Best Coaster Countries

[Gavin]

It's still the USA by quite a way, but, as others have said, the size of it makes for a slightly unfair comparison.

In Europe it's Germany, followed by Sweden.

China is, on paper, up and coming to take over, but realistically I don't think it's that close. Yes, there are some amazing rides being built, but the fact is that most parks, even some within the bigger chains, have one decent coaster, then are filled with junk and run like s**t. So, individual coasters? Amazing. Parks? Not so much.

 

[Sandman]

Sweden is definitely the most prime example of quality over quantity. That said, I think the Scandi parks deserve to be grouped together as one awesome package.

Tivoli, Grona & Liseberg are the holy trinity of city parks, then of course, you have Bakken, Djurs Sommerland, BonBon, Tivoli Friheden etc to round it all up. Chuck in Tusenfryd & maybe, Linnanmaki & Sarkanniemi to make it a Nordic bonanza

 

[BigBad]

I could buy Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia as better than any country outside of the entire US, so I don't buy the argument the we win because of the size advantage.

After us, I see Germany as second-best, with China making a run at taking the silver from the Germans.

 

[ThomVD]

Sweden is definitely the most prime example of quality over quantity. That said, I think the Scandi parks deserve to be grouped together as one awesome package.

Tivoli, Grona & Liseberg are the holy trinity of city parks, then of course, you have Bakken, Djurs Sommerland, BonBon, Tivoli Friheden etc to round it all up. Chuck in Tusenfryd & maybe, Linnanmaki & Sarkanniemi to make it a Nordic bonanza

Don't forget Fårup Sommerland, THE hidden gem of Scandinavia and a gorgeous woodland park. Also Power Park, easily the best park in Finland. As a whole package, Northern Europe is pretty incredible in most departments.

 

[MestnyiGeroi]

Don't forget Fårup Sommerland, THE hidden gem of Scandinavia and a gorgeous woodland park. Also Power Park, easily the best park in Finland. As a whole package, Northern Europe is pretty incredible in most departments.

I loved the atmosphere of Fårup!

 

[MestnyiGeroi]

This thread is from 2017. Most respondents here say that the U.S. is obviously number one, but China is “up and coming.”

So would anyone today, in 2020, put China in the number one spot? (I wouldn’t, fwiw, but I wonder if any here would.)

I was going to start a thread on this topic, but I found this old thread and figured it’s best to just add to it. I was discussing this topic elsewhere but it devolved to a battle of thinly veiled nationalism. I’d like to know if the experienced enthusiasts of CoasterForce still think the USA has to be number one.

 

[Hixee]

So would anyone today, in 2020, put China in the number one spot? (I wouldn’t, fwiw, but I wonder if any here would.)

For me, at least, there's more than just number and/or quality of the creds themselves. There's a faff factor which wraps up everything associated with travelling, spites, etc.

Now, I don't profess to be any sort of expert on travelling in China - I've only done it once - but I'm sure most would agree that the "faff factor" in China is much higher. Looking at it from someone in the UK - you've got visas and language barriers to contend with, as well as the cultural stuff that we're unfamiliar with. I like to to think I'm pretty adventurous (or at least, open-minded) to getting stuck in, but there's definitely cultural shocks to adjust to in China - food being a good example. Sure, I had KFC and Pizza Hut a few times while I was there, but I also did try to eat mostly at 'non-Western' places which wasn't easy at times. If you can't read a word of the menu (and not just kinda breeze your way through it like you can in most of Europe) then you do have to be a bit brave. Now I have [medically mandated] dietary requirements, I'm not so sure how well I'd get on, to be honest. Checking something with the hotel front desk, quickly scoping out a route on the map, they're all slightly harder.

We're all different though, and no doubt someone else will have different perspectives.

That's a digression, possibly, but all of that is to say that travelling around the USA is SO EASY for Europeans (arguably the easiest, as you've got one common language across the whole country - albeit with different quality levels!) that doing a coaster trip there is simply more straightforward. I've done most of the major stuff in the USA now, and only a tiny handful of China, but where would I rather spend three weeks on a coaster trip right now...? Not as clear cut as creds alone.

China could easily sit in the top three, but I'd probably place it behind USA and Europe (grouping that up as it only seems fair from a scale perspective) for the 'convenience' factor.

 

[Nicky Borrill]

To add to this thread... Reading historic posts... I’m not sure that the 2018 UK creds really did that much to add value to the UK lineup... I mean sure, they’re both half decent, but we still lack that ‘Nemesis’ contender... Thorpe 2030 anybody?

 

[Gavin]

Another thing going against China is that there are actually very few parks with more than one "top-level" coaster. There are a handful of exceptions (some of the Happy Valley parks and a couple of the Sunac parks, but a few independent places as well), but it's much more common to have a park with one amazing coaster and then lots of filler crap. Taken on their own merits, some of those coasters are incredible, but when they're sitting in a park with a bunch of crap (in terms of other coasters at least), it's hard to rate the parks as a whole very highly.





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[Matt N]

From my perspective, as someone who has only been to the UK and Florida, I’d still say that the USA looks to win on this front, but even on a state-by-state basis, I think states like Ohio would still win over quite a few standalone countries, for me.

If we’re talking non-USA, I’d say that countries like Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands all look to have really high quality selections.

However, I’d personally like to nominate Japan. They actually have quite a few highly revered coasters over there; the likes of Do-Dodonpa, Eejanaika, Hakugei, Kawasemi and Flying Dinosaur (although FD is a little more polarising) are all pretty highly received by those who’ve been to Japan, and the country also has some other really liked coasters like Pyrenees & Acrobat, as well as really revered parks like Tokyo DisneySea.

 

[MestnyiGeroi]

Another thing going against China is that there are actually very few parks with more than one "top-level" coaster. There are a handful of exceptions (some of the Happy Valley parks and a couple of the Sunac parks, but a few independent places as well), but it's much more common to have a park with one amazing coaster and then lots of filler crap. Taken on their own merits, some of those coasters are incredible, but when they're sitting in a park with a bunch of crap (in terms of other coasters at least), it's hard to rate the parks as a whole very highly.





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You said the same thing in 2017, but it’s good to know your opinion hasn’t changed. Might sound like I’m taking the p*ss there but I’m not — I wanted to hear your opinion, because who would know better than you.

 

[Gavin]

You said the same thing in 2017, but it’s good to know your opinion hasn’t changed. Might sound like I’m taking the p*ss there but I’m not — I wanted to hear your opinion, because who would know better than you.

I didn't even think to scroll back to see what I'd said earlier, but yeah, seems like my overall thoughts haven't changed. I haven't been to Mainland China for over a year, and I'm a bit out of the loop regarding new parks/coasters, but I doubt that year has allowed for any massive improvements.

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