EL TORO vs. THE VOYAGE

[easytoremember]

I don't see how everybody thinks Voyage is rough. Yes, it does throw you around, but I felt no real roughness. But then again I am able to tolerate the GA cyclone even on its worst day, so I guess my definition of rough is different than most peoples.

[coasterfreak101]

I haven't been on The Voyage, but I have been on El Toro. El Toro looks (from the videos at least) to fly much faster over the hills than The Voyage does, in my opinion. And it definately is an experience, and a quick one at that!

 

From looks, I think that El Toro looks better...but The Voyage could be just as good, who knows? Especially after it's recent semi-re-tracking, it could be a little better now! But I still tink that El Toro looks better from the videos (and as of my ride, I don't think any woodie can beat it!)

 

*EDIT: Just realized, according to the recent Wood Coaster Poll results, The Voyage is #1 and El Toro is #3 (Balder is #2). Of course, The VOyage opened a few months earlier, and was more "pumped-up" for, so I'm sure that a few more people have riden it than they have El Toro.*

[TheArchfiend]

Does anyone know why the Voyage was chosen to be built with those metal frame supports as opposed to wooden ones? Imagine that, a wood coaster actually built out of wood. That is the biggest gripe I have against this coaster. That support structure is just so ugly. At least paint it or something. But, the ride kicks ass so I guess one can look past the aesthetic ugliness of this "wooden" coaster.

 

Why would they build a coaster but make it look more like a big pile of scaffolding than a world class coaster? I guess it's easier to build a "scaffolding" coaster than a good ol' wooden one?

 

And just how is The Voyage considered a wooden coaster anyway?

[coasterguy618]

I think hybrid was made much earlier than that, because the Coney Island Cyclone utalizes hybrid structure.

 

I hope you're not serious. The Coney Island Cyclone was built in the 20's.

[imbordisux]

Does anyone know why the Voyage was chosen to be built with those metal frame supports as opposed to wooden ones? Imagine that, a wood coaster actually built out of wood. That is the biggest gripe I have against this coaster. That support structure is just so ugly. At least paint it or something. But, the ride kicks a$$ so I guess one can look past the aesthetic ugliness of this "wooden" coaster.

 

Why would they build a coaster but make it look more like a big pile of scaffolding than a world class coaster? I guess it's easier to build a "scaffolding" coaster than a good ol' wooden one?

 

Some manufacturers/parks prefer the durability of steel, and I'm sure an argument can be made about "saving trees", though that's kind of a moot point when you're building a woodie.

 

And just how is The Voyage considered a wooden coaster anyway?

 

Same way the famous Coney Island Cyclone is considered a wooden coaster - the rails on which the trains run are wooden, hence, a wooden coaster. Doesn't matter how the rails are held up, as the supports have no effect on the ride itself.

 

Likewise, Gemini at Cedar Point is considered a steel coaster, as, while the supports are wooden, the rails are steel.

 

I mean, you could support the rails on stacks of french toast, but it's rails more than anything else that effect the ride.

 

And for what it's worth, I quite like the look of The Voyage; I'm generally not a fan of steel supports on a woodie, but at that size, I think it's damn impressive looking, almost like it's saying "This coaster is so monstrous, we HAD to use steel!"

[TheArchfiend]

And for what it's worth, I quite like the look of The Voyage; I'm generally not a fan of steel supports on a woodie, but at that size, I think it's damn impressive looking, almost like it's saying "This coaster is so monstrous, we HAD to use steel!"

 

Good point. I haven't seen it in person yet so I may come away with the same impression. From what I've seen picture and video wise so far was just kinda "bleh".

 

I just feel Voyage would look so much more monstrous made out of wood. El Toro on the other hand is monstrous on two levels; 1) It's sheer humungous size of clutter of all that stacked wood and 2) It's placemnet side by side and through Rolling Thunder showing how RT is absolutely dwarfed in comparison. Now that's monstrous.

[ginzo]

And for what it's worth, I quite like the look of The Voyage; I'm generally not a fan of steel supports on a woodie, but at that size, I think it's damn impressive looking, almost like it's saying "This coaster is so monstrous, we HAD to use steel!"

 

Good point. I haven't seen it in person yet so I may come away with the same impression. From what I've seen picture and video wise so far was just kinda "bleh".

 

I just feel Voyage would look so much more monstrous made out of wood. El Toro on the other hand is monstrous on two levels; 1) It's sheer humungous size of clutter of all that stacked wood and 2) It's placemnet side by side and through Rolling Thunder showing how RT is absolutely dwarfed in comparison. Now that's monstrous.

 

Sounds like a bit of NJ fanboyism. They're both obviously pretty awesome rides, although I haven't gotten to ride El Toro yet. Looks can be deceiving. Who would think that the Avalanche is a top ride just by looking at it? And, isn't El Toro even more dwarfed by Kingda Ka than Rolling Thunder is by El Toro?

[ginzo]

Why not make a voyage clone with plug and play intamin track

That would be pretty sweet! I felt Voyage was pretty darn rough when we rode it, and it only like 3 weeks old!!! And add a little bit more airtime while you're at it!

 

--Robb "A smoother Voyage with more airtime might have made me actually rank it #1." Alvey

 

The Voyage's biggest problem is inconsistency. My first few rides were mind-blowing, but I've also had some crap rides on it with a bit of jackhammering. I rode it in three separate trips in May, July, and August. I think it was best in May. Let's hope the track work they just completed clears up these issues.

 

I've also found that the front seat of the Voyage is a lot smoother than most of the other seats. The third seat, oddly, can be brutal. It's also a really bad idea to put your arms up in the finale because you can often find your elbows bashing into your riding partner's head.

[pinkfloydfanatic]

So does the Intamin woodies really loses much more energy than traditional woodies because of the polyurthene(sp?) wheels? I mean El Toro is a couple feet taller than Voyage yet has a track length that is 2000 feet shorter than Voyage. But Voyage is still going at least 50 mph in the very last tunnel!! I also notice that Colossos @ Heide Park has only around 4500 feet and even that slows down at the very end. So how much height is needed on a Intamin woodie with 7500-8000 feet of track to keep the extreme sustained airtime on El Toro thoughout such a long ride (1.5 mile)? Would 1 or 2 bench cars work better at keeping the energy up?

[easytoremember]

The big reason voyage keeps its speed is the return run is all down hill.

[pinkfloydfanatic]

I know that it is downhill but if Voyage was an Intamin woodie instead of a TGG woodie using El Toro type trains would it still be slower because of increased friction? I've seen several woodies (Not the Intamin type) with longer track than El Toro or Colossos but with shorter lifts. Examples includes Voyage, Mean Streak, Hades, Texas Giant & Shivering Timbers. This is not to bash Intamin woodies since they sound like awesome rides. For example El Toro has more hills than High Roller at VF so it is not that short but you'd think they could make the layout longer with the height they put in the ride so my question is does the Intamin trains have more friction than a PTC or GCI MF train? Intamin woodies seems to be very forceful world class rides and I'd like to see a park in FL get one maybe that new park the Miami Zoo is trying to build.

[TheArchfiend]

Sounds like a bit of NJ fanboyism. They're both obviously pretty awesome rides, although I haven't gotten to ride El Toro yet. Looks can be deceiving. Who would think that the Avalanche is a top ride just by looking at it? And, isn't El Toro even more dwarfed by Kingda Ka than Rolling Thunder is by El Toro?

 

Yes, Ka dwarfs everything in the park, I was making the point that Rolling Thunder and El Toro are literally side by side. THAT makes Toro look monstrous to a greater degree than if it was just standing alone IMO.

 

And I wasnt trying to say that The Voyage looked unimpressive... I was just saying it looked "ugly" constructed out of steel as opposed to wood. Think of when the Statue of Liberty was refurbished in the late 1980s and it was surrounded by a similarly massive steel structure. That was impressive to see up close but not such a pretty sight in the grand scheme of things. Think of how much prettier the Statue of Liberty would have looked surrounded by massive cloumns of wood instead of steel

[Buckeye Brad]

Does anyone know why the Voyage was chosen to be built with those metal frame supports as opposed to wooden ones? Imagine that, a wood coaster actually built out of wood. That is the biggest gripe I have against this coaster. That support structure is just so ugly. At least paint it or something. But, the ride kicks a$$ so I guess one can look past the aesthetic ugliness of this "wooden" coaster.

 

Why would they build a coaster but make it look more like a big pile of scaffolding than a world class coaster? I guess it's easier to build a "scaffolding" coaster than a good ol' wooden one?

 

And just how is The Voyage considered a wooden coaster anyway?

 

I asked this same question when the Voyage was announced. The answers I received...

1. Steel structure is cheaper than wood

2. Steel structure is faster to build than wood

3. Steel structure is easier/cheaper to maintain than wood

 

So it seems that these three reasons added up to a significant financial savings. I agree that painting the steel a "woody" color might look nice, but future re-painting would be required and pretty expensive.

I do like that the steel structure has a similar design to a typical wooden coaster structure (as opposed to big tube supports like a B&M)

 

-Buckeye Brad

[easytoremember]

I know that it is downhill but if Voyage was an Intamin woodie instead of a TGG woodie using El Toro type trains would it still be slower because of increased friction? I've seen several woodies (Not the Intamin type) with longer track than El Toro or Colossos but with shorter lifts. Examples includes Voyage, Mean Streak, Hades, Texas Giant & Shivering Timbers. This is not to bash Intamin woodies since they sound like awesome rides. For example El Toro has more hills than High Roller at VF so it is not that short but you'd think they could make the layout longer with the height they put in the ride so my question is does the Intamin trains have more friction than a PTC or GCI MF train? Intamin woodies seems to be very forceful world class rides and I'd like to see a park in FL get one maybe that new park the Miami Zoo is trying to build.

I don't think El Toro is short because it ran out of breath. Looking at POVs it seems to have a good deal of speed left. There may be other reasons that it is much shorter than voyage, like money and space.

[SharkTums]

I'm bringing this back from the dead since I just rode El Toro!

 

YAY!! EL TORO!!

 

Seriously though, the rides seem VERY similar. They both start out with a few large straight hills, then do some twisty stuff, then a few more hills and end.

 

That being said, here's my comparison:

 

Lift - Dude...ET's lift is a ride in itself! I swear we were going like 25mph before even hitting the first drop!

 

Hills/Airtime - ET has some of the most extreme airtime ever! In the back seat the first drop, next two hills, and that insane hill over Rolling Thunder. In the front seat the two hills and the Rolling Thunder hill...wow, just wow!

 

Trains - I've always liked the Intamin trains on their hypers and woodies. These new U-shaped versus the T-bar didn't make a difference.

 

Laterals/Turns - I know a lot of people always criticized the Intamin woodies for not having enough laterals and turny sections. Well, I don't like laterals and random turns, but for those who do, I think that El Toro has just as good of a turn section as Voyage does. The crazy banked turns on El Toro seem to be really similar to the 90 degree voyage turns, and ET takes them super fast. One of my big criticisms of Voyage was that its 3rd 90 degree turn seemed to really kill the speed and pace of the ride.

 

Rideability - I could ride ET ALL DAY!!! Voyage was a little too rough to marathon. Now please don't start the "that's cause ET is a steel coaster" crap. It sure felt and looked like a wooden coaster to me, it was just nice that it wasn't brutal!

 

Overall - My top 5 wood now has 3 Intamin Woodies in it.

 

All parks should buy Intamin Woodies. They truly are the best wooden coasters out there.

[ginzo]

All parks should buy Intamin Woodies. They truly are the best wooden coasters out there.

 

Yeah, El Toro is easily my most anticipated new credit for this year. I'm just bummed that I have to wait for August to ride it

[Manic Monte]

I can also now say I have ridden both! Voyage last summer, and El Toro a few weeks ago.

 

I honestly have trouble picking between the two, they both offer the two most extreme changes in direction I've ever felt.

 

If you like extreme (and I mean *EXTREME*) air, El Toro is by far the best of the two.

 

If you like laterals and sheer "kick your ass" intensity that seems like it's never going to end, Voyage gets the edge.

 

Here's the simplest way I can put it:

 

El Toro is SFNE's S:Ros on speed.

 

Voyage is like a taller, faster, longer Ghostrider in it's opening few years.

 

Trust me, your not going to be disappointed with either, they are MINDBLOWING, and worth every penny it costs to get to them.

[robbalvey]

I just re-read this from the first post:

So which is better? Well, that depends on your taste. If you prefer smoother coasters with gentle “floater” air, then El Toro is for you.

Having finally ridden El Toro on Sunday there is nothing "floater" about the coaster's airtime. OMG. El Toro has some of the most EXTREME awesome airtime of *ANY* coaster I've ever been on. It's just sick. But good sick.

 

In fact the entire ride blew me away. It's easily my new #1 woodie in the USA (Balder still takes the #1 overall spot, though).

 

My only complaint about the ride is the big twisty section at the end. It's not my thing. I far prefer airtime hills. Had those changes of direction between the twisty parts had the airtime similar to that section on SFNE's S:ROS, El Toro might have been a "Balder beater" for me. But it just has too many "twisty bits" for it to knock Balder off the top spot.

 

But #1 in the USA is saying quite a bit. In fact, it's #1 by a long, long, LONG way.

 

If you prefer a rough-neck rib-cracker, go with The Voyage.

This was one of my biggest complaints about Voyage. I just couldn't re-ride it. It was far too "aggressive" for my tastes. And while El Toro is FAR more intense than Voyage, you can easily re-ride it over and over again without getting beaten up. Had Voyage had more extreme airtime moments it would give El Toro a run for the money, but it went for more laterals and 'twisty bits' which just aren't my thing.

 

Honestly, both coasters are awesome, try them both.

I do agree with that. Different strokes..... I prefer smoother coasters loaded with airtime, so El Toro is "my ride." Doesn't mean I won't ride Voyage a bunch of times this summer and still like it a lot, though.

 

--Robb "Who also has 3 Intamin woodies in his top 5!" Alvey

[Canobie Fan]

(Balder still takes the #1 overall spot, though)

\

 

LAME!

[DCs221]

From what I saw while waiting in line and riding El Toro this past Saturday, ET was running at around medium speed. During summer afternoons and nights, it's significantly faster than it was last weekend. I remember just being wowed while watching trains go over the hills during summer afternoons. You can clearly tell the speed difference also from the increased volume of the upstop sound over the first 2 hills, the fact that the drop after the turnaround has a longer duration and slightly louder upstop sound, the seemingly unrelentless speed and louder upstop sound at the hill over RT, and the way the train blows through the final brakes instead of being slowed to a crawl like this weekend.

 

Onride, the floater air of the low hill after the turnaround is also noticeably improved during the summer as the airtime duration is longer, and forces are slightly stronger, going from mostly floater to light ejector.

 

It was still running pretty well, but what you all and myself experienced within the last 2 days is not quite as much airtime strength and overall intensity as the ride gives throughout the summer afternoons/nights. ET is crazy now, but during those times it's *absolutely* ridiculous. lol

[saxman47]

robb I hope you rode ET in the very back

 

I can't wait to ride again this season, I was there 2 weeks ago but only for a few hours and didn't get to ride. Just reading that it blew YOU away (someone who obviously has ridden a fair share of coasters ) makes me feel lucky to have the ride at my home park!

[Guest]

I prefer The Voyage by a wide margin...as I look at where I ranked the two on Mitch's poll last year I see

 

1. Voyage

 

(71 woodies and at least one steelie later...)

 

73. El Toro,

 

so it's not even close for me. I'd explain why, but I'd probably get angry or get others angry, so we'll just leave it at "those who know me know my evaluation criteria." Hint: Intamin trains are not big-people friendly, I'm a big person, and I have no intention of changing. They need to comfortably accommodate us, not the other way around (and if things don't change to this end before my last nerve is frayed, the class action suit is coming)!

 

-Jason, Gravity Group and PTC for me

[DCs221]

Seems like you're judging the quality of the ride based mostly on the trains. I'm tall and I think PTCs are more constricting for me....either way, they're close enough in size (and ride quality is close enough) that I don't understand such a huge difference in ranking.

 

You really sound pretty selfish in your opinions and biased in your rankings.

[Wes]

I'm a big person, and I have no intention of changing. They need to comfortably accommodate us, not the other way around (and if things don't change to this end before my last nerve is frayed, the class action suit is coming)!

 

I sincerely hope you're joking about a lawsuit.

[robbalvey]

I'd explain why, but I'd probably get angry or get others angry

Nah, this isn't RRC! We all understand that people are entitled to their opinions no matter how wacky they might sound to one person or no matter how much someone might disagree.

 

--Robb "Unless of course you're just pointlessly bashing the ride like Mr. DragonKahn and Expedition GeForce!" Alvey