Might as well join in since I've visited enough parks...
I start my rankings with weaker parks I have visited, ones that are behind in their coaster lineups and that I don't see catching up any time soon. Below this is Adventure Park USA - a family entertainment center, not an amusement park proper.
Nickelodeon Universe
This park is going to be at a great disadvantage, being indoor with no room to expand. On top of that, it is a family park, not a thrill park. That said, SpongeBob and Pepsi Orange Streak are very good. Pepsi Orange Streak may be my favorite Zierer coaster, and I can only imagine how much better it was when it was zooming through the Knott's theming instead of the Nickelodeon theming, which does feel a little incoherent.
Valleyfair
One of the weaker Cedar Fair parks coaster-wise, but it still has a few highlights. Renegade is a top-notch wooden coaster with one of the best first drops around. Wild Thing delivers great floater airtime and is extremely smooth. Steel Venom ran its holding brake when I rode it, setting it above the other impulses. Excalibur is unique, an old school Arrow hybrid with one of the best ejector airtime moments.
Valleyfair needs a modern looper badly, ideally a B&M invert, to round out the lineup. I fear Cedar Fair will ultimately consider this park a "family" park and build only smaller rides like Michigan's Adventure. Until then, SpongeBob over at Nickelodeon Universe is Minnesota's best looping coaster.
Dorney Park
Cedar Point on a small scale. You've got an old woodie, an old-school hyper, an invert, a floorless, and an impulse, so the variety is all there. That said, none of them are really that memorable, save for Talon (the invert, with every maneuver finely executed) and Hydra (with the best pre-lift around, the jojo roll). Steel Force, unlike Wild Thing, did absolutely nothing for me upon my first rides. Looking back, though, Steel Force has a superior setting, as Valleyfair is pretty much flat land.
An RMC topper track woodie would be ideal, filling the looper role Laser left behind and the intense woodie role Hercules ultimately failed at filling, but I don't see Cedar Fair investing that kind of money here. Would be happy with a more intense GCI along the lines of Renegade, leaving Thunderhawk to fill the family woodie role like High Roller.
Six Flags America
What sets Six Flags America's coaster lineup above the above three is the quality of what they have. The Wild One and Roar are well cared for, especially for a corporate park. Superman: Ride of Steel has some excellent moments of floater and ejector airtime, and Batwing is superior to a Superman Ultimate Flight clone. In the supporting lineup, Apocalypse has historic value as B&M's first roller coaster, and Joker's Jinx takes its second half much better than Flight of Fear thanks to the lack of the MCBR. I guess Ragin' Cajun serves as the middle ground between the kiddie and the woodies.
Still, Six Flags America would greatly benefit from an RMC Raptor, Gerstlauer Euro-Fighter (Dare Devil Dive as our next hand-me-down, please?), or simply a floorless conversion of Apocalypse. Roar runs really well, and it would be a loss to RMC it after they put so much care into it. I say these three options because I doubt Six Flags would invest that much into this park.
Here we get into the better parks...
Knott's Berry Farm
As this park is in competition with Disneyland, the focus is on theming more than thrills. They have a lot of family coasters, thankfully all solid, with Jaguar being the standout among them taking you through the loop of Montezooma's Revenge. As for the adult coasters, Xcelerator has the best launch I have experienced (though it doesn't do much after that), GhostRider may be California's best wooden coaster with a very long and wild ride, Silver Bullet has the best ending on a B&M invert I have ridden, and Montezooma's Revenge is the classic shuttle loop.
HangTime will be a great addition next year, a more than worthy successor to Boomerang and Corkscrew before it.
Six Flags Over Georgia
Another park that relies on a well-rounded lineup over having a few star coasters. Goliath uses the terrain masterfully, though it is marred by roughness. Mindbender is a timeless terrain looper, possibly better than the Loch Ness Monster. As the original installation, Superman: Ultimate Flight is well-landscaped, placing it above its clones. Being a bigger Six Flags park, Batman is there to round things out. Georgia Scorcher is one of the better stand-ups, relatively forceless, but which translates into a painless ride for a stand-up. Dare Devil Dive is a very good Euro-Fighter, but capacity is terrible for a park of this attendance.
Twisted Cyclone looks to be a great addition to the lineup, however short and small it is, and hopefully this also means the Great American Scream Machine gets all the wood maintenance to itself. Such potential, especially with the buzz bar restraints, and then it's in such rough shape.
Carowinds
Fury 325 and Afterburn are world-class. Fury has a view of the Charlotte skyline to the left as you ascend the lift hill, the honor of crossing state lines, and an unmatched sense of speed. Afterburn is a masterpiece invert, the pacing relentless, the batwing being superior to any cobra roll, and the last corkscrew giving an unreal whip. Intimidator is a solid hyper, my ride on it was nowhere near the overtrimmed dud I was expecting. After that, the lineup is okay at best. Nighthawk is well-landscaped, but rough and slow-loading. Carolina Cyclone has minor historical value as the first four-inversion coaster. Props to Carolina Goldrusher for actually having wood supports like the mine trains I see in the roller coaster games. Vortex is an okay stand-up, not as painful as Apocalypse and Green Lantern.
Carowinds desperately needs a great wooden or launch coaster to round out the coaster lineup and join the elite. Hurler is down there with High Roller and Thunderhawk in regards to wooden coasters - very tame, not much of a step up from Woodstock Express. Their only launch coaster has long since left for South Africa.
Busch Gardens Williamsburg
This park leads with a trio of excellent B&Ms. Alpengeist has the best theming and landscaping on any invert, enough to make up for its rough edges. Apollo's Chariot uses the terrain very well and has a great sense of speed, and Griffon delivers a great visual and psychological experience, on top of having a stunning presence. Loch Ness Monster is one of the best Arrows around, and InvadR is a finely balanced family woodie, performing GCI's twists and turns on a smaller scale. Tempesto is really fun, with the hangtime at the top, but the capacity is pitiful and generates lines longer than warranted.
Eagerly awaiting 2019 for the rumors of the next heavy-hitting coaster. Also would love to see another family coaster. Verbolten is the dud, a watered-down blitz coaster with a lame show building. Eh, it's the only blitz-style coaster in the Mid-Atlantic.
Kings Dominion
Intimidator 305 is my number one coaster. The cable lift flings you into a grand freefall drop into a course that delivers not only a sense of speed, but power. Volcano has one of my favorite launches, enough to make up for the short ride experience. Dominator has a sense of speed most loopers lack. The Grizzly has an excellent setting and a classic layout, delivering one of my favorite night rides. Rebel Yell is a landmark ride with a great view, and Avalanche is a unique family coaster, the only Mack bobsled in the US.
The conversion of Hurler into Twisted Timbers will catapult Kings Dominion into the elite of coaster parks.
And here, we have the elite parks.
Knoebels
Knoebels leads with two gold standard woodies - Phoenix with unmatched (and minimally restrained) airtime, and Twister with powerful laterals and positive G's. Both are meticulously cared for. Flying Turns is absolutely unique, buttery smooth yet out-of-control unlike fellow bobsled Avalanche. Impulse is Zierer's take on the Euro-Fighter, better than the real Euro-Fighters. Black Diamond is a change of pace - part dark ride and part coaster, I'm still counting it as a credit since RCDB does. Even Kozmo's Kurves is a bigger "kiddie" coaster than most kiddies. Not being a corporate park is a virtue here, because otherwise Phoenix would be like Wolverine Wildcat (which I have yet to ride and will not go out of my way to do so) - trimmed and with all restraints.
I don't think I could see any major new coasters added. After they revived the wooden bobsled with Flying Turns, I'd like to see them take on the wooden wild mouse next...
Six Flags Great Adventure
Great Adventure brings the heavy hitters. Kingda Ka is worth a mention just for the bragging rights. El Toro is the modern mega woodie, combining a sense of grandeur in the first half with the out-of-control feeling in the second half, all with Intamin ejector airtime, and all as smooth as wood gets thanks to Great Adventure giving it the care it deserves. Bizarro still sets the bar for the floorless coaster (and Scream is just a sad clone). Nitro is a top-class hyper, with a layout that gives you everything - a mighty drop, strong airtime hills, a great turnaround, and a powerful helix. Green Lantern has a powerful layout, probably too powerful to take standing. Their Batman installation was one of the earliest.
The family lineup is also pretty good, with Harley Quinn's Crazy Train, Runaway Mine Train, Skull Mountain, and The Dark Knight.
Can't really ask for much more. Possibly another launch coaster to complement Kingda Ka. Ideally racing/dueling/otherwise interacting like the long-defunct Lightnin' Loops and Chiller.
Hersheypark
An unbeatable trio of Intamins cements Hersheypark among the elite. Storm Runner is my top launch coaster, combining an explosive launch with some great inversions. Skyrush has the most violent ejector airtime, for better or worse (I err on the side of "better"). Fahrenheit is a step up from the Euro-Fighter style, as the beyond-vertical drop is big enough to really matter and the Norwegian loop is my single favorite inversion. Then, Lightning Racer's fly-bys alone make it a top woodie. Great Bear may be a weaker invert in my book, but its layout is unique. Their family lineup is also excellent, led by old-school woodie Comet and old-school looper sooperdooperLooper.
Weak spots? Wildcat is just okay. Though it is GCI's debut, it is completely outclassed by Lightning Racer just nearby (and Roar at Six Flags America while I'm at it is similar and in better condition). Ideally, RMC should come for it, add a little height, and retheme it to Twizzlers.
Six Flags Magic Mountain
Yes, Magic Mountain may be deficient in other areas (atmosphere and flat rides), and their coaster lineup may stink of quantity over quality in some places, but the quantity alone is unbeatable, and the quality rides are all top-shelf. X2 pushes the limits of intensity, only matched by Intimidator 305 and Skyrush. Tatsu and Riddler's Revenge are the gold standards of flying and stand-up coasters respectively. Twisted Colossus delivers a marathon ride packed with RMC's signature ejector airtime, sometimes topped off by dueling or chasing trains. Revolution is an iconic looper tucked perfectly into the hills (shame that they threw away that view when they slapped on the VR), and Viper is another iconic looper (albeit really rough by modern standards). Ninja is a masterpiece suspended, with a superior terrain layout and the speed needed to get it swinging. Full Throttle has unreal hangtime inside that loop.
Still, no park is perfect, and Magic Mountain has a few duds. Goliath is an absolutely dreadful hyper, weak until that final helix. Apocalypse is just average for a woodie, though it is themed well enough. Green Lantern left me seeing stars.
I start my rankings with weaker parks I have visited, ones that are behind in their coaster lineups and that I don't see catching up any time soon. Below this is Adventure Park USA - a family entertainment center, not an amusement park proper.
Nickelodeon Universe
This park is going to be at a great disadvantage, being indoor with no room to expand. On top of that, it is a family park, not a thrill park. That said, SpongeBob and Pepsi Orange Streak are very good. Pepsi Orange Streak may be my favorite Zierer coaster, and I can only imagine how much better it was when it was zooming through the Knott's theming instead of the Nickelodeon theming, which does feel a little incoherent.
Valleyfair
One of the weaker Cedar Fair parks coaster-wise, but it still has a few highlights. Renegade is a top-notch wooden coaster with one of the best first drops around. Wild Thing delivers great floater airtime and is extremely smooth. Steel Venom ran its holding brake when I rode it, setting it above the other impulses. Excalibur is unique, an old school Arrow hybrid with one of the best ejector airtime moments.
Valleyfair needs a modern looper badly, ideally a B&M invert, to round out the lineup. I fear Cedar Fair will ultimately consider this park a "family" park and build only smaller rides like Michigan's Adventure. Until then, SpongeBob over at Nickelodeon Universe is Minnesota's best looping coaster.
Dorney Park
Cedar Point on a small scale. You've got an old woodie, an old-school hyper, an invert, a floorless, and an impulse, so the variety is all there. That said, none of them are really that memorable, save for Talon (the invert, with every maneuver finely executed) and Hydra (with the best pre-lift around, the jojo roll). Steel Force, unlike Wild Thing, did absolutely nothing for me upon my first rides. Looking back, though, Steel Force has a superior setting, as Valleyfair is pretty much flat land.
An RMC topper track woodie would be ideal, filling the looper role Laser left behind and the intense woodie role Hercules ultimately failed at filling, but I don't see Cedar Fair investing that kind of money here. Would be happy with a more intense GCI along the lines of Renegade, leaving Thunderhawk to fill the family woodie role like High Roller.
Six Flags America
What sets Six Flags America's coaster lineup above the above three is the quality of what they have. The Wild One and Roar are well cared for, especially for a corporate park. Superman: Ride of Steel has some excellent moments of floater and ejector airtime, and Batwing is superior to a Superman Ultimate Flight clone. In the supporting lineup, Apocalypse has historic value as B&M's first roller coaster, and Joker's Jinx takes its second half much better than Flight of Fear thanks to the lack of the MCBR. I guess Ragin' Cajun serves as the middle ground between the kiddie and the woodies.
Still, Six Flags America would greatly benefit from an RMC Raptor, Gerstlauer Euro-Fighter (Dare Devil Dive as our next hand-me-down, please?), or simply a floorless conversion of Apocalypse. Roar runs really well, and it would be a loss to RMC it after they put so much care into it. I say these three options because I doubt Six Flags would invest that much into this park.
Here we get into the better parks...
Knott's Berry Farm
As this park is in competition with Disneyland, the focus is on theming more than thrills. They have a lot of family coasters, thankfully all solid, with Jaguar being the standout among them taking you through the loop of Montezooma's Revenge. As for the adult coasters, Xcelerator has the best launch I have experienced (though it doesn't do much after that), GhostRider may be California's best wooden coaster with a very long and wild ride, Silver Bullet has the best ending on a B&M invert I have ridden, and Montezooma's Revenge is the classic shuttle loop.
HangTime will be a great addition next year, a more than worthy successor to Boomerang and Corkscrew before it.
Six Flags Over Georgia
Another park that relies on a well-rounded lineup over having a few star coasters. Goliath uses the terrain masterfully, though it is marred by roughness. Mindbender is a timeless terrain looper, possibly better than the Loch Ness Monster. As the original installation, Superman: Ultimate Flight is well-landscaped, placing it above its clones. Being a bigger Six Flags park, Batman is there to round things out. Georgia Scorcher is one of the better stand-ups, relatively forceless, but which translates into a painless ride for a stand-up. Dare Devil Dive is a very good Euro-Fighter, but capacity is terrible for a park of this attendance.
Twisted Cyclone looks to be a great addition to the lineup, however short and small it is, and hopefully this also means the Great American Scream Machine gets all the wood maintenance to itself. Such potential, especially with the buzz bar restraints, and then it's in such rough shape.
Carowinds
Fury 325 and Afterburn are world-class. Fury has a view of the Charlotte skyline to the left as you ascend the lift hill, the honor of crossing state lines, and an unmatched sense of speed. Afterburn is a masterpiece invert, the pacing relentless, the batwing being superior to any cobra roll, and the last corkscrew giving an unreal whip. Intimidator is a solid hyper, my ride on it was nowhere near the overtrimmed dud I was expecting. After that, the lineup is okay at best. Nighthawk is well-landscaped, but rough and slow-loading. Carolina Cyclone has minor historical value as the first four-inversion coaster. Props to Carolina Goldrusher for actually having wood supports like the mine trains I see in the roller coaster games. Vortex is an okay stand-up, not as painful as Apocalypse and Green Lantern.
Carowinds desperately needs a great wooden or launch coaster to round out the coaster lineup and join the elite. Hurler is down there with High Roller and Thunderhawk in regards to wooden coasters - very tame, not much of a step up from Woodstock Express. Their only launch coaster has long since left for South Africa.
Busch Gardens Williamsburg
This park leads with a trio of excellent B&Ms. Alpengeist has the best theming and landscaping on any invert, enough to make up for its rough edges. Apollo's Chariot uses the terrain very well and has a great sense of speed, and Griffon delivers a great visual and psychological experience, on top of having a stunning presence. Loch Ness Monster is one of the best Arrows around, and InvadR is a finely balanced family woodie, performing GCI's twists and turns on a smaller scale. Tempesto is really fun, with the hangtime at the top, but the capacity is pitiful and generates lines longer than warranted.
Eagerly awaiting 2019 for the rumors of the next heavy-hitting coaster. Also would love to see another family coaster. Verbolten is the dud, a watered-down blitz coaster with a lame show building. Eh, it's the only blitz-style coaster in the Mid-Atlantic.
Kings Dominion
Intimidator 305 is my number one coaster. The cable lift flings you into a grand freefall drop into a course that delivers not only a sense of speed, but power. Volcano has one of my favorite launches, enough to make up for the short ride experience. Dominator has a sense of speed most loopers lack. The Grizzly has an excellent setting and a classic layout, delivering one of my favorite night rides. Rebel Yell is a landmark ride with a great view, and Avalanche is a unique family coaster, the only Mack bobsled in the US.
The conversion of Hurler into Twisted Timbers will catapult Kings Dominion into the elite of coaster parks.
And here, we have the elite parks.
Knoebels
Knoebels leads with two gold standard woodies - Phoenix with unmatched (and minimally restrained) airtime, and Twister with powerful laterals and positive G's. Both are meticulously cared for. Flying Turns is absolutely unique, buttery smooth yet out-of-control unlike fellow bobsled Avalanche. Impulse is Zierer's take on the Euro-Fighter, better than the real Euro-Fighters. Black Diamond is a change of pace - part dark ride and part coaster, I'm still counting it as a credit since RCDB does. Even Kozmo's Kurves is a bigger "kiddie" coaster than most kiddies. Not being a corporate park is a virtue here, because otherwise Phoenix would be like Wolverine Wildcat (which I have yet to ride and will not go out of my way to do so) - trimmed and with all restraints.
I don't think I could see any major new coasters added. After they revived the wooden bobsled with Flying Turns, I'd like to see them take on the wooden wild mouse next...
Six Flags Great Adventure
Great Adventure brings the heavy hitters. Kingda Ka is worth a mention just for the bragging rights. El Toro is the modern mega woodie, combining a sense of grandeur in the first half with the out-of-control feeling in the second half, all with Intamin ejector airtime, and all as smooth as wood gets thanks to Great Adventure giving it the care it deserves. Bizarro still sets the bar for the floorless coaster (and Scream is just a sad clone). Nitro is a top-class hyper, with a layout that gives you everything - a mighty drop, strong airtime hills, a great turnaround, and a powerful helix. Green Lantern has a powerful layout, probably too powerful to take standing. Their Batman installation was one of the earliest.
The family lineup is also pretty good, with Harley Quinn's Crazy Train, Runaway Mine Train, Skull Mountain, and The Dark Knight.
Can't really ask for much more. Possibly another launch coaster to complement Kingda Ka. Ideally racing/dueling/otherwise interacting like the long-defunct Lightnin' Loops and Chiller.
Hersheypark
An unbeatable trio of Intamins cements Hersheypark among the elite. Storm Runner is my top launch coaster, combining an explosive launch with some great inversions. Skyrush has the most violent ejector airtime, for better or worse (I err on the side of "better"). Fahrenheit is a step up from the Euro-Fighter style, as the beyond-vertical drop is big enough to really matter and the Norwegian loop is my single favorite inversion. Then, Lightning Racer's fly-bys alone make it a top woodie. Great Bear may be a weaker invert in my book, but its layout is unique. Their family lineup is also excellent, led by old-school woodie Comet and old-school looper sooperdooperLooper.
Weak spots? Wildcat is just okay. Though it is GCI's debut, it is completely outclassed by Lightning Racer just nearby (and Roar at Six Flags America while I'm at it is similar and in better condition). Ideally, RMC should come for it, add a little height, and retheme it to Twizzlers.
Six Flags Magic Mountain
Yes, Magic Mountain may be deficient in other areas (atmosphere and flat rides), and their coaster lineup may stink of quantity over quality in some places, but the quantity alone is unbeatable, and the quality rides are all top-shelf. X2 pushes the limits of intensity, only matched by Intimidator 305 and Skyrush. Tatsu and Riddler's Revenge are the gold standards of flying and stand-up coasters respectively. Twisted Colossus delivers a marathon ride packed with RMC's signature ejector airtime, sometimes topped off by dueling or chasing trains. Revolution is an iconic looper tucked perfectly into the hills (shame that they threw away that view when they slapped on the VR), and Viper is another iconic looper (albeit really rough by modern standards). Ninja is a masterpiece suspended, with a superior terrain layout and the speed needed to get it swinging. Full Throttle has unreal hangtime inside that loop.
Still, no park is perfect, and Magic Mountain has a few duds. Goliath is an absolutely dreadful hyper, weak until that final helix. Apocalypse is just average for a woodie, though it is themed well enough. Green Lantern left me seeing stars.
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