"Welcome back riders, how was your ride?"

[Samuel]

Just for fun, what coasters regularly produce an exceptional amount of clapping and hootin'/hollerin' from GP riders when they return to the station? While TPR members aren't shy about vocalizing the fun they're having, the makeup and attitudes of riders on regular operating days can vary. Still, it perks me up to see average riders being expressively ecstatic when they get back to the station, and this surely occurs on some rides more often than others. I think some important ingredients for a great reception include a solid ride, riders who are willing to let themselves have fun, and enthusiastic employees who can project and generate excitement through their interactions with guests. I'll offer Maverick, MF, and TTD at Cedar Point as my examples -- the GP is often very pumped to ride these three, and a regular ride can feel more like the camaraderie experience of being with TPR members, where just about everyone is raving and enjoying themselves.

 

I'm aware that although quality rides sometimes totally deliver and the employees do a fine job, returning riders can act "too cool for school," get weirdly shy, or just quickly lose their buzz (especially if trains stack), so I tend to stick up for good rides by giving a sincere applause, even if others won't play along. Also, I think crews of knowingly dated/rough coasters should stop polling for post-ride opinions that invite fun-killing silence or even jeers, and instead should just say, "thank you for riding such-and-such, when the train comes to a stop..."

 

Anyway, what coasters do you feel typically get a great response?

[Comeagain?]

Depending on the energy of the ops we've got, Aftershock can get great responses. If the ops are bored and quite then usually not as much...

[larrygator]

El Toro

[coasterlvr]

millennium force and top thrill dragster. people are always seem extra excited coming into the brake run or station. i think lex luthor drop of doom at sfmm is similar. i also felt that sfga goliath gets some pretty good reaction.

[K1ngdaKa88]

When I rode Goliath at SFMM in 2013 the ride Operators were asking always: "How was the ride?" And at the most time the riders were clapping. Then we rode it and when we entered the station the ride operator asked: " How was the Ride?" and I was the only one who was clapping and shouting "wooohooo" and then the operator said quietly: "only one enjoyed it"

In a few german parks I've been at that summer, I was often clapping while the coaster leaves the station and I usually was clapping when we came back to the station. And if the ride was awesome I showed to the ride Operators my thumbs up!! And often they were smiling back:)

[patrick_rc_fan]

Always on Behemoth, and Leviathan. Quite often on the Mighty Canadian Minebuster, also at CW.

[cfc]

For me, how many people are laughing and smiling at the end of a ride are a good indicator. For example, Verbolten seems to bring out a lot of laughter from riders.

[Owentaylor121]

Shambhala, it constantly had people shouting, cheering and clapping when it arrived back to the station.

[Nozzy]

El Toro

 

^This.

 

Going between Rolling Thunder and El Toro was night and day for rider responses. Rolling Thunder riders would give mixed, negative or no response after being asked by the op. El Toro riders just come back cheering without any prompting.

[DonGeorge]

Depending on the energy of the ops we've got, Aftershock can get great responses.

 

^INDEED^

 

As much as I love that ride, I think a lot of the GP merriment comes from the fact that they won in that one episode of Insane Coaster Wars. Even when I went on that train and when we were coming back they noted that Aftershock got that award. But that ride does get understandably good reviews.

[cfc]

El Toro

 

 

Larry speaks the truth.

[KrakenKing]

El Toro, as mentioned above. Always loud in the station when the train comes rolling back in!

 

Bizarro at SFNE is another, depending if the riders can hear the ride ops over the on-board audio.

 

Cheetah Hunt always has riders smiling and laughing at the end, even clapping on the brake run.

 

Um, notice how these are all Intamin...

[Shockwave]

Formula Rossa had every single train cheering when they got back to the station when I rode it the other week.

[Philrad71]

I remember Magnum being the craziest for several years after opening, but then when Millennium Force debuted, it kind of stole some of the thunder away from it.

 

Also El Toro as other people have mentioned. Almost everyone was laughing and some with that expression of "WTF just happened to me?" when they roll back into the station. I also remember ride op's trying to break a record for fastest dispatch and they had everyone in the station cracking up as they tried to see who could go the fastest.

[rcjp]

I guess the ride where I noticed it the most was millennium force where everyone seemed to be super exited and saying: "best ride ever!!" by the end. It also seems to be a coaster where a lot of people tend to put their hands up.

[christianscoasters]

Say what you want about the ride, but Millennium Force always gets a huge positive response from every train when it arrives into the station.

[CJStephens15]

Say what you want about the ride, but Millennium Force always gets a huge positive response from every train when it arrives into the station.

 

^This. Gatekeeper also stood out to me this year.

[Superbatboy]

The ones I rode this year definitely MF, El Toro, and Banshee

[thecoasterdude]

Yea, El Toro probably has the best reception, but whenever i go to Great Adventure, Nitro actually has pretty good recpetion too!

[FaithPlus1]

It was the opening year or maybe a year or two after, Raptor had a great team and the guy on the mic was had an Australian accent. To this day my friends and I remember him enthusiastically saying, "Welcome Raptor Riders! How was your trip?!" He always got a great response from every train!!

[cfc]

Yea, El Toro probably has the best reception, but whenever i go to Great Adventure, Nitro actually has pretty good recpetion too!

 

Why? do they pick up more radio stations?

[Cyrbuzz]

Leviathan at Canada's Wonderland got some good cheers coming into the station. This was my first time on a giga and it was a blast.

[coasterbill]

Millennium Force. They really play up the idea that this is the best ride in the world with a huge sign out front and the enthusiastic and fast ride ops. The ride has mass appeal as it's smooth, fast and just the right amount of intensity that basically everyone loves it (it's not I305 which is too intense for a lot of people but it's miles ahead of a snooze fest B&M hyper like Intimidator at Carowinds).

 

Whether it's true or not people get off that ride believing that they just rode the best coaster in the world and they're always excited about it. It also almost never stacks for too long which helps a lot because nothing can ruin the applause a ride gets like stacking.

[PeggedSole]

I visited Quassy for the first time earlier this year. I rode Wooden Warrior several times, and each time the train came back into the station everybody (kids and adults) were smiling, laughing, and super-excited about the ride we had just taken. The enthusiasm for this ride really stood out to me amongst the many other larger parks/larger coasters I hit during the same trip. Quassy has a "big" winner with this "little" coaster!

[rcjp]

Millennium Force. They really play up the idea that this is the best ride in the world with a huge sign out front and the enthusiastic and fast ride ops. The ride has mass appeal as it's smooth, fast and just the right amount of intensity that basically everyone loves it (it's not I305 which is too intense for a lot of people but it's miles ahead of a snooze fest B&M hyper like Intimidator at Carowinds).

 

Whether it's true or not people get off that ride believing that they just rode the best coaster in the world and they're always excited about it. It also almost never stacks for too long which helps a lot because nothing can ruin the applause a ride gets like stacking.

True. It's the perfect ride for the biggest number of people. The fact that it's long and not very intense also gives riders enough confidence to raise their hands which means that by the end everyone has their arms up which is always a good sign.