My Most Anticipated Coasters for 2024
Man, it’s been a while, hasn’t it? I’m not entirely sure what happened. Some mix of traveling a little less as flight prices got back to something approaching normal (high) vs the low of the Covid era, the fact that I’ve just been busier in general and the fact that I juts kinda forgot! But I really do want to share my thoughts about parks and I think that a return to a more local web vs the centralized web we have right now is something to strive for.
So let’s start off with the most fun post of the year: my most anticipated coasters for 2024! I wrote this in 2020 as well and although I was able to get to some of the coasters that I wrote about (Formula Rossa and The Voyage), I definitely didn’t make it out to Japan for that big Japanese coaster trip I wanted to (although I finally did that last year, trip reports to come hopefully!) Let’s try it again this year and hope that a big earth shattering event doesn’t happen in the middle of the year this year like it did last year.
As before, these are in no particular order. These trips are tentative so lets hope that they stay as planned!
My Most Anticipated Coasters!
Brava!
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I’m kicking this list off with a weird one. Yeah, it has a 12ft drop, yeah, it’s only 260ft long. Don’t care. This coaster is cool! It’s part of an art exhibition being put on at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art as an ode to backyard roller coasters. I love museums and I love art and I’m really excited to ride this art piece. That plus the fact that this is a rare credit! Only 1 person an hour is able to ride the coaster. Assuming 8 “showings” a day, 7 days a week, with an 18 month run means that only 4320 people will ever ride this coaster, or what a big B&M like Raptor does in 3 hours.
ArieForce One
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I love RMC, that’s no secret. The only thing I love more than any old RMC is one with big elements. Think Goliath at SFGAm over something like Wicked Cyclone. And ArieForce One looks like it has those big elements in spades. That plus the fact that it seems like this coaster rarely has long lines means that I should get my fill of rides on this monster this year!
Superman El Ultimo Escape
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I’m planning on making it down to Six Flags Mexico at some point this spring and SEUE is number 1 on my hype list at the park. Yeah, Medusa Steel Coaster will likely be a better coaster (and is the ultimate reason for my trip), I think I’m more excited for Superman! I thought Steel Eel at SWSA was so much crazy fun with the way the cars bottomed out on drops that I cannot wait to try this one and people say it’s even better!
Fighter Jet/T-Express/Ultra Twister
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Okay, I have 3 coasters here, let me explain. I’m planning on flying out to Singapore this fall to attend Halloween Horror Nights and I wanted to visit USJ for their HHN as well. I was planning on just visiting for 10 or 11 days but some plans for the summer fell through and all of a sudden I had an extra couple of weeks to spare. So I decided to add an extra week to my Asia trip. I mean I am all the way out there to begin with, might as well maximize the time I have. I’m undecided on how I want to spend the extra week.
I’m leaning towards spending it in China, specifically in the Shanghai area. Although there aren’t any parks with 10+ coasters in the area (instead they’re a lot more spread out and less coaster dense), there are a ton of world class coasters in the area. But I’m going with a deep cut for my choice of most anticipated: Fighter Jet. It’s a launched new gen Vekoma with a handful of cool looking inversions. This will be my first new gen Vekoma and I can’t be more excited!
On the other hand, if I’m unable to get a visa, South Korea might be my next choice. T-Express is obviously the standout in Korea. With how much I love El Toro, I expect T-Express to be similarly great, even though it might not be as great as El Toro itself.
And finally, there are plenty of coasters in Japan that I didn’t get the chance to do during my first Japan trip. This might give me a chance to knock some more of those off my list. I love Ultra Twisters and the one at Rusutsu Resort would be one that some extra time would let me visit!
Pyrenees
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Regardless of what I decide to do for the extra week or so that I have in Asia, I definitely am making time for this big coaster in Japan! It’s in a location that’s a little out of the way but it looks like so much fun. It looks intense in the way that early B&M inverts tend to be, with some decent themeing to boot. It looks like it’s going to be worth all the hassle it’ll take to get to!
Honorable Mentions
All Other New RMCs (Medusa Steel Coaster, Wildcat’s Revenge, Jersey Devil)
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I’m hoping to complete my list of North American RMCs this year (minus maybe Silver Dollar City’s one) by hitting all of these. Medusa and Wildcat’s Revenge are about neck and neck for me at the top of this list but I do love Raptors even though people say that Jersey Devil isn’t quite as good as the original Raptors. If you haven’t checked it out, head over to the About Page and you can see that I have a little goal of riding all of the RMCs around the world. I’m doing pretty well so far and I need to take a trip out to Europe next year and knock out all of those installations!
Donkey Kong Coaster
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I plan on heading back to USJ this year when hopefully the new Donkey Kong Coaster is open! The tech looks so cool with the cars being held above the track so that it can give the illusion of jumping over gaps. I don’t anticipate this coaster being some crazy world beating intense machine but I’m hoping that it’ll be a solid, fun story driven coaster in the vein of Hagrid at Islands of Adventure.
Dinoconda/Phaethon/Crazy Mouse
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Like I mentioned, I’m not entirely sure the path my Fall Asian adventure will take. If it’s China, definitely Dinoconda. Hot take here: I enjoy the 4D coasters. I think that they’re the craziest coasters in the world but the fact that I constantly am hitting my head when I go on them puts them pretty low on my personal list. But the fact that Dinoconda seems to combine the best parts from Eej and X2 means it must be a good ride! If it’s Korea, then Phaethon. It looks ro be a super cool custom B&M invert with some surprisingly great themeing. If it’s just a long trip to Japan, then I think I’m going to pick Crazy Mouse. I’m a little strange for this but I mean, it’s a looping Togo wild mouse at a random park in the north of Japan. It’s such a strange, Japanese coaster that I’m really really excited to get up there and ride it.
My Most Anticipated Park Experiences
RMC Tour!
I’m so crazy excited for this! RMC puts on a public tour every month at their factory in ID and I’ve been in touch with the RMC rep and I have a spot in one of the summer tours. I’m really looking forward to learning more about how the best coaster manufacturer builds their coasters. I’m also hoping that we run into Fred Grubb and I can get him to sign something!
Coaster Con
I finally get to go to my first ever Coaster Con! That’s mostly because it happens to be held at my local parks, CGA and SFDK. But regardless, I’m still excited to see what the fuss is about. Specifically, I can’t wait for the auction. I have my little collection of theme park memorabilia (I need to write a blog post about that - my current favorite is the front piece from Roar at SFDK that I won at an ACE auction last year) and I’m hoping that Coaster Con can bring me the opportunity to bid on some cool pieces of coasters. I’m hoping for some wheels, which shouldn’t be too hard to get my hands on, I want to make cool stools with epoxied wheels in the seat.
Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Singapore
The precipitating event for my big Asia trip this year is Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Singapore! I went to USS in early 2022 to visit before the Madagascar area was closed (which I managed to beat by about 2 or 3 months) and I’m headed bak to experience Halloween. Allegedly, Halloween in Singapore is a lot closer to how HHN in Orlando used to be which makes me really excited!