EL TORO vs. THE VOYAGE

[Tank6585]

Also check out the top of hills track when you at Six Flags. You will notice spots of where the wheels havent even touched yet due to the violent -G's

[DCs221]

I wouldn't describe the negatives as violent, just extremely forceful. Violent negatives to me would describe something that could possible hurt, from the jerkiness or whatever. That's something like you can find on Cyclone at SFNE in a few spots, but not El Toro.

[imbordisux]

I don't understand imbordisux's definition of airtime types. ... I think what he's trying to describe is not the magnitude of the force, but the quickness of it's onset, or the jerk.

 

Bingo.

 

Personally, one of the things I don't like about wooden coasters is how many have airtime that's segmented because of roughness causing the rider to bounce around in the seat, which makes it harder to enjoy the airtime IMO.

 

See, that's exactly what I prefer - IMO, it seems much more "out of control" to be bouncing in all directions for the entire duration of the ride than it is to be launched out of the seat at certain designated times.

[DCs221]

I see now, fair enough.

[imbordisux]

Different strokes for different folks, I know many people provide smoother rides, hence why I've kinda come up with my own intensity-based definitions.

[Martin]

There are no wheel marks at the top of El Toro's first two hills, meaning that the train itself is getting airtime:

http://www.amusementpics.com/SFGAdvNotesSummer06/070906-057.jpg

That airtime is sustained throughout the hill as you can see.

 

This is a video that DCs took in the morning before El Toro fully warmed up.

[Jumboshrmp]

There are no wheel marks at the top of El Toro's first two hills, meaning that the train itself is getting airtime:

http://www.amusementpics.com/SFGAdvNotesSummer06/070906-057.jpg

That airtime is sustained throughout the hill as you can see.

 

This is a video that DCs took in the morning before El Toro fully warmed up.

That's a neat picture, the hill looks REALLY steep, not to mention kingda Ka is right at the very top in that picture.

[Martin]

Yes, it is a fantastic picture taken by GACoaster.

 

Look at the top of the hill:

http://www.coaster-net.com/pics/sfgad/eltoro15_joshdavidson.jpg

[rjholla2003]

I haven't ridden The Voyage, so I'll simply say some things about El Toro.

 

To the original poster (I forgot who it was, lol):

If you're ever at Great Adventure again, wait until later in the afternoon to ride. During the B-Roll shoot and Media Day, the first runs were somewhat unimpressive in the twister section. The beginning is always great fun, but you lose speed coming out of the turnaround, barely get air in the two 'back' hills, and the twister falls flat. The second run with people was a different story though. It got so much faster in lap 2 that at the end we all literally looked at each other and said "Wow!" It's pretty freaking crazy. 14 rides into the day and it was still getting faster. At night, you can visually see a HUGE difference in speed, hear it in the trains as they crest the hills, and the rides are downright glorious. El Toro is THE night ride, with BTR and Nitro being the other two 'must rides' at night.

 

The Rolling Thunder hill is amazing. I'm not sure if it's simply that strong, or if it is the most beautifully executed hill possibly ever. After the insane ejector of the out run, you have perfect float in the two hills after the turnaround. You then take that sharp, highly banked turn to the left and climb upward as you're rolling back to 0 degree banking. You're greeted with more of that perfect floater air once again...and then the train dissappears.

 

Next thing you know, you're kissing the sky while you're butt is missing the seat a lot. Your thighs are saying hello to Mr (or Ms) lapbar more than ever and you're caught beyond off-guard. The drop is so steep that you feel like you're standing, and the turn to the left is beautiful.

 

The twister is a tour-de-force when the train is running hot. It's hard to keep your hands up and you start to get "fuzzy vision". It's pretty intense.

 

It's just a lovely ride. I just wish the station wasn't so high up so it could do some more. Even with that, it's still the perfect bull simulation. You'll come off feeling like a rodeo champion.

[imbordisux]

Well, now that we have most of the detailed explanations out of the way, let's make this discussion what it was originally meant to be: a simple poll to see which one people prefer.

 

Our vote is split, as I prefer Voyage, and Monica prefers Toro.

[verticalzero]

I have never ridden the 2 Woodies, my vote is on "Voyage" as a better more exciting ride esp with the "Blacked out Triple Down".

[robbalvey]

^ How can someone who has never ridden something be able to cast a vote on anything?

 

--Robb

[KBNA777]

^ So mean.

 

In all honesty he did mention possibly the greatest part of the ride, if you don't count the amazing first drop.

[HCOSurfer90]

^I'm pretty sure the first drop on El Toro beats any woodie's first drop hands down.

[jamesdillaman]

^^^ I was actually a tad bit dissapointed with the triple down. There are much more insane parts of that ride, as the triple down comes right after the MCBR.

 

^What is El Toro's track made of? I heard somebody (some acer probably) at MI Adventure saying it was some sort of prefabricated stuff and shouldn't count as a wooden coaster. Just wondering, as I don't know.

 

-James Dillaman

[GAcoaster]

Multiple layers of wood, which were prefabricated off site and assembled on site...just like any other woodie bit the rails were built ahead of time instead of being fabricated on the structure:

 

 

[peteb]

El Toro's track is made using laminated veneer lumber technology; various plys of wood are layered, oriented, bent, and glued together then machined to exacting tolerances and strength requirements to create beams (rails) that have performance characteristics similar to steel. That's probably why some people cry that these are not real woodies, but it's just technology being put to use on wood coaster design. It takes all the guesswork out of building a woodie and these rails should not change much over time, but that remains to be seen. The massive airtime that is designed into El Toro probably wouldn't be such a great idea on traditional wood track construction since the train would tear the track apart pretty fast. That's the big advantage this track system has and probably what will sell more of these in the future; low maintenance and future re-tracking costs.

 

I think El Toro is a great ride, but I also wouldn't want to see all the hand built woodies disappear for these; they are much different types of rides in my view. Variety is good.

[robbalvey]

^ So mean.

 

In all honesty he did mention possibly the greatest part of the ride, if you don't count the amazing first drop.

I don't think I was being mean at all. It was an honest question. How can someone have an opinion on something in order to "vote" when they haven't ridden either of the rides they are voting on?

 

How was that "mean"???

 

--Robb

[Gnome]

I don't think I was being mean at all. It was an honest question. How can someone have an opinion on something in order to "vote" when they haven't ridden either of the rides they are voting on?

Well, based off of the bend in the track, and movements, one can imagine how that might feel. For example based off of looks, El Toro's hills are EXTREMELY parabolic, where as voyage's is not so much. So by examing this, I know that El Toro's hills are a little more consistant, as far as air time is concerned, through the entire hill where as with Voyages hills you might just get it in the middle of the hill, or the front, or the back, so its not quite as consistant or powerfull as El Toros. But Voyage has a lot more moments of air time as well as lats, and a longer ride. So assuming you've been on rides similar to both, you can take that into consideration and form your opinion. But what it really comes down to is that you have no idea how you would like it until you've been on it. So while you think you may like one ride better, you really can't decide until you've actually been on both. Because it may turn out that The Voyage is a little to much for you, or that El Toro's air time is more of your style then by the looks of them So like you've pointed out you really can't make a decision until you've been on both. But I can see why people think they would have made a decision based on looks and comperason to similar style rides.

[KBNA777]

Well I was saying it was mean because it just sounded harsh.

 

But you do not directly meet the candidate for president but people make decisions based on their "character".

 

I feel that you have ridden enough coasters you can make that kind of assumption, you just don't have to listen to there results, as they have no basis.

[robbalvey]

I guess I just think that having an opinion of a coaster that you haven't ridden is like giving a review of a movie by only having read the script.

 

--Robb

[KBNA777]

You make a good point, I loved Street Fighter the movie when I read the script, but then I saw the movie.

 

(That was perhaps the worst joke I have ever made in my life on the internet……..ever)

 

To the El Toro discussion. Were the beams manufactured locally or were they special made and shipped, I mean from like over seas (etc.). Also does the process of producing such a beam raise construction costs as opposed to a traditional wooden coaster?

 

This is a unique manufacturing process, as far as I know, in the coaster world, does this design have any problems with maintenance i.e. parts and different maintenance practices which would lead to a lack of future sales?

[rjholla2003]

The rails were made in Germany. AFAIK, the initial cost of a prefabricated wooden coaster is more, but in the long run it would costs less. You won't see El Toro down for legnthly periods of time like Rolling Thunder for retracking. You won't see Great Adventure spending $1 Million a year in retracking like Dorney Park had to do for Hercules because the ride tore itself apart. If a section of track needs to be replaced, you can simply order that segment, pop out the old one, and pop in a new one. It's like placing a new Blue Lego piece in your Lego castle when the old piece broke.

 

*edit*

Fixed small blunder

[viking86]

^When did Great Adventure retrack Hercules???

 

Anyway, Im sure we will see more of these wooden coasters in the future, because unlike the traditional wooden coasters, they dont end up as spine-adjusters after a few years of operation....

[easytoremember]

I like it when roller coasters ajust your spine