Your top 5 most overrated and underrated coasters/rides?

[pazzap]

I was initially going to do it as coaster exclusive, but I realised that some here may have not ridden enough coasters so it would be totally unfair, and I'd like it open to everyone. What ride experiences, of any kind, did you expect little from and they really delivered, and the opposite also? It was hard for me to narrow down to 5 in each category, but I chose the ones that are still very relevant today IMO.

For me my most overrated coasters are easy:

1) Millennium Force, Cedar Point - I call it Mediocre Force and my friend with me 100% agreed. It's just fast, but that's all there is to it. Even the first drop is tame and that includes in the back row. There is precisely ZERO airtime anywhere in the back row, and a little in the front. It belongs no where NEAR the number 2 world's best steel coaster as per 2021 rankings. That's just obscene.

2) Beast, Kings Island - praised for its night rides and long terrain layout, this rough and boring woodie that is basically almost all dead track, is the most overrated wooden coaster in history. It once again relies only on speed, but during the day, even that doesn't feel that fast, hence the night time praising. Well Duh, any coaster feels faster if it's dark out.. Give me Ghost Rider, back seat night ride any day over this, and I mean 2000 GR or 2016+ GR.. Not 2005-20015 GR which was awful.

3) Outlaw Run, Silver Dollar City - Incredible Pacing but just so short and SO rough. You are bouncing around like a rag doll and I can feel my spine literally expanding and contracting and wanting to snap. I had to take pain killers afterwards and was out much of the day. This was in 2019.

4) Phantom's Revenge, Kennywood - I detest Morgan hypers (not to be confused with the one chance Morgan GTX). Their lifts are painfully slow, their first drops don't have any airtime anywhere, the ones in the US especially are mid course trimmed up the wazoo (except this one admittedly as it's short without trims).. in the very front there is some fun to be had, but in the back they are literally 200 ft nothing coasters.. and Phantom's Revenge is (almost) no different. True it's better than Steel force/Mamba/Mild Thing, but there is no airtime in the back on the first drop OR the 228 ft ravine drop, and then you get some tiny hills with ejector. This is what people seem to salivate over, this 10 seconds of ride towards the end. The 2 big drops are SO weak, it's a short coaster, and the first 70% is boring, so a few tinsy tiny hills at the end does not a top 10 coaster make.

5) Phoenix at Knoebels - in the very back row we were bored to tears, even with those buzz bars, but it's possible we had a bad ride. That said, there is another enthusiast who didn't think much of it then went back a few years later and same thing.. He wanted to understand and get a ride that made it the number one wood coaster in the world (it's really not, I promise), and he couldn't get one either. I can only speak from my experience, and on a hot end of May Saturday with a full train, we had a shit ride. It wasn't rough though, so that's something.

Underrated:

1) intimidator at Carowinds - Some enthusiasts slam this for the trim brakes and they ruin the ride for themselves via placebo effect. The ride is designed to a precision speed and that's why in some cold weather or early morning or almost empty trains, the trims might not even activate, or one might and not the other.  B&M have clearly said that the ride runs as closely to its designed speed as possible, and that's what the trims are for, as it literally can run too fast, OVER the design speed, without them. What enthusiasts seem to miss, and get all in a funk about as soon as the trim(s) hit, is that there is still airtime, it is still smooth as glass and it is still a VERY fun ride. Another B&M back seat hyper that never fails to leave me giggling and wanting more. I have literally seen enthusiasts say what an incredible ride they had cause they fluked an un trimmed ride and how much better it was, but it was literally going at the same speed LOL.. As I said, placebo.

2) Raging Bull, Six Flags Great America - One again ragged on cause of trims, it is true in this case they were added long after the fact and must be there for wear and tear, as the coaster is not too intense in any way without them. Still, in trimmed form, it is so underrated. The back seat might be the best B&M hyper drop in existence, as the pre drop adds that little bit of speed needed that you are violently whipped down and out of your seat the entire drop. The rest is sheer floater bliss and being "pulled down" every drop. I can sit on this all day no problem.

3) OzIris, Parc Asterix - The fact it is not as intense as earlier B&M inverts is what many enthusiasts don't like here. I happen to love it cause of the very unique thing it has.. INVERTED COASTER AIR TIME! Yep, and lots of it. At least 10 spots in the very back row. As well as being glass smooth and "intense enough", this coaster is one of my top inverts.

4) Powder Keg - Silver Dollar City - If ever a coaster was underrated.. I rode this and I was like, WTF? Where did this little gem come from? Intense Launch, then just camel back madness. It's sort of like a mini hyper from S&S without inversions and there's nothing else quite like it! It would be a top 10 coaster for me if they replaced the lift with a second launch, as it would be a perfectly paced coaster, but I understand they wanted to reuse some of Buzzsaw Falls.

5) Vekoma SLC's with the new vest restraint VEKOMA trains.. Maybe I am being cheeky here rather than naming a single coaster, but there is more than one that has been "fixed". I find the SLC layouts to be really intense and incredible fun, especially the double barrel roll. Once you ride them with the new trains, you actually realise they are too short, whereas they seem so LONG and "when will it end" with the OTSRs. It's funny how much difference a train can make.  I like these SLC's as much as any B&M invert and all I end up wishing is that they were a little longer and that more parks would fix theirs. I even see a place for them in new parks. TBH I'd much rather ride things like the Great Nor'Easter than Craptor, which almost made my most overrated list.

Edited September 24, 2021 by pazzap
Spelling and Grammar, still not the best I will admit in such a large post

[Baconjack]

I see this post way too many times in r/rollercoasters but I feel on Parkz most attractions here in Australia get the praise (or criticism) that they deserve. On one hand, everyone loves WWF, while on the other, everyone hates Hollywood Stunt Driver.

Except for one ride I have qualms with its rep and that is Storm. I feel that ride gets a lot of shit, which I feel largely boils down to it being the replacement for Bermuda and having a high standard to live up to. While I can agree it doesn't live up to its predecessor, standing on its own it's a very well presented and overall fun coaster, despite being as short as it is.

[MrLukeCarroll]

32 minutes ago, Baconjack said:

Except for one ride I have qualms with its rep and that is Storm. I feel that ride gets a lot of shit, which I feel largely boils down to it being the replacement for Bermuda and having a high standard to live up to. 

Yep, to me Bermuda was the perfect blend of Flume Ride and Dark Ride, where Storm isn't quite a full coaster or a full dark ride experience. It's the classic everything's replacement should be better than what it's replacing. If Storm went where the Battleboats are now it would have been better recieved by Enthusiasts I feel.

[rappa]

4 hours ago, Baconjack said:

I see this post way too many times in r/rollercoasters but I feel on Parkz most attractions here in Australia get the praise (or criticism) that they deserve. On one hand, everyone loves WWF, while on the other, everyone hates Hollywood Stunt Driver.

Except for one ride I have qualms with its rep and that is Storm. I feel that ride gets a lot of shit, which I feel largely boils down to it being the replacement for Bermuda and having a high standard to live up to. While I can agree it doesn't live up to its predecessor, standing on its own it's a very well presented and overall fun coaster, despite being as short as it is.

Its because its just such a non event. A huge show building that just doesn’t deliver. 
They really got the whole ride backwards and totally wasted the spectacular splashdown. 
Add to that it’s them is intentionally to look crap and it really didn’t live up to a worthy replacement. 
A largely unthemed but well presented version of this ride at the front of the park like originally intended would have been great. 
 

But Storm is just a kind of expensive ‘meh’

[joz]

Storm is somehow less than the sum of its parts. The coaster portion is intimidating, but actually quite weak. The boat ride element doesn't play into things at all really, the splash down is hidden, and the dark ride happens after the point where people care. It's not a bad ride, it just doesn't live up to it's own potential. The themeing is effective, but it's themed to somewhere unpleasant to be.

 

I don't think it deserves hate as such, but it's hard to bestow much love on it either.

[Gazza]

On 24/09/2021 at 10:24 PM, pazzap said:

1) intimidator at Carowinds - Some enthusiasts slam this for the trim brakes and they ruin the ride for themselves via placebo effect. The ride is designed to a precision speed and that's why in some cold weather or early morning or almost empty trains, the trims might not even activate, or one might and not the other.  B&M have clearly said that the ride runs as closely to its designed speed as possible, and that's what the trims are for, as it literally can run too fast, OVER the design speed, without them. What enthusiasts seem to miss, and get all in a funk about as soon as the trim(s) hit, is that there is still airtime, it is still smooth as glass and it is still a VERY fun ride. Another B&M back seat hyper that never fails to leave me giggling and wanting more. I have literally seen enthusiasts say what an incredible ride they had cause they fluked an un trimmed ride and how much better it was, but it was literally going at the same speed LOL.. As I said, placebo.

It's not about the trim brakes...Other B&M hypers have these and they are still fine.

The problem with Intimidator is that it has such a bland layout. Literally 3 hills, a couple of turns and a helix.

Diamondback is much more fleshed out, Behemoth is more fleshed out, even the Goliath SFOG and the one at La Ronde do more despite not being as tall and were better rides IMO.

 

Edited September 28, 2021 by Gazza

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

INB4 @Gazza is put on ignore and told he's wrong.

[Jobe]

I have been on a *few* coasters 😉 in my time, although (other than SLC's) none that the original poster has stated in his list-either underrated or overrated. I guess that rating a coaster is a uniquely personal thing and is highly subjective with lots of parameters- where you sat, what time of the day the ride occured, what were the weather conditions etc. Everyone can have a different experience and and thats what makes the world tick. However, from what I have seen, there are certainly coasters out there that most people have universally bad experiences or opinions of and there is yet again some that garner almost universal praise. These lists are highly personal and also subject to the natural bias's that can affect us all.

In saying that, I have seen very very few reviews that rate Phantoms Revenge at Kennywood or Phoenix at Knoebels as overrated coasters-for mine they are bucket list rides and ones that i cannot wait to have a go at some time in our post pandemic future!

[Gtmichaels]

I’ve always heard that the Intamin giga installations are disappointments in terms of airtime, and more or less focus on speed. Like the classic terms Millennium Forceless and Inferior 305, idk those crack me up some how! I will be heading to Cedar around July next year, still ready to make my own opinion on MF, and I’m still so pumped cause i’ve been wanting to ride that thing for over 14 years!

Edited September 29, 2021 by Gtmichaels

[MrLukeCarroll]

1 hour ago, Gtmichaels said:

I’ve always heard that the Intamin giga installations are disappointments in terms of airtime, and more or less focus on speed. Like the classic terms Millennium Forceless and Inferior 305, idk those crack me up some how! I will be heading to Cedar around July next year, still ready to make my own opinion on MF, and I’m still so pumped cause i’ve been wanting to ride that thing for over 14 years!

It seems to be cool to hate on Millenium Force in the Enthusiast community but I found it an amazing ride. It's the same as anything, because it's popular and won the Golden Ticket so many times for best coaster people want to go against the grain and hate on it. While it's not my favourite coaster in the World it's far from forceless or boring.

[Gtmichaels]

1 minute ago, MrLukeCarroll said:

It seems to be cool to hate on Millenium Force in the Enthusiast community but I found it an amazing ride. It's the same as anything, because it's popular and won the Golden Ticket so many times for best coaster people want to go against the grain and hate on it. While it's not my favourite coaster in the World it's far from forceless or boring.

Yeh I find it just hilarious the hate it gets, I honestly think it will be an amazing ride for me, even if it’s mostly banking and the speeds or whatever people say it has and lacks, I think it just looks like such a rush with those T-bar restraints!

[Gazza]

Yes, I think MF has a different character to other intamin mega coasters.

Other intamins have stronger air and quicker transitions but on MF everything is so drawn out so it isn't as intense as you'd think.

Intimidator 305 is better and more like other Intamins. Great air, fast transitions, forceful turns. But I think budgets meant it only has a couple of big hills and then the rest of the layout is low to the ground turns with shorter supports, so it feels a bit less like a proper hyper / giga coaster.

[DJKostya]

I've been on quite a few coasters in my time. Before I was really able to say I'd ridden a lot of roller coasters I could have bet you my entire life that I was going to absolutely love any coaster that was a messy pile of spaghetti  (Think Joker's Jinx or Smiler for example), small, compact and lots of twist, turns and inversions. 

However when I did my first really big roller coaster trip to the USA in 2006 (15+ parks and over 100 different roller coasters) the coasters I loved the most were the hypers. Fast, airtime and lots fun. The spaghetti coasters were great too but I was surprised that the hypers were my favourites.

Millennium Force was the first coaster I rode at Cedar Point on all 3 visits. I love that coaster. In the dark, front seat and back seat was also amazing. Even now many many years and roller coasters later it still rates in my top 5, and was number 1 for quite some time.

Everyone has their own personal opinions on coasters and that's fine. As mentioned above some coasters do receive universal hate/love from the community. I feel that some of that hate/love is just people wanting to be "part of the cool kids". When I came back from Canada's Wonderland people were shocked on here when I said I wasn't a big fan of some of their big name coasters, it's not that I thought they were bad, they just weren't my favourite coasters i'd been on (For example Leviathan was super disappointing, this should have blown me away noting my comments above but for a B&M Hyper that thing was rough as guts, maybe I just got it on a bad day, also the fact that CW has 2 B&M Hypers rather than diversifying a bit more). 

[Gtmichaels]

4 hours ago, DJKostya said:

 (For example Leviathan was super disappointing, this should have blown me away noting my comments above but for a B&M Hyper that thing was rough as guts, maybe I just got it on a bad day, also the fact that CW has 2 B&M Hypers rather than diversifying a bit more). 

Haha yeh, it’s funny the B&M Gigas are actually still called Hyper models, just instead exceeding 300ft tall. Absolutely get you, it’s just like a larger hyper, same restraints and everything. I do see that repetition at most of the cedar fair parks with Carowinds and Kings Island, two B&M Hyper models, one hyper height and one giga height.

I think many people were disappointed with Leviathan, especially after riding Fury 325. But again, I agree that it is absolutely everyone’s own decision to make where that coaster sits in their lineup. That’s why I’m so excited for my first visit to America’s Roller Coast! I think every coaster there (maybe excluding corkscrew and Rougarou, 😂😂) will find a place into my top coasters.