The JJ is an outside launched coaster located at one of the weaker Six Flags parks in the chain. As documented in my review of their signature ride, Superman: Ride of Steel, our day there was very disappointing. In contrast to Superman, the Jokers Jinx is well kept with a clean and neat station. The one thing I did not like was the presence of the Locker Nazi at the front who would not even allow hats in line. Most of the time, I simply fold my cap up and stick it in my pocket. The Nazi tried to make me put my hat and Julia's fanny bag up in a locker. We obviously refused, left the area, and came back later with our gear hidden in the pockets of our jackets. I will do a lot of things at theme parks but paying 2 bucks for a locker is not one of them.
The ride itself is arguably the best ride in the park. To the best of my knowledge, it is a virtual copy of the indoor Flight of Fear coasters located at two of the former Paramount parks. The launch is very fast, the inversions are smooth with minimal head banging. The ride is well-themed and the addition of the new Batman movies has probably made the ride a little more popular. I would not call this ride a "can't miss" but it is still one of the better rides at the park.
Date Ridden: Numerous times since 2006. Times Ridden: 16 currently.
As most coaster enthusiasts are aware, Magnum was the first coaster that broke the 200 foot barrier back in 1989. At that time, I was a junior in high school and was not aware that the Coaster Wars had begun between Cedar Point and Magic Mountain in California. The building of Magnum was the first shot fired which led to other larger and faster coasters such as Superman: The Escape, Goliath, Millennium Force and Top Thrill Dragster. However, Magnum started it all and is arguably still the best of those coasters listed above in the minds of many.
Magnum is still smooth with an abundant amount of airtime, particularly on the bunny hills leading back to the station on the return trip. The view of Lake Erie cresting the top of the lift hill is gorgeous and the speed (over 70 mph) is still top notch. The kidney shaped turnaround is probably the least enjoyable element as it is a very awkward transition and uncomfortable way of turning around the train. The designers (Arrow) did a much better job with some of the later coasters such as Steel Force in Pennsylvania and Mamba in Missouri with the downward spiraling helices which turned around the trains. Those two coasters however, are still considered inferior to Magnum mainly due to their lack of airtime on the return hills.
One word of advice. Magnum gets some bad reviews due to what many riders call "roughness". I can offer some agreement with these statements however I think I have discovered the problem. When entering the station, you will that the train are designed to hold three rows of two seats per "car". The back seat in each of these cars has a steel box in the floor. These boxes, according to a ride operator, contain the wheels. It is in these cars, riding directly above the wheels on the track, are the places of some of the roughest rides I have had. I recommend therefore,
to avoid the third row in each car which includes the very back seat on the train: one of the most popular seats on large hyper coasters. So keep in mind when you enter the station, do not sit in any of the third rows of seats on the train. The other seats are much smoother and offer just as much airtime without the jerkiness riding above the wheels gives.
Lastly, Magnum is a great coaster to close down the park on. As crowds thin out, the middle rows of the train are normally blocked off since the very efficient station crew always runs three trains and the ride is not as popular as it once was. When the car is not full, the opportunity is there for the mid-course brakes to not kick in leading to an insane second half of the ride. That happened to us once and was one of our best coaster rides ever. The bunny hills were literally throwing us out of the seat since the train was only half full and the brakes did not slow us down at all. Zipping through the cool night air and flying over airtime filled hills at well over 50 mph is an awesome way to close down Cedar Point.
Despite many coasters which may be considered "better", Magnum still holds a place in the Coaster Reviews Top 20 and should stay there for many years to come. It is a fun ride which started the wave of giant steel coasters we still see today.
Wow. Let me say it again......Wow!! Talking to Guy on the way home last night, I told him I needed a short review for today since I knew we would be suffering from a "coaster hangover" following our late night jaunt through Indiana. However, after thinking about it today, I had to write up the first ever Coaster Reviews Trip Report following the greatest weekend of coaster riding we have had in our three years of being OCD coaster nerds.
We spent Saturday night in a local Comfort Inn placing us approximately 10 minutes from the park on Sunday morning. We arrived about 10 minutes before opening time to an empty parking lot. There
were maybe 20 cars there. We walked to guest services to pick up our tickets (there were problems with our online order but it was fixed very easiy) and entered the park to a walk-on ride on the back seat (our favorite spot) on The Raven. We then eased on around and took two front seat rides on The Legend. I was for hanging out there for a while since these are two of my favorite coasters in the world and they were totally empty. However, Guy was seriously in need of riding The Voyage.
The station was empty. We proceeded to spend the next hour riding the top ranked wooden coaster in the world 10 consecutive times without leaving the station. The ride ops were nice enough to allow people to re-ride if no one was in their line waiting for a seat or move to a different
seat that was empty. This fact allowed us to never leave the train for a solid hour.
To make a long story short, we did the same thing with 8 straight rides on the Legend, 11 straight on The Raven, and finished off with two more on the Voyage following a Goblin Burger and some free drinks at the Pepsi Oasis. We finished with 35 rides on three of the top woodies in the world in under 3 hours of ride time. We obviously did not want to leave the park, but with a five hour driving awaiting, we had to go home from one of our greatest days at a theme park ever.
Holiday World in general is a great place to visit with unlimited free drinks, friendly operators, and a wonderful family atmosphere. The owners and operators have not forgotten that theme parks are supposed to be ralaxing and enjoyable experiences that friends and families should cherish. There is no sense of hurrying (except when sending out the next coaster train). And those fact are not even taking into account the world class rides that are located there. There are very few negatives on any tip to Holiday World. They well deserve their Golden Ticket Award for the World's Most Friendly Park. Next year should be even better with the addition of the all new Pilgrim's Plunge. I am sure that at some point next year, I will find myself walking through the front gate excited about a great day of amusement park fun. It is simply put one of the best theme parks in the nation. It is right there with Cedar Point and Knoebels as parks at which I have enjoyed myself the most. I expect it to stay that way. We may have great experiences at parks in the years to come, but topping this half-day will be tough.
Today will be my last post until Monday since Guy and myself are headed up north on our typical three-day, three-park trip in which we will be visiting Cedar Point, King's Island and Holiday World. We will be riding the Coaster Reviews # 1 ranked coaster Millennium Force as well as the longest coaster in North America, The Beast. However, our highlight will probably be our Sunday rides on the # 1 ranked wooden coaster in the world, The Voyage. Thinking about this weekend has led me to write this short article listing the top coasters in the world.
Each year, Amusement Today posts the top ranked coasters in the world
based on the votes of a number of well-traveled coaster enthusiasts. This year there were no true surprises as most of the well-known coasters ranked in similar places on the lists as they have in the past. Listed below are the ranks and scores of the top wooden coasters on the planet.
1) The Voyage at Holiday World in Santa Claus, Indiana - 1225 Points.
2) Thunderhead at Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee - 1047 Points.
3) Phoenix at Knoebels Amusement Park in Elysburg, Pennsylvania - 1029 Points.
4) El Toro at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, New Jersey - 993 Points.
5) Boulder Dash at Lake Compounce in Bristol, Connecticut - 861 Points.
6) Hades at Mt. Olympus Theme Park in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin - 677 Points.
7)Shivering Timbers at Michigan's Adventure in Muskegon, Michigan - 523 Points.
8)The Beast at Kings Island in Kings Mill, Ohio - 471 Points.
9)Lightning Racer at Hersheypark in Hershey, Pennsylvania - 447 Points.
10)The Raven at Holiday World in Santa Claus, Indiana - 428 Points.
Of the coasters listed above, the Coaster Reviews staff has ridden 8 of them with only Hades and Shivering Timbers not in our ride count. The others are definitely world class rides with all but The Beast ranking in at least one of our Top 20's. The Beast has actually given us a couple of perfect 10 rides but a few really rough ones have kept it on the outside looking in. We are seriously looking at getting one of the famed night rides on it this Saturday.
In conclusion, the opportunity to ride any of the above coasters is a complete privilege as they are all superb with a variety of different elements. So whether you like the speed and intensity of The Voyage, the laterals of Thunderhead, the racing aspect of Lightning Racer, the chaos through the woods on Boulder Dash or the Raven, the silky smoothness of El Toro, or the massive airtime of the Phoenix, you can't go wrong with any of them. Put some gas in the car and go find one of these beauties. you will definitely not regret the experience.
Thanks for reading. Coaster Reviews will return on Monday the 22nd with more pictures and more reviews.
Hmmmm.......I was trying to decide what coaster to review today and I ran across this picture of the Mummy out on the west coast. Without a doubt, this is the inferior ride when compared to the Orlando version, but it is by no means bad. The theme is top notch, the ride is smooth, and the special effects are Disneyesque.
Since the ride is totally indoors, weather is not a factor and this thing runs year around. The opening launch is pretty strong and the ride to the end of the lay-out is fast and furious. Once the ride stops and the bugs come to visit (fairly realistic feeling), the train simply reverses course and travels the track backwards.
The ride is short but fun. By the time we rode once as the park was opening, the line had backed up and we went elsewhere in the park. The ride is so similar to a Disney ride in that the first experience is by far the best. Once you have ridden it once and seen all the surprises, then the coaster elements aren't really enough to make you want to stand in an hour long line.
That being said, if you live in the west coast or are just visiting Universal Studios, do not miss the Mummy. The ride has no inversions and is smooth throughout in the large multi-seat trains. The experience the first time is well worth it.
Overall Rating - 8
Unfortunately, due to this being an indoor coaster, no video is available.
Date Ridden: Summer of 2008. Times Ridden: 1 in the middle of the train.
As most enthusiasts are aware, there are three of these Ride of Steel rides. The number one ranked ride in the world is at Six Flags New England. Another is located at Darien Lake and this final on is in Maryland. The Darien Lake version and this one are clones with identical lay-outs. The ride in New England is a beast as I have already reviewed. I loved the Darien Lake ride and it landed just outside my top 20. Unlike many enthusiasts, I enjoy straight track sections and the sensation of massive amounts of speed. That is why Millennium Force at Cedar Point still ranks as my number one coaster because no coaster I have ever ridden gives that sensation of speed for that long spread out over a mile of track. I was hoping this Ride of Steel would challenge my top coasters as I knew I loved the lay-out. Unfortunately, there were problems.
The ride itself is located at the very back of the park as far from the front entrance as is humanly possible. This is not an issue, as we normally go to the back of the park first to beat the crowds and then work our way around to the front. However, the ROS was not operating when we entered the station house. They were still running test trains so we grabbed an open back seat spot in the line and waited patiently. I noticed immediately that only one train was being run. I quickly calculated that re-rides would be difficult as there were many people beginning to enter the line to ride the park's signature ride. Watching a few test runs gave me time to look at the station, the ride ops, and the train. I was not impressed with any of the above. The station was shabby and dirty when compared to other parks (and even other rides I found out later as the park's other coasters were well-kept and clean). The ops were sitting around laughing and eating while totally ignoring the guests. Lastly, the train they were running did not look as if it were made from "Steel". It was bashed in pretty severely on the front. looking as if it had rammed a light pole. Then, when they allowed the gates to open and guests to finally enter, there was a problem with the retrains not coming locking so they had to block off half of the train! Yes, our seat was one of the non-locking ones so we had to get in another line and wait about three cycles before we got on. The ops placed nasty trash cans in the aisles that did not work so only half of one train was running.
Since we were busy, we only rode one ride and it was superb. Despite the bashed up train, the ragged seat belts, the chewed up lap bar, and the nasty garbage cans in the station, the ride itself delivered. I had a blast dropping down the first hill and enjoying the smooth, air-time filled ride known for its great series of camel backs at the end.
I simply do not understand why parks that have world class coasters do no perform regular upkeep on them. The rest of the park was clean, the ride ops were friendly, and overall experience was pleasant. However, on their signature ride, the experience was lessened due to poor maintenance and operators with no personality. Now I do understand that all coasters have problems and issues that must be dealt with. I may have visited on the only poor operating day of the year for this coaster. However, running only half of one train is totally unacceptable on a ride of this caliber.
Hopefully over the winter, Six Flags will dive in and give this coaster some much needed TLC. Seriously, this ride could easily rank much higher if it offered a more pleasant overall experience to its guests.
The ride itself received a 9 but I am subtracting a point for the poor experience, operators who were rude, and the horrible smelling station.
Ouch. If only this coaster lived up to its name, this could possibly be a more positive review. As it is, despite being featured on the Travel Channel with coaster guru Paul Reuben, this is one of my least favorite adult coasters. There are a number of these Vekoma suspended looping coasters and one of them rank very highly. They are simply torture devices that a rider has to fight to survive without a headache for the rest of the day.
Many coasters, including the highly ranked Maverick and Storm Runner offer a couple of incidences of head banging/neck chopping due to the restraint system. This is not due to roughness or poor coaster design. The rides are simply intense and feature restraints that are necessary for the elements the coaster was designed with. Normally in these cases, the rider can prepare for these elements and virtually eliminate the uncomfortable issues with different riding styles or techniques.
However, on Mind Eraser one gets the Pinball Bang in which one's head is continuously bounced from one side of the restraint to the next. It is among the most painful things a coaster rider can endure and is prevalent on virtually all of these Vekoma coasters I have ridden.
This ride does offer a great first drop, particularly from the front row, but the back-to-back corkscrews and other inversions are absolutely horrid. I have found the best chance one has to hold your head all the way to one side of the restraint and try to keep it there the entire ride. It is tough on the neck but is still better than being bounced back and forth.
I would recommend one ride only on Mind Eraser. Any more than that would border on insanity. Of course most people consider coaster enthusiasts crazy anyway.
Date Ridden: Summer of 2008. Times Ridden: 2 including once in a fairly heavy rainstorm.
This may be the smoothest coaster that I have ever ridden. I realize that is a bold statement to make but keep in mind I do have both Apollo's Chariot and Montu in my ride tracker. I am not saying that Steel Force is better, but I do seriously believe that as far as smoothness is concerned this is a world class ride.
Despite (or maybe because of) the smoothness, the detractors of this coaster claim it lacks intensity. I do not really agree with that statement as I think Steel Force has enough elements and forces necessary to produce a well-rounded ride. This ride is much better than its brother Mamba at Worlds of Fun. It is a great out-and-back design with a super first drop, a very fast helix at the turnaround, and a series of bunny hops on the way back that look much better than they actually are.
While the ride is nor perfect, I do feel that, along with Talon, it offers as solid a 1-2 punch of steel coasters as there is in any park. Both are fast, fun, and normally contain very short lines as multiple trains are normally running. I had a blast on both trips to Dorney with my two rides on Steel Force being the highlight of each trip. On the second trip in July, it was the only coaster running in the rain so I'm not sure if they close it down in adverse conditions. Due to these factors, this is a coaster that barely escapes my Top 20 ranking falling somewhere in my Top 25-30 rides. I thoroughly enjoyed it and hope to get back to Dorney Park to get in a few more laps.Steel Force is just a really fun hyper coaster with high re-ride scores.
Date Ridden : 7-7-2007 Times Ridden : 1 (Ridiculous Line)
For its location (Utah....basically the middle of nowhere as far as coasters go),Wicked is a great ride. Upon entering the park we walked on three other coasters in the first 15 minutes and worked our way around to Wicked. For some reason there is a very small queuing section so the line was already backed well out on to the midway. We went ahead and got our ride after about a 45 minute wait as the line moves very quickly. I am seriously glad we did. More on that later.
The ride itself offers no preferential seating as the ride ops make sure very seat is filled. This really does not matter as far as this ride goes as the trains are only two rows with four seats per row. You either get a front or a back seat. I do prefer riding on the end seats on all coasters that have 4-across seating. I got the back row far left seat. The ride turns out of the station into an enclosed section and merely slows down before the "launch" instead of completely stopping. The launch itself was weak which is my main gripe with the ride. It was more of a push up the 105 foot hill instead of an actual launch. I think the top speed on this thing is around 40 MPH and that is on the drop following the launch. I enjoyed my ride as there are some wonderful elements including the heartline roll type inversion that is taken at a slow speed and gives some great hang time. The over banked turns are nice but seem weaker in the short stubby cars.
After hitting 5 of the 7 coasters in the park including the Ace Classic woodie Roller Coaster twice we left the park for a bite of lunch. When we returned it was utter chaos!! I did not expect tiny crowds but the number of people there with their ice chests and, get this, BBQ grills was unfathomable. The water park which is included with park admission was filled to capacity and people were in line waiting to get in it. The river rapids ride wait was over 2 hours. We waited 1 hour each for the two kiddie type coasters so we could have the credits and before we left I wanted one more spin on Wicked. When we walked over i could see the line curling around the midway and out of sight. Based on the 45 minute wait from that morning, I would say it was easily 2 to 3 hours. I never really even saw the end of the line. There were so many people there it was difficult to breath. All of the lines for virtually every attraction had spilled out of the queing areas and people were lumped up all over the place. We decided to head on out toward Roswell where the Alien Convention was in full swing (no I don't believe in ETs by the way). However, after my visit to Lagoon I was about ready to "phone home" and let you guys know to stay away from Lagoon on the weekend following the 4th.
In conclusion, Wicked is a good solid ride, hence the 8 rating, but scores lower in my book than the other new rides of 2007. Its popularity is immense in this part of the country but I don't think Id make a special trip out for this ride only.
Date Ridden: Summer of 2008. Times Ridden: 1 in the front of the train.
My home park of Six Flags Over Georgia contains a wooden coaster by the same name as this ride, so far that reason alone, we decided to make sure we got in at least one lap on this sit-down looper with 7 inversions during out latest trips to New Jersey. While not disappointed (I did not have the highest of expectations), I was not blown away either.
Six Flags Great Adventure boasts some of the top coasters in the world. They have the world's tallest and fastest coaster in Kingda Ka, the # 4 ranked wooden coaster in the world in El Toro, the # 3 ranked steel coaster Nitro, and the GASM which is tied with numerous other coaster for the most inversions this side of Atlantic Ocean.
Make no mistake about it, this is not a comfortable ride. There are some serous forces generated throughout the 7 inversions and the restraints give you a good half dozen bashes to the side of the head. A headache is a distinct possibility so make sure you load up on Advil before riding. Still, there are some positives. Despite being located in one of the busiest parks in North America, the line here is normally very short. If you time it right, you can take your headache medicine, get in line, ride, then by the time the pain begins your medicine is kicking in. That is always an advantage.
On a serious note, it is always fun to ride one of these older coasters that survived the great Inversion War of the late 80's and early 90's as parks battled one another to field the coaster with the most inversions. The GASM has survived and is worth a spin when you visit. Like we said earlier this week, average is not bad.
Welcome to Coaster Reviews! Here you will read detailed descriptions of some of the best (and worst) coasters in the world today.
I'm Shane Tucker, an educator in Summerville, GA and this is the web blog I've been saying I was going to build. Roller coaster riding became an obsession of mine in June 2006. I have since ridden over 400 coasters and hope to share some of my experiences, rides and crazy coaster-related trips with anyone who happens to stumble onto this site.
Please send along any requests (rides, parks, etc.) that you may have or feel free to leave us a comment.
Thanks again and enjoy!!
(Check out my ride list and Top 20 by clicking the picture above.)
The Coaster Reviews Staff
Coaster Reviews Photographer/Editor - Guy Chambless (Check out Guy's Ride List and Top 20 by clicking the picture above.)
Photographer/Significant Other - Julia Beavers (Check out Julia's Ride List and Top 20 by clicking the picture above.)
How Coaster Reviews rates coasters.
When rating coasters, Coaster Reviews uses a very subjective rating scale. Each coaster is rated on many factors but the overall ride experience is weighed the most heavily. While super-smooth coasters such as Apollos' Chariot at Busch Gardens Europe and Montu at Busch Gardens Africa are among the best designed coasters in the world, they do fall short of ride experiences such as the Cyclone at Coney Island. Coasters are given a score between 1 and 10 with 7 being the score of an average adult coaster. Most smaller family coasters will score in the 5 range with junior coasters (I have ridden way too many of these) scoring in the 3 range. Keep in mind, however, a great ride experience can boost a score substantially.
Current Top 20 Coasters
1 - Millennium Force - Cedar Point
2 - The Cyclone - Astroland
3 - The Voyage - Holiday World
4 - El Toro - Six Flags Great Adventure
5 - Superman Ride of Steel - Six Flags New England
6 - Boulder Dash - Lake Compounce
7 - Ravine Flyer II - Waldameer Park
8 - Goliath - Six Flags Over Georgia
9 - Phoenix - Knoebels
10 - Thunderhead - Dollywood
11 - Top Thrill Dragster - Cedar Point
12 - X2 - Magic Mountain
13 - The Raven - Holiday World
14 - Volcano - The Blast Coaster - King's Dominion
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