Two Face - The Flip Side at Six Flags Great America in Maryland and the Invertigo coasters at the former Paramount parks in Ohio and California are rides of this type. While the trains are different, the ride experiences are still the same: right at a 5 and very uncomfortable.

If you find yourself in line for a Boomerang, I would suggest the middle of the train. The front and back seat go through the inversions with much more force causing a great deal more discomfort than the middle seats. A well-kept coaster ridden in the middle of the train can offer a decent ride, but seriously, once you have ridden one, why bother? I guess if you are an OCD coaster geek, it's so you can count it and put it on your website.

Listed below are the Boomerangs I have currently ridden.

The Bat at Canada's Wonderland.

The Boomerang at Worlds of Fun in MO, Knotts in CA, the Great Escape in NY, Wild Adventures in GA, and Darien Lake also in NY.

The previously mentioned Sea Serpent and Tidal Wave in NJ.

The Sidewinder in PA.

The Zoomerang at Lake Compounce in CT as well as the Invertigo coasters and the Two Face ride previously mentioned.

Ride a Boomerang below.