Best Ride in America Tournament: Weekend update

March 29, 2008 at 6:13 AM · Personallly I think that Amazing Adventures of Spiderman is going to win.

March 29, 2008 at 11:13 AM · I have ridden all these rides except Test Track and Millennium Force (I would LOVE to ride this one).

The "Final Four" should be Kraken, Indiana Jones Adventure, Hulk and The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man. The winner for best ride ..... Indiana Jones Adventure.

BTW Expedition Everest is waaay overrated!

March 29, 2008 at 1:41 PM · Wow! I've ridden every single one of these multiple times. This is going to be some tough voting in the coming week!

Millenium Force better be in the final four!!

March 29, 2008 at 6:58 PM · Woohoo I think my 4 are still in it.

March 30, 2008 at 1:18 AM · I'm one of the six with all mine in it! BUT Robert - you pitted two of my choices against each other (Everest and Hulk), and that is a TOUGH choice. Guess I'm out no matter what (what if nobody's four make it to the finals?)

Most of these rides are fantastic, and I'm hard-pressed to choose between them. But, since I'm a basta-- um, controversy sparker, I'm going to muck things up.

Sheikra, Kraken, Mummy, Atlantis, Dueling Dragons - Ice, and Test Track should not be here. They're all great rides, but not Top 16 in America good. Sheikra, Kraken, and Dragons are standard coasters. There are a variety of coasters at Six Flags, Cedar Point, Busch Gardens Europe, and even Disney that are better (I'd take Space Mountain or Magnum XL-200 over any of these). I think Mummy (and Everest, for the record) only made the finals because of their relative newness. Atlantis and Test Track blow my mind - against all odds, they made it in, and I'm not sure why.

Erik - gotta disagree with ya, buddy. Kraken in the Final Four? Let's be serious - it's really not as fantastic as some of these rides. The first drop and loop are epic, but it winds down after that. And just as you think Everest is way overrated, I say that Indiana is way overrated. After all the hype for that ride, it left me a little disappointed. I really only consider it to be as good as Dinosaur. The fact that you can see the other jeeps during the ride bothers me, and a lot of the scenes build you up to believe the effects will be amazing but they fall short. Still, since everybody but me thinks its fantastic, it does deserve to be in the finals.

My predictions for the first quarterfinals, in a Jim Rome-esque style of presentation:

Spiderman swings its way through Millennium's 2000 supporters (I agree, Justin - Spiderman will likely win the tournament, unless the Disney fanatics come full-force)
Montu buries Atlantis to the depths of the ocean (I hope so - Montu is amazing)
Pirates plunders the Mansion (accurate to 99.9 %)
Everest mounts Hulk (knocking one of my picks out of the finals)
Indiana says "kwaheri" to Kilimanjaro
Dragons puts a freeze to Sheikra's streak
Tower wraps things up with Mummy
Kraken gets crackin' and puts the Track to the Test

My predictions for the second quarterfinals:

Spiderman is Tu much for the Busch coaster
Pirates climbs its way to the top (Eve-rest in peace)
Indiana slays the Dragons
Tower will get the drop on Kraken

Semifinals:
As Electro says on Spiderman, the Pirates are "in for a shock" (drink up, me failures)
Imagine if you will ... Twilight taking Jones (Tower ... why'd it have to be Tower?)

And finally ...
As Hydroman would say, the Tower will be "taking a dive"

By the way, Robert - we should do this again next March and see how the results stack up.

March 30, 2008 at 1:30 PM · It's obvious that Disney World's version of Tower of Terror was picked over California Adventure's, because it is widely considered to be a much better version. For similar reasons, I think the Haunted Mansion at Disney World should have been in this contest instead of the Disneyland version. After its recent refurbishment, the Disney World HM is the superior ride, with a new scene and enhanced special effects. Plus, the outside of the mansion is much creepier.

March 30, 2008 at 1:38 PM · One more thing -- Expedition Everest is not overrated. It is a genuinely great and thrilling themed coaster.
Indiana Jones manages to be both a great ride, and slightly overrated. What I mean is that it is great fun and thrilling, but no ride can possibly live up to the intense hype (I think it's the only North American ride which got a 10 on this site). For those of you who have never ridden it before, just enjoy it for what it is when you do ride it; don't expect it to be THE GREATEST RIDE EVER.

March 30, 2008 at 3:00 PM · I think that Disney fans just vote for the Disney ride even if they never have ridden the other ride. Thats why I hope Spiderman wins just so all the Disney fans can know they wasted there effort.

March 30, 2008 at 3:55 PM · In the case of duplicate rides (Mansion, ToT, etc.) the one higher rated by Theme Park Insider readers on the weekend when I put together the seedings got in.

March 30, 2008 at 4:12 PM · I am a huge Disney fan and I would not be disappointed at all if Spider-Man won the whole thing. I consider IOA to be Universal's very successful attempt to "be like Disney." It was built to compete with the greatest theme parks in the world, and in many ways (dare I blaspheme?) it has surpassed them all. I wish more theme park companies would make that same attempt!

Universal's successful bid to enter the true theme park arena has provided us Disney fans with some of the best entertainment we could ever have hoped for at a theme park. Without IOA, there would be no Rock N Roller Coaster and no Everest, two of my favorite Disney attractions. Furthermore, without Universal, Disney would be the only show in town, and without that competition, we, the consumer, would be bereft of a whole lotta theme park fun.

Go Universal and go Spider-Man....keep up the good work, and keep Disney on its theme park toes!!!

March 30, 2008 at 4:30 PM · ^ Disney fans are Cornballs lmao.

March 30, 2008 at 4:35 PM · I represent...errr....resent that statement! =)

March 30, 2008 at 5:29 PM · I'd like to personally thank each and every one of the voters who managed to make 15 of the 16 finalists rides from THEME parks. Just one amusement park ride in the lot. There were a number of rides I would have liked to have seen make the cut (shakes fist at everyone who hasn't ridden Thunderhead), but I'm very pleased with what we're left with. Almost all of these attractions are top notch (yeah, "almost." I missed the last round of voting and just discovered that Splash Mountain fell to Test Track).

This has been a really great tournament, Robert. Your continued work does not go unnoticed and unappreciated.

March 30, 2008 at 8:19 PM · Haunted Mansion is listed as a 9 at both Disneyland and Magic Kingdom. So I still don't understand why the Disneyland ride got the nod. Were the ratings really different a week ago? I know there is not a huge difference between the two, but to me the Disney World version is clearly superior.

March 30, 2008 at 8:29 PM · So Justin is voting out of spite, which sinks him to a level lower than a Disney fanatic. Congrats.

Thanks for that classy comment, Steve. Sorry I haven't ridden Thunderhead, but if it makes you feel better, I didn't vote in the contests where I hadn't ridden one of the rides.

And James, I'm right with ya. I love Universal as much as Disney, and I love their fierce competition. It's the best kind of contest - we reap the benefits.

March 30, 2008 at 9:02 PM · The ratings displayed on the site are rounded to the nearest whole number. As editor, I have access to the "unrounded" numbers and use those for lists, awards and tournament seedings.