Coasters that surprised you?

I was at work today, at Sesame Place (in Langhorne PA), up at the coaster, Vapor Trail, and was riding it a few times, with various kids that needed a grownup to ride. I realized again today what a surprise this coaster is, my girlfriend even said so when we rode it on a day off. It's a Vekoma Junior custom coaster, top speed of about 30 mph, 43 feet tall, and 53 foot drop...but it packs a surprising punch and nice G's that even make me smile every time I ride it. Looking at it, you think it's relatively tame, but when you get on it, it's a wonderful surprise of a ride.

My question to you all is...what coasters for you have been that way? Has there ever been a coaster you stood in line for, or looked at and said "that's kinda lame" or "looks easy, not much there" or stuff like that...and once you got on it, was really surprised, wowed, and liked the ride?

I agree, both Veko kiddie coasters I've done were really good. I did Rollerskater @ SFKK, and the one @ CP. Both suprisingly delicious.

Now as for coasters that I thought "meh" about, and was wowed by:

Gemini-My favorite coaster @ the point. It delivered in a way I thought no coaster could for me, and its an Arrow(but then, I like Arrows). I liked it better than Millie, Maggie, and TTD, and I loved those! Heck, I even really liked Disaster Transport.

Wildone-I wasn't really looking to get all excited about this coaster, but, boy, when me and my friend got off, it was like "WoW!" Classic Coaster Goodness.

Roadrunner Express-This has been the year of the mouse for me. I've ridden 2 new ones, as well as a re-ride on my first. But RE was alot better than I imagined. I think it started my whole Mouse love thing. Before this year, the only mouse I had ridden was MBP's and, while great, it didn't used to do anything for me. This year, the 4 I have ridden gave extremely blissful rides. And mice are the only coasters that consistantly give me that uneasy feeling every time I ride. Four Barely breaked or non Breaked mice in a year has started a new love for me.

And thats All for now. I'm sure I'll have many more next year.

The Windstorm at Old Towne in Kissimmee and Flying Unicorn and Woody Woodpecker's Express at Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios. The last 2 are Vekoma Junior Coasters, but they are larger than the rollerskaters (per RCDB). Windstorm is a Zamperla Windstorm coaster, which packed alot of G's and some nice little pops of air here and there.

Roller Coaster at Lagoon in Utah. Looks like it was recently a twinke (Family Guy reference anyone?) and isn't that tall, but wow, what a punch! Airtime, laterals, good speed, nice visuals, just a really fun wooden coaster.

Also, throw in Spider at Lagoon, another one I was expecting nothing from and it ended up being one of my favorite rides this year!! Those Maurer coasters rock hardcore!

Wicked Twister at CP blew me away. It was by far the most fun ive had on a ride in a while. Nothing beats that back seat going backwards up the spiral. Gemini also suprised me. Just an all around great ride with some good air and one awesome headchopper.

Big Dipper at Worlds of... er... Geauga Lake. Went there in 2001 for the first time mainly after the big-boys like Villan, X-Flight, Superman, & Knight Flight...

...just saw Big Dipper as an afterthought, but once I tried it & found all the mass air-time in the front combined with an ultra smooth ride, I was blown away by how a small coaster can pack a big punch.

Matterhorn at Disneyland. Wow, that was crazy. I thought it would be Space Mountain like, but man it was crazy!

Big Dipper: I wasn't expecting this ride to do much for me. I was blown away. Best woodie in Ohio?

Boss: I was expecting a rough, boring woodie. The G-Trains sucked in the back, but the front row, at night in the fog, was amazing. I liked it better than the Beast.

Blue Streak (CP): Surprising air for such a small ride, less powerful than Big Dipper, but still damn good, especially in the last few seasons. *** Edited 10/18/2004 4:16:47 PM UTC by BullGuy***

I've had two that really surprised me.

First: Wicked Twister. I knew it would be a decent coaster cuz it was Intamin and CP, but I was blown away from the sheer insanity.

Second: Gwazi. I know some of you raise an eye, but I went to BGT looking for some Beemer love, which I got, but I was surprised by this smooth, fast, insane woody. I just wished it would have dueled.

I'll second that Big Dipper at Geauga over Ohio.

Other ones that have surprised me that were either more thrilling or just plain funner than they looked capable of.

Phoenix. YEE-HAW!

All the coasters at SeaBreeze

Lightning Racers.

Just about any ANTON expecially Lazer. Wicked and smooth.

All CCI woodies save one or two. Makes me scratch my head thinking how'd they do that?

Chuck, who's list of dissapointments is very small. I can ususally enjoy about anything, Including Boss and Sob.

The Windstorm at Fun Forrest was the one that most recently surprised me. While I have done similar type models I had never taken a backseat ride until then. That twist and dive move it does in the back totally surprised me, in a good way:)

TTD blew me away. that one did live up to the hype.
ThunderHead (d-wood): a good surprise.
Batman:KnightFlight (6flags/GL) surprisingly smooth w/many elements and fast.
Blue Streak:Conneaut lake park: have riden it a zillion times and quite surprised it's still standing...
Little Dipper: (memphis kiddie park: ohio)rode it 15 yrs ago w/my kids. rode it two summers ago w/my nephew: was surprised to be injured the same way twice that many years apart.:)

face off at PKI, i was assuming it'd be a big mistake to go on like the boomerang at geauga lake, but the inverted ones are a LOT different i guess

Phoenix - No matter how much you've heard about it, it will blow you away the first time you ride. Air time beyond belief.

Hershey's Mouse - The best modern mouse.

Jack Rabbit at Celebration City - Amazing punch for a portable.

Count me in the "Geauga Lake Big Dipper Fan Club". I was converted two days ago.

The Lakemont Skyliner also gets a nod as a surprising coaster. I wasn't expecting much of anything but what I got cannot be put into words. I guess the Maurer-Sohne spinning coasters (like the ones at Waldameer and Seabreeze) fall into this category as well. They don't look like much but... WOW!

Son of Beast- I was afraid to ride this, as I've heard all the bad stories, but I was surprised by the awesome Gs, loop, and Layout. It's now my favorite coaster.

Thunder Run- Wasn't expecting too much, but the airtime on this thing is on par with Raven, and the Quick pace makes the ride insane as all get out.

Georgia Cyclone(Backseat)- I had heard it was good, but I didn't expect great air like it delivers on the first four drops. The ride I had saturday had air on every hill.

Vortex(PKI)-Loved the Backseat air, slow corkscrews, intense batwing, and The always short line. Thought it would be okay, but it was great.

The Beast-Terrible, terrible ride. Waited forever to ride it, expected greatness, and found it to be rough(made me bleed), unintense, and highly lacking in airtime.

That's all, I guess.

I have to join those who said Wicked Twister. When people talk about CP, its usually TTD, MF or Magnum. So when I got there and tried out WT, it was a complete surprise! Its actually one of my all time favs now because even after many rides, it still makes me a bit nervous and there aren't many (if any) I can say that about!

Though I have to say, after going back to CP this past weekend, I am growing more fond of Magnum with every ride!

I don't know how I could have passed up the Georgia Cyclone for this list. And Mindbender. :)

Hershey Parks wild mouse.It runs really fast and don't use all the breaking.Scariest ride in the park.

Leap The Dips. Don't let its age, slow speed, and shallow dips fool you...the grandaddy of coasters if WAY FUN!

mOOSH