Coaster101’s 2023 Year in Review

Believe it or not, we’ve finally reached the end of the roller coaster of a year that was 2023. Every December we take a look back and reflect on the past year. Members of the Coaster101 team will share a few of their favorite moments from 2023. Who won the “Race to 300” coaster credits? Keep reading to find out!

Andrew

Parks Visited in 2023: Universal Orlando, SeaWorld Orlando, Carowinds, Carousel Gardens (New Orleans), Dollywood, Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Luna Park, Deno’s Wonder Wheel, Sluggers & Putters, Las Vegas Mini Gran Prix, Lost Island, Adventureland, Wild Waves, Busch Gardens Tampa.

New To You Coaster Credits in 2023: 29, including #300 on Monster at Adventureland in Iowa! Current count stands at 305!

Favorite “New to You” Ride of 2023: Some “new-to-me” coasters for 2023 included Velocicoaster, Iron Gwazi, and Lightning Rod – which all rank in my “Top 6” – so it was a pretty good year. I have to say though, Velocicoaster, especially after a night ride was my favorite of the bunch. (There’s also the personal success of working hard in the gym and fitting into Velocicoaster that I feel needs to be mentioned.) Honorable mentions to Monster at Adventureland, Phoenix at Deno’s Wonder Wheel and Matugani at Lost Island – three roller coasters that I feel are pretty awesome (and underrated) in their own right, but seriously, Velocicoaster, Iron Gwazi, and Lightning Rod – just wow!

Favorite Coaster101 Articles in 2023: I really enjoyed writing a “Small Park Showcase” about Lost Island Theme Park, because I feel like it’s a true “hidden gem” in the theme park space. More people need to visit that park. I also enjoyed recapping Shane’s IAAPA coverage from day one of this year’s expo — the future is certainly bright when it comes to new roller coasters and industry innovations! And while the Coaster101 podcast slowed down a little bit in 2023 – real life between work, buying a house and planning a wedding necessitated putting the podcast on the back burner – there were some solid interviews with Jake from RMC, DJ from Deno’s Wonder Wheel, and Dorney Park’s Ryan Eldredge. I’m looking forward to jump starting the show in 2024 with new and exciting interviews! Make sure you’re subscribed and ready to go in the new year!

Top 3 Highlights of 2023:

3. Managing to find a roller coaster on nearly every work (and wedding & bachelor party!) trip I took in 2023. Trips to New Orleans, Gatlinburg, New York, Akron, Las Vegas, Iowa, and Seattle also equaled some great (Dollywood, Lost Island, Adventureland, Coney Island) and not-so-great (Carousel Gardens, Las Vegas Mini Gran Prix, Wild Waves) coaster riding experiences!

2. Getting the chance to experience the Orlando Informer meet-up at Universal Orlando with my younger brother. We crammed a ton of Universal Orlando into two days, including his first rides on several Universal attractions (big Hagrid’s fan), and my first rides on Velocicoaster. The downside? I’m now spoiled, and this feels like the only way I’ll ever want to experience Universal Orlando again going forward. We also managed to also fit a few hours in at SeaWorld before heading home!

1. I got married this year! A month before the wedding, I had my bachelor party in Tampa, and as part of the weekend, got to visit Busch Gardens Tampa with some of my best friends. Unbeknownst to me, my friends all had shirts made with my face on them (that also referred to me as “Coaster Daddy”), and we all walked around Busch Gardens Tampa as a giant group of people wearing the same shirts. As someone who absolutely hates being the center of attention, the shirts and skeptical looks from park guests and BGT ambassadors alike took some getting used to, but having a group of my friends – some of whom are “coaster people” and some who are more “coaster skeptics” ride a majority of coasters at Busch Gardens Tampa with me – including a first ride on Iron Gwazi – was a memory that I’ll hold onto for a long time.

John

Parks Visited in 2023: I stayed busy in 2023. My travels took me across the country with stops at Six Flags Over Texas, Fun Spot America Atlanta, Dollywood, Valleyfair, Nickelodeon Universe (Mall of America), Hersheypark, California’s Great America, Six Flags Discovery Kingdom and Six Flags Great America. It was a whirlwind, and I am grateful to have had the opportunity to visit so many parks, six of which were new to me.

New To You Coaster Credits in 2023: Big Bear Mountain, ArieForce One, Wildcat’s Revenge were the new-for-2023 coasters I rode. All of the other new credits — 36 in total — came from the six new-to-me parks I visited. As I said, it was a coaster-packed year.

Wildcat’s Revenge at Hersheypark

Favorite “New to You” Ride of 2023: This is a tough one — it is a toss-up between ArieForce One and Wildcat’s Revenge. Both are works of art from RMC, but of course one is built from the ground up while the other is a hybrid conversion of an existing wooden coaster. I’ll give a very slight edge to Wildcat’s Revenge, because I admire the challenges and creativity that comes with building an entirely new (and much more intense) experience.

Favorite Coaster101 Articles in 2023: This was another stellar year for Coaster101, thanks to the guys and gals on the team who contribute such great content. As Andrew mentioned, I really enjoyed Shane’s IAAPA coverage. We also reviewed a slew of new-for-2023 coasters, including Pipeline at SeaWorld Orlando, DarKoaster at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Wildcat’s Revenge at Hersheypark, ArieForce One at Fun Spot America Atlanta, Big Bear Mountain at Dollywood — just to name a few. This was a great year for new coasters, and I’m glad Coaster101 was able to be a part of the debuts.

Kyle and John at Big Bear Mountain media day

Top 3 Highlights of 2023: I’m fortunate that Coaster101 has provided me the opportunity to attend media previews for new coaster openings, so those are always highlights for me. My camera and I traveled to media events for Big Bear Mountain at Dollywood (which included an appearance by Dolly Parton herself — that alone was a highlight of 2023), Wildcat’s Revenge at Hersheypark and ArieForce One at Fun Spot America Atlanta. I always enjoy the chance to connect with fellow bloggers and enthusiasts as well as park staff who are always such great hosts. Overall, this was one of the best years coaster-wise — I was able to visit so many new-to-me parks and ride coasters that have been on my bucket list for many years. I’m so excited to see what adventures 2024 brings.

Eric

Parks Visited in 2023: Not a ton for me this year, but some good ones! Checked off three different Universal parks: USO, Island’s of Adventure, and Universal Studios Japan! Also Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea (still the best place in the world). SeaWorld Orlando, Busch Gardens Tampa, and Fun Spot…uhhh, Orlando(?) on a Florida trip. Then my locals, CGA, SFDK, and Santa Cruz Boardwalk. Sadly no Southern California trips for me all year! I need to fix that next year.

New To You Coaster Credits in 2023: Let’s see, all the SeaWorld Orlando coasters, Cheetah Hunt and Iron Gwazi at BGT, Velocicoaster and Hagrid’s at Island’s of Adventure, the coasters of Universal Studios Japan, and Big Thunder and Tokyo Disneyland.

Favorite “New to You” Ride of 2023: For coasters? Velocicoaster, pretty easy. I don’t think I need to rehash everything that’s great about it, you can read Nick and my write up about Orlando, or John’s love letter. But Hagrid’s, Iron Gwazi, and Cheetah Hunt are all way up there.

Including non-coasters, though, it might be Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast at Tokyo Disneyland. That ride is amazing, and really shows the pinnacle of what you can do with a trackless ride. Don’t spoil anything, just go and be utterly amazed by it.

Favorite Coaster101 Articles in 2023: I’ll add my voice to the praise of Shane’s IAAPA coverage, he did an amazing job (and was my source of all the news too). It was fun to read Andrew’s detailed recap of Lost Island, a park that, let’s face it, I’m probably not going to get to any time soon. Similarly, I liked reading Nick’s “surprises from Silver Dollar City” post. SDC is near the top of my list of US parks I haven’t been to yet, so I got to visit vicariously through Nick’s first visit. Lastly, John’s post about the amazing Disneyland model at the Walt Disney Family. Yes, this is mostly because it’s my favorite museum in my hometown, and it made me happy to read how much John loved it!

Top 3 Highlights of 2023:

Visiting Universal Studios Japan (and Nintendo World) and Tokyo Disney last Spring! I had a one and a half week trip to Japan and this time made sure to carve out days for Universal and Tokyo Disneyland, plus getting back to Tokyo DisneySea. Turns out Tokyo DisneySea is still my favorite theme park in the world, and Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast at Tokyo Disneyland might be the best theme park ride. Nintendo World and USJ was awesome too. Can’t wait to get back to all of them again, and maybe add some more Japanese parks. Also, it turns out it might be cheaper to go to Tokyo Disney than Orlando…
My first Orlando Informer meet-up with Nick! Plus the first time I’d been back to Universal in Florida since 2018, so getting to check off both Hagrid’s and Velocicoaster was awesome. We also both took our first visits to SeaWorld Orlando, and I went back to Busch Gardens Tampa for the first time since 2008. All in all a great time, although next time I do an Orlando Informer meet-up might try to do one of the winter ones like Andrew did. Less chance for Thunderstorms to shut everything down and to be completely drenched in sweat all day.
Joining John at my local SF Bay Area parks! It’s always fun to meet up with fellow C101 writers, and in a year without too many theme park trips for me, getting to show off my home parks (and home city) to a first timer is always fun. Especially since John is a huge Six Flags Great America fan, we got to point out all the slight similarities and differences between California’s Great America and its Six Flags sibling.

Kyle

Parks Visited in 2023: I got to check some parks off of my bucket list this year, along with getting to take part in a couple different media days at my home parks. My biggest trip of the year was down to Texas where I hit up Six Flags Fiesta Texas, Six Flags Over Texas, ZDT’s, and many small family entertainment centers (I also snagged my 300th coaster credit on The New Texas Giant). I also got to travel to Cedar Point, Kings Island, Dollywood, Dorney Park, Hersheypark, Six Flags Over Georgia, Fun Spot Atlanta, and Frontier City.

New To You Coaster Credits in 2023: I knew I wasn’t going to top my 66-new-to-me credits of 2022, but I did manage to get 39 under my belt in 2023. Some of my favorites were Steel Force, New Texas Giant, Switchback Railway, and Riddler’s Mindbender.

Favorite “New to You” Ride of 2023: My absolute favorite new coaster for the year has to be Wildcat’s Revenge at Hersheypark—that coaster is incredible all around and definitely found its way into my top 10.

Favorite Coaster101 Articles in 2023: As several have mentioned already, I also enjoyed Shane’s IAAPA coverage. I think we all tried to live vicariously through Shane as he got to spend those couple of days on the trade floor! I loved getting to write about Wildcat’s Revenge at Hersheypark and John and I’s first visit to Dorney Park.

Top 3 Highlights of 2023: I had several whirlwind coaster trips this year that were a blast, namely my week-long journey to Texas with my dad. We got to hit up so many parks, good restaurants, and top disc golf courses along the way. Getting to meet up with fellow Coaster101 writers is always a great time—this year I got to hang out with John several times and meet our newest writer Evan. But my favorite memory of 2023 has got to be riding Wildcat’s Revenge with my son. It was his largest coaster to-date and also his first inverting one. He loved it and I believe he is now as hooked as I am!

Nick

Parks Visited in 2023: Fun Spot Orlando, Fun Spot Kissimmee, Legoland Florida, Peppa Pig Theme Park, Universal Studios Florida, Islands of Adventure, SeaWorld Orlando, Cedar Point, Six Flags St. Louis, Silver Dollar City, Dollywood.

New To You Coaster Credits in 2023: I rode 26 “new to me” roller coasters in 2023 including all of SeaWorld Orlando and Silver Dollar City’s coasters since it was my first ever visit to those parks.

Favorite “New to You” Ride of 2023: My favorite “new to me” coasters from this past year are probably Mako for its plentiful airtime and Time Traveler for its uniqueness.

Favorite Coaster101 Articles in 2023: For my own articles, I had a lot of fun researching and making ridiculous roller coaster maps. Loved reading Andrew’s article and listening to the podcast about Lost Island. It was fun hearing Nathan recount his quest to ride every Ride at all 12 Disney Parks in 12 Days.

Top 3 Highlights of 2023:

3. Visiting Cedar Point with all my siblings, nieces and nephews over the summer was an amusement park trip I won’t soon forget. It was special getting to share first coaster rides with the kids and first RMC rides with some of the adults.

2. I was fortunate to be able to cross off not one, but two items off my theme park bucket list this year. I had always wanted to attend and after hours event in Orlando, whether at Disney or Universal. Luckily, I was able to go to Universal with Eric in June for the Orlando Informer Meetup. As Eric said, we also went SeaWorld Orlando and snuck a quick trip in to Fun Spot Kissimmee to ride White Lightning (literally rode it and left).

The second item I was able to cross off my theme park bucket list was visiting a park I’d always wanted to visit, Silver Dollar City, and it surpassed my expectations! Out of all the “big” theme parks I’ve been to, Silver Dollar City is the most unique experience. It’s themed to the hilt and every inch is beautiful.