Had a little idea after Typhoon2000 started a thread asking people what's the roughest coaster you've been on. Just thought it would be nice to have a fun conversation on everyone's personal favorite coaster (or coasters, I know it can be sometimes hard to just choose 1). Now by personal favorite I'm talking about taking into account any nostalgia factor or personal good memories while riding. Now Maverick and Fury 325 are all much better coasters than Space Mountain at Disneyland, but SM is my personal favorite coaster. It's not on my list of best coasters though, but you get the idea. Just say the coaster and explain a little why.
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El Toro is the only roller coaster I've been on that I would consider a "perfect 10". It feels out of control in what feels like a truly dangerous way, forces you can't even comprehend acting on your body. It features incredible progression from the 1-2-3 massive ejector moments to start, the turnaround and floater section which serves as a moment of relative calm before the storm, the climactic and indescribable Rolling Thunder hill (the greatest single airtime element in roller coaster history), and the vicious twister finale. Its sensory pleasures go beyond the ride experience to its immensely photogenic look and maybe my favorite roller coaster sound, that Intamin prefab vroom as the upstop wheels hang desperately onto the train over the camelbacks.
Other truly elite coasters I've ridden that I would consider near El Toro, in order: Maverick, Fury 325, Phantom's Revenge, Intimidator 305, Storm Runner, X2, Coaster at Vancouver's Playland, Space Mountain CA, and Furius Baco. I should note that I've only been on one RMC (Twisted Colossus, which I thought was excellent but not elite) and their coasters are a huge gap in my ridership, which currently sits at 211 credits, most of which were acquired before I had a job and RMCs began popping up all over.
Oooh, tough one... For an overall experience, including theme, I'd have to say Everest at AK.
But I went to BGT a couple years ago for the first time in ages and immediately remembered how much I love Kumba and Montu... and even Cheetah Hunt.
But the most fun I've had on a coaster in a long time were the two rides I took on Hagrid's last year. The accelerations, the drop, the backwards section -- love all of it.
Obviously I can't pick just one... Can't imagine how much harder the decision would be if I had any experience with the major iron parks...
Man, a toughie and sadly a lot I've never been on so can't totally judge. But for my faves:
Rock N Roller
Space Mountain
Big Thunder
Batman the Ride at Six Flags Great America (the first of its kind and still the best)
The Beast, King's Island
I'd probably say Twisted Colossus. I remember all the discussion before the ride opened about what the ride may or may not have, then staying up until 3 A.M. for the announcement to find out some of the wild predictions I made were accurate. I remember watching it during construction, then visiting the park for previews with friends from out of state (and one from out of the country). And I remember an event put on the following fall where we had an ERT session on the ride and got 7-8 racing rides in a row. Is it the absolute best coaster I've ridden? No, that honor would go to El Toro or Fury 325. Is it one of the most memorable in recent memory? Yes.
A couple other favorites for miscellaneous reasons are Expedition Everest (favorite Disney coaster), Goliath at SFOG (favorite hyper), and Voyage (favorite traditional woodie).
I never really thought of any roller coaster as my “favorite”. At this point in my life (I’m turning 40 in a couple months), I’m content with riding each roller coaster just once when visiting a park. But there are a few exceptions, which I just have to ride at least twice: Maverick, Revenge of the Mummy, Full Throttle, Storm Runner, Xcelerator, Cheetah Hunt, Mystery Mine and Verbolten. I guess you can say I’ve got a thing for launch coasters. Mystery Mine while not a launch coaster, just has a uniqueness to it which requires at least one encore.
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I have loved Hulk for a while. The launch, the 7 inversions. All of it... I am not a fan of hyper coasters so Hulk and Montu in BGT.
Hagrigs Motorbike adventure is a smaller coaster more of an attraction than coaster but is also high on my list. Sadly, I have only got to ride it once...