15 to 15: 15 Roller Coasters We Haven’t Ridden…Yet.

A coaster count in the mid-to-high hundreds is a staple for many coaster enthusiasts. While many members of the Coaster101 team have respectable coaster counts (I’m presently sitting at 240 and waiting for parks to reopen), there are hundreds of coasters that various members of the Coaster101 team haven’t ridden. Maybe they’re geographically isolated, maybe we haven’t even been to the park where the coasters operate, maybe the coaster happened to be closed during a single visit to the park. We polled a few members of the team for a few “bucket list” coasters they’ve always wanted to ride, but haven’t been able to quite yet.

In the next installment of our “15 to 15” series counting down to our 15th birthday, we highlight 15 of the coasters on our bucket list (among many others). And don’t miss today’s giveaway at the bottom of the post!

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Andrew

Steel Vengeance

Cedar Point, Sandusky, OH

When we visited Cedar Point in 2018, it was the opening year of Steel Vengeance, and I unfortunately lacked the proper body dimensions to ride the coaster considered by many to be one of the best coasters anywhere. (I also wasn’t able to get on Top Thrill Dragster, Wicked Twister, and a few of the kiddie coasters.) Everyone who has ridden it has said it’s an incredible roller coaster. I want to see if it lives up to the hype.

The Rudicoaster

Santa’s Land, Cherokee, NC

I have a selfish reason why this coaster is one of my most-wanted to ride coasters. Right now, there is one actual roller coaster (excluding alpine coasters, no offense) in my home state of North Carolina that I haven’t ridden. Located at the small Santa’s Land park in Cherokee, the reindeer-themed Rudicoaster has been on my bucket list for this reason for a long time. The downside? It’s at least a 4.5 hour drive one-way, just to get to it. Hopefully I’ll be able to make the trip the next time I drive to Dollywood.

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Eric

Boulder Dash

Lake Compounce, Bristol, CT

I love wooden roller coasters, to the point that I put El Toro #1 on my list of top-15 coasters opened in the last 15 years. I’ve been on four of the top-5 wooden roller coasters in the most recent Golden Ticket Awards. So obviously, I need to get onto the one that I’m missing: Boulder Dash. Plus, it’d be fun to visit Lake Compounce, the oldest continuously operating amusement park in the country.

Taron

Phantasialand, Brühl, Germany

I could probably just make a line that says “every overseas roller coaster,” but I decided to focus in on one. So why is Taron the overseas coaster I most want to ride? First, Maverick is one of my favorite roller coasters, and enthusiasts seem to argue about whether Maverick or Taron is the best Intamin Blitz coaster. So if I love Maverick, I wish there were more Blitz coasters, and Taron might be better than Maverick, I’ve got to try it. The second reason is that I love well themed roller coasters. That’s why I could put most Europeans coasters on my list. But Taron in particular just stands out to me. The attention to detail on all of the structures and rock-work around it blows my mind in video and photos, I can’t imagine how great it looks in real life.

Lightning Rod

Dollywood, Pigeon Forge, TN

So the main reason Lightning Rod is on my bucket list is because I just missed getting to ride it. I visited Dollywood for the first time in 2018. I’d been wanting to go to Dollywood for years, and that year I had the time off and was finally doing it. All of the park excited me, but I was particularly excited about Lightning Rod. I hadn’t ridden an RMC topper track coaster, and John raved about how great Lightning Rod was/is. Well, does anyone remember what happened to Lightning Rod in 2018? It closed down for three months. On and off issues plagued the ride since it opened, and then closed in July 2018 for some major work. Guess when I went? August 2018. It wouldn’t reopen until October. Am I bitter about that? Yeah, maybe a little. But, it also means Lightning Rod is still up near the top of my bucket list of roller coasters.

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Mike

Fury 325

Carowinds, Charlotte, NC

I have Fury 325 as one of my favorite coasters of all-time, and I haven’t even ridden it yet. So, of course, this lies at the top of my coaster bucket list. My single trip to Carowinds was back around 2012, and I just haven’t been able to make the rounds to visit the park again. I have a special affinity with B&M coasters, with most of Florida’s major coasters being B&M (Kumba, Montu, Hulk, Dueling Dragons (RIP), Kraken, etc.). Although I enjoyed riding the two Intamin gigacoasters in the US (Intimidator 305 at Kings Dominion and Millennium Force at Cedar Point), both seemed to be missing something. I enjoyed the high speed and low-to-the-ground twists of I305, but felt it was missing the drops and airtime I enjoy on most hypercoasters. Millennium Force was scenic, but outside of the first drop, I didn’t find it too thrilling. Fury 325 seems to combine everything I love about coasters into one ride. I feel like it was built just for me (sorry Andrew).

Nemesis

Alton Towers, Staffordshire, UK

I could write a separate post about my bucket list of coasters I want to ride outside of the US, but Nemesis at Alton Towers sits on the top of it. I’ve already mentioned how I have an affinity for B&M coasters, especially inverted coasters. Montu at Busch Gardens Tampa sits near the top of my list of favorite coasters. I am absolutely fascinated with how B&M circumvented the height restrictions of Alton Towers to create Nemesis. The coaster only has a listed height of 42 ft, but has a drop of 104 ft due to the way the park was able to modify the terrain for the coaster. The resulting ride is basically Montu’s “trench run” on steroids. For as much as I like the larger B&M inverted coasters such as Montu, Alpengeist, and Banshee, I still enjoy the tight turns and forcefulness of Batman: The Ride and The Great White due to their smaller size. Nemesis is said to be even more forceful than the Batman rides. I must experience this!

Eejanaika

Fuji-Q Highland, Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi, Japan

So I wanted to just list all of Japan on my bucket list, but if I had to pick one coaster, it would have to be Eejanaika (which translates to “Ain’t it great!”). X2 at Six Flags Magic Mountain is one of my favorite coasters, and is probably the most unique ride on my list of favorites. The “sky dive” first drop of X2 is one of my favorite coaster elements of all time.  I absolutely love showing off X2 to my non-coaster friends to freak them out. Unfortunately, X2 is hardly ever open whenever I visit Magic Mountain. The ride has been notoriously difficult to maintain (enough where it essentially put its manufacturer, Arrow, out of business). Thankfully, Arrow was acquired by S&S and the combined company, S&S Arrow, was able to make a bigger, longer, and faster 4th dimension coaster in Eejanaika. Unfortunately, the company only made one more of these coasters (Dinoconda at China Dinosaur Park) before shuttering the division. There have since been other types of 4th dimension coasters made (ZacSpins, 4D Free Spins), but none can compare to rides like X2 and Eejanaika.

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Shane

Intimidator 305

Kings Dominion, Doswell, VA

Kings Dominion is one of those elusive parks that is doable on a long weekend trip for me, but I just have not been able to find the time to get down there. I had planned to visit Kings Dominion and Busch Gardens Williamsburg this summer on a Virginia road trip, but it doesn’t look like that is going to happen anytime soon. Regardless, my motivation for going on the trip would primarily be to experience Intimidator 305, the next-gen Intamin giga coaster that looms over the park. In my mind, Intimidator 305 is the perfect coaster for me because it has the two things I look for most in coasters, speed and intensity, and it does them bigger and better than most other coasters out there. My current favorite roller coaster is Skyrush at Hersheypark, and Intimidator 305 looks to be a bigger version of Skyrush in every way, so for me personally that is a winning combination.

El Toro

Six Flags Great Adventure, Jackson, NJ

Similar to Kings Dominion,  Great Adventure is a weekend trip away for me, I just haven’t been able to make the stars align the past few summers for me to be able to get down there. There are a lot of rides that pique my interest at the park, including Kingda Ka, which of course is the world’s tallest coaster, and the upcoming Jersey Devil coaster. But the Intamin wooden coaster El Toro, which consistently ranks at the top of many enthusiast’s favorites list, is what I look forward to most when I think about visiting. This coaster looks to be nothing but non-stop airtime, with that great Intamin intensity mixed in, and I really cannot imagine what it must feel like to reach speeds of 70 miles per hour on a non-launched wooden coaster.

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Larry

Loch Ness Monster

Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Williamsburg, VA

So out of all of the coasters at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, I’m actually looking forward to riding Loch Ness Monster because, I’m a sucker for Arrow coasters, but also its the only surviving interlocking double loop roller coaster left that Arrow built. The visual impact of the coaster is something that has stood the test of time for over 40 years and still remains the most popular coaster at the park. With a lot of the Arrow Looping coasters heading into the scrap bin over the last few years, I want to ride this before it may meet its end. Hopefully though BGW will keep it for many years to come.

Smiler

Alton Towers, Staffordshire, UK

So even though Smiler has had one of the most turbulent history since it opened at Alton Towers, it’s still very high on my list to ride. It not only holds the record for the most inversions on a roller coaster, it completely smashed the record with 14 total inversions. Even though some of the theming has been turned down a bit since the accident back in 2015, a lot of it is still intact and Alton Towers does a pretty good job keeping up on it.

Steel Curtain

Kennywood, West Mifflin, PA

Yeah, I’m a sucker for inversions as I’ve also added in the coaster that currently has the record for the most inversions for a coaster in North America. Being that Kennywood has been one of my bucket list parks for a very long time, might as well make its newest, biggest, and tallest roller coaster at the park the highlight of my trip. Even though I’m not too much of a football fan, the park really went all in with the Pittsburgh Steelers theme and even went as far as making each seat of the train in the color and shape of a football. The bright yellow supports with black track is not a very common color theme for coasters so it really stands out in the skyline around the park. The fact that I can ride 2 roller coasters built nearly a century apart in the same park is absolutely amazing to me and how Kennywood is keeping their classic wooden coasters up with even their new coasters.

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John

Wildfire

Kolmården (Norrköping, Östergötland, Sweden)

Photos courtesy of Kolmården

Wildfire at Kolmården Wildlife Park has been near the top of my coaster bucket list since it was announced in April of 2014. The RMC coaster is the fastest wooden coaster in Europe and the second tallest wooden coaster in the world. But what I find even more appealing is how its layout interacts with the park’s rocky terrain. Its 4,150 feet of track seemingly never ends, sending riders through a smorgasbord of RMC’s most signature elements including three inversions at blistering speeds. I haven’t been overseas yet, but Sweden will be a strong contender of one of my first European stops.

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Nick

Taiga

Linnanmäki, Helsinki, Uusimaa, Finland

I see everyone has listed some great but mostly familiar coasters so I’m going to list one that may be off enthusiasts radar a little bit: Taiga at Linnanmaki in Finland. Opened in 2019, this LSM launch coaster from Intamin looks like it has everything in a compact layout that uses the terrain. That drawn out stall looks ridiculous. And what even is that first element? Also doesn’t hurt that I believe we interviewed the future designer back in 2012.

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Coaster101 15 to 15 Giveaway #11

Today, we’re giving away a Coaster101 tee and face mask from our TeePublic store — and you get to pick which ones! For today’s entry method, leave a comment below letting us know which coasters are on your bucket list.

You can enter now through 11:59 p.m. ET tonight.

Giveaway Rules

• The entry period for this giveaway will run until 11:59 p.m. ET tonight. We’ll email the winner tomorrow.
• To remain eligible for your prize pack, you will need to respond with your name and mailing address within 24 hours of receiving the email notification.
• One entry per person.
• Unfortunately, we are unable to ship Prize Packs outside of the U.S.

Good luck! We’ll see you again tomorrow for the next installment in our “15 to 15” series.