Today's Burning Question - YOLOcoaster or Gatekeeper?

[robbalvey]

Now that the season is over, which did you prefer?

[11slataus]

My vote goes to GateKeeper. Even though it's pretty forceless and predictable, YOLO just doesn't have enough to it. It certainly gets some cool points for being unique with its LoopHat, but GateKeeper I think is the better ride.

[Kyle Coleman]

I voted for yolocoaster in this one. Gatekeeper was longer and taller and all that but at the end of the ride, it just didn't do anything for me. Yolocoaster even though it was short, made the most of every bit of track it had and the hang time going through the loop was awesome.

[gerstlaueringvar]

I voted for YOLO coaster because Gatekeeper was rougher than Magic Spring's SLC when I rode it and it does nothing to me at all. Just a ride that LOOKS cool. Even though I haven't been on YOLOcoaster( sorry I Judged a coaster from the review and the video again) I still think it could be a better ride because it is so unique and it has ejector!

[azza29]

Gatekeeper for me - one of the best first drops I've experienced, the keyholes are awesome, and it's a very good looking ride to boot. Gatekeeper also wins out in terms of what it added to the park as a whole - fantastic new entry plaza and really opens up the beach as an extension of that part of the park.

[Jew]

YOLOCoaster was surprisingly fun, despite it's super short length!

[PalmTree55]

Full Throttle by a long shot! I love Premier, and although short, this ride is one of my favorite launchers (especially with the hangtime )!

Ridiculous Hangtime on that loop. So awesome!

[cfc]

Based on my Gatekeeper experience, I'm going with YOLOcoaster, even though I haven't ridden the latter. Really didn't care for Gatekeeper, but I do like Premier's launched coasters.

[Her0ofLime]

While Gatekeeper overall had more to it, YOLOcoaster was much less boring from other people's experiences. Although my opinion isn't really useful considering I haven't ridden either.

[DougMJr]

GateKeeper was underwhelming and honestly felt like it would have been right at home at SFMM, especially with that airtime-less camel-back.

 

I haven't ridden YOLOcoaster, but I'm sure it beats GateKeeper by a mile.

[Xcoaster]

I haven't been on Gatekeeper yet, so I'm not voting, but I liked YOLOcoaster a lot more than I thought I would. The hangtime in the two loops is incredible, unlike anything else I've experienced, and the airtime over the loop-hat is a nice bonus. It's probably my third favorite ride in the park now, after X2 and Apocalypse.

 

EDIT: Regarding wingriders in general, I loved X-Raptor at Gardaland, but mostly because of all the theming and landscape interaction (which subsequent wingriders seem to lack). I rode Swarm shortly afterwards, and was pretty disappointed (granted, I only had one ride, so maybe that could change).

Edited October 13, 2013 by Xcoaster

[DanM64]

I haven't ridden Full Throttle yet, but I was VERY unimpressed by GateKeeper. I rode it 3 times- all with unlocked vests- and found it forceless and slow. I really don't understand the love people have for these B&M Wing coasters. I've been on all 3 of them in the US and found them all to be disappointing. All of the Premier launched coasters I've ridden I've found to be very enjoyable, so my vote went to Full Throttle.

Edited October 13, 2013 by DanM64

[rcdude]

I didn't get to ride GateKeeper, but based on what I've heard it is an underwhelming ride. I've ridden Full Throttle several times and I consider it to be one of California's best coasters (and my second favorite at SFMM), so it gets my vote. Based on what I've heard, GateKeeper was the big disappointment for 2013 and Full Throttle the surprise hit, so it will be interesting to see how this poll turns out.

[kenshinmac]

I'll just say I rode X-flight and Gatekeeper this summer and couldn't be less impressed by them. Honestly both were complete snoozes in the inside seats and surprisingly bumpy in the outside ones. I really didn't like them...

[singemfrc]

I actually got to ride both of these this summer in back-to-back weekends. Very close for me, I loved GateKeeper and thought it was much better than I'd heard (I rode post-vest-fix), but I have to give the edge to YOLOCoaster for the hang time in the loop and the air time you get when you hit the final brakes over the top.

[GigaG]

I've seen both... but YOLO was only testing, it was a week before it opened. YOLO seems more intense, but not to say that GateKeeper is a bad ride - it is quite fun, now has unlocked vests, and is beautiful overall. YOLO is pretty cool-looking, too, and I imagine it looks better now that the plaza is finished. I'm not going to vote, since I've never been on YOLO.

[johnnyknottsville]

I've been on both and I'll gladly take Full Throttle over GateSleeper, I haven't been on a ride that big, that gorgeous and that boring since Intimidator Carrowinds I was thinking well maybe it's just b/c it's a cold opening day for GK and as it runs through out the day the sleeping beast will awaken. Well I rode GK all day and into the night and that sleeping beast stayed sleep lol.

 

Full Throttle on the other hand may not be the most biggest baddest or most intense but the launch is nice, the hang time is nutts and the air over the loophat was way more then I expected overall the ride is just flat out fun and night rides are totally kick a$$ imo

[aCoasterStory]

Having ridden both, my vote overwhelmingly goes to Full Throttle. One of the best ways to judge a roller coaster IMHO is whether it makes you want to get right back on it after you ride. Full Throttle is a coaster I could ride over and over again--the hangtime in the loop is sweet. But I was very underwhelmed by Gatekeeper. I didn't enjoy the clamping vests (which have apparently been fixed), but I also found it to be much bouncier than a good new coaster should be. And the layout just didn't do enough for me. (I thought Wild Eagle was a better wing coaster because it wasn't trying to be extreme--it was just a really good & smooth ride.)

[TyRush]

My vote went to Yolo as Gatekeeper just simply wasn't good enough. Yeah maybe a few strong +g's here and there but overall it was very disappointing. Although I haven't been on Yolo, I love Premier launchers, the are forceful and fun.

[Wes]

Gotta be some more interesting responses...

[Barge84]

Full Throttle and it's not even close. I rode it about 5-6 straight times during ERT at WCB. I had no expectations for the ride, but it was a ton of fun!

 

Gatekeeper looks impressive, and I love everything that it did to the front of the park. Overall, I found the ride to be pretty boring, and both of my rides were the roughest that I've ever had on a B&M. I only rode it the 2nd time to make sure that I wasn't imagining things. Probably one of the bigger letdowns I can remember for a new ride.

[cfc]

^I felt the same way about Gatekeeper--nice to look at, but "meh" to ride.

[Astrojack]

I got to ride both and it's a tough decision. Both are fun rides, just nothing really outstanding about them. I'll have to go with YOLO since I was expecting a lame ride but was surprised how fun it was with all the hang time. Gatekeeper I wasn't expecting much and the ride didn't change my expectation. I thought the reverse launch on YOLO was just a gimmick, but it was actually pretty forceful with great twisted hang time in the back. Felt wrong hang out of the car sideways

[gisco]

YOLO coaster because it is a little more unique.

[mightypotato]

I haven't been on YOLOcoaster, so I really can't say which is better.

 

When I was at CP with TPR this year, my opinions of Gatekeeper were not very positive. Like most everyone else, I was not impressed and the ride didn't do much for me. But...about a month later I found my way back to CP, and my experience was completely different.

 

The ride seemed to be much smoother, had better forces than I remembered and was a whole lot more fun. It was a complete night and day difference in my experiences. I have no idea what caused the change, but I really enjoyed my rides on Gatekeeper that weekend.

 

Next year, I'll finally be heading out to SFMM, so I'll be able to compare the two rides then.