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CoasterForce’s Favourite California Rollercoasters

Matt N

Matt N

CF Legend
Hi guys. Another month has passed by, and as such, I have a new poll for you all, if you’re willing to participate! For this month’s poll, I decided to stay within the USA, and I went with the other “tourist” state in America so to speak; this month, I’m determining CoasterForce’s Favourite California Rollercoasters!

I haven’t been to California, so I can’t contribute a list of my own to kick things off.

But if you have, and want to contribute, then post your lists down below; you have until 11:59pm on 30th June 2021 to post your lists if you want them to be counted in my final data compilation, so get posting if you want to influence those final results!
 
I hadn't really realised that I've ridden more coasters in California than any other state - would have somehow expected somewhere in the Mid-West or East to top that (Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida come in second and joint third)...

Running through this list, it occurs to me that there's not loads of good coasters in California though - that said, my last visits to a lot of these parks were before RMC set foot in the state. I should expect that several of those would make it into this list. Plus, I've never done Disney (the shame), so...

Anyway:

1. X2, Six Flags Magic Mountain - Only one to make it into my Top 20.
2. Tatsu, Six Flags Magic Mountain - The first half of this is awesome up high on the hillside, and the pretzel loop is wrong in all the right ways.
3. Xcelerator, Knotts Berry Farm - The OG launch provides one heck of a punch.
4. Ghostrider, Knotts Berry Farm - I quite liked this one.
5. Riddler's Revenge, Six Flags Magic Mountain - What a beast.
6. Gold Striker, California's Great America - Also quite enjoyed this one.
7. Revenge of the Mummy, Universal Studios Hollywood - Not bad.
8. Silver Bullet, Knotts Berry Farm - I do understand the hate for this, but I do like it's slightly weird layout.
9. Medusa, Six Flags Discovery Kingdom - I do quite like a big B&M.
10. Giant Dipper, Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk - The setting of this coaster makes it really quite cute.

I think...
 
Once again, it's been almost 10 years since my one and only visit to that state. I did ride a lot more coasters in California than I did in Florida, but my memory is still pretty blurry. Anyways, here's my contribution;

1. X2, Six Flags Magic Mountain
2. Tatsu, Six Flags Magic Mountain
3. Giant Dipper, Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk
4. Goliath, Six Flags Magic Mountain
5. Apocalypse: The Ride, Six Flags Magic Mountain
6. Batman: The Ride, Six Flags Magic Mountain
7. Deja Vu, Six Flags Magic Mountain
8. Revenge of the Mummy, Universal Studios Hollywood
9. Viper, Six Flags Magic Mountain
10. Ninja, Six Flags Magic Mountain
 
Oooh, lists. Yay! 😁

1. X2 - same as Hixee and Tilen.
2. Tatsu - same as Hixee and Tilen.
3. Railblazer. These are the only 3 Cali coasters that make my top 10%, so the rest of this list is entirely made up on the spot.
4. Joker.
5. Gold Striker
6. Medusa.
7. Xcelerator.
8. Viper.
9. Batman the Ride (SFMM).
10. Terminator Salvation (now Apocalypse)
 
I have been lucky enough to go three times to California and I have done five parks, at least one coaster from each is on my list, hopefully I will get to go to more parks in this state in the future.

1: Ghostrider - Forceful, smooth and a brilliant layout, also It helps that I got to marathon it on the day I went.
2: X2 - Memory is fuzzy as I rode it over 10 years ago, I’ve been spited on my last visits.
3: Tatsu - Now that’s a flying coaster.
4: Twisted colossus - It’s alright
5: Matterhorn bobsleds - Great theming and a classic.
6: Revenge of the mummy the ride - nice theming and fun.
7: Full throttle - Big loop fun :)
8: California Screaming / incredicoaster - Goes on for ages.
9: Montezoomers revenge - Surprisingly fun and forceful.
10: Space mountain - sweet
 
Hmm my only California creds came in a very frantic 4 hour stint at SFMM, luckily the park was dead so I got a very rapid +12.

1. Twisted Colossus
2. X2
3. Tatsu
4. Riddler's Revenge
5. Viper
6. Full Throttle
7. Apocalypse
8. Superman
9. Ninja
10. Revolution

I did also ride Goliath and Scream but thought they were both total scrap.
 
1. Twisted Colossus
2. Railblazer
3. Joker
4. GhostRider
5. Full Throttle
6. Flight Deck
7. Tatsu
8. HangTime
9. Space Mountain
10. X2

Edit: forgot ...X2..., somehow!
 
Last edited:
1. X2, Six Flags Magic Mountain
2. Tatsu, Six Flags Magic Mountain
3. Joker, Six Flags Discovery Kingdom
4. Twisted Colossus, Six Flags Magic Mountain
5. Gold Striker, California’s Great America
6. Xcelerator, Knott’s Berry Farm
7. Full Throttle, Six Flags Magic Mountain
8. GhostRider, Knott’s Berry Farm
9. Batman: The Ride, Six Flags Magic Mountain
10. RailBlazer, California’s Great America

Got to be my favourite US state for coasters. I’m surprised how many good ones don’t make the top 10.
 
SFMM is such an onslaught of creds it's hard remember them all to judge them accurately.

Off the top of my head:

1. X2 (by far and away my favourite)
2. Riddler's Revenge
3. Twisted Colossus
4. Ghostrider
5. Revenge of the Mummy
6. Space Mountain
7. Batman The Ride (SFMM)
8. New Revolution
9. Xcelerator
10. Superman Escape from Krypton

Got spited by Viper, Apocalypse, and Matterhorn.

Not a huge fan of flyers so Tatsu not included.
 
Yeeesssss, lists <3 I saw this topic while at work but didn't have a chance to really think about it. I think I'm up to 81 CA Credits sooooo lets go

1 X2 Six Flags Magic Mountain
2 Medusa Six Flags Discovery Kingdom
3 RailBlazer California's Great America
4 Xcelerator Knott's Berry Farm
5 Tatsu Six Flags Magic Mountain
6 Incredicoaster - Disney California Adventure Park
7 Giant Dipper Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk
8 Flash: Vertical Velocity - Six Flags Discovery Kingdom
9 Flight Deck California's Great America
10 Riddler's Revenge Six Flags Magic Mountain
 
I Haven't been to Northern California parks yet, I hope to this year.
  1. Ghostrider - Knott’s Berry Farm
  2. Twisted Colossus - Magic Mountain
  3. Xcelerator - Knott’s Berry Farm
  4. Tatsu - Magic Mountain
  5. X2 - Magic Mountain
  6. West Coast Racers - Magic Mountain
  7. Riddler’s Revenge - Magic Mountain
  8. Apocalypse the Ride - Magic Mountain
  9. Full Throttle - Magic Mountain
  10. Hangtime - Knott’s Berry Farm
 
Never done the NoCal parks and was spited by the 2 good B&Ms and a GCI at SFMM, so my list is a bit lacking. Loving these polls btw
  1. X2
  2. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
  3. Space Mountain
  4. Ghostrider
  5. Xcelerator
  6. Matterhorn Bobsleds
  7. Goliath
  8. California Screamin' (never been on Incredicoaster but don't imagine this placement would be impacted)
  9. Silver Bullet
  10. Scream!
 
Survey says:
RankCoasterPark
1X2Six Flags Magic Mountain
2TatsuSix Flags Magic Mountain
3Apocalypse the RideSix Flags Magic Mountain
4Green Lantern: First FlightSix Flags Magic Mountain
5ViperSix Flags Magic Mountain
6GhostriderKnott’s Berry Farm
7Scream!Six Flags Magic Mountain
8XceleratorKnott’s Berry Farm
9Riddler’s RevengeSix Flags Magic Mountain
10HangTimeKnott's Berry Farm
11Batman the RideSix Flags Magic Mountain
12IncredicoasterCalifornia Adventure
13ColossusSix Flags Magic Mountain
14GoliathSix Flags Magic Mountain
15Silver BulletKnott’s Berry Farm
16Space MountainDisneyland
17NinjaSix Flags Magic Mountain
18Big Thunder Mountain RailroadDisneyland
19New RevolutionSix Flags Magic Mountain
20Matterhorn BobsledsDisneyland
21Pony ExpressKnott's Berry Farm
22Revenge of the Mummy the RideUniversal Studios Hollywood
23Montezooma’s RevengeKnott’s Berry Farm
24Sierra SidewinderKnott’s Berry Farm
25BoomerangKnott’s Berry Farm
26Goofy's Sky SchoolCalifornia Adventure
27Coast RiderKnott's Berry Farm
28Jaguar!Knott's Berry Farm
29Santa Monica West CoasterPacific Park
30Gold RusherSix Flags Magic Mountain
 
We’re halfway through the month now, guys; if you want to contribute, you only have 15 days left!

Out of interest, has anybody got any suggestions for where you’d like me to do next month?
 
1 Twisted Collossus
2 Tatsu
3 Cali Screamin
4 X2
5 Medusa
6 Riddlers Revenge
7 Xcelerator
8 Space Mountain
9 Gold Striker
10 Flight Deck
 
Eyebrows said:
Pennsylvania, or Ohio?
Click to expand...
See, I thought Ohio...but it would just be CP and KI dominating except for the few who have gone out and got the few straggling credits like Columbus Zoo and Stricker's Grove (✔✔)

Pennsylvania could be interesting, you finally have a top-10 where wood coasters have a chance to make up the majority
 
Has no one been to Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk? Giant Dipper should certainly rank up there, as well as the Giant Dipper at Belmont Park in San Diego, which still rocks. And Joker at SFDK should be up there as well. One person mentioned Deja Vu, but that hasn't be in CA for years, so I don't think that should count. Same goes for Green Lantern: First Flight... which, good lord, how did that get to #4? While I didn't hate it as much as most did, even I would've never put it up there, lol.

Being a local, I really value reridability. X2 is a lot of fun, but it's also pretty rough, so it would go much lower on my list, while Superman, while admittedly not as thrilling or intense, is much easier and very fun to reride, so I'd put it higher on my list. More family coaster appear on my list for this reason as well... some of the more thrilling/intense rides can really bang you up, so they'd be lower on my list or not appear at all.

It's tricky, as many others have mentioned, SFMM kind of dominates the CA market in terms of roller coasters. If I took SFMM off the list, I'd say:

Excluding SFMM:
1. Ghostrider, KBF
2. Xcelerator, KFB
3. Giant Dipper, Belmont Park
4. Railblazer, CGA
5. Joker, SFDK
6. Giant Dipper, SCBB
7. The Flash: Vertical Velocity, SFDK (I'm a sucker for it's unique variation)
8. Manta, Sea World
9. Space Mountain, DL
10. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, DL

Including SFMM:
1. Ghostrider, KFB
2. Twisted Colossus, SFMM
3. Superman: The Escape, SFMM
4. Giant Dipper, Belmont Park
5. Xcelerator, KFB
6. Goliath, SFMM
7. Railblazer, SFDK
8. West Coast Racers, SFMM (again, mainly because it's fun and very reridable)
9. Apocolypse, SFMM (since the retracking, it's actually in pretty good shape)
10. Giant Dipper, SCBB

Honorable mentions: Quicksilver Express at Gilroy Gardens (very mild and a bit wonky, but endearing somehow), Goldstriker at CGA (love it's layout, but it's gotten really rough over the years), Medusa at SFSK, Montezuma's Revenge at KFB, and The New Revolution at SFMM.

I'm also surprised so many wooden coasters appear on my list, as I generally think of myself as more of a steel guy. But the good woodies we have out here are really good.
 
Well, I totally forgot about this, didn’t I? If you want to post a list, you have 4 days left to do it!
 
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