For some reason I really thought I'd written this already, but turns out I haven't updated it on the blog for years so it's something I'd keen to start doing at the top end of every new season. I find a top ten list can tell you a lot about someone. It can show you everything from which countries they've been able to visit, their manufacturer preference and if they prefer a ground-hugging multi-launcher over an airtime saturated giant. I also think people take them very seriously, which isn't something I personally do (to the point where I don't actually know mine by memory and have to revert to the note on my phone haha). I actually find that writing the list itself is extremely hard - I want it to be balanced and showcase the different parks I've been to but also be a true reflection of my taste and favourites.

I'm sure others who have a high coaster count can attain to the difficulty of narrowing the list down at this point - I know many who now revert to a top twenty, or indeed a separate top wood and top steel list to try and ease the process. But apparently I'm a masochist but I still force myself to brutally chip away until I have a shiny list of ten coasters I can undeniably say that I adore. Despite this, I don't actually put them in any real order after the first two or three so yh, sorry about that. I'm also a fickle beast and change my mind over and over so I'm hoping that this effort of recording the thing publicly as opposed to a slightly shady list on my phone will go some way towards changing that. Here we go then:

10 - Maverick, Cedar Point
I vividly remember watching the construction of this coaster and thinking it had everything I love in a ride: multiple launches, inversions taken at high speeds and tons of airtime hills and sexy transitions. So I was ecstatic that it rode every bit as good as it looked and made its way straight into my list.

9 - Dinoconda, China Dinosaur Park
It's a shame S&S stopped making these but honestly I don't blame them. Another thing I adore on a coaster is a feeling of total rag-doll-like helplessness where you're at complete mercy of the machine, and no coaster type does this better than the S&S 4D coasters. I'm always reminded of Goldilocks when it comes to this trio of insanity - Eejanaika is too much, X2 is not quite enough but Dinoconda is just right,

8 - Hyperion, Energylandia
Honestly I didn't pay much attention to when Hyperion was being constructed. I famously do not care for the bigger Intamin types so this one didn't really peak my interests and I'd be lying if I said the sole reason I wanted to go to Energylandia was for the beefy cred injection as opposed to any strong desire to ride anything there. But wow, Hyperion blew me away. Even in the approaching-zero temperatures of my first visit to the park, the thing was glass smooth with strong, sustained airtime in all the right places and some insane elements peppered throughout for that little extra spice. I didn't put in on the list after my initial visit in April but when I went back in September its glory was undeniable.

7 - Oz'Iris, Parc Asterix
Look, I love a B&M invert as much as the next coaster enthusiast but I've never been overly blown away by them apart from maybe Nemesis, but for me that's mostly in the theming. Then along came Oz'Iris and everything changed. This thing is so powerful and intense yet somehow manages to soar through its compact and twisted layout without leaving me feeling nauseous. Tons of gorgeous, floaty moments as you glide through inversion after inversion before the cherry on the cake with that final hidden zero g. It's stunning.

6 - Helix, Liseberg
Few moments have given me greater joy than a night ride on Helix, being flung towards the Gothenburg skyline at high speeds before disorientingly flipping into an inversion. The airtime is brutal and comes seemingly out of nowhere, forcing you out of your seat and into your restraint. It slithers and snakes around the hill like an apex predator on the hunt with just as much venom and determination.

5 - The Voyage, Holiday World
This went straight into my list when I first rode it back in 2014 and for some reason was removed between then and 2019 when I revisited the park. No idea how I forgot just how incredible this coaster is but my GOD it's breathtaking. Thundering through its layout the coaster gives absolutely no relief or moment to catch your breath before it'd diving down another hill or flying over another airtime hill. You can feel the raw power of it emanating from the train as you traverse the layout and it translates into an absolutely electric feeling of euphoria for the rider. Best wooden coaster in the world if you ask me!

4 - Formula Rossa, Ferrari World
Look, I like launches and Rossa delivers in every aspect on what a launch should do. It leaves you with that pit in your stomach that makes you think you just about can't take anymore before releasing you, and the payoff is a rush of pure adrenaline through your veins which courses beautifully as you race through the remainder of the track through beautifully smooth transitions and floaty airtime hills.

3 - Steel Vengeance, Cedar Point
Did you really think we'd get all the way through this list without mentioning RMC? There's no denying they make world-class coasters, but Steel Vengeance is a cut above the rest. It's in its own class entirely, and between the insane inversions as you hurtling through tons of wooden supports and myriad of airtime hills from the huge gliding beasts to mean little bunny hills, I'll leave it up to you to understand why.

2 - Taron, Phantasialand
Taron is what I would use as an example of theme park ride perfection. It's an absolute masterclass in how to design a coaster right in everything from the actual layout of the thing and how it rides to the train and track design to the exquisite theming that engulfs it and gives it its macabre and brooding personality. It's got speed, it's got insanely tight and thrilling transitions, its got airtime in bucketloads AND it's got a giant rock dragon AND a waterfall, plus a hidden launch within a smouldering pit. I honestly look forward to the day something comes along that beats Taron at its own game because having more awesomeness like this in the world can only be a good thing.

1 - SkyRush, Hersheypark
I wish I could more vividly remember how SkyRush felt to ride but hey, 16 rides during an ERT session wasn't for lack of trying. Did I come off severely bruised? Yes? Did I never want the night to end and will this to be my fate for the rest of eternity? Also yes. SkyRush delivered airtime in a way I had never experienced before and it gave me that first taste of the ragdoll sensation that I've since grown to seek out in coasters. There was something so tantalising and undeniably enjoyable about knowing that this thing could quite literally fling me to a brutal and painful death, save for the small slither of a restraint gripping my now multi-coloured thighs. Add to that the thrill of the speed and the general good vibes of a balmy Pennsylvania summer's eve and you'll understand why I hold it in such high regard.

So there we have it! Honestly I feel like a proud mother when I look back through it. I get very attached to coasters I love and have fond memories of so any new members that make the cut should feel very privileged indeed! Looking at the year ahead I can see a couple of contenders who might make the cut but only the season will tell!

A wise man once turned to me on a trip to a theme park full of too many creds and not enough time (or so we thought) and told me 'creds before breads Jordan!' He was half joking, but I'm pretty sure that day we let cred anxiety get the better of us and went pretty much the whole day without stopping to eat a damn thing. In case you weren't already aware, this is a dumb thing to do and not something I'd recommend, but in that overwhelming moment of sheer panic in realising that not getting on everything was absolutely a reality, we had to prioritise and drowning out our growling stomachs with the clanking of lift-hill chains seemed like the right thing to do at the time. Looking back now I hang my head in shame, not only because it's obviously ridiculous but it's not often I get to go to the US and tuck in to their fabulous cuisine so it's a shame I missed out on that occasion!

Own up, we've ALL been on a dark ride or a kiddie ride with a little coaster style dip or a sudden increase in speed that's had that cred demon that lives in all of our brains to wake up and whisper "hellooooo what's this?' No-one will ever SEE my spreadsheet, you tell yourself as you shamelessly start adding that Disk-O with the hump to your list. They're CALLED coasters by the manufacturer so it DEFINITELY counts. And beside, coaster-count recently added them all so there are others out there who think like me! It's FINE. If it were fine Brenda why are you spending so much time convincing me, your brain, that everything is fine and this is absolutely not shameless coaster-whore credit-mongering. For shame.

For clarification I am absolutely guilty of this haha!

We all know a hill somewhere in our local area that if taken at just the right speed will feel like we're literally lifting off of the pavement delivering that sweet, sweet airtime thrill without having to even bother to enter the gates of a theme park. You see it coming in the distance. YES, no other cars around, excellent. You slowly press harder on the accelerator, feeling the adrenaline increase along with your speed until finally WHOOSH - your stomach fills with butterflies the fluttering of which is only drowned out by the crashing sound of your suspension all but collapsing as you come down the other side. That...probably wasn't good for the car. But does it mean you won't do it again? Hell no.

I am SO bad for this one - although I know several enthusiasts who can identify a coaster or theme park filming location a mile off but for some reason my brain can never really place them. And so I've often found myself in a situation where I'll be watching a movie or a TV show and BAM OMG THEY'RE IN A THEME PARK YAAAY! My brain is happy. But then wait - what park is that? Cue me squinting at the screen and trying to take in any clue I can possibly get as to where this location could be. Is that B&M track in the background? The sign is blurred but if it comes up again I'm sure I can make it out. Urgh. I will literally not pay attention to anything going on in the scene and worse still if I don't figure it out I'll spend the remainder of the show or film totally distracted wondering where the hell it was.

This one is soooo embarrassing because of the visceral reaction it provokes. I can't tell you how many times I've been a passenger in a car driving somewhere when we'll pass by something with a metal structure that vaguely looks like a coaster and my whole body will twitch to attention, like a meerkat on watch duty. The worst part is we'll often be somewhere where I KNOW there are no parks or coasters, unless a Six Flags has just popped up half-way along the M6 and for some unknown reason I had no idea about it. You try your best to hide this embarrassing spontaneous enthusiast reflex but it's too late, everybody saw it and everybody now thinks you're weirder than they already did. Well done, nervous system.

As if just existing wasn't embarrassing enough of an issue, being an enthusiast goes and adds all of this awfulness into the mix. Urgh. How long until the parks reopen again?

Listen, I can't tell you the amount of times I've ended up living like a pauper for a month because I'm paying for a bunch of coaster trips up front. Making the most of the airline sales periods and booking all my flights at once is definitely good planning, but when it leaves me having to eat pasta meals for weeks on end to balance out the offset I sometimes sit and wonder if it's all worth it. And that's before the season has even begun - even with annual passes and discounted tickets, a day out to a park can quickly become very expensive and whilst the memories and experiences are obviously priceless, I do sometimes find myself wincing at my bank account once they're over. Yikes.

I hate the term GP as I think it sound weird and elitist, but it's the best way to describe what I mean in this point. As much as I THINK visiting a park with non-enthusiast friends or family will be a good, fun time, I find myself on edge the entire time. And it either goes one of two ways for me: either I'm (rightly) seen as the expert and everyone looks to me to plan the day and lead the group around as I'm trusted to know what's best, leaving me feeling exhausted and not properly able to enjoy myself because I'm so worried about whether everyone else is having a good time at my favourite of places OR I am stressing out trying desperately hard not to let the obsessive geeky side of me take over. I find it hard enough on a day to day basis not to let theme park talk take over every angle of a conversation, but when I'm actually IN a theme park? Nigh on IMPOSSIBLE not to point out that OMG DID YOU ACTUALLY KNOW THAT ROCK OVER THERE HAS A HIDDEN SPEARKER INSIDE and WELL ACTUALLY THIS PART OF THE COASTER WAS RETRACKED YEARS AGO TO MAKE IT SMOOTHER AND THAT'S WHY IT RIDES SLIGHTLY DIFFERENTLY. Literally nobody asked, urgh.

The nature of our hobby is fairly nihilistic in itself (especially if you're a counter) because you will literally NEVER complete the set. It's like the Greek myth of Sisyphus, cursed to push a boulder up a hill for all eternity only to have it roll down the other side whenever he made it to the top. No matter how many coasters you ride or parks you visit, there will ALWAYS be more being built. And yes whilst that is mostly exciting, when it's a crusty ol' Big Apple in the darkest depths of Cornwall that's crawled out of nowhere it can really make you question your life choices.

On top of this it's almost impossible to plan trips anywhere because there is literally so much to do that any decision you make feels like you're neglecting somewhere else. And what if that place closes before you get there?! It's impossible...

This one irks me so much and it's something I really try hard not to get too deep into. I enjoy the mystery of a theme park. I enjoy not knowing every attraction inside and out. It's the wonder of the storytelling and the worlds and experiences that parks create for us that make me fall so in love with them in the first place, and personally I find the more I know about a park the less mesmerised I become by it. But it's a vicious cycle - I want to remain enchanted but I also want to know the DETAILS about the STUFF, you know? And also because we know so much about the parks we find ourselves questioning decisions the parks make and getting genuinely angry about why, especially if we're not entirely sure of the reasons behind certain choices. It's hard to not tweet about what the FUCK Disney were thinking launching Galaxy's Edge without their E-ticket attraction and get angry over what a dumbass decision it seemed to us, but sometimes we do just need to breathe and remember it's a bloody theme park, it's not that deep. Even if it was dumb as hell...


Obviously it's not ALL bad otherwise I wouldn't keep at it year after year but hell, it's a frustrating ol' hobby sometimes!

Firstly I refuse to call it Incredicoaster because California Screamin' is just too good a name for a coaster and I'm still mad as her they renamed it. Boooo. Secondly this coaster. Off. I swear to god for years I'd heard people going on and on about how much fun this coaster is and how it's amazing and omg the on board audio is incredible and so on and so on. And let me tell you...I do not remember a damn thing about this coaster other than the fact that the OBA was crackly as hell and it just...didn't really do anything? I was so sad that it wasn't very good and honestly I'll be VERY surprised if the Pixar overlay will do it any favours. Oof.

This is one of those old school coasters that first did the rounds as BEST COASTER IN THE WORLD OMG. It topped all of the coaster polls for years and years and everybody praised it to high heavens, like it was god's gift to us all. I finally got to ride the thing in 2014, 13 years after it opened but still making regular appearances in Top10s around the world. And I mean...really? This one is probably a bit of a cheat entry as I wouldn't say I hate this coaster per se but I am definitely confused as to why a lot of enthusiasts acted like it was the best thing ever when it's just...good. It's a good coaster. But not mindblowing by any stretch. Get better idols.

I HATE THIS COASTER. Good lord I hate this coaster. I remember the year we did the East Coast so clearly, and how for months in the run up I'd been poring endlessly over enthusiast forums and shots of both SkyRush and i305, salivating over the Intamin goodness that awaited me. SkyRush lived up to my expectations and then some - it was incredible and only served to further amplify my appetite for the other big boi Intamin on the trip. And urgh, it suuuuucccckkkedddd. Going down that first drop and straight into the layout to be met with instant greyout and subsequently what is still to this date one of my least enjoyable experiences on a coaster ever left me absolutely distraught. How could SkyRush be so good and this so...not? And why the hell was everyone banging on and on about how incredible i305 was?! IT DOESN'T DO ANYTHING EXCEPT INFLICT MISERY!! Should've torn it down instead of fabulous Volcano RIP.

More like POOfire amiright? Sigh, this fucking dick tease of a coaster I swear to god. I was SO excited to ride this thing. I love launches. I love big sprawling layouts with sexy transitions. I love rockwork. So imagine my FURY when that weak ass launch farted us up the first turnaround and the little oomph we did have vanished completely, leaving our train to sluggishly traipse through the layout like it would rather be doing anything else. I was so mad at it. Like there'd been some kind of mistake. The coaster I could see, the one I was looking at could in no way have delivered such a lacklustre and totally void of joy experience. So I rode it again. And...nope still crummy. Urgh. I was offended and honestly it made me hate Mack a little bit for quite a while (I'M TOTALLY OVER IT NOW or am I?)

I've banged on about this dumb ass waste of wood enough on this blog to bore you with yet more of my ranting but seriously, what the hell y'all? What is this conspiracy you're all bought into where you lead poor suckers like me up the garden path into believing that you actually think this ride is good and not in a weird ironic way like we Brits do with The Ultimate (although that actually is good tbh...) Shame on you, time outs for everyone to think about what you did.

I KNOW this thing is meant to be about the speed and not the airtime and whatever, but like...I didn't even really feel the speed? On something like Formula Rossa or even Taron, the speed is absolutely relentless and powerful, you feel it charging through your entire body as your hair is whipped into some kind of crazy birds nest. You slam into the break run feeling breathless and exhilarated. On Leviathan I just felt bored and...confused? I don't know what I felt to be honest but it certainly wasn't fun. I think I was more shocked than anything that B&M could get it so, so wrong? How could something so huge be such a colossal let down? And the fact that people ADORE this coaster, it appears in so many top tens but urgh, crap.

Obviously Icon is on this list. Again, I've gone into huge detail as to why this coaster didn't impress me but nothing will ever get that memory out of my mind as we launched down that dull launch and I realised oh, this is going to suck. I think what made it worse is that I was rooting for it to be incredible. I craved for it to be out of this world amazing. And the reality was that for me it just did not deliver the Helix-style WOW factor that I was expecting from this wholly unique and masterful layout that Mack had somehow managed to squeeze into the tiny footprint at Pleasure Beach. What a waste.

OK rant over. I do enjoy letting rip on coasters like that I truly can't stand but the main reason of this post wasn't just to slag off a bunch of roller coasters, the point I'm trying to make is that just because everyone else says something is good doesn't necessarily mean that you have to agree, so don't let anybody tell you your opinion is wrong. Unless you dislike Taron, in which case I mean really?

And looking back at the 2010s too it's insane how much has happened, when you think what kind of coasters were topping the polls in 2010 compared to those in 2019. It's been an incredible ten years and I simply cannot wait to see what the 2020s bring! Based on this, I put together a list of predictions that I'd love to glance back at in 2030 to see how many I got right!

I will never tire of the Disney vs. Universal war because let's face it, the more they go after and try to outdo one another the bigger and better stuff we get, so I'm far from mad at it. When Universal dropped the Potter bomb back at the start of the 2010s I swear I'm not alone in saying that I felt Disney physically shaking in its boots. It seemed to us outsiders that Disney had severely under-estimated the power of that IP and the thirst for immersive worlds delivered in that Wizarding World style and I would argue that Disney are still yet to replicate this as effectively as their rivals have (but hey, I'm yet to visit Galaxy's Edge myself so I'll hold out on my full judgement). The only step towards this that I can see is the Star Wars: Galactic Cruiser immersive hotel experience that Disney are looking to launch in 2021. To which I am 100% expecting Universal to counteract with the announcement of an immersive Potter hotel. It's a no brainer, surely?

And on top of that, Disney simply MUST have something up their sleeve for 2023 when Universal open Epic Universe in 2023. I refuse to believe that the Mouse will allow their rivals to open such a major piece of new news without having something truly spectacular to combat it. I do not think it will be a 5th gate for the Orlando Resort, but it will be something, and it will be obscene. Potentially I guess it could just be the collective overwhelming awesomeness of them finally getting their shit together and sort out the remaining parts of the parks that they've essentially left to rot over the past few years but I'd be extremely surprised if we don't see some kind of major announcement from Disney for Disney World.

Yes the Six Flags Saudi Arabia concept art and videos are dumb as hell and yes I laughed my arse off at that ridiculous video of the big bad boi cred, but truthfully I do think Saudi Arabia has the potentially the blow up in the theme park scene. The place is so unimaginably wealthy and filled with the kind of venture capitalists who are constantly looking to outdo each other with the biggest and best whatever that I would be very surprised if we don't see some major investment and development in this part of the world in the 2020s. Tons of huge entertainment brands like WWE are expanding their portfolio over there so it's no surprise to me that the parks are following. So yh, I'm predicting that not only will Six Flags Saudi Arabia not be an epic failure like Six Flags Dubai but that it will be a roaring success and will spark a boom for the brand in the Middle East and Asia.

I don't like typing this one but let's face it, the outlook for a lot of the smaller UK parks is pretty bleak. The 2000s saw the closure of once thriving parks like Southport Pleasureland and American Adventure, the 2010s claimed Camelot so it only makes sense to me that at least one struggling UK park will bite the dust in the 20s. There have been rumours for years and years that the likes of Lightwater Valley are struggling and just the other day I heard a rumour that Drayton Manor are planning on selling Apocalypse and Maelstrom (unsourced but still). It makes me incredibly sad to picture a dwindling theme park landscape in the UK but it does unnerve me enough to be making pilgrimages to these parks at least a couple of times this year just in case my worst fears are realised.

Considering there are cars that can quite easily smash the 200mph mark I'm actually pretty surprised that we haven't had a coaster do the same yet. In fact it's almost been an entire decade since the speed record was broken, and another half-decade before that that another coaster managed it. We're just not that obsessed with speed it seems when it comes to snatching those world records but out of the records out there to be broken it certainly seems to me that there's certainly a lot of space to go with regards to what kind of acceleration and speeds the average rider can handle - I guess the question is more down to the tech behind getting there and building something that's not going to tear itself apart in the process. But I certainly think it'll happen in the next ten years or so and my money is on Energylandia to snatch the title!

I'm not the biggest fan of inversions but again, 14 to me doesn't even seem close to peeking in terms of what is acceptable to the average rider - especially when you have rides like Topspins and endless amounts of funfair spin 'n' spew types that invert guests many more times than that during one cycle. I'd love to see a coaster designed that could pull off the feat off the back of just one lift-hill but I am certain that if Gerstlauer can cram 14 inversions into that tiny footprint then it can easily be topped given a larger space and budget to work within. My money is on China to smash this one - potentially one of the Wanda parks if they're willing to invest in something really custom.

Nothing too wild there and I am absolutely certain that the 2020s won't be without their what the fuck moments when it comes to theme park innovation and developments! What do you predict for what the coming decade will bring?

I get it, with so much theme park news flooding our feeds daily it's extremely hard to filter through and keep on top of things - particularly the stuff that's going on in lesser known parks or parks not consistently or thoroughly covered by the bigger theme park news outlets. I do make a point of spending a bit of time every now and then really digging into the likes of RCDB and other theme park forums to uncover details of construction taking place around the world, and can guarantee that every single time I look I discover a piece of news about something that I'd consider to be pretty major and exciting that I had literally no clue about. And so I guess you could consider this a little service from me to you - a concise blog post rounding up some awesomeness that's opening in 2020 that chances are you haven't heard of, but definitely should have if you're into theme parks! Here we go then.

Honestly I'm a little ashamed that I haven't made it over to Futuroscope yet. It's been one of the leading theme parks in Europe for years now, displaying the latest in themed attraction technology to bring science to life in a thrilling and compelling way. Well FINALLY after what feels like a lifetime of waiting, the park are opening their first 'proper' coaster (they had a butterfly once but I don't really think that counts). Built by Intamin, the coaster looks like something that wouldn't be out of place at EPCOT and contains exciting elements such as spinning cars, launches and drop track, as well as highly themed indoor sections complete with special effects. The project has a price tag of €22million and you can watch a cool promo video for the coaster here.


Hands up if you knew the UK was getting a new wooden coaster this year? Liar! Gullivers Valley Resort is the first new theme park to open in the UK in decades and will be the 4th UK park within the franchise. There's barely any information out there regarding specifics of the coaster itself, but rumour has it it will be an exact replica of the Allot and Lomax coaster Antelope at sister park Gullivers Warrington - the same company who designed the Vekoma woodie Thundercoaster at TusenFryd in Norway. Antelope is...fine I guess but a brand new woodie for the UK is definitely something I'd have expected to hear more about, especially given it opens this year!

Back in Spring of 2018, Vekoma announced yet another launched coaster concept dubbed "Top Gun". Looks like the Fantawild company were pretty sold on this idea as so far they've snapped up two coasters of this design, opening at Ganzhou and Ningbo this year! Unlike their launched Space Warp design, the Top Gun sees trains dispatch the station and turn a corner before propelling along a rolling launch track into the full layout. Speed and height specs are currently unavailable at this time but by the looks of this video we can expect two inversions as well as a non-inverting loop style element.

Kings of absolute batshit crazy coaster designs are back at it again in 2020, this time with an as yet unnamed launched coaster concept coming to Window of the World, Changsha in 2020. Using their infamous compressed air launch approach, this launched coaster will shuttle riders to 100kph in speeds that S&S COO Jason Mons describes as 'incredible'. The coaster will then hurtle riders through ten elements including a top hat, zero g rolls and a reverse dive loop, all crammed into a tiny 830m. Essentially it sounds like this thing is going to be absolutely relentless, delivering that trademark S&S forcefulness from start to finish.

Because really, who is going to protest the idea of there being another Taron in the world? Opening at the brand new Chengdu Wanda City, this Intamin Blitz coaster appears from drawings and photography to have the exact same layout as Taron at Phantasialand. Crucially too, Chengdu Wanda City aren't scrimping on the theming either including extensive rockwork and skeleton theming. The track of this coaster was completed just last month so fingers crossed we'll get some testing footage and maybe a POV real soon so we can see how it compares to everybody's favourite European launch coaster!

So there we go, proof that there are exciting coaster developments taking place pretty much all over the world (but let's face it, a disproportionate amount of large scale projects going on in China!) to continue to drool over.