Coasters that surprised you?

I have to agree with Impulse-ive on the Maurer-Sohne spinners. After riding Whirlwind at Seabreeze and Steel Dragon at Waldameer this past season, I was totally blown away. These are coasters that are very re-rideable and are just so much fun you can't help but laugh the whole time you're on. I went in not expecting much and came off completely addicted.

Hershey's Wildcat and Knoebels' Twister are two woodies that surprised me. I had heard so much about Lightning Racer and Phoenix, but ended up liking these two rides even better. Wildcat was fast, brutal, and just loaded with laterals. Good stuff. Same goes for Twister. From the minute the train leaves the station, it's just one out-of-control ride. The double helix may very well be the most insane wood coaster moment I've ever experienced (I've yet to ride Legend, Raven or Cornball Express).

Another coaster that surprised me was the Chance Toboggan. Surprising that a ride like that was ever allowed to be put into production! ;)

Ray P.

the coaster that surprised me the most is the wildcat at lake compounce. the very back seat is wicked. i usually get many consecutive rides on it when everybody else is at boulder dash. i went october 8th and got 6 rides in a row. night rides on boulder dash show why it is the number one woodie in the country (legend close second).

Sky Rider at PCW. I never would have thought that my first Togo, and a stand-up at that, would have broken into my top 10. But a smooth ride and some interesting elements (90 degree banked helix, trick track, standup straight drops, and bunny hills) made for a splendid riding experience.

The Lightning Racer at Hersheypark. I had so much fun riding that ride. I am not saying that i wasn't expecting much, it is just when i rode it i was blown away. My favorite ride at the park(who has an amazing array of coasters) and my favorite wooden coaster today.

BigJim4Life I have been on a ride that completely fills what your talking about; The Yankee Canonball at canobie lake park in NH. It's a small wooden coaster but the airtime on that machine is just indescribable. The best wooden coaster I have ever been on.( only been on 5)

ps. next time anyone goes to sixflags NE consider a stop by at canobie lake park the ride was that good. *** Edited 10/18/2004 7:31:48 PM UTC by GIGAFORCE01***

Texas Giant: I heard many great things about this coaster and ended up being in much pain. It was just that bad, even rougher than Timber Wolf.

Rattler: I expected this one to be rough after Giant and was impressed. It only had one ounce of roughness in it being the helix because it was braked so much that it had a hard time getting through the helix.

Steel Eel: I expected this coaster to be kinda dull compared to Mamba. I ended up liking it more than my personal hyper here in KC. It was a ton more fun than Mamba, especially the double up hill.

-Cal

I agree with those who mention Lightning Racer as well...from the midway, it looks relatively tame, but riding it, it is just awesome and fun overall. Also, Hershey's Comet, you wonder why the lines are so long for it, but once you get on the ride, you realize, because it's so damn fun! No matter how small it is, or how old it seems, it is still filled with biiiiiiig air and it's just a wonderful gem of a coaster. If I had that in my backyard....wow!

I would say Raging Bull at SFGAm, I was not expecting so much air time in the back row, holy cow, also have to go with Cyclops in the back row, I know it is the ejection seat, but my goodness, I was totally not expecting the airtime my wife and I got on that thing.

another surprising coaster that nobody ever mentions is the edmonton mindbender. it's not just surprising, it's terrifying. everybody should ride this coaster. 90 degree drops and blackout negative g's are highlights. it is not for the faint of heart.

Ultra Twister @ Nagashima Spaland. I had heard that these were painful coasters worth merely the credit. Wrong! While the ride was short, it was quite a fun ride. I enjoyed it!

Tremors @ Silverwood. I, honestly, wasn't expecting as much out of this ride as I was from Timber Terror. Both ended up deliving on the goods but Tremors had that wicked out of control feel that I enjoy so much on Ghostrider.

Beast @ PKI. I was expecting this to be a pretty fun ride even with the breaks. Wow. I was completely off. The ride up until the 2nd lift was mostly a ride through the nice scenery. No problem but certainly not much in the way of excitement, either. Then we get to the grande finale. Ugh. Headache city for my wife and I. The rattling on that helix was just too much for me. Didn't like it at all. FoF with the OSTR's was nicer to us than Beast.

Suprisingly good---Villian, Raven, Legend, and Magnum surprises me when the trim is off

Suprisingly bad- SoB -maybe this ride is better since it opened, but I rode opening season and wasn't impressed, so I rode it again just to make sure and all I could do is "sob".

Most recently, Jack Rabbit at Kennywood and High Speed Thrill Coaster at Knoebels. HSTC, an airtime machine! Did NOT expect the ejector air on that one.

Steel Force - I expected Magnum Lite but my one ride was better than any of the dozen I've had on Magnum.

Cornball - and it still continues to surprise me to this day.

V2 at SFGAm.

wasnt expecting much but came off of it shaking and speechless. my first Impulse, of course.

also Delay-Ja Vu at SFGAm really surprised me at how intense it was.

Viper got me too.

Gemini, though, is top of my list for most surprising coaster. love it to death. would ride nothing but Gemini if there werent so many other greats there at CP along with it...

You might think I'm crazy, but Corkscrew at CP suprised me. I just rode it to get it out of the way, but it was smoother than I thought it would be and the bunny hill before the loop gave me tons of air.

double loop @ geauga lake because of how smooth it was for an arow.

cornball express because of the amasing airtime.

steelforce because it plain sucked. it has great reviews but it had no airtime and was boring.

Top Thrill's Launch is absolutely amazing and it is quite an experience. It feels like you are going at the speed of light and it's impossible to go faster.

As far as surprises go I was surprised how intense the Scorpian was at BGT, then again its one of the few Scharffkophs (sp.? ;) ) that I've been on.

I like Woodstock's at the point but I hate the version at Disney because the seatbacks are really uncomfortable. It is cool how they run 2 trains on such a small coaster.

I like Iron Dragon because it's pretty long for a junior, well sorta junior coaster.

Viper at SSMM kind of surprised me. I've heard so much bad stuff about the ride, however i found it kind of enjoyable. I mean, don't get me wrong or anything, it wasn't the smoothest coaster or the most insane or anything, was it? or maybe im just a softie to easy-going person.

Skyliner - Looked nice from the freeway, the first 3 drops in the back seat were really nice. Go Curve.

Wild one - Coming to SFA I was expecting nothing except S:ROS and Roar, but Wild One completely blew me away, lots of great air time.

Lazer - The only coaster to ever make me gray out.

Mad Mouse at DelGrosso's was insane. You don't stop spinning the whole second half of the ride, frickin crazy.

I cannot believe how badly you butchered Schwartzkopf!?! Seriously, that's just plain pathetic. I can't stand the guy's work and I know how to spell his name!

Yea, I'll second the votes for Corkscrew at CP (always hit it - gotta love the mega-air from the back seats!) and Viper at SFMM (the highlight of my SFMM trip - definitely over X!)

--Brett, Resident Anton hater ...

Coaster at Vancouver B.C. does not look like much. But that ride buck so much I thought I would fly off the ride. What a wild ride. The Screaming Eagle at SFSL was almost as painful a ride experience as the Grizzly at PGA. Definately a surprizing painful ride experience.