Wolf
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Posts posted by Wolf
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Kind of a bummer that we're only supposed to rank 2010 steel coasters since a bunch of us just did the Australia trip and could certainly help the poll out. I wonder if an email to Mitch is in order to see if we can go through March 2011 at least.
That would seem inappropriate for any rides which opened in early 2011 to be on the 2010 poll.
And for the steel supports question, there's a reason the Coney Cyclone isn't on the steel list and Gemini is.
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http://www.indianabeach.com/pages/indianabeach_tickets_rates
Under Main Gate Ticket Category, it lists Adventure Point at $49.95, Ride and Adventure Point at $59.95, and Ride, Waterpark, and Adventure Point at $69.95. I believe those are the one day prices, but correct me if I'm wrong.
I see the new owner is continuing to do his best to drive Indiana Beach into the ground...
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Perhaps it's just a function of how realistic the NoLimits is, but I find it strange that the trains aren't together for the first drop -- there's a pre-drop on one of the tracks. Also, the view of the other train at a lot of racing and dueling sections is blocked by the banking of one of the tracks. I hope that isn't actually the case, because that ruins the appeal of a racing/dueling coaster.
A bunch of the duelers have a staggered 1st drop. NoLimits seems to not be able to model a dispatch offset very well. The one train has about a half-second lead on the other.
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What's the expected opening date for this?
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What kind of radiation is this? (I know I sound dumb) but aren't most types able to just fly threw most substances except lead?
No. Most forms of radiation cannot penetrate paper. Gamma can, but gamma rays tend to be emitted only by aggressively radioactive substances, which due to their density, don't tend to travel well in air. Gamma works sort of like a lightbulb -- if you can see it, it can get to you, but it doesn't really travel as fallout.
If you want to avoid additional exposure because of material traveling from Japan, skip the banana for breakfast. You're going to receive less than a Banana Equivalent Dose.
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^Ah, so I had it backwards. Well, as long as the majority of the track is still wood I would still consider it to be a wooden coaster.
It's a tough call, especially if an entire coaster was re-tracked with that system. I think I'd want to still call it a wooden coaster just to piss off the wood coaster aficionados who will claim it's no longer a wood coaster, you know, the same people who want to make the claim that El Toro isn't a wood coaster either.
These people clearly have issues!
I've never understood the pre-fab wooden track claim. You can argue if you want that it's not wood, but I don't understand at all the argument that it's steel.
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With the wheel design of the new trains, are they somewhat "locked" to the track to prevent the sideways and up and down shuffle that you get with a traditional wood train?
That shuffle is a bug, not a feature. The original Miller trailered car patent didn't shuffle.
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Just because I want to throw a giant wrench into this whole thing, what would we consider Rattler now that it has both wood and steel track?
A failure?
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While it most definitely is a steel coaster, I will say this...It didn't feel like a wood coaster. It didn't feel like a steel coaster. It really did, to me, feel like something completely new. I'm just not sure how to describe it.
Anyways, I'm about to pass out after getting no sleep, driving around 500 miles, and doing the shoot all day. I'll post my review when I wake up, I promise
Have you ridden Hi-Miler?
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Being that it's a Hybrid roller coaster, why don't we just keep it in that category? Isn't it the first hybrid? What is California Screamin'?
Define hybrid.
TGG builds a lot of wooden-tracked rides that have steel support structures. The Coney Cyclone has both. I think Psyclone has entirely steel-railed track now. Arrow Mine Trains (fundamentally the same trains as their hyper coasters) have wooden supports for tubular steel rails. There was that... thing in Ohio that had PVC track supported by steel rails.
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I realize I'm in the minority, but I've ridden Voyage morning, noon, and night...even during and after a rain storm, and I still prefer Raven. If I was at any of the HWN events you'd find my butt firmly planted on the Raven throughout the entire night time ERT. Let the Voyage fans have their fun, that's what it's there for. Doesn't make them right or wrong, just means they like a different coaster than I do.
--Robb
I used to be quite the Raven fanboy, though I admit to preferring Legend when it was running at its best. But I've been kind of disappointed in Raven on my last two visits. And I didn't get many rides on it on my previous visit to those, given the situation....
Has Raven been running slower since the incident, or have I just hit it when it hasn't been running well? All woodies have their up and down days. Legend seems to be see-sawing on my visits. This year it was ok; on my previous visit it was great!
I think Raven just suffers in comparison to Voyage. Legend as well, really. Voyage has better air and a wilder layout than Raven and better laterals than Legend, and both seem like one-trick ponies in comparison. (And for my tastes, Raven always seemed on the short side)
Similarly, Gemini seemed fast until Magnum showed up until MF showed up until TTD showed up.
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As to your last question of why I'd base my rankings on non-normal conditions, because that's the ONLY time I've ever been there? Which makes it normal enough for me! Seriously. Every time I've ever been to Holiday World, it's been for Stark Raven Mad, an ACE Convention or HoliWood Nights. Those were very deliberate choices. The same could be said of Alabama Adventure, Silverwood, Knoebels and a bunch of others. For most parks, it's not that big of a deal to get there for an event and/or to get nighttime ERT. But for some parks and woodies, I'd consider it a must.
I'm not sure PPP is really optimal for Phoenix -- Phoenix is noticeably more sluggish during the day at PPP than it is in the height of summer.
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I find it ironic that a coaster that was once ranked at the bottom of the best wooden coasters poll may now possibly be ranked close to the top (According to these early reports).
Check the early years of the poll.
Texas Giant was once a top-10 ride.
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Uh oh......based on the reports so far I'm worried that El Toro will get knocked off of its pedestal. Is it June yet?
Don't see how. With that track style, it's a steel coaster.
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^ Wildebeest are known for their frenzied migration. We didn't think of that when we named the thing, but it's sure turned out to be true!
Here's that link again: http://bit.ly/fCSYKS Thanks so much!
Paula
You also have go to past a crocodile isle to get to the Wildebeest grounds.
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So the question is, how far can we go with coaster speed and height? Is Kingda Ka the limit of coaster speed and height?
You can go as high and fast as you can afford. Bullet Trains do 260 mph or so. You're price and acceleration limited, not height and speed.
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The nummber 1 wooden coaster in the world just got better. It is now the FASTEST wooden coaster in the world too.
Remember that many ride ops say that El Toro runs 5 or 6 mph FASTER than it's supposed to.
Local gravity higher than expected, huh?
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A few random thoughts from the thread:
Personally, I've never quite gotten the massive appeal of Phoenix. Sure, it's a great ride, and tons of fun, but it's not quite intense enough for me to make it a top tier ride, or even a second tier ride. But it's still my #21, out of 143 currently standing woodies, which is pretty damn good.
Well, I guess I can intellectually understand it. It probably better than any other coaster hits that "sweet spot" between intense enough to keep someone like me happy and not too violent for people who don't like that sort of thing. And it's probably one of the most pure FUN coasters out there.
I didn't get it either until my last PPP. It had been slowly climbing up my rankings, but was in the 10-15 range. It's upside was that it's amazingly consistent and really never offers a bad ride, but seemed to lack the special something that kicks a ride into "amazing." Then I got an amazing ride on it. It hits just a little harder on the hills, the floater air becomes ejector air, and it gains an attitude, much like Shivering Timbers used to get in the last hour of Timbersfest, when you started dreading the final bowl and stopped trying for one-click lapbars on the 3rd hill.
I think I see what people see in Phoenix. It's like pizza -- it's never bad, and on occasionally, it's really amazing. It certainly never has the doldroms El Toro has early in the day or in the season, and it's capable of just as much violence. I'm not saying it's my #1, but I understand the argument.
Most of us did think that the original Voyage train was running slightly faster and slightly more smoothly than the "Ravage" train was.Really? I thought the Ravage train was noticeably smoother.
On another note, for those wondering why Aska ranks as highly as it does...Honestly, it probably should rank even higher than it does. The problem is that it was nearly impossible to get good rides on it, unless you were going with a coaster group -- for much the same reason it's tough to get good rides on Hellcat in the Wisconsin Dells these days: the park was always DEAD...If I remember correctly, Nara Dreamland closed before any of the full TPR trips to Japan, right? I know that Robb and Elissa went with a few friends, but they never got more than nearly empty trains. Luckily, I went during the ECC/ACE trip. And it was INSANE. Especially in the magic row 2 with ejector lateral airtime at several spots on the ride! And we left the park before 2 PM, so it hadn't even fully warmed up yet! The only woodies I rank higher are Voyage and Tremors, both of which I've ridden around midnight during ERT sessions.I'm increasingly of the opinion that Mitch's poll simply doesn't work that way. More popularly ridden coasters also have wider riding audiences, and a higher ratio of detractors. It's harder to win all your comparisons with 300 riders than with 30. (It's harder to lose them all, too -- it's the volatility that's the issue)
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My friend and I are thinking about going to Dollywood and Busch Garden in VA in late August. We were also looking at stopping by Kindg Dominion as well. We are both from Ca and never traveled to that part of the country before in the summer time. Any idea what the weather is like during that time? It seems like late August is our only option this year and we are debating to wait until next year to go early June. We are just wondering if the heat will make us more miserable than having a good time. Any suggestions or tips?
Thanks
Marco
Ever wonder what the weather is like inside your lung?
It's dark, hot, and humid. It's the same weather you'll see at Busch after dark.
Dollywood might be somewhat cooler, because it's in the mountains, and likely less humid, because you're not standing in a swamp. Still, it will be warm and moist.
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Now, does any of this matter? Not really. It's just a roller coaster poll. Heck, the parks don't even promote their wins in this poll anywhere, like they do with the Golden Ticket Awards, which most enthusiasts agree is more of a popularity poll, in which foreign coasters don't really have any real chance.
I can recall a couple of parks who promoted Mitch's poll.
A great example of this is Shivering Timbers when it was new. Anyone who'd ridden it (and whole lot of people who hadn't!) would tell you that was the second coming of the coaster gods. It was the best coaster in decades, or so the story went. With insane airtime, more than any coaster freak could ever want! Was it kind of rough? Maybe, but we didn't care. Was it kind of repetitive in its design? Yeah, but damn, look at all that air! I almost flew out! The perfect example of group psychology. Now look where it ranks these days. It doesn't even make the top 10 in the Golden Ticket Awards, much less Mitch's poll, where it's dropped out of the top 20. Yeah, it's definitely gotten rougher and Cedar Fair has let it slip away. But. c'mon, it's not THAT different.All the negative commentary (new negative commentary, anyway -- twister fans never liked it) I saw revolved around how it had gotten rough (and correspondingly slower). Having actually operated the ride, it's notoriously sensitive to wheel lube and track maintenance, and it can be downright mediocre if it's not being maintained properly. It feels like Mean Streak when it had a bad wheel bearing, for instance. That top from the top-5 to the top-25 is what happens when you stop maintaining a CCI. It's not a new story.
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Mad Mouse @ Quassy. My one and only ride.
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I found this years poll result one of the most true reflection, in relation to my woodies i've experienced.
In previous polls its appeared "fanboyism" & some "anti voting" had taken place (which i know Mitch tries to remove blatant examples).
Next year should be interesting, because this year's voting pattern was an aberration in the 16-year history of the poll (Grizzly not in last, for instance).
On a different note, check out the 6-year pattern of high-performing rides. There are notable exceptions, but a ride's stay in the top-10 seems to have a 6-year shelf-life.
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Just out of curiosity, since I've seen some writings on the interwebs of crybabies trying to imply that TPR members purposely ranked Voyage low, how many of you ranked it is #1 - or a least in your top 5?
I have a feeling it's a LOT more than some people would think....
That's not how Mitch's poll works. (I spent 5 years maintaining the steel poll, I should know)
To give an example, consider the steel poll in 2008 or so. I could round up 5 people who had ridden Blue Flash. If I could convince 3 to vote it #1 against everything they had ridden, and 2 to vote it dead last, it would have been the #1 steel coaster on the planet, winning every comparison 3-2, despite having what would be a nearly median average rating.
It doesn't matter how many people have a ride at #1, only how it compares to the shortlist of competitors (and some top rides have gotten the random loss from some odd competitors. I think Great Bear knocked off a top-10 steel a couple of years ago). Mitch's poll has the opposite problem of the Golden Ticket Awards -- it overvalues small sample sizes.
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The problem with that rendering is that you don't see the stairs filled with people, nor any fights breaking out amongst the patrons.
Mitch Hawker 2010 poll
in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
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It also is supposed to come out in January, not May. Having maintained the steel coaster list for 5 years or so, I filled out my list based on what I had ridden by the end of 2010.