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.