Anyone going to the Dells this weekend?

Hades was definitely open today. I took two rides, once in the front and once in the back. Almost all of my favorite parts were in the tunnel. Aside from a few notable slow points, it's very fast, but (for now) it's very smooth. It's also very good. It's not as good as the Raven (or others), but it also has a lot of breaking in to do. We'll see how it rides later this summer.

-Nate

I can't wait to see the TR's!!!!!! :-P

-Tina

Not as good as Raven--I'm guessing it's lacking in laterals? Where are the slow spots? Which elements don't deliver? The suspense is killing me. I hope it will last. :)

The question I'm most curious about is the path through the tunnel--does it go straight after the drop until the 90 degree left turn, or does it curve to the right before hitting that 90 degree corner? From the pics, it looks like that corner is more like 115 degrees (not the banking, but the change in direction). And while I'm at it--what's that stengel dive bunny hop like? :) Oh hell (no pun), one more--do you get air in the back, dropping out of the station?

Yes, I've got more, but I'll try to wait for some detailed reports. Thanks in advance!

Matt Scott - the tunnel is kinda shaped like a question mark >> ? << with travel from bottom to top on the "out" side; bottom to top on the "back" side.

Thanks Moosh. That's exactly what I thought it might be shaped like--gotta rework that NoLimits recreation now. :)

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Mamoosh said:
Matt Scott - the tunnel is kinda shaped like a question mark >> ? << with travel from bottom to top on the "out" side; bottom to top on the "back" side.

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Hey! That's my line. :)

Tne most notable slow spots are the turnaround, the hill paralleling the first drop, and basically everything before the lift. These are also the places where I felt the ride was currently "lacking."

It's not as good as the Raven in nearly every way. The laterals are there, but not as good. The airtime is definitely there, but nothing compared to the Raven. The sense of speed is better, I guess. All that may change in after a few months of running, though.

There's really no way to tell exactly what happens in the tunnel without looking at the pictures or riding it many more times than two. It all happens very quickly. I don't know if it would ever be possible to tell the radius of turns without looking at them. There are so many dips and bumps in the tunnel that I couldn't tell you which was the "stengel-dive-like" one.

And yes, you do get some decent air out of the station in the back seat.

If you're interested, there's more here.

-Nate

Fantastic report Nate. I'm glad to hear that the tunnel doesn't dissapoint. It does sound like once the coaster breaks in, it's going to be a monster. And I'm hoping that that occurs by about a month from now.;)

As I said to my buddy after our first ride on Ghostrider, after years of anticipation--"it doesn't suck." Looking forward to seeing for myself, but I'm confident it can only get better over the summer--might have to make a monthly trip up there. :)

I just got back and I have to work on my TR, but I am tired so here is a mini for now:

The ride is very good, but the turnaround and hill back over Zeus do not have any air. There are several small pops of air and some moments of pretty good air. The ride picked up speed and some of the air got better and better throughout the day. I can tell you that the prelift sequence is VERY good, especially in the back. That double down in the back is arguably the best airtime on the ride. The tunnel has decent pops of air that are good, but no slam into your lapbar hard air. The air keeps getting cut short because the ride is so darn fast that the next positive g brings you back to your seat before gravity knows what happened. The speed is very high and sustained except for in the two spots I mentioned. However, they are not "boring" parts or anything. They are more like "oh yeah, now I remember my name...wups forgot again" because the ride is so intense and out of control. This ride's strengths are power, insanity, speed, and disorientation. It has large quantities of airtime moments, but small quantities of quality air although some is there. However this is not as big a deal as it sounds since the air it has just accents the out of control ride you are experiencing. Laterals are definately there, but not as intense as some would hope. There are however two very unique laterals that I will go into detail on in my TR. One is the 90* bank and the other is the stengel looking bunny hop. The 90* bank does not feel like 90* at all. It feels like about 45* and somebody suddenly *mooshes* you left. The stengel bunnyhop starts out with a left hand turn with right turn banking...a very weird sensation. However, I did not start even noticing these till about the 10th ride or so. There is just so much disorientation, it is really difficult to seperate out different elements in your mind of various parts of the ride at first. The ride picks up speed very fast after the slow down over Zeus. The race thru the woods shocked me by how fast it was.

edit: One more thing I should have mentioned...there are a few airtime/lateral combos where neither are super great by themselves but together they work awesome. This is just an example of the ride as a whole being good where it is hard to break it down into parts...which I will try to do on my TR.

I am having trouble comparing this to other wooden coasters to "rank" it. In some ways it reminds me of Beast, Legend, and Boss, but it really is not like them enough for me to just leave it at that. However, if you rank either Beast or Boss very highly, this ride could be your new number one. I know it is not better than Thunderhead for me, and I don't expect it to get there with more speed, but where exactly I would rank it is something I would have to think about. *** Edited 5/16/2005 4:19:57 AM UTC by RavenTTD*** *** Edited 5/16/2005 4:22:30 AM UTC by RavenTTD***

Thank you for the review. That'll hold me over for a while. :)

RavenTTD,

In your opinion, is it what you would classify what I CALL "destination wood"? In other words, is it something that you feel is worth an out of the way trip to ride? Based on me living in Greenville, South Carolina and my top 5 being :

1. Georgia Cyclone

2. Legend

3. Thunderhead

4. Phoenix

5. Viper (GAm)

Should I make it a point to get there this year?

Um, Homey? You should really consider a visit to Silverwood!

Homey G. yes, I would classify it as a destination woodie. The good thing is if you make the trip, you really have two to pick from: Avalanche and Hades. They compliment each other really well because the both are great and have what the other lacks. I have been on all your top 5 except for Georgia Cyclone. I think it is for sure better than Viper. I rank it higher than Phoenix, but I think I got Phoenix on a bad day since my experience with it does not match the many TR's I have read for it. However, Phoenix would compare better to Avalanche rather than Hades. If you want an airtime machine, you would like Phoenix and Avlanche. If you want an out of control WTF just happened ride, then you would like Hades better. For me, Thunderhead is for sure better than Hades, but others could disagree based on TH being to smooth or tame. If you like your wood rougher and wilder, Hades is your ride. I am still undecided comparing Hades to Legend. I would describe Hades as Legend with the quality turned down a few notches but the intensity turned up an equal amount. *** Edited 5/16/2005 5:08:04 PM UTC by RavenTTD***

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Matt Scott said:
The suspense is killing me. I hope it will last. :)

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Thanks for that....made my whole Monday! :)

I greatly prefer the wilder woodie, PTC trains much more than the GCII even though I can appreciate and respect the engineering of the GCII trains, they're darn smooth. What can everyone say about T-head and I guess I am skeptical as to how wild it can be when I find no wildness on L. Racer although it is still a very fun and re-ridable coaster. T-head's layout looks just ridiculous but for some reason I worry about it being too smooth and too tame. Comments, corrections to those thoughts?

Thunderhead has the out of control feeling most GCI's I've ridden lack, Instead of doing dive turn after dive turn, Thunderhead has little pops of air, Latterals and direction changes like no other GCI I've ridden.

I however do have HP's Racer as one of my favorites because of fun factor alone.

Chuck, who basically hates ever GCI with PTC's I've ridden. Feels like sitting on a washing mashine.

TH does have a wild out of control feeling, which is part of why I like it. Beast's final helix has a wild out of control feeling which is very different, but I like that too. If you blend the two, you might come up with Hades.

Thanks RavenTTD for your recommendation. You have now made my summer more hectic :)

mOOSH, you're missing the point. Unless you can do something about Silverwood moving more east than Idaho. :) And I'm a little surprised considering how wrapped up you are in CAC, that a joke hasn't been made about I-da-ho. :)

You-da-ho? I don' think so!

Does anyone know about the weekday operations? I'm going to be in chicago next week and I could drive over to the Dells some day that week, but the award-winning website doesn't show if they'll be open or not. Anyone have an idea?

I'd really like to grab a few rides, and this is the only time I'll be able to.

EDIT: and what about avalanch? I'm missing 'after memorial day' by like 3 days this is horrible :/ *** Edited 5/17/2005 4:10:22 AM UTC by mike okay***