Menu
What's new
By:
Filters

Your favourite coaster lineup in Europe?

Matt N

Matt N

CF Legend
Hi guys. Europe has many theme parks, and coasters are a vital element of theme parks in the eyes of many, so my question to you today is very simple; which European park's coaster lineup is your favourite?

I can't really vote in this, as I haven't visited any European parks outside the UK as of yet, but for what it's worth, my favourite UK coaster lineup is Alton Towers. They have the quantity, with 10 coasters in total and 7 big thrills, and they also have the quality too; their entire selection has an average rating of 6.9/10 within my rankings, which is pretty high overall; certainly the highest in the UK for me!

But which European coaster selection is your favourite?
 
Many years ago I think it'd probably be easier for me to have a clear winner, but it's getting tougher as many parks have started investing in some very solid hardware.

Anyway, it's Phantasialand for me.

Although I haven't been on F.L.Y, I can only imagine it really rounds off the lovely combination of Taron and Black Mamba.
Add to that a fabulously fun family coaster in Colorado Adventure. Sprinkle in the peculiar (yet equally fun) Winja's duo.
Raik is a good wholesome bonus cred - nothing amazing but equally nothing to complain about at all.

I suppose Crazy Bats is obviously the weakest link here, but if I'm honest it's not the absolute worst weak link to have. It's just a bit long and meandery; most other European parks have a worse coaster imo.

Honorable mention goes to Liseberg because Helix, Balder and Valkyria is a really strong triple threat. Lisebergbanan is also one of my favourite 'family' coasters.

I still need to revisit Walibi Holland for Untamed however I'm really not that bothered by Lost Gravity so unless it gets another fab coaster, it'll always be more of a 1-2 punch park for me.

Energylandia appears to have the best combination in Europe that I haven't done.
 
Efteling
7.00​
6​
Holiday Park*
7.00​
2​
Phantasialand
6.88​
8​
Liseberg
6.60​
5​
Alton Towers
6.40​
10​
Toverland
6.40​
5​
Warner Bros. Movie World
6.00​
5​
Erlebnispark Tripsdrill
6.00​
4​
Europa Park
6.00​
12​
Mirabilandia
6.00​
5​
Tivoli Gardens
6.00​
2​
Walibi Holland*
6.00​
7​
.
(Yes, I know there's an Australian park on there for some reason)

It's clearly Phantasialand - even though FLY has dragged the score down for me, even their worst coaster is still average, Honourable mention to Toverland which would top this if they got rid of Booster Bike - similarly if Alton got rid of Rita, Smiler and Spinball.
That's why I don't entirely like this system - it 'punishes' parks for adding filler attractions, so places like EP, Canada's Wonderland and Energylandia, whilst even Thorpe Park isn't that far off the Top 10. Also why I don't see any American parks scoring that highly using this system.
 
Plopsaland. Ride To Happiness, Anubis and Heidi make an excellent triple threat. Not just because they are all strong coasters, but because of the variation of forces on offer between them. It's a dynamic collection. Want the fun, relentless feeling of a GCI? Heidi is your one. Want a snappy launch into a airtime-filled top hat? Go ride Anubis. Want to feel wild sensations you've never felt on a coaster before? Ride To Happiness it is. Plus, RTH is different every time which makes it so rewarding to re-ride. What a combination in a park!

Walibi Holland also has a great triple threat in Untamed, Goliath and Lost Gravity. I'm just going to do what I do when I'm in the park and pretend the SLC doesn't exist, rather than subtract points for it!

If we're not basing it solely on thrilling rides, Europa's line up is solid. Silver Star and Wodan are brilliant big rides, plus there's also Arthur, CanCan Coaster and Alpen Express which are family coasters that go above and beyond. Even Pegasus has a bit of airtime in the back! So I guess Europa has the most good coasters, but it feels unfair to compare a massive park to a smaller one in this way. I should hope they have more good coasters when they have 13 of them!

The same logic, however, does not apply to EnergyLandia 😅 EL have two of the best rollercoasters in the world in one park. So when it comes to building perfect 10/10 rollercoasters, I guess they're the best. But there's just so. many. rubbish. rides. in that park as well!
 
Phantsialand or Walibi Holland for me.

Europa Park is a good shout and often goes under the radar because there's not really anything world class there in terms of thrills. But it's probably the best in Europe for solid 8/10 coasters. Wodan is up there with the best GCI's, Blue Fire is underrated, and Silver Star is a beast.

Then there's Arthur 😍
 
Port Aventura for me.

Shambhala - borderline perfection for what I look for in a rollercoaster. Back of the train after a long, hot day, sun setting over the mountains. Absolutely unreal.

Dragon Khan - intense, perhaps too intense? I can't re-ride Dragon Kahn more than 2/3 times if it's walk on, but that's a promising sign in my opinion. Aesthetically pleasing off ride as well. Just a good all round solid B&M.

Furius Baco - superb launch, whacky story line and good at re-aligning your spine. Really brings the Mediterranean area of the park together as well. The station building is stunning.

Stampida - bit 'meh', and slightly rough, but it's one of those rides which I can't stop laughing on.

Tomahawk - some say it's better than Stampida, I would agree, couple of quite aggressive pops of airtime in the back seat as well.

Tren de la mina - classic arrow coaster with great theming and a superb finale. Views from it are superb as well.

Tami tami - well themed kiddie coaster in a cool area of the park.

Red Force - can I include this here??? If so, the launch is lacklustre, but it's nothing short of epic getting yeeted out your seat 360ft up in the air going over the top hat in the back row.

TLDR

Port Aventura has a really, really solid line up of coasters for me. Ticks a lot of boxes. Big hyper, intense looper, launcher, woodies & kiddie coasters. If you can put up with the queue jumpers of course :mad:
 
OK, this is tougher than I expected. I have a dual answer:

Part A - Phantasialand

As a whole, I feel that Phantasialand has one of the best coaster collections in the world just based on the fact that each coaster they has is among the best of that type that I have ever experienced. The quality of their collection is astounding. However, it is still relatively small and they could honestly use a proper kiddie coaster or two.

Part B - Energylandia

While the collection lacks diversity, I truly believe the quality of the majority of the coasters is fantastic. Any park would be incredibly fortunate to have the 1-2-3-4 punch of Zadra, Hyperion, Abyssus, and Formula. And sure, everybody cracks on their astounding collection of kiddie and family coasters, but I wish more parks had even one of those family Vekomas. I quite enjoyed the boomerangs and Dragon. If I'm going to go full goon, at least give me some good quality to work with.

Honestly, I truly believe the thoosie community would look at the collection more favorably if they eliminated some of the lower level creds like the wacky worm or the OTSR wild mouse.

Honorable Mentions
Liseberg
Alton Towers
 
A difficult question with no clear answer.

If you look at my Top 10, two parks (Liseberg and Walibi Holland) have more two entries. So they're immediately good shouts. Extend this further to my Top 10% (so Top 23), and then there's three entries from each of those parks, and Phantasialand does too.

But, do you ignore the rest of the line up? Should the fact that Walibi Holland has my least favourite coaster in Condor mean I should avid saying "Walibi Holland has my favourite coaster line up?". Should Liseberg's two nothing kiddie creds take away from the fact?

I think Phantasialand cinches it, because of the fact I rate most of their coasters pretty well, and even Crazy Bats isn't awful. Liseberg and Walibi Holland are still fair shouts, but only because of subsets of their line up.
 
For me its a tie between Liseberg and Phantasialand

Liseberg has a great late Schwarzkopf, an amazing Mack Mega and of course an Intamin Prefab

Phantasia has a short but worldclass B&M invert, an Intamin steel airtimer and I also like FLY far more than I thought I would

Haven't been to Gröna Lund since the opening of Monster - if thats a solid it may also end up on this list as the Schwarzkopf and the wooden coaster are both amazing.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top