Least favorite coaster element.

[darklingscribe]

Apologies if this has been a topic in the past. I did a search, but all the usual terms (least favorite, most hated, least liked...) didn't bring up a topic that fit this bill.

 

So I was thinking today after I assembled a list of my favorite coasters off the top of my head, that none of them had a cobra roll in their layout. In fact as I thought about it some more, the cobra roll is the element in any layout that really does nothing for me. I think it's because it's the element I bang my head on the most. That sudden direction change at the top of the element is what does in my ears even on B&M coasters.

 

It has gotten so bad that I instinctually tense up before any cobra roll and end up fighting the element. This breaks the flow of the ride for me, but I can't help it. I brace automatically for a headbanging every time the cobra roll approaches.

 

So what ride element do you not like, or to put it another way If you owned an amusement park what element would none of the coasters have?

 

Also don't be afraid to get into specifics, it doesn't have to be one generalized element of multiple rides. It could be just one coaster which you think could be great if it didn't have one particularly bad or dull part.

Edited March 14, 2013 by darklingscribe

[Commando]

 

Brake runs

[XYZ]

I generally don't like corkscrews on stand-up coasters as they give me some headbanging. Other than stand-up coasters, I like corkscrews.

[Zcev5454]

That weird transition into a corkscrew on Arrow loopers, where your body is flung to the side. Apparently they didn't think it over too much when designing them.

[Randomman295]

^It was actually because of the limitations of the train's ability to change directions quickly. It's to keep the ride reliable and cheap.

 

My personal least favorite is either a "helix of death" or an outward bank. Helixes of death last way too long and outward banks just hurt.

[CPmillenia94]

^Thats like the best thing on Anaconda, so bizarre how each corkscrew has so much hangtime.

[SingleRiderCam]

Probably hills that look like airtime hills, but are actually not

[darklingscribe]

That weird transition into a corkscrew on Arrow loopers, where your body is flung to the side. Apparently they didn't think it over too much when designing them.

 

That too was also in my mind when creating this topic.

 

^It was actually because of the limitations of the train's ability to change directions quickly. It's to keep the ride reliable and cheap.

 

My personal least favorite is either a "helix of death" or an outward bank. Helixes of death last way too long and outward banks just hurt.

 

I never knew that Arrow purposely did that weird transition. Who would have thought that a coaster company would create and continue to use a design element that was uncomfortable just because of the limitations of their own trains.

 

I have a love hate relationship with helixes of death. The can be great when done properly, but so often they are just boring and sometimes painful. A good example of a ride that knows how to do the giant helix right is The Beast, that helix looks menacing when riding the lift hill up to it and builds an amazing amount of tension.

[Geauga Dog]

The pretzel loop on B&M flyers. The intense G's at the bottom of the element is uncomfortably strong.

[DougMJr]

"Roller Coaster" at NYNY in Las Vegas is painful all around, but this element gave me a massive headache.

 

This looks like it should be awesome, but it's not.

[3Mutts]

+1 for the Arrow coat hanger turns and Cobra Rolls.

[SingleRiderCam]

^^ I almost forgot about that one, that was painful

[larrygator]

Cobra rolls on a Boomerang.

 

Any turn on a Volare.

[Randomman295]

^^^^ That looks like something straight out of the Saw series...

I'm glad I don't have that credit for once.

[coasterbill]

That last hill on zac spin coasters. Those are terrible, terrible rides and thanks to that last hill I don't think I'll be able to have kids now.

[Anac0nda]

Any turn on a Volare.

This. The best part of a Volare is the first drop: no laterals -> no horrible banging. Everything else until unloading is just pure torture.

[rcjp]

Any part of Coaster Express at parque Warner Madrid except for the lift hill. No, wait... even that is painful (I am talking about the beginning which is quite jerky)

[Aceattack52]

I really don't like ANY of the banked turns on Hurler at Carowinds. It's not head banging, since its a wooden coaster and doesn't have OTSRs, but you get thrown around a ton! I usually can only do one ride and that's it for the day.

The turn at the end of this stretch is the worst.

[mangoman15]

Almost all cobra rolls bother me. Especially the one on Raptor.

[GeorgeT]

Trims...by a laaaarge amount

[06jds377]

Chalk up another one for cobra rolls.

[Loefet]

All elements that produce excessive head-banging.

[GayCoasterGuy]

The *snap* at the top of B&M flat spins (corkscrews - why do they call them "flat spins"??).

[simon8899]

+1 for cobra-rolls - with the exception of the Vienna Prater Boomerang - no OTSRs just lapbars...

 

Edit: Also excluding the cobraroll of Intamin inverted Tornado at Särkeniemmi.

[larrygator]

+1 for cobra-rolls - with the exception of the Vienna Prater Boomerang - no OTSRs just lapbars...