You love the ride and rank it super high but you criticise it more than you praise it

[Rob Coasters]

I find that whenever discussion of Hyperia at Thorpe Park pops up, I end up pulling myself into an extensive conversation about how underwhelming the whole thing is - the drop lacked the laterals I wanted, the outerbank was not the world-beating element everyone made it out to be, the stall I enjoy less and less, everything after that I actively dislike.

I rank Hyperia #16/396.

I endlessly criticise Hyperia's shortcomings more than I praise the things that it does well, despite having the ride ranked so comparatively high. With the way that I talk about it, you would think it should barely make my top 100, but nope, top 20. I guess that's a testament for how much 'good' it does, but I guess I just prefer to mention the negatives far more. I love the turn out of the station and the lift hill, those are in fact my favourite parts of the ride, and going up the immelmann is fantastic too. The outerbank is incredible in an end seat (very front/very back), just falls short when not there.

One of my friends feels similarly on Untamed at Walibi Holland where it's one of his highest-ranked coasters but brings up the things that bring the ride down (such as the restraints) comparatively more than what makes it so good.

My questions for you:
-What ride do you love and/or rank very highly, but you criticse it and highlight the ride's shortcomings more than you praise it? Why?
-Do you think you rank it too highly?

 

[jasone]

I am probably a little bit similar with Hyperia in all honesty. When I rode it, I ranked it as number 11, it’s now moved to number 12 as Voltron took my number 4 spot and moved everything down. Perhaps with Hyperia it’s because we’ve not had a coaster of that size built in the UK for a very long time, and probably won’t do for a long time in the future either. It meant there was a hell of a lot of hype around it, and stand out moments for some people are maybe not the stand out moments for myself… so you end up talking about those elements and why they perhaps didn’t hit for you the way you expected them too. However for me the outer bank did absolutely hit!

There’s another example of this that is actually in my top 10 ; Batman Gotham City escape, which is my number 7. I did really enjoy it, obviously as it’s in my top 10, but id already ridden Toutatis, which I place at number 5! Everyone I knew said BGCE was better than Toutatis, so I kind of went in expecting that, but for me I found it the other way around. I find the pacing of BGCE a bit odd, I don’t like how slow the stall is as hangtime is probably my least favourite sensation. Also, the top hat didn’t hit for me, I don’t like the holding brake at all really. However there are some incredible moments on BGCE, the airtime hill after the top hat, the dive loop, airtime pop into corkscrew. But I find myself mentioning the bits that didn’t work for me more, because these are the bits that seem to be celebrated by other enthusiasts (particularly the stall). Toutatis, even though it has the trim on the top hat, delivers in every single other element so much, that I completely forget about the trim. And to be honest, the two rides are intrinsically linked in my head now because I went into them comparing them in the first place, which means I just focus on the bits that underwhelmed me on BGCE forever more, which is stupid, because it’s still an absolutely phenomenal coaster!

I’m just a Toutatis fanboy!

 

[Matt N]

This is a really interesting question!

To be honest, I think any ride where I had very high expectations prior to getting on that it didn’t quite meet would be a fair candidate for this thread for me.

As an example, I raise Iron Gwazi after my first go. After my first go, I ranked it comfortably in my top 10… but if anyone remembers my trip report from the time (2023), I was quite hypercritical of it, with my praise seeming relatively muted compared to my mention of its minor flaws. I liked it a lot more on the second and third goes, and these perceived flaws from my first seemed less obvious, but at the time, I could never quite shake the fact that it didn’t quite meet expectations after the first ride. With the benefit of hindsight, I’ve started to think that I was looking for minor imperfections and exaggerating them in order to try and quantify a general sense that it wasn’t quite the out of body experience I was expecting on my first ride, and that I was heavily glossing over the fact that what it did well, it did really well. I’ve grown much warmer towards it with time, and despite me having not returned to Busch since 2023, it has steadily crept up my rankings (it’s at #5/134 now!) as I’ve started to gloss over the minor imperfections that dogged me at the time and remembered just how good those many, many highs were. If anything, I dare say I possibly still rank it too low… I think it could well rise a bit if I ever go back to Busch.

To a lesser extent, I think I was possibly similar with Red Force after my recent visit to PortAventura World. That ride presently ranks at #18/134, but in my trip report from the trip, I predominantly mentioned how the launch wasn’t as punchy as Stealth’s rather than its many awesome attributes, like its sheer height, speed and airtime, that make it warrant the #18 spot and a 9/10. As for whether I rank Red Force too highly or too lowly… I don’t know. I did bump it down a couple of spots after the trip on reflection, to widen the gap between it and Stealth a tad, but I don’t know whether I’m being unfair on it or whether it deserves to go down a bit more.

 

[Graeme]

Colossus at Thorpe Park is the closest. I've always criticised it for what it isn't, rather than what it is. Judging it as a new ride, from about 2002-2005, it was a very good coaster. The first five inversions were as good as anything I'd ridden, and I could do nothing other than put in in my Top 10 at the time. The only bit I outright didn't "get" were the inline twists.

But I wanted to get a B&M sitdown or floorless in the UK so much. Rationally, I knew the plot wasn't big enough for a "Kraken" or "Kumba", and a smaller ride (from B&M) wouldn't have been able to fit in the 10 inversions. However, passion and enthusiasm isn't rational, and every time I climbed into those cramped cars, I wished it was a B&M. It was a good ride, but I always enjoyed it more than I liked it, if that makes sense.

To add insult to injury, we ended up getting two of them!

 

[Will]

Alpengeist and Rougarou both have the sections after the MCBR. And in the case of Alpengeist, the MCBR kicks like a mule - the operations are also quite bad.

Oh, and Banshee has the dreaded vest restraints.

It would probably be easier to talk about the parks you love but find endless flaws in - probably from over-visiting.

 

[Hyde]

Hah, love this.

I'll go with two RMCs, Iron Gwazi (#4 Overall) and Wildcat's Revenge (#14 Overall). The simplest gripe for both is: they are not Steel Vengeance. This, despite being objectively top 10 coaster candidates in any enthusiast ranking, giving levels of aggression still yet unforeseen, and all-round amazing rides that leave any enthusiast marathoning, wanting for more. They are not Steel Vengeance.

 

[James F]

The Ride to Happiness #12/250

Perhaps it's just because I don't have it right at the top of my list and for many others it's a top 5, especially for people who are around my credit count. It's undoubtedly a stand out ride, but for whatever reason I feel compelled to state it's inconsistency and rattle.

 

[Flash Shift]

It's Hyperia for me as well. I wasn't really blown away as it almost felt exactly like how I imagined it to, which weirdly makes it almost disappointing because of the lack of surprises. The short length is also a detriment. I will admit that I've only had 2 rides on it and would need to get more on it to get a better feel for it I think, and I was told on the day it was running a bit slow.

However, it still kicks ass and is still the UK's best coaster. I don't really rank coasters as I haven't done that many, but it's definitely below Helix and Taiga which are my current best.

 

[JoshC.]

El Toro at SFGAd for me.

The first drop and hill are glorious. The ending is strong. It ranks in my Top 5%.

But whenever I talk about it, I focus on the middle of the ride which is...just there.

If its middle portion was a bit punchier, I'd probably rank it higher. Or if not, I'd just speak so much more positively about it.

I always end by saying I do really like El Toro. And I do.

 

[Hixee]

Dinoconda (and to a slightly lesser extent X2).

It's in my Top 5, as the experience is just unbelievable, but they're rough, intense, scary, unrefined, expensive, unreliable, over the top, and just all round 'a bit much'.

 

[Howie]

Imma say Taron.
Yes, I've been known to rag on it from time to time. I've criticized the layout, I've discussed at length the meandering pace, I've called out the lack of variety, pointed to the absence of inversions and mocked the shortage of nice, big drops.
Once I even referred to it as nothing more than a glorified Rita.
But it doesn't matter. Throw in the lavish theming of Klugheim, add an epic music score, fill the area with smoke and lights and top it off with the buzzing atmosphere of a night time ERT session with some of your best mates and what you have is an experience to remember!

 

[Disco Lumberjack]

I think for rides that you rank highly but not at the very top you're inevitably going to focus on the flaws precisely because you're ranking them. This is especially the case for a ride that a bunch of other people think ranks better, you're going to discuss it and have your list of reasons it isn't as good as people say. If a ride isn't in the top tier it's not able to compete so you can just enjoy it for what it is.

For me it's VelociCoaster, it just lacked intensity when I rode it and I was really surprised at how slow it seemed. I suspect it wasn't running very well when I visited (September 2024) and I'd like to go back and try again. I was expecting it to compete for the top 3 spot and it didn't quite manage it. It's still my number 7 though!

Mako is an interesting counterpoint, I never expected it to compete for the top 3 spot because I crave a bit more variety in my layouts, it's only 1 position lower than VC and yet I talk about it completely differently because I knew it was never going to make my top 5 but it was also great fun.