The "Pleasant/Unpleasant Surprise" Thread

[CPmillenia94]

Unless you are talking about an old school invert, or kumba, or maybe one of the gigas, Im not sure which rides you think people are hyping up.. Most people consider B&Ms to be fairly average rides, definitely not hyped to be top 5 coasters.

[I305forever]

Unpleasant: Alpengeist. I heard it was great and it ended up beating the shit out of me.

[CPmillenia94]

^...just.. what.. how??

 

This is the most confusing thing I hear often on this forum. Alpengeist is easily one of the smoothest coasters I have ever ridden. I would venture to say the smoothest in the park..

[cfc]

^...just.. what.. how??

 

This is the most confusing thing I hear often on this forum. Alpengeist is easily one of the smoothest coasters I have ever ridden. I would venture to say the smoothest in the park..

 

Well, I wouldn't go that far. I've found Griffon and Apollo's Chariot to be smoother rides than Alpengeist. But I don't think Alpengeist is all that rough, either.

[TheCoasterKid211]

^...just.. what.. how??

 

This is the most confusing thing I hear often on this forum. Alpengeist is easily one of the smoothest coasters I have ever ridden. I would venture to say the smoothest in the park..

 

Well, I wouldn't go that far. I've found Griffon and Apollo's Chariot to be smoother rides than Alpengeist. But I don't think Alpengeist is all that rough, either.

I sort of agree... while Alpengeist is easily one of my favorite inverts, it does have it's moments. But then again, so does every other old- school B&M.

[Henry M]

My pleasant surprise was Rage and Kanonen both for the same reason. I had not heard that many reviews about them and those which I had side they were OK. However, when I rode both of them, I thought they were really good and very re rideable and fun.

 

On the flip side, after riding Nemesis, I thought Nemesis Inferno would be at least OK. WRONG. Awful ride, which was not smooth and seemed repetitive and not very enjoyable. Also, I really wanted to enjoy the Swarm more.

[TheCoasterKid211]

On the flip side, after riding Nemesis, I thought Nemesis Inferno would be at least OK. WRONG. Awful ride, which was not smooth and seemed repetitive and not very enjoyable. Also, I really wanted to enjoy the Swarm more.

If you don't like Swarm, you are my mortal enemy. if you don't like Nemesis Inferno... well, to each their own.

[cfc]

^...just.. what.. how??

 

This is the most confusing thing I hear often on this forum. Alpengeist is easily one of the smoothest coasters I have ever ridden. I would venture to say the smoothest in the park..

 

Well, I wouldn't go that far. I've found Griffon and Apollo's Chariot to be smoother rides than Alpengeist. But I don't think Alpengeist is all that rough, either.

I sort of agree... while Alpengeist is easily one of my favorite inverts, it does have it's moments. But then again, so does every other old- school B&M.

 

I think the only moment is the cobra roll, but even that isn't horrible.

[gbioryl]

I don't know why there is so much B&M hate.

[I Like Theme Parks.]

The snappy cobra roll on Alpengeist really throws you around and it feels like the train will fly off the track, but it wasn't too rough, and it certainly isn't painful. The turn into the mid-course brakes is pretty harsh, but it's fine if you brace yourself for it. I would actually put Alpengeist into the "pleasant surprise" category. Because it's an old-school B&M invert on a giant scale, so I knew it was going to be awesome. But it ended up being in my top 3 steel coasters of all time! I wasn't expecting that.

[SFOG1991]

^I completely agree. I feel like a lot of people hate on it because the part after the MCBR is average but that doesn't take away from the fact that the first half is insanely awesome. That cobra roll is something else!!!

[I Like Theme Parks.]

^I completely agree. I feel like a lot of people hate on it because the part after the MCBR is average but that doesn't take away from the fact that the first half is insanely awesome. That cobra roll is something else!!!

I actually really loved the second half a lot! The zero-g roll and corkscrew both have a nice whip to them, and the helix is pretty forceful. Also you interact more with Le Scoot, and there is more theming, so it is very creative and smart how they did the layout so that you would have the less intense part be very scenic.

[strz]

Off the top of my head:

 

"Pleasant" surprise: Verboten BGW (I had minimal expectations, and really enjoyed this thing!)

"Unpleasant" surprise: Kilimanjaro Safaris at WDWAK....what a yawn fest this is!

[I Like Theme Parks.]

Off the top of my head:

 

"Pleasant" surprise: Verboten BGW (I had minimal expectations, and really enjoyed this thing!)

"Unpleasant" surprise: Kilimanjaro Safaris at WDWAK....what a yawn fest this is!

When Six Flags makes a themed safari attraction and blows the Disney version away, you know Disney really screwed up!

Edited April 1, 2016 by I Like Theme Parks.

[marth555]

I hated Vortex at Carowinds which was the first stand up I rode but I enjoyed Shockwave at KD

[Sythe]

Pleasant:

 

Mr. Freeze Reverse Blast (sfot): having two Premier Spaghetti Bowl coasters at my home parks, I didn't expect the ride to be all that intense. But oh my gosh, the ride is short but insane!

 

Skyrush: I was horrified on this coaster, it is extremely insane! I thought I was going to die, which is terrifying but amazing.

 

Volcano: The whole entire ride scares me. The launches are an overwhelmingly sensory experience, along with suddenly being upside down 155 feet in the air... The whole entire ride was just a big surprise to me.

 

Unpleasant:

 

Green lantern (sfgadv): I HATE this coaster. The bones in my legs felt they they were going to split open. I even gave it another chance the next day, but it was still unbearably painful.

 

El Toro: it wasn't as much an unpleasant experience as it was that I was expecting the ride to be way better than it really was. I found it somewhat shaky after the turnaround, and the type of airtime that it has wasn't my favorite. Don't get me wrong, it's a great ride, but it is fairly overrated to me.

 

Wicked Cyclone: Again, I didn't have a bad experience, but I was expecting it to be much better. It has some great airtime, but then at the end it gets really slow, and the tiny little hills don't really provide any real airtime...

[Pirate]

Those Kamikaze fair rides.

 

The restraints are so uncomfortable. That's the only ride where I felt like I was going to slip through the restraints.

[strz]

Wow! Didn't expect to see El Toro land into someone's unpleasant category!

[Henry M]

I don't know why there is so much B&M hate.

 

Because they are always so over hyped, and that is what this thread is about.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

My biggest pleasant and unpleasant surprises both occurred at Six Flags Great America.

 

Pleasant: Vertical Velocity

I did not expect a whole lot from this, being a shuttle coaster. I was in the park mainly for Goliath, but you know, while you're there.... This wasn't the most intense coaster there, but it was definitely fun. #2 in the park behind Goliath. I'm really looking forward to riding Steel Venom and Wicked Twister this year, based entirely on that experience. I know there are a few clones out there, but these should be cloned more. It was a really good time.

 

Unpleasant: Raging Bull

I went into this with high expectations. Wildfire and Mamba are two of my favourites, and Raging Bull seemed like a perfect combination of the two. I rode in the back row, right side, which is the best seat on the B&M's I had been on (at that time a handful of floorless and inverts). The first drop was good, but the way it hit the trim brake hard on the next hill meant it never really recovered. It just meandered through the rest of the course and was overall very disappointing. I'd take anything else in that park over Raging Bull, save Superman.

[CPGemini08]

Spent last week in Orlando and it's surrounding areas, and have gathered some thoughts.

 

Pleasant:

Manta - Wow. That's about all I can say. Granted my experience with any type of flying coasters were a Volare at Canada's Wonderland, and X-Flight/Firehawk at GL/KI, so B&M flyers were new to me. But I've got to say, this by far exceeded any expectations I had with flying coasters. The restraints were incredibly comfortable, the view from any seat was great, and it was quite smooth. Actually, I found the pretzel loop to be incredibly forceful (not expecting that). I had to brace myself each time I went in for it, and wow. It's incredible. Rode it 9x that day. Really wish we had near me up here in Ohio.

 

White Lightning - It seems so short on paper. It was my first smaller GCI, as the last one I was on was American Thunder at SFSTL. Sat in the backseat, and it was amazing. Rode is several times over the course of an hour. I thought it had the right amount of laterals, and was just an overall fun ride. Makes me excited for whatever BGW is now getting. Only downside was dispatch. It was a slower day at the park, and I wasn't too surprised at the 1 train usage, but whenever I wanted to take pics it felt like forever to wait for a train to dispatch.

 

Unpleasent:

Kraken - I mean, don't get me wrong...it wasn't bad at all. I've ridden Dominator back at Geauga Lake, and most recently Rougarou back home. However, maybe it was the lack of laterals throughout the layout, but it didn't really do anything for me. It was a very straightforward B&M layout.

 

Artic Expedition - I guess maybe I didn't know what I was expecting going in. But the ride mixed with the storyline seemed pointless. I wasn't really following along where I was in the story as the cars moved about. IDK, maybe that one is just me, but I could've done without the ride and just saw the penguins.

[I Like Theme Parks.]

Two pleasant surprises were at Six Flags America on Saturday. Well, the whole park would be a surprise I guess, since I had a great time there and it is MUCH better than people say it is. But Wild One and Roar were the two biggest surprises. I was expecting Wild One to be very good, since I love the classic PTC woodies. But it was much more forceful and smooth than I thought it would be. There are some wild moments of airtime! And Roar was a ride I didn't really care about, but I just rode it because why not. I've heard that it was rough and slow. But the re-tracking that has been done really made the ride super smooth! It felt like a brand new ride. And there were some really good turns and quick transitions, and there were a few good airtime hills. So it is like how any good GCI should be! These were my two favorite coasters in the park, and it seems like the park is doing the opposite of what other Six Flags parks are doing. They are really trying to clean up the place and make it nice, and they are taking great care of their wooden coasters instead of just letting them deteriorate so they can tear them down or bring in RMC.

[cfc]

^The secret to having a good day at SFA is to visit in the springtime.

[djcoastermark]

^ or in september the weekend before the haunt starts. Cheap deal to get into the park if you wear one item of clothing from a local pro sports team, and the park is totally dead. (water park and water rides are mostly closed, but who cares, I'm there for the coasters and rides.)

[Angle O. Descent]

I just got back from SFGadv after a 3 year hiatus, and Bizarro was much better than I last remembered