Coaster101.com's 2016 Year In Review

Where did the time go? It’s that time of year again — 2016 has come to a close and now it’s 2017! Every year we take a look back and reflect on the past year. Each member of the Coaster101 team will share a few of our favorite moments from our year, as well as tell you what we’re looking for in 2017.

Kentucky Kingdom Meet-Up

For the first time ever, all seven members of the Coaster101 team were in the same place at the same time, meeting up at Kentucky Kingdom this August. We’re not sure how it works out that we plan our meet-ups around Coaster Club events — 2015 was Coasterbuzz’s Fall Affair at Holiday World, and 2016 was the Great Ohio Coaster Club’s Mid-Summer Scream — but it seems to work out well that way!

We were treated to some ERT on Lightning Run and Storm Chaser, as well as a behind the scenes tour from Kentucky Kingdom. The next day, three of us made it over to Kings Island, where we dodged rain all day, but had another great day of coaster riding.

It was a great trip, and we’re personally thrilled it’s becoming an annual tradition!

Andrew

Parks Visited in 2016: Universal Orlando, Walt Disney World, Carowinds, Six Flags America, Six Flags Great Adventure, Dorney Park, Kings Dominion, Kentucky Kingdom, Kings Island

New Coaster Credits in 2016: 34

Favorite New Ride of 2016: Storm Chaser, Kentucky Kingdom

Favorite “New To You” Ride of 2016: It’s a toss up between Nitro at Six Flags Great Adventure or Diamondback at Kings Island. Nothing beats a good B&M hyper for me.

Favorite Coaster101 Post of 2016: It’s tough choosing just one. If I can pick my own post, I’ll go with my Interview with Cody Rhodes or the Social Media Roundtable Discussion. Both were a ton of fun to write. If it’s not my post, my favorites were Nick’s post on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Shanghai Disneyland or Eric’s look at Video Games’ Role in the Amusement Industry.

Top 3 Highlights of 2016:

Continuing Coaster101.com’s relationship with Carowinds as Carobloggers. It’s awesome to have an opportunity for some unique park coverage, including Off-Season Construction, a SCarowinds preview, and the opportunity to be featured on Carowinds’ blog this year, with a post about the history of Carowinds’ Water Park.
My Theme Park Road Trip in June. I had to drive from North Carolina to New Jersey for work, and had the opportunity to visit four parks along the way — Six Flags America, Six Flags Great Adventure, Dorney Park, and Kings Dominion. It was great seeing a new part of the country and riding a bunch of new coasters in the process.
Night Rides on Beast and Diamondback at Kings Island during the Coaster101 Meet-Up weekend. Those two rides are entirely different experiences at night.

Most Anticipated Attraction for 2017: InvadR at Busch Gardens Williamsburg. I think people are sleeping on it, and it has the potential to be one of the best new coasters in the US in 2017. With a homer pick, I’m also looking forward to the new County Fair area and Winterfest at Carowinds.

Eric

Parks Visited in 2016: California’s Great America, Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, Knott’s Berry Farm, Six Flags Magic Mountain, Disneyland/California Adventure, Universal Studios Hollywood, Cedar Point, King’s Island, Kentucky Kingdom, and TOKYO DISNEY SEA!!

New Coaster Credits in 2016: I’m bad at keeping track of these things, but all the coasters at Kentucky Kingdom, plus the new(ish) coasters at Cedar Point and King’s Island that I hadn’t been on like Valravn, Rougarou, Banshee, Diamondback (which I think opened the year after my last trip to KI). Plus Joker at SFDK, and Raging Spirits at Tokyo DisneySea (and anything else that counts as a coaster there).

Favorite New Ride of 2016: Probably a toss up between Storm Chaser and Joker, love those RMCs. Honorable Mention to the “new” GhostRider at Knott’s Berry Farm, Forbidden Journey in the non-coaster category at Universal Studios Hollywood.

Favorite “New To You” Ride of 2016: Not a coaster, it’s Journey to the Center of the Earth at DisneySea. Wowowow. Hat tip also to the DisneySea Tower of Terror, it was definitely my favorite “new to me” ride queue.

Favorite Coaster101 Post of 2016: From the pat-myself-on-the-back category? The piece on the new Spike coaster model from Maurer that I wrote (with Nick). It’s a really cool concept and it was really fun to break down how it works (and talk to Steve Boney from Maurer about it). Others great ones include a couple Andrew mentioned, his Social Media Roundtable, largely because how great it was to see so many different parks participate, and Nick’s amazing break down of how Pirates at Shanghai Disneyland works. I don’t know how Nick figures these things out. Rounding out my top-5 I’d throw in a couple other neat pieces on “behind the scenes” aspects of parks, John’s interviews with Man Made Music and Baynum Painting.

Top 3 Highlights of 2016:

First is easy, the trip to DisneySea I took back in June while I was in Tokyo. It’s an amazing park, and it was really interesting going to a theme park overseas. I had so much to say about it I had to write a review in two parts (part 1, part 2).
Second, probably my trip to the new Wizarding World at Universal Studios Hollywood. Having never been to any of the other Wizarding Worlds, it was really awesome to see. Plus I got to the park at like 7:30AM, which was certainly a first.
Third, the C101 writer meet-up is always a highlight (well, all two we’ve done). It’s great having an excuse to go to new park(s) I would otherwise never get to. Plus, as Andrew said, the night rides at KI were awesome (related highlight, Andrew’s poor midway soccer game performance that he asked me to record and then not publish).

Most Anticipated Attraction for 2017: I’m really excited to see the new GCI coasters, not sure I’ll get out to them, but I’m a big GCI fan, and it’s great to see them still getting lots of projects. In the realm of things I probably will get to, I’m looking forward to a Justice League ride at Magic Mountain, I’m a sucker for dark rides. Finally, I’m excited about the return of Ghost Town Alive! at Knott’s. It’s a really cool concept that I didn’t really get to explore this year.

John

Parks Visited in 2016: Kentucky Kingdom, Lake Winnie, Dollywood, Six Flags Great America and Holiday World.

New Coaster Credits in 2016: Lightning Rod at Dollywood, Storm Chaser, Lightning Run, Thunder Run, Roller Skater (all at Kentucky Kingdom) and Wacky Worm at Lake Winnie (no shame).

Favorite New Ride of 2016: Lightning Rod — a wooden-coaster design marvel. The quad-down alone is one of the most insane coaster moments I’ve ever experienced. No words, photos or video can do this ride justice. It’s certainly had a rough season in regard to downtime, but innovation doesn’t always happen without setbacks. I have full faith that Dollywood and Rocky Mountain Construction (and any other involved parties) will be able to get the coaster in tip-top shape for 2017.

Favorite “New To You” Ride of 2016: To give Lightning Rod a break, I’ll claim Storm Chaser as my favorite “new-to-me” ride of 2016. RMC has again proven there ability to take the skeleton of an aging wooden coaster and build something spectacular. Storm Chaser is pure, twisted RMC bliss from start to finish.

Favorite Coaster101 Post of 2016: Nearly as soon as I became a coaster fanatic, I wanted to build a roller coaster in my backyard. Unfortunately, Paul Gregg wasn’t around to help me make that dream a reality, but I sure did enjoy reading about his backyard coaster pursuits.

Top 3 Highlights of 2016: Finally riding Lightning Rod was by far the top highlight of 2016 — and probably my coaster-riding career up to this point. And that doesn’t even include the nighttime rides, which are in a league of their own. Riding Wild Eagle during Dollywood’s fireworks display was one of the most beautifully memorizing and memorable coaster ride in recent memory (Lightning Rod aside) and representing Coaster101 with Nick at Storm Chaser media day was a great way to kick off the 2016 coaster season. Honorable mention (also deserving its own category): the years-in-the-making meet-up of the Coaster101 team at Kentucky Kingdom.

Most Anticipated Attraction for 2017: It’s a tie between Drop Line at Dollywood (because views) and Joker at Six Flags Great America. I’m more curious about Joker than excited, but I’ll try any coaster once.

Kyle

Parks Visited in 2016: Busch Gardens Williamsburg and Kentucky Kingdom (cut me some slack, I had a baby)

New Coaster Credits in 2016: 12

Favorite New Ride of 2016: My only choice here is Storm Chaser at Kentucky Kingdom, but it easily could have been my number one even if I had the chance to ride another new-for-2016 coaster. Storm chaser is a relentless whirlwind of speed, airtime and smooth as ice turns. It definitely found a spot in my top 10!

Favorite “New To You” Ride of 2016: If we take Storm Chaser out of the question, I would have to go with Griffon at Busch Gardens Williamsburg. It was my first dive coaster and the out of your seat experience on those vertical drops are second to none.

Favorite Coaster101 Post of 2016: I think Nick’s article on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Shanghai Disneyland was my favorite. It is always fun to get a look into what makes a ride tick and how the ‘magic’ happens.

Top 3 Highlights of 2016:

Of the 12 new to me coasters I was able to ride this year, possibly my favorite experience was on The Loch Ness Monster. It may not be the most thrilling or most fun coaster I rode, but it is the one I have been looking forward to the longest. Nearly spending the last 20 years wanting to take a spin through those double loops, I have to say it was very satisfying finally getting to do so. The ride itself actually impressed me; it was a lot more forceful and smooth than I expected it to be.
Photographing the abandoned Lake Shawnee Park in West Virginia also tops my list. I love abandoned parks and getting to see another one with my own eyes before it is gone forever was pretty neat.
Visiting Busch Gardens Williamsburg for the first time with minimal crowds was incredible. I was able to ride all of the coasters multiple times and take in a few of the flat rides as well. It is a beautiful park with high quality rides and great food!

Most Anticipated Attraction for 2017: Definitely Mystic Timbers at Kings Island. Being my home park, obviously I’m pumped to have another new coaster pop up somewhere close to me. It looks like it is going to be a well-paced ride with plenty of airtime and thrills, despite being on the shorter side height wise.

Mike

Parks Visited in 2016: SeaWorld Orlando, Busch Gardens Tampa, Holiday World, Kentucky Kingdom, Kings Island, Dollywood

New Coaster Credits in 2016: Mako, Cobra’s Curse, The Raven, The Legend, The Voyage, Thunderbird, Lightning Run, Storm Chaser, Thunder Run, Roller Skater, T3, Banshee, Adventure Express, Invertigo, Shamu Express, Air Grover, Lightning Rod, Firechaser Express. Quite the busy year for me!

Favorite New Ride of 2016: While I’d love to say Mako was my favorite new ride since its in one of my home parks, I’d have to say my favorite new rides are a tossup between Storm Chaser at Kentucky Kingdom and Lightning Rod at Dollywood. I got to ride Storm Chaser to my heart’s content during an ERT event with the Greater Ohio Coaster Club, enough to where my thighs hurt from all of the insane airtime the ride gave. On the other hand, I only got to ride Lightning Rod once (I was with my family at the park). However, Lightning Rod was definitely my most anticipated ride of the year, and it didn’t disappoint me at all. I can’t choose between the two. Let’s just say that I want RMC to have my babies and call it a day.

Favorite “New To You” Ride of 2016: Surprisingly, my favorite “new to me” coaster of 2016 was actually Firechaser Express at Dollywood. I was totally expecting it to be a “kiddie” ride regardless of the multiple launches. However, the ride has some surprising kick to it, with more twists and turns than you can shake a stick at. I’d even say I enjoyed it as much as Cheetah Hunt and Verbolten! Honorable mention has to go to Lightning Run at Kentucky Kingdom. It’s hard to believe so much airtime can be packed into a $7 million coaster. Plus I like coasters that end with bunny hills. More airtime? Why sure I’ll take some!

Favorite Coaster101 Post of 2016: As an engineer who is also a roller coaster enthusiast, it would be a dream to design my own roller coaster. So of course, reading about designing your own backyard coaster was especially enjoyable and intriguing. The article about Maurer’s Spike Coaster technology was also a great read. Kudos to Nick and Eric for writing an excellent article.

Top 3 Highlights of 2016:

Celebrating National Roller Coaster Day with the Florida region of American Coaster Enthusiasts and getting to ride all of the coasters at both SeaWorld Orlando and Busch Gardens Tampa in one day. Although our day ended up getting rained out, I still got to ride 10 of the 13 coasters. Combined with the Coaster101 meetup, I was able to ride 28 unique coasters across 4 states in less than one week!
The aforementioned Coaster101 meetup. I finally got to meet the other awesome contributors to Coaster101. The ERT on Lightning Run and Storm Chaser was definitely some of the most fun I’ve ever had at a theme park. So much airtime that my thighs were sore! Louisville definitely will be a city I will visit frequently. Also, finally making it out to Holiday World was a major win for me.
Conquer the Curse ERT event at Busch Gardens with ACE. Getting exclusive ERT on Cobra’s Curse was definitely fun. Repeatedly riding this spinning coaster over and over trying to figure out the best way to get it to spin will definitely go in my book of coaster riding highlights (hint: Try to ride in a car solo or with 3 people. Regardless, if you’re in the front seat, lean right, and if you’re in the rear seat, lean left. Trust me. Happy spinning!).

Most Anticipated Attraction for 2017: For coasters, it would have to be Mystic Timbers at Kings Island. I’m a sucker for heavily themed attractions, so I absolutely have to find out “what’s in the shed”. However, I’m also pretty excited for the opening of Volcano Bay at Universal Orlando Resort. I’ve been gauging the water park’s construction as I frequently passed by it on I-4, and it looks awesome. Can’t wait to try my first water coaster!

Nick

Parks Visited in 2016: Magic Kingdom, Kentucky Kingdom, Cedar Point, Marineland, Stricker’s Grove, Six Flags Great Adventure, Dorney Park

New Coaster Credits in 2016: All 24 coasters I rode this year were “new to me” and I know this because I’m using the Coaster101 Coaster Counter Spreadsheet to keep a record of all the roller coasters I’ve ridden.

Favorite New Ride of 2016: My first RMC, Storm Chaser at Kentucky Kingdom.

Favorite “New To You” Ride of 2016: Toss up between Lightning Run and El Toro as they are both stocked full of airtime.

Favorite Coaster101 Post of 2016: Ahh, so many good ones to choose from, I can’t narrow it to just one. Two posts I had fun researching and writing were how Shanghai Pirates and Frozen Ever After rides work. I really enjoyed reading Eric’s epic DisneySea trip reports as that park is at the top of my bucket list. Carowinds is another park at the top of my “need to visit” list and all of Andrew’s excellent updates make me want to visit even more. I also thought our interviews with industry professionals were all really informative, including the one with CoasterDynamix.

Top 3 Highlights of 2016:

Number one highlight of 2016 without a doubt was riding not one but TWO roller coasters with my son, who just turned three years old in November. He still talks about riding Ladybug at Marineland (basically no height requirement) and Teddybear (35 inch height requirement) at Stricker’s Grove, a woodie and hard to get credit at that!
I was glad to be part of the effort to help raise over $75,000 for the LeBron James Family Foundation during the Valravn First Rider Benefit at Cedar Point. And my three rides on Valravn at sunset weren’t bad either ;).
In March my little family went on a three-night Bahamas cruise aboard the Disney Dream. Snorkeling at Disney’s private island, Castaway Cay, was probably the highlight of the trip for me.

Most Anticipated Attraction for 2017: Mystic Timbers at Kings Island – I need to know what’s in the shed!!! I’m also looking forward to the new family coasters at Dollywood and Dutch Wonderland as I’ll hopefully be able to ride them with my son.

How was your 2016 coaster season? Feel free to share your highlights below using the same format we did!

Tags: 2016 year in review