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Most Overrated and Underrated Coasters

Talk about anything that has to do with the amusement park industry here.
Postby tribar on July 8th, 2011, 1:28 pm
For me it would be

Overrated
Millennium Force
Superman: Ultimate Flight
Big Thunder Mountain

Underrated
Magnum XL 200
Gemini
American Eagle
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Postby Ilovthevu' on July 8th, 2011, 2:11 pm
Overrated
Millennium Force
Magnum
Maverick
The bigger is better concept at every park. It's almost like the biggest coaster - around 200 ft is always seen to people as the best, and to me at a bunch of parks it's not the best. At Over Texas, at Magic Mountain, at Kings Island, at Dorney Park, and at Great America, to me the biggest ride isn't the best. Sure, I like the Kings Island biggest coaster, but to me it's not the best in the park.

Underrated
Gemini
Invertigo
Mr. Freeze
Batman the Ride
Blue Streak (CP)- Probably the most underrated wooden roller coaster anywhere.
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Postby Galvan317 on July 8th, 2011, 2:24 pm
Underrated
Skyrider at Canada's Wonderland. Very smooth and an airtime machine, was expecting it to be a crappy rough Togo but it turned out to be one of the best coasters in that country.

Big Dipper at Geauga Lake. Once again an airtime machine, was not expecting this ride to be nearly as good as it was.

Batman The Ride at SFGAm. Everything about this ride is perfect, I would not change one thing maybe other than put back some theming that was taken out in recent years. I've been on over 10 B&M inverts and SFGAm's Batman is still my favorite. Love the no-nonsense element after element rapid fire layout, the setting, landscaping, theming, look, decals on the trains.

Goliath at SFOG. This ride doesn't get nearly as much exposure as it should in the enthusiast community, seems it is overshadowed by other hypercoasters that constantly top the polls like Bizarro and Millennium Force (though Bizarro may edge out Goliath by just a bit). Goliath is the best B&M in the world. Absolute airtime machine and has the awesome death spiral. It's a much better coaster than Millennium Force it's too bad the polls never reflect that.

Georgia Scorcher at SFOG. It has a compact, intense layout similar to Iron Wolf but the ride is very smooth from start to finish.

Xcelerator at Knotts Berry Farm. You always hear about Kingda Ka, Top Thrill Dragster, and Stealth when it comes to these coasters. Xcelerator's launch is just as intense if not more because of the shorter launch track and in the back row it has incredible airtime going over the tophat which is something the others don't.


Cyclops at Mt Olympus. The last drop in the back row. You have to be 18 or older to ride in the back car for a reason. Need I say more?

Evel Knievel at SFSTL. Once again this coaster doesn't get much attention because of the park it's at, but when its running well it's one of the best wooden coasters in the country. It's my second favorite GCI coaster behind Thunderhead.


Overrated
Montu at Busch Gardens Tampa. I don't get all the hype: this ride is big, slow, and overall unfulfilling (but the best B&M looper is on the other side of the park in my opinion).

Millennium Force at Cedar Point. I can think of a lot of hyper coasters that are better but this is constantly at the top of the polls due to it being at CP.

Magnum XL 200 at Cedar Point. This is one of the worst hyper coasters i've ever ridden yet it still makes quite a few published top 10's once again because of the park it's at. I rode 3:1 once which is generally considered by enthusiasts as the money seat, and going into the pretzel turnaround it felt like someone hit me in the gut with a baseball bat. The only hyper I think is worse that i've been on is Desperado in Nevada.

Raging Bull at SFGAm. The drop is great then after that the ride hits a trim brake and just dies. Ive had the opportunity to ride it with an all nylon wheel train (run faster than polyurethane) and the ride was much better, actually a pretty good hyper, but the way it normally runs its just slow and uneventful.

Raven at Holiday World. I don't get how anyone can rate this as one of the best wooden coasters in the world. It's not really intense, theres not much airtime, and the ride is very short. The real stars of this park are Legend and Voyage, Raven is just a stepping stone to those.
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Postby Paradise on July 8th, 2011, 3:44 pm
Overrated:
Superman: Ultimate Flight
Sheikra

Underrated
Viper
Dania Beach Hurricane
(of course) Zippin Pippin
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Postby tribar on July 8th, 2011, 7:46 pm
Two more underated coasters

Wildcat
Blue Streak
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Postby monsterfan99 on July 8th, 2011, 11:26 pm
Overrated

Millennium Force - The best part of this ride is the lift hill. That right there should say something. Cedar Point (which itself is WAY overrated) is the loan reason this tops many list.

American Eagle - This ride, at best, is a rough and boring coaster. Sure it looks amazing, but it is crap to ride.

Racer at Kings Island - Take what I said about American Eagle and double it. This ride is pain depending on the day and beyond boring. It being the ACE love child is the only reason anyone likes it.

Everything at Mt. Olympus - The fact any of it ranks on any list amazes me. Pure pain all around.

Underrated

Evel Knievel/American Thunder - My favorite coaster I've ever ridden. All out with speed, airtime and pacing. For it's tiny footprint it is amazing. As stated above, suffers from being at the wonderful but out of the way SF STL.

Flight Deck at Kings Island - I love this ride and it gets no press. Love the fact it is in an area where you can't see much, if any, of the park. Great swinging and just fun all around.

Cornball Express - Much like the park it is at, I was not expecting anything special and was blown away. Amazing airtime in the front row and such a cool setting.

The Boss - This ride gets an awful reputation from the awful state it was in. A refurbishment in 08-09 off season turned this from crap to a top coaster. Great speed, some good airtime and great layout.
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Postby Necropolis on July 9th, 2011, 12:27 am
Overrated
Superman: UF

IDK why people wait over 2 hours for that coaster when it hurts and isnt that great. Ill never get people. :roll:
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Postby Ilovthevu' on July 9th, 2011, 4:42 am
BP/19 wrote:Overrated
Montu at Busch Gardens Tampa. I don't get all the hype: this ride is big, slow, and overall unfulfilling (but the best B&M looper is on the other side of the park in my opinion).

Millennium Force at Cedar Point. I can think of a lot of hyper coasters that are better but this is constantly at the top of the polls due to it being at CP.

Magnum XL 200 at Cedar Point. This is one of the worst hyper coasters i've ever ridden yet it still makes quite a few published top 10's once again because of the park it's at. I rode 3:1 once which is generally considered by enthusiasts as the money seat, and going into the pretzel turnaround it felt like someone hit me in the gut with a baseball bat. The only hyper I think is worse that i've been on is Desperado in Nevada.

Raging Bull at SFGAm. The drop is great then after that the ride hits a trim brake and just dies. Ive had the opportunity to ride it with an all nylon wheel train (run faster than polyurethane) and the ride was much better, actually a pretty good hyper, but the way it normally runs its just slow and uneventful.

Raven at Holiday World. I don't get how anyone can rate this as one of the best wooden coasters in the world. It's not really intense, theres not much airtime, and the ride is very short. The real stars of this park are Legend and Voyage, Raven is just a stepping stone to those.


I agree with everything you said about overrated, but I haven't ridden Raven. For Montu, your right about it being slower than other B&Ms. And I do like Kumba - the best in the park & one of the best B&Ms to me (I guess I would rank Kumba #2 B&M I've been on, and #1 is Batman, but I will say that Montu is okay, but it's just lacking, and it's not inversions because it has a ton. It's a tall ride though. Maybe, it's the first loop being too lengthy, and it sets the tone for the rest of the ride. Worst B&M for me is Talon, and than Red (Fire) Dueling Dragons - Dragon Challenge. I like ICE a whole lot better than Fire.
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Postby ragingbull1331 on July 9th, 2011, 9:44 pm
Overrated:
Superman Ultimate Flight
Millenium Force is sort of overated

Underrated:
Gemini
Magnum XL 200
Dueling Dragons/Raptor/Batman at Great America
RIP IRON WOLF

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Postby Aventador117 on October 3rd, 2014, 7:11 pm
I gotta tell you the only point that S:UF is overrated is the pretzel loop which made my lungs feel like my lungs were pressing against my back as if Chuck Norris was pushing them, but I'd happily ride it again. Overall, it's fairly underrated. Also, although I agree Millennium is a little overrated, it's still the best coaster in the world, if only by a hair.
Overrated:
Magnum XL-200. It hurts like hell after the pretzel turnaround and it's rough every bit before and after. The worst hyper coaster I've ever been on.
Nitro. Whenever people say that Millennium has no airtime and is forceless, this is what goes into my mind. I barely felt any airtime and the fact that it almost always makes the top 5 of coaster polls is completely astonishing. As a hyper coaster, I easily prefer Behemoth and Diamondback, which was what I was expecting out of this.
The Beast. It's not on the smooth side for a wooden coaster like El Toro and Goliath (SFGAm) and doesn't have any of the amazing elements that either of them have like the ejector airtime hills or even floater airtime. Basically, it's a rickety ride through the forest.
Goliath (SFMM). A lot of people say this is better than Magnum, and although I think Magnum's more overrated, I prefer it to this for one simple reason: Who puts one airtime hill on a hyper coaster? Putting one hill on a strata coaster is understandable, but on a hyper coaster, I'm not surprised Giavanola went out of business.
Bizarro (SFNE). Easily the best coaster on the overrated list, and around 2005 this wouldn't be here, but everyone still says "This is the best ride ever!!" when in fact there are 3 coasters out there that are better (Millennium Force, Intimidator 305, and Leviathan) and another two coasters that are better are in the making (Twisted Colossus and Fury 325.) It has the same problem as Magnum on a smaller scale which is that this is a thigh-killer. Just put in some softer restraints and this wouldn't be on this list.

Underrated:
Steel Force. A lot of people say that it's crap and forceless, and in terms of positive g-force it might be true, but this is the very definition of an airtime machine. The restraints are so loose you feel like you're flying. While it might freak you out, the seat belt is what keeps you in. You know what? I prefer this to Magnum, although this is WAY less legendary.
Behemoth. A lot of people say "Oh, this is just another hyper coaster" when in fact in my book it's in the top 5 hyper coasters ever (barely.) I didn't expect it to be as good as Diamondback, and it wasn't, but it definitely reminds me of it.
Diamondback. Speaking of which, this is one of my favorite coasters. It's my 3rd favorite coaster I've ever ridden, and I'm pretty sure anyone that's ever ridden it knows what I mean. 24 seconds of airtime, super-smooth, and just enough twistiness to give it the whole roller coaster experience.
Leviathan. This is my second favorite coaster I've ever ridden (in case you're wondering what's in first, it's one of the most controversial coasters ever made with a similar design) and I'm positive that it'll always stay in my top 5. The floater airtime is fantastic, the ejector airtime is fantastic, the twists are fantastic, everything is fantastic.
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Postby tp41190 on October 6th, 2014, 4:19 pm
I would say that there are a lot of underrated coasters that many enthusiasts will never get a chance to ride. It seems like there is a lack of interest in visiting parks like Silverwood, Playland, West Edmonton Mall, Upper Clements, Cliffs, Wonderland, etc...

In my list of underrated coasters, I would say:
-Tremors
-Mindbender (WEM)
-New Mexico Rattler
-Desperado (if you enjoy an aggressive arrow hyper)
-Coaster (Vancouver)
-Dragon Mountain

Tremors is a wild, long, fast paced CCI surrounded by mountains and tall pines. The double tunnel head chopper/bunny hill is one of the best first drops you can get. Every hill has airtime, and there is a great amount of lateral G's.
Image

Mindbender in the West Edmonton Mall is a classic looper that features some crazy head choppers and an increased sensation of speed due to the indoor setting. The ride also features some of the strongest positive G's you will ever experience (rumored 6 G's). The park also flipped around one of the cars so you can experience it all backwards.
Don't get fooled by the images. This ride is huge and the pictures will never do justice.
Image

New Mexico Rattler is a very fun CCI. I really can't say a lot about this ride other than it's long ride time and the amount of unexpected airtime. It is a bit rough in the spots with weird lateral G's though. The tunnel during the double helix was a nice surprise.
Image

Desperado is just insane. This is one of those rides that Arrow should never have been allowed to build. The first drop and second turn are terrifying in that you have to keep telling yourself that you are riding an arrow, and that the speeds you are experiencing are too fast for Toomers triangular transitions. You'll have to hold on tight in order to keep your spine in place. If your lucky, you can walk off the ride without airtime bruises from the insane ejector air on the bunny hills. The second half of the ride is just like a mine train with a forceful surprise of an indoor helix.
If you don't like rough rides, you will hate it. If you enjoy an out of control experience that new B&Ms just can't deliver, you will love it.
Image

Coaster at Vancouver was an awesome surprise. The ride is crazy smooth and has over a dozen a ejector airtime hills. It is a triple out and back, with airtime everywhere in between. The classic trains feature single position, chest high lapbars without seatbelts, to provide literal stand up airtime.
Image

Dragon Mountain at Marineland is an Arrow minetrain loading with tunnels and inversions. The ride has the typical Arrow roughness, but overall its a pretty well tracked ride. The first time you ride it, you will probably get lost, and the length/speed of the tunnel drops will surprise you every time.
Image

Coasters that are in very remote locations seem to peak my interest the most. But I can honestly say that any of those rides on the list are excellent candidates for a top ten list.

I would also like to throw in Tree Topper at Upper Clements park in Nova Scotia, Canada :D
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Postby [jonrev] on October 25th, 2014, 5:07 am
Overrated

Millennium Force -- Cedar Point
Millennium Forceless... beyond speed and a nice show from the lift, I have no clue why everyone and their grandmother creams their pants over it. No airtime and not even any decent positive G's, really. Like the Subaru BRZ, it looks badass but you can floor it and still get passed by a Prius.

Intamin Stratacoasters (Top Thrill Dragster + Kingda Ka)
The definition of "gimmick coaster"; built solely to take the world record for tallest and fastest from each-other while giving the overall ride experience a hefty b!tchslap. A lousy experience waiting in like for Kingda Ka, and ultimately not riding was the point where I stopped taking "tallest and fastest/bigger and better" seriously, and today I won't wait in any line for either of them. 2007 was the last time I rode Dragster.

Superman Ultimate Flight -- SFGAm/SFGAdv/SFoG*
I never got over losing Shockwave to Superman's pathetic layout and pacing, and riding Tatsu (utterly amazing) this past year makes me even more bitter toward it. *SFoG possibly gets a pass due to the additional theming/etc; though I've never been there. Joe Parkgoer loves it because it's right at the front of the park.

Colossus -- Six Flags Magic Mountain
No need for me to repeat my rant again, but it clearly scrambled the brains of those who got misty-eyed over it closing. Should've let it burn...

"Big BeeMer Standups"
Those from my experience being Chang at SF Kentucky Kingdom, Mantis at Cedar Point and Riddler's Revenge at SF Magic Mountain. Having been raised on Iron Wolf, I must have a preference to the compact standups, as the big ones do nothing for me; Riddler's being the most-polished turd, Mantis second, and Chang was so boring that I'm glad it ultimately landed in Jersey.

X2 -- Six Flags Magic Mountain
Good freaking lord, it's like Arrow had to get one more curbstomp in before shutting down... ALTHOUGH I have been told that one train is more comfortable than the other, and I may have been on the same train for all three chances I gave it.

Underrated

Leviathan -- Canada's Wonderland
Absolutely the best giga on the continent; it-alone was worth purchasing the passport, getting the car searched at the border, and sleeping in the trunk of my car the first night to be there. There's this awesome little hill that you absolutely haul-ass over, which has a slight curve in it before flying up and over the entrance plaza - it's probably B&M's best element since the diving loop first drops on their wing coasters.

Demon -- Six Flags Great America
That first drop in the back row is all I need to say... best single pop of airtime in our park.

Dragon Mountain -- Marineland
I will copy/paste tp41190's comments about it, however I thought it was one of the smoothest Arrows out there, especially for its age. It has Ron's usual wonky-ass transitions, however the speed at which the train hits them is modest enough that they aren't a problem.
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Postby sfgam-fan on October 25th, 2014, 1:15 pm
Overrated
Top Thrill Dragster + Kingda Ka - Totally agree with the gimmick comment
Superman Ultimate Flight - I think flying coasters need scenery/landscaping to make the flying sensation interesting. In the case of SFGAm, you're just flying over someone's lawn.
Space Mountain - Just because


Underrated
Viper - Not tall or fast, but very well thought out.
Apollo's Charriot (Busch Gardens) - Fun out and back, lots of airtime.
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Postby Muck Finnesota on October 28th, 2014, 5:11 pm
My opinion- no doubt there are some who feel the exact opposite-

Overrated
In no particular order-

Kraken - The other aqua/blue-colored B&M Sitdown Looper in Florida is one of the best Loopers anywhere, this one is not. Marine Life-wise, a Starfish or Sea Cucumber theme would have fit this ride better than the legendary sea monster theme.

Viper (GAm) - It always surprised me to see this one rank so highly in years past, though it seems to have slipped more recently. It's fun, nothing to write home about. If you can handle rougher rides, Cyclone at SFOG is a better Cy-Clone (better than the real deal at CI in my opinion).

Gerstlauer Eurofighters - This is what happens when a Wild Mouse Coaster does a shitty impression of an Intamin Blitz Coaster, only with a vertical lift instead of a launch (in most cases).

Schwarzkopf Coasters - I don't mean to say Schwarzkopf coasters are bad (because they aren't), just that there is a sizable group of irrational people who would foam at the mouth for the chance to ride a fresh dog turd on someone's lawn if you told them that it was a Schwarzkopf.

Another ride type I'll include are Intamin Gyro-Drops. These look way cooler than they ride. A 150 ft. Second-Gen Intamin Drop Tower is light years better than a 400 ft. Intamin Gyro-Drop unless you're judging them purely on the view you get at the top. An exception is Acrophobia at SFOG, but that's not strictly a Gyro-Drop. I haven't had the chance to ride Falcon's Fury at Busch Tampa yet, but that is also not strictly a Gyro-Drop.

I'd list the Gatesleepers and Superman Ultimate Fluffs, but I think more often than not, you'll run into someone that doesn't think too highly of them than someone who does, so while I think they're pretty bad, I wouldn't call them overrated.

Underrated

B&M Standups, Vekoma coasters. I'm in the minority here, I know. Vekoma coasters usually aren't anything to write home about, but they're nowhere near as bad as they're made out to be. B&M Standups are some of the most intense rides around. I'm convinced that much of the negative opinion on B&M SU Coasters stems from people simply allowing themselves to be thrown around like rag dolls. Couple that with the aforementioned intensity, mix in some tight layouts... It sucks for me to think that at one point (allegedly), SFGAm would have had two of these, and now there isn't even one.
Keep Eurofighters in Europe
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Postby MNSFGAmfan on November 5th, 2014, 9:55 pm
Underrated:
California Screamin' (California Adventure) - A lot of people call it California Sleepin', and I guess it is in some places, but it does has a good launch, decent drops, a forceful loop, and some airtime pops.
Wild Thing (Valleyfair) - I may be slightly biased towards WT since Valleyfair is my home park, but I don't think it's forceless and boring like a lot of other enthusiasts think. The second hill has some terrific sustained floater airtime, and it has some good positive G's in spots.

Overrated:
Superman: Ultimate Flight - The pretzel loop is one of my favorite moments on any coaster, but besides that, it's just pretty boring.
Dark Knight Coaster - This ride has a lot of hype surrounding it, but it's really nothing more than a Wild Mouse in the dark with some okay theming.
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Postby Dan The Coaster Man on December 2nd, 2014, 5:50 pm
Only for coasters I have ridden (2 for each category)

Underrated:
Mind Eraser- SFGA (call me out and speculate I don't care hahah, it wasn't as rough as everybody is complaining about)

Georgia Scorcher- SFOG (it's on the smoother side of stand-ups and has many transitions)

Overrated:
Superman Ultimate Flight Clones ( the pretzel loop is the whole ride)

Nitro- SFGAd (it's a good ride but I didn't feel it match expectations and its praise. Even in the last row there was little airtime)
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Postby skibum101184 on December 17th, 2014, 10:28 am
in my opinion, an underrated coaster would have to be Volcano at KD in Virginia. I wish there were more complete circuit launch coasters (inverted) from Intamin instead of just one.
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Postby Dan The Coaster Man on December 17th, 2014, 9:25 pm
skibum101184 wrote:in my opinion, an underrated coaster would have to be Volcano at KD in Virginia. I wish there were more complete circuit launch coasters (inverted) from Intamin instead of just one.


I wish there was too. Volcano is awesome and so is Tornado (even though there isn't a launch). The only thing I don't like about Volcano is the supports. It doesn't change the ride experience but it somewhat takes away the whole volcano scene from a visual perspective
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