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Overrated and Underrated Roller Coasters

madhjsp

Giga Poster
I feel like we've pretty recently had this topic, but anyway:

I like I305, Hydra, and Millennium Force more than most it seems, but it wouldn't be right to call any of them underrated. They are too oft-discussed and debated, and I feel like for a ride to be underrated, it has to kind of fly under the radar.

From my count, I think Flight of Fear probably fits the bill most accurately. I'd only rate it the 3rd or 4th best coaster at its own park, but I love how disorienting it is and I always have an absolute blast on that ride.

A couple of other coasters that were surprisingly good were Mindbender & GASM at SFOG and Tennessee Tornado at Dollywood.

I guess Great Bear and Steel Force would be two coasters I'd consider overrated, but then again nobody really raves about those. I had heard some good reviews for them, but I just found them both to be kind of boring.
 

Nemesis of oblivion

Strata Poster
Overrated would be Nemesis. A good ride, yes. But I never find whats so God like about it. The only thing I really enjoy is the helix. The rest is nothing much.

I'm not sure about underrated though...
 

CoasterCrazy

Giga Poster
Underrated

Raptor, GL - I really cannot stress the brilliance of this ride, and am certain that its the best coaster that Merlin have produced so far. It's far superlative to swarm and regardless of its diminutive size, Raptor is forceful and the near - misses are perfectly integrated.

HRRR - There's a lot of negativity on this ride. Whilst the name might not be great, I find the drop and 'loops' awesomely forceful and the rest of the ride is outstandingly thrilling and long too. The music, especially at night, embellishes the experience greatly. people complain about the MCBRs, but they're a chance to catch your breath, listen to the music, and improve capacity.

Overrated

Montu - Undoubtedly, it's a great ride, and the tunnel is exceptional, but I just fail to see what all the fuss is about. Maybe I rode on two bad days and should've ridden front row, but I found it relatively forceless.

Hulk - Perhaps it was world class when it was younger, but the years have certainly caught up with it. Again, it's superb and I like being thrown around to a certain extent, but I was really expecting more from it, especially the quite weak launch.

Revenge of the mummy, FL - Painful, forceless, weak launch, slow....the fire effect is incredible though.
 

Mysterious Sue

Strata Poster
Overrated - I305, iSpeed (...you seeing a pattern? :wink: )
Underrated - Phoenix (I'd not even heard of it before going to Knobels and now it's my no. 1)
 

CPSFMMCW

Mega Poster
Overrated: Cyclone@Coney Island and Skyrush@Hersheypark

Underated: Fahrenheit@Hersheypark and Volcano@Kings Dominion
 

Hyde

Matt SR
Staff member
Moderator
Social Media Team
Overrated: Dragon Challenge. I could never shake the feeling like I was only riding half of a roller coaster at a time.

Underrated: Green Lantern First Flight. I was very surprised with the amount of sheer airtime this roller coaster has. I went into it expecting a more flat-ride-kind of experience, but it is not half bad!
 

johhnyD1498

Mega Poster
Overrated: Kingda Ka. It kicks ass the first few times, but its so unbelievably short, you don't get much fun
Underrated: Cyclone, SFNE- It's one of my favorite wood coasters, and i dont think its even been on the GT Awards.
 

Serena

Miss CoasterForce 2016
Staff member
Social Media Team
Overrated:

Oblivion. While there's a lot to rave about with about this coaster - the tunnel, the theme; the fact that it still looks imposing despite dive machines/vertical drops being a bit more common across parks now. I still can't help but feel the actual ride experience is so disappointingly short; that I can't summon the enthusiasm to bother re-riding it like many seem to.

Under-rated:

Space Mountain Mission 2 (DLP) Perhaps because it's so old, it doesn't seem to receive much attention among enthusiasts now. But on my first visit to DLP last year, I was genuinely blown away by how quickly SMM2 whips through it's inversions; and how smooth it is for an old Vekoma. The pace really doesn't let up until the final brake run, making it feel much more intense than I expected it to be.

Revenge of The Mummy (USF) It's not a majorly thrilling coaster; just so much fun to ride! The lovely pops of airtime on the hills and great effects, make it very re-rideable.
 

Hyde

Matt SR
Staff member
Moderator
Social Media Team
johhnyD1498 said:
Underrated: Cyclone, SFNE- It's one of my favorite wood coasters, and i dont think its even been on the GT Awards.
there are a lot of roller coasters that have never been on the Golden Ticket Awards. :wink:
 

Auraofshadows

Roller Poster
Overrated:
Kingda Ka, Top Thrill Dragster, Stealth (and any other launch coaster that follows the pattern)- I just find these to be tedious. Its sacrificing interesting layout for intense speeds and heights. Maybe I'm insane but I just don't find these rides to be worth an hour of waiting.

Underrated:
Nemesis Inferno- Its not exactly a great coaster, but it gets overlooked quite a bit. Probably because it constantly gets compared to the original Nemesis. It will never live up to Nemesis, but at least it did a better job at living up to Nemesis than Sub-Terra *shiver*.

Of course, this is just opinion.
 

JJLehto

Hyper Poster
Nah you are in the common land here, or at least we are less "omg wowow" than many over them. Agreed, TTD/KK are fun but I won't wait long at all for either. 30 at tops.
 

bmac

Giga Poster
JJLehto said:
Nah you are in the common land here, or at least we are less "omg wowow" than many over them. Agreed, TTD/KK are fun but I won't wait long at all for either. 30 at tops.

Edward M said:
I guess you don't ride them a lot!

Kingda Ka's line dropped off a cliff over the last few years, and its operations record isn't helping its case. Even on a packed day the line usually never exceeds an hour tops. If it maintained the lines that Top Thrill Dragster has on typical days I probably wouldn't of have ridden it once in the last 5 years.
 

Jason Voorhees

Hyper Poster
Overated: Rock 'N' Roller Coaster: Well I guess by the GP and even though it's in my #2 spot I don't have a lot of experience and I thought it was a bit rough and that corkscrew ripped my neck off but the positive g-forces where INCREDIBLE! That's probably the only reason I like it so much. Oh yeah and the launch is good but the coaster is just too short. Gosh I really need to reshuffle my Top 10 Coasters. Good ride, but not the best Disney coaster and I'm about to reshuffle my Top 10.

Underated: Blue Streak: Not the best coaster in the world, but deserves more respect. I thougt the airtime was pretty good and like I said, It's no Phoenix, but just deserves a lot more praise.
 

Chris Coasters

Strata Poster
Radaxian said:
Revenge of The Mummy (USF) It's not a majorly thrilling coaster; just so much fun to ride! The lovely pops of airtime on the hills and great effects, make it very re-rideable.

I absolutely agree with this. When i went to Universal my friend Jake and I rode it about half a dozen times just because of how fun it was. Like Radaxian said its not majorly thrilling but its in my Top 10 just because it's not a amazing coaster but its a good coaster and tons of fun IMO.
 

Hyde

Matt SR
Staff member
Moderator
Social Media Team
Auraofshadows said:
Overrated:
Kingda Ka, Top Thrill Dragster, Stealth (and any other launch coaster that follows the pattern)- I just find these to be tedious. Its sacrificing interesting layout for intense speeds and heights. Maybe I'm insane but I just don't find these rides to be worth an hour of waiting.
Have I got the roller coaster for you!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ApJ2IFtOl8[/youtube]
 

JJLehto

Hyper Poster
Edward M said:
JJLehto said:
Agreed, TTD/KK are fun but I won't wait long at all for either. 30 at tops.

I guess you don't ride them a lot! :p


KK usually a few times a year(2-4), depending on how many times I go to SFGA and how many rides of it we can get. My best was 3 in a day. But it was cloudy/drizzly and very late season when we managed that.
TTD, well guess once a year. A little harder to get to CP and there's too many other coasters!

BTW I prefer TTD due to the lap bars.
Like I said, they are fun and totally worth a short wait but eh...there's just too many other rides, again especially at CP, to wait too long for them.
 

Edward M

Strata Poster
2 just sprung to mind.

Underrated (on this site): Beast @ KI!!! Sure it is talked all about in roller coaster books, but not by enthusiasts. It is amazing!
Overrated: El Toro, it good, just good. The airtime was powerful 3 times and the turns were fun but jarring. It is in my top 5 but still it's very overrated.
 
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