coasterBro
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Posts posted by coasterBro
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I know it's not at all the popular opinion, but I'm really not a fan of a lot of what RMC has been doing. Don't get me wrong, they've done some great stuff (I think Twisted Cyclone is perfect, love iRat, and quite enjoy NTaG & Goliath). But one of my biggest nitpicks are all the really weird little direction changes in the middle of elements. I think those take away from the flow of the ride. Just smoothly shape the element to get from the desired entry point to the exit. Sometimes I wonder if they haven't borrowed Ron Toomer's coathanger. (And if you think that's extreme, just imagine riding an RMC with Arrow OTSR's and how much headbanging you'd get on a lot of the transitions vs how an Arrow would ride with just lapbars.)
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T-Express at Everland. And nothing else even comes remotely close. Pretty sure it's my new #1 wood.
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I have purchased the SWSA platinum pass in the past without being a TX resident and didn't have any issues (paid in full, not EZ pay).
BUT, I was not able to successfully redeem any of the passmember offers for BGT/SWO through the online passmember portal. I was fine if it was something I could do in person in FL, but I just couldn't get it to work in advance online.
I also was denied the platinum preferred parking at BGW because they said they don't honor that for other region platinum passes, but they didn't give me any issues with a FL platinum pass this year, so YMMV.
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ADVICE: I'm taking my first trip to BGW this Saturday! I'm really excited to visit this park after years of seeing pictures and new rides being added.
I expect the park to be busy, so lines are not a big issue. What are some suggestions for a first timer at BGW? Ride order? Shows that are a must see? Best haunts?
And yes, we do plan to make it a full day, opening to close. Thanks everyone!
I'm almost always an advocate for line skip passes anywhere on the weekends, but that may or may not be workable for you. One thing I would recommend is to keep in mind the opening times for the different areas of the park since it doesn't all open at the same time (should be printed on the park maps). I believe (but may be wrong) that the Verbolten area is the last to open. When I was last there in the spring, Loch Ness Monster was operating at 9:45, with InvadR and Griffon opening at 10. I think Tempesto/Apollo didn't open till after 10 though, but I'm not 100%.
If you're there early and can be lined up to get through the gates quickly when they start letting people in, you could probably get on and off of Nessie and hustle back to be one of the first people on InvadR. Then Griffon, Alpengeist, Verbolten, and finish with Tempesto/Apollo? YMMV though with crowds/ride opening times. Obviously with QQ, you can just do everything at your own pace though.
For the coasters themselves, I don't have a big preference for seating on Loch Ness Monster (though I tend towards the 2nd to last row). I like InvadR near the back (I think row 6 is the magical spot where you get both pops of air at the tops of the hills but still get a good yank down the first drop); it's also surprisingly fun after dark (and my favorite ride to end the night on). I like the last row on the dive coasters, so my vote for Griffon is the far back left seat. I tend to prefer inverts in the back, but I do really like Alpengeist in the front row; unfortunately, it's not uncommon for the front row to have a rather lengthy line while the rest of the train is practically a walk-on. I recommend Verbolten from the middle towards the front because the back whips you a bit exiting the building and heading into that launch; you do lose out on some visuals in the very very front though. For Tempesto, I go with the back because I just generally love being launched backwards up a spike/hill/loop. I don't know that I ever settled on my preferred row for Apollo though, so I guess you'll just have to ride it a bunch to find your happy place.
Hope that helps some!
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^If you have a phone that runs the app, I wouldn't recommend spring $30 a piece for extra T Express queue passes. You can use the app to do the lottery and since you get a point for every half hour your in the park you can try probably at least 3 times if your there for opening since you'll have the 5 points needed every 2 and a half hours.
That Unlimited Magic pass for Lotte World used to be really pricey and limited, like only 30 a day allowed to be sold. Nice to see it is a bit cheaper and more available. If the app didn't work you could have scanned your ticket in one of the machines around the park, and booked 1 ride at a time, like old Disney paper fast pass style, they're provided for people who don't have phones but not an issue with your premium and chances are that most free slots would have been booked up by people arriving in the morning.
Good to know on the lottery. It seemed like the rides had stopped issuing those by the time I got there, but I may have been mistaken. Their entire Q-Pass system isn't very easy to understand, and the way they tried to explain it on their English website did not at all jive with what I saw when I got there. Things may have been different if I had been there all day instead of trying to just come in the evening, but it is what it is. Next time I'll probably pre-book the ticket + 5 Q-pass and try my hand at just being there from opening w/ the lottery passes. I would probably still make advance reservations for the free Klook Q-passes just in case but wait on spending any money on the $30 tickets so I'd at least have the option if I needed it.
I don't know how many of the Unlimited passes at Lotte they had for sale, but when I got there close to 5PM, they still had 20-something available (and more of the 5-skip type). Given that it was late in the day on a decently busy Saturday, I was prepared for them to be sold out, but it was nice that they still had them. It did cost 100,000 Won (~$100 US), but to me it was totally worth that. I will say that for the free Magic Passes, most of the rides were out of return time tickets or very close to it by the time I got there. I think for anyone wanting to use that option the key would be getting there for opening.
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I ended up going with my aggressive plan, and managed fairly well considering.
Thursday:
I actually got to Everland a little after 3. I was a bit miffed that there's no way to buy extra Q-passes on the day-of (because most of the waits for the big attractions were around an hour), but I managed 4 laps on T-Express and hit the other coasters once, plus a couple other bits. I was really disappointed with how they did a lot of the attraction scheduling, though. It wasn't just T-Express that closed early: almost all of the major rides/attractions closed at least 90 mins before the park's closing time. I guess they wanted to make sure everyone was off the rides and headed to the exit by closing time, but it made for an anticlimactic end to the night (this on top of a bunch of the rides closing for an hour earlier in the evening to transition to 'haunted' versions of the attraction).
Overall, Everland seems to be a park with a lot of potential, but I would recommend to anyone else to plan a full day there. And pre-buy their admission ticket + 5 Q-pass option. And then if you really want more, the best way I could see to do that would be to buy extra admission tickets from Klook and pick up the free paper Q-pass they give you from their booth (you have to pre-register for the Q-passes, but you can wait to buy the tickets till the day of). It'll cost you like $30 per Q-pass doing it this way, but it appears to be the only way I can see to get extra line skips. And honestly, T-Express is worth it.
T-Express may be the best wooden coaster I've ever ridden. I really do not like El Toro (largely because of how the restraint hits my gut), but I *loved* T-Express. They have a more generous go-position on the restraint than El Toro does, and I honestly think the layout is 1000x more interesting. I've heard that it's basically the first couple hills of Toro, followed by basically a clone of Balder's layout. If so, I think I'd quite enjoy Balder as well. But T-Express had tons of great stand-up ejector air, the likes of which you can't get in the states because they staple you in so bad, and it was fantastic. I appreciated that the pacing of the ride wasn't balls-to-the-wall insanity. It's nice to have the occasional moment to catch your breath, and I miss that with so many of the newer coasters being built these days. I honestly don't know that I have any real criticisms of T-Express, other than the line and the aforementioned stuff with the park, except the fact that it's on the other side of the planet from me. I'm struggling to officially dethrone my existing top wooden coasters, but honestly, T-Express probably deserves that #1 spot.
Friday:
Despite the rain forecast, I still headed to Gyeongju World. I had already purchased my KTX tickets and didn't really have anything else lined up, so I hopped on the train and hoped for the best. I had been checking their website/blog/facebook pages for updates, but hadn't seen any closure notices, so I was praying for good news. The forecast showed fairly light rain the first part of the day before it got progressively heavier as the typhoon headed that way, and I was hopeful that the park would at least be open till noon or so. Unfortunately, I learned the hard way that what we consider to be 'light rain' is 'heavy rain' to the Koreans. I got to Gyeongju World a little before opening, and found myself the only person there. I had started trying to figure out my next move when some park employees saw me standing there, and they told me the park wasn't going to open at all that day and they were very sorry I had come all that way for nothing. I asked if I could at least walk around for a few minutes and take some pictures, and they generously agreed. I have to say, Gyeongju World is an absolutely beautiful park, with tons of statues and cool rockwork and detail that you just don't see in a lot of parks. I was extremely impressed with the friendliness and generosity of the employees, and I would heartily recommend that anyone visiting Korea go check the park out.
Since my train ticket back to Seoul wasn't for a few more hours, the park employees pointed me to a restaurant down the road where I could enjoy a traditional Korean meal (which was fantastic), and then a nearby temple to go check out. Both were great, and I'm glad I did them rather than just twiddling my thumbs in the train station or trying to change to an earlier train or anything like that.
Unfortunately, my plan for Seoul Land that evening was a bust. Due to the approaching rains, they changed their closing time from 9 to 6, and I just didn't have time to get there to do anything before they closed. It wasn't a huge loss, and I honestly needed the rest.
Saturday:
I did the 7:30AM DMZ/JSA tour, and that was amazing. If you've never done it and you're going to be in Korea, go do one. Yes, I have pictures of me standing in North Korea. There was a lot more to it than I think I was expecting, and the history buff in me really really enjoyed the whole thing. We got back a little after 3, which gave me plenty of time to head to Lotte World for the evening.
At Lotte World, I sprung for the Unlimited MagicPass Premium, which basically let me walk right up to any ride and very nearly walk right on, as many times as I wanted to. (I couldn't do any of the normal MagicPass stuff, since that all relied on their app on your phone, and the app wouldn't run on my phone because it's a rooted phone.) Honestly, I wasn't expecting as much of a VIP treatment as I got, but it was really cool. I did Atlantis 4x, and most of the other major attractions once. Atlantis had a lot more zip than I was expecting, but holy crap Intamin sucks at train/restraint designs. But I honestly don't understand the point of the Aquatrax at all. I did the French Revolution without the VR, and that was different having the loop be after the meandering helices. Comet Express was a pleasant surprise; I didn't really know what to expect going in, and it was pretty cool. I did quite a lot of the other attractions in the park, from the balloons along the ceiling, to the mini log flume thing in the basement, to the haunted walkthrough, and more. I quite enjoyed my evening in the park, even if there wasn't any one thing that really stood out as a must-do, but I would totally come back again. I was disappointed that they didn't have any real park or ride-branded merchandise, but that appears to be an issue for a lot of parks I've been to in Asia.
Overall, it was a good (albeit brief) time. I have no idea when I'll be able to come back, but hopefully I'll be able to someday. I think it'll have to be for more than 3 days next time, though. Given the weather and my overall time constraints, I'm not really sure what else I could have done, but I'm overall fairly satisfied with how it worked out, so that's good. Thanks to Garet for the tips!
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Sometimes on trips (international and domestic) we have long days. People bring battery packs for their phones, snacks, umbrellas/ponchos, water bottles, etc.
Like you said, Robb has a ton of camera equipment. I carry a ton of stuff for me and KT, some of our other participants have what I mentioned above or go light and just stuff their pockets.
I think the only reason you see more people carrying bags on International trips is because those parks make it EASY to have a bag and don't charge for fluffy, fluffy bunnies filled with medicine and goo, not let you in line, have safe places to leave your stuff, etc.
Makes sense. Here's another topic for you:
I've done a lot of road trips across the US but am still relatively new to international travel. In the US, I almost never have any kind of base-camp and will chain parks together into a long trip, usually staying in different hotels in different areas each night and just leaving my luggage in the trunk of the rental car while I'm at the parks. On international trips, this seems to not really be a workable strategy. For my upcoming Korea trip, I've just got a hotel in Seoul and am taking public transportation everywhere. I've noticed in TPR trip reports that in places where a single hub doesn't make sense (like Japan), you'll hub in an area, then take a train to the next area and set up a hub there, etc.
My question is this: how do you handle dealing with all your stuff when changing hubs without losing a whole day to just travel? Do you check out of your hotel in the morning but leave all the bags at the hotel, go do park things, then come back & grab your stuff & get on a train to the next city? Or do you check out, head to the next city, drop your stuff at the new hotel there, and then go do things? Or are there other solutions? I can't imagine you'd be able to take luggage to any theme park and leave it anywhere. I did consider storage lockers at rail stations, but I can't imagine that could ever work for a group. How do you do it?
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In looking up info on several international parks, I ended up getting sucked down the rabbit hole of TPR TR's, and I noticed that in a lot of photos, a lot of TPR peeps are carrying bags/backpacks in the parks. As someone who normally just goes to parks with a wallet, phone, external USB battery pack, and maybe a bottle of water (if the park allows it) stuffed in my pockets (and prefers to avoid dealing with lockers whenever possible), I've never really felt the need to take a bag or more stuff with me. But seeing everyone else with bags makes me feel like I'm missing something about how to do international parks the right way. What am I missing? What all do you feel like the essentials are to carry with you when doing international trips? And how much do you find having a bag impacts your experience of the parks?
(I recognize that you in particular are likely usually carrying around camera equipment and things to film the rides and whatnot where a bag makes a lot of sense, but surely that isn't the same with everybody?)
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I’m more confused why coasterbro thinks a Mako clone at BGT would be “awesome”. If you want to ride Mako, it’s literaly an hour away, and your BGT annual pass also gets you into SWO.
In a perfect world, I'd have all my favorite rides at one park. I would love if Mako were at BGT instead of SWO, because then I wouldn't have to drive to Orlando whenever I wanted to ride it and could focus my vacation time on BGT instead of having to split it between Tampa & Orlando. But I get that that's not reality. I do, however, think a hyper or giga would be a great addition to BGT. And Mako is a good example of what I like in a hyper. But I don't see SWPE building a 2nd hyper (of any kind) an hour away from the one they just built, hence my thought that a giga might make more sense.
Again, this is all pipe-dreaming. I'm just happy to see them investing in the park, and I'm looking forward to the next two years of additions.
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an InvadR clone would be great
LOL! You really want BGT to get another GCI?!?!? Seriously??? Actually, thinking about it, if it leads to an eventual second RMC maybe that's not that bad of thinking after all!
Actually, yeah. I think GCI got a lot better with their designs as time went on, and I think a moderately-sized, fun, re-rideable, floater airtime-filled woodie would be great for the park (and different enough from anything they have to fit in well). Obviously, the park would have to actually take care of it, but hopefully a new woodie wouldn't need as much work as Gwazi did. They could even do the White Lightning treatment and give it a steel support structure. I don't think it needs to be a huge ride or a massive capacity monster. A small-to-mid-range GCI would be perfect. But even if they decided to go with something like Oscar's Wacky Taxi, I think that would be great as well. I've don't think I've ever ridden a better coaster with a 40" height requirement at a non-Disney park, and I think that would be a great ride to expand their kids' area.
RMC's are great, but they're a different type of ride altogether than a traditional wooden coaster, and they can cater to different crowds. I think there's room to have both, and it would continue rounding out one of the best coaster collections around.
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Oh, and that cost is high because they usually send the entire ACE Executive committee for free!
Shouldn't that be illegal somehow? Embezzlement or some other such nonsense?
Nope, that's totally legal. Unethical and wrong, but that's ACE for you. It's a completely shady "non profit" business filled with IMO absoultely shady people behind it. I have so many stories from over the years. All I can say is that I'm much happier with the way we do things and the best part of about ACE is that it gives a home to those horrible people we don't want on TPR. And they stick out like a sore thumb at our events. This weekend at WCB you could **EASILY** tell the people who were more "ACErs" than TPR members.
Were they the ones incessantly bugging all the park employees and asking all kinds of obnoxious questions (and then getting mad when the answers weren't what they wanted)?
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I have always felt that Busch Gardens Tampa has one of the best "quality over quantity" coaster line ups in the US if not even the world. There is not a single bad coaster in the mix, and in fact, when they removed Gwazi, even replaced with nothing, it actually IMPROVED the overall quality of their rides.
Both of these two rides will be fantastic and when I look at what they will have available....
Kumba
Montu
SheiKra
Cheetah Hunt
Scorpion
Cobra's Curse
Tigris
Future RMC
That list is looking amazing! Then throw in Falcon's Fury on top of it!
I mean, when the WORST roller coaster they have is a totally non-offensive, actually very fun Mack Wild Mouse or the kiddie coaster that is a VERY strong line-up of rides!
Agreed! If you throw in a couple more pieces, I think that would be enough to keep me from feeling the need to really ever go running around anywhere else in the US for my coaster fix. The big thing that BGT really lacks is anything with tons of floater to mild ejector airtime (I know Cheetah Hunt has a few pops, you kind of float a bit in SheiKra's drops, and I imagine the RMC will bring tons of strong ejector to the party). I would love to see a hyper or giga (a Mako clone would be awesome, but SWPE isn't going to do that to themselves, which is why I'd lean more towards a giga), and a really re-rideable woodie (an InvadR clone would be great, but I'd be happy with anything from an Oscar's Wacky Taxi all the way up to a Mystic Timbers).
Regardless, I'm pretty excited about this announcement as BGT is my absolute favorite park as it currently sits, and I'm really happy to see them investing in it after all the recent cuts they've done.
EDIT: And while I'm wishing, a dark ride or two would be pretty nice too.
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Not to pile on more but I did an ACE trip recently and the whole time I kept thinking back to the TPR trip I did. We didn't find out the schedule until we checked in at the hotel on day 1, ERT was a hot mess (sure there is a language piece but still) in the sense the park thought we wanted it on the SLC. They had that up and running but not the RMC (which was marketed as big part of the trip). Then the one park on the trip they revealed to us on the bus they could never get a hold of and there was a chance it was closed. They almost didn't go to it but enough of us were like "we have nothing better to do the rest of the day can we at least try?" It was open go figure. The one day they had local sightseeing scheduled, the trip planners decided they had to do some errands such as drop off paperwork for the next day's park so instead of seeing the places we were suppose to the buses were stuck in traffic going to the park we were going to the next day but just to drop off paperwork. The three buses and 100+ people had to give up seeing the biggest sights in the city because one person had to drop off paperwork.
To me the biggest difference was how nimble TPR trips were. You guys are clearly travel experts who know if X happens we can do Y and Z. Where is every road bump we hit on the trip they had no idea what do, whereas on the TPR when something happened you guys already had a backup plan or ideas ready. Like when GeForce broke during ERT, unplanned exclusive beer time started minutes later.
Did I mention this Japan trip is in the middle of typhoon season and they have zero contingency plans for rain?
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Now the real question is whether it's going to get the Storm Chaser treatment (2 coasters becoming 1 RMC with little resemblance to the original), the Twisted Colossus treatment (2 coasters becoming one long mobius coaster), or will stay 2 separate dueling coasters?
Unless the park was trolling with the "Rocky" comment and has no intention of actually RMCing Gwazi but is instead expanding the outdoor concert stage in 2020 so their events will be more "Rockin"...
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Oh, and that cost is high because they usually send the entire ACE Executive committee for free!
Shouldn't that be illegal somehow? Embezzlement or some other such nonsense?
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I mean, they're about to do a trip to Japan with over 150 people, at over $3k per person. That's a *half million dollars* of money flowing through 'nonprofit' 'volunteer' hands. I'd be shocked if all of those dollars were properly accounted for with the way they run their organization.
Well, to be fair, I for one know how much it costs to do a Japan trip and we usually charge over $3k per person...
But our trip also includes on property stays at higher end hotels at places like Disney and Universal. Express passes at all the parks that provide them. Quite a few meals included. All internal transportation (usually a Japanese Rail Pass or internal flights if needed). And as much ERT as the parks will allow us to purchase. Oh, and our prices are usually that much because our Japan trips are usually about 14-17 days and we are only amortizing costs across about 35-40 people because we aren't stupid enough to do a trip to Japan with 150 people.
Does ACE provide that same level of accommodations and perks for a similar length of time, because if not, that's an expensive trip and it would be really interesting to see where that money is going.
According to their FB event page, it's 17 parks in 11 days. They're only doing ERT at 3 parks (none of the major ones), are staying at 3 $200-300/night hotels (2 Hiltons and one really nice one in Tokyo), none of which are connected to any parks (or are even close to any parks). They're using 5 or 6 coaches to bus everyone around, except on the days at Disney & Universal people have to find their own way back to the hotel via public transport. The only meals being included are breakfasts at the hotels. The only express passes being included are the 7-skip passes at Universal. There are no non-amusement park tourist attractions/stops/time planned. Since the hotels are so far away from the parks, either they're all going to have to be getting up at an ungodly early hour or not being at the parks by opening (much less an hour or more early like you really need to do for Disney). Oh, and the organizers just discovered 2 weeks ago that one of the parks they had planned to visit is under construction and its coaster is closed, and another park wasn't even scheduled to be open on the day they had planned for it, so they had to rearrange their schedule. They still haven't released the full trip itinerary, and it starts in a week and a half.
I know a guy who is going, and he is piiiiiiisssed. They didn't find out the trip only included the above till like 2 weeks ago, long after they had everybody's money and refused to refund any of it. Oh, and the price was actually only $3400 for double-occupancy rooms. Single-occupancy was over $4600
I told him for that amount of money, (even on 4 weeks notice) he could have done everything they're planning to do but better, AND bought a $1000 2-day/3-night Disney vacation package w/ tons of FP's (that's really for 2 people) and still probably spent less. SMH
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I used to be on the list to vote in this poll, but they dropped me years ago, for which I have no regrets--the Golden Tickets are just dumb.
Same here, I think I missed voting 3 or 4 years ago and was not sent a ballot the following year. I used to write in selections for more than half the categories.
Attending certain ACE events pretty much gets you added to the list.
Oh, make no mistake about it, Amusement Today and the Golden Tickets have IMO some seriously shady business going on there. The fact that they have some weird connections with ACE, who absoultely DO NOT represent your average theme park guest in any way at all, and then also seem to play favorites to certain companies that either support Amusement Today with advertising dollars or other benefits, just shows how broken that whole system and organization is. As someone already pointed out, the parks that either have just completed a recent ACE convention or the parks that host or have recently hosted the Golden Tickets always seem to get extra "pats on the back" when it comes to the winners or their placement in the top rankings.This is not a legit awards by any stretch of the imagination and should not be taken seriously by anyone. It's just a shame that these have become the face of the industry as far as any awards go, mainly due to lack of anyone else willing to step in. We really should consider changing that and show the world how it should be done. Maybe that will also expose some of the shady practices going on here as well... Hmmm....
ACE's Communications Director & Association Manager are both Amusement Today Editors. They also are the ones responsible for ACE's RollerCoaster! publication, and one of them is involved in the sending out of Golden Ticket ballots.
Two of the other Amusement Today Contributors are listed in ACE's org chart (one is on the history committee, another is an assistant regional rep).
Here are their published ad rates: https://i1.wp.com/amusementtoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/2018-PrintAd-Rates.jpg
This obviously doesn't include whatever Mack, RMC, and S&S paid to sponsor the award ceremony event (which I'm sure in no way influenced the "Best Park", "Best New Ride for 2018", or "Best New Ride for 2019" voting). [My conspiracy theory is that the TT vote was "close" to SV to throw SDC and Mack a bone without actually giving them the victory, and that S&S's sponsorship this year is to grease the way for Maxx Force or Steel Curtain to win next year's Best New Ride award, but that may just be a conspiracy theory.]
I would love so much for someone to do a full audit of ACE's finances. It wouldn't shock me one bit if there's a bunch of funny business going on. I mean, they're about to do a trip to Japan with over 150 people, at over $3k per person. That's a *half million dollars* of money flowing through 'nonprofit' 'volunteer' hands. I'd be shocked if all of those dollars were properly accounted for with the way they run their organization.
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I wish they did the GTA voting more like the Mitch Hawker Poll, where relative scores are factored in. I think there should be an initial nomination stage for most categories, with a minimum threshold to be in contention. Then voters should rank contenders for each category, with the caveat that they have to have experienced that park/ride/attraction within the last 5 years (this year for new attractions), unless a major change has occurred in which case they would have needed to experience it since that change. Then w/ the relative scoring where you're looking at head-to-head comparisons to determine the rankings, that would hopefully start making this poll a little more well-rounded.
It also probably wouldn't hurt to clean up some of the categories a bit. There's no reason Knoebels Haunted Mansion should be in the same category as the Harry Potter rides. And it's okay to admit that most of the categories are really just US categories since most voters haven't done extensive overseas travel.
It's pretty ridiculous to have the same things winning every category year after year. I fundamentally don't understand how or why KI has had the best kids area for the last 18!?! years (except that enthusiasts know it's there because they have to walk through it on the way to Diamondback, but that only explains the last 10 years). Nothing against it, but it never really stood out as being anything particularly notable or special.
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Nice report! Glad you enjoyed Ghost Hunt, it’s one of my favorites. My high score is slightly over 400k ( have to go solo and spam the purple targets) but it’s a lot of fun trying to break high scores.
Wildcat is a lot smoother than it was, but it should have been fully re-tracked before given new trains. Lots of odd bouncy spots and shakiness. At least you don’t get a headache like you did on the old ones. And they only run one train because that’s what they do.
On BD I find any of the front cars to be ride-able but the front is the smoothest and probably my favorite. I can tolorate 6-1 and I really like the airtime back there. The ride usually runs very fast in October and in the dark it is insane. The green train is supposed to be going on within the next three weeks, so hopefully they will run two for those busy Graveyard weekends in October. They do want to fix up a few spots on the ride before October and I think they are planning to do the rough spot during the off-season.
I didn't see any sign of the green train, but they did have a crane nearby, so maybe? I would have loved some rides after dark, but the park was only open till 8. Maybe someday...
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So I did end up going to the park last Saturday and ended up having a pretty good day. Coaster-wise, it didn't seem like the park was prepped and ready to go as the only coaster operating at open was Zoomerang. Wildcat started testing after opening and opened maybe 15-ish mins later. Boulder Dash sent a train or two around and then didn't open till between 12:30 & 1. And Phobia didn't open till somewhere like 5:30/6. Despite that, I was able to get 8-10 rides in on BD and a lap on everything else before I had to head out.
I only rode Wildcat once, and it was in the back, but I wasn't terribly impressed. I know a lot of the older coasters tend to give airtime towards the front but not as much in the back, but the line got stupid long and stayed stupid long, and I really didn't feel like trying for a front row ride. I was a little surprised how not smooth it was for having been so substantially refurbished so recently and running new trains. Speaking of which, why don't they use the 2nd MF train they have?
Zoomerang was a Boomerang. If I never have to ride another Boomerang in my life, that'll be great.
Their Boo Blasters dark ride thing was really quite fun. It may be one of the better practical-effect shooting dark rides I've done. I rode it several times, but never could quite crack 200,000 points.
Phobia was a SkyRocket II. It was about what I expected based on riding the others, though for some reason the backwards launch into the spike didn't give me same stomach sensation that I'm used to getting from this type of element.
Boulder Dash was pretty fun. On my only other visit to the park, it went down for most of the day and I was only able to get 2 rides in. So I was glad to get to ride it a lot on this visit. I found it to be a front row or nothing type ride. I tried the 2nd to last row, and the front row of the 2nd car, and both bounced around so much that I'd rather just wait the extra couple trains for the front. The airtime is the best up there anyways. And what great airtime it was! The first 1/2 of the ride or so felt kind of like if the Beast had some airtime and was a little more intense. And the return leg was just airtime city. For some reason, though, despite both halves being as good as they are, I can't seem to mentally think of it as a top-20 coaster, despite it probably deserving to land in my top-15 or so. It's kind of weird. Maybe it's because it feels like 2 different coasters? I dunno...
I think if it's in tip-top shape, with all rows tracking well, both trains running, and that one super rough spot smoothed out, I can understand how it would be a top-5 woodie for a lot of people though. It's kind of a shame it's so hard to keep it running well though.
It'll probably be a while before I make another trip to LC--it's just hard to justify when BD is really the only draw for me. Maybe if I'm already in the area for work or something?
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So my rankings are (admittedly) a bit outside the norm. I don't enjoy the super strong, super abrupt ejector airtime that a lot of RMC's do. I prefer my airtime to be strong but sustained. I really do not like strong laterals while I'm out of my seat during airtime (let me settle back into the seat, then hit me with the laterals, please). And I don't tend to enjoy slow barrel roll inversions. Quick zero-g rolls, yes. Stalls & loops & straight hang-time, fantastic. Slow rolls, nope.
So all that being said, here's what I've got:
#1) Twisted Cyclone:
I was a big fan of the GA Cyclone in the magic seat. It was my 1st real coaster, and though I hated it at the time, I grew to quite love it, so I was disappointed when they decided to RMC it. I came in with fairly low expectations for the ride, but it absolutely blew me away. I think the pacing is perfect. The inversions are fantastic. The wave turn is the best wave turn RMC has made to date. It pays homage to the original GA Cyclone's big ejector hill. The slalom into the brake run is cool and smooth and not a violent, jerky transition like some other RMC's have where the track doesn't quite line up the way they want it to (lookin' at you, SV MCBR entry). And despite people being worried the ride was going to be too short, I actually found it to be quite full. I think if they had tried to do an extra lap around they would have been forced to resort to manufacturing airtime with those sharp little hills, and that would have killed my enjoyment of the ride altogether. I'm super glad I have this puppy in my back yard as it's fantastic all around. A+
#2) Iron Rattler:
This was originally supposed to be my 500th coaster, but rain showers basically killed that whole trip. I finally got around to riding it this year, and I thought it was great all around. I do wish it could have somehow been a little bit longer, as it seems like as soon as you dive off the quarry wall you're done, but it's still great fun nonetheless. A
#3) Goliath:
I know a lot of people give this ride crap because it's so short, but I really enjoyed it. I don't at all consider this a wooden coaster, no matter what they officially say. It's steel supports w/ steel track. I really enjoy the stall and the dive loop. It's not too crazy with the shenanigans. A
#4) New Texas Giant:
The original, and still quite solid. A-
#5) Twisted Colossus (when dueling):
There are a few little bits of this I don't love, but the dueling experience makes up for that. The Top Gun Stall is a thing of beauty. B+
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#'s 6-12) These coasters are hard to rank against each other, since most of them have things that are great, but all of those do dumb things I hate as well. And I don't know how to balance the great against the hate and come to a meaningful conclusion. Couple that with a few that I felt didn't really flag either extreme, and we get a cluster of coasters I might ride a few times but wouldn't think about marathonning. The list below is in no particular order. All of these coasters are in the B-C range
Steel Vengeance:
I was super hyped for what many people are calling the best coaster ever built. I went to great lengths to make sure it was my #600. And I did not think it was all that amazing. There were a number of elements I quite enjoyed, but there were also several things I actively disliked that really hurt my wanting to re-ride (and thus my rankings). There were a few spots where the track shaping felt like mistakes (the entry into the MCBR being the most egregious, but there were a couple other spots where a directional change happened mid-element in a way that had to be to make the track line up for the next sequence but didn't fit or flow naturally). I really hated the aborted-barrel-roll-drop/not-quite-a-stall 2nd inversion; it either needed to be a stall, where it hangs in the inverted position before twisting back out, or a normal barrel roll drop. As shaped, it's really quite a violent element. Not too long after the MCBR is a fake-out hill/turn thing that isn't fun. And the bunny hops at the finale are just dumb & painful (give me 2 drawn-out hills there instead of 4 sharp little ones). Most of the rest of the ride was quite great though, which is why it's such a shame it had so many things I didn't enjoy. As it sits, I might give it a couple of laps on my next visit to CP, but I'm going to marathon Dragster & Millie long before I'd consider trying to get a bunch of laps in on SV.
Storm Chaser:
Most of the first 2/3 of the ride is great. I love the barrel roll drop, the overbanks, the airtime hill, the zero-g roll. But the trick-track double-up is what kills me. That is an uncomfortable element, and then the ending of the ride is only meh.
Twisted Timbers:
Twisted Timbers is really just Storm Chaser 2.0. It does all the good things SC does, except more and better, but it also does all the bad things SC does, except more and worse. Great barrel roll drop, and airtime sequence. I don't love the cutback, but it is what it is. Again though, the trick-track double-up kills me. Then the outward banked ejector hill/turn thing. Then the dumb meandering swooshes and sharp bunny hills. If they had put the airtime hill that's after the TTDU in place of the TTDU and then just connected straight to the brake run, this would be in my top 2 or 3 for RMC's. But the ending just kills off all the goodwill that the great first 2/3 of the ride built.
Wicked Cyclone:
Generally a fun ride, but nothing really stands out as great or super sucky. There are a couple of transitions that aren't the most comfortable, and the last inversion is taken a bit slow for my taste. But it's a solid enough ride.
Medusa Steel Coaster:
I rode this when they were doing the VR. I was told that they had to slow the ride down to make the timing work, so I've never ridden it at full tilt. I only got a few laps in, but I don't remember it being overly remarkable in either direction. Would I ride again? Yes. Would I make another trip to Mexico just for it? Nope.
Joker:
By far the best coaster in the park. But I found it to be largely unremarkable. I don't think GCI's take to being RMC'd very well, as it felt like zooming around a lot to get to the next element, moreso than a coherent, well-paced layout. I did, however, quite enjoy the stall and the step-up-under-flip inversion thing (which seems like what the first inversions on Twisted Cyclone and Steel Vengeance are modeled after).
Lightning Rod:
It took far too many visits to finally get a ride on this (and it's ridiculous that they can't get it open and keep it open). Overall, it's pretty fun. But the pothole at the bottom of the first drop is really bad. And when it's running at full-tilt, I find most of the elements (the quad-down in particular) to be quite painful. I got some rides in at night in late fall last year when it was running a little slower and really enjoyed it, but I think that was the exception rather than the norm.
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#13) Wonder Woman:
This ride was just too intense to be enjoyable for me. It felt like getting thrown around like a rag-doll. I rode it several times hoping to find something to like about it, but it just wasn't fun for me. D
#14) Outlaw Run:
This ride is not good. I don't know if it's just the steel wheels on steel track or what, but you feel every track seam as a kerchunk straight up your spine, no matter what seat you're in. There are a couple of spots where the track hits some sizable potholes that provide even more spine bashing. The pacing/intensity isn't really what I enjoy. And then the ride ends with back-to-back slow barrel rolls, which I really really dislike. F
I have not ridden Wildfire or RailBlazer and am unlikely to anytime in the near future.
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I'll be at the park tomorrow. My goal is to get a bunch of rides on BD and at least 1 lap on everything else. Are there certain ebbs & flows of weekend crowds that I need to know about? Or will everything settle around whatever wait it's going to be and stay there most of the day? I'm hoping things will somehow magically be half hour waits or less, but I honestly have no idea if that's even remotely reasonable, especially considering 1-train ops. Any locals who know what's up willing to enlighten me? Thanks!
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I know people wanted a record breaker giga or a inversion crazed coaster. This is a good fit and one thing Magic Mountain is missing. A tame coaster that the whole family can enjoy. It will be our Verbolten, Maverick or Corba Curse.
It's something I can ride with my little girl. She is 42 inches in height and every time we hit the mountain, she ask can I ride that? When I have to tell her no. Then I hear, ah man....! So hopefully she will be tall enough to ride this and others next year. Tired of paying for a season pass and being stuck in Bug Bunny World.
This may be the first time I've ever heard Maverick and 'tame' in the same conversation. Lol.
Have they said what the height requirement will be? The SkyRocket I/II/III's are all 52-54". Fiorano GT Challenge is 51". I'd be shocked for this to be less than 48" (what the BSC clones are), but wouldn't be shocked at 52-54".
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So it starts off with two elements uniquely found on Twisted Colossus (high five and top gun stall)?
I think the coaster looks pretty interesting/fun (minus the awful Premier comfort collars shown in the video), but I think it would've worked better for any other SF park. It seems pretty redundant as it's essentially a hybrid of YOLOcoaster/Twisted Colossus.
PS- I hope they find a way to consistently race them and learned from the challenges with Twisted Colossus.
This. All of this.
Also, my first thought after seeing 'World's First Racing Launch Coaster' was that that was complete marketing BS. The quad-launched Fiorano GT Challenge at Ferrari World was the first other racing launch coaster to come to mind. Don't call something a 'World's First' when it isn't. Call it the world's first launched Möbius racing coaster instead.
Ongoing Photo TR: A.J. Explores More Florida
in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
Posted
You say that now, but when it's hot as balls in the middle of the summer, Cobra Curse's dark, air-conditioned queue is a welcome respite.
I normally wouldn't wait more than 20 mins for a ride like that, but I'll happily wait an hour in that AC on a hot day.