The Beast was my first coaster, and still my favorite. That second lift hill where the drop is gradual but feels like a freight train building up speed at night is incredible.
I am really looking forward to riding it this season. I rode the Racer for the first time, probably since it got turned back around, during this last season and oh man was that a nice ride again. Gives me hope. I know The Beast will still beat the daylights out of you but hopefully bring back some riders that have quit riding it since it has really become unbearably rough.
KI is my home park, the Beast night rides are great. I love most coasters where you can fly through the woods at night (see also the Voyage and Outlaw Run night rides)...but day rides bore me now. Side note, if you like the helix on The Beast, you should get a night ride on the Legend...it too has a strong helix
@@richardclark1127 oh yes, the Legend is on my list. Heard so much about it. And though it's much smaller than these others, I was surprised at how awesome a night ride was on the Phoenix at Knoebels
Taylor: Shivering Timbers is probably the only coaster that has a chance of making this list Python in Bamboo Forest and T Express: Am I a joke to you?
I've only been to Holiday World one time back when Pilgrim's Plunge was still in operation and it was a crazy slow day. I rememeber marathoning the CRAP out of Voyage. I left with the worst migraine of my life, but it was totally worth it. I think I rode it at least 40 times just in that day alone. I was addicted. I need to take my son there now!
My favorite is Boulder Dash at Lake Compounce. Some of my other favorites include The Beast at Kings Island, American Eagle and Goliath at Six Flags Great America, Renegade at Valleyfair, Colossus and Apocalypse at Six Flags Magic Mountain, Hades at Mt. Olympus, The Wild One at Six Flags America, Grizzly at Kings Dominion and Gwazi at Busch Gardens Tampa.
Boulder Dash is also my favorite between that and El Toro! Love how Boulder Dash uses the mountain there's not too many like it and it's also at my home park! FYI Gwazi isn't there anymore at Busch Gardens Tampa it's now Iron Gwazi and I can't wait to ride it!
I was blessed to grow up with both Holiday World and Kings Island as my home parks so I absolutely adore The Voyage, Legend, The Raven, and Mystic Timbers. The Beast is The Beast and nothing will ever be like it and I appreciate it immensely for that reason, although I do not consider as amazing as the four previously mentioned coasters. Shouts out to Goliath at SFGA, Viper at SFGA, and Outlaw Run which are all also fantastic.
Thank you for giving Boardwalk Bullet the credit it deserves! I’ve been saying it’s better than Mystic Timbers for years and people look at me like I’m crazy.
Call it home park bias, but I absolutely love Boulder Dash at Lake Compounce. Nothing else like it, especially with that setting racing through the secluded Connecticut mountainside
Boulder Dash is also my favorite between that and El Toro! Love how Boulder Dash uses the mountain there's not too many like it and it's also at my home park!
I like bdrs night ride way more and when it's running well you get insane lats and airtime floater and ejector. That's what puts it up for me. When bd is going slower and it's not night I would put toro as #1.
As someone who's ridden the Boardwalk Bullet, it's a weird addition to this list-- but so deserving. You don't go in expecting much, but it's a wild, long ride with more near-miss moments than any other coaster I can think of (I think when it opened it held the world record for number of times a coaster crosses over its own track). Side recommendation: if you go to ride the Bullet, go to Tookie's for burgers. It's within walking distance of the Boardwalk and maybe the best burger in Texas.
My fav woodie was also Lightning Rod until the retracking #rip. Also idk if I’m weird but I actually prefer Gold Striker to Mystic Timbers (by a very slim margin), it’s the only wooden coaster I’ve ridden where I actually think the roughness adds to the experience.
Goliath is still now the worlds tallest and fastest wooden roller coaster. Lighting run has much more than 50% of steel track now, thus it is now not a wooden coaster anymore.
My favorite wooden coaster is Shivering Timbers. It can best be described as Voyage on steroids. Prolific airtime, extreme laterals, and an insane helix finale. It is incredible.
My favorite wooden rollercoasters are Mystic timbers, el Toro, voyage, Wildfire, Troy, gold Striker, outlaw run, lightning Rod, Wodan, colossos kampf der giganten, Heidi the ride, Joris en de draak, Hades 360 and cu chullain.
My personal top ten wood: 1. El Toro 2. Outlaw Run 3. Voyage 4. Goliath 5. Phoenix 6. Ravine Flyer II 7. GhostRider 8. Mystic Timbers 9. Boulder Dash 10. Texas Stingray I also agree that Lightning Rod would be #1 prior to the conversion to a steel coaster.
Idk I get some amazing air on that ride, easily my favorite at Kings Island. Honestly would say it has notably more air then Diamondback which mostly gives light floater.
I gotta agree with ya on your number one pick! With over a mile of track and approaching speeds close to 60 mph, it's definitely my favorite wooden coaster! 😁
Always great to hear Lightning Racer come up on the lists. Such a great and fun woody to marathon at Hersheypark. I hate when people bring up RMCing when that should clearly be Wildcat at HP
In no particular order-- 10 Shivering Timbers 9 Ravine Flyer II (surprised to see Boardwalk Bullet on this list and not RFII-- guess the retrack worked wonders-- it was pretty damn rough when I rode it in 2009) 8 El Toro (my favorite coaster overall) 7 Phoenix 6 Outlaw Run 5 Boulder Dash 4 Hades 360 3 Goliath 2) Beast (had a great night time ERT session on this one back in 2014) 1) Kentucky Rumbler Either Renegade,Prowler, or American Thunder could ride out this last spot as well (they kind of melt together for me). Voyage gets honorable mention but it was pretty damn brutal when I rode it in 2014. Mystic Timbers, GhostRider, and Gold Striker are the main American woodies I still need to ride.
For Overall Wooden Coaster, El Toro is my number one, but for Traditional Wooden Coaster, it's Lighting Racer. Dualing with actual racing is literally the best feature on coasters that have it, and Lighting racer does it so well. The Trains dispatch at the exact same time, each course is slightly different but the exact same length, and because of that, you want a full train so you can win~ The ride also tells you who won with lights and a pre-recorded message, It's absolutely spectacular. It's also buttery smooth and extremely extremely re-rideable. When I get off, I instantly want to get back on. Plus you can trash talk the other side and it's so much fun
If you guys went to Everland in South Korea and rode the T-express Wooden Coaster, you will easily put it into first place, at first I thought only the first drop would be cool, but the facts is that literally every single uphill has insane airtime, and the whole roller coaster is more thrill, you will know what I mean if you tried it!
I finally got to Holiday World and ride the Voyage a couple of weeks ago. What a magical day that was. It was the first weekend of their water park being open so the coasters were wide open. My friend and I got three rides Raven in a row without even having to stand up. We ended up with 12 laps on Voyage and a total of 31 coaster rides. Probably the greatest coaster day I've ever had.
Predator in Darian Lake. Only ride I've been on where I actually thought we might not make it to the end without catastrophe. A very rough ride that I assume all the old wooden roller coasters had as well. Feels nostalgic in a way.
Phoenix snubbed, better than every coaster on this list. Best restraints, most out of ur seat Moments, also not rough at ALL. I love this ride. That said nice move shouting out Lightning Racer it a classic
Mystic Timbers is my favorite with The Beast a close second. I'm hoping to get on the Voyage in the near future. Also Zipping Pippin is better than Hades any day of the week.
I haven't ridden a huge number of woodies, and have ridden none of the ones in your list, but here are my personal favorites: 1. Boulder Dash, Lake Compounce (giant CCI terrain coaster mentioned by many people in these comments, for all the reasons they give) 2. Roar-O-Saurus, Story Land (tiny Gravity Group junior woodie that is an ejector machine) 3. Mr. Twister, Elitch Gardens (original location) (a massive defunct 1960s PTC; Twister at Knoebels and Twister II at Elitch's are both tributes to it) 4. Yankee Cannonball, Canobie Lake Park (well-kept 1930s PTC, possibly one of the earliest coasters to be relocated)
I have to give a shoutout to Switchback at ZDT's. It's my #14/253 and my #4 woodie after Voyage/Toro/GhostRider. Everything Gravity Group does is so creative. This thing is in the middle of a residential neighborhood and it goes backwards in a former grocery store. It is SO COOL and there's nothing anywhere like it. I rode it 28 times in one day when I first had the privilege to ride that marvel of engineering.
I mean I haven't ridden a lot of wooden coasters and most of the ones I've managed to ride are really old ones like the Blackpool woodies or something like Tivoli Gardens and Bakkens 2 scenic railways, but I will say there are a few rides I've ridden which are really solid and memorable. Those include Thundercoaster at Tusenfryd in Norway, a Vekoma woodie which a few years ago got new Timberliner trains. Not the smoothest thing in the world but not uncomfortable at all. A ride with some really good pacing, good use of terrain, and really good airtime and turns. Alongside that there's one you also have ridden, Joris en de draak at Efteling. Their duelling low to the ground GCI over the wetlands. This ride and its snappy transitions, solid airtime and unexpected twists were amazing and was my favorite ride at the park. I rode it like 5 times in a row just before the park closed. And those are the 2 most destinctive to me. I have ridden a few other notable ones like the Coney Island Cyclone, and Balder at Liseberg, but at the same time then I remember Thunderbolt at Coney island much more vividly and more positively. Plus I even preferred Kanonen over Balder at Liseberg as crazy as it sounds. Rutschebanen at Tivoli is really solid, especially for its age, but something like Joris en de draak simply offers so much more.
Outlaw run is not only my favorite wooden coaster but it is my favorite roller coaster of all time. Sure other coasters are bigger and faster but there is just something about outlaw run that I love. Could be a bit of nostalgia but it really is just pure fun riding it
I’m excited to see my all time favorite roller coaster at #1! I can’t get enough of The Voyage. I enjoy Raven as well. Legend took a while for me to like. The only other rides I’ve ridden that were mentioned are Goliath, Mystic Timbers, Lightning Run and Outlaw Run. Goliath surprised me! Nice review!
GASM at SFOG used to be amazing, so much that the park at one point had it running backwards. But because they decided to reuse the old Georgia Cyclone trains, it was basically ruined by making being unbearbly rough therefore it getting a lot of hate.
To be honest, I wouldn’t consider an RMC coaster because of the wooden support systems and steel I-box track you ride on. It’s kind of a steel and wooden coaster.
The RMCs listed here aren't I-box track hybrids. They have a wooden structure and a wooden track. However, some purists will argue that because the Topper track includes a layer of steel for stability then they aren't "true wooden" coasters. But if that's the argument then it wouldn't make sense to include coasters that have a steel structure like The Voyage or have steel supports like prefab coasters. The point is, that every coaster has some steel, it's just a question of where the steel is and to what extent.
100% my favourite wooden coaster and my overall favourite coaster is Troy at toverland the insane airtime and the smoothness is something and also colossos is insane in heidepark!!
My favorite woodie is El Toro and has been for a long time. I'm sure Sarah will 100% agree with me on that. El Toro was my #1 overall until 2018 when I rode I305 and Steel Vengeance for the first time. Fury 325 also surpassed Toro so now it's my #4. The main reason I dropped El Toro in my rankings was because I rode it more than any coaster. The Voyage is currently my #1 bucket list coaster and maybe one day I'll go during Holiwood Nights and ride it when the trims are off. Also props to The Voyage for still running PTC trains. PTC by far makes the best wooden coaster trains imo.
Good list, I've only ridden 6 of those but they are my top 6 in this order: El Toro, Voyage, Outlaw Run, GhostRider, Mystic Timbers, Goliath. I prefer El Toro to Voyage just for the massive ejector airtime moments, GhostRider and Mystic Timbers are extremely close for me and I feel like I go back and forth, I give GhostRider an edge for a little more intense airtime but it's really a toss up, they're right next to each other in my overall rankings. Shivering Timbers was nowhere near this caliber for me, but I only got one ride in the morning and a bit stapled, so take that for what it's worth, I still think it's a fun ride.
The only reason you think Outlaw run is a better night ride than Wildfire is because you haven't done Wildfire in the dark. Come back to Sweden for Halloween and you'll see how amazing it is!
I am absolutely HYPED for April. Our school is going on a field trip to Houston for NASA, you know, whatever. But the insane part is, we all get to go to Kemah Boardwalk as a part of the trip! I am hyped for Boardwalk Bullet. Only heard good things about it, and now number 5 wood coaster in the world? So glad my school is doing this.
Screamin’ Eagle at SFSTL, the last John Allen PTC Woodie! It was my first coaster EVER and will always hold the #1 place in my heart for all the amazing memories I shared on it with my family.
What about Boulder Dash at Lake Compounce where would you rank that one? Now that's a great wooden coaster and I love how it uses the mountain! There's not too many like it!
For me it would be: 1. El toro 2. Outlaw run 3. The boss 4. Goliath 5. American thunder 6. Mystic Timbers 7. The beast 8. Screamin eagle 9.Viper 10. American eagle Obviously haven’t ridden voyage and the rest on this list lol.
My favorite wooden coaster is definitely Phoenix at Knoebels in Elysburg, PA. Some of the best airtime hills I've ever been on. Anybody reading this comment that hasn't been on Phoenix needs to experience it. Knoebels itself is also a great park. Free admission, free parking, and pay per ride. Great rides, amazingly fast ride operations, and great food. I'd say it's worth visiting even if you're just riding Phoenix.
I visited Knoebels for the first time a few months ago. I absolutely loved it!! But with that being said, Phoenix is definitely extremely overrated. It is NOT the best wooden roller coaster in the world - not even close. Twister is way better in my opinion. There's nothing wrong with Phoenix, and there's novelty in riding a roller coaster with virtually no restraint, but the airtime was floater at best - and that's only because of the restraints.
Two really great and underappreciated rides for me in Europe are Tonerre de Zeus, which is just being retracked and will probably be better than ever, great mix of laterals and airtime and its rare to find a CCI in Europe. The other one maybe a little bit more controversial, but Loup Garou at Walibi Belgium has those amazing Vekoma-Trains that are even comfier than the millenium flyers and the ride offers really great laterals and since we rode it after the rain on a summer day, there was one insane airtime moment too.
@@timdruyts5025 I rode it last summer and it is quite rough (which gives a great our of control feeling), but again, the trains totally save this ride. Bandit has some of the worst trains ever designed for a wooden rollercoaster.
@@leanen6424 I rode it last year in May and I was not a fan at all. The restraints come down on you during the ride so I got both stapled and a rough ride. The only good thing about the trains is the seat. If they'd give some of the rougher spots some titan track I would like it a whole lot more.
