So far this summer I’ve gone to Kings Dominion, Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Hersheypark and Disney World, which has brought my count up to 85. New ones for this season were:
- i305
- Twisted Timbers
- Reptilian (formerly avalanche)
- Grizzly
- Anaconda
- Pantheon
- DarKoaster
- Wildcat’s Revenge
- Tron Lightcycle Run
- Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind
- Space Mountain (Alpha track)
For immersive rides, while I really loved Cosmic Rewind and Tron (though it was just OK during the day, the night ride makes it 10x better) neither beat out Hagrid’s for me.
For conventional coasters, I was glad that i305 lived up to the hype, the camelbacks on Twisted Timbers were nuts, and Wildcat’s revenge was completely awesome in every row I tried.
Pantheon was an excellent ride, but pretty shaky operations really made the experience unpleasant. With two trains it was constantly stacking or loading full trains from quick queue, and most of the time it was running a single train.
DarKoaster was mid.
I grew up in central Florida so I’ve been lucky in having access to the local coasters. I’ve also been to several other theme parks on the east coast. All that to say, I’ve had my fair share of experiences on roller coasters. Hagrid’s is still the best and most unique ride I’ve been on in my life.
That’s a very great list of additions this year though! Here’s to many more :)
Hagrid’s is one of the best “everything in one” ride experiences. Even just basing it as a coaster it ranks very high on my list even if it isn’t in the top 10.
That’s an incredible lineup of new credits. I actually just got Pantheon for the first time this week as well… It’s a great coaster but I agree that BGW just leaves a lot to be desired. DarKoaster was cool for what it was but no way I would wait more than 30-45min for it… We bailed the first day we were there and thankfully we did because our second day was rainy and we waited for only 5 mins. KD really is showing up BGW as an overall experience and it’s really hard to beat the 1-2 punch of Twisted Timbers and i305.
really feels like BGW is coasting on the “most beautiful park” tagline meanwhile they didn’t theme or landscape Pantheon like, at all…
You can see it even in the new rides they are building. Pantheon is great but feels like it’s too short… InvadR is the same way. DarKoaster is the same thing… It’s like they are building something that has at least one marketing point but just doesn’t live up to the hype they make it out to be. It’s all about pushing people into the park, wringing them for all the money possible, and then letting them leave regardless of whether or not they are satisfied. It’ll work great for them short term but long term it will ruin what they had and it’ll take MANY years to gain that trust again.