Darien Laker

^^^ Good Point. It just depends on the severity of problem the ride is having. For example, there have been a few instances where all three S:ROS's have been down because of a major problem. (Death, etc) However, like Boomerangs have smaller mechanical issues all the time, but you don't see them closing them all over the planet when one messes up.

Rock 'n Rollercoaster isn't even on here. I'd pick that one because i've only done the Disney Parks in FL. EE wasn't around yet either.

Oh I can think of a few times.... Apparantly, Space Mountain at Magic Kingdom turns you upside down, but you're going so fast that you can't even notice it. It turns out, S:ROS at SFDL's lift hill goes 35mph. Twister at SFDL's restraints came open while it was upside-down, and everyone fell out and died! Oh my! Did you know that Mind Eraser at SFDL used to have 11 cars per train, but the last car fell of and into the lake, drowning the passangers? Because of this, it is now illegal for U.S. parks to get rides from foreign companies.

I guess I just base it on overall ride experience. My top ten really does vary between different types, not all of them being intense or smooth. I guess there are a lot of factors that have to work together just right to make a top ten ride. Even nostalgia can count for some older rides.

Actually, I've had a couple of decent rides on Predator as well. Usually after it rains, and in the front seat, it seems. It's still very rough, but at least not horribly painful like usually seems to be. The park has an Arrow Looper and Boomerang that are actually smooth, so you'd think anything would be possible, but I guess not..

Two hours just for a Predator credit? You may as well just throw yourselves down 10 flights of stairs. It's really the same experience. Lol. I'm really dissapointed to see SFDL not improving since last year, when Shapiro made it sound like all SF parks would improve. One train operations on S:ROS is pretty rediculous. (SFA has been running two on theirs lately even) Predator is not popular, it's just got four minute intervals so the line seems really long when it's actually just slow loading. Even with two trains, the ride has four minute intervals, and that includes when one of the trains is run empty (they do this alot). Only Viper is consistant for having good operations. That ride is almost always running two trains, even if there's 3 people in line. Ironically, Viper is also the only coaster in the park with the ability to run three trains at once, but that hasn't happened in years, and likely never will again.

GermanCoasterFan, How tall is your son? At 10 years old, he may actually be able to ride some of the big coasters with you. Ninja has a very low height limit, so he should be okay for that one. I think Goliath and some others have a 48'' height limit. He may not be tall enough for the B&M's and some others, but if you're not sure you can go to SixFlags.com to see which rides he can ride.

SFDL's Predator is the absolute roughest coaster i've ever been on. Shockwave at SFGAm was rough but not that rough.

Thriller/Texas Tornado/Zonga. I love that tangled mess of supports all over the ride. rcdb.com/ig2264.htm?picture=34

Colossus at SFMM looks nice at night with those lights shining on it.

I don't think Flashback is going anywhere after SFMM other than the scrap yard. Parks like SFDL have enough bad coasters as it is. (A Boomerang is the smoothest coaster in the park). For the mean time, they probably will keep it and maybe try to operate it, for the sole purpose of having more coasters than Cedar Point, regardless of Shapiro's desire to put an end to "coaster addiction".

I'm not sure what the ride would be like without it, but SFDL's Predator has a trim brake at the top of the first drop. Maybe you'd be able to feel more air-time without it, but it would probably still be a horrible ride.

I would go with Cedar Point, and if you can do more parks, Geauga Lake and Paramount Kings Island in the same visit. That's like 35+ different coasters with no exact clones of eachother, all in one trip.

Magnum and the Morgan hypers. I forgot to mention them. I've always thought they seemed kind of awkward looking. They just look so pre-historic compared to the hypers of today, especially Magnum, you can even see it in the track and transitions. They also all have big boxy trains. I really don't think it's a bad thing, they're just older than other hypers, that's all.

I'd have to say Arrow's larger coaster's were pretty ugly with the loops so high up in the air. It looks right on the smaller ones, but like Shockwave at SFGAm looked awkward with the first loops being so high up.

I've always loved the way most B&M coasters look. They just look so freely designed and flowy. Kraken looks amazing. rcdb.com/ig581.htm?picture=14 Corkscrew at VF also has an awesome look to it, for an Arrow. rcdb.com/ig118.htm?picture=5

I'd imagine this one will have inversions, whatever type it is. It's been ten years since CP has added a looping coaster. Maybe they're going for the most inversions record again.

The only coaster I really loved at PCW was Vortex. That ride is rediculous. I've never been on another Arrow suspended, but this was a good one to start. So much speed and swinging. The only above average coaster that PCW had to offer, IMO. I've heard it's even better now wither shorter trains!

Wow I've been saying Kraken wrong for three years now....it's a good thing this thread is here.

Vekoma:Is it like Vee-coma....or like Va-coma? I've never been sure if the e is long or short.... Drachen Fire:I get this one now....The "ch" makes that phlemmy back of throat sound....like a cross between a "k" and a "h". I'm sure there are more

It's probably got a lot to do with OTSR's making air-time more "painful". If you look at looping coasters from the 70's/early 80's, you'll see that Schwarzkopf (Lapbars) coasters had flowy designs with great smooth transitions and air hills, but only loops for inversions. Arrow loopers (OTSRs) from the same time feature awkward transitions into and out of elements, have hardly any elements but the inversions themselves (making for some short coasters), but they could do more inversions such as corkscrews and batwings. Most looping coasters of today feature more than just vertical loops, so they usally have OTSR's. Although....Premier has recently proven that Lapbars can be safe on multi-element coasters, so maybe we will see more of this ahead.

Don't forget the Schwarzkopfs. Shockwave at SFOT and Mindbender at SFOG have both loops and hills. I've been on Sooperdooperlooper, which has both as well, though only one loop. Mindbender at Edmonton Mall looks like it has some crazy hills.

Yeah I'd say the Italian Jobs count as family launched coasters, they don't go very fast at all, but they don't go too slow either.

All of the ones at SFGAm (not counting SUF, I haven't been there that recently) were very intense. It's hard to pick one, but probably Raging Bull I guess.

Easy. SFDL's Predator. It was 1997, and I was afraid of OTSR's at the time (thanks to Dragon Mountain's headache), so Viper and Mind Eraser were out. Darien Lake had Nightmare at the time, so I rode that and absolutely loved it. I then went over to Predator, thinking it would be as good. I was so wrong. It was absolutely terrible, I just wanted to get off so bad the whole time. I've never been beat up so much on a coaster. I love Viper now though, and Mind Eraser isn't that bad, so i'm glad I got over my OTSR fear.