RIP Psyclone Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 Only a few folks on here I think have both credits, so if you had to compare the two, which is the superior product? Dodonpa, being version 2.0, has a longer track, fastest launch, and a hill with more extreme airtime. However, on the flip side, Dodonpa's launch has been described as too intense, the curse a little rough, and the airtime on the hill a little too extreme. Those may be the very things some enthusiasts seek. If you've had both credits, do tell! I also feel that the "do-don-pa" soundtrack while waiting in the queue for Dodonpa adds some excitement and anticipation. It's also twice as long in track. Both rides has horrendous capacity, but once you're in your seat, let's take it from there... Which is better? Robb would be a good judge of it, not no mention folks like cfc. Any though you may have, let's hear it! -chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 I haven't been on Hypersonic since 2002. I really liked it a lot then, but I've heard it's gotten painfully rough and brutal in the past couple of years. If my last ride on DoDonPa is any judge, I'd say it's quite possible that Hypersonic could have gone to hell. I really did not like DoDonPa at all. I thought the launch was uncomfortable, the curve was brutal, and you were stapled so hard to the train that the airtime hill was beyond painful. I hated the ride so much I didn't even bother to ride it again on our recent visit. It just wasn't worth a 2 1/2 hour wait in line. Having said, that I would neither care nor be suprised if one or both of these rides were removed in the next 5 years. Personally I think S&S really got it right with Powder Keg. They should focus on trying to sell more rides like that if they are going to continue doing coasters. --Robb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noxegon Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 It's funny, I'm of the opposite view; I love both rides for what they are. They're not perfect, with a turning ability that closely resembles a shopping trolley with a bad wheel. However, the launch is amazing, particularly on Dodonpa, and that made the ride for me. Robb's comment on Powder Keg is right on the money though; that ride is simply awesome. If only we could have something with the launch of Dodonpa and the trains of Powder Keg...well, I can dream Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ginzo Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 I haven't been on Hypersonic since 2002. I really liked it a lot then, but I've heard it's gotten painfully rough and brutal in the past couple of years. If my last ride on DoDonPa is any judge, I'd say it's quite possible that Hypersonic could have gone to hell. Hypersonic was pretty rough after the hill in July, especially for a steel coaster with no OTSRs. Not horrible, but not good. I don't think it's any great mystery why parks are buying Intamin rockets like crazy, but not any of these. Hypersonic is a clunky, low capacity nightmare. We waited about an hour to get on it on a day where everything else had a 10 minute or less wait. Hypersonic is also an absurdly noisy coaster, similar to Superman: The Escape. Are the wheels just raw steel not coated in polyurethane? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 I lean toward Dodonpa, which at least has a few more tricks in its repertoire than Hypersuckit (which has really declined since it opened years ago). Would I wait 2 and 1/2 hours to ride Dodonpa again? Nope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ginzo Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 Would I wait 2 and 1/2 hours to ride Dodonpa again? Nope. No ride is worth a 150 minute wait if you already have the credit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Top Thrill Dragster Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 Hypersonic is also an absurdly noisy coaster, similar to Superman: The Escape. Are the wheels just raw steel not coated in polyurethane? Nope, they are pneumatic tires, very similar to those found on air planes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkdcoaster Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 I more than likely took my last ride on Hypersonic on Saturday. (KD Website lists Dominator as the 13th (nevermind they edited it to 14th)) So I guess it is staying for at least another year unless somebody buys it (fat chance). It has actually got worse every time I ride it. On Sat. it didn't even roll back to the catch car (launcher) so even the launch has gone to hell. A very voilent bang when they collided. and still just an awful overall experience. There are many reasons there are only 2! JEFF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PURE Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 Would I wait 2 and 1/2 hours to ride Dodonpa again? Nope. No ride is worth a 150 minute wait if you already have the credit. ? I'm gonna have to disagree with you on that one... ^^You'd think the ride be smoother with those tires...it sounds like Superman? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 ^^I know what you mean, Jeff. I'm at the point now where I don't bother with Hypersonic, unless there's somebody with me who needs the credit (a "courtesy ride," you might say). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharkTums Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 Ginzo brought up a good point. How long would you wait for a ride you've already been on? Obviously it depends on certain factors; are you there with someone who needs the credit, how good is the ride, do you have cool people to wait in line with, etc. I still can't picture myself waiting more than an hour for ANY ride that I already have the credit for no matter how much I love the ride. Also though, I wouldn't put myself in a position where I'd have to wait that long for a ride I really like! As for the Hypersonic vs. Dodonpa...I'm pretty much in Robb's camp as I really liked Hypersonic, but I haven't ridden it since 2002. I liked Dodonpa a bit better than Robb, but I still agree that the launch feels like getting hit by a truck, the turn is rough, and the airtime hill is insane (but painful). Hey at least next time I have to go to Fuji Q I'll go ride dodonpa first and skip Eejanaika since I don't need the credit! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ginzo Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 Would I wait 2 and 1/2 hours to ride Dodonpa again? Nope. No ride is worth a 150 minute wait if you already have the credit. I'm gonna have to disagree with you on that one... ^^You'd think the ride be smoother with those tires...it sounds like Superman? I made the mistake of going to Cedar Point on Labor Day weekend. Several major rides were closed, which caused unthinkable waits. They had a 90 minute wait posted for Blue Streak! We wound up riding a few misc. rides, and then left at like 3 PM. Maverick is possibly my favorite ride, but I'm not going to wait 3 hours for it. No way. I'd rather leave the park, and use my day off for something better than standing in line all day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IggyACE Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 I'm not a fan of either one. I rode Dodonpa in Sept of 2005 and was kicked upside the head three time over the hill. Now I LOVED the launch and think this is the best launch out there. Just rode Hypersonic this past summer and hated it. It felt like I was kicked in the back by a donkey and the rest of the ride just rattled your brains out. I was pissed I waited 90 mins for it. Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParkTrips Posted October 31, 2007 Share Posted October 31, 2007 I lean toward Dodonpa, which at least has a few more tricks in its repertoire than Hypersuckit (which has really declined since it opened years ago). Would I wait 2 and 1/2 hours to ride Dodonpa again? Nope. Why did you respond Chuck? You're just a no-mention person. =/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Absimilliard Posted October 31, 2007 Share Posted October 31, 2007 Haven't been on Hypersonic, but I rode Dodonpa twice earlier this month... I LOVED it! I sat in the 3rd row each time and didn't notice any roughness in the huge turn... The launch is ridiculous, just too strong and the airtime was insane. Waits for it weren't that bad. When I got to the park around 10, the wait was 45 minutes, so I waited it out. They were running 2 trains without any stacking. It broke down most of the afternoon and when it came back up, I ran to it and waited 30 minutes that time. Eejanaika on the other hand was a 60 minutes wait at 11:30. When I got out of the ride, the line was already up to 2 hours and a half! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PURE Posted October 31, 2007 Share Posted October 31, 2007 I'd love to try and get on both of these, for some reason that 1.8 second launch sounds sooooo tempting. ^^^^I'm not sure where you live, but I'm here on the west coast, and unfortunately get out to Cedar Point once every, maybe 4 years. So for example, if I went I'd wait 3 hours to get on Dragster and Millenium Force, rides I've already been on but don't get to get on hardly ever. Just because, well, I forget certain parts of the rides, I made a trip all the way out there, and I'll be damned if I don't suck it up for the thrill. But I can understand how some people wouldn't. If I went to DL, Knotts or MM and there were 3 hour lines for everything...hell, maybe even 2 hours, I wouldn't even have to think twice about not riding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIP Psyclone Posted May 6, 2008 Author Share Posted May 6, 2008 I found this video of S&S's prototype for the thrust air coaster. Note that in this prototype, the drop is symmetrical to the rise, 90 degrees for much longer than Hypersonic XLC and Dodonpa. Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhdrkCMPl8A Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
socalMAN123 Posted May 6, 2008 Share Posted May 6, 2008 That launch looks insane! The launch track looks way to short, but I guess that's what you get when you go 80 in one second. Looks interesting, still wish I could try this thing out. ---Brent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterfreak101 Posted May 7, 2008 Share Posted May 7, 2008 Wow: "Instead of tublular steel track, the ride uses I-Beams." --NARRATOR "They're not using regular polyurethane wheels, they're using rubber tires." --RUBEN "That makes the ride run smoother." --S&S DUDE Who else finds that amusing? For the record, despite the horrid turnaround I love(d) Hypersonic. The launch and feeling of "We really need to slow down..." when getting close to the top in the front seat made the ride for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angry_Gumball Posted May 7, 2008 Share Posted May 7, 2008 I have footage of that (and more from Discovery Channel) laying around on a VHS tape somewhere...this included 30 coasters in 24 hours, Goliath construction, and so on. On to the topic of these rides, I noticed that on RCDB, there's going to be a coaster (Race Coaster) that will launch at 134 mph, when I went to look up coaster records. (Doing a project in class involving typography and a world record) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vacoaster Posted May 7, 2008 Share Posted May 7, 2008 I waited about 2 hours the year Hypersonic opened and loved it. I never have been to Japan to ride Dodonpa but have watched so many videos of it. I think I would love the launch but the airtime if stapled I would hurt. Question: How much different is this airtime as compared to El Toro as I know people have mentioned being stapled and experiencing extreme airtime on this ride as well. One thing I never really focused on is that the tires on Trust Air 2000 are much larger than those on hypersonic... had they been bigger do you think hypersonic would be smoother. Also one thing that me and one of the former admins of PKDcoaster always felt that the drop was cheated. The original thrust air has a much longer 90 drop where as on hypersonic I recall a foot or so of truly vertical track on the drop. As a joke he used photo shop to draw hypersonic with a drop into an underground hold that popped up into an overbank turn. But anyways... I think the they should come out with another somewhere. Or just revamp it to fix the serious errors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomas2 Posted May 7, 2008 Share Posted May 7, 2008 On to the topic of these rides, I noticed that on RCDB, there's going to be a coaster (Race Coaster) that will launch at 134 mph, when I went to look up coaster records. (Doing a project in class involving typography and a world record) http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=40104&highlight=fastest+coaster Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pianojohn Posted May 7, 2008 Share Posted May 7, 2008 Hmm....I really didn't care for either one. Luckily, I only waited about 10 minutes for Hypersonic. We ran right to it as soon as the park opened a few years back and got the credit. The launch section was way too short, but thankfully not too rough. Dodonpa was brutal. I rode it in December so it was about 40 degrees out. The ride ops would not let us wear hats or gloves (since they could fall off and hurt someone with all that heavy....fleece?) so it was really cold too. Add to that an 1 1/2 hour wait with EVERYONE in line smoking (this is Japan after all) and I was over it before it began. The launch was ok but the negative g's over the hill were just wrong! Give me TTD or Kingda Ka any day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIP Psyclone Posted May 8, 2008 Author Share Posted May 8, 2008 Is Dodonpa launching prematurely due to operator error, or perhaps for an unexpected thrill? You be the judge! This video also shows the complete track circuit, pretty much, which had not been seen previously. And to prove the premature launch was not just a one time thing: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcjaco Posted May 8, 2008 Share Posted May 8, 2008 I have never suffered from a premature launch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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