Your year in review - 2022 edition

[davidm]

- Coaster count at start of 2022: 1031
- Coaster count at end of 2022: 1066
- New coasters ridden in 2022: 35 (a 875% increase on 2021 though! (and an infinite %age increase on 2020))
- New parks visited in 2022: 2 (only Paulton's(!!) and Legoland Billund)
- Park visits (number of days) in 2022: 19 (quite a few duplicates in Florida tho')
- Best new-to-you coaster: Iron Gwazi
- Best new-to-you non-coaster: Rise of the Resistance
- Favourite new-to-you park of 2022: Paulton's (out of a field of 2!)
- Best park visit: Hollywood Studios for a day of mostly Star Wars and beer
- Best seasonal event: N/A
- Highlight of 2022: Inter-continental travel!
- Biggest surprise of 2022: How very expensive everything seems to have gotten, especially in $$$
- Biggest disappointment of 2022: How much pain that Disney App is
- Best individual coaster lap: Mako at night, zen-ride, middle-front, pouring rain (having spent the afternoon drinking beer to avoid the rain). Sublime.
- Best new for 2022 ride: Iron Gwazi
- Proudest accomplishment as an enthusiast: Getting up at the crack of dawn to get into Disney parks early entry... that's NOT a relaxing holiday.
- Best non-park travel moment: Had a nice few days in Belfast the other month?
- Most surprising coaster: (how awful are the restraints on) Tigris
- Funniest coaster/park/enthusiast moment: Meeting random strangers-off-the-internet in US parks
- Most exciting announcement For 2023: that Gotham City Escape in Madrid. Hmmmmm.

 

[Hyde]

- Coaster count at start of 2022: 246
- Coaster count at end of 2022: 274
- New coasters ridden in 2022: 28
- New parks visited in 2022: 3
- Park visits (number of days) in 2022: Umm, will back update with League of Goons findings
- Best new-to-you coaster: Iron Gwazi
- Best new-to-you non-coaster: Valleyfair's Juicy Lucy Burger
- Favourite new-to-you park of 2022: BGT
- Best park visit: BGT
- Best seasonal event: Valleyfair! Grand Carnival
- Highlight of 2022: Riding Exalibur! Have wanted to ride this for YEARS
- Biggest surprise of 2022: Exalibur's s-bend airtime hill. If you know, you know.
- Biggest disappointment of 2022: Not getting out as much the latter half of the year, due to some life change and a lot of pre-booked weekends.
- Best individual coaster lap: Riding Steel Vengeance with my youngest niece for the first time.
- Best new for 2022 ride: Iron Gwazi... unless we are counting the Juicy Lucy as a ride.
- Proudest accomplishment as an enthusiast: Letting my homepark gradually dismantle my childhood in coaster form, year-over-year.
- Best non-park travel moment: Went to Iceland in June for a 10 day, perimeter drive around the entire country. Saw puffins, waterfalls, and many many sheep!
- Most surprising coaster: Exalibur. Get ye to Minnesota.
- Funniest coaster/park/enthusiast moment: I had to do A LOT of work travel the latter half of the summer; on each trip, was continuously pointing out amusement parks and credits being driven past while driving with coworkers.
- Most exciting announcement For 2023: Finally getting back to my 2019 goal of hitting coaster #300 in the new year!

By and large, it was a great year of coasters and riding with friends. While I was hoping to hit a few, more parks to crest the 300 mark, my wife took a new job the latter half of the summer which clamped down a good deal of previously-planned-free time, alongside other life change that just didn't give a lot of free time for travel. Basically hoping to get to at least three, new parks in the new year to get across the 300 mark, and maybe start chipping away on the 400 count.

 

[DelPiero]

Where did that year go?

Coaster count at start of 2022: 537
Coaster count at end of 2022: 570
New coasters ridden in 2022: 33
New parks visited in 2022: 7
Park visits (number of days) in 2022: 18
Best new-to-you coaster: Flucht von Novgorod
Best new-to-you non-coaster: Icarus
Favourite new-to-you park of 2022: Hansa Park for sure
Best park visit: Could be any of the Sweden parks (maybe not Skara), I'll go with Liseberg as everything was running well and had an amazing tour from Pontus!
Best seasonal event: Winter Wonderland as the only one I did
Highlight of 2022: The Sweden trip as a whole, great parks, great people, great weather
Biggest surprise of 2022: Did not expect Flucht von Novgorod to be that good
Biggest disappointment of 2022: Highlander going down on our visit
Best individual coaster lap: Riding Nemesis for the last time with my son as his 100th coaster
Best new for 2022 ride: Nothing opened this year of any significance, so E.R.S at Babylon
Proudest accomplishment as an enthusiast: Rode the Big Apple/Manhattan Express
Best non-park travel moment: Vegas helicopter ride into the Grand Canyon
Most exciting announcement For 2023: Both European Intamins look fantastic

 

[witchfinder]

Excellent year for me after the horror of 2020/21

- Coaster count at start of 2022: 295
- Coaster count at end of 2022: 354
- New coasters ridden in 2022: 59
- New parks visited in 2022: 7 (Grona Lund, Kolmarden, Liseberg, Tayto Park, Cedar Point, Kings Island, SFGAm)
- Park visits (number of days) in 2022: 14
- Best new-to-you coaster: Steel Vengeance
- Best new-to-you non-coaster: Underlandet (Liseberg)
- Favourite new-to-you park of 2022: Grona Lund
- Best park visit: This day at Kings Island
- Best seasonal event: Dollywood's Harvest Festival & Great Pumpkin Luminights
- Highlight of 2022: Finally doing the trips we had planned in 2020 and visiting bucket list parks in Sweden and the USA
- Biggest surprise of 2022: Enjoying Kings Island more than Cedar Point
- Biggest disappointment of 2022: Helix
- Best individual coaster lap: Tough one. Either my final front row night ride on Steel Vengeance or the almost-night ride on The Beast.
- Best new for 2022 ride: Sik
- Proudest accomplishment as an enthusiast: Denying COVID while I had it and powering through two days at Cedar Point
- Best non-park travel moment: The Moose Garden in Sweden
- Most surprising coaster: Millennium Force - way better than expected
- Funniest coaster/park/enthusiast moment: First ride on Steel Vengeance with my wife swearing all the way through
- Most exciting announcement For 2023: The Madrid Intamin

A few extra stats from me:

Total coaster rides: 137
Estimated distance covered on coaster track: 79.9 miles (new record)
Number of times inverted: 306 (new record)

 

[Tomatron]

- Coaster count at start of 2022: 1405
- Coaster count at end of 2022: 1495 (so far)
- New coasters ridden in 2022: 90
- New parks visited in 2022: 10
- Park visits (number of days) in 2022: 25
- Best new-to-you coaster: Iron Gwazi
- Best new-to-you non-coaster: Rise of the Resistance
- Favourite new-to-you park of 2022: If it has to be a full park I suppose it's Energylandia by default. Not hard up when up against the Fun Spots and OWAs of this world.
- Best park visit: Epcot.
- Best seasonal event: Epcot's International Festival of the Holidays.
- Highlight of 2022: Finally seeing the Wizarding World at Universal. What a piece of work that it.
- Biggest surprise of 2022: Preferring Cosmic Rewind to Velocicoaster.
- Biggest disappointment of 2022: Lightning Rod. What a fall from grace that ride has had.
- Best individual coaster lap: Iron Gwazi at night. It was hauling all the way through.
- Best new for 2022 ride: Iron Gwazi
- Proudest accomplishment as an enthusiast: Turning down loads of terrible SBF Figure 8 coasters.
- Best non-park travel moment: The Winter Garden Xmas lights switch on, and the literal dumpster fire afterwards.
- Most surprising coaster: Velocicoaster. I'm surprised it wasn't better than it was.
- Funniest coaster/park/enthusiast moment: Seeing old pals who I haven't seen in years. And an empty Blizzard Beach.
- Most exciting announcement For 2023: Toutatis.

 

[Inverting_Thrills]

- Coaster count at start of 2022: 40
- Coaster count at end of 2022: 63
- New coasters ridden in 2022: 23
- New parks visited in 2022: 2
- Park visits (number of days) in 2022: 30
- Best new-to-you coaster: Steel Vengeance
- Best new-to-you non-coaster: Skyhawk
- Favourite new-to-you park of 2022: Cedar Point
- Best park visit: My second day at Cedar Point, I got so many rides on SteVe, Maverick, Millennium Force, and Magnum
- Best seasonal event: I only went to Fright Fest @ Sfgam
- Highlight of 2022: My trip to Cedar Point
- Biggest surprise of 2022: Magnum Xl-200 - This ride is incredible.
- Biggest disappointment of 2022: Montu - The ride deserves nowhere near the hype it gets.
- Best individual coaster lap: Last ride of the season on Raging Bull - This wasn't the best because of the ride experience but instead the novelty of it.
- Best new for 2022 ride: Iron Gwazi
- Proudest accomplishment as an enthusiast: Starting an Instagram account for my coaster photos
- Best non-park travel moment: My trip to Washington DC
- Most surprising coaster: Magnum Xl-200
- Most exciting announcement For 2023: Gotham City Escape without a doubt, probably followed by Wildcat's Revenge or Circuit Breaker.

 

[Archie]

Coaster count at start of 2022: 9

- Coaster count at end of 2022: 18

- New coasters ridden in 2022: Saw, Stealth, The Smiler, Thirteen, Nemesis Inferno, Colossus, The Swarm, Vampire, Dragon's Fury

- New parks visited in 2022: Chessington, Thorpe Park

- Park visits (number of days) in 2022: 20

- Best new-to-you coaster: Stealth

- Best new-to-you non-coaster: Detonator

- Favourite new-to-you park of 2022: Thorpe Park

- Best park visit: Thorpe Park 25/10/2022

- Best seasonal event: Fright night Thorpe Park

- Highlight of 2022: Swarm at night

- Biggest surprise of 2022: John wardley teasing SW9 or at least something big

- Biggest disappointment of 2022: the kitkat machine in x-sector was broken once

- Best individual coaster lap: Last ride of the day on stealth at 9pm

- Best new for 2022 ride: Spin jam

- Proudest accomplishment as an enthusiast: I got my first B&M wing cred

- Best non-park travel moment: British Airways: London Heathrow - Manchester, they gave me a biscuit

- Most surprising coaster: Saw: The ride

- Funniest coaster/park/enthusiast moment: I had to get Evaced of Vampire

- Most exciting announcement For 2023: Not technically an announcement but the highly speculated return of Nemesis: Sub Terra

 

[Edward M]

- Most surprising coaster: Velocicoaster. I'm surprised it wasn't better than it was.

 

[Eyebrows]

- Coaster count at start of 2022:
116
- Coaster count at end of 2022:
209 - I finally hit 200!
- New coasters ridden in 2022:
93 - 44% of the coasters I’ve ridden, I rode for the first time in 2022!
- New parks visited in 2022:
15
- Park visits (number of days) in 2022:
43
- Best new-to-you coaster:
How could I not say Voyage. My god, what a ride.
- Best new-to-you non-coaster:
Black Widow at Kennywood. The view is incredible and the air is next level.
- Favourite new-to-you park of 2022:
Kennywood. Cedar Point and Holiday World are a close second and third, but Kennywood has the absolute atmosphere.
- Best park visit:
Holiday World during Holiwood Nights. This was the best two days of my life, period.
- Best seasonal event:
Holiwood Nights. I don’t know if this counts, but it should. I’m going next year too!
- Highlight of 2022:
Holiwood Nights.
- Biggest surprise of 2022:
Raven at Holiday World being as good as it was. I went into this ride knowing nothing, and came out incredibly impressed.
- Biggest disappointment of 2022:
Iron Gwazi closing at 3:00 in the afternoon without warning. I got that last ride of the day on it by complete accident. I did make up for it by heading back to IoA and getting last ride of the night, for real, on Velocicoaster.
- Best individual coaster lap:
Voyage during ERT in row 11 at 11:30 PM. Glorious. No other word to describe it.
- Best new for 2022 ride:
Iron Gwazi. My proud #2.
- Proudest accomplishment as an enthusiast:
Finally making it out to Holiwood Nights.
- Best non-park travel moment:
Touring University of Central Florida and realizing that this is where I want to go to college.
- Most surprising coaster:
Jack Rabbit at Kennywood. I was not prepared for the air on that double dip.
- Funniest coaster/park/enthusiast moment:
At Holiwood Nights, seeing the people just laying on the ground outside of Voyage’s station during ERT. It takes a lot out of you, you know.
- Most exciting announcement For 2023:
Arieforce One, it looks great and will give me a reason to go to Atlanta.

I had an amazing 2022, and I’m ready to have an even better 2023!

 

[Kw6sTheater]

- Coaster count at start of 2022: 192

- Coaster count at end of 2022: 234

- New coasters ridden in 2022: 42

- New parks visited in 2022: 5 (Waldameer, Kennywood, K-Days Fair, Canada's Wonderland, Myrtle Beach Pavilion Park)

- Park visits (number of days) in 2022: 19 (Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Kings Dominion, 2x Busch Gardens Tampa, Islands of Adventure, Carowinds, Kings Island, 4x Cedar Point, Waldameer, 2x Kennywood, K-Days Fair, Galaxyland, 2x Canadas Wonderland)

- Best new-to-you coaster: Steel Vengeance

- Best new-to-you non-coaster: Sledge Hammer, Canadas Wonderland

- Favourite new-to-you park of 2022: Kennywood

- Best park visit: Kennywood

- Highlight of 2022: IAAPA

- Biggest disappointment(s) of 2022: Mindbender being closed when I visited Galaxyland

- Best individual coaster lap: Steel Vengeance at night, or my April afternoon laps on Iron Gwazi (the thing was especially hauling...)

- Best new for 2022 ride: Iron Gwazi

- Proudest accomplishment as an enthusiast: I didn't know it during my ride, but Hagrids was my 200th coaster credit! I realized it after re-counting my total coaster credits.

- Most surprising coaster: Phantom's Revenge

- Funniest coaster/park/enthusiast moment: Breaking down on Black Widow, Kennywood

- Most exciting announcement for 2023: Toutatis!!

Onwards and upwards!

 

[MLDesigns]

- Coaster count at start of 2022: 436
- Coaster count at end of 2022: 487
- New coasters ridden in 2022: 51
- New parks visited in 2022: 6 (Walibi Holland, Walibi Belgium, Plopsaland, Efteling, Toverland, Bobbejaanaland)
- Best new-to-you coaster: Iron Gwazi
- Best new-to-you non-coaster:
- Favourite new-to-you park of 2022: Efteling
- Best park visit: Returning to Phantasialand & staying in Rookburgh, getting lucky and having the room directly beside the highest Rookburgh lookout point.
- Best seasonal event: Scarowinds (by default, only one I went to)
- Highlight of 2022: Hitting the #450 milestone on Ride to Happiness
- Biggest surprise of 2022: Kondaa. So much better than I could have ever expected. Untamed as well, both top 10 rides. Third place goes to Troy.
- Biggest disappointment of 2022: Nothing major comes to mind, but Goliath @ Walibi Holland was kinda underwhelming. Decent airtime but not that interesting.
- Best individual coaster lap: First ride on Ride to Happiness
- Best new for 2022 ride: Iron Gwazi
- Proudest accomplishment as an enthusiast: Planning a week-long solo Europe trip in 2 hours, less than a month in advance, and it all going perfectly.
- Best non-park travel moment: Layover in Reykjavik. Landing in Iceland at the start of sunrise doesn't even feel like you're on the same planet.
- Most surprising coaster: Ride to Happiness. Still cant believe it A. exists, and B. lives up to riding as crazy as it looks.
- Most exciting announcement For 2023: Toutatis

 

[Projektion]

My biggest year to date so far.

- Coaster count at start of 2022: 174

- Coaster count at end of 2022: 253

- New coasters ridden in 2022: 79

- New parks visited in 2022: 20
-- ICON Park, Sea World Orlando, Fun Spot Kissimmee, Fun Spot Orlando, Universal Studios Islands of Adventure, Universal Studios Florida, Walt Disney World - Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World - Hollywood Studios, Walt Disney World - EPCOT, Walt Disney World - Animal Kingdom, Busch Gardens Tampa, Efteling, Plopsaland De Panne, Six Flags Over Texas, Prairie Playland, Six Flags Fiesta Texas, Sea World San Antonio, ZDT's Amusement Park, Tivoli Gardens, Bakken

- Park visits (number of days) in 2022: 25

- Best new-to-you coaster: Texas Stingray - My new #3

- Best new-to-you non-coaster: Rise of the Resistance - Hollywood Studios

- Favourite new-to-you park of 2022: Universal Studios Islands of Adventure

- Best park visit: Probably my first day at Hollywood Studios. Despite it being pretty busy, I managed to get on everything I wanted to get on, including 3 rides on RotR, and just having an all round good day.

- Best seasonal event: Tivoli Gardens during the Christmas event, topped off with it snowing.

- Biggest disappointment(s) of 2022:
-- For coasters, Velocicoaster. Given the amount of praise it's received and how much it's topping peoples rankings, I was expecting it to be so much better than it was. While it is a good (maybe even great) ride, it just isn't the mindblowing, incredible ride I was expecting
-- For Parks, Efteling. Efteling just didn't really do it for me. While some of the rides are themed very well, the overall lack of cohesive-ness of the theming didn't give me the immersion I get with other theme parks, and then none of the rides there themselves are high thrill enough to be able to look past the lack of land cohesion/immersion.

- Best individual coaster lap: Probably one of the final night ride laps I had on Texas Stingray.

- Best new for 2022 ride: Dr. Diabolicals Cliffhanger - I think the only other ride I rode that opened this year was Prairie Screamer.

- Most surprising coaster: Again, Texas Stingray. After the first few rides, I already liked it, but it wouldn't have ranked anywhere near as high, but as the day went on, I don't know what happened, it was just getting so much faster. Those last few night rides I was getting were so insanely fast paced.

- Worst non-park travel moment: The Texas trip. So much of this trip felt like it got so scuffed.
-- Getting sat next to a larger person on the flight to Dallas who overflowed to my seat, so I essentially only had 2/3rds of a seat for the 10.5h flight from Madrid to Dallas.
-- Similarly to Benenen, when I mentioned to customs I was there to visit theme parks, I was there for about 10-15 mins as they were questioning every bit of my trip and what I was planning on doing, despite the fact I had everything for the trip pre-booked and paid for.
-- I order UberEats and they didn't include the utensils/cutlery I asked for. So there's me sat in the room breaking off parts of the styrofoam packaging, trying and failing to use it as a spoons.
-- First day at SFFT getting spoiled by the bad weather. Only Iron Rattler, Dr. D, Roadrunner Express and Goliath opened.
-- Having to cancel the Kemah Boardwalk and Galveston Pier section of my trip as Storms got forecast the day I was meant to be going there.
-- On the day I'm flying out, going to SFOT to pass some time then locking the car keys inside the car 3 hours before I'm due to fly home and then finding out in that moment that my phone isn't able to make or receive calls in the US for some reason. So there's me running back and forth between the car and the SFOT guest services multiple times to use their phone to call and get updates from the rental company roadside assistance all while my anxiety is turned up to 11.

- Best non-park travel moment: Conversely, the Texas trip. I had visited the US for the first time back in January on an Orlando trip, but had just really stuck to the parks/resorts, so while the Texas trip was still park related, this felt like it my first time going to the US proper and pulling off a driving/road trip style park trip and just felt proud that a managed to overcome my anxieties of the trip (for the most part) and pull it off.

- Proudest accomplishment as an enthusiast: Pretty much just the above again, pulling off my first driving/road trip style park trip through the US, even if it was pretty small and felt like it got so scuffed.

- Most exciting announcement for 2023: Difficult, bit I'm probably going to go with Gotham City Escape, if just because it's the ride I'm most likely going to get to next year.

 

[ATTACKHAMMER]

Coaster count at start of 2022: 479

- Coaster count at end of 2022: 499 - although I should hopefully hit 500 on Sunday!

- New coasters ridden in 2022: 20

- New parks visited in 2022: 3

- Park visits (number of days) in 2022: Not as many as I'd hoped!

- Best new-to-you coaster: Alpina Bahn

- Best new-to-you non-coaster: No idea

- Favourite new-to-you park of 2022: I've only been to dumps

- Best seasonal event: WW just about beats Winter City in Leyton, London.

- Highlight of 2022: Going to Oktoberfest

- Biggest surprise of 2022: Hummel Brummel - what a weird coaster

- Biggest disappointment of 2022: None really

- Best individual coaster lap: My ride on Alpina Bahn that I was too drink to remember

- Proudest accomplishment as an enthusiast: meh

- Best non-park travel moment: Dublin for beers

- Funniest coaster/park/enthusiast moment: It's probably something that cannot be said on here

- Most exciting announcement For 2023: I don't keep up with the news so no clue.

 

[Slamming Coastercore]

- Coaster Count at the start of 2022: 211

- Coaster Count at the end of 2022: 298

- Total New Coasters in 2022: 87

- New parks visited in 2022: 11 (WDW Animal Kingdom, Fun Spot Kissimee, MovieLand Italy, Gardaland, Kings Dominion, Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Carowinds, Six Flags over Georgia, Dollywood, Hershey Park)

- Park visits (number of days) in 2022: Minimum of 46 days at parks = Universal IOA, Universal Studios Florida, SeaWorld Orlando, WDW Magic Kingdom, WDW Hollywood Studios, Busch Gardens Tampa, Thorpe Park (15+ visits), Chessington (3+ visits), Mirabilandia, Plopsaland (3 visits), Walibi Holland, Walibi Belgium, PortAventura (2 days), EnergyLandia, Europa Park (3 days) + the 11 parks mentioned above.

- Best new-to-you coaster: Intimidator 305

- Best new-to-you non-coaster: Rise of the Resistance

- Favourite new-to-you park of 2022: Kings Dominion

- Best park visit: Europa Park or Islands of Adventure (Honourable mentions to Kings Dominion, Walibi Belgium, Energylandia and Gardaland)

- Highlight of 2022: @Serena and I sprinting down the travelators hand-in-hand at IOA to the tune of Walking on Sunshine in an effort to get to Velocicoaster before the queue shut for the day (we made it) or being at Europa’s Christmas event whilst it was snowing

- Biggest disappointment(s) of 2022: Lightning Plod, Skyrush (although that wasn’t as offensive)

- Best individual coaster lap: Front row i305 or night rides on Zadra/Hyperion/Velocicoaster

- Best new for 2022 ride: Pantheon

- Proudest accomplishment as an enthusiast: Going to IAAPA EMEA as a professional! (Also going on my first big USA road trip, doing all the driving and living to tell the tale)

- Best seasonal event: Winter at Europa Park

- Best non-park travel moment: Some of the drives we did were truly spectacular. My favourites being through the Smokey Mountains, watching the sunset against the mountains whilst driving across Italy, driving through the rolling hills of West Virginia surrounded by fireflies. Eating an amazing Italian meal on Lake Garda in the evening, meeting friendly dogs in Katowice and visiting Georgia Aquarium were also incredible moments.

- Most surprising coaster: i305. I did not expect it to strongly contest my number 1 spot. Honourable mention to Great American Scream Machine at SFoG, deserves way more praise than it gets.

- Funniest coaster/park/enthusiast moment: Popeye & Bluto's Bilge-Rat Barges. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed this hard on a ride before

- Most exciting announcement for 2023: Toutatis

So hard to sum up this year in one post, it has been the busiest and best year of my life! @Serena & I have crammed endless memories into 2022 and for that I am eternally grateful I can’t wait to do it all again in 2023!

 

[uwurawrus]

- Coaster count at start of 2022:
119

- Coaster count at end of 2022:
I'm not quite done just yet but I should be on 247 by the end of it!

- New coasters ridden in 2022:
125 (so far!)

- New parks visited in 2022:
26

- Park visits (number of days) in 2022:
No clue... I spent an insane number of days at parks like Plopsaland de Panne and Busch Gardens Tampa I couldn't even begin to think about it.

- Best new-to-you coaster:
The Ride to Happiness by Tomorrowland!

- Best new-to-you non-coaster:
Rise of the Resistance

- Favourite new-to-you park of 2022:
Plopsaland de Panne

- Best park visit:
Peppa Pig Theme Park opening day

- Best seasonal event:
Energylandia Winter Kingdom

- Highlight of 2022:
Hitting 200 coasters on Expedition GeForce!

- Biggest surprise of 2022:
Sik at Flamingo Land is actually really really fun. Wasn't expecting it but it paces nothing like it should.

- Biggest disappointment of 2022:
VelociCoaster. Still a top 10 coaster but really underwhelming.

- Best individual coaster lap:
My last ride on Ride to Happiness on the 10th of August! I've probably had better rides on it since but that was definitely the most memorable.

- Best new for 2022 ride:
Iron Gwazi

- Proudest accomplishment as an enthusiast:
Riding so many incredibly bucket list coasters I would've never imagined I'd actually ride

- Best non-park travel moment:
Coming up with weird public transport routes to get to parks I would've thought were impossible to get to years ago

- Most surprising coaster:
Same as earlier so redundant but Sik at Flamingo Land. Honorable mention to ThunderCoaster at Tusenfryd too.

- Funniest coaster/park/enthusiast moment:
Riding Zadra in subzero temperatures and it feeling completely different to last year; honestly thought we were going to stall. Some of the inversions were so funny to experience. Luckily it warmed up a fair bit and got to riding somewhat like normal but those rides were so memorable!

- Most exciting announcement For 2023:
Not really excited for anything next year. 2024? Ye, Exodus. At a push I'll say Toutatis and the spanish batman thing but VelociCoaster has really put a dampener on my hype for them.

Bring on next year! I've got some fantastic things planned!

 

[Rob Coasters]

- Coaster count at start of 2022:
115

- Coaster count at end of 2022:
162

- New coasters ridden in 2022:
47

- New parks visited in 2022:
Including funfairs: 22

- Park visits (number of days) in 2022:
38

- Best new-to-you coaster:
Cú Chulainn

- Best new-to-you non-coaster:
Avenger

- Favourite new-to-you park of 2022:
Tayto Park

- Best park visit:
Blackpool Pleasure Beach closing day

- Best seasonal event:
Tulleys Shocktober Fest

- Highlight of 2022:
Hitting the South Wales funfair things

- Biggest surprise of 2022:
Hero not absolutely sucking

- Biggest disappointment of 2022:
Avalanche in the back row being a rough rattly mess

- Best individual coaster lap:
Megafobia on a smooth ride

- Best new for 2022 ride:
Relocation: Avenger
Ground-up: Aerospace

- Proudest accomplishment as an enthusiast:
Day-tripping Yorkshire from London, twice

- Best non-park travel moment:
Visiting old friends at the end of the Wales trip

- Most surprising coaster:
Grand National being very smooth

- Funniest coaster/park/enthusiast moment:
Visiting Thorpe Park for the last two hours of the day (arriving at 5pm), opting not to take the bus and walking an hour from the train station, and having the bus queue manager guy recognise me from when I came in when I left

- Most exciting announcement For 2023:
Gotham City Escape

 

[EmmaUK]

Here’s my awards. I’m going to call them the Emmys! Moment of genius. Wonder why no-one else has thought of that?

I’ve changed / added a few questions because, well, they’re my awards so why not!

Coaster count at start of 2022: 135

Coaster count at end of 2022: 218

New coasters ridden in 2022: 83

New parks visited in 2022: 11

Park visits (number of days) in 2022: 25

Best new-to-you coaster: Bit of a shock on this one. Whilst El Toro is my new number 1, I’m gonna give this to Velocicoaster. Why? I just feel that overall it has a bit more about it and I’m more excited to get back onto it. Contradictory and inconsistent. Sure, but these are my awards.

Most extreme coaster element of the year – that first corner on I305 – the closest I’ve ever got to blacking out on a ride

Best new-to-you non-coaster: Justice League Battle for Metropolis

Favourite new-to-you park of 2022: Busch Gardens Williamsburg, although over time I feel like Hersheypark pushed it closer than I realised at the time

Worst New Park – Six Flags America. Need I say more

Best park visit: Prob Busch Gardens Williamsburg as well

Best seasonal event: Universals Hollywood Horror Nights with RIP passes

Highlight of 2022: Getting to Six Flags New England at 8pm following a long flight from the UK and a long drive. Tired. Worn out. But Finally on my biggest ever trip. Straight to Wicked Cyclone and on to a night ride on my first RMC. Brilliant.

Biggest surprise of 2022: talking to a roaming cast member in the Magic Kingdom, and he says “follow me” and we get allowed straight on to Haunted Mansion. No queue. Not even fast pass. Literally straight on

Biggest disappointment of 2022: Jersey Devil. I expected so much of it. Its RMC, it’s big new and shiny. And it’s dull. I mean it’s not awful, but you expect so much more from an RMC. Honourable mention to the Mummy Ride at Universal Hollywood, which I expected to be a clone of the Orlando version, but that probably is more my fault that the rides.

Worst new cred of the year. A few contenders for this. Anaconda at Kings Dominion was matched only by Grizzly at Kings Dominion. Goofys Sky School was awful primarily because its Disney and you expect so much better. But yeah, Anaconda is AWFUL

Best themed coaster of the year – Pantheon. Just kidding. Great coaster but what theming? A few boards explaining how the elements are themed to gods in a very nonsensical and contrived way does not theming make. The winner must be Hagrid’s Motorcycle adventure. Sure they could have done more with the queue where you seem to be an endless tunnel, but the coaster itself is absolutely brilliant.

The “My opinion has changed” Award – given to Incredicoaster. First time I went on it I was so impressed that Disney could have such an amazing coaster. Now its firmly middle of the road. Was it because I’d been on so many great coasters this year? Maybe. But either way it plummeted down my rankings.

Best individual coaster lap: Nighttime on Wicked Cyclone was awesome

Proudest accomplishment as an enthusiast: Prob getting my 9 year old up to 100 credits on Twisted Timers

Best non-park travel moment: Staying at a hotel in London prior to the Women’s Euros Finals, only to find out it was where the players were all staying, so getting to see Lucy Bronze, Keira Walsh etc on a daily basis for a few days. Who am I kidding, we totally booked it for that reason. But still.

Most surprising coaster: Kosmo’s Curves at Knoebels. Look, hear me out. I went onto it purely for the +1. But that thing throws you about like nothing else that size. Even little jolts of airtime. A kiddie coaster that is actually really enjoyable and just a little bit wild? That is surprising.

Funniest coaster/park/enthusiast moment: Erm. Drinking around the World at Epcot got very funny and very messy.

Most exciting announcement for 2023: Toutatis

Best Theme Park Food – The Chocolatier at Hersheypark. Chocolate cocktails. Need I say more

Most Painful Ride of the Year – Grizzly and Anaconda in the running again on this one. As was Skyrush for the obvious reason (never has a ride needed a separate unloading station quite as desperately as this one). But the winner has to be Green Lantern at Six Flags Great Adventure. That thing was awful!

Best Ops – Knoebels Twister. 2 lads racing each other along the platform to check everyone the quickest, then the winner shouting loser at the other? Does it get any better.

Worst Ops – Wild Mouse at Dorney Park. 1 hr 10 minutes to get through a queue of maybe 50 people on a Wild Mouse? Occasions where there was no car on the track. They should be ashamed.

Best Coaster Trip of the Year – My East Coast USA Trip – https://coasterforce.com/forums/threads/a-tour-of-the-north-east-of-usa-some-final-thoughts.45763/

 

[Tonkso]

Okay, here we go! WAY better than last year's 4 new credits.
- Coaster count at start of 2022:

138

- Coaster count at end of 2022:

184

- New coasters ridden in 2022:

46

- New parks visited in 2022:

Busch Gardens, Fantasy Island, Volcano Bay, Aquatica, Walibi Belgium, Plopsaland de Panne. So 6 if we count the 2 waterparks... which I am.

- Park visits (number of days) in 2022:

25? Maybe closer to 30?

- Best new-to-you coaster:

Kondaa, though this is a toughly contested title.

- Best new-to-you non-coaster:

...that's a tough one. Rise of the Resistance is a contender...

- Favourite new-to-you park of 2022:

Busch Gardens

- Best park visit:

Universal Studios, followed by IoA in the evening as we did everything in the first park with re-rides, then a whopping big chunk of the second. This was also the first day of our 21 day mega-trip.

- Best seasonal event:

Contested between three: Halloween Horror Nights (we did all mazes in one evening with no fastpass), Tulley's Shocktoberfest, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Forest (in the snow!!).

- Highlight of 2022:

Torn between the Florida 21 day mega-trip, and the national park trip in the Dominican Republic.

- Biggest surprise of 2022:

Actually, probably Walibi's darkrides. Or, finding myself on the Runaway Train at Alton with an enthusiast group by accident, and the ops giving us extra laps.

- Biggest disappointment of 2022:

Alton Towers. We didn't get all the big ones in this year, and I'd have happily traded the ASMR audio experience to get on Wickerman and the Rapids to finish it off.

Or, scrub that, losing two days of the mega-trip to a freaking HURRICANE!!

- Best individual coaster lap:

Velocicoaster at night, first ride on it, not knowing what to expect.

- Best new for 2022 ride:

Kondaa, has to be.

- Proudest accomplishment as an enthusiast:

So, on one of our Epcot days Frozen ever after had been down all day. We were literally right next to it when it went back up. Walked on it, queue hit 100 min.

- Best non-park travel moment:

We squeezed in a 10 day trip to Punta Cana, and on one of the days we did a national park trip. It was absolutely incredible, and the wildlife was amazing.

- Most surprising coaster:

Expedition Everest. This was new to me, and far better than I had anticipated.

- Funniest coaster/park/enthusiast moment:

Walibi's rapids ride. We were approaching the final bend, bone dry... I said to me wife 'See, I told you this one wouldn't get you wet', immediately as a wave crashed over the entire boat and drenched us all.

- Most exciting announcement For 2023:

Toutitis. Might just get me back to to Park Asterex.

 

[CoasterMOG]

- Coaster count at start of 2022:
425

- Coaster count at end of 2022:
614

- New coasters ridden in 2022:
189

- New parks visited in 2022:
30

- Park visits (number of days) in 2022:
40 (Approx, maybe more)

- Best new-to-you coaster:
Ride to Happiness

- Best new-to-you non-coaster:
Chiappas

- Favourite new-to-you park of 2022:
Phantasialand

- Best park visit:
First Halloween Horror nights event at Universal Studios Florida. Convinced that this is the most fun park event you can attend with friends.

- Best seasonal event:
Halloween Horror Nights

- Highlight of 2022:
In general Europe. 5 trips and 185 new creds all in Europe. First large group international trip “Stumblandia” with Buzzed Bars Coaster Club was by far the highlight trip. Also have to throw in the rager of my 40th birthday in Orlando with 40 fellow enthusiasts.

- Biggest surprise of 2022:
Ride to Happiness. Legitimately was thinking that it topped Voyage for my new number 1. Voyage 1A and RTH 1B.

- Biggest disappointment of 2022:
Helix at Liseburg. Ride is waaaay overhyped.

- Best individual coaster lap:
Tie between Trimless Voyage rides back row and RTH at night, back row with no one seating in the row in front of me (unbalanced car). First launch and drop going backwards followed by crazy spinning towards the end of the ride was insane.

- Best new for 2022 ride:
Once again Ride to Happiness

- Proudest accomplishment as an enthusiast:
500+ creds in 18 months after my Germany, Belgium, Netherlands trip in October. Also capping off year number 3 as an enthusiast.

- Best non-park travel moment:
Waking up new year’s day in Hallstatt Austria with my Fiance knowing that 2022 was going to be a great year…it absolutely was.

- Most surprising coaster:
Big Dipper at Blackpool. Seriously, WTF is up with that drop in the back row!

- Funniest coaster/park/enthusiast moment:
Lap bar got hung up on my gut on Dahlonegga mine train @ SFOG, ride op thought it was secure. We dispatch, one of the riders pushes up on the lap bar and locks it in the open position for the whole front car. Proceed to then go through the entire circuit WITH NO LAP BAR. We pull into the station, I hop out, go to the exit gate and station op lets me exit while others are still on the train.

- Most exciting announcement For 2023:
Absolutely hitting up the top 2 new Intamins (Toutatis/Escape from Gotham) and RMC’s (Wildcat’s Revenge/AF1) this year.

 

[HeartlineCoaster]

- Coaster count at start of 2022: 1165

- Coaster count at end of 2022: 1407

- New coasters ridden in 2022: 242 (new record)

- New parks visited in 2022: 55

- Park visits (number of days) in 2022: 48 (matched the pre-pandemic 2019 figure)

- Best new-to-you coaster: Iron Gwazi

- Best new-to-you non-coaster: Rise of the Resistance (what a vanilla pairing)

- Favourite new-to-you park of 2022: Islands of Adventure

- Biggest surprise of 2022: Maverick or Fønix

- Biggest disappointment of 2022: Silver Dollar City

- Best individual coaster lap: the Steel Vengeance encore

- Best new for 2022 ride: Iron Gwazi

- Proudest accomplishment as an enthusiast: Completing the Gullivers, of course

- Most exciting announcement For 2023: Wildcat's Revenge

So few words to sum up such a huge year, but the numbers look good and I'm slightly less basic now!