Roller Coaster fans, post up!

[DocWalt]

I really hope to ride Knoebel's new Flying Turns this year... Otherwise, meh. I've ridden 95% of my local coasters, and all of King's Dominion.

[93STLTH]

Look what we've got in Bowling Green for the 2015 NG!



Might have to make that a side event for the coaster fans.

[IPD]

Eh....if I was in town for NG. I've ridden on better reviewed ones though. Troy in Toverland NL being the most recent. Holiday World has 3 higher ranked wooden coasters, for what it's worth. One of my favorite parks....and highly underrated--since it is really just a humongous water-park with some world-class coasters thrown in for good measure.

[93STLTH]

I'm not saying I would go to Bowling Green just for the coaster, but since we'll be in town for a few days... why not?

[NOMIEZVR4]

thats a nice looking coaster...

BTW I rode X Flight in Six Flags gurnee...it was meh..

Didn't get to ride Goliath..the worlds tallest and fastest wooden coaster right now..

[IPD]

I thoroughally enjoyed The Swarm, which has similar elements to X flight. The first drop is featured only on 3 coasters in the world currently, the 3rd being Gatekeeper.

I'm a huge fan of B&M coasters, especially the era that began with Millennium Force.

P.S.

Goliath SF:Great America is not the tallest wooden coaster. It does have the tallest drop & fastest speed though. The tallest in the world...hopefully I will be riding next week.

Colossos (Heide Park) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Not to be confused with Colossus, which is the 10-inversion steel coaster at Thorpe Park, which is an excellent ride in its own right.

[IPD]

So I'm back from Heide Park. In no particular order:

107. Indy Blitz. 2/10. Kiddie coaster. Nothing special here.

108. GrottenBlitz. 3/10. Kiddie coaster. Slightly better than above.

109. Big Loop. 4/10. Vekoma imitation of an Arrow looping coaster. Similar to Corkscrew at Cedar Point, but slightly rougher.

110. Limit. 5.5/10. Vekoma Invert. I've ridden plenty of these in my day, (Vampire, T2, etc) and this one isn't really any different. Given the choice, stick to B&M inverts. There are rougher Vekoma inverts though, T2 especially.

111. Desert Race. 7/10. Intamin launch coaster. Very similar to Rita at Alton Towers. Very short, if only because it doesn't have the time on the lift hill.

112. Bobben. 8/10. Bobsled coaster. These are getting to be a little bit harder to find (Disaster Transport was scrapped at Cedar Point). Not over-the-top thrilling, but arguably the smoothest I've been on, and fun to ride. I was in the front car, so that could be a factor too.

113. Krake. 8.5/10. About as long as Oblivion, which is disappointingly short. Features a very cool loop over the water, which means if the hang-time on the water is right, you can get the spray from your own train going past. 6-wide, so narrower than the far-superior Shei-Kra & Griffon.

114. Flug Der Damonen. 9/10. Visually, the trains are identical to the ones on The Swarm at Thorpe Park--which is somewhat surprising, even though they are both recently-released winged-coasters. Perhaps that is the default factory adornment...or perhaps Merlin Amusements (who owns both) is cheap. Six-Flags cheap. Anways, not a bad ride. I was 2nd from the back on the right side, and it was a little rough in some sections, which I was NOT expecting for a BRAND NEW 2014 coaster. Most of the ride was very smooth, but those jarring/shaking sections were discomforting to say the least. I still have yet to ride in the front on a winged coaster, thanks to the fuckwad kid (single rider) who decided to claim the lead spot for himself. Fucking 12 year olds.

115. Colossos. 10/10. It is worth your time to go to Heide Park just to ride this coaster. Seriously. Quite possibly the best wooden coaster I've ever ridden. After riding it the 1st time, my wife remarked that she thought it was the best she'd ever ridden (which might be a slight exaggeration, but still...) It's like a wooden version of Apollo's Chariot. It is JUST FREAKING AWESOME. 61 degree drop, and STILL the overall highest wooden coaster in the world. Very, very smooth. Highly recommended.

[IPD]

I saw the ninja-edit, there, Tom. Figure out last-minute that Empire is actually a satire news website?

[IPD]

Well I just read today that Cedar Point is closing the Mantis. Sad, but not unexpected. Like Chang at Kentucky Kingdom (which is now closed, and the coaster is now known as Green Lantern at Six Flags: Great Adventure). It always did make the blood rush to my feet while I was riding it. Compared to other B&M coasters (Raptor, for example), it just couldn't compare. I believe that stand-up coasters are going to die out. I'm actually a bit sadder about what happened to Disaster Transport...since I have always been a big fan of bobsled coasters.

I believe that stand-up, bobsled and suspended coasters will all die out eventually...and that will be a sad day. Fortunately, Iron Dragon is still up and running--my favorite suspended coaster of all time. And while I can mourn the loss of a stand-up, I feel that newer coasters more than make up for the stand-up. Floorless, dive, winged, inverted, etc--all better than stand-up.

I do hope that Cedar Fair can either transfer Mantis to another park, modify it (sit-down trains), or sell it to a park where it will be a welcome addition. B&M's, unlike Vekoma's, shouldn't be put to rest.

[Vantage]

A fire broke out Monday afternoon on the recently closed Colossus, an old-school wooden roller coaster at the Six Flags Magic Mountain amusement park in Valencia (Los Angeles County).

The blaze was reported just after 1:30 p.m., on the Colossus, the Los Angeles Times reported, but was quickly extinguished with no injuries. The ride closed last month after 36 years, and is to be replaced by a hybrid wood-steel ride called Twisted Colossus set to open next year.

Colossus roller coaster catches fire at Six Flags Magic Mountain - SFGate Blog