Best Ride in America Tournament: Round three, day one

March 30, 2008, 10:06 PM · Here we are: Round three of the 'Best Ride in America' tournament. We've got 16 rides left from our original 64, and we are just one week away from the championship match-up. Today, though we have four match-ups for you to consider, including two of our top four seeds.

The top seed takes on the last ride from the Cedar Fair parks as (1) The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man goes up against (16) Millennium Force

We have another classic Disney vs. Universal match-up with (3) Twilight Zone Tower of Terror (Disney World) vs. (14) Revenge of the Mummy (Universal Orlando)

It's Disney and Universal again, this time in a roller coaster battle: (5) Incredible Hulk Coaster vs. (12) Expedition Everest

Finally, two more coasters match-up with (26) Dueling Dragons - Ice vs. (10) SheiKra

As the first two weeks have shown, the best part of the daily match-ups is the comments. Why not add your $.02?

Replies (29)

March 30, 2008 at 10:10 PM · Okay, I think we're at the point where no one can complain about unfair, blow-out match-ups. ;-)

Seriously, this is the round where the match-ups get really fun. ToT vs. Mummy? Hulk vs. Everest? At this point, this is less a tournament and more a really, really cool touring plan!

March 31, 2008 at 1:34 AM · Hulk vs. Everest ... Wow!
March 31, 2008 at 1:51 AM · Hulk vs. Everest is the marquee match-up, should be interesting. I think Spidey and ToT will win pretty easily. Ice will take out Sheikra by a small margin.
March 31, 2008 at 4:43 AM · Now I know I'm out becuase he put RotM vs ToT. Both are fantastically themed so I went with RotM becuase it's a great coaster AND fantastically themed. If you take away the theme from RotM I'd still want to ride it. Not so much for ToT. I'm putting Hulk over Everest.
March 31, 2008 at 6:09 AM · Go MF! Any chance you have a bracket done Robert?
March 31, 2008 at 7:23 AM · Mike the bracket was posted yesterday on the blog flume.

Tought decisions. I did not get to ride Adventures of Spider-Man when I was at IOA 2 years ago, so I guess I lack in that dept. I rode MF last year and Yes, I had to vote for it.

It was easy to choose ToT over RotM. ToT ultimately won because it completely overhauled the concept of a drop ride. Add the themeing at the WDW version and you really can't beat it. I felt that the effects of RotM do not simply make it a better coaster. Many on here have stated before that it suffers after the "pre-show"

I had a tough decision when it came to Hulk vs. EE. And, while some may classify me as a Disney-phile. I ultimately choose Expedition Everest based on themeing alone. The ride is awesome. For teh record I love Hulk as well, but, I just couldn't beat the attention to detail at EE.

I am not suprised with Sheikra vs. Dragons (Ice). Dragons simply out theme's Sheikra. Sheikra is not themed at all.

Okay, good luck to those who still have to vote today. and may the best ride win.

March 31, 2008 at 8:02 AM · Come on folks - Mummy is much better than The Tower….

Vote Vote Vote………..

PS - This is fun!!!

March 31, 2008 at 8:13 AM · Tower of Terror vs. Revenge of the Mummy

Freakin' ouch.

March 31, 2008 at 9:02 AM · Go Millennium Force! Too bad it is not up against Dueling Dragons, or SheiKra, it would be an easier win than Spidey.
March 31, 2008 at 9:16 AM · Hey, don't 12 seeds often take out five seeds in the NCAA tournament? Let's see what happens here. :-)
March 31, 2008 at 10:04 AM · Looks like Millenium is going to lose.....
damn you Cedar Point haters!!!!

CEDAR POINT RULES!!!!

March 31, 2008 at 10:36 AM · My votes went to Spider-Man (the domination continues), ToT, Everest, and Sheikra. I had the most hard of a time with Hulk and Everest. The Hulk is one of my all-time favorite coasters (thrilling to the very end!), but I find Everest to be completely immersive and unique which are characteristics that will, most often with, be deciding factors for me. All of the rides left in the 16 are truely great. This will be tough! Although, I have to say that (according to the match-ups to come) I'm willing to bet that the final two will be Spider-Man and ToT, in which case I would, personally, be torn (but the outcome would most-likely be in IoA's favor). Looks like Spidey may just have this in the bag. Anyone up for an upset?
March 31, 2008 at 11:00 AM · I had to go with Spidey, Tower, Everest, and Ice.

I've never been to Cedar Parks, so I can't say much about it. Spidey just took dark rides to another level. Plus I'm a Spider-Man Fan.

As for Tower, the theme is great as is the concept of free-fall type rides. Mummy just didn't do it for me in the long run. The first time on Mummy in Orlando was awesome only because I didn't know what to expect. Now that I know what to expect, the ride isn't that great. Tower is a great experience overall.

Everest is just ridiculous from beginning to end. From the atmosphere to the actual ride itself... and of course the huuuuuge animatronic is a "must see with your own eyes" kind of thing.

And for Ice, I've never been on SheiKra.

March 31, 2008 at 11:26 AM · Yikes! Bring out the Pepto Bismol!

I made my votes based on the rides that I will go on repeatedly - not just the "once and I'm done for the day."

Thus - MF and Mummy got my votes - although it looks like I'm in the minority.

And Hulk got my vote based on the sheer "grin" I have on that ride (just rode it 14x in January) - although EE is truly a Disney masterpiece.

And although I love me some Shiekra, I placed the vote for DD - Ice.

I truly believe that Cedar Point is the best "amusement park" and Universal Orlando is the best "theme park." What do people have against Cedar Point? I enjoyed myself so much last year that I'm spending an entire week there in May on property. I plan to hit that park from open to close every day. The place is phenomenal - great rides, excellent customer-focused staff, clean, beautiful - lots of great shopping and dining.

Cedar Point is the bomb! People need to get on the CP train!!

March 31, 2008 at 11:34 AM · This is the most heart-wrenching round yet.

Spider-Man takes Millennium, but I still love Millennium and feel bad that this will be Cedar Point's demise.

Tower, for me, easily takes Mummy. I found a lot of the effects during the coaster element (the flashing mummies, for example) were very tacky and took away from the experience. Still a great ride, but Tower is near-perfect.

I couldn't even vote on Hulk vs. Everest. That's like telling one of your kids that they're your favorite. Hulk is obviously a better coaster, but Everest is a better theme ride, and both are so good I just can't do it. Also, both of them were in my final four.

I also didn't vote on Ice or Sheikra, as I haven't ridden Sheikra (a month from now, that will have changed).

Robert - do you think you could announce which member's picks are still in it? That way we can razz each other out.

March 31, 2008 at 11:42 AM · Oh, and as for the people claiming that everyone is a Cedar Point hater, that simply isn't true. I went two summers ago, and it truly is one of the greatest parks around. The coasters are phenomenal.

But coasters just don't do it for me like they used to. They really have to be exceptional to scare me. Themed rides, by contrast (especially those with a little thrill), are attractions I can ride over and over, usually because I catch something new every time. I rode Millennium Force three times, and I'm content (though I like Magnum XL-200 better). I've ridden Spidey over 10x, but still want to ride it again and again.

Also, Cedar Point is not as visited as any of the Orlando parks, so naturally there is going to be voting in favor of the Orlando attractions. You should be happy a coaster from an amusement park made it so far on a site called Theme Park Insider.

How I judge my voting is this: if I could only ride one of the two contested attractions again (and I mean just once, and never again), which would it be? I haven't voted on Hulk or Everest because of this.

March 31, 2008 at 12:59 PM · I'll announce who remains a candidate in the prediction contest when we start the semifinals.

I just took another look at the brackets, and it looks like no one is going to get the final four right. I'll check again, but on first glance everyone who has four still alive picked at least two rides that will face each other before the semifinals.

So I'm going to have to go to some tiebreakers. And this will revive the entries of people who picked Griffon, or some other ride that went out earlier.

- Picked the winner
- Of those who picked the winner, whose fourth pick went the farthest.
- If fourth picks went out in same round, whose got the higher vote percentage.
- If fourth picks got same vote percentage when they lost, whose prediction for the winner's vote percentage in the final was closest.

That should do it.

I am assuming here that multiple people will pick three of the final four. If that doesn't pan out, well, I'm really hoping that's not the case.

March 31, 2008 at 1:19 PM · Yeah, if today's votes hold up as is, there are 13 people who will have three or four rides still alive, with the potential of three of their rides getting into the final four. At least one person will have four alive, with the potential of getting all four into the final eight and three into the final four.
March 31, 2008 at 2:56 PM · These rides are the best of the best. I have no compliants who wins from this point on. Even though I thought that Nitro should have been a contestent in this contest.
March 31, 2008 at 3:30 PM · This is definatly the best best match ups to date. I voted MF, ToT, Everest and ShieKra. I know MF won't win, but what the heck.
March 31, 2008 at 3:49 PM · Looks like it's the end for my favorite ride. Millennium Force won't beat Spiderman on this website. Spidey is a great ride, so at least it's not some lame Disney flat winning the matchup. Voted for MF on this one because it's my favorite ride on the planet. It would have had a great chance of advancing against any other ride. Any of the other coasters would have likely fallen to MF.

I went with Tower of Terror over Mummy. I wasn't that blown away with Mummy. Tower of Terror is one of the better Disney rides in existence.

Hulk gets my vote over Everest. Everest is a nicely done ride, but it's supposed to be thrilling, and it simply doesn't hold the same excitement after a few rides. Hulk is B&M perfection, and that launch just doesn't get old.

The fact that Dueling Dragons and Sheikra are still in this tournament astounds me. I guess we could call that a "weak region". I would have probably seen Millennium Force in the next round had it been matched up here. Neither one of them should be here, but I voted for Sheikra because I strongly believe that both of the Dueling Dragons coasters are grossly overrated.


I didn't pick a final four. I probably would have if a bracket had been posted beforehand like every other tournament pick em on the internet. There wasn't any science to picking the final four because the matchups weren't viewable. Possibly a bug to fix for next year I guess.

March 31, 2008 at 4:21 PM · Not having the bracket beforehand was an... experiment. I wanted to see how close people came to picking the final four without having the bracket. Also, I wanted people to show up everyday of the tournament, in the early rounds, rather than just waiting for the day when their favorite rides were up.

That said, we had the top five rides on TPI posted on the front page of the site for weeks before the tournament started (it's top shows right now), so people could, and did, use that as a guide for picking the top four rides in the tourney.

I'll have a wrap-up post after all's done where I explain what I'm planning to do for next year, and what I wished I'd done different this time. As well as what I thought worked well.

March 31, 2008 at 5:41 PM · I answer the question "which ride would I do over and over and over again"?

I'll ride anything once. It takes something special to keep me coming back again and again. Millenium Force is just such a ride; I'd gladly stay strapped into that seat for a whole day if I could!

If you think there's no theming on SheiKra, let me suggest that you keep your eyes open next time. Specifically, check out the tower you drop thru on the second drop, and the sides of the water brake area.

March 31, 2008 at 6:11 PM · Man, that's a tight match between Everest and Hulk. Regardless of which one wins, it will wallop Dragons/Sheikra in the next round.

Is that the tightest match yet? It's a Disney-Uni battle of the titans, and I'm not choosing one over the other. I put both in my final four, I like both equally, and I simply can't choose.

March 31, 2008 at 8:25 PM · Spider-Man is just dominating. Wonder why more theme parks aren't trying to make a similar attraction? Reminds me of one of the titles to an Amazing Spider-Man comic from years ago: "Nothing Can Stop The Juggernaut!"

I went with ROTM, but I am not upset TOT is winning. Both are great attractions and deserve to be in the thick of things.

It is so unfortunate that Hulk and Everest had to square off this early. But what a battle! Ugh...which to choose...which to choose.....oh all right, Everest it is. But not by much!

As for DD Ice and Sheikra, whichever one wins will fall easily in the next round.

March 31, 2008 at 8:42 PM · Whoa at the Hulk/Everest switcheroo.

(if there's two comments, I apologize. I've tried like hell to delete the first one)

March 31, 2008 at 8:51 PM · Wow, Everest must have won by a single vote! It was Hulk every time I refreshed at the the end until the poll closed.
I was the second voter in this poll last night, I wonder if Robert is always the first.
March 31, 2008 at 9:07 PM · Well 2 of 4 matchups today went my way. I thought Hulk would win over Everest in this round. I also thought Rock n' roller Coaster would beat Everest in the previous round.

This tournament is fun to watch and participate in.

Go Indiana Jones Adventure!

April 4, 2008 at 6:46 PM · MAGNUM Force is better than Millennium Force. Despite the higher heights and faster speed, the ride on Millennium is like novacaine. Magnum is where it's at.

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