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Wooden Coasters that Need a Renovation


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I agree that Ghostrider needs some love. Or... They could simply leave it as it is now and rename it "Jackhammer".

 

Closer to home, Roar at SFDK was getting a little rougher than I remember it being a couple seasons ago. Hopefully if may have gotten a little TLC over the short off season. One area of that coaster that I think could be improved for a relatively small investment would be to fully enclose the shed section of the ride. That's a fast and furious, fun little section. I think it would be greatly intensified if it were done in complete darkness.

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It'd be nice to see the Grizzly's get worked on...Don't know it it's worth it though. It's not like they have great layouts and could be the next Voyage if they got some GCI help, it could just make them a more enjoyable ride.

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Gwazi… i absolutely love this coaster, and will defend it against any and all of it's detractors (which seems to be pretty much everyone but me!), but, honestly, that's only because i ride it so damn often, and know it's “moods”: it's cranky as hell in the morning, only gets crankier as the day goes on, until it's gotten fully “warmed up” (basically, once the hottest part of the day is over, and it's started to cool down for the evening — or, it's been thoroughly drenched by rain!), and then it's probably the most completely wild, insane, out-of-control, “holy shit!”, awesome roller-coaster i've ever been on in my entire life! unfortunately, during normal hours that usually leaves Gwazi with an hour or two of running at it's best, and it seems like most people try to do it first thing in the morning! eek! it'd be nice if it could run closer to it's “peak” performance all day long (like the parks steel coasters do!), and, if there's anything that could be done about that, i'd be all for it (and i'd be all for Millennium Flyers no matter what! they're just about the sexiest coaster trains on earth…)

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One more vote for Ghostrider. I love the layout, and love the speed, but my spine just can't take the pain! Someone said Roar at SFDK, but I just rode it a few months ago, and I must say that compared to Knott's spinal accordion factory, that thing is like butter.

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As long as they just re-track it then I'm happy, but if they rape it as much as they have done Thundercoaster, completely remodeled some parts of the ride, and completely ruined the insane out of control ride then I'm firmly against it.

 

But most coasters in Japan would really benefit of a good re-tracking since most of them are pretty bad.

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How much of Thundercoaster have they ruined? I know they have redone the 90 degree turn, which used to be one of my favorite parts because it threw you around a lot, but what else have they done? I havent been to the park since 2006 so I was planning to go back this year.

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^ In 2006 they made the big airtime hill higher and less pointy = less airtime. But they fixed the turn after it and the small hills after that.

 

In 2008 they completely remodeled the 90° turn and all the way around the 180° after that (the one by the station), this completely removed all the insaneness of the 90° turn and the sideways air of the turnaround.

And it also felt a lot slower when I last rode it (summer 2008), so even less airtime.

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Ack such a shame! As for feeling slow, it did that in the summer of 2006 aswell. Fortunately I visited Tusenfryd in april the same year. It was raining so Thundercoaster was absolutely flying. Best coaster experience EVER!!!

 

The right side of Rolling Thunder could use some work. It wasnt very bad, but it could be better. Many people may say its better to just demolish it, but the kids seemed to love the ride. Heck, even I thought it was fun!

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Hmm, i've been on two of the GCI modded coasters, Boulder Dash, which was AMAZING! Thunder Road which was.. half amazing.. because the non GCI part was disappointing after a very smooth turn. I don't know how GCI did anything with J2, The brake on the first drop? I haven't been on it with the mod yet, but it's apparently not as bad as say Mean Streak or Hercules. As to which rides should get a GCI overhaul, I want to say mean streak, but unless you get rid of the brake on the first drop, it's going to suck anyways. There are too many rough wooden coasters that I would think need it, but even with their layout I don't think would even improve it to be much better to make it even worth it. Although I haven't been on it, I'd say GCI could make Shivering Timbers even better. After experiencing the Boulder Dash changes, there is so much airtime at the section they did and from what I hear, Shiver Timber's trick track is kind of weak and worn, So GCI getting that section of track to play with, I believe would turn out to be amazing.

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Closer to home, Roar at SFDK was getting a little rougher than I remember it being a couple seasons ago. Hopefully if may have gotten a little TLC over the short off season. One area of that coaster that I think could be improved for a relatively small investment would be to fully enclose the shed section of the ride. That's a fast and furious, fun little section. I think it would be greatly intensified if it were done in complete darkness.

 

I caught a ride on Roar this past Saturday, and it's running in top shape again. The coaster got a nice chunk of track work replaced, and it's really brought back that nice GCI smoothness & speed IMO. (The first drop and turn around are greatly improved.) It even opened the season with two trains that seem to have gotten a bit of paint work over the off season, and that's first time I can remember that happening in years.

 

You should be pleasantly surprised on your next visit.

 

-Sean

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I think GCII roller coasters are great in that the designs are pretty incredible, but I don't see how GCII can turn every wooden roller coaster ever made smooth and rideable. Some coasters are doomed from the beginning because of their designs. It's like asking B&M to make an Arrow looper smoother. The Mean Streak is a badly designed roller coaster and "maybe" it was smooth early in its life, but it's too much of a maintenance headache to be that smooth again.

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Closer to home, Roar at SFDK was getting a little rougher than I remember it being a couple seasons ago. Hopefully if may have gotten a little TLC over the short off season. One area of that coaster that I think could be improved for a relatively small investment would be to fully enclose the shed section of the ride. That's a fast and furious, fun little section. I think it would be greatly intensified if it were done in complete darkness.

 

I caught a ride on Roar this past Saturday, and it's running in top shape again. The coaster got a nice chunk of track work replaced, and it's really brought back that nice GCI smoothness & speed IMO. (The first drop and turn around are greatly improved.) It even opened the season with two trains that seem to have gotten a bit of paint work over the off season, and that's first time I can remember that happening in years.

 

 

 

You should be pleasantly surprised on your next visit.

 

-Sean

 

I agree, Roar has been good lately. I rode it in July and it had some rough spots, but after my ride in December it is now my #1 wooden coaster meaning it was great! I hope it stays that way and both times I rode it, even though one was a bit more rough than the other, it was still far from needing some GCI work.

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I'm sure its already been mentioned... but basically almost every woodie at Kings Dominion needed to be retracked. But Rebel Yell is getting some attention, so I guess just Hurler and Grizzly do.

 

And even though I don't think the coaster needs it, because its probably one of the best wooden coasters I've ever been on, but I can probably see Comet at Hersheypark getting retracked by GCI, since Hersheypark works so closely with them.

I think its been retracked recently though (I don't think by GCI), I could be wrong though.

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And am I the only one that thought Son of Beast actually rode slightly BETTER with the Gerstlauer trians?

 

I am glad that I did not ride it before then, cuz I thought I was friggin' dying on that death-witch of a coaster!

 

Coasters in need of some lovin'

 

Blue Streak

Mean Streak

Rebel Yell

Rolling Thunder (everyone was chanting "WD-40" at the end of the ride!)

Beast

Grizzly

Gwazi

 

Coasters that just need to be torn down for another try

 

Son of Beast

Hurler (KD)

WildBeast

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Another woodie in need of work is Georgia Cyclone. All of the track just needs to be smoothed out.

 

I definitely agree with this pick. I definitely miss the days of the old Georgia Cyclone, no trims, airtime insanity. I rode it at night after a full day of operation in 1993, it was spectacular. Wish they could bring it back to how it was.

 

Any of the Hurler coasters should be fixed, or torn down. Mean Streak is also one I've been on that needs help, but due to its massive size, a project like that would cost a fortune. It seems that all the Dinn & Summers coasters from the 80s and 90s really did not age that well. I'm sure there's a thread somewhere on here where someone talks about the physics behind the phenomenon known as the "Dinn shuffle" but I would rather not look right now

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The Beast.

 

Please?

-JZ

 

Amen to that! What kind of improvements do you think they could make to optimize this coasters potential. It definitely need something. Is it possible to add some banking and dips where needed. There is a lot of straight boring sections that could benefit from a double down or a few hills. The real question I guess is, would they ever mess with The Beast?

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Gwazi… i absolutely love this coaster, and will defend it against any and all of it's detractors (which seems to be pretty much everyone but me!), but, honestly, that's only because i ride it so damn often, and know it's “moods”: it's cranky as hell in the morning, only gets crankier as the day goes on, until it's gotten fully “warmed up” (basically, once the hottest part of the day is over, and it's started to cool down for the evening — or, it's been thoroughly drenched by rain!), and then it's probably the most completely wild, insane, out-of-control, “holy poo-poo!”, awesome roller-coaster i've ever been on in my entire life! unfortunately, during normal hours that usually leaves Gwazi with an hour or two of running at it's best, and it seems like most people try to do it first thing in the morning! eek! it'd be nice if it could run closer to it's “peak” performance all day long (like the parks steel coasters do!), and, if there's anything that could be done about that, i'd be all for it (and i'd be all for Millennium Flyers no matter what! they're just about the sexiest coaster trains on earth…)

 

I am amaze by the fact that you are still living...lol

 

I do prefer Gwazi over other woodies...Such as Texas Giant...I thought I was going to die. I didn't know if it was a blender or an earthquake...Nop...it was a rough wooden coaster

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