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Coasters that you didn't expect to fall in love with

ThomVD

ThomVD

Giga Poster
Very often you can predict which coasters you're going to love when you visit a new park, but sometimes there are these coasters that you just don't expect to be so much fun and/or intense. Note that this isn't the same as underrated coasters. It can be really popular, it's all about your own expecations for it.

For me, those were:

Colorado Adventure (Phantasialand) It just looks so meh. Just an average slow mine train coaster. When I visited Phantasialand it was one of the last new rides that I did and was expecting it to be a quick +1, and to go back to Black Mamba after that, but I was so wrong. In the back it has a surprising amount of airtime, good length, nice theming and is just so fun and addicting. I went for a re-ride immediately after that first ride and it still isn't far from my top 10. It's still one of the best and most re-ridable rides in the park and it never seems to get old.

Twister (Gröna Lund) I had heard a lot of positive things about it, but it never really appealed to me. It's tiny, looked bland, pacing seemed pretty awful and the trains are still quite ugly. My low expectations might be the reason why I love this coaster so much, but it was really amazing. Lots of airtime all over the ride. Proof that coasters don't need to be big to pack a lot of punch or to be fun. The entire park was actually a nice surprise, and Twister is my favorite ride in the park.

Dwervelwind (Toverland) When I visited Toverland for the first time, I constantly forgot about it even existing. Same story as the rides above, it just didn't seem special in any way. The amount of theming was already a big surprise. The station is beautiful and smells really nice <3 But then the ride itself was surprisingly good too. Definitely the second best ride in the park. It had just the right amount of spin and the onride music is really wonderful. To my disappointment Troy was closed an hour earlier than the rest of the park (only got 2 rides on it :( Made up for that by riding it 15+ times my next visit), and I cheered myself up with 7 consecutive private rides on it without having to get off (ride operator: "want another ride?" "yeah sure") <3 It really made me appreciate the music even more because nobody was there to make any noise, and it also made me feel more attached to it.

Pegasus (Europa Park) I have no idea why, but I really really liked this coaster when I visited Europa Park. It's not as high in my list as the coasters mentioned above, but it was definitely one of the most surprising ones. Just expecting a kiddie cred, the back seat was actually a lot of fun. Had some small pops of airtime and some gentle Gs around the helices, and the horse sound when it dispatches is a nice touch. It was one of the coasters we chose to re-ride when visiting the park. I preferred it over coasters like Poseidon, Schweizer Bobbahn, Matterhorn Blitz, Alpen Express and Atlantica.
 
Fujiyama I wasn't expecting to like it all given that it's never received much love from other enthusiasts and the usual, bull ****, "Oh, it's Togo; it must be dreadful" bollocks from people who've never ridden one, but I absolutely love it. Decent airtime, really long and a totally different layout to any other hyper coaster.

Atlantis Adventure Although it looks impressive from a theming standpoint, as a coaster it's actually tiny. It's fantastic though. The launch and top hat in that seating position just feels really wrong, but it's great. I rode it pre-enthusiast, before I realised that bigger doesn't always mean better, so my expectations were pretty low.

Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars. It's not fast or intense, but it's just FAB and I can reride it over and over without getting bored. The way that each of the three sections gradually build up in intensity is really well done, and is sooooooooo much better than the usual lifthill/meander/lifthill/meander/lifthill/meander of the other Disney Big Thunder coasters.

Bullet Coaster/OCT Thrust SSC1000 S&S aren't a great coaster company, so I was expecting very little from these. However, the launches are second only to Dodonpa, but then they're followed by a decent layout including a fantastic 225 foot drop. They're up there with world's best steel for me.
 
I seemed to like many new credits this year that I didn't expect too. The really crazy part of it was that most of the surprises were wooden. New Texas Giant was the steel leader of the year. Since I had never been on a RMC before I didn't know what was going to happen. This one has a ton of airtime throughout. I also didn't know what I was going to think of Alpine Bobsled at Great Escape. The only two other bobsleds that I had been on before were drastically different. (Avalanche at Kings Dominion is pretty good while La Vibora at SFOT has tried to kill me on two different trips.) Cyclone at Luna Park in Brooklyn, Yankee Cannonball at Canobie Lake, Dragon Coaster at Playland in Rye NY, and Comet at Great Escape were all good woodens and all better than what I thought they would be.
 
Verbolten

Came on with low expectations and came off loving it. Just a lot of silly fun with some pretty good elements.
 
I was expecting Space Mountain (Florida) to be your usual fun indoor coaster, but it feels so incredibly fast. I think the "star" projections on the close supports really enhance your internal speed gauge.

My other one is Blackpool's Revolution. It looks so simple and boring, but what you don't expect is the insane airtime off each drop and how amazing the backwards loop feels. It's not a world leader, but it certainly punches above its weight.
 
Prowler was a complete mind **** for me, expected a very average coaster and was given a ride that hopped to my #2. I then rode better coasters, but a fantastic little terrain coaster.
 
Boulder Dash was the obvious one for me, simply because I didn't know what to expect, and was completely blown away.

Thunderbird at Power Park is another one. It's the only GCI I've been on so far that wasn't horribly bland, so I went in expecting "meh" and was genuinely surprised. It's fab!

Also, Superman at Parque Warner. It had been so long since I'd been on a new coaster that had the "wow" factor that I was probably getting a bit cynical. I went in expecting good B&M, and came away having discovered amazing B&M.

Finally, Polar X-Plorer at Legoland Billund. I went in expecting Th13teen blandness, and instead found a fab little family coaster with some nice, floaty airtime.
 
Revenge of the Mummy - I don't know why, but I **** love it. I totally didn't expect the little pops of airtime.
 
Verbolten - Very surprised. I thought I would like it but not as much as I do.
Raven - Really enjoyed this. Once again I thought it would be good but it was much better than I thought.
Superman Ultimate Flight - Really fun ride I seriously loved it such a odd feeling but a good one.
Firehawk - I expected it to be horrendous but I actually liked it. The restraints are weird but its a sketchy kind of fun.
 
Apocalypse the Ride - I had ridden a number of GCI's up to Apocalypse, and wasn't expecting anything outstanding from an otherwise stock-and-standard GCI twister layout. However the ride gave plenty of forces, had a well-paced layout, and still stood solid on its own, even after being gutted the Terminator theme.

Boardwalk Bullet - You know those roller coasters that look like they have a great layout, but probably in reality give a hideous experience? That's what I was expecting here. Great that it has such a compact layout, but can you really have a meaningful ride... with PTCs? Boy was I proven wrong! Just as Apocalypse, the ride packed forces, great airtime, and had a relatively good pace (does meander a bit at the end, but let's not get bogged down in minor detail).
 
I have a few...

Top Thrill Dragster- I was expecting this cred to be awful. I'm not a fan of heights and I was expecting the launch to be incredibly awful. Instead this 17-second ride blew me the heck away! Nice, smooth, intense acceleration, and the view from the top is incredible!

Canyon Blaster- I saw this thing at Adventuredome, expected a rough Arrow +1, and got totally blown away. It's my new favorite "classic" Arrow coaster.

Smokey Mountain Alpine Coaster- I hadn't ridden an alpine coaster before and wasn't expecting much, but I got much! Instead of the rattling toboggan down a mountain with Arrow-esque coat hanger shaping I was anticipating, this thing is so smooth and fun while still being a tad sketch. I love the way this plays with the terrain, particularly the low visibility turn that leaves you hanging on the edge of a cliff. This is a genre of coasters I really love and having just ridden Gatlinburg Mountain Coaster (which I liked more) I think it me safe to say I'm a fanboy.

Behemoth- I was expecting a not-so-fun B&M hyper like Apollo or Intimidator built on a lake. Wrong! The airtime on this thing is so plentiful and aggressive, and the interaction with the water only helps. This is one of B&M's best in my opinion. But the theming is still horrendous. :p
 
Strangely enough, my unexpected declarations of love are for coasters without inversion such as Thirteen in Alton Towers.
I never imagined this but the dark setting, the great climax and the attraction as a whole became far beyond my expectations. And of course, "Dwervelwind of 'Toverland (Holland) was also a coaster that had an extraordinary replay value through the great ride and epic soundtrack.
Also Velocity in Flamingo Land surprised me tremendously...what an amazing launch for a Vekoma Boosterbike.

I expect from modern roller coasters with inversions or thrills that I they will be awesome (most of the time) but not from roller coasters without inversions.
 
Verbolten- So much fun, shame I was hungover when I rode it and we didn't get a re-ride on it!

Lost Coaster of Superstition Mountain- So full of dafuq, but awesome regardless!

Beast- Looked so boring, especially during the day, but it was awesome regardless of whether it was dark or light out!

Revenge of the Mummy (Florida)- The Cali one is good but the Florida one had me and AJ screaming and laughing a pretty good amount.
 
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