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Best Family Coaster?

Bowser

Bowser

TS Member
What are everyones favourite family coasters? I think anything with a 1.2m height restriction or below qualifies these days.

I'd say mine are:

1. Mandrill Mayhem
2. Wicker Man
3. Vampire
4. Vogel Rok
5. Thirteen

Seems weird to not include anything from Disneyland Paris but Big Thunder Mountain wasn't open for our trip and the others, whilst enjoyable are also a bit too rough to make a top 5.
 
Interesting thread idea!

If we’re considering it on height restriction alone, then my favourite family coaster is Iron Gwazi as that is my #5 and technically has a 48” height restriction (effectively the USA equivalent of 1.2m), but I feel that isn’t really a family coaster in spirit, so I won’t count it as such…

I’ll coin a family coaster as anything classified “Thrill” or below on RCDB, with a couple of exceptions (e.g. Mandrill Mayhem is considered “Extreme” on RCDB, but I would consider it a family thrill coaster). With this criteria in mind, my top 5 family/family thrill coasters are:
  1. Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure - Islands of Adventure: This really is the ultimate family coaster, in my view! Even when you take the lavish theming and storyline out of consideration, I think it’s such a ridiculously fun ride, with snappy launches, a great sense of speed, dynamic and fun corners, and a really long ride time! It really is the ultimate all-rounder; it’s thrilling enough that us adult thrill-seekers can absolutely relish it, but it’s not so intense as to put off younger riders. This is the creme de la creme of family thrill coasters, in my opinion; I never failed to come off with a huge grin on my face and in stitches of laughter! 10/10, #8/134
  2. Wicker Man - Alton Towers: It may not be as impressive on paper as some rides, but I do love Wicker Man! It’s not the most ridiculously intense coaster, but like Hagrid’s above, it is infectiously fun, and I never fail to come off it in stitches of laughter! The ride packs a great sense of speed throughout, has some great bits of airtime, has some really fun twists and turns, and overall, I just find it so fun, thrilling and rerideable! 10/10, #10/134
  3. Ice Breaker - SeaWorld Orlando: I think this is pushing the bounds of a “family coaster” slightly, but I did love Ice Breaker! The swing launch was great fun, with some awesome pops of airtime, the junior scorpion tail was lovely and floaty, and the rest of the ride was smooth, fun and had some surprisingly excellent ejector airtime! This was definitely a sleeper hit of my last Florida trip, and I was gutted to only get one ride! 10/10, #11/134
  4. Revenge of the Mummy - Universal Studios Florida: I do love the Mummy! The roller coaster portion has some surprising airtime, a really good sense of speed and some really fun turns in the dark! And who doesn’t love a good bit of fire? 9/10, #19/134
  5. Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts - Universal Studios Florida: This isn’t so much for the roller coaster portion, but I do love this as an overall experience! The theming is lavish, the sets are gorgeous, the screens are excellent, and I overall think it meshes together as a gorgeous themed experience! 9/10, #20/134
Honourable mentions would go to Uncharted, Thirteen and Gold Rush. Or if it counts as a family coaster, potentially Megafobia, which I believe I have ranked above any of those 3…
 
Matt N said:
Revenge of the Mummy
Click to expand...

I completely forgot about this and would have definitely included it as my number 1 or 2!

Seems like the US is the place to go for the best family coasters.

I was going to include The Flying Dutchman at Efteling but i don't know if that qualifies as a family coaster as it's a bit of a hybrid of everything.
 
Lisebergbanan has been my favourite family coaster for quite a while. Nice and long and the hillside setting is wonderful

Honourable mentions go to Expedition Everest, Paris' Big Thunder Mountain, most of the top tier woodies that are family friendly and almost any Vekoma SFC (especially the 453m variants!) based off personal experience.
 
Pegase Express at Parc Asterix is a fantastic example of a family coaster! Extreme enough for thrill seekers to enjoy whilst not being too much for families with children. The theme is also nicely done and not particularly dark, besides the brief moment of peril before the backwards launch.
 
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