Best maker of wooden roller coasters?

[snorkymn]

It might be when you've last ridden a coaster what your opinion is of it. I heard people say that Voyage was smooth as silk last year, and it was awesome. Having ridden Voyage, Legend, and Hades, within the past 30 days, I have to say they weren't smooth, but were rough, painful, and not really easy to enjoy.

 

On the other hand, Kentucky Rumbler and Renegade really kick butt, are smooth, and a lot of fun to ride. (And not painful in any way!)

 

So I have to go with GCI. The coasters, at least the ones in the same class as Rumbler and Renegade, and the trains, rock.

 

Then again, a thread like this is pointless, as there will be so many different opinions, there won't be a clear winner.

[jten11]

If I was judgeing only by the look, style, and technique I would say GG first and GCI a close second. GCI has some beautiful looking coasters and I like thier twisty nature. Their coasters also seem more family-oriented, meaning ridership will be very high. GG seems like to go a different direction and concentrates on give the riders a more fun and intense ride. I like how they do things that havent been done on a wooden coaster before (90 degree banked turns, etc.)

 

 

As far as the ones I ridden, I rank them as so:

 

Dania Beach Hurricane (Coaster Works)

- Its not that big but man this ride is soooo much fun! And I love the double out and back layout and the air time in the back.

 

Cheetah (Custom Coaster)

- It has the best layout of the three, but the roughness of it prevent it from being at the top. Still a great ride and I rank higher than the SFOG woodies.

 

Gwazi (GCI, and yes I LOVE this ride!)

- This is a great ride and I shun anyone that thinks otherwise. I like its twisty nature even though they dont really duel anymore. Still a winner, though.

[hyyyper]

I haven't ridden much woodies, only vekoma's, CCI's, GCI's and RCCA's

 

and i must say....TGG and intamin will have to move mountains to get above Troy

[ginzo]

I assumed that there would be a similar thread to this, but found nothing when I searched.

 

So, Intamin for the win! Though I've only been on El Toro, nothing measures up to the raw intensity of that ride. Voyage is especially owned by El Toro, in speed, airtime, and forcefulness. Intamins are also built to last, unlike the vast majority of woodies out there. And El Toro is easily the most awesome looking coaster I've seen.

 

Honorable mention goes to S&S. Avalanche is my #2 woodie, but unfortunately J2 is awful.

 

GCI doesn't do it for me. I've had a few good rides on Thunderhead and KY Rumbler, but airtime > curves.

[MisterP]

That Swiss company that made that one coaster in the Garden State.

[kraken613]

You get on Thunderhead at night and it will be your favorite ride ever!

Thunderhead does have better days than others. Sometimes it does nothing special and others well lets just say its alot better on good days!

[MisterP]

Rhymes with "Mintamin"

[sam06pr]

I have not been on many woodies but from the looks of it the top 3 have to be GCI, Intamin, GG.

My Favorite woodie is El toro and if intamin woodies are like that than Intamin is my fav.

I Have only been on one GCI which is Gwazi. I think its good but I know it has more potential if it gets new trains. From what I see GCI's coaster look very fun.

Its too early to decide if they are the best but from the looks of it they can sure get there.

 

So I think so far I have to go with Intamin

[verticalzero]

Gravity Group are amazing experts in wood design, if your park is after the 1920/30's look I say GCI is above GG.

[alpengeist04]

It's an easy choice for me.

...Intamin first, and GCII second.

[FeelTheFORCE]

Rhymes with "Mintamin"

 

Dinn?

 

 

 

My favorite would have to be GCI. That may change next summer, though when I rode El Toro.

[Wood Dragon 1988]

I like Schmecks, but I have never ridden an Intamin. Hopefully that will change soon!

[ParkTrips]

As much as I love El toro, it's almost not fair to pick based one one ride alone... well, there IS American Eagle, but that doesn't help Intamin much

 

GCI is my vote. Troy and Thunderhead are both in my top 10, and any of their rides with flyers are really fun.

[ginzo]

As much as I love El toro, it's almost not fair to pick based one one ride alone... well, there IS American Eagle, but that doesn't help Intamin much

 

I've also only been on El Toro as far as Intamin woodies go. By the same token, it's not fair to hold it against Intamin that US parks have been so slow to adopt their obviously amazing woodies. I imagine that the cost has a lot to do with it.

 

*Every* Intamin woodie is a top 10 ride. No other vendor can make that claim right now.

[Guest]

*Every* Intamin woodie is a top 10 ride. No other vendor can make that claim right now.

 

I have seen quite a few people with both Voyage and Hades in their top 10, and they both came in the top 10 on the Hawker poll last year, so I guess Gravity Group can make that claim too.

[Giovanolafan]

Giovanl...Wait...

[ginzo]

*Every* Intamin woodie is a top 10 ride. No other vendor can make that claim right now.

 

I have seen quite a few people with both Voyage and Hades in their top 10, and they both came in the top 10 on the Hawker poll last year, so I guess Gravity Group can make that claim too.

 

That's true, if you don't consider GG to be CCI, as I do.

[Guest]

While they are the same people, I can't consider them the same company because the track shaping and supporting methods have changed greatly.

 

Think about if Boardwalk Bullet was a CCI, you would probably get something like MegaFobia/Rampage. Voyage's turnaround would not have been so twisted and highly banked, etc. The rides themselves are completely different.

[ginzo]

While they are the same people, I can't consider them the same company because the track shaping and supporting methods have changed greatly.

 

Think about if Boardwalk Bullet was a CCI, you would probably get something like MegaFobia/Rampage. Voyage's turnaround would not have been so twisted and highly banked, etc. The rides themselves are completely different.

 

It's possible that CCI would have followed the same course had they not gone under. They certainly used steel supports in a few projects. So that isn't exclusive to GG. When HW went to build their third woodie they chose GG because they wanted to stick with what they considered to be essentially the same vendor.

 

Same technical core = same company. IMO.

[Guest]

I didn't mean it as simply as just steel supports, I meant placement of supports (a lot of CCIs were very under supported, hence all the potholes/structure work they are getting now). Gravity Group uses far more track ties (they went out of the way to say so on the Coasterbuzz (don't like the site, just listened because they were on lol) podcast), ledgers, etc.

 

The track shaping is a lot different if you really look at it, it's not just as simple as Holiday World wanted something different than Raven and Legend. There is a lot of undulation in the banking that was never present with CCIs, a lot more "controlled" lateral moments (a perfect example of this is the ending of Voyage, where the track does the station flyby S hill (another thing that CCI never did) which is highly banked, ending with a highly banked turn. However in the center the track greatly unbanks only to re bank, giving a quick presentation of laterals. When you really think "what would CCI have done here", it would have been lightly banked throughout (look at Legend).

 

It may be true that the same techniques would have been used had CCI still been around (putting aside all the budget cutting that went on with CCI, hence why their rides fall apart), but when you look at all the rides CCI put out, then you look at Hades, Voyage, Bullet, and even what's already assembled of Ravine Flyer II (another great example of the differences - look at the old rendering versus the new), and it's like apples and oranges.

 

Sure they're the same people, but are they making the same coasters? Absolutely not.

[ginzo]

I didn't mean it as simply as just steel supports, I meant placement of supports (a lot of CCIs were very under supported, hence all the potholes/structure work they are getting now). Gravity Group uses far more track ties (they went out of the way to say so on the Coasterbuzz (don't like the site, just listened because they were on lol) podcast), ledgers, etc.

 

The track shaping is a lot different if you really look at it, it's not just as simple as Holiday World wanted something different than Raven and Legend. There is a lot of undulation in the banking that was never present with CCIs, a lot more "controlled" lateral moments (a perfect example of this is the ending of Voyage, where the track does the station flyby S hill (another thing that CCI never did) which is highly banked, ending with a highly banked turn. However in the center the track greatly unbanks only to re bank, giving a quick presentation of laterals. When you really think "what would CCI have done here", it would have been lightly banked throughout (look at Legend).

 

It may be true that the same techniques would have been used had CCI still been around (putting aside all the budget cutting that went on with CCI, hence why their rides fall apart), but when you look at all the rides CCI put out, then you look at Hades, Voyage, Bullet, and even what's already assembled of Ravine Flyer II (another great example of the differences - look at the old rendering versus the new), and it's like apples and oranges.

 

Sure they're the same people, but are they making the same coasters? Absolutely not.

 

You make a few generalizations that I don't agree with. Not all CCI coasters were under supported. Shivering Timbers looks pretty over supported to me. And budget cutting has been done on with Gravity Group projects. The best example of this is Hades, which has a short single train, no handicapp access, and cheap cantilever steps to the station that shake every time the train whizzes by.

 

And all the over supporting on Voyage certainly didn't help the ride from tearing the track to shreds. That's one of the most high maintenance rides around. HW is probably going to have to do over 1,000 feet of track work again this year. Intamin doesn't have this problem, and on taller/faster coasters than Voyage.

[PKI Jizzman]

I haven't been on many wooden coasters that have been called "great" or "awesome", but Gemini, Beast, and Thunderhead are deffinately my favorites.

 

GCI has been building some AMAZING looking coasters. It seems they have been getting better and better each year with faster, quicker, crazier elements.

 

Intamin's rides look absolutely great! I really really want to get on some of their creations.

 

So I can't really say I have a favorite only being on one GCI and some random builders.

[LcHg5265]

You make a few generalizations that I don't agree with. Not all CCI coasters were under supported. Shivering Timbers looks pretty over supported to me. And budget cutting has been done on with Gravity Group projects. The best example of this is Hades, which has a short single train, no handicapp access, and cheap cantilever steps to the station that shake every time the train whizzes by.

 

 

A roller coaster not having a handicap ramp and cheap steps is not GG's problem, but would be something Mt. Olympus would have decided on. The same goes for one or two trains. If Mt. Olympus wanted two trains, they could have gotten them, but they opted for only one.

[imbordisux]

Gotta go with GG/CCI personally, I love a real "out-of-control" feeling on my woodies (say what?), I don't want to feel like the manufacturers said "First you'll feel this sensation, then this, and here you'll do this, etc.", but really want one wild, run-away ride where the train is slamming in all directions without any type of pause in the middle. I want my wooden coasters to feel like they're operating at a completely unsafe pace, like the train will go flying from the track at any moment, and that I'll be lucky if we make it back to the station in one piece. I don't feel satisfied with a wooden coaster unless I have at least a welt, and GG/CCI scratches my itch.

 

As for some of the others:

 

GCI - Wildcat at HP is one of my absolute favorite coasters, that thing really gives a rough, intense ride, but other than that one particular example, I find GCIs far too smooth; they're beautiful coasters, and are great family rides, but they just don't do it for me.

 

Intamin - I've only ridden El Toro, so I really can't give a fully comprehensive look at all of their PnP installations, but I'll say the following: It has, without a doubt, the most insane ejector air of any coaster I've ridden, and is an amazing testament to teaching an old dog new tricks (having a woodie ride like a steelie), but, IMO, they felt far too "controlled". I don't know exactly how to describe, but it felt like each element was just attached to the next, it didn't really "flow", but was given a very staccato feeling where "here's the negative-G part, and now here's the positive-G part". It didn't feel out-of-control to me, it felt incredibly forced. Not my thing, either.

 

S&S - I still have yet to ride an S&S woodie, I'm dying to get to Wisconsin.

 

And I think that's it for modern builders; a few other comments I'd like to make:

 

I, too, group GG and CCI together, feeling that they are more or less the same company. Sure, the rides are more extreme, but to me, it feels more like a natural extension of what they seemed to be heading towards, anyway.

 

As for Ginzo's comment that "all Intamin woodies are Top-10 rides", did you really mean ALL Intamin woodies, or just the plug-and-play ones? Cuz none of their non-PnP ones seem truly special; I'm sure they're good, but not "set the coaster-community on fire" good, ya know? And this serves as another example of a company growing, just as the former-staff of CCI have managed push their creations further and further, Intamin has gone above and beyond anything else that was going on in the woodie market. Props for them.

 

As for Mt.O's ramps/trains/queue/etc., that's up to the park, not the manufacturer.

 

Yeah, think that's about all I wanted to comment on.

[Manic Monte]

I did a quick count and it seems as though GCI has generated the most favorable responses.