Extreme Coaster Weather

[bhslhs]

So this weekend I'm getting the pleasure of going to Silverwood. This is the first year they've been open this late in the year. It's an experimental thing and they want to see if it can work in the future. I'm extremely excited and can't wait. Its the only thing that I've been thinking about in school this week. There's a little obstacle though. The expected weather. High of 40, low of 25 with a 25 percent chance of SNOW! Now earlier this year I went to Magic Mountain during July. I'm sure a lot of you guys have been to Magic Mountain. For those of you who haven't, its about 110 during the heat of the day. So those are two pretty extreme weather conditions for coaster riding. So my question is, what is the worst or most extreme weather conditions that you have ridden coasters in?

[Sunfire]

I rode Invertigo at CGA in heavy rain last year. Of course, the rain fried the ride's circuits and it closed for two days. I didn't like riding with all the rain. The water drops actually hurt since they hit at 50 mph.

[hobbit]

 

Found this video on youtube.

 

And i rode Goliath with Lots of rain.

[themeparkman25]

^Coasters can hydroplane, it messes up the times and makes everything screwy. I feel like EG didn't run much longer in that weather. Plus any rain going 50+ mph hurts, ie SheiKra!

 

I wasn't riding this when I took the picture, but I was staffed on a ride when we had to shut the park down completely, including powering down every ride, due to an intense thunderstorm. Oh, and there was a twister above Twister! Oh my!

It doesn't look like much, but this was taken before the heat of the storm...before we hid in a shelter.

[hobbit]

WHOW!

I saw the same thing in Croatia.. But 5 minutes later it was on the ground!

 

But in de USA they build homes, themeparks, and city's in a place where are lots of twisters and storms...

 

I am glad that there are no twisters here..

[Thelegendarymatthew]

I think the most extream weather is a thunder storm. I've rode Grizzly in the rain, it may hurt at first, but its a really cool ride. I can't imagine how awesome it would be for something like The Beast or Bolder Dash.

 

Also, big wind storms are fun. They make the coaster feel faster if its going in the right direction, which is awesome.

 

-Matthew K.

[monsterfan99]

^ My first ride on The Beast was at night during a downpour this spring. It was the single greatest ride I have ever had on a roller coaster and I am not being sarcastic. Words can not describe the insanity of it being pitch black, having no clue what is coming and rain flying in your face.

 

The worst weather we have done anything in was high 30's/low 40's at SF STL last November. It got to the point where Tony Hawk's Big Spin valleyed. The Boss and Ninja were also closed due to the weather. But it was a fun day due to there being less then 500 people in the park. The longest wait the entire day was 1 cycle of front row on Screamin' Eagle.

 

If you get lucky, bad weather days are the perfect days to go. A short, heavy rain or cold weather will clear out the park. It turns into a day long ERT at the park.

[spaceace12]

We weren't riding, but at this years HWN, it poured down for an hour into the Saturday ERT. The coasters weren't open yet, but as soon as they did, they were AMAZING.

 

I did hear during this years coasterbuzz event that it poured down during a Voyage ride.

[Erik Johnson]

Mine was probably riding Ravine Flyer 2 last summer with TPR while it was pouring rain. I should also add there was a lot of lightning close by as well. I should also note that riding Nitro in the front row while it pouring rain was not one of my brighter ideas. The same goes for riding Batman: The Ride while it is raining, especially if you happen to like your clothes oil/grease free. At least we were warned about that one, but we needed the credit.

[All Clear]

A couple of years ago on passholder preview day at BGE, temperatures were in the thirties and I got to ride Alpengeist in some actual snow. It was amazing and horrible at the same time. We were expecting temperatures in the 40s and had dressed accordingly. We didn't last very long that day.

 

Then, of course, there is the legendary Ravine Flyer II ERT session from the Behemoth/Ravine Flyer trip last year...

 

Some TPR tripper: "Was that thunder?"

RFII ride op: "Shh! We didn't hear that. All clear!"

[FeelTheFORCE]

I've been to Cedar Point in early May when it was about 40 degrees and rainy. Fun times. Everything stayed open and we pretty much had the park to ourselves. This occurred more than once. I was doing this for a few years.

 

This was pre-math and physics day.

[chemical_echo]

A couple years back my friends and I went to HalloWeekends at CP for one of the final weekends. It was freezing, and at 12:30am we got our final ride in the front row seat of MF...in the pouring rain.

 

I had my hands up for the first drop until I realized it hurt like hell and covered my face with my arms for the rest of the ride.

[jedimaster1227]

Our ERT session on Ravine Flyer II at Waldameer Park was a crazy little weather experience powered by deadly winds, rain and lightning. The park continued to the run the coaster through the rain (making it an even scarier ride) with plenty of lightning close in sight. I still regard that as one of the craziest experiences I've had with Theme Park Review.

[Ed]

Nemesis in the rain is actually insane. I completely greyed out on the Helix. Pepsi Max Big One in the snow... That was just cold! And made my teeth ache for a while.

 

Parks should start simulating weather to make things a bit more varied I think. Just not Cedar Fair.

[SharkTums]

Probably our Nasu Highland riding coasters in the snow day:

 

 

But as others have said, the torrential downpour and severe thunderstorm at Waldameer was pretty epic as well! I still remember ducking under random metal awnings on the way out to try and get some shelter from the rain, then seeing a lightning bolt less than a mile away and realizing we should probably not be standing there!

[StealthFan]

I would have to say when I was on Pepsi Max Big One, last ride of the day, me and a few ride staff and it started to hail as we got to the top off the lift!

 

That was a serious amount of pain, they very kindly let us stay in the station until it calmed down about 5 mins later.

[mwm1444]

It was the single greatest ride I have ever had on a roller coaster and I am not being sarcastic. Words can not describe the insanity of it being pitch black, having no clue what is coming and rain flying in your face.

 

This is pretty much how I would describe my experience on Air a couple of years ago. Sure, it's fairly tame during the day, but in October, when it's dark at 6pm, riding through at least medium rain was awesome.

 

On Sunday, I rode Rollercoaster at Blackpool during a pretty decent shower, which was pretty fun too.

[SharkTums]

^^Oh Craig, that reminds me...we also had a dreaded 'hail' ride on The Big One as well. (And the Alice in Wonderland ride as well!)

 

You can see the hail hitting Tom in this picture!

[StealthFan]

^Alice In Wonderland in the hail, must have easily doubled that rides awesomeness!

[scooterdoug]

Last June I was at CP with my cousin. We were waiting in line for Millennium Force when it started to rain (not heavily, but definitely not a drizzle). We waited for the front row, hoping they wouldn't close the ride. We finally took our seats in the front and started up that lift hill. I was so happy that they let us ride, until we actually built up speed. From there on, if felt like thousands of tiny, sharp icicles stabbing me in the face. It genuinely hurt. I would have prefered it if they had simply closed down the ride and waited the 30 minutes it took for the rain to stop. Worst coaster ride ever...and Millie is one of my favorites.

-Doug

[Guest]

Nitro in the rain has to be the best Hyper Coaster experience in the world. The bottom of the drops are just so forceful and the rain feels like rocks hitting your face. El Toro is amazing too. Not as good as Nitro.

 

In the station of Rolling Thunder: I was sitting in the train and I heard the op say "Enjoy your ride on Gadv's Best Water ride" I looked out the station and it was POURING. An old William Cobb woodie can not be safe in the rain but it was and fun. My goal is to ride Ka in the rain.

[Coaster Cow]

I rode Thunderhead when it was 40 degrees and pouring. We were the only people on the train, and IT FLEW. It was insane! It's too bad I had to pay attention to the water slapping me in the face to really appreciate it.

[pkdcoaster]

Funny this topic arises after this past weekend.

Saturday (10-3-09) was my first trip to SFNE and our first ride on Bizarro was in a torrential downpour. Hurt like hell but worth it. Sadly we arrived at 3 and they shut the park down at 5:30.

 

JEFF

[B-RadG]

It was pouring on Big Bad Wolf's closing day, and not only did the rain hurt (not to mention I kept riding it over and over, soaked, cold, and shivering like a fool), I got hit with a hat. I don't know if that counts as weather, but it sure as hell hurt.

[cal1br3tto]

I rode California Screamin' in the rain and got pelted. That was actually the most epic ride of my life.