On my recent trip to Italy I finally ticked off another rollercoaster achievement - and that it to ride every B&M in Europe! It's been one of those slightly annoying tasks where every time I'd get close a park I'd visited a few years previously would build another one, so it felt like a great accomplishment to FINALLY catch up on myself with getting on Oblivion - The Black Hole last week (and what a great coaster it was!) I wouldn't call myself a B&M fangirl by any means, but like the likes of RMC and Intamin, they're certainly one of the bigger players when it comes to thrill coasters so understandable why people like me would want to try and complete the set as it were. So now I've finally done it I thought I'd have a go at ranking them!
Bear in mind there are twenty-two of the damn things, some of which I haven't ridden in years, so you'll have to forgive me if some of these are a little brief. And whilst these are ranked it doesn't necessarily mean I think it's a terrible coaster, but that's the nature of a list, something will end up on the bottom so please don't hate me if that turns out to be your personal favourite. This is MY list, my thoughts, my opinions, my experiences. You likely won't agree 100% with my ranking, and that is 100% OK, I promise. Let's get stuck in.
Look, something had to be last and honestly I couldn't imagine it being another European B&M. Daemonen at Tivoli Gardens...look, it sucks OK? Don't get me wrong, it looks STUNNING and I could take photos of the thing all damn day. The issue comes with how it rides. The random pre-drop helix that completely stunts any of that B&M first drop magic and a practically forceless layout that ends just as it feels it's getting started. Given the footprint available I'd have much preferred to see what another, less bulky manufacturer could have done with the space.
I think I'm one of the only people in the world to prefer the Galactica at Alton Towers ride experience to Air, but not enough to make me rate the coaster any higher. Any person with breasts can attest to the undeniable discomfort of a B&M flying coaster, and Galactica is no exception. It's actually my favourite of the B&M flyers, with its smooth transitions and lighter dollops of G-force in comparison with its American and Asian counterparts, but the riding position makes the blood rush to my head and without the distraction of a VR headset and that **awesome** soundtrack it's hard to ignore the irritant of my hair flailing in my face the entire way round.
I'll be honest, I don't particularly remember this Superman la Atracción de Acero at Parque Warner Madrid at all. I know I didn't actively hate it so I can't rank it bottom because I genuinely do remember disliking Daemonen but I can't afford it a higher position either purely because it's so unmemorable.
I'm actually a bit of a wimp when it comes to big intense coasters so Dragon Khan at Port Aventura really doesn't do it for me. I don't particularly love inversions, especially taken at high force in (usually) high temperatures so it's that combo that has Dragon Khan ranking so low for me. Plus, in recent years it's really showing it's age and has developed quite a terrible rattle if you sit anywhere other than the front seat, to the point where I didn't both riding it on my last Port Aventura jaunt.
SAVE YOUR SHOCKED GASPS. I know, everybody loves this coaster. I thought I would too, especially as I really dig a B&M dive coaster. I LOVE the theming of Valkyria at Liseberg, especially in the station. It looks very slick, especially at night. But the thing is, the forces are all in the wrong places for me with this coaster - the drop barely feels like anything yet the following layout is intense to the point of greyout which is not something I find particularly comfortable or enjoyable.
On paper I should love this Flug der Damonen at Heide Park - awesome layout themed to some sort of Anne Rice Bram Stoker Van Helsing goth nonsense. It's very much up my street. But I just cannot forgive that vibration. Last time I rode this coaster the thing shook and bounced throughout the entire layout and rattled my skull so badly that I had a headache for the rest of the day. So sad.
Considering how much I dug Raptor at Cedar Point you'd think I would rate Monster at Walygator Parc a little more. Truth is I can't truly remember if I loved it or not - I know we had a few re-rides so I obviously enjoyed it somewhat, but the thing I remember most is how damn bleak the thing looks. Weird exposed station, washed out/dirty looking track over a depressing field of dead grass with an industrial estate backdrop. Magical.
I'm not a lover of the Batman clones but I don't remember Batman la Fuga at Parque Warner Madrid being too offensive. I adore the yellow and magenta colour scheme of this coaster and the station has some of the best theming in the park. Very much a throwback to the 90s heyday of when Six Flags was actually kind of great and I'm glad to see the park has kept the thing in generally good condition.
Silver Star at Europa Park gets a lot of hate but I've never really been sure why. Sure, it's nothing mind-blowing, especially in terms of B&M hyper coasters, but I think it's a pretty fun ride with airtime in all the right places. I guess it's kind of ugly in an otherwise beautiful park which is why so many people look down on it but in terms of how it rides it's kind of great?
Theoretically Katun at Mirabilandia should be Europe's answer to Alpengeist. Huge swooping drops and inversions, unrelenting speed through an enormous layout peppered with awesomely balanced forces and floatiness. Except when ridden in that harsh Mediterranean heat it's unbearable to weaklings like me who have a very low tolerance for intensity. Truthfully I'd love to get back to Mirabilandia to reride Katun as it's been so long since I've been on it but for now it's firmly middle ground for me.
The fact Fenix at Toverland has placed 12th on this list is more a testament to how good the other coasters on this list are as opposed to really saying anything about Fenix. Fenix feels like if I were to design a coaster - it's got a gorgeously themed queueline and station building with some excellent storytelling bits and bobs going on (and some big animatronic set pieces, hello!) It's just intense enough to be thrilling and rerideable but not too much to make me feel ill and it is stunning to watch off-ride as it swoops gracefully across Avalon. Wonderful coaster.
Before reriding Raptor at Gardaland last weekend all I could really remember of this coaster was that it had some pretty cool near misses and a great first drop - glad to see my memory stood the test of time after 9 years because both of those things still kicked as much ass as they did back in 2011 when I first rode it. What I'd forgotten about though was the rest of the layout. This coaster doesn't feel the fastest or most intense but something it manages to feel unstoppably powerful the entire way round - it's intimidating but exhilarating and the near misses and theming are the cherry on top.
Did I mention I love dive coasters? Because damn, I really love dive coasters. I also love a spooky pirate theme (more of that please, world) so of course Krake at Heide Park places highly on this list. One of my all time favourite Merlin park coaster weenies with the gaping, tentacled jaws of death/shipwreck combo we plummet into, an awesome soundtrack and a succinct layout following the vertical drop that accentuates this key element as opposed to overshadowing it. Love it.
Whilst not the most interesting or thrilling layout if one were to strip away the Efteling-ness, Baron1898 stands out because of its masterful integration of narrative alongside an intense coaster experience - something we know is actually pretty fucking hard to pull off. It's so. Damn. Immersive. The mine shaft theming of the drop is exquisite and the way all the movie pieces work together like a large showpiece is glorious. The fact we can follow the storyline without understanding Dutch is just one of many things I marvel at when it comes to this coaster, but mostly it's all the little things and how they work together to paint such an intricate and detailed world for this small yet mighty dive coaster.
Nemesis Inferno is a weird one for me because being from the south with Thorpe Park as my home park for so long it's just kind of part of the furniture. It has none of the legendary status of its namesake and so often is unfairly compared or even forgotten about. But the fact is Nemesis Inferno is a damn good coaster with some excellent pacing and forces and even though I know the thing like the back of my hand it never fails to deliver that rush of adrenaline. Shout out to the pre-lift hill section and foggy volcano tunnel.
I'll always have a soft spot for The Swarm at Thorpe Park as it's one of the first coasters I can really remember following the construction of and feeling the hype for from planning permission leaks to opening day. And I mean, it's a really great coaster too? The inverted first drop is exhilarating, the zero-g is one of my favourite coaster elements in the UK and the apocalyptic scenes with the huge devastated set-pieces is some of the most underrated theming of any coaster in Europe.
Oblivion at Alton Towers is a masterclass is psychologically teasing your riders and I still to this day marvel at how everything about this coaster, from the way it was marketed to the way its themed to how it rides is all centred around the fact that it goes down. That's it. It does one thing. And yet somehow, even after countless rides, my palms are still sweating as I turn the corner towards the (almost) vertical drops. Oblivion's reputation precedes it and despite being such an infamous British coaster it manages to live up to the hype over twenty years later.
Let's be real, Phantasialand clearly looked at Nemesis for this one and went we want one of those. And honestly I'm not mad at it, if anything I want MORE submerged B&M inverts that mysteriously thrash around a semi-subterranean landscape. Black Mamba is awesome - it's fast and vicious, with a snap in its tail that feels as frantic as its namesake execute that perfect kill strike. I adore the way it weaves in and out of its location - occassionally bobbing up out of the undergrowth here and there but ultimately retaining the illusion that we don't know where it begins or ends. Also the station is fucking coooool and has awesome dispatch music.
Oblivion - The Black Hole at Gardaland, we finally got a dive coaster with some real airtime! I won't go too into this one as I just recently wrote the review so go read it if you want to hear me bang on about why this coaster is great.
I went back and forth on the positioning of Shambhala at Port Aventura so much, purely because it's been such a hit and miss coaster for me. When I first rode it back in 2012 it completely blew me away and I enjoyed one of my best evenings at a theme park ever simply riding the thing over and over again for hours. But on subsequent visits it just wasn't that great and didn't deliver the insane airtime it did on previous visits. But ultimately the last time I rode it it was back to being awesome and honestly it was so great the first time round it would take a hell of a bad run to erase those wonderful night-riding memories.
Shocked it's not topped this list? Well I mean, Nemesis at Alton Towers is undeniable an excellent coaster, legendary in its field even after over 25 years of operation. I'd argue that still to this day there hasn't been a coaster to match it in originality of theme or innovation of layout. It's one of the more intense coasters that I can tolerate for a few rerides, and anybody who's ridden Nemesis at night can testify to its epicness. Truly a legendary queen and we have no choice but to stan.
Yh, I just really love me some Oz'Iris at Parc Asterix. It's just a really, really fun roller coaster. Its theming is gorgeous yet it doesn't take itself too seriously and I'm sure if I understood more French I'd be able to appreciate the jokes that pepper the queueline even more. I adore the way Oz'Iris swoops and dives through its layout, through theming and underground and round and back on itself. The surprise airtime and sneaky final zero-g roll is just, my absolute favourite. Wonderful, brilliant, amazing coaster and the reason I can always very easily be tempted into a visit to Parc Asterix on the way back from Disneyland Paris.
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We made it! Honestly writing this list has made me appreciate what awesome coasters we're lucky enough to have here in Europe, and I'm very interested to see where the upcoming B&M invert Monster coming to Grona Lund will place on this list!
What do you think? Do you agree with my ranking? How many B&Ms have you ridden and which is your favourite? Let me know in the comments, I'd love to have a chat!
Talk later xoxo,
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