texcoaster

With notable exceptions, I'd say that I watch a "raw" coaster DVD about 99% for the video and 1% for the audio. The audio track isn't a big deal... the video track is!

As overrated as I think CP is, I just can't imagine them stooping so low as to install a used boomerang.

It would still be better than calling a Bat-clone "Goliath"

I think we may have a winner. Hmmmm... the only thing is that the folks in the back car are SMILING. Perhaps they've never been on it? I think that if it IS the Giant, that would explain the looks on the faces of the folks in the foreground. The more I look at it, the more I think that you're right, though. I had forgotten that it had those headrests for awhile.

I am a member, but the point of the thread was to find out the identity of the coaster.

He said it came to him via an email with a bunch of humorous, untitled pictures. There's no telling where the pic originated.

I saw this picture in the Mensa forums yesterday, and I'm stumped trying to figure out what coaster it is. Here's what we know from the pic: [1] woodie [2] unpainted [3] dark blue PTC trains with single camelhump headrests [4] individual lap bars with grab handles in the crook [5] single seat belt across both riders I can rule OUT a lot of coasters based on that list, but can't come up with one that fits. Any ideas? Future enthusiast

If this poll had been taken several years ago, I'd have said B&M, no contest. I'd have pointed out that while Intamin was churning out a lot of the same stuff with different layouts, B&M was busy giving us new things: a dive machine, a flying coaster, stand-up designs, etc etc etc. Now, it's exactly the opposite: B&M has gotten stale. It seems that they've perfected a set of inversions, helices, and speed hills, and now they're just plugging them together like someone who relies on Elementary too much when making a ride in No Limits. Intamin, on the other hand, is cranking out stuff like Kingda Ka, Maverick, El Toro, designing radical forces into their rides, pushing the envelope. Ask yourself this: when you hear that a new B&M is getting installed somewhere, do you REALLY get geeked up on it, or do you take a look at the layout and think "Ok, more of the same"? (cough, Led Zeppelin, cough) As much as I love B&M rides, I gotta say that I haven't seen anything from them in awhile that has made me alter my vacation plans just to go ride it. Intamin wins (as of Dec 07, anyway)

Everyone likes different things... Voyage is easily my #1 out of 483 coasters. It does everything I want a wood coaster to do, and does it to extremes. Simple as that. However, I must say that if Boardwalk Bullet reopens next year pulling the sorts of speed and airtime numbers they're predicting, I might just have a new #1 coaster in 2008....

AMEN! I got off of that ride thinking THAT WAS IT????? WTF? The other rides at Alton are amazing. I was truly bummed by Rita. It was the only coaster I rode there that I didn't do more than once.

The difference, though, is that Expedition GeForce actually lives up to the hype. It's the ONLY steelie to ever grace the #1 overall spot on my list. I never thought I'd see the day when I liked ANY steel coaster better than my favorite wood coaster, but EGF held that #1 spot until this summer.

I freakin LOVE SROS at SFA and SFDL. Part of the reason I like them is the straightaways. I love coming out of the "twenty minute helix" and seeing that long flat track with that impossibly tall hill ahead. I think that after that bigass helix and all the straight track, there's NO WAY we're going to get over that hill coming up. I'm always wrong. We FLY over it like Superman leaping a tall building in a single bound. True, the layout doesn't make a lot of sense from a pure "most bang for the buck" standpoint. They could've fit a lot more "action" in those straight sections... but then it would lose a lot of its charm, IMHO.

Here's my official review: VERY NICE. I love having the full-ride POV footage, and watching on Guruguy's huge-ass screen made it even better. It was also a great idea to put all the woodies on one disc and the steelies on another. Menus were easy to navigate and it was refreshing to hear the comments of the riders (and the beautiful sounds that a wood coaster makes on its own) without having to tune out the music. The only complaint I have is that there's no back-catalog of raw footage from the numerous other coaster expedition DVDs I have. While I enjoy those, and they are GREAT for showing to folks who aren't coaster fanatics, since there's actual entertainment value in those in addition to coaster footage, I'd still love to have a lot of those rides in raw format, too.

Going by the animation on Gravity Groups page the ride should run about 54 seconds from the end of lift to the first mag brake. It was running 69-71 seconds when TPR was down for the photo/video shoot. I'm not sure the overall speed increase in MPH but if it does get to the mid 50's its going to be a totally different ride for sure. -GG It was a totally different ride when it was hitting 62 seconds on those rain rides on opening day!!! While I can possibly imagine a 60 second ride, I just refuse to believe that it will ever get to 54. If it does, there will be airtime all over that ride! There's airtime in weird spots when it hits the mid-60's... there will be thigh bruises if you shave another 10 seconds off that!

Oh geez... just so they don't refurb Timber Wolf and KD Grizzly the same year! I'd really be torn as to which direction to go for that year's vacation. I'd probably side with Grizzly, just because of the other rides at the park.

This is why I hate the hardcore enthusiasts. Seriously, if you are creating DRAMA about a roller coaster poll, you need to step back and reevaluate your life. Your favorite coaster being #1 or #212 doesn't matter, because IT'S YOUR FAVORITE COASTER. Sometimes I think people forget this hobby is supposed to be about having fun. I think that perhaps people are just insecure and like to have their tastes validated. If the rest of the world agrees with them on something, then they feel better. I'm sorta the other way around. I prefer to be unique in my opinions, and having Voyage come in at #1 is almost a disappointement. When folks ask what my favorite coaster is, and I say "Voyage", there's no surprise, no need to start a conversation around it... For a few years, my #1 coaster was MegaZeph. I might've been the only one on the planet who put it at #1, but that was fine by me. I loved that ride and it offered everything I wanted in a wood coaster, all in one package. It was replaced by Expedition GeForce. You wanna get some nasty looks from some enthusiasts? Tell them that a steelie is your #1 overall coaster. I'm a bigtime wood coaster lover, so nobody was more surprised than me when EGF took the #1 spot, but there it was. I didn't care what others thought. Now, after riding Voyage this year, it's #1. Apparently, just like lots of others' lists. Darn. The only real controversial thing on my list now is Boardwalk Bullet at #2. There are those (especially amongst those on TPR with lesser intelligence) who would call that "local bias" but again, I don't care what they think. Well, as long as they wait until they ride it before passing judgement! So: Congrats, Voyage. Better luck next year, El Toro. Looking forward to seeing Bullet break the top 10 after the trackwork is done. Until then, I'm hoping to find another coaster to replace my #1 spot. Not because of some poll... just because it's great to find a coaster that you love that much.

if this poll actually IS referring to Halloween Horror Nights, it's freakin OVER. How is it that this thread isn't locked already?

Some other coaster pics I've taken that I like.... Just one of many reasons I love the Voyage Raven dives into the woods on the infamous 5th drop. Had the shutter speed all wrong for this Nemesis shot. Ended up liking it a lot! Me, this year, at the foot of Voyage's first drop. Summer of 1972. That's me in the Gilligan hat, about to step onto my very first coaster, EVER. It scared me so badly that I didn't ride another one for four years! Back when cameras had film rather than cards, you could accidentally get a double exposure... I love this shot of Mich Adv's Corkscrew!

Some pics of the Boardwalk Bullet An M&V worker checks out the track from up close Not sure why my camera phone was upset by the speeds, but it made for a cool, warped pic. This is about to get really, REALLY intense... This is as much of the insane zig-zag as you'll see until you're actually on the ride. Angle not usually seen in Bullet photos I want this house! I can't afford it, though. Compact car. Compact coaster. Both take turns at high speeds.

I call Bullsh!t. The poll is not to determine which wood coaster feels the most like an old fashioned coaster. The poll is to determine the best wood coaster. Wood coasters are defined by the tracks they roll on. Why is this BS? For each individual voter, the "BEST" wood coaster is the one that he or she LIKED THE MOST. Period. If a person likes a wood coaster to feel like an old-fashioned wood coaster as opposed to a smooth steelie feel, then for that person their ranking of the "BEST" coaster is totally valid. No. She said that she likes steelies to be smooth, and in fact dislikes Vekomas and rides with OTSRs because of the roughness. I must say that I agree with her on that one. I expect a little rough-n-tumble on a wood coaster, but I like smoothness in a steelie. To each his own. To call someone's vote BS because their idea of what makes a good wood coaster is different than yours, that's pretty pathetic. Shame on you.

^^ The poll had more than 700 ballots this year. It would take a LOT of sandbaggers, all with the same agenda, to wreck the poll in any meaningful way.

^^ this is true. The "sandbagger" did no more damage to El Toro by ranking it #170 than he would've by ranking it #2.

Hang on now... while it's certainly possible that someone sandbagged a vote, it's also possible that they just didn't like El Toro that much. I know of one person that I talked to while riding Bullet who complained that ET was "too damn smooth for a wood coaster" and that she liked the airtime, but was disappointed in the ride overall. I had much the same response to Colossus at Heide Park. When I got off the first ride, I was actually sorta pissed off. It was this huge wood coaster, but I felt like I kinda got cheated out of a wood coaster experience. It felt like a steelie, and that's not what I wanted from that ride. If I had stopped at one ride, Colossus would be near the bottom of my list. Luckily, the crowds were light and I was able to ride it several times. As I started appreciating the ride for what it was and not what I expected it to be, it moved up on my list quite a bit. So it could be that some of those El Toro haters had the same reaction to it that I had to Colossus, but didn't bother going back for repeat rides.

^^ the beauty of Mitch's poll is that coasters with higher numbers of riders aren't biased against those with fewer riders. While it's true that a well-ridden coaster shows more accurately how well it's liked, it's not true that a coaster with 500 riders will automatically rank higher than one with 50.

Yeah, but you've ridden 71 coasters at age 14!!! Not feelin' too sorry for ya, bud. When I was 14, my ride count was lower than my age.