Great Escape Canyon Blaster= Worst Ride Ever

I went to Great Escape this weekend...which I have been going to since I was little and it was only Storytown USA. I went specifically to ride the new Canyon Blaster. It was HORRIBLE. There was nothing fun about this ride-it was short, with not drop greater than about 3 feet-and it was very uncomfortable and painful to ride. The worst part is that they tore down the old train ride and the Tornado ride-which although older was one of my favorite rides for sentimetal reasons.

Why would they waste so much money on a peice of crap liek this??? I don't get it!!!

The answer to your question is coaster count at a cheep price.

I wish I knew why they didn't move the old Astroworld Excaliber mine train instead of the Opryland one... it was supposed to be one of the best mine trains ever.

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-Rob
A.C.E. member since 1990
Posting @ Coasterbuzz since 2000
E.C.C. member since 2002

Where is Astroworld's mine train now?

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Top Thrill Dragster -- The most intense, unbelievable, and spectacular fifteen seconds on any coaster, anywhere, ever.

Maybe the reason you didn't like Canyon Blaster is because it wasn't built for you??

Canyon Blaster is clearly being marketed as a family coaster, and rightfully so. I saw many families exiting the ride, both kids and adults smiling. It's only the "thrill seekers" who are disappointed in the ride, mainly because it's not a thrill ride! No, there aren't any big drops. But that helix finale is just great, IMO. I honestly think it's one of the best helices out there. Add in the fact that the ride looks amazing and the park went through a *lot* to theme and revitalize this 31 year old ride and I think they ended up with a great ride and a perfect fit for the park.

As for roughness, I guess I don't see it. It shakes like any Arrow coaster, but is by far one of the smoothest Arrow rides I've ever experienced.

Legendary: I believe SFAW's Excalibur is still sitting somewhere at Frontier City.

-Nate
*** This post was edited by coasterdude318 7/28/2003 11:46:50 AM ***

Joe: http://www.rcdb.com/installationdetail133.htm ;)

edit: dammit Nate, took you long enough...;)
*** This post was edited by rollergator 7/28/2003 11:44:37 AM ***

Looks pretty freakin' fun to me. That helix looks cool.

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"...they came like a winged curse. A twin plague of demonic dragons!" - Dueling Dragons

I can understand building a "family coaster" but I don't see this as Family Friendly at all. Most adult males did not fit comfortably in the seats as the lap bar did lot allow them to ride any way but with their legs crossed under them. The ride was very jerky and comes to a neck-aching halt 3 times before stopping completely-both on my ride and on the two rides I watched after mine. Most adults were walking off holding their necks and rubbing their knees. And if anyone is even slightly overweight I doubt they would be able to fit in the mine cars. And what made me saddest is the remnebts of the ghost town train they had scattered in the center of the ride. 95% of the park is geared towards family-it is not a coaster fanatic's park. Sure, it has the Comet but most of the other rides are not very thrilling. I get that.

Still, it seems a bad decision to take away 2 other VERY family friendly rides just to put this one up. I am just very disappointed in the park over all. I was hoping having it be a SF park would make it better but it seems to have just made it more crowded with crappier rides. Just one girls's opinion.

Without kiddie coasters and mine rides, there wouldn't be any way to recruit new enthusiasts... Granted, my first ride was on the Phoenix, but still. ;)

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Whenever you can ride a roller coaster and experience 15 spots of intense airtime, you know you're on a good coaster. (see: Phoenix)

While I am certainly not putting this coaster in my top 10, I find that the coaster is a good coaster. My only complaint was that it was too short. (Two lift hills and that was the best they could do?!?!). But it is a thrilling ride for the younger riders and that is who it is "meant" to attract. However I find fault with SF marketing in that they don't market it as a "family" coaster. As a result, many adults came off the ride with a negative attitude on my visit. Is it a great coaster? No...but it is far from the "worst coaster ever." And considering it's age, it still gives a decent ride.

And yes, the seats are a little small, but that should give you an indication of who the ride is meant for.

Sean

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"Ever hear of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates...Morons!"

I guess the heart of it is that it makes me sad that the GE keeps getting only marginally good rides which are all painful. I feel that Nightmare and the Alpine Bobsleds-both former SF rides-also fall into this category. I have a soft place in my heart for the park and I want to see it get better. I don't want to crap on all the rides...I would just rather go a year or two without something new in order to get something really good. I know the park will never be like the other Six Flags, but I hope it doesn't keep getting treated as a second-hand park.

They DID go a year or two without getting anything new... and look what showed up!!

They can't afford to go another couple years without anything new, considering that this should mark the beginning of a yearly investment for new rides & attractions. What would have been nice is to offer a new signature attraction FIRST, then compliment this ride the year after, instead of the other way around.

Either way... if they ressurect the Tornado somewhere else in the park, so as long as they have the majority of it stored in the bone-yards... it'd be really nice...

...but the Ghost Town train started to suck in the years past since half of it was cut down, and they eliminated the tunnel as well as basically half of the track!! A lot of times, it was closed down anyway.

All Arrow mine trains have the leg room problem, where taller riders (such as myself) have to cross their ankles in order to get the lap bar down. I don't think it makes it a "bad" family coaster... just a bad family coaster for families with tall riders.

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-Rob
A.C.E. member since 1990
Posting @ Coasterbuzz since 2000
E.C.C. member since 2002

I have to say i did'nt like the ride either. I too understand it is a family coaster, but what upsets me is when great escape runs its commercials. They never advertise as a family park, they always mention "6 heartpounding coasters". So they fool most people into believing that its a good coaster park when in fact its nothing like that.

If you're a kid, I would imagine that Canyon Blaster would qualify as "heart-pounding."

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-Rob
A.C.E. member since 1990
Posting @ Coasterbuzz since 2000
E.C.C. member since 2002

I was at the park twice last week and never saw anyone get off Canyon Blaster looking like he/she was even in a remote amount of pain. There are some minor jerks, depending on where you sit, but the stop at the end is no harder than the stop you find on the Nightmare or the Comet. I'm not one to like rough rides at all, and CB did not bother me. The small amount of leg room is not the park's fault; that's how Arrow built their older mine trains.

Losing the Ghost Town Train and the Tornado doesn't seem like a bad trade-off for Canyon Blaster. There's really no need for the park to have *two* train rides, and the park doesn't need even more low-capacity attractions like the Tornado. Thus, you gained a very high-capacity attraction (one that's far more thrilling than the Tornado and the train) and only lost a ride you can find elsewhere in the park and a low capacity dark ride that was, from all accounts, not very popular anyway.

Finally, I'm not sure the complaints about the way SF is marketing the ride are valid or not. One look at the park's website, and you find the following description: "The Great Escape's sixth roller coaster made its debut this summer called the Canyon Blaster! The mine train is a great family coater with two lift hills, an exciting double helix and more than 2,000' of track!" Additionally, I've seen billboards and brochures, both of which (IMO) made it clear that this was not a thrill ride, but aimed at families. The radio ads even went out of their way to mention that fact.

All of the GE locals just need to face the fact that this park is obviously going a different route than you wish. The park clearly aims to keep its family image, and will most likely continue to place down family ride after family ride. You can keep hoping for something "good", but most families would say that something "good" has already been built.

-Nate (who saw at least one CB train pull into the station with everyone clapping)

Aww man, how are you going to knock a mine ride?? Mild coasters are cool too. The Matterhorn is one of my favorites...and no drops larger than 3 feet.

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"SOME people have NO class!" - Mom from the Whizzer queue

while im not a fan of the canyon blaster i think it was a good addition to the park. its a great coaster for the young one's but not much beyond that.

and ive seen people come of the train now both smiling and booing. so it's not just us enthusiast that are disapointed with this ride. right now id say its 50 / 50.

i just hope that the coming seasons for Great Escape bring alittle more thrilling rides...and hopefully something new for once!

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John
Albany Entertainment
http://albany.n3.net

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MarimbaGuy87 said:
Without kiddie coasters and mine rides, there wouldn't be any way to recruit new enthusiasts... Granted, my first ride was on the Phoenix, but still. ;)

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Whenever you can ride a roller coaster and experience 15 spots of intense airtime, you know you're on a good coaster. (see: Phoenix)

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Yeah, my first coaster was good ol' Adventure Express, follwed Shortly by Beastie and Racer...

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Everybody needs a good BM...WHAT!!?!?!
Visit me at http://www.freewebs.com/behemothrct

Is the restraint system on the trains really that small? I'm going there next week basically to ride the Comet but I was going to try and ride Canyon Blaster. I am slightly overweight but I have recently been on Cedar Creek Mine ride at Cedar Point,Dahlonega Mine train at SF Over Georgia, and River King Mine train at SF MidAmerica without any problems except for being uncomfortable. Is the restraint system any different then on these 3 Arrow mine trains?