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Your 2023 in Review

Matt N

Matt N

TS Member
Favourite Ride
Mako (SeaWorld Orlando)
Hi guys. I know it feels like we’ve hardly blinked since the 2022 theme park season ended, but we’ve now hit that point in 2023 where many theme parks have closed for the year. I know that some parks are still open, but for the most part, we’re most certainly out of the main 2023 season. With this in mind, I thought it might be nice to make a thread reviewing our respective 2023s. So, how was your 2023 in theme parks?

I’ll get the ball rolling with my summary…

I’ll start with a few stats:
  • Coaster count at start of 2023: 94
  • Coaster count at end of 2023: 111
  • Coaster count increase: 17 (+5 on 2022) - New personal best!
  • Park count at start of 2023: 22
  • Park count at end of 2023: 24
  • Park count increase: 2 (+1 on 2022)
  • Number of coaster rides: 77 (-14 on 2022)
  • Number of park visits: 16 (+7 on 2022) - New personal best!
  • Unique coasters ridden: 41 (+12 on 2022) - New personal best!
  • Unique parks visited: 9 (+5 on 2022)
In terms of stats, I have to say that it was a pretty phenomenal year for me; I set a new personal best in numerous categories, and I got higher numbers than 2022’s in all categories bar one!

Now let’s move onto something more subjective; a few personal highlights and lowlights of the year:
  • Favourite new-to-me coaster of 2023: VelociCoaster at Islands of Adventure (#2/111) - VelociCoaster packed some truly obscene elements, such as the second launch, top hat and Mosasaurus roll, and overall, it just had a wonderful blend of everything executed impeccably well!
  • Favourite new-to-me non-coaster of 2023: Serengeti Flyer at Busch Gardens Tampa - With obscene sustained airtime and truly awesome speed and scale, this must be one of my favourite flat rides ever! I’d also lend an honourable mention to Skull Island: Reign of Kong at Islands of Adventure; I absolutely loved that ride, and thought that it had a brilliant blend of screens and physical set pieces, as well as some awesome action sequences!
  • Favourite new-to-me park of 2023: Flamingo Land - This is kind of a default victory for Flamingo Land, as its only competition in this category was Brean Theme Park. However, I do have to say that I did not find the park as bad as is often made out. Yes, the operations are pretty slow, but they have a respectable coaster selection for a smaller UK park!
  • Biggest positive surprise of 2023: Ice Breaker at SeaWorld Orlando - I had pretty low expectations for Ice Breaker after hearing generally middling to negative reviews, but I thought it was an absolutely phenomenal little ride, with a fantastically fun swing launch sequence and loads of excellent ejector airtime! Also, I’d once again lend an honourable mention to Skull Island: Reign of Kong at Islands of Adventure; I went into it having heard a spate of generally middling to negative reviews, but I thought it was absolutely epic!
  • Biggest disappointment of 2023: It would have to be Pipeline: The Surf Coaster at SeaWorld Orlando for me. I so sorely wanted to love it after hearing many really positive reviews, but it just didn’t do it for me; while I appreciate the novelty, I found it rather uncomfortable and didn’t think that it solved any of the standup coaster’s inherent flaws.
  • Favourite coaster ride of 2023: It’s a toss-up between my front row ride on Mako on 16th June and my front row ride on VelociCoaster on 21st June. You all know how I love Mako, and my front row ride was definitely my favourite ride I had on it while at SeaWorld! With that being said, my front row go on VelociCoaster was also obscenely sublime; front row is definitely the place to be on that coaster, and the front row go certainly saw it give Mako a run for its money!
  • Favourite park trip of 2023: It’s hard to pick one. My Florida trip as a whole was absolutely awesome, but I had some brilliant days in the UK in 2023 too; a particular UK highlight that comes to mind for me is my brilliant 30-ride day at Thorpe Park in September! I’d also lend an honourable mention to my Alton Towers visit with my grandad back in March; while the Saturday in particular was not the greatest day in terms of ride count or weather, I loved seeing the park through his eyes as a first time visitor!
  • Biggest enthusiast achievement of 2023: I was pretty proud to finally ride my 100th coaster. It feels so good to have joined the triple-figure count club, and I was really glad that the milestone ride was Iron Gwazi, a ride that was one of my favourite new coasters of the year and entered my top 5 coasters overall!
So in conclusion, 2023 was a pretty incredible year for me, with all things considered!

But I’d love to know; how was your 2023 in theme parks?
 
Last edited:
I can finally contribute as I think I'm just about done for the year.
  • Coaster count at start of 2023: 283
  • Coaster count at end of 2023: 334
  • Coaster count increase: 51
  • Number of coaster rides: 309
  • Number of park/fair visits: 51
  • Unique coasters ridden: 100
  • Unique parks visited: 32
  • Countries visited: 5
  • Best Coaster Ridden: Katun
  • Best New Coaster Ridden: Katun
  • Worst Coaster Ridden: Infusion
  • Worst New Coaster Ridden: Wild Mine, CavallinoMatto
This leads me to all time:
  • Ridecount: 3521
  • Coaster Rides: 2259
  • Unique Inversions: 202
  • Unique Track Mileage: 86.83 miles
  • Unique Height Climbed: 3.18 miles
  • Overall Inversions: 5381
  • Overall Track Mileage: 920.33 Miles
  • Overall Height Climbed: 28.60 Miles
  • Countries Visited On Trips: 9
 
  • Coaster count at start of 2023: 68
  • Coaster count at end of 2023: 145
  • Coaster count increase: 77
  • Number of coaster rides: 187
  • Number of park/fair visits: 33
  • Unique coasters ridden: 97
  • Unique parks visited: 25
  • Countries visited: 5
  • Best Coaster Ridden: Shambhala
  • Best New Coaster Ridden: Shambhala
  • Worst Coaster Ridden: Viking, Energylandia
  • Worst New Coaster Ridden: Stampida (Red)
  • Favourite new park: Parque Warner Madrid
  • Least favourite new park: Ferrari Land
Not the best but not the worst. I’ve decided to try for 100 new creds in 2024.
 
  • Coaster count at start of 2023: 281
  • Coaster count at end of 2023: 333
  • Coaster count increase: 52
  • Countries visited: 5
  • Best Coaster Ridden: GIB
  • Best New Coaster Ridden: Katun
  • Worst Coaster Ridden: Vertigo (Parque de Attractiones de Madrid)
  • Worst New Coaster Ridden: Wild Mine (Mirabilandia)
  • Favourite new park: Cavalino Matto
  • Least favourite new park: Plopsaland
  • Best Funfair: Luna Park Parma
  • Worst Funfair: Peterborough Bridge Fair
  • Best New Flat Ride: Rock N Roll (Cavalino Matto)
  • Worst New Flat Ride: El Volador (Bellewarde)
  • Best New Other Ride: Zeppelin (Parque de Attractiones de Madrid)
  • Worst New Other Ride: La Jungla (Parque de Attractiones de Madrid)
  • Most Surprising New Rollercoaster: Tornado (Parque de Attractiones de Madrid)
  • Favourite cred run: Dymchurch amusement park
  • Best Park Food: All you can eat Buffet (Parque Warner Madrid)
  • Worst Park Food: The cheese sauce from Dominos at Parque de Attractions de Madrid
  • Best Parade: Plopsaland
  • Best Park day: Cavalino Matto
  • Worst Park Day; Thorpe Park Mini Meet.
  • Worst ride experience: Ghost Train attempt 2. We queued for 40ish minutes and then were in the ride for over 30 minutes....
  • Best park entertainment: Thorpe Parks Oktoberfest band
  • Worst Park Entertainment: Ignition (Alton Towers Fireworks)
  • Best Park Beer: Ichnusa at Cavalino Matto
  • Best non park moment on a theme park trip: San Marino.
Hopefully that covers some stuff?
 
Poisson said:
You dragged us into HDMI Error Maze and Underground Strike Simulator 2023. Everything else then broke down.
Click to expand...
I think the maze was fine until Matty barrelled into a door before it was ready 😁
I have no defence for ghost train though
 
  • Coaster count at start of 2023: 259
  • Coaster count at end of 2023: 311
  • Coaster count increase: 52
  • Park count at start of 2023: 47
  • Park count at end of 2023: 54
  • Park count increase: 7
  • Number of park visits: 7
  • Unique coasters ridden: 52
  • Unique parks visited: 7
 
New for me coasters in 2023 - 64
Coaster Count - 516
New for me parks - 12
Total parks visited (all time) - 95
Favourite new for me park - Nigloland
Favourite new coaster of the year - Batman Gotham City Escape
 
New for me coasters in 2023 - 30(ish, I can't quite recall my exact count at the start of the year).
Coaster count: 473
New parks: 1
Total Parks: 85
Favourite new park - Prater, given it's the only new one visited.
Favourite new coaster - Iron Gwazi / IAAPA SBF Visa Spinning coaster (gotta get that elusive cred mention in somewhere).

A somewhat lacklustre year in terms of 'new' things done, despite (when factoring in the coming New Year trip) this is the most I've ever travelled abroad in a year. Mainly revisiting old parks and mopping up handfuls of new creds here and there. Next year should be far more interesting and varied with the 500 mark ticked off in January (subject to ride availability).
 
Total coaster count at the start of 2023: 53
New coasters in 2023: 26
Total coaster count at the end of 2023: 79
Favourite new coaster of 2023: Icon
Most improved coaster of 2023: Olympia Looping
Biggest surprise: Ice Mountain
Favourite day at a theme park: Thorpe Park Mini Meet (2nd September 2023)
Favourite new attraction of 2023: Wastelands Penitentiary.
 
Started the year on 38 creds
Had only previously really done the Merlin parks and a few in the south west.
Still pretty new to this whole “God, I really love coasters thing”.
Finished the year on 68 creds.

New parks to me; 3 (Blackpool, Energylandia and The Big Sheep)
Favourite coaster; Zadra (by a mile!) Loved that thing
Worst coaster; Happy loops (Energylandia)
Biggest surprise; Grand National (surprised at how much I loved it, was expecting it to be naff)
Also pleasantly surprised at how much I loved BPB in general.
Days at theme parks; 22
Biggest achievement; Stealth (hate launches)
Biggest disappointments; Mandril Mayhem and Big One
Spites; Big Dipper was shut when we went
Best new attraction for me; Sub Terra

Highlight of the year; Riding Zadra repeatedly at the end of the day with some fellow enthusiasts we met. We had an absolute blast.

Not a bad year. The summer was great. Loved Blackpool and went to Poland for my 50th birthday. Got my first RMC.

Downsides
To me Alton Towers was very disappointing this year.
Finished the year with Dino Duplo Coaster.
 
I’m not sure how many new creds I got in 2023 as I don’t keep track of my total but I did get to go to some interesting new parks and get on some good rides.

New parks visited:

Wien Prater
Adventure Island
Fantasy Island
Walibi Belgium
Tivoli Gardens & Bakken
Phantasialand

I also visited Munich Oktoberfest and got to ride some great new attractions (especially as I’ve not visited HPWW before).

Previously visited parks that I returned to:

CWoA
Thorpe Park
Flamingo Land

Top 10 New Credits For 2024:

1 - Taron
2 - F.L.Y
3 - Kondaa
4 - Sik
5 - Black Mamba
6 - Rutschebanen (Tivoli Gardens)
7- Tornado
8 - Mandrill Mayhem
9 - Colorado Adventure
10 - Olympia Looping

Hollenblitz, Gesengte Sau, Millennium, and Psyke Underground were other notable new creds to me that missed out on the top 10.

My favourite new flat ride was the mighty Talocan. Dalton Terror and Mystery Castle were both fantastic, and night ride on Konga (the travelling KMG XXL) with the full flames and mist package was definitely one of the most memorable experiences. I love a good frisbee ride and it was long and intense cycle it seemed to be on, every time it slowed down I thought it was about to stop but it kicked in again with another massive swing.
3080d9ce64f901a772ba83252d3ef078.jpg



Tik Tak at Tivoli and Axis at Adventure Island was also lots of fun well.


My favourite new to me dark ride this year was Popcorn Revenge followed closely by Maus Au Chocolat and Challenge of Tutankhamon.

Best new water ride is a tough one, I did three excellent ones in Radja River, Chiapas, and River Quest, hard to separate them but I’d probably give it to Chiapas for the rave cave section and the crazy big drop.

My most memorable moment was definitely entering Phantasialand for the first time and walking in to Rookburgh, it’s absolutely stunning to take it all in.

Another moment I loved was taking my son on Mandrill Mayhem for the first time. He has anxiety issues and gets very nervous at parks, often he is scared of larger rides and gets too indimidated by them to ride, so hearing his whoops of delight as we rode together was a great moment. And it’s his new number one as well!

My most ‘WTF?’ ride was Tornado at Bakken, I think my daughter who I was riding with might have learnt a few choice new words that day, and we managed to get the legendary boost mode as well for our final ride.

I’m not sure if I had too many disappointments this year in terms of things I did ride. I think the only ride I really didn’t like was Die Wilde Mus at Prater as it slammed me from side to side and gave me a bit of a bruising. And Geister Rikscha really wouldn’t be missed if it were to be pulled down (or suspiciously burn to a crisp as some German rides are seemingly very prone to doing).

My big spite was Odyssey, at park that I don’t know if can be bothered to journey to again given its distance from where I live and high risk of getting spited by it again. Minor spites were Time Machine at Adventure Island and the Top Spin at Walibi Belgium.

My biggest surprise was Loup Garou at Walibi Belgium. From what I’d heard of it I was expecting it to be absolutely awful and prime candidate for being ripped down and having an RMC conversion. But once you have a go on it, and learn just where to brace yourself, re-rides reveal it to be a pretty wild air time filled ride. And with Colorado Adventure I was just expecting a family mine, I didn’t realise how much of a sense of speed and intensity it has.

My goals for next year are to finally visit Europa Park, and I’d also like to try and get on Toutatis, Batman GCE, and Taiga.
 
This is my first year of even attempting to count things properly, so these are not perfect data, however a benchmark before I do some proper capture next year.

• Coaster count at start of 2023: 40
• Coaster count at end of 2023: 66
• Coaster count increase: 26 - personal best
• Park count at start of 2023: 22
• Park count at end of 2023: 24
• Park count increase: +2
• Fun Fair count increase: +4 (never bothered with fun fairs before)
• Number of park visits: 24 (+19 on 2022) - New personal best
• Unique parks visited:12 (+9 on 2022)

This year has been a lot of fun, almost certainly going to continue with the Merlin pass, plus planning to boost the cred count to at least 100 before the end of the year. Visited more than 1 park in a day for the first time ever - was only 2 but everyone has to start somewhere.

Going to a park and not thrashing ourselves to do everything was an interesting development - the freedom a pass gives you to return whenever has really changed how we do theme parks. Meeting up with strangers off the internet was something my mum told me never to do… however it’s turned out alright this year so we’ll keep doing it 😁
 
I don't count creds but no new coasters or parks for me this year. Been a very quiet year.
Two trips to Towers and a big fat Zero to PB despite it being my local park. That's been my lot. Shocking effort really.

I was tempted to do Chessington for the new B&M but decided the drive and hotel cost wasn't worth it. I will try and tag it onto my trip to Thorpe next year for the new coaster.

I was also tempted to make a trip to Drayton for one last ride on Shockwave and then remembered I got severe ball ache (it's a real thing) for two days last time I rode it. I wish I was lying.

I will make more of an effort next year.
 
Benjsh said:
I was also tempted to make a trip to Drayton for one last ride on Shockwave and then remembered I got severe ball ache (it's a real thing) for two days last time I rode it. I wish I was lying.
Click to expand...

It was still painful and rubbish even in its last days :p
 
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