2013 - In review

[JJLehto]

Sadly 2013 was a down year and I didn't get nearly all my list complete, but at least I did finally get to Lake Compounce, and my first ever trip to California, which was **** amazing, and hit SF:MM while there!


1. Roller coaster of the year: Boulder Dash
2. Water ride of the year: None
3. Flat ride of the year: Lex Luthor. Holy hell, that feeling when waiting at the top and the tower is swaying a full foot.
4. Park of the year: SF:MM I like Hershey better, but this was a new experience for me
5. Scare-maze of the year: None
6. Biggest disappointment of the year: X2 being closed >: ( so much rage....
7. Most surprised by: Goliath at SF:MM wasn't great but was a fun, and surprising, ride! Also I have to say I didn't expect anything at all from Full Throttle, but that was a damn fun ride! And the airtime (really more like flat out ejecting) in the back row was epic coming over the top hat.
8. Most excited for: Well it was X2
9. Most memorable moment: The TPR trip to Magic Mountain (sorry!)
10. New for 2013 ride you wish you could have been on: Outlaw Run. #2: Flying Turns

 

[_koppen]

1. Juvelen, no doubt. Family ride going **** bananas. Words can not describe how well it is for all ages. It's in one of my absolute favorite parks as well.

2. Big Drop, Skara Sommarland. 80 degree trapdoor awesomeness, with a kick-ass tunnel.

3. Vertigo, Tivoli & SpinSpider, Tusenfryd. Same as always. Shot out to the SCAD tower at Tivoli Friheden, the only ride that still scares me.

4. Djurs Sommerland. I have not been to that many new parks this year, but it has to be something really special to beat Djurs.

5. No Halloween event this year, unfortunately.

6. Falken, Fårup Sommerland as well as Thor's Hammer, Tusenfryd. I think I might have had to high expectations on the last one (way to high!).

7. Juvelen. I always knew it would be good, but I didn't know it would be world class.

8. Helix & Falcon's Fury.

9. Skara Sommalrand. I have not been to this park since I was a little boy. We used to visit it in the summers. It look so different now that I'm grown up. The place is still awesome, if you can handle a day without thrill rides.

10. Outlaw Run, without a doubt.

 

[peep]

1. Roller coaster of the year
Gah, I don't know, so many stand out ones it's hard to choose. I'll just put down the ones that really stood out for me. Maverick at Cedar Point was pretty awesome as was Takabisha and Fujiyama at Fuji-Q.

2. Water ride of the year
Has to be the log flume at Parque Warner in Madrid, that thing was ridiculous.

3. Flat ride of the year
I don't go on loads of flat rides but I really enjoyed the robo-dino flat ride at Parque de Atracciones in Madrid and the new Zamperla air race on Brighton Pier.

4. Park of the year
Hmm, let me think about that one.... Tokyo DisneySea.

5. Scare-maze of the year
Ooo, actually did quite a few this year. Probably Project Z at Walibi Belgium, very awesome.

6. Biggest disappointment of the year
Huracan at Bellewaerde. Such a heavily themed rollercoaster, yet it didn't really do anything, very disappointed.

7. Most surprised by
Ravine Flyer II at Waldameer. I was expecting it to be another over-hyped American woodie and it turned out to be incredible.

8. Most excited for
Helix at Liseberg is probably the most exciting new coaster being built for the 2014 season.

9. Most memorable moment
Riding Splash Mountain at Tokyo Disneyland with a bunch of local girls and them giggling away, they were fab <3

10. New for 2013 ride you wish you could have been on
Karacho, Tripsdrill. Really love the look of this ride.

 

[Mysterious Sue]

1. Roller coaster of the year
Piraten at Djurs Sommerland (with a creditable mention to Thunderbird at Powerland/park)

2. Water ride of the year
Has to be Bridge over the River Kwai

3. Flat ride of the year
Mystic Manor (just OMG AMAZING!)

4. Park of the year
Tivoli Gardens was just beautiful. Can't wait to get back there

5. Scare-maze of the year
Hocus Pocus Hall (I know it's for kids but it's so refreshing to have an actual story)

6. Biggest disappointment of the year
Loup-Garou - heard so many good things about this, my first Vekoma woodie, but the restraints killed it
Also, The Smiler - I was expecting it to be a bit rough, but it surpassed my expectations

7. Most surprised by
Tornado at Bakken. I'd heard it had a surprise launch off the lift hill but I was not expecting whiplash.
Also surprised by how good Jubilee Odyssey is and the fab reopening of Turbine

8. Most excited for
The whole of my trip to Russia. It didn't disappoint, some crazy times were had. Pax to the max!!!

9. Most memorable moment
There were so many:
Richard slipping over carrying a load of water bombs at Funpark. Blimey, the whole of the Fun Park was just off the scale EPIC!

Big thank you to Peep for taking on the League of Goons this year, it's been such a laugh. Sneaking off for the 45th lap of a kiddy cred for 'points' and hugging supports in public come to mind

Mincing across the Finnish parks for gold goon stars

The Baboons destroying Jordan's car at Knowsley Safari Park

Getting the **** Hunstanton cred on my birthday

The noises people made on the vile Pax Cobra cred in Moscow (and stealing a child's balloon)

10. New for 2013 ride you wish you could have been on
Outlaw Run

 

[davidm]

1. Roller coaster of the year
T-Express

2. Water ride of the year
I got rather soaked on the Rapids at Busch Williamsburg - so that.

3. Flat ride of the year
Eclipse starflyer at Grona Lund.

4. Park of the year
Hard to top the open-to-closing-armed-with-a-fastlane Saturday I had at Cedar Point in June.

5. Scare-maze of the year
Goretorium in Las Vegas (which has closed now by the way)

6. Biggest disappointment of the year
Not sure ; think I've had a pretty good year, couple of spited rides in Korea I guess.

7. Most surprised by
Comet Express at Lotte World - for some reason I thought it was a kiddy-ride, but it wasn't - and it pleased me because its "clever" ; all hidden away in the substructure of the artificial island.

8. Most excited for
T-Express... followed immediately by "most confused/annoyed by" for its stupid queue-system

9. Most memorable moment
Riding Gatekeeper repetitively in the dark & wet in an almost empty post-thunderstorm CP on the Friday night (after having slogged my way through the thunderstorm and Cleveland traffic to get there)

10. New for 2013 ride you wish you could have been on
Iron Rattler I think (just over Outlaw Run) - something about the rebuild interests me a lot.