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Have you ever been on a coaster in the rain?


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If you all really want to talk painful, I've ridden the American Eagle at Six Flags Great America in a small hailstorm...

 

No I'm not making this up. It was a fairly cold, rainy/gray Sunday in April during the 2005 Season and when the train was dispatched, all was well. After making it about 1/2 of the way up the lifthill, it started to hail slightly, about small bb to marble sized hail... then the first drop came and it was hailing pretty hard. It pretty much persisted for the entire ride duration up until the final turnarounds. I just have to say it was a serious miracle that I was wearing a hooded sweatshirt with strings to tie it shut and cover my face. At the time I didn't really think about it, but now when I look back it makes me wonder why they didn't e-stop the ride when the hail started...

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  • 10 months later...

I've ridden two coasters in the rain: Kraken at SWO, and Corkscrew at VF. The rain stinging my face was painful enough that those were two of the times were I wanted a ride to end sooner.

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I love wooden coasters in the rain. A few years ago, I was at the Great Escape and it was pouring all day. I marathoned the Comet for almost 2 hours and boy was she flying! Then two years ago, I rode Rolling Thunder in the rain and the ride was actually really good. All of the hills on the return leg had air-time which I didn't expect from that coaster. When I rode it a day later in dry conditions, it was back to dragging through the course unfortunately.

 

Green Lantern (SFGAdv) was probably the most painful coaster experience that I've had in the rain. That when combined with the coaster's roughness on its own was a lethal combination.

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One of the coolest experiences I ever had on a coaster was riding in the rain on Top Thrill Dragster. When the train exited the station it was barely raining, just misting. Then as we were sitting there right before the launch and the misting turned to drizzle. Then came the launch and up we went and that's when it was full on raining. It was really a rush as we crested the top in the rain and then descended back down the tower. When the ride was over everyone was giving high fives, screaming, and yelling in excitement. It was a good moment.

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April 15 of this year. It was a nasty, drizzly, rainy day in the northeast and SFGAd was a ghost park. It's 11:30am, misting lightly, feet are soaked to the bone, and we get word they are shutting the park down at noon.

 

We jet over to El Toro and find a handful of people in the station. We sit in the second and third to back rows and start a bit of a marathon. About 11:50 we dispatch in the same mist, only to reach the lift hill and have the clouds suddently unleash a torrent of little water bullets right at our faces.

 

Great, I'm on El Toro in the pouring rain. What have I gotten myself into! It hurt, but it was also a lot of fun.

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One summer (many years ago when I was still in school) I worked at Kings Island, and we operated the Vortex during a heavy downpour. There was no lightning, but it was raining very hard, and the wet track gave a pretty wild experience. The crowd absolutely loved it. They exited the ride soaking wet and asking for repeat rides. One guy left the station and said to me, "That was a GREAT water ride!"

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I love wooden coasters in the rain. A few years ago, I was at the Great Escape and it was pouring all day. I marathoned the Comet for almost 2 hours and boy was she flying! Then two years ago, I rode Rolling Thunder in the rain and the ride was actually really good. All of the hills on the return leg had air-time which I didn't expect from that coaster. When I rode it a day later in dry conditions, it was back to dragging through the course unfortunately.

 

Green Lantern (SFGAdv) was probably the most painful coaster experience that I've had in the rain. That when combined with the coaster's roughness on its own was a lethal combination.

 

The Comet is a different coaster in the rain, I love it and it's by far my favorite coaster in the rain.

 

It's even gotten to the point where when I know it's gonna rain but it's not gonna thunder or lightning I do all I can to get to the park. If I'm in the park and it starts raining I made a B line for the comet.

 

I can't really say I've been on any other coasters in the rain because besides TGE I try to plan my visits around weather

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I have been very lucky to be on many coasters in the rain. A few high points:

 

The Cyclone at Coney Island during a thunderstorm in the 80's. Watching lightning over the ocean while ascending the lift hill was amazing.

 

Riding the Riverside Cyclone in its opening month in a downpour was very wild, definitely my best rides ever on that Bill Cobb monster.

 

SROS at Six Flags America during a driving rain was VERY painful, to say the least!

 

Marathoning on Boulderdash in the rain during the first OctBoulderfest was great- I was soaked to the skin, but who cared?

 

At Holiday World rides on Raven during a rainy Holiwood Nights ERT were surreal, but the BEST rainy rides belong to the Voyage that same night.

Those were the most out-of-control coaster rides that I have ever had! Definitely my top coaster memory ever!!!

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A few years ago I was on Thunderbolt (Kennywood) and they dispatched the train without noticing it was raining and by the time we were at the bottom of the drop it felt like we were under a waterfall. It didn't hurt that much but the seats we're slippery so we were sliding around more than usual and the brakes barely stopped us in time at the end.

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I've been on Incredible Hulk in a drizzle, but it was still pretty annoying. I've been on Diamondback at night in the rain immediately after the fire works. Steady rain hitting you at 80mph and diving into a cloud of smoke makes for a rather unpleasant experience.

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Most recently I got to ride The Beast in the rain this past June. I don't think I've ever been more soaked to the bone on a coaster ride before. It had just started to rain really hard as the train before mine was about to be dispatched, then the train was sent, and the crowd cheered. Then it was our turn. As our train was dispatched the ride op on headset said "Enjoy your ride on the world's longest water ride!" We went off and right as we hit the first lift, I was already soaked. The rest of the ride was blazing fast, and the rain felt like pellets it hurt so much. But it was one of the best rides I've ever had on The Beast.

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Two that stand out:

 

Ghostrider during the first Winter Coaster Solace...that was kind of insane...and back when Ghostrider kicked ass

 

Goliath at SFMM on Media Day, it rained and then HAILED and we got stuck on the Mid-Course. That was pretty intense and crazy. The next time we rode it was still raining, and one of the wheels on the car I was in broke off during the helix. Mind you, this was before they stopped you on the mid-course so we were FLYING through the course. After the wheel got chucked it felt like a wooden coaster. Good times!

 

 

I guess I also rode a Wacky Worm in Mexico in the rain if that counts

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