El Toro

El Toro was fun, but my first thought was "best steel coaster ever!" (this was before I rode SROS @ SFNE ;) )

Then I realized it was supposed to be a woodie and I felt ripped off. (woodies shouldn't be smooth!)

Woodies should be smooth...just not THAT smooth. LOL!

Seriously, while I understand the purists' argument that Toro "isn't a real woodie", and might even agree with that viewpoint, when I'm riding the thing it could be made of cow dung for all I care....it has the most intense and sustained airtime I've felt on any wooden (or pseudo-wooden) coaster. Can't wait to ride it again... :)

*** Edited 3/18/2007 8:50:12 PM UTC by rollergator***

The one time I rode it, it was a lot of fun. (Only once since it wasn't open in May and due to the absurdly crowded September day, probably due to under staffing since KK had a five hour or so wait, and no I'm not over exaggerating) But it has nothing on Voyage in my opinion, but still a great ride.

If you want to know why El Toro didn't get talked about a whole lot, I would look to its late opening. Granted, it wasn't a Volcano the Blast Coaster-late (that was in August), but it was a couple of months behind what most people expected. (According to RCDB, it opened on June the 12th).

I too was surprised after construction was well underway during FrightFest of 2005. In fact, the line to Kingda Ka was getting broken-up occassionally so the construction trucks could go back and forth. I think everyone had heard plug-and-play and assumed it would go together like a Lincoln Log set in a week:)

Let's face it as well that The Voyage was getting the lion's share of the press and fascination from enthusiasts too. There was a tremendous amount of hype even before anyone knew what was being built--aside from the fact that everyone knew it was a wooden coaster.

As for the part about being inhumanely stapled, I'll take that over forced-ejection anyday! I sat all the way in the last row, and I even pulled my seatbelt tight before the ops got to me:) That is one severely steep drop. I don't think I've been as nervous about a first drop since Millennium Force.

And I don't think I'll ever get the image out of my head of someone's map flying straight up into the air several feet on the second hill while waiting for KK. That was a Keanau Reeve's "Whoa" moment for me.

As for the layout, I only got to try it out once, but I still don't know exactly what happened once we got into the infield of Rolling Thunder. It was like one big blur, and I had watched the visible parts of it multiple times from the queue and station of KK.

El Toro what? Who needs a big bull when I can sail the seas just 1 hour away from me, haha! ;)