What is your favourite non-Merlin UK coaster?

[Matt N]

Hi guys. In the UK theme park industry, Merlin theme parks are a very dominant force, and this is arguably most apparent in the arena of roller coaster hardware. If you were to ask an average enthusiast what their favourite UK coaster is, there’s a good chance that it would be at a Merlin theme park, and I dare say that most people’s UK top 10s would be relatively saturated with Merlin-operated coasters, with parks like Alton Towers and Thorpe Park in particular arguably having two of the UK’s most revered thrill coaster selections. With this in mind, I’d be intrigued to know; what is your favourite UK coaster not located at a theme park operated by Merlin Entertainments? Of the coasters at independent UK parks and UK parks owned by smaller chains such as Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Drayton Manor, Oakwood, Paultons Park, Flamingo Land, Fantasy Island, and numerous others, which is your favourite?

As for my own answer to this thread, my recent first visit to Flamingo Land, and my first ride on Sik in particular, got me thinking about what my favourite non-Merlin UK coasters actually are.

My favourite non-Merlin UK coaster is quite comfortably Icon at Blackpool Pleasure Beach, which is actually my favourite UK coaster even including Merlin parks, as well as my #8 overall out of 107 ridden coasters. I love the airtime, I love the fun twists and turns, I love the inversions, I love the smoothness and comfortable restraints… I just think it does a number of things very, very well! I know that liking Icon is a somewhat unpopular opinion, but I absolutely love it!

After that, though, only two other non-Merlin coasters actually slot into my UK top 10, meaning that non-Merlin coasters make up 3 of my UK top 10. With this in mind, my top 3 non-Merlin UK coasters, and the 3 that make my overall UK top 10, are:

1. Icon - Blackpool Pleasure Beach (10/10, UK #1, #8/107 overall)
2. Sik - Flamingo Land (8/10, UK #8, #22/107 overall)
3. Megafobia - Oakwood Theme Park (8/10, UK #9, #25/107 overall)

If you’re interested, my overall UK top 10 (with non-Merlin rides highlighted in bold) is:

1. Icon - Blackpool Pleasure Beach (10/10, #8/107 overall)
2. Wicker Man - Alton Towers (10/10, #10/107 overall)
3. Oblivion - Alton Towers (9/10, #11/107 overall)
4. Nemesis Inferno - Thorpe Park (9/10, #17/107 overall)
5. Rita - Alton Towers (9/10, #18/107 overall)
6. Stealth - Thorpe Park (8/10, #19/107 overall)
7. Nemesis - Alton Towers (8/10, #20/107 overall)
8. Sik - Flamingo Land (8/10, #22/107 overall)
9. Megafobia - Oakwood Theme Park (8/10, #25/107 overall)
10. Thirteen - Alton Towers (7/10, #28/107 overall)

But I’d be interested to know; what is your favourite non-Merlin UK coaster?

 

[JoshC.]

From the Cred Sheet, here's all my ranked UK coasters not including Merlin parks, including their overall ranking in my list:

Rank	Coaster	Park
46	Grand National	Blackpool Pleasure Beach
53	Cobra (Paultons)	Paultons Park
68	Storm Chaser	Paultons Park
93	Icon	Blackpool Pleasure Beach
95	Velocity	Flamingo Land
96	Kumali	Flamingo Land
97	Wilde Maus XXL	Winter Wonderland
106	Accelerator	Drayton Manor
113	Avalanche	Blackpool Pleasure Beach
115	Revolution (BPB)	Blackpool Pleasure Beach
117	Spinning Racer	Fantasy Island
118	G Force	Drayton Manor
119	Velociraptor	Paultons Park
126	Mumbo Jumbo	Flamingo Land
136	Flight of the Pterosaur	Paultons Park
147	Millenium	Fantasy Island
158	Rage	Adventure Island
162	Big Dipper	Blackpool Pleasure Beach
163	Ice Mountain	Winter Wonderland
166	Odyessy	Fantasy Island
167	Big One	Blackpool Pleasure Beach
169	Rhombus Rocket	Fantasy Island
176	Rockin Roller	Botton's Pleasure Beach
181	Infusion	Blackpool Pleasure Beach
182	Olympia Looping	Winter Wonderland
183	Dinosaur Valley	Wicksteed Park
186	€uro Coaster	Winter Wonderland
193	Shockwave	Drayton Manor
199	Hero	Flamingo Land

Also includes travelling coasters I've ridden in the UK, but oh well.

tl;dr - my answer is Grand National at Blackpool.

 

[FistedColossus]

Grand National or Megafobia for me.

Suspect it will definitely be the latter after the recent retracking work.

I do love Nash though. Only recently discovered that old woodies are significantly more enjoyable on non wheel seats and Grand National is absolutely brilliant without the violence.

 

[Efan]

I'd have to agree with Matt that my #1 would be Icon. Maybe I'm biased, but I also love Speed at Oakwood - intense and quite smooth in my opinion (though I don't react as badly to roughness as others seem to).

 

[Sandman]

It probably has to be Icon, but that's literally a default because there's really slim pickings.
If T'Ultimate was still about I'd be giving that my vote. RIP dear friend.

 

[Howie]

Exactly what Sandman said. It would have been T'Ultimate for sure, but without that I'm gonna have to say Icon.
Gosh, makes you realise just how far behind the UK has fallen lately when compared to what's been happening on the continent.

 

[Rob Coasters]

#1 Megafobia - Oakwood Theme Park
# Smiler - Alton Towers
# Stealth - Thorpe Park
#2 Munchen Looping - Hyde Park Winter Wonderland
#3 Icon - Blackpool Pleasure Beach
#4 Big One - Blackpool Pleasure Beach
#5 Sik - Flamingo Land
#6 Speed - Oakwood Theme Park
'#7 Cannonball Express - Pleasurewood Hills
# Oblivion - Alton Towers
# Nemesis Inferno - Thorpe Park
#8 Shockwave - Drayton Manor Park
# Nemesis - Alton Towers
#9 and #10 Grand National - Blackpool Pleasure Beach

 

[RevolutionRuleZ]

Grand National, out and out fun and constant laughs all the way round

 

[Peet]

*The best* for me is probably Sik, although Icon is close.
*My Favourite* has got to be Grand National - what a wonderful old rough diamond.

 

[Changa]

Icon is an easy #1 for me. Enso as a separate ride would be a league above that.

Munich/Olympia Looping would be a very close #2 if that counts (it does for me but I love a good discussion).

Grand National would be 3rd as we had an absolute blast on it after the retracking.

 

[Niles]

Welp this just reminded me are lack of amazing coasters, however we do have a nice collection of fun, unique and classic ones, i only rank coasters i feel are amazing so ive never ranked any of these and its hard to pick one over the other.

#: The Ultimate
1: Big One
#: Wild Mouse
2: Grand National
3: Icon
4: Avalanche
5: Rollercoaster - GY
6: Megafobia
7: Cobra
#: Raptor Attack
8: Cannonball Express
9: Sik
10: Tyrolean Tubtwist

 

[themepark_hannah]

Icon

 

[rob666]

If I can pick a dead one that would be the Reel at BPB.
If it has to have a pulse, Grand National, all those years of racing mates (and strangers) on opposite trains.

 

[Bowser]

Storm Chaser at Paultons for me. An absurdly intense ride for a 1M height restriction (especially considering the comparable Dragon's Fury at Chessington is 1.2M)