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The Official Mitch Hawker 2012 Wood Coaster Poll Thread!


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The Voyage is one of those rides that hurt me but also dually impressed me. I hate terribly rough coasters (ala GA Cyclone)....

That's me, too, more or less.

 

Voyage: Rough, but completely worth it because it has so many outstanding qualities (speed, length, airtime, setting, layout, and more). I enjoyed several daytime rides in the front and back on a hot summer day in 2010.

 

Georgia Cyclone: Extremely and pointlessly rough. (I rode in both the back row and the PTC seat, which was decidedly not magical.) Yes, there is airtime, but so what? Even some of my lowest-ranked coasters have ejector airtime.

 

Coney Island Cyclone: While it's easily the most brutal coaster I've ever encountered, I find it strangely appealing. The airtime is unusually strong and in this case helps redeem the ride. I've never able to quit that back row for good.

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^I COMPLETELY agree with you on Voyage and GA Cyclone. I haven't ridden CI Cyclone yet.

 

It is interesting to me though that people hate Voyage and love Ravine Flyer II. I thought RFII was almost just as rough as Voyage, it just was much shorter. There was a bump after the first crossing of the bridge that was brutal!

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Great list with a great top 20.

 

I'm a huge GG fan so finally having the chance to ride Voyage and Hades was a mixed blessing. I would rather not be able to marathon a coaster because of intensity rather than because it beats the living crap beat out of me, in ways that those two do. Worse than the back seat of the Coney Island Cyclone even.

 

The Voyage looks so majestic with such a cool layout. I remember riding in very back seat with Robb and Elissa in the row in front and I think at times we were all crying or laughing because it just went on and on, which is a horrible thing during a torture session. Tried up closer to the front and it was still really bad. I can't wait to try it with Timberliners and any planned re-tracking work done to see how it was meant to ride when it first opened.

 

So glad to see Boulder Dash and Balder up there! Boulder Dash is in the perfect setting, which really adds to the intensity of the coaster. El Toro and Balder are intense as it is in the morning and with empty trains. Go figure when they warm up and have a full train. Mamma mia.

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On some varying points.

 

First off, Robb, you said that we shouldn't rank coasters based on special events. But with that logic, then all of us should rank the Chinese Dauling Dragons lower, since one of the highlights of the ride is the High Five element, which supposedly the general public have never experienced, since the park never races the coasters, other than when we were there. I did get one ride later in the day without the other side running. Should I rank the coaster based on that ride only, since that is the more typical guest experience? In fact, that's more of a special occurrance than just a park coaster event. After all, to get racing rides on Dauling Dragons, we had to pay several thousand dollars and spend at least a week and a half on tour with TPR. To go to Holiwood Nights, all I have to do is send some money to TPR, ACE, ECC or another club and send some more money to Holiday World. It's not like you have to pass some test of have a high coaster count. Anyone willing to do a little online research and spend a little money can go. Dauling Dragons are great coasters, even without the racing and the high five. But they'd definitely lose a couple of notches on my list without them. And I'm pretty sure I'm not alone in that feeling.

 

I absolutely rank coasters based on my best experiences on them. I'm also smart enough to go to coaster events whenever I can, especially for top woodies, because I know that they'll run the best they can. I've literally never been to Knoebels or Visionland/Alabama Adventure or Holiday World or Silverwood or a bunch of other parks on any day that wasn't a coaster event with nighttime ERT. Hell, I've only been to Lake Compounce once when it wasn't a coaster event, and it's 1.5 hours from my house! Does that make my judgement biased? Not at all. I'm ranking the coasters based on their best performance that I've experienced. I just make sure that my experiences are the best they can be.

 

Should I be ranking them based on the TYPICAL experience? Why? I don't CARE about the typical experience. I care about the best experience I can get for my money and time. That's exactly why I DON'T go to these parks at other times. If I'm going to spend the time and money to go to Indiana or Idaho or Pennsylvania or wherever, I want to get the best experience I can for my money. That's why I will always try to ride great woodies as late as I possibly can and in the seats that give the best rides.

 

That's also why I don't generally ride in the middle of the trains, at least not on any notable coaster. If it's just a crappy credit, then I don't care. Or if Robb needs us for filming, like he did in China, then of course, I'll help fill up the train. But generally, I'd rather wait a train or even 5 to get a better ride in a better seat. That's where MY priority is.

 

So, that's how I rank my coasters.

 

Take Pheonix, for instance. Admittedly, I rank it quite a bit lower than many enthusiasts, at #28, because it's not quite as insane as I need a coaster to be to be at the very top of my list. But it's still an awesome coaster. Yes, it gives great rides all over the train, but if I were to rank it based on the few rides I've had (many years ago!) in the middle of the train, it would probably drop 10-15 notches. And if I ranked it based on the daytime rides I've had during the PPP, it would probably also drop 10-15 notches. But, since I base it on the very best rides I've had -- in seat #3 during nighttime ERT, with trains full of cheering, excited enthusiasts -- it stays as high as it is. And I think that's fair. I assume that many of those who rode it during the TPR trip with nighttime ERT with the glowsticks got an awesome experience that is reflected in their ranking. And that's fair too.

 

 

As to Voyage specifically, people are forgetting one of the main reasons that it runs so much better during Holiwood Nights. It's not just that the park spends considerable effort fixing and tweaking it for the event (though they do). It's because the park spends the entire off-season retracking and fixing the coaster and its trains. Holiwood Nights is only three full weeks into the park's season, and during those weeks, the park runs with limited hours. So, the coaster hasn't yet had the chance to rip itself apart yet! If roughness is your issue with Voyage, then THIS is the time to go! In terms or roughness, Voyage IS giving the typical experience for anyone who goes early in the season. But, admittedly, the biggest reason to go is that Voyage really picks up speed and craziness as the night goes on! To the point that it gives a ride that I believe no other coaster on the planet even gets close to giving.

 

The two TPR tours that have visited Holiday World visited the park in August. That time is just about the last time in the year that the coaster is open all week. It's already been running every day for over three months, with the coaster slowly tearing itself apart all season. That's probably the WORST time to go. Especially with the park closing earlier, which means Voyage is underperforming from what it can do later in the night. If you think that a coaster's ranking should show the typical guest experience, then a ranking based on its performance during the TPR tours is not at all the typical experience, any more than one based on a visit during HWN is.

 

 

Just to be clear here, though. Everyone's opinions are equally valid. It's YOUR list., You can rank coasters however you want. We all have different things we value in coasters. And all our opinions are equally valid. Well, unless you disagree with me!

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^David, you also wrote something earlier about ranking a coaster based on "rides that you actually got on it." Sounds like that's what you're doing. Well, that's what others are doing, too. I have ridden Phoenix both with and without "glowsticks," and during special events and normal operations--and it was great each time. That was not my personal experience with Voyage, but if others love it just the same, that's OK.

Edited by cfc
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I can attest that Chuck and I has some amazing rides on all three coasters at Holiday World opening weekend of 2009. Voyage was running really great that weekend. My first experience with it August 2007, was simply not a good one. I rank it high because of my last experience, but if I ride it again and get a similar experience as I did in 2007, you bet it will drop back down in my rankings.

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A few things I noticed in the 2012 results:

 

Interesting that Zippin Pippin actually climbed up 12 spots to #26 this year.

 

Yes, it only had 12 riders take the poll last year and only 22 this year but no other coaster in the top 50 gained anywhere near that number of spots in the 2012 poll.

 

Too bad that so few have ridden it, Bay Beach is a great little throwback of a park.

 

Wisconsin, which had zero wood coasters in 1994, now has seven of them and is the only state with three in the top 30.

 

Any comments on the fact the Boulder Dash and Voyage were both preferred to El Toro by people who had ridden them both this year? Granted the ET v TV vote was only 6 to 5

Edited by MitchHawker
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First off, Robb, you said that we shouldn't rank coasters based on special events. But with that logic, then all of us should rank the Chinese Dauling Dragons lower, since one of the highlights of the ride is the High Five element, which supposedly the general public have never experienced, since the park never races the coasters, other than when we were there.

Then rank them however you want. I really don't give a sh*t. If all you're going to do is post to "bust" my logic, I'm done. I have no interest in arguing "logic" or the differences between HoliWood Nights and me going out of my way to get a Chinese park to operate a coaster the way it was supposed to operate... in the morning... under pretty normal conditions... nothing special...

 

Oh, and YOU'RE WELCOME by the way for the dueling high five rides you DO get. Had I known, David, that you were just going to come on my forum and use that against me, I wold have made SURE you only got non-dueling rides. You know, I wouldn't want you to rank your coasters unfairly.

 

And you're absolutely WRONG - the high five HAS operated dueling for the general public, it just doesn't happen that often.

 

Let's just get one thing straight here - YOU LIKE THE VOYAGE. OTHER PEOPLE DON'T. IT DOESN'T F**KING MATTER!!!!

 

--Robb "Facepalm over one thousand times..." Alvey

Edited by robbalvey
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Oh man. I love elaborate arguments about things that don't even matter in the world as if they are the most important thing ever.

THIS! THIS! THIS! THIS! THIS! THIS! THIS! I'm going to quote it again because it's so awesome.

 

Oh man. I love elaborate arguments about things that don't even matter in the world as if they are the most important thing ever.

 

Oh man. I love elaborate arguments about things that don't even matter in the world as if they are the most important thing ever.

 

Oh man. I love elaborate arguments about things that don't even matter in the world as if they are the most important thing ever.
Oh man. I love elaborate arguments about things that don't even matter in the world as if they are the most important thing ever.

 

Oh man. I love elaborate arguments about things that don't even matter in the world as if they are the most important thing ever.
Oh man. I love elaborate arguments about things that don't even matter in the world as if they are the most important thing ever.

 

Oh man. I love elaborate arguments about things that don't even matter in the world as if they are the most important thing ever.
Oh man. I love elaborate arguments about things that don't even matter in the world as if they are the most important thing ever.
Oh man. I love elaborate arguments about things that don't even matter in the world as if they are the most important thing ever.
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Any comments on the fact the Boulder Dash and Voyage were both preferred to El Toro by people who had ridden them both this year? Granted the ET v TV vote was only 6 to 5

 

Interesting I had not looked at the 2012 only rankings yet. My guess is that those 6 enthusiasts probably rode Voyage during a special event.

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I am really anticipating the Timberliners on The Voyage. Are they really as smooth as they sound?

There have not been any Timberliners installed on any previously existing coaster, so the question really cannot be answered. I've ridden both coasters with Timberliners so far, and I really liked the trains, but just adding a new train onto a ride doesn't always fix all the problems.

 

This is really more of a "Wait and see" situation....

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Any comments on the fact the Boulder Dash and Voyage were both preferred to El Toro by people who had ridden them both this year? Granted the ET v TV vote was only 6 to 5

 

I'm one of those that ranked Boulder Dash higher than El Toro and I rode both for the first time in 2012, but have not ridden Voyage yet. Since I was new to both, I obviously can't comment on how each ran compared to previous years, but I felt both ran very well and lived up to my expectations.

 

I noticed El Toro did have two spots of surprising roughness: one on the far turnaround and another in the twister section. It was steel coaster smooth other than that. Boulder Dash had no such roughness anywhere. I prefer BD because of the terrain, "authentic" woody feel, and the airtime still felt about 80-90% as strong as El Toro's.

 

It's only conjecture on my part, but if the rough spots on El Toro are something new, perhaps it needs a bit of retracking and that might explain the results?

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I noticed El Toro did have two spots of surprising roughness: one on the far turnaround and another in the twister section. It was steel coaster smooth other than that.

I was shaken around a bit at the bottom of the turnaround, but I didn't notice the other one. Rode in the first car on both of my rides. That still doesn't rank it anywhere lower than #2. It's certainly fantastic.

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