1. Ride to Happiness, Plopsaland De Panne
2. Wildfire, Kolmården
3. Zadra, Energylandia
4. Shambhala, PortAventura Park
5. Taron, Phantasialand
6. Batman Gotham City Escape, Parque Warner Madrid
7. Kondaa, Walibi Belgium
8. Hyperia, Thorpe Park
9. Flying Aces, Ferrari World Abu Dhabi
10. Helix, Liseberg
11. Untamed, Walibi Holland
12. Troy, Toverland
13. Hyperion, Energylandia
14. iSpeed, Mirabilandia
15. Katun, Mirabilandia
16. Expedition GeForce, Holiday Park
17. Lech Coaster, Legendia Śląskie Wesołe Miasteczko
18. Wild Mouse, Luna Park
19. Silver Star, Europa Park
20. Icon, Pleasure Beach Resort
21. Hair Raiser, Ocean Park
22. Wodan Timbur Coaster, Europa Park
23. Wicker Man, Alton Towers
24. Abyssus, Energylandia
25. Nemesis Reborn, Alton Towers
26. Wild Train, Fantasiana
27. Balder, Liseberg
28. Wiener Looping, Wiener Prater
29. Giant Dipper, Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk
30. Superman / la Atracción de Acero, Parque Warner Madrid
31. Voltron, Europa Park
32. Monster, Gröna Lund
33. Helios, Fantasiana
34. Black Mamba, Phantasialand
35. Goliath, Walibi Holland
36. Gravity Max, Discovery World
37. Pulsar, Walibi Belgium
38. Lost Gravity, Walibi Holland
39. Fēnix, Toverland
40. Superman Escape, Warner Bros. Movie World
41. Red Force, Ferrari Land
42. Oblivion - The Black Hole, Gardaland
43. Karacho, Erlebnispark Tripsdrill
44. Hyperspace Mountain, Hong Kong Disneyland
45. Valkyria, Liseberg
46. Joris en de Draak, Efteling
47. Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars, Hong Kong Disneyland
48. blue fire Megacoaster, Europa Park
49. Mandrill Mayhem, Chessington World of Adventures
50. Formuła, Energylandia
I've spent the first few weeks of May travelling around the UK for the first time in more than a decade. I spent the first few days visting some distant relatives in Coventry and mostly stayed outside of parks bar from a couple of tiny +1s. For the second part of the trip, I met up with
@CookieCoasters and
@ThomVD for a trip around most of the major parks in the UK, making return visits to Alton Towers, Pleasure Beach Blackpool and Thorpe Park and visiting Drayton Manor, Legoland Windsor, Paultons Park and Chessington for the first time.
As most of the real good UK stuff is new since 2014, there have been a fair few additions to my top 50.
Hyperia is an absolutely bonkers ride with the craziest first drop I've ever experienced. I honestly had a feeling that I was going to fly out there. This element is followed by the sublime outward banked airtime hill that offers plenty of ejector and keeps on banking until you're upside down and over. Then the good stuff continues into the stalled dive loop, which is excellent as well. But sadly that's more or less it, as it continues into some rather harsh brakes (should've been a splashdown, but that's gone), a decent airtime hil and a full on stop. So yeah, the ride does what it does brilliantly, but it's really just half a coaster, so I can't warrant putting it any higher than 8th.
Icon - struggled to rank this. The rides on the normal seats were great and it was getting considerably faster as the day went on, though I did find the final part to be somewhat sluggish. The one ride I had in the spinning back car was a whole different gravy, though. The first half felt more extreme and far more disorienting, while the sluggish final part ended up being perfect for the off balance car to induce some intense spinning. Was thinking that the spinning back car would put this close to iSpeed, while the regular ride was closer to Abyssus, while the sum of the two puts it bang in the middle.
Wicker Man was a neat surprise. You don't really hear people rave about it, though it was really delivering on both days we were in the park. It's neatly packed with some pops of airtime and swift directional changes, strong enough that it induced some bruising on my hips (which was in part also a consequence of having left my phone a bit awkwardly in my trousers.
Nemesis Reborn - perhaps a bit controversial to put this only as my second favorite in the park, but while it does everything perfectly, I just don't think there's much about B&M Inverts to make them stand out from the rest of the coasters for me anymore. The unorthodox beginning and a whippy corkscrew that follows are its distinguishing features from the rest of the B&M Inverts, along with its low-to-ground terrain hugging layout. But the rest of the ride didn't really do that much for me and I felt it was mostly going through the motions rather than really biting towards the end.
Mandrill Mayhem - Took me a few goes to really get into this one, but while it has a fairly simple, almost oval layout, it's nevertheless a very fun coaster, especially in the front row and the backwards facing back row. We ended up riding this one 7 times during the course of the day and I think I was just enjoying it more and more.
There's also a couple of additions from 2025 in here. Last year was kinda slow and the only major new coaster I've done were the Austrian duo of Wiener Looping and Helios. While I agree with most that Helios is the superior attraction overall, I thought that Wiener Looping's elements had more of a punch to them and were thus more memorable. In particular, I really enjoyed the first drop, airtime hill that follows and the extended hangtime in the Finnish Loop. Helios on the other hand has better pacing and some really nice themeing inclusing onboard audio that really go above and beyond of what you would expect from a park like Fantasiana. Having visited the park for the first time in June 2024 (to ride Wild Train before that was gone), it was insane to see just how much almost half the park changed by my July 2025 visit. They really did a fantastic job with it.
And yeah, that's it for a short while, though since I'm dipping my toes into Scandi a bit more over the coming weeks, expect another update in about a month's time.
