Coaster101's 2019 Year in Review

Where did the time go? It’s that time of year again — 2019 is coming to a close and the calendar is turning to 2019. Every year we take a look back and reflect on the past year. 2019 was a year of major rides closing: Volcano, Tower of Terror II, Vortex among others. Here at Coaster101, we’ve had a record breaking year.

Now each member of the Coaster101 team will share a few of our favorite moments and personal highlights from our year, then we want to hear from you!

John

Parks Visited in 2019: Dollywood, Six Flags Over Georgia, Kentucky Kingdom, Pacific Park, Disneyland, Disney California Adventure, Six Flags Magic Mountain, Knott’s Berry Farm, Six Flags Great America and Carowinds.

New Coaster Credits in 2019: 34

Favorite New Ride of 2019: Maxx Force

Favorite “New To You” Ride of 2019: This is nearly impossible to answer (see my number of new coaster credits number). But X2, Twisted Colossus, Maxx Force, Riddler’s Revenge, Copperhead Strike and Ghostrider were all standouts.

Favorite Coaster101 Post of 2019: Fortunately, this too is a difficult question to answer. The annual Park Mania competition is always a favorite. We published a great assortment of ride and event reviews in 2019. The dark side of me is always fascinated by the downfall of amusement parks like Geauga Lake. The history geek in me loved this two-part series about the legendary Coney Island. And I have the crew at Dollywood to thank for another favorite, the post with Tennessee Tornado construction photos.

Top 3 Highlights of 2019:

Yikes, this is another tough one. 2019 was such a stellar year from start to finish.

I rode my 200th roller coaster, Space Mountain at Disneyland.
I had the privilege of asking Dolly Parton a question at Dollywood’s Wildwood Grove media day.
My first trip to California entailed park-hopping across the LA area, riding more than 20 new-to-me coasters.

Andrew

Parks Visited in 2019: Walt Disney World Resort, Carowinds, Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Kings Dominion, Indiana Beach, Six Flags Great America, Conneaut Lake Park, Waldameer, Kennywood, Worlds of Fun, Funtasticks Charlotte, LEGOLAND Florida, Busch Gardens Tampa

New Coaster Credits in 2019: 41 (including #200 overall on Copperhead Strike at Carowinds)

Favorite New Ride of 2019: Copperhead Strike

Favorite “New To You” Ride of 2019: Ravine Flyer II, Waldameer

Favorite Coaster101 Post of 2019: We had nearly 300 new posts on the site in 2019, so narrowing it down to just one post is tough. From a traffic standpoint, it’s tough to beat the news of Volcano: The Blast Coaster’s sudden closure at Kings Dominion. Easily the biggest post on the site this year (and maybe of all time). I really enjoyed talking with Weber Group’s Adam McIntyre about Byrd Farm at Carowinds. Sitewide, I loved Kyle and Nick’s “Kennywood with Kids” article, Shane’s feature on Geauga Lake, and Eric’s thoughts on West Coast Racers.

Top 3 Highlights of 2019:

C101 Meet-Ups: This year, we managed to get 6 of 7 of the pre-Shane C101 team at Indiana Beach, and 7 of 7 at Six Flags Great America the following day. It was actually a momentous day in Coaster101 history, as it was the first time all seven of us had been on a roller coaster train at the same time. Hoping we can make it a full 8 of 8 next year! In November, we had a mini-meet up of sorts when Kyle and Nick drove down from Ohio, and John flew in from Tennessee for a day at Carowinds. (And a night-cap at Funtasticks of Charlotte.) It was a fantastic day, and I’m glad we could get together for a day of no-shame coaster riding (two new credits!)
IAAPA: I had the opportunity to go back down to Orlando for the IAAPA Expo this year. It was great seeing everything going on in the industry, and all of the new ride vehicles announced. Better still were the connections I made in Orlando, and the amount of people who told me how much they enjoy reading Coaster101.com. A special shout out to Phil Wilson of Extreme Engineering, who actually cited Coaster101 in his remarks during their press event. One thing I learned at IAAPA that I kind of assumed before but actually confirmed was that “Coaster Internet” are all actually pretty great people and a blast to hang out with. During one night of IAAPA, it was awesome to have a “internet roundtable” of sorts with the guys from CoasterForce, Sean from ThemePark Worldwide, Taylor from Coaster Studios, Hyde and Drew from In The Loop, and several others who I’ve probably forgotten. (Thanks to Ride Entertainment for making that possible!)
Worlds of Fun: A park that I’ve been threatening to visit for a few years, I finally managed to check Worlds of Fun off my bucket list. Two very solid wooden coasters in Prowler and Timber Wolf, two great Steel Coasters in Mamba and Patriot, a fantastic Halloween event, and some great Kansas City BBQ all made this a fantastic trip. But probably my favorite part of the trip was getting to spend some time with Chris Foshee, the Communications Manager from Worlds of Fun, and make a cameo appearance in Worlds of Fun’s “Things Coaster Enthusiasts Say” Video.

Nick

Parks Visited in 2019: Kentucky Kingdom, Indiana Beach, Six Flags Great America, Kennywood, and Carowinds. And if we want to include FECs: Malibu Jack’s (Lexington and Louisville), Scene75 Columbus, Frankies of Charlotte, and Funtasticks

New Coaster Credits in 2019: 32 new to me roller coasters (39 different coasters total).

Favorite New Ride of 2019: I missed out on Maxx Force and Steel Curtain each by a week or two. However, I was able to ride three roller coasters newly opened in 2019, my favorite of which was Copperhead Strike at Carowinds, followed by Kentucky Flyer at Kentucky Kingdom and Nuclear Rush at Scene75 Columbus.

Favorite “New To You” Ride of 2019: Easy. Fury 325 at Carowinds. Runner up: Raging Bull at Six Flags Great America

Favorite Coaster101 Post of 2019: So many good ones to choose from. I loved following Andrew’s IAAPA coverage.

Top 3 Highlights of 2019

C101 meet-ups. Got to meet up two separate time this year both at “new to me” parks: Six Flags Great America and Carowinds.
Riding coasters with my kids. My two-year-old daughter got her first coaster credit on Lil’ Phantom at Kennywood. I got my six-year-old son on four new coaster credits: SeaDragon at Columbus Zoo, Jack Rabbit and Lil’ Phantom at Kennywood and Nuclear Rush at Scene75. His coaster count is already up to 18 even though he just hit the 42 inch mark this summer.
Watching C101 grow up. Thanks to our fans we’ve had an amazing year. The awesome support we’ve gotten just pushes us to work harder to bring more unique content to you.

Eric

Parks Visited in 2019: Not nearly as many as last year when I made my coaster road trip, but still a solid year! I got in California’s Great America and Six Flags Discovery Kingdom as always, along with Knott’s Berry Farm, Six Flags Magic Mountain, and Disneyland/DCA. I made a WDW trip in September, and joined C101 team for our Six Flags Great America and Indiana Beach meetup.

New Coaster Credits in 2019: 20-ish. As always, I’m the bad coaster enthusiast who doesn’t really keep track. So, uhh, however many we got at SF Great America and Indiana Beach, plus a few others.

Favorite New Ride of 2019: Sadly I’ve only made it on two new coasters this year. I think I’ll go with the rare 2019 coaster opening in 2020, West Coast Racers. Although in the non-coaster category, Smuggler’s Run was pretty fun, especially the first time riding it (and getting to pilot).

Favorite “New To You” Ride of 2019: Oh man, this is also tough. I think Raging Bull was definitely the best new to me coaster I rode, but I also rode Flight of Passage for the first time, and that’s hard to top (check out Nick’s explanation of why it’s so good). I’m probably going with Avatar.

Favorite Coaster101 Post of 2019: Impossible, all our posts are great! Fine fine, some that stand out in my memory, I love reading Andrew’s IAAPA coverage. It makes me want to join him next year! I also loved all of the 19 for ’99 series highlighting coasters that opened 20 years ago, a ton of great history. Nick’s breakdown of how Aquaman Power Wave works was another great one.

Top 3 Highlights of 2019

Although it isn’t perfect yet, that first time walking into Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland was pretty awesome. That I’ve been able to go multiple times, and check out the Hollywood Studios version is icing on the cake. I can’t wait for Rise of the Resistance to open out here in California.
Getting to finally go to Six Flags Great America. As someone who grew up going to California’s Great America, I’d often wondered about this weird, mysterious, sister park that took a different path in life. It was really fun seeing both strange similarities, and spots where they divereged. Getting to ride things at SFGA that are gone from CGA (like Whizzer!), and also seeing places where SFGA lost a ride CGA still has (Delta Flyer!). Someday I’ll write a post with side by side photo comparisons, I promise.
Last month I visited Garner Holt Productions, the makers of some of the best animatronics in the world. I took a tour of their facility, and sat down both founder Garner Holt and Vice President of Creative Development Bill Butler for an interview. It was incredibly special to get this behind the scenes look at one of the premier companies in the theme park business. Keep your eye out early this year for the full interview with them!

Kyle

Parks Visited in 2019: Nick and I have very similar lists this year (mainly because we carpooled to a lot of these parks): Kentucky Kingdom, Indiana Beach, Six Flags Great America, Kennywood, and Carowinds. The small family fun centers were great too: Malibu Jack’s (Lexington and Louisville), Scene75 Columbus, Frankies of Charlotte, and the legendary trip to Funtasticks. I also made it to Camden Park in Huntington, WV this fall and just took an unexpected trip to Kings Island for Winterfest to finish out the year!

New Coaster Credits in 2019: 30

Favorite New Ride of 2019: Steel Curtain was probably my favorite ride that debuted this year. It lived up to the hype and was unbelievably smooth through some very quick and tight transitions. Kennywood definitely has a hit on their hands there!

Favorite “New To You” Ride of 2019: Since my amusement park fandom began, I’ve always wanted to get to Indiana Beach and ride The Lost Coaster of Superstition Mountain and I finally got to in 2019! It is in no way the best coaster at the park, but it is quirky and unlike anything you can find elsewhere.

Favorite Coaster101 Post of 2019: I think the 19 for ’99 Series was a hit this year. I loved being able to look back over the last two decades and see that some coasters we wouldn’t think of being 20 years old actually are! Looking at my personal articles from 2019, The Dad Interview article was probably my favorite to put together. Joel Willis was a great guy to work with and had some great tips for tackling the parks with kids.

Top 3 Highlights of 2019:

The quest for Steel Hawg with Nick. After the Coaster101 Team visited Indiana Beach and Six Flags Great America this summer, Nick and I swung back by Indiana Beach with a small glimmer of hope to get on the elusive Steel Hawg coaster that wasn’t running when we were there earlier. After much waiting and deliberation we got on and it was a victorious day in Coaster101 history.
Riding the Miner Mike coaster at Funtasticks in Charlotte with John, Nick, and Andrew. Like kids in a candy store we were.
Getting to ride with my son on his first roller coaster (Lil’ Phantom at Kennywood). He loved it and is hooked. He has since racked up an impressive 8 coaster credits this year.

Mike

Parks Visited in 2019: Six Flags Over Texas, Six Flags Fiesta Texas, SeaWorld San Antonio, SeaWorld San Diego, Six Flags Great America, SeaWorld Orlando, Busch Gardens Tampa, LEGOLAND Florida, Disney Magic Kingdom, Disney Animal Kingdom, Disney Hollywood Studios

New Coaster Credits in 2019: 30

Favorite New Ride of 2019: The only 2019 coaster that I actually got around to riding was Tidal Twister at SeaWorld San Diego, so that wins by default. As Nick mentioned, we were a couple of weeks too early for the debut of Maxx Force at SFGA. I also couldn’t make the Tigris opening event due to a work conflict, and haven’t gotten around to riding it yet (although I’ve ridden SeaWorld Parks’ other two Sky Rocket II coasters, Tempesto and Electric Eel).

Favorite “New To You” Ride of 2019: I’ll have to go with Iron Rattler at Six Flags Fiesta Texas (with apologies to Wonder Woman Golden Lasso). While it’d be easy to say I have Rocky Mountain Construction fatigue, having ridden so many of their coasters in the past few years, Iron Rattler still managed to wow me.

Favorite Coaster101 Post of 2019: Andrew’s coverage of IAAPA. I was bummed out about missing IAAPA this year due to a work trip, but I was able to live vicariously through Andrew’s awesome coverage of the conference! With IAAPA being right here in my backyard, I will speak into existence that work won’t prevent me from going this year.

Top 3 Highlights of 2019:

Coaster101 2019 Meetup: It’s always fun to meet up with the Coaster101 guys, but the highlight of this trip had to be the side trip to Indiana Beach. I think it’s safe to say that Indiana Beach is one of those small town parks that I probably would not ever have had planned on visiting. Being from Florida, a boardwalk resort in the middle of Indiana was not on my list of things to do. But we had an awesome time at the park!
Texas Theme Park Trip: My wife and I have famously taken a ton of roller coaster trips across the country. However, with our growing family and work responsibilities, it’s been a while since we’d taken one of these trips. We had a blast driving across Texas visiting the state’s big theme parks (Six Flags Over Texas, Six Flags Fiesta Texas, and SeaWorld San Antonio).
My son’s first ride on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad: This one brought a tear to my eye, as I distinctly remember my first time riding Big Thunder Mountain. We’d ridden The Barnstormer a ton of times, however, I didn’t think he’d have the nerve to tackle Big Thunder Mountain at 4 years old. FastPass+ was all booked for the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, so I figured I’d try my luck with taking him on Big Thunder Mountain. I was nervous because for some reason, he didn’t like his last ride on Barnstormer. I crossed my fingers that this wouldn’t be the ride to make him hate roller coasters for the rest of his life. But thankfully, he had a blast on Big Thunder Mountain!

Shane

Parks Visited in 2019: I visited 9 total parks in 2019, 8 of which were new to me! They were Busch Gardens Tampa, Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Dorney Park, Hersheypark, Quassy, Nickelodeon Universe (New Jersey), and my home park of Six Flags New England.

New Coaster Credits in 2019: This year, I rode 35 new coasters in total, 6 wood and 28 steel, across 5 different states. I was lucky because the parks that I visited this year all have really diverse lineups, so I was able to experience a lot of different coasters that were new experiences for me. Most notably, my first Intamin launch coaster (Cheetah Hunt), my first Gravity Group Coaster (Wooden Warrior) and my new favorite coaster (Skyrush).

Favorite New Ride of 2019: I only experienced one attraction that was that was new for 2019, and that was Nickelodeon Universe in New Jersey, where all of the coasters are brand new. My favorite, unsurprisingly, was TMNT Shellraiser. The world’s steepest coaster definitely made an impression, featuring a non-stop layout, a vertical lift hill and an incredible launch.

Favorite “New To You” Ride of 2019: As I mentioned before, 2019 brought me to my new favorite roller coaster and by default my favorite coaster I rode this year, Skyrush at Hersheypark. There was some tough competition, 6 of my current top 10 coasters were new to me in 2019, but Skyrush rose above the rest. When I ride coasters, I find that I am most impressed by speed and intensity, two elements which Skyrush offers plenty of. The insane ejector airtime and tight turns made Skyrush really stand out, not to mention that 20mph cable lift followed by the utterly insane floater/ejector combination of the first drop.

Favorite Coaster101 Post of 2019: Since this was my first year with the site, I read a lot of articles to prepare for the job, so I have a few favorites! I loved seeing Andrew’s coverage of IAAPA, I enjoyed checking the site and keeping up with the activities and announcements on the Twitter account. I also loved following the series of articles detailing Copperhead Strike’s teasers, construction and debut. I wasn’t a part of the site yet, but I distinctly remember checking in each time there was an update to see the progress. I also really like the “Top 10 of the Decade” series that is going on now, it’s a lot of fun looking back on how great this decade really was for the industry. As far as my own articles, I really liked writing the Geauga Lake and Coaster War articles, even though I had to do a ton of research. I also had a great time interviewing Dan from Midway Mayhem, he gave some really great and insightful answers about what it means to be on the frontlines of theme park social media.

Top 3 Highlights of 2019:

Visiting Hersheypark to cover the Candymonium announcement was an awesome trip, I had never been to Pennsylvania before, so I had a great time exploring the state and the park. Hersheypark is now one of my favorite parks, they have one of the most well-rounded lineups of any park in the US, and each coaster is top quality. I also stopped by the very underrated Dorney Park on the way down, which was a stop I was really glad I made!
My visit to Walt Disney World this summer. I have been a Disney fanatic for many years now, and I am fascinated with the history of the parks and attractions, and Walt Disney himself. Visiting the parks this summer was a surreal experience, I finally got to ride all of the attractions I had read and heard so much about.
In March, I made one of my first trips exclusively to visit a theme park, and that park was Busch Gardens Tampa. I had a similar reaction to that of Hersheypark, the lineup at BGT is so perfect, and is only improving next year with the much-anticipated Iron Gwazi. Something that really sets this park apart is the theming, every area of this park is filled with foliage, architecture and wildlife that is really immersive and elevates the park to a whole new level.

Finally, we want to give a huge thank you to our readers and supporters. 2019 was the best year ever for our site and brand and we can’t thank you enough. We’ve got big plans for 2020!

How was your 2019 coaster season? Feel free to share your highlights below using the same format we did! Next, we’ll be discussing some of our 2019 plans.

Tags: best of 2019