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Best Steel Roller Coasters of 2009
Mitch Hawker has released the results of his annual Internet Coaster Poll. I’ll cover the wooden roller coaster results in another post, for now here’s the top ten steel coasters along with their places in last year’s poll:
1 Bizarro at Six Flags New England Intamin Hyper Coaster (1st)
2 Eagles Fortress at Everland (South Korea) Arrow Suspended Coaster (3rd)
3 Expedition GeForce at Holiday Park (Germany) Intamin Mega Coaster (2nd)
4 Diamondback at Kings Island B&M Hyper Coaster (New)
5 Goliath at Walibi World (Netherlands) Intamin Mega Coaster (8th)
6 Piraten at Djurs Somerland (Denmark) Intamin Mega-Lite Coaster (Debuted at 5th)
7 Nemesis at Alton Towers (UK) B&M Inverted Coaster (6th)
8 Katun at Mirabilandia (Italy) B&M Inverted Coaster (9th)
9 Kawasemi at Tobu Zoo Park (Japan) Intamin Mega-Lite Coaster (Debuted at 4th)
10 Millennium Force at Cedar Point Intamin Giga Coaster (12th)See the complete 2009 Steel Roller Coaster Poll results.
Little Change at the Top
The top three roller coasters were unchanged from 2008’s results. Although, Eagle’s Fortress did not operate in 2009, so voters were voting based on rides from the previous year. The coaster’s ranking is still a bit controversial as it’s only based on 13 riders. Superman: Ride of Steel is a somewhat different ride in its new life as Bizarro. I was glad to see it retain its title even though reviews of its new form were a bit mixed. It would be nice to know how many of the voters rode it this year. Did it have a successful transformation or haven’t enough people been back to ride it?Loops Are So 1997…
As I stated last year, the top ten continues to be dominated by non-American roller coasters although three are stateside this year, versus only one a year ago. And, 7 out of the 10 roller coasters have hyper coaster-like layouts with those signature parabola shaped hills designed to deliver airtime. Nemesis and Katun, two B&M inverted coasters, are the only looping coasters.See where popular U.S. roller coasters like Maverick, Nitro, Hollywood: Rip, Ride, Rockit, and Manta placed in the full 2009 Steel Roller Coaster Poll rankings.
What’s Your Take?
Do you agree with the top steel coasters list? Have you ridden any of these coasters? Any predictions for how 2010 coasters like Intimidator 305 and Intimidator will place next year? Leave a comment below.
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I’m glad to see that Millenium Force clambed back into the top 10. I still prefer it over Superman/Bizarro and Diamondback, both of which were disappointments to me. Maybe there was too much hyped-up talk in advance. Out of all the new-to-me steel coasters I rode this year, Nitro impressed me the most, followed by Kumba and Kraken. All 3 of them had amazing re-ridability. I’m looking forward to the new Intimidators and hope they don’t disappoint!
Yep. We had opposite experiences on Millennium Force and Superman/Bizarro. I rode Kraken for the first time last year too. It was a lot of fun. I hope to have a review up sometime soon.
Bizzaro is defeniteley deserving of the top place.
i honestly say that rip ride rockit deserved a place up there, just not enough people rode it…
i think the intimidator 305 is going to dissapoint, sorry to all kings dominion fans, but the lay-out just looks to boring… on the other hand Intimidator looks AMAZING!!
I think that either Intimidator will replace diamondback for fourth place or make it into the top three. I’m kind of like Judy, Diamondback was a great ride but not what it was hyped up to be. I think that the layout for Intimidator is better than diamondback’s and it will produce a better ride. As for 305 if Millennium Force is only 10th, then theres no way it will be in the top 10. I think it’s going to be a dissapointment. I guess I’ll find out when I ride both next year. P.S. I might get to ride Intimidator opening day!
Oh wow JaMeS both your comments weren’t even there when you wrote them.
I mean when I wrote mine.
yeah, that happens, I actualy think I305 May be better than I323.
Why do you say that?
i just realy like G`s and speed, plus the airtime hills loook realy small.
Yes, why? I232 looks awesome, is supposed to have incredible NASCAR theming, the ride itself looks fantastic. Plus, it being the tallest coaster in the southeast in what may be the smallest major park in the US… If the ride is as good as it looks, it could easily make it into the Top 10, maybe even the Top 5. Hey, that’s what Diamondback did.
Intamin has too many. An Arrow coaster shouldn’t even be on the list. I’ve personally ridden 15 Arrow’s. I hated them all. I rode Big Bad Wolf a couple years ago. I hoped it would get torn down and replaced. Arrow may have created the hyper-coaster, but B&M/Intamin Perfected it. They also created the 4-D coaster so what, It even drove them bankrupt and led to their acquisition by S&S.
Obviously it depends on which list you read but I was suprised to see Nemesis still in the top 10 given its over 15 years old now, it is very unique and could not be replicated anywhere else though. Europe didnt do badly with 5 of the top 10 coasters coming from here, however only Nemesis from the Uk and ive ridden that many times (and hopefully will many times more) and want something new over here in the UK. Hopefully 13 will live up to the hype and prove to be world class aswell as something new and different. We could do with some more Intamin coaster is the UK, the mega lites seem to be going down well so I can only hope one makes it way over here.We are also in dire need of a new woodie, the last new one being megafobia which was built way back in 96.
Care to send any of your less appricated woodies over to your little brother the UK? We would appreciate any above average woodie and it would be treated like royalty here due to lack of competition!
We`ll give you the RiersideCyclone! I t has gotten many..uh..some, uh.. one good..review…?
I think Bizzaro should down to 3rd place, andX2goto first, EGforce 2nd(I havn’t ridden it though) and maybe bump SM the escape and ultimate flight in there too….
it`s just that most people like airtime more than loops.
I don’t think that x2 is going to get a spot in the top ten ever.
Everyone, Everland is thinking of removing Eagle’s Fortress. Someone has created a petition to Save it.
This explains it & gives you a link to the petition:
http://screamscape.com/html/everland.htm
Don’t let this be another Big Bad Wolf!