ranking the woodies

[Stu]

One of the most infamous online roller coaster polls, is Mitch Hawker's Internet Wooden Tracked Roller Coaster Poll, and voting for 2004 is underway. Check out this link, this link

this is the first time i've taken part, and i had to rank all the wooden coasters i've ridden in order, well can't believe i've ridden so many, 41!

Actually i've ridden 42, but dorney park have removed hercules (and rightly so if i had to rank it, it would be at the very bottom) and there's the issue is Vikingar (ex bpb) a wooden coaster? Amd the poll counts twin woodies like Lightning Racer and Gwazi as 2 seperate rides, yet treats other racing coasters with 2 tracks like Port Aventuras Stampedia as 1 coaster! So Maybe the figure isn't the most accurate, however here's how i ranked them . . . (luckily you could rank more than one for each score so i didn't have to pick an overall fave)

28 Rolling Thunder - SFGAd
27 Son of Beast - Kings Island
26 King Solomons Mines - Pleasureland
25 The Grizzly - Kings Dominion
24 Wildcat - Hersheypark
23 Mean Streak - Cedar Point
22 Gwazi Tiger - Busch Gardens Tampa
22 Gwazi Lion - Busch Gardens Tampa
22 Roar - SF America
21 Racer - Kings Island
20 Rebel Yell - Kings Dominion
19 Hurler - Kings Dominion
18 Big Dipper - Worlds of Adventure
18 Raging Wolf Bobs - Worlds of Adventure
18 The Villain - Worlds of Adventure
17 Thunderhawk - Dorney Park
16 Blue Streak - Cedar Point
15 Racer - Kennywood
14 Tomahawk - Port Aventura
13 Scooby Doo - Kings Dominion
12 Beastie - Kings Island
11 The Beast - Kings Island
10 Zipper Dipper - Blackpool
9 Comet - Hersheypark
8 Cyclone - Pleasureland
7 Roller Coaster - Blackpool
7 Grand National - Blackpool
7 Wild Mouse - Blackpool
6 Stampida -Port Aventura
5 Scenic Railway - Dreamland
4 Roller Coaster - Great Yarmouth
4 Megafobia - Oakwood
3 Wild One - SF America
3 Cyclone - Williams Grove
3 Big Dipper - Blackpool
2 Twister - Knoebel's
1 Lightning Racer Lightning - Hersheypark
1 Lightning Racer Thunder - Hersheypark
1 Jack Rabbit - Kennywood
1 Thunderbolt - Kennywood
1 Phoenix - Knoebel's

where i have more than one coaster on a particular rank, they're in alphabetical order, as i can't choose one over another!

[Graeme]

I haven't voted in the poll this year, but here are mine:

1. Megafobia
1. Roller Coaster, Great Yarmouth
2. Roller Coaster, BPB
3. Scenic Railway, Dreamland
4. Cyclone, Southport
5. Grand National
6. Big Dipper, BPB
7. Runaway Coaster
8. Wild Mouse, BPB
9. Zipper Dipper
10. King Solomon's Mines

It's hard to separate the top two, as I like them both in different ways. Megafobia is bigger and better in many ways; Great Yarmouth's has had more effort put into its styling and how much of an adventure it is.

The only one I dislike is KSM - too painful! Although I try not to ride Grand National anywhere near the back either...

[Stu]

you know actually i don't really like ranking rides, i don't mind which park i'm at i'll have fun riding whatever woodie is there,

the great thing about any woodie coaster, no matter what size / category it’s in, whether junior, intermediate or large you can nearly always guarantee it’s going to be a fun / good ride! Well the odds are better with a woodie than a steelie

the only time i haven't had fun is when the roughness becomes more brutal, rolling thunder, hercules and KSM were just plain horrible, as was son of a beast but i sorta had to keep riding it because it was so weird to go upside down on a wooden coaster, and actually be on a wooden lift hill that was a physically taller ride than bpb's big one is quite an amazing though / experience!

The beast at PKI wasn't as uncomfortable as SOB but it was very shakey, but it was such a charming ride you genuinely had no idea where you were going next the ride was set amongst such a deep forest

Anyway it was nice to see how many coasters (well wooden ones) I’ve been on . . . it’s too many I need to get some new hobbies!