Matt N Posted August 9, 2023 Report Share Posted August 9, 2023 Hi guys. In the UK theme park industry, Merlin theme parks are a very dominant force, and this is arguably most apparent in the arena of roller coaster hardware. If you were to ask an average enthusiast what their favourite UK coaster is, there’s a good chance that it would be at a Merlin theme park, and I dare say that most people’s UK top 10s would be relatively saturated with Merlin-operated coasters, with parks like Alton Towers and Thorpe Park in particular arguably having two of the UK’s most revered thrill coaster selections. With this in mind, I’d be intrigued to know; what is your favourite UK coaster not located at a theme park operated by Merlin Entertainments? Of the coasters at independent UK parks and UK parks owned by smaller chains such as Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Drayton Manor, Oakwood, Paultons Park, Flamingo Land, Fantasy Island, and numerous others, which is your favourite? As for my own answer to this thread, my recent first visit to Flamingo Land, and my first ride on Sik in particular, got me thinking about what my favourite non-Merlin UK coasters actually are. My favourite non-Merlin UK coaster is quite comfortably Icon at Blackpool Pleasure Beach, which is actually my favourite UK coaster even including Merlin parks, as well as my #8 overall out of 107 ridden coasters. I love the airtime, I love the fun twists and turns, I love the inversions, I love the smoothness and comfortable restraints… I just think it does a number of things very, very well! I know that liking Icon is a somewhat unpopular opinion, but I absolutely love it! After that, though, only two other non-Merlin coasters actually slot into my UK top 10, meaning that non-Merlin coasters make up 3 of my UK top 10. With this in mind, my top 3 non-Merlin UK coasters, and the 3 that make my overall UK top 10, are: Icon - Blackpool Pleasure Beach (10/10, UK #1, #8/107 overall) Sik - Flamingo Land (8/10, UK #8, #22/107 overall) Megafobia - Oakwood Theme Park (8/10, UK #9, #25/107 overall) If you’re interested, my overall UK top 10 (with non-Merlin rides highlighted in bold) is: Icon - Blackpool Pleasure Beach (10/10, #8/107 overall) Wicker Man - Alton Towers (10/10, #10/107 overall) Oblivion - Alton Towers (9/10, #11/107 overall) Nemesis Inferno - Thorpe Park (9/10, #17/107 overall) Rita - Alton Towers (9/10, #18/107 overall) Stealth - Thorpe Park (8/10, #19/107 overall) Nemesis - Alton Towers (8/10, #20/107 overall) Sik - Flamingo Land (8/10, #22/107 overall) Megafobia - Oakwood Theme Park (8/10, #25/107 overall) Thirteen - Alton Towers (7/10, #28/107 overall) But I’d be interested to know; what is your favourite non-Merlin UK coaster? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Doyle Posted August 9, 2023 Report Share Posted August 9, 2023 Either Big One or Megaphobia Matt N 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattgwise Posted August 9, 2023 Report Share Posted August 9, 2023 Big one most likely, though previously was Wild Mouse. Matt N 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Han30 Posted August 13, 2023 Report Share Posted August 13, 2023 I’m quite partial to a bit of Rage (adventure island) coasterverse and Matt N 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark9 Posted August 13, 2023 Report Share Posted August 13, 2023 Icon, Speed and Megafobia are up there. I like Shockwave but it isn't a favourite. I'll go with Icon just because its fun and accessible to a lot of people. I like the directions that Paultons and Drayton are heading in, if they could add something like Juvelen that could easily become my favourite non Merlin rollercoaster. Matt N 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshC. Posted August 14, 2023 Report Share Posted August 14, 2023 From the Cred Sheet, here's all my ranked UK coasters not including Merlin parks, including their overall ranking in my list: Rank Coaster Park 46 Grand National Blackpool Pleasure Beach 53 Cobra (Paultons) Paultons Park 68 Storm Chaser Paultons Park 93 Icon Blackpool Pleasure Beach 95 Velocity Flamingo Land 96 Kumali Flamingo Land 97 Wilde Maus XXL Winter Wonderland 106 Accelerator Drayton Manor 113 Avalanche Blackpool Pleasure Beach 115 Revolution (BPB) Blackpool Pleasure Beach 117 Spinning Racer Fantasy Island 118 G Force Drayton Manor 119 Velociraptor Paultons Park 126 Mumbo Jumbo Flamingo Land 136 Flight of the Pterosaur Paultons Park 147 Millenium Fantasy Island 158 Rage Adventure Island 162 Big Dipper Blackpool Pleasure Beach 163 Ice Mountain Winter Wonderland 166 Odyessy Fantasy Island 167 Big One Blackpool Pleasure Beach 169 Rhombus Rocket Fantasy Island 176 Rockin Roller Botton's Pleasure Beach 181 Infusion Blackpool Pleasure Beach 182 Olympia Looping Winter Wonderland 183 Dinosaur Valley Wicksteed Park 186 €uro Coaster Winter Wonderland 193 Shockwave Drayton Manor 199 Hero Flamingo Land Also includes travelling coasters I've ridden in the UK, but oh well. tl;dr - my answer is Grand National at Blackpool. Matt N and Mattgwise 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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