Top 15 Wooden Coasters I've Ridden - Part 1

Top 15 Wooden Coasters I've Ridden - Part 1

     In the early part of the 1900s, wooden rollercoasters could be found everywhere if you lived between Virginia, Missouri, Illinois, and Maine.  In this general circle, it's still where you can find most of the wooden coasters in the United States.  Most were left to rot or were removed by the time World War II ended.  Some from those days survive.  In fact, the oldest surviving roller coaster, Leap-The-Dips (1902) still carries riders at Lakemont Park in Altoona, Pennsylvania.  (I have yet to go ride that one.)  Contrary to some less informed people, wooden coasters are still made and most were made since 1970.  They generally are not old and rickety.  They tend to have less accidents than the more popular steel coasters too.  The biggest problem with wooden coasters are their need for constant upkeep.  Without re-tracking and putting in new wood every few years, they tend to get very rough and painful.  The track of each wooden coaster must also be walked completely each day by the park's carpenter/mechanics to hammer back in any nails that come loose and to make sure the track is a-okay.  Today there are 115 wooden coasters in the United States.  In the world, there are only 174, so we have most of the ones out there.  Wooden coasters are very different from steel coasters.  They tend to be more rough and tumble, which some people don't like, but others like me really do enjoy.  They don't go as high as the tallest steel coasters, nor do they go as fast usually.  They tend to produce more laterals and have better airtime.  They don't have over-the-shoulder restraints.  Without further chit-chat, here's the list....  Please note that even considering the amount of parks I've visted, I've only ridden 49 wooden coasters.

1.  Roar at Six Flags America (Largo, Maryland) - near Washington DC

     In 1996, Great Coasters International brought back the long dormant twister-style wooden coaster with Wildcat at Hersheypark in Pennsylvania.  It was a big hit with it's sweeping turning drops and large amount of times the track criss-crossed under and over itself.  These coasters were popular in the 1920s, but frequently caused spinal injuries and indeed even deaths back then due to no restraints and badly designed layouts with huge g-forces.  Now with new technologies, these rides could be made safe.  The second coaster designed in this style by GCI was Roar.  It's smaller and more compact than Wildcat, but it has withstood the years better.  It's not butter smooth, by any means, but in the right seat you not only get the strong lateral forces these twister coasters give you, but you actually get some pretty decent airtime as well.  Now, I can't really recommend the park if you want a great theme park experience, the place is a dump with no trees and a horrible layout, but it does have a few good coasters, and if you just want to ride rides, there are worse places.

14.  Grizzly at Kings Dominion (Doswell, VA) - near Richmond, VA

     The early 1980s weren't as big for wooden coasters as the early 1970s were.  The new steel looping coasters introduced in the late 1970s were what everyone wanted.  However, Kings Dominion already had one of those when they opened the first shuttle loop coaster, King Kobra in 1977.  In 1982, they decided to build a wooden coaster deep in the woods, giving an enhanced sense of speed and isolation.  Taft Broadcasting, who opened Kings Island in 1972, and this park in 1975, had already done this one a bigger scale in 1979 with the opening of The Beast, the longest, tallest, fastest wooden coaster in the world at the time.  It's still there and takes up 35 acres of forest land.  Sadly, that ride has been neutered quite a bit since it opened with the addition of quite a few trim brakes along it's route, the addition of individual lap bars to replace the original single buzz-bar, seat dividers, and head rests.  It's still the best night-time ride in the world, due to the absence of lights on the route, but in the daytime it's kind of boring now.  (That's why I didn't put it on the list.)  The Grizzly is much shorter, smaller, and and doesn't go as fast.  It's modeled on Coney Island's Wildcat.  (Not the New York Coney Island, the Ohio one that was flooded and the reason Kings Island was built.)  Over the years, this one has been neutered too with the addition of seat dividers, headrests, the demolition of most of the forest it was in, and individual lap bars.  However, there are no trim brakes to cut the speed, and the ride still has very strong lateral g-forces.  It's still great at night too.

13.  The Boss at Six Flags St. Louis (Eureka, MO) - near St. Louis, MO

      Opened in 2000, this coaster has four drops greater than 100 feet.  It's one of the largest wooden coasters in the world, as well as one of the longest.  It's the fourth fastest wooden coaster on the planet, the eighth longest, and has the 7th highest drop.   Designed by the now defunct Custom Coasters International, it is a terrain twister coaster, which means that it uses the area's topography to it's advantage.  For example, the lift hill is only 122 feet, but the first drop is 150 feet.  It also criss crosses itself quite a few times and has strong laterals like a twister coaster does.  When I rode this in 2012 it became one of my favorite coasters of that trip.  The rest of the people with me thought it was too rough.  (The trains it uses are made by a company known for horrible wood coaster trains that vibrate very badly.)  I thought it was amazing.  Just by watching the video, you can tell it's a very fast, very fun coaster.  I do recommend the park use Topper Track, which is where they replace the top few layers (there's usually 8) of wood used for the track with steel.  (All wood coasters have a steel track.  The reason it's called a wooden coaster is that it doesn't use tubular steel track and uses at least some layers of wood for the train to traverse.)  The coaster is pretty rough, and Topper Track will preserve smoothness.  However, I think this coaster may be the next in the Six Flags chain to get a makeover by the same company; turning the wood track into steel/wood hybrid and adding inversions. 

12.  Georgia Cyclone at Six Flags Over Georgia (Austell, GA) - near Atlanta, GA

     I think we've all heard of the legendary Cyclone at Coney Island in New York.  It's a classic.  But many don't know that the coaster has been copied many times since the 1970s.  In 1975, Six Flags tried to save Cyclone from being demolished and were going to try and buy the coaster and move it to their Six Flags Astroworld park in Houston, TX.  However, thanks to loyal New Yorkers, the coaster was fixed up and put back in operation.  So Six Flags built a copy of the ride (only taller, faster, etc) at Astroworld in 1976.  (The coaster and park were both demolished in 2006 when Six Flags shut down the park due to bankruptcy reorganizing.)  Since then, the ride has been copied for Six Flags Magic Mountain in California (ride since demolished), Six Flags Great American in Illinois, two in Japan, one in Germany, and this one.  This one is considered the best replica.  It's a bit taller than the original, but 10 MPH slower somehow.  It was built back in 1990 by the Dinn Corporation, which doesn't have the best track-record for coasters.  Most of their coasters are rough and have not aged well.  However, thanks to Topper Track replacing most of the bad spots on this ride, it's great.  There's wonderful airtime to be had here, as well as a very good track layout.  It is a mirror image of the original Cyclone.  It stands 95 feet and is the first coaster you see as you enter the park.  Generally, the park's other wood coaster, The Great American Scream Machine, built in 1973 is considered better, but when I rode it, it was rough, airtime-less, and boring.  

11.  Wild One at Six Flags America (Largo, MD) - outside Washington DC

     Six Flags America is very lucky to have both of it's wooden coasters on this list.  This coaster is actually one of the oldest existing coasters out there.  It started life as the Giant Coaster at Paragon Park in Massachusetts in 1917.  When it opened, it was the tallest coaster in the world at 98 feet.  That record would not be surpassed until 1925.  It was reprofiled many times in it's original location due to fire and neglect.  When Paragon Park closed in 1985, everyone thought the Giant Coaster would be gone for good.  Then Wild World, a small park in Pennsylvania bought the coaster at the last minute at auction and moved it there.  They completely refurbished the coaster and reprofiled the ride so that it was like it was when it first opened, including adding back in two bunny hills and a unbanked helix at the end of the ride.  The park is now known as Six Flags America and the coaster is still considered a classic that is quite smooth and provides good airtime and laterals.  A true treasure.

10.  The Raven at Holiday World (Santa Claus, IN)

      Out in the middle of nowhere (about an hour from Louisville, KY) in Indiana is a park called Holiday World & Splashin' Safari.  It's a theme park with areas themed after the holidays of Christmas, Halloween, 4th of July, and Thanksgiving.  Splashin' Safari is one of the largest and best waterparks in existence.  The park is home to three wooden coasters and a kiddy steel coaster.  The three wooden coasters are considered three of the best ones in the world.  And I would agree with that.  Actually this one, which is only number 10 on this list, is usually considered the best one.  It was built in 1995 by Custom Coasters International, the same company that built The Boss at Six Flags St. Louis.  Back then, Holiday World had no adult coasters and wanted a wooden coaster that could be enjoyed by the whole family.  What they got was exactly that.  It's got some good airtime, a wide turn over the park's lake, it's in the woods giving an out of control feel to it and a feeling of surprise as you don't know what's coming.  It's also a relatively short coaster at 2,800 feet long.  It has an 85 foot first drop and a top speed of 48 MPH, which feels a lot faster going through those woods.  It won first place in the Top Wooden Coaster category of the Golden Ticket Awards (theme park awards) since it opened in 1995, and has only left the top 10 a few times since then as well.

9.  Prowler at Worlds of Fun (Kansas City, MO)

     One of the newer coasters on the list, this one opened in 2009.  It was designed by Great Coasters International, the makers of Roar at Six Flags America.  You may have noticed that I really love coasters that use the terrain to their advantage, and this one does that as well.  It's built in an isolated part of the park, meaning you get great rides on this at night.  Again, it's not the tallest, fastest, or the longest coaster.  In fact, the park's other wooden coaster Timber Wolf, beats this one in all those catagories, and is about 20 years older.  It also is not that great and is considered one of the worst wooden coasters out there.  Prowler is considered one of the best.  It simulates a creature running through the forest, and it does it quite well, as most of the ride is close to the ground and the ride doesn't really slow down until the end of the ride.  It's still in the top 15 of Best Wooden Coasters in the Golden Ticket Awards and was awarded Best New Ride in 2009 from the same body.   The use of Millennium Flyer trains, which I wish more parks would use,  makes the ride very smooth. 

8.  Lightning Racer at Hersheypark (Hershey, PA)

     This one is technically two coasters.  The coaster is made up of two tracks which not only race each other and are mirror images of one another, but include quite a few near misses with the other train.  It's located in a section of Hersheypark meant to evoke the feel of an early 1900s boardwalk, and this coaster just fits right in.  This is yet another coaster made by Great Coasters International, which made Prowler and Roar as well.  It opened in 2000, taking up pretty much the last large parcel of land that Hersheypark owned at the time.  Yet again, this another coaster that's normally in The Golden Ticket Awards list of Top Wooden Coasters in the top 10.  At night, the coaster is beautiful, as it has yellow chaser-lights along it's whole course.  This coaster too uses the comfy, well padded Millennium Flyer trains.  Both tracks on the ride have a high point of 92 feet, a first drop of 90 feet, a top speed of 51 MPH, and 3,393 feet of track.  If you haven't gone to Hersheypark before, go there.  It's got a great lineup of rides, coasters, shows, and food.  Truly one of the best parks out there.

Part 2 to be posted on Saturday night.