TTF Euro Coaster Poll 2011-12

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James6
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1. Expedition Ge Force
2. Blue Fire
3. Raptor
4. Troy
5. Twister
6. Fluch Von Novgorod
7. Goliath
8. Katun
9. Superman
10. El Toro
If you go down to the Towers today, you\'d better ride Th13teen. :P
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Joe Koopa
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Tough group, and I can't help believing I've made the wrong choices, but here goes -

10: Fluch Von Novgorod - Looks like a superior Saw. Good, but not great. Maybe I'm wrong...
9: Twister - Brilliant-looking woodie, but not brilliant enough to be considered top-ten worthy.
8: El Toro - As above.
7: Raptor - Here's when my placings get funny. I'd be happy with this (and all other coasters above) winning this damn poll, let alone reaching the top ten. This just seems to be the worst of seven of Europe's finest in this group. I still can't comprehend how hard it was voting for this group.
6: Blue Fire - As above. A previous winner and a deserving previous winner. It and Raptor look very similar, and I think whilst these coasters truly are masterpieces, they don't appeal quite as much to me personally to the ones ranked above.
5: Superman - I would have placed it higher, be it not for it's shocking lack of theming. Still, I found Dragon Khan had a near-perfect layout, and that airtime hill might just make it to perfection.
4: Troy - Here's a funny anecdote; on monday, I spent the day travelling back from Berlin following a trip with my school. The bus broke down in Holland, but not just any part of Holland. Oh, no, the bus broke down under TWO KILOMETERS AWAY FROM TOVERLAND. How did this happen? I swear I was having a mirage and could see Troy in the distance. Still, that's irrelevant, this looks like a brilliant coaster. Probably the best woodie in the poll. Maybe.
3: Expedition GeForce - Against the contrary here, but I doubt it looks as good as Goliath. Infact, the middle section looks slightly dull. Still, I may have said the same about Goliath had I not ridden it...
2: Goliath*: The only coaster I've ridden in the group, and what a coaster it is. It really is so brilliant, I even attempted to pick out a highlight for my reasoning paragraph, but there is simply so many!
1: Katun - My favourite (in the mood I'm in now, atleast) to win the poll. A perfect, albeit conventional, B&M layout that looks to be full of force. Along with some pretty outstanding theming. Nom.

:)
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Nightfall
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Didn’t have time for a full analysis so some of the rides have had to share:

1. Blue Fire:
Sam wrote: Person 2: "Yes. But on the other hand it's Blue bloody Fire at Europa Park."
^ Yeah pretty much that :P
Is it technically the best ride? No. But my god does it try it’s very hardest. At the end of the day Blue Fire is just pure fun and I love it.

2. Troy &
3. Expedition Ge Force:
For me these two coasters were neck and neck. They both seem to have the same kind of mad rush to them. However while EGF has its stand out moments Troy just looks relentless.

4. Raptor:
For every person that accuses this ride of being like Air the more and more I want to ride it. I love Air and by that reckoning I’d probably love Raptor. However I do feel the layout isn’t quite as good as it could be. But the interaction between rider, spectator and the environment is a big plus.

5. Fluch von Novgorod:
I like interesting coasters. I might have my reservations about the ride itself but I certainly like the idea behind this coaster. For me it qualifies :)

6. Goliath:
This is not quite Expedition Ge Force but it still looks good.

7. El Toro &
8. Twister:
I take back what I said before. Twister’s size does count against it. It shouldn’t but when directly comparing it to this slightly bigger GCI counterpart there is no doubt that El Toro offers a very similar experience but a bit more of it. It is Impressive this year that these woodies have got so far. Either it’s the new poll or the fact a very impressive GCI is making its way to TTF’s second favourite theme park ;)

9. Katun &
10. Superman:
Two B&M’s that are probably great but neither look to blow me away.
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Big C
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Joe Koopa wrote:
10: Fluch Von Novgorod - Looks like a superior Saw. Good, but not great. Maybe I'm wrong...
May i ask your reasons for putting FVN last? To me, it just seems like the perfect coaster when you put into account the themeing, thrill elements and layout?

(Yes i know its a eurofighter...  :P)
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Joe Koopa
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Big C wrote:
Joe Koopa wrote:
10: Fluch Von Novgorod - Looks like a superior Saw. Good, but not great. Maybe I'm wrong...
May i ask your reasons for putting FVN last? To me, it just seems like the perfect coaster when you put into account the themeing, thrill elements and layout?

(Yes i know its a eurofighter...  :P)
It is a choice that I maybe shouldn't have made, and it may just be my ignorance over the fact it's a eurofighter. :P However, watching a POV, I fail to see what's so spectacular about the layout. In fact, it looks just as average as Saw's, and just as rough. The theming also looked tacky, but it may just be hard to see the detail in an enclosed coaster's POV.

I really feel quite bad if I've misjudged the ride, which I may very well have, I do believe it would (like every other coaster in the group) deserve a place in the top twenty, just fail to see how it belongs in the final.
AstroDan

The theming in FvN is not tacky, just to chip in. It's the third best themed queueline I have ever waited in, behind Harry Potter and DVH at Efteling.

The ride even has a labyrinth to navigate on exit from the station!

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Benzin
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Oh interesting... Shame I've not ridden half of these (which will be denoted by an asterix, so take that into account)...

10 - El Toro* - Looks like a fun GCI coaster... But compared to some of the others here, it's not going to cut it...

9 - Twister* - Interesting use of space, but from the POVs, it didn't look anything special...

8 - Goliath* - I hear mixed reviews of this thing tbh... But not ridden it but can guess that I would have a same opinion of it as.....

7 - Expedition Ge Force - I used to like this, then I went on better rides... Like many Intamins, it's first drop is really good, and the airtime it provides is good fun, but I think it falls greatly into the over-rated because it's Intamin pile (like MANY rides)... It's not terrible by any means, but this list has some excellent rides and well, no dice...

6 - Superman* - Rarely hear much about this ride... I know literally one person who adores this ride but that's it... I dunno, it's a tricky one but I'd imagine I'd like it...

5 - TROY (Troy)* - Again not been on it, but I've only heard positive reviews of this one... Been on a few GCIs so I imagine it would follow the same theory of fun twists and hills...

4 - Blue Fire* - TRAVESTY ALERT! Yeah I haven't ridden it, so have put it here because I cannot truly judge how good it might well be in comparison to my top 3 (coincidentally the other 3 in the list I have ridden)... Again, always positive things are said about this, and I hope to ride it this year and see how far into my top 10 it'll break into... Wait and see...

3 - Raptor - Now this is the marker for how good Merlin can be when it comes to new additions, AND how B&M can provide such a fantastic experience without resorting to intense corners, whiplash or general pain... This thing is unbelievably re-rideable and quite frankly I would have happily sat on it all day...
It's essentially like Air, and people seem to dislike it because it's not intense, but I like that, because not every ride in the world needs to be extreme... Sometimes, the best rides are the ones you get off, and want to just run around and do again and again...
Great theming, great atmosphere, great fun... Not quite in my top 10, but that's a tricky list to even enter...

2 - Fluch von Novgorod - What a disappointment that no-one talks about this ride... Quite simply the best Eurofighter in the world, and with more theming than Mystery Mine (which is very close behind), I absolutely adored the ride from start to finish... If people go on it expecting something like Saw, that can only be a good thing, because it'll show just how god-awful Saw really is...
The launch is fantastic, the indoor sections brilliant, the queue AND exit pathways impressive... I can only hope this ride gets it's due in the future, because it's amazing how such a fantastic ride could open the same year as one horribly over-rated...

1- Katun - This fully deserves my number 1 spot because of just how close run this thing took Nemesis to the best ride out of my 250 odd... And yet so different...
The American style Inverts I've been on beforehand we all, disappointing really, so I was tentative as to whether or not this was over-rated slightly... However, then the ride happened...
From the first drop kick all the way to the final helix, this is a ride that could be termed by many as the last 'intense' B&M, possibly accurate, but this manages to get the balance between overall intensity and re-rideability very well, all whilst having a beautifully themed station, and being the most imposing ride on park...
Fully deserves a place in the final, just for being a contender to Nemesis...
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AstroDan

On the flipside, Blue Fire is leagues ahead of Fluch von Novgorod. I have to say Benzin, it does seem that you are weighting your top few on the basis of those you've been on, for the most part. However, I generally agree with the 5 you are hoping to send through.

:P
Last edited by AstroDan on Thu Feb 16, 2012 10:52 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Benzin
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I find it fairer to send the ones I've actually been on through, rather than ones that look good... Purely based on the fact that the gulf between watching a ride and being on it is so vast, it's difficult to truly and fairly judge a ride I haven't been on...

Maybe I'd still prefer Fluch over Blue Fire? I dunno... Just find it difficult to judge rides based on pictures, videos and other's opinions... By that reasoning, Furius Baco is the best ride in existence :P
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AstroDan

Benzin wrote: I find it fairer to send the ones I've actually been on through, rather than ones that look good... Purely based on the fact that the gulf between watching a ride and being on it is so vast, it's difficult to truly and fairly judge a ride I haven't been on...

Maybe I'd still prefer Fluch over Blue Fire? I dunno... Just find it difficult to judge rides based on pictures, videos and other's opinions... By that reasoning, Furius Baco is the best ride in existence :P
The reason behind the poll is kind of to encourage people to vote for rides other than those they have been on - hence why we don't include AT rides because we all know what would happen.

Fluch von Novgorod is an excellent coaster and one of the top 10 for me in Europe. However, the layout in the exterior is pretty poor and this stops it from getting geuine top 5 or whatever. In terms of theming, it is excellent. Also, it has the most appalling throughput I have ever seen from a major coaster. When I went to Hansa-Park I waited 80 minutes first thing and 60 minutes later on, and it ran 2 cars all day... Shocking to say the least!

:)
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Sam
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I'm glad after the initial flurry of people putting Raptor first, there seems to have been a sudden outbreak of common sense. I've heard many people who've been on it describe it as a wing-rider Air, and I don't see why anyone would vote that first.

To kinda use something Jeremy from Rollercoaster Philosophy once said, if Air is your favourite rollercoaster then you're not really a rollercoaster enthusiast. :P
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Nightfall
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Wasn’t that what he said about people that didn’t like the Ultimate? On his review of Air he actually said this:
“...if I were to declare Air my second favorite ride in Alton Towers (which if randomly asked would likely be my default answer), it would be because of the potential I recognized in it, rather than what was actually there.”

This would seem to suggest he actually found the ideaq behind the ride quite interesting. Point to Raptor
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AstroDan

I am sure Raptor is better than Air. Not least for the lovely looking theming. Air is OK on the first ride, but lacks re-rideability.
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Mattmash
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Wow, this is getting unbelievably hard.  These are all top class coasters and probably all worthy of making it this far.  Don't have time to write a long post, so in brief, my rankings are;

10. El Toro
9. Twister
8. Raptor
7. Superman
6. Goliath*
5. Fluch Von Novgorod*
4. Blue Fire*
3. Katun
2. Troy*
1. EGF*
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AstroDan

Voting Results

Q1 Blue Fire 332
Q2 Expedition Ge Force 312
Q3 Katun 277
Q4 Raptor 255
Q5 Troy 237

6 Superman 181
7 Goliath 174
8 Fluch von Novgorod 164
9 El Toro 125
10 Twister 85

TOTAL VOTES: 39

Observations

The headline news here is that the Intamin Mega Coaster Goliath has crashed out in 7th place, after top 10 finishes in previous years. Additionally, Expedition Ge Force, which has gone through, lost out in the end to Blue Fire - a previous winner (2009/10). Raptor, the worlds first B&M wing coaster, ended up going through in 4th, with long term favourites Katun and Troy both making it through to this years final!

Fluch von Novgorod has ensured a top 20 finish this year, and will be the highest placed Eurofighter coaster in the poll. Superman - Ride of Steel (Attracion de Acero), in Madrid, will also finish strongly, although a 6th place finish here was not enough to help it progress. Both of the polls small GCI/GG woodies El Toro and Twister have performed admirably, and will be assured of a Top 20 finish - capping a great year for wood.

Highest and Lowest...
Blue Fire
15 x 10 pts
1 x 1 pt

Expedition Ge Force
8 x 10 pts
1 x 1 pt

Katun
4 x 10 pts
1 x 2pts

Raptor
6 x 10 pts
1 x 1 pt

Troy
9 x 9 pts
3 x 2 pts

Superman Ride of Steel (Attracion de Acero)
2 x 10 pts
2 x 1 pt

Goliath
2 x 10 pts
5 x 1 pt

Fluch von Novgorod
1 x 9 pts
5 x 1 pt

El Toro
1 x 9 pts
8 x 1 pt

Twister
3 x 6 pts
16 x 1 pt

And yes, you read that right. There were indeed last place votes for Blue Fire and Expedition Ge Force! Well, it takes all sorts!

Keep an eye on TT Facebook for details on the start of Semi Final 2.

:)
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Sam
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Looking much less likely that Raptor is going to win the poll now... is it this year's Ultimate?
AstroDan

Sam wrote: Looking much less likely that Raptor is going to win the poll now... is it this year's Ultimate?
No, because I think most people do think Raptor looks like a "good" ride. It doesn't split opinion for the most part, and is also well themed. Not to mention it's the 1st of its kind from B&M. The Ultimate clearly split people - with people either going for it 1st or last. Barely anyone in the middle. In the case of this group, Raptor consistantly scored peoples 3rd to 5th favourite choice amd thus it finished in 4th.

:)
Blaze

Would have kicked Katun out for El Toro, but otherwise good result, even if it was the most predictable.
AstroDan

Blaze wrote: Would have kicked Katun out for El Toro, but otherwise good result, even if it was the most predictable.
I have to say, I didn't think Blue Fire would win this group. I thought EGF would win, with Blue Fire 2nd or even 3rd (I thought Raptor would finish stronger).

:)
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Benzin
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Katun needs more love...

Although it and Troy the only ones not to have a 10th place vote... Interesting there...
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