New Coasters for 2018

There's just so much going on in 2018 it was really hard for me to narrow this list down without going on and on! This year feels like a kind of renaissance when it comes to theme parks, like there's been a burst of inspiration in the industry and suddenly loads of beautiful, new and exciting things are appearing all over the world! And whilst I'd love the opportunity to get to all of these new for 2018 coasters in their opening years, I'm already pushing it when it comes to annual leave so sadly some of these will have to wait.

Anyway, enough of me waffling on, here's some of the biggest and best coasters opening in 2018!

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The UK is a pretty exciting place to be when it comes to coasters in 2018, and that is largely in part to Wicker Man, the compact GCI coaster raging its way through the Towers this season. With a slightly strange, ethereal theme with cult-like influences, all leading to the final ride on the coaster bursting through a giant wicker effigy that will burst into flames, this is a coaster I've been following since The Flume closed to make way for it!

From what I've seen of the coaster, from photos and having walked under and around it during Scarefest I'm super excited to try this one out! It may be small, but GCIs are known for being snappy and I'm expecting lots of speed and lovely little pops of airtime throughout.

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The latest addition to the area replacing Kanonen, Valkyria is the B&M Dive Coaster coming to Liseberg themed to a winged creature from Norse Mythology. The coaster boasts a drop of over 160ft into an underground tunnel, and what appears to be a dense Scandinavian woodland.

I'm really excited to see a coaster with a little more theme and storyline coming to Liseberg - especially when it's taken from Norse Mythology (I love me some Lord of the Rings style epic fantasy, and this feeds directly into that love of mine!) Whilst I think a Dive Machine is a little bit of an odd choice for Liseberg, I can't wait for more gorgeous night time views of Gothernburg as you wait to plummet into the unknown. Plus, you just know this is going to have the most epic soundtrack!

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I haven't really spoken much about Steel Vengeance on this blog, and that's for a few reasons. Firstly I tend not to pay much attention to things I'm not riding any time soon and secondly because every other enthusiast posts hundreds of daily updates about the bloody thing, so I'm almost sick of the sight of it!

But that's not to say it doesn't look bloody epic. A 200ft, vertical drop, eye-watering speeds of over 70mph and no less than FOUR zero-g elements throughout the layout. It's just massive, it's bloody obscene. And like everybody else on the bandwagon I can't get enough of how fabulous that first drop looks. Seems like a trip to Cedar Point will have to be on the cards for me even sooner than expected!

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The latest of the S&S Extreme coasters using a compressed air launch is coming to Sun Tzu Cultural Park in Shandong in China this year/ Everybody raves about these things being absolutely insane, and honestly this one looks right along those lines!

The coaster has been a long time in the making, I first heard about it back in 2014 on the CoasterForce forums, but finally in 2017 the track was finally topped off. From what I can see there's not been many updates as to whether or not the coaster will finally officially open this year, but here's hoping as from what I understand of their awesomeness the world could do with a few more of these bad boys!

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What would a 2018 coaster list be without mentioning Icon at Blackpool Pleasure Beach? A stupid one, that's what. As I said, the atmosphere is absolutely electric for the up and coming 2018 season here in the UK and this multi-launch Mack coaster is the other culprit for this mass hysteria. Finally the fanboys are getting on of their beloved Mack launch coasters to call their own right here in stuffy old Great Britain!

Mocking aside, it's hard not to be impressed. We all know how Helix rides and Icon's layout isn't a far cry from it, only with more near misses in its obscenely shoe-horned layout, so there's that extra delicious layer of impending death that I really do love in a coaster. I hope the ride experience lives up to the hype, because if so we'll have an absolute game changer on our hands!

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Not only do we get the joy of two fabulous B&M coasters for Europe in 2018, but we get the DOUBLE joy of them both being fantasy themed. What did we do to deserve such a wonderful treat? Fénix is the B&M wing coaster coming to Toverland, along with an entirely new entrance plaza, boat ride and land called Avalon, inspired by the knights of Camelot, King Arthur and Excalibur. Love. It. I am SO EXCITED to see Toverland's take on this legend and how they'll translate it into theme park form. These are the sort of themes I absolutely live for so you can be certain that this is on my must visit list for 2018.

The stats for Fénix aren't too shabby either - it's 131.3ft (same height as Flug der Damonen) and around 2700ft, making it the largest B&M wing coaster in Europe, which is pretty fab! It'll be a dynamic change of skyline for Toverland for sure and yet another step in the right direction for this fantastic park.

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Spinning...launched coaster? With...a vertical drop?! Probably the biggest curve-ball nobody expected for 2018 is Time Traveller, the launched spinning coaster from Mack coming to Silver Dollar City! This thing looks like somebody thought it up in a fever dream and honestly I don't hate it. I am so intrigued to hear about how this rides because on paper everything about it just sounds wrong, but it may very well be one of those instances where that turns out to be a formula for perfection!

And I haven't even mentioned the theme or the trains - steam punk. Yep, it's pretty much like WestWorld in a coaster, complete with time machine LEDs in the trains themselves. It's so badass, fingers crossed it's not a pig to ride.

So, that enough for ya? I am so pumped and ready to dive head first into 2018 it's not even funny, so many exciting things happening. What are you most looking forward to riding? Leave me a comment letting me know, I'd love to have a chat!