GCI coasters overlooked???

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ROAR said:
Is it better then Ghost Rider? ( I haven't been on it but roar is my favourite coaster)

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Ghostrider reminded me of the Villain but better. At least with Roar, it twists and turns all over with no straight track. Ghostrider ranks right below Roar on my favorite wood coaster list.

X Factor

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SFWoA: An Unofficial Guide
http://sfohio.tripod.com *** This post was edited by X Factor on 7/30/2001. ***

The reason why GCI has gotten so little attention on the coaster shows is that there are only 5(?) coasters built by them. Also note that they haven't been around very long - Wildcat was their first coaster and it was built in 1996. With the building of the Lightning Racer, GCI has started to get a little more attention.

**As a side note to those that like Roar-- Next time you guys are travelling through PA, stop at Hershey and ride the Wildcat; it's amazing.

I would also disagree that GCI has been overlooked. I have one earlier show from Discovery that features construction of Wildcat at HP. And of course, half of "The Making of a Coaster" special featured Lightning Racer. Top ten lists etc. are controversial anyway. It's what you think that matters, not what some show on TV tells you to think.

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Batwing-Bow Down

They're nice family coasters, and that is precisely why Hershey has three of their designs. They are not totally forceless per se, but they certainly lack
any signifigant lateral or negative g moments.

They're well-built and well-engineered, perhaps
over-engineered such as some of B&M's more recent creations.

They're all nice rides, Gwazi 11/99 notwithstanding,
very easy to ride, imminently fun, very rerideable,
and very smooth. Thrill factor? Quite low. Fun factor? Quite high. Guess it depends on what you're looking for in a woodie, really...

Me? I'm just happy that CCI is in the game...

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ROAR said:
"Is Gci a lot newer then Cci?"

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GCI began building coasters in 1996, starting with the Hershey Wildcat. In comparison, CCI starting building coasters in 1992, beginning with Dutch Wonderland's Sky Princess. Mike Boodley, former CCI designer (he designed both The Sky Princess and Adventureland's Outlaw) left the company to start GCI with Clair Hain, who I also believe came from CCI (but I could be mistaken).

I'm not sure if GCI builds fewer rides because of a lack of capacity or just a lack of interest. GCI definitely designs some wonderful twisters, but I'm not sure if they are able to/have the desire to design out-and-back or terrain woodies. If they design twisters only, that limits the amount of interest in the company. CCI seems to build anything that any park wants, hence their name. Also, I have heard the the Hershey Wildcat cost somewhere around $6 million to build, which sounds like a lot more than what a similar-sized ride by CCI would cost (Visionland's larger Rampage coaster cost $4.3 million). Smaller parks like Holiday World and Big Chief's probably don't have that kind of money to spend on a new coaster.

I hope to see more GCI coasters in the future, as I find their rides tremendously fun, even if they aren't as intense as some of the newer CCI coasters. Variety is the spice of life, especially when it comes to coasters! *** This post was edited by Rob Ascough on 8/2/2001. ***