News: Voyage named No. 1 wooden coaster

Posted at 3:29 PM EST (2029 GMT)

Dec. 9th, 2006 -- Holiday World's The Voyage sailed into first place in Mitch Hawker's 2006 Internet wooden roller coaster poll, considered by many to be the most accurate poll.

The new-for-2006 hybrid woodie made by The Gravity Group made coaster enthusiasts drool as it was being constructed, and most reviews say it is not a let down at all.

Second place goes to Liseberg's Balder, which took the No. 1 spot in 2005. The Intamin "plug-and-play" coaster, built in 2003, uses a track fabrication that gives a much smoother ride than a traditional wooden coaster.

Balder was ranked seventh in the 2004 poll.

El Toro at Six Flags Great Adventure, America's only Intamin plug-and-play coaster, took third. El Toro opened in June and has the steepest drop on a wooden coaster at 76 degrees.

Hawker's poll includes more than 170 wooden coasters, and voters submit their votes via the Web. Voters mark what coasters they have ridden, specifying if they have ridden a coaster this year.

Voters then rank each coaster they've ridden, and Hawker's method compares the ranks against each coaster. The results are considered highly accurate.

The top 10:

1. The Voyage - Holiday World
2. Balder - Liseberg
3. El Toro - Six Flags Great Adventure
4. Phoenix - Knoebel's
5. Boulder Dash - Lake Compounce
6. Tremors - Silverwood
7 (tie). Thunderhead - Dollywood
7 (tie). Hades - Mount Olympus
9. Aska - Nara Dreamland
10. Colossos - Heide Park

For more on the 2006 wooden coaster poll, visit Mitch Hawker's detailed wooden coaster poll results of 2006.

Posted by Steven