Expedition GeForce #1 Again in 2013, Bizarro Fades to #4
Note: Scroll to the bottom for links to the results for all 400+ steel roller coasters in the poll.
'Expedition GeForce' has been in the top three steel coasters of each poll conducted since it was first included in the 2001 Poll.
This is the sixth time that Holiday Park's Intamin Steelie has finished in the top spot of the poll and second straight year at #1.
'Expedition GeForce' has also finished #2 four times and #3 twice.
'New Texas Giant' debuted at #3 last year (narrowly missing #2) and continued to impress in 2013 as it ascended to a solid
#2 in the poll. 'New Texas Giant' lost only one mutual rider comparison, that being a 12 to 5 decision to #1 'Expedition GeForce'.
'Intimidator 305' climbed back up to #3 in 2013 (matching its 2011 debut) after falling to #4 last year. 'Intimidator 305' fell
short of #2 'New Texas Giant' by a 17 to 13 preference among mutual riders.
Six Flags New England's 'Bizarro' fell to #4 in 2013. 'Bizarro' debuted at #1 in 2001 and had never finished lower than #2 in the
poll until this year. 'Bizarro' still holds the record for most times at #1 with seven. Although 'Bizarro' tied #3 'Intimidator 305'
32 to 32 among mutual riders, it seems poised to fall even further in the poll as it had more close comparisons to coasters ranked
below than it did with those ranked above.
The fall of 'Bizarro' seems even more ominous when looking at the data based only on rides taken this year. 'Bizarro' loses
to eleven other coasters among mutual riders when only rides taken in 2013 are considered. Only three of those losses are close.
Hopefully the park will take notice and look into why some perceive the ride now to be less than what it was for so many years.
After debuting at #7 last year, 'Skyrush' did even better in 2013 with a #5 finish. 'Skyrush' actually beat #4 'Bizarro' among
mutual riders by a solid 36 to 27 margin but lost comparisons to three lower ranked rides.
'Maverick' continues to climb in the poll, improving from last year's best ever showing (3-way tie for 9th) all the way to a #6
finish in 2013. 'Maverick' nearly bested #5 'Skyrush' as the mutual rider comparison was extremely close at 44 to 46.
#6 'Maverick' is now comfortably the top coaster at Cedar Point, besting #14 'Millennium Force' 111 to 93 among mutual riders.
'Kawasemi' has finished in the Top 10 in all five years, checking in at #7 in 2013. 'Kawasemi' actually beat 'Skyrush' and
'Maverick' among mutual riders, but three losses and two ties to lower ranked rides kept 'Kawasemi' from overtaking them.
'Favorite Wood Coaster' would have finished #1 this year if it were included in the official results, losing no mutual rider
comparisons. The only blemish was a 25 to 25 tie given by the generally less experienced riders (see below) of #8 'Shambhala'.
#8 'Shambhala' is an interesting case. 'Shambhala' had 74 riders vote while 'Kawasemi' had only 19. However, the Spanish
coasters' riders were far less experienced as 'Shambhala' had valid mutual rider comparisons with only 256 other coasters while
'Kawasemi' had 350. As a result of this, 'Shambhala' placed behind 'Kawasemi' despite having only six mutual rider losses while
'Kawasemi' had seven. 'Shambhala' had no mutual riders with a preference between it and #2 'New Texas Giant'. 'Shambhala'
and 'Kawasemi' fell short of a valid mutual rider comparison between them as there were only three mutual riders with a preference.
#9 'Nemesis' is in the Top 10 for the 12th time. It has missed the Top 10 in the steel poll only once, finishing #12 last year.
SF Fiesta Texas' 'Iron Rattler' debuts at #10 in 2013. This is the second straight year that the top new steel coaster is actually
a converted wooden coaster. Between this result and the continued success of #2 'New Texas Giant', it is clear that the
conversion of large, older, underperforming wooden roller coasters into steel coasters by this new process is something that many
parks will consider in the future.
The list below shows all the coasters that received a ranking for the first time this year. The list includes new coasters and new
categories as well as other coasters that met the rider minimum to be ranked in the poll for the first time this year.
10 Iron Rattler Six Flags Fiesta T TX
19 Sky Scrapper World Joyland CN
23 Formula Rossa Ferrari World A.D. AE
32 Dinoconda China Dinosaur Par CN
38 The Smiler Alton Towers UK
42 Dive Machine Chimelong Paradise CN
49 Juvelen Djurs Sommerland DK
64 Bullet Coaster Happy Valley Shenz CN
67 Karacho Tripsdrill DE
74 Full Throttle Six Flags Magic Mo CA
93 Big Grizzly Mountain HK Disneyland HK
105 Orkanen Farup Sommerland DK
108 GateKeeper Cedar Point OH
109 Crystal Wings Happy Valley Beij CN
111 Stingray Giant Wheel Park CN
133 Revenge of the Mummy Universal Studios SG
137 Fav Giant Inv. Boom Any Park Anywhere **
146 Jet Rescue Sea World AU
161 Fav Intamin Impulse Any Park Anywhere **
187 Montana Infinitum La Feria Chapultep MX
191 Polar X-Plorer Legoland Billund DK
194 Storm Coaster Sea World AU
208 Veil of Dark Tokyo Joyopolis JP
218 Fiorano GT Challenge Ferrari World A.D. AE
226 Backlot Stunt Coaster Cedar Fair Parks **
243 Force One Schwaben Park DE
264 Fav Vek Motorbike Any Park Anywhere **
274 Mine Train Coaster Happy Valley Song CN
277 Raptor Attack Lightwater Valley UK
279 Snow Mountain Flying Happy Valley Shenz CN
285 Fav Zamp. Motocoaster Any Park Anywhere **
293 Fav Jet Star (any) Any Park Anywhere **
305 Dark Knight Six Flags Parks **
310 M Doohans Motocoaster Dreamworld AU
313 Pony Express Knott's Berry Farm CA
Eight of the 2013 top ten steel coasters were in the top ten last year. 'Nemesis' rejoined the group and 'Iron Rattler' begins there.
Rides in last year's top 11 (there was a 3-way tie for 9th) not in the 2013 top ten are #11 'Katun', #17 'Mega-Lite', and #20 'iSpeed'.
Rides were required to have 10 riders take the poll in order to be included in the official results. To see where rides with
fewer than 10 people who rated them would have finished based on their few riders are listed in the Detailed Results
and their mutual rider comparisons are listed in the Mutual Rider Spreadsheet.
493 ballots were received this year. Thank You to everyone who voted and especially to John Drake, who did most of the work
of updating the ballot, and to Jordan Hatch, who updated his very popular drag and drop ballot creator again this year!
The following chart shows the mutual rider comparisons for the top steel roller coasters.
Preferences are listed for the people who rode each pair of coasters. The chart should
be read from left to right along the line for each of the top coasters listed at the left. For instance, it can
be seen that #1 'Expedition GeForce' won the comparison with #2 'New Texas Giant' by a 12 to 5 margin.
NOTE: the order they are listed in the spreadsheet is not the official order of finish.
Note: Scroll to the bottom for links to the mutual rider comparisons for all 400+ steel roller coasters in the poll.
Note that any links below that are not yet active will become active as I have time to complete them.