El Toro replacing Voyage in #1 rankings.

Went to Great Adventure Monday and finally got on El Toro. OMG! the ejector air on this ride is stronger than anything I've ever experienced!

The ride opened at about 2:15 pm after their media day event which appeared to be a kind of running of the bulls thing, cute.

We were back outside where I could see the enthusiast riders passing by, I asked as many as I could (probably 25 or more) if they'd been on HWs new coaster, 7 of them said they have been. Out of those 7 people, ALL SEVEN preferred El Toro over any other wooden coaster.

El Toro is so smooth it's almost scary.

The train slowly advances to the lift where it's slowed by advance wheels and begins progressing up the lift while connecting to the cable, once connected with a clunk, the train speeds to a very quick pace all the way to the top. the flat turn at the top is taken at a speed that creates some pretty good laterals.

The drop is insane in the front and totally nuts in the back, it's at this point that you realize that you're grateful for being snugly planted in your seat.

The outbound camel backs are taken and fever pace launching you into the lapbar each time with ejector air that again makes you thank the ride op for the tight fit. the transition into the turn is B&Mish as it snaps you right, but is so smooth that you're not startled or shaken. the return is a set of progressively smaller hills setting you up for probably the icing on the cake hill, the hill over rolling thunder which makes you feel almost launched forward.

Then the dizzying zig zags begin, these are completly mind boggling and smooth as can be, then a twisting double up to the magnetic brakes.

We waited about 2 hours but they assured us that once they get the 2nd train on the line will move much faster.

I haven't personally been to Holiday World so I don;t have a clue what the other coaster offers, but according to those 7 people, the debate is over.

There's no doubt that the U.S. has been hit with the two best wooden coaster to be built in many years. The Voyage has gotten the best review of any new coaster I can remember and El Toro is too new to tell.

From the looks, El Toro looks like a great ride, but The Voyage doesn't even look comparable to anything else.

I'll let you know my take on Toro after Saturday, but it's going to be REALLY difficult to beat midnight rides on Voyage in my book...

How about a question mark after your headline as you personally haven't ridden Voyage?

While having ridden Voyage and not ET, I don't run around saying Voyage beats ET, But here's what I see in early comparisons.

People riding ET and never riding a S:ROS in their prime (Pre retrofit of restraints) seem to be totally blown away by the AIRTME ET gives, OK, IM game. I rode SFNE's S:ROS the day before I rode Nitro and my view of Nitro was considerably dimminished because of that explosive airtime, Yes, You were totally riding the lapbar from midway up the hills to almost the bottom of Supes. Therefor Nitros float seemed pale in comparison.

Also IMHO, While I was blown away by S:ROS at SFNE, After I got about 30 rides on it, I was also bored with its predictability and consistancy.

While not pre-judging ET, I know Voyage has the totally insane different forces including every different type of airtime on the planet and latterals of every different kind to keep me satisfied and interested for probably the rest of my life, If it continues to operate in its current state.

As someone else posted here, A midnight ride on Voyage IMHO is probably UNBEATABLE!

Chuck, who's very glad people are being blown away by this ride. SFGADV needs this and needs it to run reliably. It will also give me hope that WOOD coasters (At least in apearance) aren't dead at the corperate parks.

I've been on Voyage, but not El Toro. As insane as Voyage is, one could only hope that there is an even more insane coaster out there! I guess time will tell.

^But again Charles, it all comes down to opinion. I've ridden S:ROS at SFNE and I greatly preferred Nitro. I got more airtime and more positive G's on Nitro, it didn't seem "tame" because I had already ridden S:ROS.

I think every ride experience can be enjoyed on it's own, without comparison. I still loved the Raven, even after riding the Voyage. Hopefully people will be able to judge El Toro on it's own merits... although you're probably right that it will automatically be judged against the Voyage.

IMO, the thing that The Voyage really has going for it is its woodsy setting. No matter how insane any future coasters are, I think it's likely few will match The Voyage's environment.

If you can take that element out of the mix, I think El Toro stands a good chance of being the supreme airtime machine, but that's just speculation on my part, until I ride ET anyway. The Voyage has lots of air, but if I was just going to rate it on that, I think Avalanche would win.

In other words, The Voyage is so much more than the air time. It's the closest thing to the complete package we've been waiting for.

Slightly OT: How do you guys choose between wood and steel when ranking your coasters? I refuse to do so just because they give such different rides, I have a wood list and steel list with two #1s.

I don't even really rank my wood coasters anymore. I just have about 20-25 that I really, REALLY like. I can't even hammer out a top ten for either. Mitch's poll is going to be extra difficult for me this year.

^^ Touchdown, Mitch's is *the* poll, but even on GTs and every other *respected* poll, typically wood and steel are counted "separately". Definitely apples and oranges...

And this is the reason I stopped ranking coasters years ago. It's like boys in a school yard comparing toy cars, it's becomes less about the joy of coasters and how each individual one is special, and more about "why hill #2 on El Toro didn't deliver the way drop #3 on Voyage did, so VOYAGE WINS!". Or "you must be crazy thinking Nitro could possibly be better than Apollo". Incredibly nerdy IMO.

I think the debate itself is fine, and comparing is human nature I guess. But it always ends up being about tearing one coaster down a notch to justify ranking another higher, or it becomes political with *homeparks* and *favorite parks* coming into play.

I have my favorites, and when I did rank coasters I found that any coaster in my top 30 was equally special in someway, and most coasters below that weren't worth finding a ranking for. YMMV

I agree, I've never ranked coasters, and always found the whole process to be somewhat silly. Maybe it's my non-competitive nature, but I don't think that there has to be winners and losers in any of this.

I have two ranks for my coasters the straight one coaster for one rank and my "quality rank" Which is from 1-5 with 1 meaning either painful or horribly boring (either way Ill never ride it again,) 2 meaning ok (once in a blue moon Ill ride it,) 3 meaning good (if I have time Ill ride it,) 4 meaning very good (must ride the ride once every time I visit,) and 5 meaning excellent (multiple rides required every trip.)

I usually rank them because every GP person I know that gets into a conversation with me about roller coasters asks me, but I dont like how arbuitary the numbered ranking is since with the exception of a couple of huge drops in difference most rides are usually as good as the 5 that suround it on either side. Preranking with the quality ranks gives me the flexiblity to be arbutitary in the finer rankings.

Yeah, when it become about "getting down to Holiday World or up to SFGAdv, so I can compare Voyage to El Toro", or "I've ridden 6,987 coasters and I need to see where these rank", you completely lose me. ;)

RIDING is way more fun than ranking....but I don't have anything to ride in my office... ;)

"Spinning office chair 1 makes me queasy"... :)

*** Edited 6/13/2006 5:02:31 PM UTC by rollergator***

^Why do you think my list is usually updated in the winter :)? The only thing that I rank in the summer is if I ride a coaster I like so much I instantly determine its a "top ten" coaster (happend this year too, Phantoms Revenge blew my mind :).)

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rollergator said:
"Spinning office chair 1 makes me queasy"...

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Ha! But remember,

"Spinning Office Chair 1 is a really good value" :)

My chair is my #1!!!!!!!!!:)

How are you all putting smiley faces on your posts?! I'm jealous!!!

Like this. :) ;) ;) :)

Try : ) without the space between the : and the ) *** Edited 6/13/2006 8:16:11 PM UTC by Acoustic Viscosity***