GAdv. 6/19/09 - How I learned to stop worrying and love the bull.
I won't bore everyone with all the details, but KK was down and this was my first trip back in 4 years to ride El Toro. Unfortunately, we only had 3 hours in the park and we wanted to grab some rides on Bizarro (which was pretty 'meh'), DK (I didn't really get the point) and some old favorites like Nitro and S:UF.
We did get 3 rides on El Toro, al lin the back. The ride was incredible. I haven't ridden Phoenix in a few years, so it's hard to compare, but ET will probably slide into my #2 spot right behind the Phoenix. The air was absolutely insane on the first drop and the two outbound hills. And the drop into the infield of RT was completely unreal. I remember being dragged over that hill and feeling like I was being ripped out of the train. The last few s-turns were very fast and fun as well.
And the crew was blazing. They were running 2 trains, but there was very little stacking. The line was through the first cattle pen, but it was only a 15 minute wait. I will say that the station is pretty terribly designed (I do know that it wasn't designed for this ride). The front couple of rows got pretty crowded while every now and then the back few rows went out empty. I never understood why stations don't get designed better.
Overall, El Toro is very close to the top of my list of either steel or wood coasters. It's fast, has incredible air and has some nice quick turns as well. The capacity is great, the rolling stock is great, and the setting is decent. There's really not much I would change about this ride.
Hobbes: "What's the point of attaching a number to everything you do?"
Calvin: "If your numbers go up, it means you're having more fun."