Coaster that exceeded your expectation? [long]
Recently we had a thread about coasters/rides that didn't meet people's expectations so I thought it would be nice to talk about the opposite: coasters that were *way* better than you could have imagined.
Having just got back from my 12-day SRM Odyssey where I added 8 new parks and 22 new coasters to my track record there were a few that definitely exceeded my expectations:
1] Cornball Express. I had heard all the reports that this was *not* the "family woodie" the park had planned on it being but I was not prepared for the outstanding quality of the ride. Cornball is pure fun from beginning to end and gives great rides in every seat with the ends, obviously, providing insane ejector air in a few spots. The bunnies at the end were amazing and the trains enter the brake run with as much speed as Raven and Legend do during SRM ERT. This, along with Raven, is CCI at its best and IMHO proves that you don't need a lift over 100' for extreme thrills. Cornball is now my #2 wood, sandwiched between #1 Raven and #3 Legend.
2] Leap-The-Dips. The stats and all the video I'd seen do not do justice to LTD. I was in love with this coaster from the very first ride and found myself laughing on circuit I took. I was not prepared for the speediness of the train nor the delicious pops of air in the second half. I especially loved the exit of the largest drop when trains would sail off a little rise in the track, become momentarily airborn, and then slam back down. I'm not sure where LTD will fall in my rankings but I fully expect it to make the Top 20.
3] Phantom's Revenge. Now that I've ridden it I totally get the name. Everything from the lift to the second pass under TBolt is smooth and speedy and lulls rides into the false belief that the second half is the same. But then comes those bunnies and all hell brakes loose as Phantom takes its revenge. The speed at which the trains sail thru those bunny hops and the extreme ejector air takes everyone by surprise, and the double down is all wrong...in all the right ways! Kennywood and Morgan have delivered an absolute winner in my opinion. While I don't rank all 190+ steel coasters I've ridden I do keep a Top 5, and PR lands as #2, just behind SFNE's Superman.
4] Blue Streak, Conneaut Lake. This one didn't quite blow me away on the first ride but over the course of an entire afternoon and evening I really began to "get" Blue Streak and by the end of the night I was totally in love with it, more than I thought I would be. The first three outbound hills are top-notch and the return is equally fun with a few spots of ejector air in the back. The thru-the-woods setting, excellent pre-left tunnel, and the funky park atmostphere just adds to the charm. Top 10 quality in my book.
Other coasters have also similarly blown me away right off the bat including Raven and Legend [naturally] as well as Coney's Cyclone, Boulderdash, SFNE's Superman, SFA's Wild One, Dutch Wonderland's Sky Princess, Phoenix, X, Ghostrider, and SCBB's Giant Dipper just to name a few.
So, what are yours??
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NUTS - National Union of Thrill Seekers! [Brought to you by the maker of 'LoCoSuMo!']
The two biggest surprises for me were mentioned in your post.
The first is Cornball Express. I won't go into a diatribe since it's been gone over several times at this site.
But what really blew me away was SCBB's Giant Dipper. I knew it was a classic, but man what a ride. I was laughing the entire time. Airtime galore and the best start to a coaster that I've ever been on.
Notable mention goes to Beastie @ PKI, S:UE (I didn't think it looked that great on tv, but I love it) and the Legend. All I had heard of was the Raven before I went to HW, and it lived up to it's hype. But the Legend completely blew me away.
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Planned parks: Astroland, Knoebel's, Hersheypark, SFNE, SFGadv,SFGam,CP,PKI,PKD,PCW,HW,Indiana Beach,SFWOA,SFKK,SFDL,SFSTL,Lakemont,DelGrosso's... Need I say more?
I understand that every persons opinions differ, but after reading various message boards, it's hard for me to think of rides like Raven, Legend, Cornball Express, BoulderDash, X, PR, and S:RoS (SFNE) as being rides that greatly exceed expectations. Unless I am the first to ride them, I already know that they are great rides....granted Raven and Legend are compared to each other and Raven usually is the preferred coaster, but everyone still says they are both great coasters. For me, most of my expectations are created by what other enthusiasts say (but I do keep in mind that everyones opinions vary). (NOTE: Keep in mind that the above commentary is just my opinion and in no way is meant to degrade other peoples answer to the question posed by this thread. Everyone has their own opinion and forms their expectations differently)
That being said, when thinking of a ride that greatly exceeded my expectations, I think of a little talked about coaster that I found unbelievably awesome...for me, the first ride that comes to mind is Thunderhawk at Dorney Park. I had heard very little about it before I rode it and even looking at it, it doesn't look like much (maybe that has something to do with the fact that Steel Force looms large right behind it). The ride produced some great forces all around and when I got off of that ride, I just couldn't believe that I hadn't heard more about it.
Another one for me was Lightning Racer...I had heard some mixed reviews about the ride, but I absolutely loved it and I rank it up there with the top woodies IMO.
Happy Coastering!
Sean
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"Have fun stormin' the castle!"
I was very surprised on how great Wolverine Wildcat at MIA is after hearing so much bad-mouthing about it.
I love coasters nevertheless.
*** This post was edited by john peck on 6/19/2002. ***
The one for me was Screamin Eagle at Six Flags St. Louis. When I got on it was just another out and back woodie. 10 laps later this bad boy was my #2 wooden coaster out there. I liked it so much I'm going back to St. Louis again this summer.
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LONG LIVE ARROW DYNAMICS!!
Sean - I understand your point and it makes perfect sense. I guess for me the reason I included coasters such as Raven, SFNE's SROS, or Cornball is that even though I'd heard how good they were I was still totally unprepared for just how good they REALLY turned out to be. Does that make sense? I guess what I'm saying is that its not always clear what level of "greatness" others are talking about until you experience the ride for yourself, and even then you can be totally blown away.
Oh, and Dorney's Thunderhawk should have also been on my list...I feel it is totally underrated and loved it on first ride, too. "Watch your knees," my friend Jim said as we sat in seat 1:1. Thinking he meant laterals I looked at the sides of the train and said, "Watch my knees on what?" "You'll see," was all he said. Imagine my surprise when we crested the second hill and I went FLYING out of my seat and into the buzzbar! I was laughing so hard I almost pee'd! I happened a few more times before the home stretch and we were lucky to get a trim-free ride so the run home was heavenly, too.
Matthew
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NUTS - National Union of Thrill Seekers! [Brought to you by the maker of 'LoCoSuMo!']
*** This post was edited by Mamoosh on 6/19/2002. ***
Disaster Transport at CP- I had heard that this was one of the worst coasters ever, that the theming was horribly kept up, and that the ride was plainly boring overall. I found it to be decently thrilling, I loved the cheese factor of the theming, and it was just a crazy fun ride that I didn't expect to find here. Not even in the same class as Flight of Fear or Space Mountain, but it did indeed exceed my expectations and dark rides are great anyways.
Boomerang at Wild Adventures and Ant Farm Express at Wild Adventures- Surprisingly, these were the two coasters I enjoyed the most at the park with the extremely enthusiastic and friendly ride ops that I found to be some of the best ever and rides that were much more fun with this walk-on and happy atmosphere that the park has. Cheetah and Hangman were both being pretty duddy when I went, so it was nice to see that two coasters you would least expect can make for an outstanding day of rerides. I never understood what the problem was with Vekoma boomers and invertigos and the roller skaters are airtime-filled and actually a lot better than some of the bigger rides.
SROS at SFNE- I've only told this story to a few of my closest friends, so I might as well tell all now since this coaster truly fits in here. I wanted to go to SFNE, because I(here's the dumb part) thought that it was a shorter version of STE at SFMM. Well, could you believe my surprise when I came to the park early in the 2000 season and found it to be some big non-looping coaster with track gone insane? I was really bummed since this wasn't the coaster I was hoping for, but I got in line to try this "stupid" coaster anyway. I got on the coaster being severely disappointed, but once we took off down the first drop, I knew I had a new favorite coaster. The airtime and various forces on this coaster really drive you mad as you twist and turn through some outrageous tunnels and the maze of track at the end makes for one of the best designs I've ever seen on a coaster! Who knew!? Still my #1.
Other surprises were of course the HW duo, Gemini at CP, the new and improved Flight of Fear at PKI, Whizzer and Viper at SFGAm, Space Mountain at WDW and DL, RnRC at MGM, and Journey to Atlantis at SWF.
Lochness Monster at BGW..looks like your typical looping coaster but it was actually fun..and smooth!
The tunnel throws you off and putting the loops in the middle of the ride and not at the beginning.
Mamoosh said:
Sean - I understand your point and it makes perfect sense. I guess for me the reason I included coasters such as Raven, SFNE's SROS, or Cornball is that even though I'd heard how good they were I was still totally unprepared for just how good they REALLY turned out to be. Does that make sense? I guess what I'm saying is that its not always clear what level of "greatness" others are talking about until you experience the ride for yourself, and even then you can be totally blown away.
Sure, I understand what you are saying and like I said, I try to remember that everyones opinions vary when reading about "greatness". Your point is well taken.
Happy Coastering!
Sean
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"Have fun stormin' the castle!"
Glad to see some other Thunderhawk lovers here. If they'd just lose those trims after the first bunnyhop at the end, it'd be "world class". Until those are gone it's stuck at "very good".
I think a lot of people are going to include PR on their list too. I was one of the ones who never minded the original and expected a tamed down, inversionless mangling of a great ride. PR is about the only way they could've redone it and still kept me happy, I was blown away to say the least.
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www.coasterimage.com
Dorney Park visits in 2002: 11
*** This post was edited by Lord Gonchar on 6/19/2002. ***
PR here too - growing up in Kennywood, I was very angry when I heard they were re-doing the Phantom. When one of their main selling points of PR was "a tunnel" I was fit to be tied that they ruined a perfectly good coaster just to make the "yinzers" (local Pittsburghers) happy. But I got on the thing and wow is it a ride. It's not the dangerous thrill that Phantom was, but its still a great ride.
Rockin' Roller Coaster also suprised me. I am a huge hater of everything Disney, so was already mad that I was even IN the park, let alone being dragged onto a "Disney" roller coaster which I assumed was going to be a lot like Jr. Gemini with a big waving Mickey Mouse and a photo on the wall of Aerosmith. Again, wow what a rush. Ended up riding 3 times that day (when people are scared of planes, parks are empty - what a way to get shorter lines ... )
There were two for me.
Wicked Twister: I had never ridden an impulse before, but there were a LOT of people who poohpoohed this ride as "just another clone". I expected it to be a one-ride wonder, something I wouldn't want to wait in line for. I was wrong. I found it to be very intense, especially sitting in the back, and it's one of my favorite coasters.
Shivering Timbers: I'd heard good things about this coaster, but nothing that prepared me for the sheer amount of airtime that is present all the way through and is topped off by an intense double helix. I had the chance to visit MIA last summer to ride ST, and it immediately became the number one wooden coaster on my list. Of course, I haven't had the pleasure of riding Raven, Legend, and some of the others people rave about. I think Timbers doesn't get the attention it deserves.
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I'd rather die living than live like I'm dead
Blue Streak at Conneaut- I was not prepared for the whiplash turn.
Raging Wolf Bobs- It sucks, it sucks, it sucks was all I heard. The overbanked turns suprised me and really isn't as bad as people say.
(the rest are at CP)
Magnum- I heard all the hype but I still didn't belive it could be that good. Thing scared me more than the Force :)
I agree with Disaster Transport. Freewhelling in the dark was a freaky and different way to coast.
Wildcat- All I heard was that it was a carney coaster and not worth it. Wrong. :)
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Off with the trims!
My fellow Americans; Let's Roll!
Woodencoaster.com
CoasterMom said:
Lochness Monster at BGW..looks like your typical looping coaster but it was actually fun..and smooth!
The tunnel throws you off and putting the loops in the middle of the ride and not at the beginning.
I couldn't agree more, that helix was awesome, I probably liked it so much because I thought it would suck so bad. It was also relatively smooth except for the turn after the first drop but man o man, I liked that ride more than Alpengiest which was an anticipointment.
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Tuesday's Gone With The Wind.
Elijah Rock.
Is it written in the stars?
La Vie Boheme!!!
Adventure Express was surprisingly fast and exciting for a mine ride, while the Ghoster Coaster had a truly interesting design for me. Runaway Reptar was impressively smooth, fast, and exciing for a junior coaster.
My sleeper coasters:
Dania Beach Hurricane- I heard nothing about this coaster when it first opened. After arriving at Boomers and realizing its really just a family fun center with a coaster, I wasn't exactly thinking it would be a top notch coaster. Was I wrong!! Very good airtime in back and front (back slightly better), nice pacing, some direction changes and great airtime on the final camelbacks. Plus it was really smooth. It may not rate up there with Boulderdash and Phoenix, but its still a great ride.
Grizzly PKD- With all of the other PKD attractions getting the hype, this was the coaster that was the surprise. Great woodsy setting which makes it hard to figure out where your going next. Good airtime. Only downside is that at the top of the second hill the car slows to a crawl - loosing some momentum from the first drop. After that however, the ride picks up nicely.
Thunderhawk (Dorney) - I really like this coaster -peppy with good airtime. I haven't ridden it recently, and I don't remenber any trims on it so I still remember it fondly.
Honorable mentions- Phoenix-I heard the hype- but from seeing it on coaster shows it just didn't seem that impressive. However there is major air on just about every hill with ample floating air on most. Gemini- almost gets lost at CP - but this is a ride every park should have. It may not be the most intense- but its one of the most fun.
You dont hear ISH about this coaster. I take that back, you *will* hear it's a "baby" or "junior" hyper. Whatever, that thing was damn thrilling. The third drop in the backseat earned that coaster the nickname "BootySlam: The Ride". And the bunnies were (as the attention ho CPlaya would say) examples of "Sweet Morgan Air" (TM).
There was this one ride where the air was so forcefull over the 2nd and 3rd hills that change flew out of the pockets of the people in front of us. THAT was a "mad-funny-kid" ride!
lata,
jeremy
--who is not *exactly* an attention ho. More like an "Eyes-on-me Exotic Dancer"
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