@@ThrillzandCoastersi feel like mystic gets so much praise because it is just an insanely smooth wood coaster, but if youre okay with even some light woodie jank there are a few that i like more.
I went to Kings Island to experience Vortex on its last weekend and discovered the magnificent Mystic Timbers. It was definitely my favorite thrill at the park. The Beast was also very special with a night ride in the rain. It felt insane.
Could not agree more about Thunderhead. Rode it for the first time this summer and was absolutely floored. There was rarely ever a line for it which shocked me. It was my favorite ride in the park!
I definitely agree! I went to Dollywood for the first time in Christmas 2021 -- when Thunderhead wasn't running as good as it apparently is now -- and fell in love with the coaster like you did. I also rarely encountered long lines for it, so it was just paradise! I was there for 4 days straight, and it was the only coaster I rode multiple times each day. Easily my favorite in the park, too! I need to get back there and see how much better it's running now!
@@alkankondo89 I've ridden it every Christmas season since 2019. It was good in 2019, great in 2020, only okay in 2021, a little better in 2022, and spectacular 2 weeks ago.
Visually GCIs are some of the most gorgeous coasters I’ve ever seen. Shame I’m not a huge fan on the only one I’ve done, Wicker Man, but I’d love to get on a bigger one
I rode Renegade back in 2017 and it was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had on any coaster. Action packed layout and absolutely relentless in the back row. Sounds like it needs a retracking… hope the merger brings some good things to Valleyfair, that park seriously needs some love
Mystic Timbers is my number 4 roller coaster right now, recently at Winterfest the single rider line allowed me to ride it 6 times, and the ride I got in the very back made me laugh hysterically for the whole duration of it, my body went limp from the hysteria and I was just being thrown side to side in the darkness, it was way too much fun! To put into perspective just how high of a pedestal I put this coaster on, my number 5,6, and 7 coasters are Maverick, El Toro, and Fury 325 respectively, it’s also the ride I’ve ridden more than other coaster in the world!
Honestly went on wicker man end of theme park season note I have been on this over 20+ times that ride I had was smooth airtime filled and no roughness what a perfect ride
Troy at Toverland is such a sleeper hit. Easily my favorite wooden coaster in Western Europe, and the love and care the park takes in keeping this ride in tip top shape is incredible.
Did Mystic Timbers for the first time two weeks ago and omg what a ride. Not to mention the crew running that ride was the fastest crew I've ever seen on any ride at any park. They seriously were doing 15 to 20 second dispatching. such a good ride, re rode it multiple times, came back for a few night rides before hitting Beast to close the park down.
My Top 10 Favourite GCI's from when I last rode: 1. Troy (2021) 2. Wodan Timbur Coaster 3. Wickerman 4. Thunderbird 5. White Lighting 6. Lightning Racer Thunder 7. Lightning Racer Lightning 8. InvadR 9. Roar 10. Joris en de Draak - Water
So glad to see Mystic and Prowler right next to each other on top. Mystic is honestly the reason I haven’t left Cincy after all these years, and while I thought WoF would be the filler park of my SDC trip a few years ago, I absolutely fell in love with it-dubbing it Mystic Timber’s a Scandinavian older twin brother for how similar it rode….
@@Posirep I agree completely. Was fully expecting it just to be a credit run while I was in the area with a Platinum Pass-but it really ended up being a solid experience between the coasters, atmosphere and even flats like that indoor trabant giving me Cosmotron Knoebels vibes….
Happy wicker man made the list I've always wanted to ride a gci since seeing them in America. Happy to finally have one at my home park even if it isnt that intense it's such a fun ride🎉
Wood Coaster at Knight Valley is my #1 wood coaster overall and its non stop insane from the top of the lift hill to the brake run, you will absolutely love it. Funny thing is it has the same problem as Arieforce One, a world class coaster in a nothing park.
Troy is My Home GCI! it is My Favorite Coaster At Toverland. Which is Also My Home Park. it Has Been Running Quite Rough This Year. But i Still Find it Tolerable And The Roughness is Also What Makes it Really Fun! i Rode Joris En De Draak in My Last Late October 2023 Visit And it Also Ran Rougher Than My Other Rides On it. And i Also Liked it. But Troy is Still Better. Next Year i Am Doing 2 Days Of Visit At Europa Park. So i Will Also Experience Wodan For The First Ever Time. So i Hope it Runs That Good Too!
I rode Gold Striker in either its first or second year- and it was ABSOLUTELY AWESOME!!! Difficult to imagine a more perfect roller coaster for what it aspired to be.
Woohoo! Love for Prowler! I've been singing its praises for years now. And I agree Mystic Timbers is a larger Prowler! I really want to get to Europe and ride those woodies. Excellent list.
First off I totally respect your list of top ten GCIs and as much as I want to agree with you on Mystic Timbers as the best GCI… for me it didn’t pack enough of a punch like Prowler does, and as much as I love a glossy smooth wooden roller coaster, I need a little jank and a small headache for me to consider it as a good ride.
Got 2 rides on Thunderhead, yesterday 12/10, and can confirm it is running exceptionally smooth and it absolutely hauls into the brake run at the end. It feels like it just gets faster as the ride goes on and that was first thing in the morning on a cold, rainy day. I cant imagine how great it would be warmed up at the end of day.
I’ve ridden 19 GCIs, and my favorite was Renegade. I think I just had the good fortune of marathoning it until park close in a year when it was smooth and fast.
Just went on Gold Striker for the first time last month (Dec. 2023). Runs like a beast! Granted I only have California coastie credits, but it immediately became my favorite woodie AND night ride.
I've been on 3 GCIs. Renagade, Mystic Timbers, and Thunderhead. Went on Thunderhead this last May, and it is so intense that I swear you can feel splinters being thrown up at you from its violently fast turns.
Love Mystic Timbers. Im a huge GCI fan and when I went to KI I was not disappointed. In fact all their woodies are great, the racer really shocked me at how good it was too.
@@timdruyts5025 I rode Troy in August last year for the first time and out of the 18 GCis I've done, it's one of the worst. I'd probably place it 14th. I could see the potential if it wasn't so damn rough.
surprised lightning racer made the list! I think I fell asleep on that one 😅 And I've only been riding it since 2016 almost every year but I definitely place Thunderhead over Mystic Timbers!
I love seeing the respect for Lightning Racer, one of the most fun coasters I've ever ridden. I like Prowler more than Mystic Timbers, by quite a bit actually. Prowler has always felt more intense and stronger, with a more creative layout--it's more of a twister out-and-back. My mom hated Thunderhead her first time riding it. After last month, it's now her favorite in the park. It's now my 2nd favorite GCI. I have Kentucky Rumbler as a top 5 GCI, as it rode amazing for me on my one visit.
I'm so glad that one of the only ones I've been on was number 1 Mystic Timbers, I lapped it and got close to 7 rides, one being at night too. It's worth it to go there.
I haven't ridden too many GCI coaster, but I prefer Troy (Toverland) over Wodan (Europa Park). Another fantastic one is El Toro at Freizeitpark Plohn it's really small but fun as hell. Great layout. Heidi the Ride at Plopsaland de Panne was rather boring, even for a family woodie.
Apparently Taylor's ride on Troy was pretty rough. Which I still find difficult to understand to this day, because Toverland retrack the roller coaster a bit every year. In addition, Troy may have too many high curves and has few airtime moments that the average roller coaster enthusiast is a little too enthusiastic about. There aren't many roller coaster experiences better than a night ride after a hot summer day on Troy. I find it incomprehensible that Troy doesn't even make it into the top 10.
My fav is mystic timbers, then apocalypse (2022 ride), and third is hard to believe but Roar. I got on right after the retrack and wow. 2nd best ride in the park.
Finally some love for Prowler!!! While Mystic Timbers is also my favorite that I've experienced, it's been bothering me for a while that everyone goes nuts over it despite Prowler being nearly the same coaster. I recently did a video comparing the two and what puts Mystic Timbers ahead of it is the slightly smoother ride and larger abundance of airtime.
Thunderhead really is given TLC by Dollywood and I'm happy to see it maintained as well as it is. While definitely not making this list, I've seen the same thing with White Lightning at FunSpot Orlando. Small little family coaster, but yeah, great airtime and pacing.
You know what I'd love to see? I'd really like to see a video where like you've compiled data from people about their top 10 coasters or something, and then putting it into a video after conducting a community vote. Great video Taylor!
Night ride on Apocalypse during Fright Fest when they have all that fog pumped back there is the best night ride in the park. Like you said, when you ride, matters.
I feel like American thunder doesn’t get the love it deserves because the park it’s in and it’s fairly short. If it had say 600 -800 more feet I think more people would take note. But on a different note, i think if lost island could afford to put a GCI like American thunder just a bit longer somewhere towards the back it would really add to that parks line up.
Mostly agree, would move a few around and put in Roaring Timbers, KRumbler and Hersheypark Wildcat in its infancey when it smoothly hauled with PTCs over Renegade, Wicker and Apoc. (Haven't done China either)
Nice list. I hope to ride some of these as well. For now is my list: 1. Mystic Timbers 2. Thunderhead 3. Wodan 4. Heidi 5. Troy (bit too rough and too many laterals imo) 6. El Toro 7. Joris en de Draak (water) 8. Joris en de Draak (fire) 9. InvadR 10. Wilkołak (Heidi clone with less power) 11. Roar
When I rode thunderhead in the back row, on that first drop I had to put my hands down because I was so far out of my seat that I felt like I was flying!
I've done most of the same ones as you. I still have to get to Wicker Man. These are my Top 10: 1. GoldStriker 2. Mystic Timbers 3. Wodan- I agree it feels short but it is outstanding. 4. Renegade 5. Prowler 6. Thunderhead 7. Troy 8. Texas StingRay 9. Joris en de Draak 10. Apocalypse GhostRider would top this list if I counted it as a GCI. GoldStriker is the only GCI even close to it,
Awesome video! GCI also did Titan Track work on the first half of Wolverine Wildcat at my home park (Michigan's Adventure) last year, and it's running MUCH better than it used to! Wish that they could do the same for the rest...
One GCI that you almost never hear anything about is Kentucky Rumbler at Beech Bend. I went out of my way for a few rides while passing through Kentucky last year, and I thought it was awesome! Perhaps it was just an instance of going in blind and being pleasantly suprised, but the layout is objectively very good, the ride is mostly smooth, and the airtime is powerful in spots. It's probably a top five GCI for me, and I think I've been on all the US GCIs except for Renegade, Gold Striker, and InvadR.
I sadly havent experienced many of this manufacturers rides. Heck the only ones I have experienced are Wickerman, and Joris en de Draak, and personally I preferred the latter. I love its tight manouvres, unexpected airtime pops, and rapid transitions. I'd love to experience more CGI's but they aren't exactly common here in Northern Europe. Though honourable mentions since I have experienced the Coney Island Cyclone after its GCI retrack, as well as Tomahawk at PortAventura, which is a CCI but uses the GCI Mini-lenium flyer trains.
For some reason, I found lightning racer to be incredibly rough. I rode it in september of 2023, and tiger side was closed so I could only ride lion. The operations were abysmal and it took almost an hour to go through a short line. When I finnaly got on it I wished I was still waiting in line because it jackhammered so hard I head a headache for 30 minutes after the ride. I really dont know why I am the only person who says its rough, but I swear it is the roughest coaster I have ever ridden, at least on lion side.
Of the GCIs I've ridden 1. Mystic Timbers (none are close to it) 2. Kentucky Rumbler 3. Thunderhead 4. Lightning Racer 5. Roar 6. InvadR 7. White Lightning 8. Wildcat at hershey
I use Ipe regularly at work for decks. It is known as “Ironwood” it is extremely heavy and difficult to work with. Curious what the factors are when making that choice.
We joked that Prowler walked so Mystic Timbers could run. Ive ridden your top 3 all at night and all are exceptional night rides. I think alot of people sleep on how good Texas Stingray is. Had night ERT on Prolwer for an event. It was supposed to be for Zinger but got changed to Prowler and we're glad it did cuz its just so much better than Zinger...and somehow smoother. Mystic Timbers is a better night ride than the Beast next door. I will die on this hill.
A fun fact wickerman is even better as a night ride big bob ( the effigy )looks great with all the simulated fire,smoke lights and real fire. And a bonus one is if you get to ride it during bonfire night when all the fireworks go off
I am missing all the same ones as you as well as Wicker Man and Wodan, my top 10 with the years I last rode them: 1. Mystic Timbers (2022) 2. Gold Striker (2023) 3. Texas Stingray (2022) 4. Prowler (2021) 5. Thunderhead (2023) 6. Renegade (2021) 7. Troy (2023) 8. Apocalypse (2023) 9. Lightning Racer (2023) 10. American Thunder (2023)
prowler>mystic i feel like prowler does everything a little better, and it’s a much darker night ride. also mystic is a little too smooth to be my fav gci, prowlers bite is perfect
I rode Gold Striker this year, running very well, I have it #2 behind Mystic Timbers...Texas Stingray I thought was fun, but wasn't overly impressed - I rode it very soon after it first opened, so maybe it needed a little time to get broken in? Prowler is the one for me that I really need to ride again, it's been soooo long and I rode it very early in my coaster ranking days, first GCI I rode - so I think now it might place much higher as my perspective has changed...I remember loving the ride, but have been on so many great rides since then as well, it's hard not to favor the recency bias
I didn't ride any until last year and ended up riding 7 of them lol. White Lightning Texas Stingray Invadr Prowler Mystic Timbers Wildcat(pre-RMC) Lightning Racer and rode Zambezi Zinger this year
Their coasters are awesome but I feel like their trains. Make the coaster rougher than it needs to be maybe it's just me but I feel like PTC trains would be better
I I’m intrigued by the take that Texas Stingray is the best coaster in the Sea world parks. Also I’m curious if you had included Ghost Rider where would it have ranked
Wood Coaster in China is probably the best GCI ever built. That said I'd probably take Prowler as the best, Thunderhead at #2, and Mystic Timbers at #3 for talking just those I've ridden. If you rank Ghostrider as a GCI though that's #1.
@@jzckvsnI also like Ghostrider but I just don’t get the hype for it. I barely ever get airtime even if J hold up my restraint and people say it’s really smooth but I’ve ridden it well over 100 times and whenever I ride in the back it gives me a headache for a few hours. It’s still a fun ride but I just don’t get the hype for it.
Never ridden Gold Striker, but it seems like a better woody than Ghostrider. I like the aesthetics of Ghostrider, which makes the trip out to Knott's worth it, but after visiting several other Cedar Fair parks, I found other GCIs like Mystic Timbers to be better despite the short length.
@@peternguyen4042 I find it strange because I’m usually not a fan of rip off your face intense type coasters but I still like them but I much more prefer graceful and speed focused rides something like Fury 325 so I’m not really sure why I prefer Gold Striker
I love GCI and Mystic Timbers is my favorite, but my ranking differs slightly from yours. I put Wodan, Troy and then Prowler followed by Rampage as my top 5.
