Great Bear/ Talon

Howdy All. I am a huge fan of Great Bear at Hershey Park. I recently rode Talon at Dorney park. The are both VERY similar. Same train design, same look, and same kind of ride, but here is my question. Why Does Great Bear have that imtimidating ROAR while Talon is fairly quiet?

Talon's supports have sand in them to make the ride quit.

Parts of Talon's support stucture and track are filled with a sound-dampening mateial. This is usually done at parks where noise is an issue to nearby homes and businesses.

I can underdstand that, but if you have ever been on the two coasters, talon really loses a bit of itself because there is no roar

Well to be honest Gary I think you feel that way because you experienced the roar first. Perhaps if you'd ridden Talon first you might feel Great Bear's roar is an unnecessary nuisance or distraction! lol

Im pretty sure that Great Bear was pne of the last inverts in the US not to be dampened too, stupid neighbors complaining about the sound :(.

As an offshoot question, based only on my personal experience it seems that painting the rails also seems to dampen the sound a little bit (example I swear Raptor used to be louder?)

Have you had the chance to ride both mamoosh? You may be right, and they are both great, but I think the roar is just overtaking and completes the ride

Yes...ridden both Talon and Great Bear as well as many, many other rides from the same manufacturer [B&M], some of which have the distinctive roar and some who do not. Honestly when riding I never notice the roar or lack there-of. I only notice it when I'm standing near by.

I agree, Mooshinator. It took me about 3 laps on Silver Bullet to notice "hey, this thing is quiet!"

Am I the only one who finds the roar annoying?

I love the eerie silence of the dampened rides.

I prefer the noise-dampened rides as well.

Sometimes the quietness of a ride in fact adds a lot to its atmosphere - such as on Black Mamba, which is practically inaudible unless the train passes by right in front of you.
Adds a lot to the mysteriousness.

Sometimes the roaring sound of a coaster can also be a really nice shiver-inducing thing as well though.
I guess it all depends.

I prefer the loud ones only because I think the loud ones are better rides. That may have more to do with the time they were built, though, not really how loud or soft they are. ;)

I love the loud noise on the inverts. It gives you more of that jet feeling. Especially Top Gun at Carowinds.

I find the roar annoying. It's impossible to carry on a conversation in line for Medusa at Great Adventure.

Even with a loud-mouth like you, Rob? ;)

mOOSH [couldn't resist, expects retaliation]

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Rob Ascough said:
I find the roar annoying. It's impossible to carry on a conversation in line for Medusa at Great Adventure.

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agreed! between the dive loop & the in-line twist, the sound is deafening as it passes over the queue *** Edited 6/26/2006 3:03:44 PM UTC by DorneyDante***

Usually my big mouth is able to put B&Ms to shame but as DorneyDante said, Medusa is overpowering ;)

(probably not the retaliation mOOSH was expecting but it's Monday and my mind is still waking up)

That's OK...I can wait until Thursday when your mind is ready ;)

mOOSH [making it worse]

As soon as I posted, I realized I left myself wide open for another hit. I was going to edit it but I didn't want to ruin your fun. Have fun... take your shots :)