Best mouse coaster?

But the thing is, I can split hairs and have my opinion on what is or isn't a mouse coaster. Shouldn't affect anyone else's opinion or affect their fun...

Besides, neither Maurer Sohne nor Gerslauer market them as mice.

MS actually sells a Wild Mouse, and Gerstlauer sells a bobsled coaster, which it really doesn't even market as a 'true' mouse because it has non-traditional elements.

If somebody telling me that THBS is not a mouse coaster ruins my fun, I have issues. ;)

Kinda like "is El Toro wood", "is S:TE a coaster", or "do haunted houses with gravity drops count as coasters"?

If it's fun, ride it! ;)

edit: My typing was haunted...or at least cixelsyd...;)

Out of all of those, I don't get the "Is El Toro Wood?" question when people ask. Especially when people say "It feels like Steel", and I want to say, "I've been on plenty of steel coasters that felt like wood..."

No you haven't, Clint. ;) There's a difference between the "feel" of a wood coaster and a rough coaster (wood or steel). Magnum feels like a rough steel coaster. El Toro feels about the same as a Morgan hyper. Lake Compounce's Wildcat feels like a rough wooden coaster. I think it's really the nylon coated wheels that remove the wood feel from El Toro and not the precise laser-cut wood track (I assume that's how they make it anyway). I bet a PTC train running on ET would feel about the same as a brand new Voyage. It was crazy smooth at first too.

IMO LoCoSuMo is a wooden coaster/dark ride. All of its turns are banked. It is definitely not a mouse.

I think the thing with the G-mice is that although they have some flat turns after the first drop, they don't have the conventional reverse 180 degree turns separated by the long straight sections to build up speed and anticipation as you approach the next turn. It's that "switcback" element that makes a coaster a "mouse".

...that remove the wood feel...

And that's my point. Feelings do not determine what kind of coaster it is ;).

^That's true, because if feelings did determine it, I've ridden jackhammer, La-Z-Boy, and Roller Coaster Tycoon coasters in addition to wood and steel.

I really enjoyed the Arrow Mouse at ValleyFair as well. I'm usually not a mouse fan, but really liked that one.

I also agree that Dorney's mouse is crap. The operations just irritated me.

jynx242 said:

I also agree that Dorney's mouse is crap.

That's a funny sentence to me. :)

I'm in agreement with those who mentioned Hershey's. It's pretty fast around those turns. I have to sit in a special seat when I ride. :)

But the spinning mice are still my favorites. Kennywood's Exterminator is a lot of fun. If you can get your car really going, it's sure to be giggle-riffic.

Carrie, I like the spinners too. Though I've only been on Kennywood's Exterminator and Waldameer's Steel Dragon. Yay for giggle-riffic.

Now that's got me thinking about the Tilt-A-Whirl; which I consider my favorite old-school flat ride.

I think overall my favorite mouse was the MB Pavilion's Arrow Mouse. They ran it right, and it was lots of fun.

High Five to Clint! :)

Carrie M. said:

But the spinning mice are still my favorites. Kennywood's Exterminator is a lot of fun.

Yeah, I'd love to get back to Kennywood someday to ride Exterminator again. I felt gypped; it wasn't spinning at all the day I rode it, and therefore is not one of the better mice I've ridden.

I've been on DelGrosso's spinning mouse, and it's fun (albeit a little nauseating, for me); I can imagine how much better Exterminator is, being indoors with a cool theme...and spinning of course.

The secret to a good spin is big kids on one side, and little kids on the other. :)

I agree with Clint as well. :) The Pavilion's mouse was crazy!

Exterminator has to be one of the best spinny mouseys. Del Grosso's was insane the first time I rode it.

The mouse coasters at Beech Bend, Hershey, and Adventure City are other favorites that come to mind. :)

My daughter and I rode Steel Dragon alone a few years back, and the imbalance of weight led to one of the most crazily spinning rides on a mouse I've ever had.

Count me among the MB Pavilion mouse lovers. I enjoy riding the spinners on occasion. But, I definitely have to be in the mood for them. I can't ride them over and over or I would almost certainly get sick.

With the different manufactures of spinners, I find that some have the potential to spin better than others. As Travis mentioned, a good imbalance is key. Though luck plays a roll as well. I have had maximum imbalance and still had low spin rides. Also, not all the designs are easy to imbalance.

I find the easiest to imbalance are the Reverchon's like the one at DelGrosso's and the Zamperla as seen at Beech Bend. The design of the car itself is out of balance. Sitting largest to smallest only amplifies this.

The Fabbri as seen at Castle Park appears similar in design to the Reverchon and Zamperla. However, this is the only one I've ridden and it was a short ride. It's short design didn't allow for many spins.

The next best design for maximum spin in my opinion is the Gerstlauer as seen in the Tony Hawk rides at Six Flags parks. Though the coaster itself is symmetrical, the riders are spaced far enough apart that having large riders on one side and small (or no) riders on the other side will create a decent imbalance.

The design I feel that has the least potential for spin is the Maurer Söhne as seen at Waldameer. In addition to the ride being symmetrical, the riders are fairly close to the center of the ride. Try as I might, I never seem to get many good spins on these. That being said, they also have some of the most unique ride layouts of the spinning coasters and are still very fun to ride.

My (current) favorite spinning coaster is the Mack Rides coaster as seen at Knotts Berry Farm. The car has similar characteristics to the Maurer Söhne with respect to your ability to give it imbalance. But, being an actual train gives the ride a whole different experience that I find really cool. The best way I can describe it is it almost feels like your having "near misses" with the cars in front of you and behind you as you spin. There are only 2 of these in operation and the the other one is in Europe. Plus, the European model has a controlled spin. Those I know who have ridden it say it's a great ride.

I got a good ride on the one at Michigan's Adventure, (in fact, I rode it several times), and I'll agree with DantheCoasterman about the one at Hershey. The best spinning ride was the one at Beech Bend. The operator put me in the car by myself and had me sit on the right for the best spin. He wasn't kidding - I hit every curve just right and it spun continuously. One of the best rides I've ever had on one of those models.

Rides with Mack's extended layout, (Fly and KD's Ricochet) are fun, but at certain times the cars block themselves so that it's possible to get a ride that is heavily braked, especially toward the end. If you're lucky enough to catch a ride with some extra space between you and the car ahead, it can be a great ride. To me, a mouse gets better with fewer and lighter block brakes applied, and unfortunately that can vary from ride to ride.

I'd love to ride Blackpool's someday, it falls under the wooden mouse category and I dont know how many of those are actually left. It was house made, I believe, and I've heard it delivers one of the hang-on-tight-est rides ever. Don't the cars lean slightly from side to side as well? I feel lucky that I got to ride Cedar Point's Scamper, it always scared the bejeezus outta me.

^^That Castle Park ride was totally "different". Split lifts, free spinning directly out of the station, that was a curiosity to say the least. Total track length was silly-short though. Nice to know I'm not the only one who's studied how to imbalance spinning rides. ;)

Tina mentioned AC's Tree Top Racers, and that ride definitely deserves a shout-out. Nice to know they're still delivering great rides. That park has "threatened to retire" more often than that Brett Favre guy... :)

Beech Bend's spinning mouse! So, so much fun, especially in the rain!