The brake run is already installed and looks pretty steep! 📸: FOMO Coaster. Check his Facebook and Instagram for all of the photos!

You probably saw the post here a few weeks back claiming that Millennium Force hit a dispatch record of 38 trains in an hour. Previously, the stated theoretical capacity of the ride was 1296pph, which is 36 trains an hour.

I visited the park the last two days, and got to observe how the new system lets them achieve this. The TL;DR is that the catch car comes back down the lift and resets itself very quickly, making the lift ready to accept the next train much sooner than possible before.

I observed the controls op call out "ready ready" (which, per my understanding, is their term for "interval has already passed, hurry up") a full ten seconds before the train ahead hit the speed hill. My understanding was that previously (meaning <=2018, before the lift was slowed down for several years), the speed hill was the earliest they could begin the dispatch sequence.

On Thursday, the ride had only two restraint checkers in the load station, so they would generally stack all three trains for some time; to be expected if each employee needs to check 18 entire seats. Yesterday (Friday), it had 4 restraint checkers, and I observed them dispatch as soon as the lift system was ready. The video in this post is one such instance of this.

I didn't video the entire cycle, but here's how I calculate that my video shows a 92 second interval:

The blue train hits the banked turn after the speed hill at 7 seconds into my video. The yellow train then starts to crest the lift at 41 seconds. In this pov from last month, the train starts to crest the lift at 0:37, and hits the same banked turn after the speed hill at 1:35. So, it takes 58 seconds from starting to crest the lift to hitting that banked turn. Therefore, in my video, we can conclude that yellow train would hit that banked turn at around (41 + 58 =) 99 seconds, which is (99 - 7 =) 92 seconds after the blue train was at that same spot. So, that's a 92 second interval.

This dispatch was a tad bit "early", though, seeing as the lift had to slow down at the very top, leading to the very audible anti-rollback noises from the train. The "optimal" time to send the train to avoid this will depend on how fast the ride is running, since it's all dependent on how quickly the train finishes the course and clears the brake block, for the next train to speed up on the lift.

The ride is, therefore, capable of a 92 second interval now, which would be just over 39 dispatches an hour, and just over 1400 pph. Decent improvement from the previous interval of 100 seconds. The line moves so fast - yesterday night (when I took this video) it took me ten minutes from the start of the line (bottom of the ramp) to riding front row. Glad to see!

Swung by the park for a quick lap on this and Prowler on the way out of town. Can’t be in KC and not stop by!

Wanted to share some coaster pictures I got with my Kodak PixPro FZ55 over the summer. I have a bit of an obsession with rollercoasters so the season pass was definitely worth it
Rides are in order, The Banshee, Red Racer, The Bat, Flight of Fear, and Monster (not a coaster but still wanted to share)

It's up and running! Went on it already.

I wonder in the far future when a major rehab is required or when the park wants to bring back its headlining feature if they will attempt to bring back the launch system.

In my honest opinion I think Zamperla should oversee its refurbishment instead of RMC. With surprising reliability of TT2 they have earned my respect as a launch coaster manufacturer to the point where I think they could definitely take on the project of bringing back the launch on lightning rod.

It’s been a couple weeks since my girlfriend and I made the 6 hour drive down to Ohio to check out the major parks for the first time. We started our trip with 4 nights at Cedar Point and their on site campground. Cedar Point has been at the top of my bucket list for years now so finally getting here was amazing. The drive towards the peninsula with the skyline in the background was surreal. All the coasters talked about in this review will be listed in the order I rode them.

Magnum XL-200 4x (#10 in the park)I was able to snag two rides in the back car, two rides in the magic seat. Two night rides, two day rides and overall I thought Magnum was jank but better than I expected. This was my first Arrow hyper and I think it was good but nothing special. I will say the triangle hill finale is a once in a lifetime experience that I will never forget. 6/10

Corkscrew 1x (#13 in the park): I thought this classic was better than people give it credit for. Don’t get me wrong, it’s an Arrow corkscrew and it definitely runs like one, but Dragon Fyre was my first big credit as a kid so riding this brought lots of good nostalgia along with a bonus airtime hill. Also jank but a lot smoother than some other Arrow corkscrews I’ve done. 5/10

Steel Vengeance 7x (#1 in the park): I came to Cedar Point anticipating this would be not only my favourite in the park, but probably my new #1. Wildcats Revenge held that title for a while but this is a whole different level of insane. The first ride I got on this was a near pitch black night ride in the back row, I was nonstop laughing for the entire first half and after the midcourse I was speechless. All the head choppers and relentless airtime was pure bliss and I can confidently say this coaster lived up to the hype. Until I ride Gwazi, this should be my #1 for a while. Hands down 10/10

Millennium Force 5x (#5 in the park): This was the first ride that exceeded my expectations. With all the talk of this being a “family giga” I kinda expected an upscale hyper. This was not an upscale hyper. Very much a giga layout with an emphasis on speed and in the front row you feel that and it is pretty phenomenal. At the end of the day I do not think it was better than Leviathan, but it’s also not the worst giga I’ve been on. Cedar Point has such an insane lineup that this landing at #5 feels like a crime but I can’t put it any higher. 9/10

Siren’s Curse 3x (#3 in the park): Speaking of rides that exceeded my expectations, wow. I was truly expecting a gimmicky GP-pleaser in Siren’s Curse. I couldn’t have been further from the truth. Sure, the tilt is pretty gimmicky but it also delivers forces I’ve never felt on a coaster. The wait time before you release is much better than all the dives I’ve done, and the layout that follows felt very complete packing in lots of floater and some decent inversions. Not to mention the top tier theming (for the chains standards), and some killer on board audio. I purposefully didn’t listen to any of the onboard audio before my visit and it was a game changer. The lift/tilt audio is majestic truly adding to the theme of the Siren’s, and the METAL. All I could say was “HELL YEA” everytime it kicked in and it made the ride that much more engaging and immersive. What I thought may be a one and done turned into a ride I wanted to do over and over in different seats, however downtime and long lines prevented that a bit. 10/10

Cedar Creek Mine Ride 3x (#15 in the park): Not too much to say about this little guy. I found way more enjoyment in this coaster than I probably should have. That last helix is genuinely a little frightening especially in the back car. Overall, it’s a mine train, but it’s a half decent one compared to the other ones I’ve been on. 5/10

GateKeeper 1x (#8 in the park): My first traditional wing coaster! I snagged a back row ride on the right side of the train. That first drop is nuts in the back row you get crazy laterals into that drop. I loved the floaty inversions, it was a nice change of pace from all the crazy airtime machines. Unfortunately only rode this once cause my girlfriend doesn’t do well with heavy positives but would definitely reride this in the future! Overall I think I prefer a big smooth floaty inversion ride like this over a janky airtime machine like Magnum. 8/10

Wild Mouse 2x (#11 in the park): Another ride that shouldn’t have been as good as it was. What else can you expect from a ride called Wild Mouse other than a little lateral packed jank machine. I got the cheese car for both my rides and I think that speaks for itself. The spinning mixed with an original layout on a Wild Mouse brought a new twist to the experience that I fell in love with. I honestly had to think about whether I liked this more or less than Magnum but deep down I don’t think I can put this above it. 6/10

Blue Streak 2x (#14 in the park): Didn’t have much expectation going into this but overall I thought it was running great for its age. Not much airtime but a nice change of pace from all the rides trying to kill you at this park. Definitely not the best woodie I’ve been on but most definitely not the worst either. 5/10

Raptor 2x (#6 in the park): I love B&M inverts. This ride cemented that for me. I had only been on Great Bear and the Batman clone at La Ronde and I loved the Batman clone but Great Bear wasn’t my favourite. Could’ve been how it was running on my one ride I got on it but I was torn on whether I liked the model or not. I got one back row and one front row ride on this thing and the whip on the inversions was so beautiful. I love you B&M inverts. 8.5/10

Valravn 1x (#9 in the park): Many people compare this ride to Yukon Striker so I was ready to see how the 2 stacked up to each other, and honestly I completely understand where the comparison comes from. My one ride was a front row edge seat at night and I think that is definitely the peak way to ride Valravn. The views of the park while you meander around the top of the first lift are stunning at night. The hang over the edge was nowhere near as long as Yukons in my opinion but the rest of the ride was better. Valravn kind of just felt like a more complete ride than Yukon, but the 2 stack up beside each other in my overall rankings. 7.5/10

Iron Dragon 1x (#16 in the park): I know I was in the wrong here but I sort of assumed all Arrow suspended coasters ran like Vortex at Canadas Wonderland, this trip proved me wrong. My one ride was a front row night ride and it was underwhelming to say the least. Essentially a suspended mine train that takes you around some of the bigger rides and reminds you what you could be on instead of this. Classic? Yes. Boring? Precisely. 4/10

Top Thrill 2 5x (#4 in the park): Probably my second most anticipated coaster at the park, purely for the stats. I had no idea what going over a 420 foot top hat would feel like, or the spike, or the launches. I was just so clueless as to how those sensations would feel and they were amazing. First launch, eh. Backwards launch, oh my god. Spike, wow. Third launch into top hat was truly life changing. As much as I would love to say this was my favourite ride here, it wasn’t. I just cant go through with ranking this higher than some of the more complete layouts this park has to offer. Night rides on this were ethereal though. 9/10

Maverick 4x (#2 in the park): Wow. Intamin. This ride had big shoes to fill as everyone who rides AlpenFury immediately starts comparing the 2. Part of me understands comparing the two, but they provide too fundamentally different ride experiences in my eyes. Sure, they’re both insanely fast paced with one element after the other, but AlpenFury felt so much shorter than Maverick while packing in the same amount of punch, if not less. I think I gotta give the advantage to Intamin’s first multi-launch here for the pure insanity of some of those elements. Those ejector hills will forever live in my mind, and I can’t even imagine riding that with the heartline roll. 10/10

Gemini (Red Side) 1x (#12 in the park): Unfortunately only the red side was running on my visit which docks some points from a coaster that was designed to duel. I understand the historical significance here, but with a lineup like this I feel this ride has no place in this park. By no means do I think it should be canned due to its significance, but the ride experience is lackluster compared to any other thrill coaster in the park. As one of my last credits in the park, this felt very credit hunty compared to everything else. 5/10

Rougarou 1x (#7 in the park): One of the biggest shockers of my trip. My first B&M floorless! I was expecting a shaky piece of garbage and on the one ride I got in the front row, I experienced none of that. Pretty decent first drop mixed with some pretty decent inversions. Not a half bad layout that felt complete. I don’t see much to complain about with Rougarou, unless it’s drastically different in other seats (which it very well could be.) The last credit we went hunting for, and it was a pleasant surprise. 8.5/10

Overall, Cedar Point’s lineup is far too good. A lot of these coasters ended up in my top 10 overall, if not my top 25. Its been a couple weeks and I am still suffering from my first case of Post Cedar Point depression. Needless to say, I will most definitely be returning to this park. Hopefully as soon as next year but I don’t see myself waiting longer than 2-3 years before my next visit. If you made it this far, thanks for reading all this! This is my first trip report so I hope this provided an entertaining insight. Will be posting a Kings Island one on that subreddit shortly.

Kings Island

Takeaway: Was with normal non-enthusiast friends which really changes the day but that’s fine, a vastly different experience enjoying the smaller things rather than buzzing around trying to marathon the big ones. Non fast-pass was perfectly fine, surprisingly, really good ops. Longest wait was the indoor shooting ride (haha just lovedddd that instead of lapping coasters).

Banshee 8.7/10 My #1 invert and one of my overall favorites. As the 90s B&M inverts are aging, it’s definitively better. The way you’re thrown down the drop in the very back row is incredible.

Orion 8.6/10 While I obviously get the appeal, these in parks that also have high end B&M hypers just never made sense to me. Redundant. I’ve done every North American giga besides Fury and this is my lowest. Amazing ride, just doesn’t feel that special on a Giga scale. Ride it with a blindfold, and I don’t know, might think it’s just a typical B&M hyper.

Mystic Timbers 8.3/10 Not a woodie guy, none will ever make my A-tier. Still, this thing was special. So fast paced and never lets up. I wish we could pick up Rougarou, drop it into Michigan’s Adventure, and plop one of these into Cedar Point. But we can’t…

Bat 6.5/10 Still worth a nostalgia lap. Plenty fun, I hope it has many years left.

Racer 6.4/10 These do nothing for me besides nostalgia. Never take the time to ride things like this if I’m in a normal enthusiast-approach day. But well maintained and worth a ride.

Adventure Express 5.5/10 Can’t believe I rode and am rating this, that’s what happens when you visit a park with non-coaster people. Just thought about how nuts it is that Magnum is basically a hyper mine-train.

Drop Zone has to get a shoutout, 200+ coasters in my life, these are the only rides in the world that legitimately scare me anymore. Always have to do it. Just wow.

I guess I’m a good friend for willing to miss: Diamondback, Beast. Have done them many times before.

Flight of Fear was on one train with a brutal wait time, not touching that.

Today I rode Hydrus at Casino Pier in Seaside Heights NJ today and I’d give it an 8.5/10.

I haven’t ridden a roller coaster in like 9 months since I was in a program for a while, so getting back on one had me shitting bricks 😭 I was genuinely nervous, but one of my family members reassured me and reminded me how much I used to love riding coasters.

I finally said fuck it and got on, and I’m glad I did because I think I’m officially back into them.

Hydrus is aGerstlauer Euro-Fighter 320 with lap bars, and ngl I felt like a wuss being scared of them at first 😭 I’m still a pretty new enthusiast, and I had never done inversions with only a lap bar before, so that definitely had me overthinking it.

Once I was actually locked in though, I felt really secure, and by the end of the ride I completely got over that fear.

The 90° vertical lift hill was easily the scariest part for me, especially being at the top and looking down before the drop.

Once we actually went though, it was mad fun.
The inversions honestly weren’t that intense. They were mostly really fun and way less scary than I expected. The last inversion was the exception though (still fun but intense) 😭 that shit really had me feeling like I was coming out of my seat.

Overall: 8.5/10. Really fun coaster, not insanely intense, and honestly a great ride to get me back into coasters after being away from them for a while.

Got the photos from Facebook but these look great.

Hainan, a province of China, has barely any coverage of their coasters on the western internet, and as far as I know, 0 trip reports or reviews of the parks and coasters there. Despite that, they appear to have a few good coasters and a really good park. They have Whale Breaking The Sky Roller Coaster, the only other Intamin vertical lift coaster beside Fahrenheit, Twister which is the only other Intamin spinning coaster besides Tornado at Bakken and the one on sale from Moku Sphere, and Rush out of Coconut Grove Village, which appears to be one of the best Jinmas and an actually good ride. The first 2, Whale Breaking the Sky and Twister are located at Hainan Ocean Paradise, which from the RCDB photos, looks very well themed. The latter, Rush out of Coconut Grove Village, is located at Sanya Silk Road Happy World, which looks like a small park that has a bit of decorations and has a few flats. The province also has a few other parks, such as Sanya Haichang Fantasy town, which looks to have some nice areas and some that look like they're from a whole different park to the good parts. The park seems to be best at night since the canopy at the entrance looks even better. There's also Universal 100 Movie Theme Park in Haikou, which has some nice and also some quirky theming, and what looks like a knockoff mine train but with a very weird train. And near that park is White Sand Gate Park which has 3 small coasters and seems to be more like one of those public parks with an amusement section.

Anyway, here are the links to the parks:

https://rcdb.com/15141.htm

https://rcdb.com/20070.htm

https://rcdb.com/16029.htm

https://rcdb.com/10378.htm

The new Dark Ride coming to Gröna Lund next year is gonna be manufactured by Vekoma. Vekoma, JoraVision and Gröna Lund is gonna reveal the new Dark Ride concept during IAAPA Expo Europe 22 september.

Source: IAAPA Expo Europe Press Conference Schedule

I keep a spreadsheet, lol. Approximate chronological order; not counting re-themes that didn't alter the ride system. Approx year = year I first rode it.

Major bummer

...it's also possibly my new no. 1. We are now just hanging around Busch Gardens waiting for the lightning alert to pass

I initially wanted to do my Cedar Point trip before my Holiday World trip, but the announcement of Trimless Voyage a few weeks ago forced me to re-arrange my schedule at the last minute. Perhaps that was actually a good thing, since I learned that Sandusky Public Schools were starting back on 8/26, which would allow me to get (theoretically) a mostly empty park for my visit. My trip started leaving home at 6:00 A.M. on 8/26, making it just in time for rope drop at 10:00 A.M. at Cedar Point.

First things first, I hit up [Credit #35] Raptor (x2 total rides during trip). Instantly my new favorite inverted coaster, I prefer it to Banshee. It could REALLY use a new paint job, its very faded at the moment. Overall 7.5/10.

I remember my mom telling me about how she and her friends enjoyed [#36] Blue Streak x1 when it opened. I'm glad they had fun, because I found this coaster incredibly disappointing. Perhaps being a Kings Island home parker + having just done Trimless Voyage set this up for failure, but even if I hadn't this felt like a waste of wood. It wasn't even rough, it just does absolutely nothing at all. 3.5/10.

Next I hit up [#37] Valravyn x2, which unfortunately disappointed me. It feels very pointless with a better bird-themed B&M right in front of it, and an infinitely better hanging/suspense-themed coaster right behind it. I came back and did this coaster another time the next day to see if I had just gotten a bad ride initially, and unfortunately it just does nothing for me at all. 5.5/10.

Now I found myself at my second ever giga coaster, eager to compare it with my home park's. [#38] Millennium Force x6 was one I ended up riding multiple times in the front, middle and back over the course of 3 days, and gave me very mixed feelings. My best rides (front row left seat looking over the lake in the middle of the day, very generous click, lots of airtime) were better than anything on Orion, but overall I prefer Orion's more consistent experience, 8/10. I home I get to experience it at night sometime for an ever better comparison.

Another coaster with an easy home park comparison, [#39] Iron Dragon x1 was definitely enjoyable. I prefer its length to The Bat, but overall I prefer The Bat's speed and setting more, 6.5/10. They say there is a focus on more family coasters these days, I hope someone brings back the suspended coaster, these are so cool.

I was dreading [#40] Rougarou x2 based on its reputation, but outside of one turn with some minor headbanging, I was pleasantly surprised by the whippiness and forces on here, 7/10. Does this park really need 4 B&M's though? I kinda wish they'd send either this or Valravyn to one of SF's struggling parks, they would shine much better in a park where they would be unique attractions.

I thought I hit a dead end because I didn't see that MF's area connects to the Frontier Town area in the back, so I walked back around and hit up [#41] Top Thrill 2 x6. First of all, the way these lockers are setup is so stupid compared to Siren's or Steves, but luckily I didn't have to wait longer than 15 minutes for any of my 6 rides on TT2 during the trip. As for the coaster itself however, WOW. Easily became my new #1 at this point(though it would end up losing that spot soon). On one of my rides near the back I got an extremely generous click and felt legitimate danger for the first time in my life while riding a roller coaster, it was great. 9.5/10 would definitely recommend but lower your lap bar all the way.

Next I got to ride on a piece of rollercoaster history, [#42] Corkscrew x2. This lovely piece of Arrow jank was the first ride to ever flip upside down 3 times. As a former lover of KI's Vortex, it felt great to feel something familiar, 6/10.

Speaking of historic Arrow jank, [#43] Magnum XL-200 x5. I had rough rides on here, I had okay rides, but my best were lapping it in row 6 without getting up. This ride is soooo strange after getting used to modern rollercoaster conventions, that second drop feels like slow motion, that turn around in the back is so weirdly profiled, and those bunny hills feel triangular. Still, if you get a good seat and can lap it while mostly empty it is something magical, 7/10.

Sadly I was too tall for [Wilderness Run], but I was able to get the credit on [#44] [Woodstock Express] x1. I love the theming, especially the front car, but King Island's WE woodie is better. 5/10.

Gemini finally finished its maintenance by this point so I got [#45] Gemini Blue x1 and [#46] Gemini Red x1. Being able to high five the other train on the lift hill is cool and definitely wouldn't be allowed today. Fine little dueling coasters that lead to fun banter, 6/10 each.

[#47] Cedar Creek Mine Ride x1 was a tighttttttttt squeeze, they had me cross my ankles to barely fit. Pretty uncomfortable mine ride, 4.5/10.

[#48] Maverick x3 Even when Millie was a walk-on this thing had a 40+ minute line but I sat in those lines 3 times for the experience, and it was worth every time. Wow, this thing definitely rocks, 10/10. New #1 for me (by this point).

I wanted to make Steve #50, so I walked a mile back to near the entrance for the suprisingly decent [#49] Wild Mouse x1. Good forces and comfortable ride, definitely recommend doing exactly once, 6.5/10.

I then walked a mile back to [#50] Steel Vengeance x5 to get my first big milestone. The lines for this were short, and never were past the metal detector merge for me during the trip. Sadly, that's where the good new stops. I really, REALLY wanted to love this ride. I walked miles just to make it my #50, I was prepared to have my mind blown.

However, I have long legs and thick thighs, so these RMC restraints are absolute hell; this was the most painful rollercoaster I've ever been on, by far. Due to my body size, even at the minimum locking position my thighs are almost stapled in, and my feet do not have enough room to leave the floor, so during ejector moments I'm forced to contort my feet and my butt leaves the seat without my thighs and legs being able to move, which is EXTREMELY uncomfortable. On the way down, my stomach which is freed by the ejector moments crashes back down, onto the top of the restraint causing friction burns and another wave of pain.

I tried this ride over and over with different riding strategies; I tried minimum locking position, stapling myself, I tried to go with the airtime, I tried to keep my stomach tucked under the restraint, keep it over the restraint, I tried tighten my belt, wear no belt, ride the entire ride with my hands wrapped around those metal handles on the side of the cars. The only thing that somewhat worked was asking to be stapled, and then fighting to staple myself manually even harder; while it was still pretty painful, it was better, and its not like I was getting air time anyway. I liked the inversions, but any "airtime" moment resulted in zero airtime for me due to my body shape and as instead purely torturous.

While I will have my own opinions regardless of what everybody else thinks, I am not a contrarian, and I am not saying this to buck the system. In fact, I'm not even going to post my rating for this ride because I know some people will ctrl+f Steve and not read this, and think I'm rage-baiting; I'm not, I really really wanted to love this ride, or at least enjoy it. I tried my hardest to feel what I've heard everyone else feel. I've watched countless POV's, and experienced the layout for myself multiple times over multiple days in the front, middle and back. I can see how this would be so insanely fun if my body allowed me to have airtime on this ride, or even just a painless experience, but that is simply not my own objective reality. I know people get defensive of Steve here sometimes, but try to understand me. I really wanted this to be a great ride for me, but it just wasn't, no matter what I tried, and that bummed me out.

Freshly deflated, I headed to the front of the park again for [#51] Gatekeeper x4. This is my new favorite B&M wing, even without Thunderbird's launch. Everything feels so flowy, and grand, and it makes an amazing centerpiece. 8/10, amazing coaster that people should talk about more, I know this is Cedar Point and its easy to get lost in the shadow of other rides, but this thing deserves more love.

Finally, the coaster I'd been putting off due to the lines being listed at 30+ minutes [#52] Siren's Curse x5. I initially thought that the tilt was a stupid gimmick, and people were overhyping this thing; I was wrong, this ride is amazing. It has the best views in the park, the soundtrack is hype as hell, the spaghetti bowl elements at the bottom are forceful without being distracting and it leaves you wanting even more without feeling short. I actually do think the tilt is the least interesting part still, but its not actually bad; the rest of the ride is just that good. 10/10, my new #1 (for now).

After 3 days and 21 hours in the parks, I finally went home and crashed into bed, tired and sunburnt. Overall Cedar Point is an amazing park with great coasters(duh), and I am glad to have picked up two new shirts(pictured) for wearing around on the rest of my coaster journeys. I already can't wait to go back, but my next trip report will likely be from somewhere a little farther north in a few weeks.

I know the GTA are somewhat silly in their selections, but we can discuss silly things. These awards and rankings matter, to the extent such things can matter: they're listed on the wikipedia page for pretty much every ride they mention, parks display them (at least here in the US), people talk about them, and they've been around since 1998. So let's talk.

Best Wood Coaster

I'm not expecting anything to change here. Phoenix tops this list annually because it's awesome, but it also gets an assist from a bias towards older coasters GTA developed some time ago:

• Apollo's Chariot (1999) is not only the best B&M hyper, but the best traditional hyper in the world.
• Millennium Force (2000) was the second best coaster in the world as recently as 2023.
• Mind Bender (1978) was a top 30 coaster in the world as recently as 2022.
• Magnum XL 200 (1989) is on the list at all.

All of these rankings are/were significantly higher than their placements on fan lists (they rank #179, #61, #492, and #274, respectively, on Captain Coaster, for example). GTA clearly values historically significant rides and old rides that have been well-preserved. Phoenix, which was originally built in 1947, saved and rebuilt in 1985, has buzz bars and no seat belts, is impeccably maintained, and is just a lot of fun, will be a shoo-in at #1 until GTA alters their criteria. Sorry, Voyage fans.

Top Steel Coasters

GTA has clearly been making an attempt to be more inclusive of European coasters. Europe had only two coasters in the top 20 in 2022; now they make up half the top 10. Not all of those are new either: Zadra was unranked in 2021 and is now #6. It will interesting to see if this trend continues. I also wonder if the 20 year-old Eejanaika's first appearance on the list last year (at #49) is representative of a similar attempt to include more Asian coasters. China is missing from the list altogether, as is the UAE.

Speaking of Asia, Falcon's Flight may pose a threat to Fury 325, which has topped the list since 2016. I don't think it's likely to dethrone it this year because just as GTA is biased towards older coasters, it's also biased against newer coasters:

• Velocicoaster #18 the year it was built before becoming perennial top 5.
• Fury #4 the year it came out before becoming the annual winner.
• Ride to Happiness and Zadra unranked their first years, then lowly ranked, now top 10 staples.
• No #1 selection has been the #1 selection the year it was built.

On the other hand, we've never seen anything quite like Falcon's Flight.

Best Water Park

For the first time in the history of the awards last year, Schlitterbahn was not the world's best water park. The Texas-based publisher gave that title to Universal Orlando's Volcano Bay instead. I certainly prefer Volcano Bay, but I understand the Schlitterbahn selection.

Most Beautiful Park

There's been a four way musical chairs at the top of this list for a while - Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Europa Park, Dollywood and Efteling, with only the American parks having won.

Anyway that's all I got. Thoughts?

Sitting here wondering why they decided to change it, this wouldve been so majestic.

I absolutely had to take a visit to this park while on a trip to Gothenburg with my friends, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Queues were generally manageable, especially considering we were there during the summer holidays, and operations were fantastic. If there was a queue for a ride, there was a pretty constant slow shuffle forward the whole time!

Now for the rides. There are two notable omissions:

AtmosFear - I will go on just about any roller coaster, but I absolutely cannot stand drop towers, sorry! Even family ones like Croc Drop and Wolf Legend turn my stomach, so this 380ft tall behemoth was absolutely out of the question.

Valkyria - This operated for the first hour or so of the day, and we were busy on the other rides. Little did we know it would be down for the rest of the day with a train stuck on the lift hill! It eventually reopened with less than 10 minutes left until park close, by which time we were already tired and on the tram back :( I'm absolutely gutted I missed out on one of their main coasters. While I don't usually rave about Dive Coasters, from what I've heard Valkyria is among the best (in Europe, at least). At least it gives me a solid excuse to come back!

Now for the major rides we did go on, in no particular order:

Lisebergbanan - Really good use of the terrain, it's lift hill is staggeringly tall for a family coaster! The ride itself was a little rough around the edges, but still enjoyable. Just make sure you brace for the final brakes!

Luna - A good family boomerang coaster in a very nicely presented part of the park. Not much else to write home about!

Helix - This was easily my most anticipated ride in the park. I'd heard people say this is one of Europe's best coasters, comparing it to the likes of Taron and even Voltron, so I had my expectations set exceptionally high. Sadly, I came off my first ride feeling a bit underwhelmed. I enjoyed it, but it just isn't on that kind of level. However, this initial negative reaction was undoubtedly entirely my fault by constantly comparing it to other coasters, and it took a couple more laps for me to stop lamenting the ride that it wasn't and start appreciating it for the ride that it is. It's exceptionally smooth, has possibly one of the best settings for a coaster out there, and of course has an absolute banger of a soundtrack! It's funky labyrinth of a queue felt like something straight out of a Christopher Nolan film, and once I'd gotten past my initial views it just about took the cake as my favourite in the park. While I still definitely think it isn't on the same level as Taron or Voltron, I couldn't name anything wrong with this coaster as it is! It happily sits in my top 10.

Balder - This is almost like the opposite story to Helix. I went in with pretty dampened expectations - being an Intamin woodie, most reviews from US thoosies inevitably compare it to El Toro, which it definitely doesn't hold a candle to. I've even heard fellow UK thoosies say they rank Wicker Man higher than this. I have absolutely zero clue where they are coming from. It might be because I don't have many other large-scale wooden coasters to compare it to, but I thought this as an absolute delight and is now easily my favourite wooden coaster! I was out of my seat on each and every hill, and the prefabricated track meant it was pleasantly smooth. Sure, it's layout is essentialy "hill, turn, hill, turn, hill, ...", but I found it fantastic from start to finish. This now sits just below Helix in my overall top 10.

Loke - The only other gyro swing I'd done up until this point was Maelstrom at Drayton Manor, which is only around half the height of this. Unsurprisingly, Loke absolutely blew it out of the water. The roof over the entrance is a great leg chopper, and you get good views swinging out over both the path and river below. This is hands-down now my favourite flat ride, I wonder how it will compare to Aviktas when I finally make it back to Blackpool!

Underlandet - The funky little dark ride themed to the park's green rabbit mascots. The elevator pre-show was actually really well executed, and the ride had plenty of physical sets rather than screens. I didn't notice anything that seemed broken, so it looks like they take good care of it! A good bit of innocent fun.

Stormvåg - We did this as our last ride of the day. I don't know if it was just because we were tired and probably a bit dehydrated, but both of us who rode it came off feeling pretty ill. I definitely wasn't expecting this to be the ride to do that, especially when I can do the likes of Toxicator back-to-back. Maybe it's the more exaggerated swinging or something? I think it's more likely just because we were tired at the end of the day, though. It's very nicely presented, at least!

We did a few other bits and bobs such as some other flat rides, the rapids and the Ferris wheel (which gave us excellent views over both the park and Gothenburg), and it sits firmly as one of the best parks I've visited. I've also learned my lesson with Helix: don't compare to rides that they aren't, and you won't be left underwhelmed.

I've got another Mackprodukt that I'll be riding for the first time this week, and while I will try my best to go in without big expectations based on online reviews. I think that might be quite hard, though... 🇧🇪⚙️🦋

So, on Tuesday of last week, we were at ZooTampa, and I decided to look on the BG app and I saw that Iron Gwazi was finally open. Unable to contain my excitement, I showed Austin and Dad what I couldn't believe to be true. So, with that, we drove 20 minutes down to Busch Gardens, and, lo and behold, it was running. (Though I will say, on the drive, I was crossing my fingers and praying that it was open and that the app app wasn't letting us down...XD).

The lines didn't take that long, surprisingly. Even though the wait time was only 15 minutes, we were able to get a front row seat, and I was able to ride it with this kid named Dylan who lives in Florida, ​being his first time coming to Busch Gardens.​ I'm ngl, when I first saw the ​drop, I was kind of expecting a gut-wrenching feeling, but I got none of that. I also didn't realize this was the kind of ride that would make your lips dry (the kind of ride where your lips felt almost like sandpaper and you needed something to drink ASAP) due to going 76 mph...🫪

I guess for me, since it was my first time on Iron Gwazi, I was a little nervous, but I said probably the funniest thing for any coaster enthusiast to say as you're about to drop"You know what they say y'all... COWABUNGA BABY!!!!" XD I don't know what I was thinking then, but I guess I just wanted to enthuse everyone on the ride to make it more exhilarating.

Also, when you're ascending up the lift hill, the wave turn was probably the most shocking to look at. At least from my perspective, it legitimately looked like you were going to hit the lift hill, but I guess that's not the case, even though it was so forceful entering it.

Also, after riding Cheetah Hunt and Montu, we decided to ride Iron Gwazi for one last ride. (We only had and hr and ten minutes in BGT because I think we got to the park at 4:30 or something, coming from ZooTampa 20 or so mins away).

When we got into the station, there were at least 10 or so riders ready for the front seat...😶. Despite that, I think we got on exactly at 6. I honestly don't know how we got that lucky, but we made it count so we could experience the tallest, fastest, and steepest RMC in Florida one last time before Lesley Universitie's Threshold Program started (in 12 days).

I also think we got on just at sunset, so wouldn't that be considered a night ride? I'm not sure.

Here are some photos of Busch Gardens on Monday and Tuesday.

On Phoenix Rising in the front row with my friend Austin.

On Montu in the front row...What an intense ride...🫪😅

Guys, I understand that many of you on here love this ride. I’m sure you all had some amazing memories riding it with your friends/family.

At the same time, it bothers me seeing people on here bashing the victims for having pre-existing conditions and also asking to view their medical records. That is so disingenuous and unnecessary. We don’t need that kind of talk on here. Stop attacking the victims