Great wood and Great Steel?

I was just thinking that there aren't too many parks with great wood AND great steel. It seems like all the great wood is in the smaller parks, or the corporate parks with the great wood (KBF, and now MA) don't have steel of a matching calibur.

I mean, your big steelie havens (CP, SFMM, SFGAdv., IOA etc.) have severe deficiencies in the woodie dept.

I guess BGT, and HP, SFGAm are the only parks I could think of that even come close, and BGT's wood isn't that great (especially since it stopped dueling), SFGAm's isn't that great, and HP's steel isn't that great either.

SFoT with the Giant and Titan is the only prime example I could think of.

Anyone think of a reason why this trend exists, or think of some counter examples?

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The legend lives!

Give Cedar Fair some time to work on Michigan's Adventure. I think this park has the potential to have both.

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I'd rather die living than live like I'm dead

Counter Example:

I've been to these:

SFGAm - Steel: Bull, B:TR
Wood: Viper (This ride is butter.)

SFoG - Steel: B:TR, Georgia Scorcher, Mindbender
Wood: GASM, Georgia Cyclone

KW - Steel: Phantom's Revenge
Wood: Jack Rabbit, Thunderbolt

From what I've heard:

SFWoA - Steel: B:KF, S:UE
Wood: Villain, Big Dipper

Dorney- Steel: Steel Force, Lazer, Talon
Wood: Thunderhawk

SFNE - Steel: S:ROS
Wood: Cyclone

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"Some things take so long, but how do I explain?
When not too many people can see we're all the same." - George Harrison (R.I.P.)

*** This post was edited by chris on 12/4/2001. ***

Kennywood
Phantom's Revenge and Thunderbolt (or Jack Rabbit)
Sorry, chris beat me to it.

*** This post was edited by jimster on 12/4/2001. ***

Chris has several good examples of parks with both great wood and steel. To that list *I* would add SFA (Roar, Wild One wood, S:ROS steel) and PKD (Hurler, Grizzly wood, Volcano, FoF steel).

But I know my opinion on PKD's wood doesn't seem to match most peoples' :)

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--Greg
"Beat the rush, sign up for your post-Mean Streak MRI now..."
My page My other page And my coaster page

Six Flags New England STEEL: SROS [you all know about this one]

Six Flags New England WOOD: Cyclone, once voted in Scariest coaster in the US, and still one of the most intense around.

You can pencil in Knott's Berry Farm for next summer. ;)
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"Time flies...Whether you're having fun or not". -Mary Engelbreit.

PKI?

Wood-Beast, SOB, Racer

Steel-FoF, Face/Off, Vortex

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Doesn't it seem as though morons always have the caps lock on?

How about Six Flags Marine World, they have Roar (wood) and Medusa (steel)?

Well, of the ones I've been to:

SFOT: Texas Giant and Titan, Mr. Freeze, Shockwave, and/OR Batman

SFMW: Roar and Medusa!

PKD (stated above)

SFA (again, stated above)

SFSTL: The Boss and/or screamin' eagle, Batman and/Or Mr. Freeze!

(personally) I liked Rattler so SFFT: Rattler and Superman Krypton coaster.

And there are many more...

I’ll probably be ridiculed for saying it, but I would also include Hersheypark. I may be one of the few people that actually really enjoyed Great Bear. Paired with Lightning Racer, they have a duo I would go back for any day.

From a purely speculative standpoint, I would also add Nagashima Spaland, with Steel Dragon and White Cyclone.

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Aaron
The Buzzer formerly known as RagingBull.

You guys don't count Knoebel's...Hi-Speed Thrill Coaster AND the Whirlwind...LMAO, although HSTC was surprisingly good, even after all the hype! Seriously, though, SFA, SFWoA, PKD, PKI, and Dorney all "fit the bill" for me. Haven't been to KW since PR, so I can't say, and HP has been a LONG time since I've been there. BGT, I will re-evaluate once they start dueling Gwazi again (note the hopefulness)...For me, if you've got "good wood", the rest is all gravy. If you've got "ailing" wood, I'll drive the extra distance to find another park!
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the buzzer formerly known as gatorwoodie
Son of Drop Zone - PKI CoasterCamp I Champions!!!

Raging Bull was a solid ride, but Viper kicked some major booty. I'd definetly have to consider SFGAM as filling this description.
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Just wait till next year!

Great American in Illinois wins, Raging Bull, Viper and American Eagle* (*with some maintenance and effort in the racing aspect) are at the top of both type of coasters.

Don't forget Worlds of Fun - Mamba & Timberwolf are both great ! SFGAm & SFStL too (but SFStL needs a Hyper !) Shoot, even SFKK is ok in that department w/ Chang and Twisted Sisters.

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Current favorite coasters:
Wooden: 1) Beast 2) Raven 3) Son of Beast 4) The Boss 5) Timber Wolf
Steel: 1) Raging Bull 2) Millennium Force 3) V2 4) Wild Thing 5) Mr. Freeze

Although I think SFKK has an excellent woodie, I'll have to disagree with you on both choices for the park.

1)Besides a few lateral Gs, Twisted Sisters felt rather tame this year and I would say close in comparison to Zach's Zoomer at MA.

2)Thunder Run is a great woodie and seems to be one of the few Summers/Dinn woodies to actually age well and not have to be braked to death or be extremely rough.

3)Chang is head and shoulders above as my least favorite B&M. I seriously could have gone to sleep on the thing. I actually enjoyed T2 more and we know that can't be good.

Anyways, if you like both of those coasters and feel they're worth the "great" status, more power to you. I'll be on Thunder Run and...er, Thunder Run again! :)

SFWOA, It has a great looper in BKF and has two great woodies IMHO and another one that is strange but somhow still fun.

X flight is good but not to everyones taste but if your looking for the Ohio park with both types of excellent quality then SFO is it.

PKI, Many do not claim Beast as a Top Tier coasters but it still draws em in 22 years later and FOF is simply fantastic with it's new lapbars.

SFNE has good both type.

I think with a intamin or morgan hyper that MIA could be a very good top contender and a CCI retracking of Wolverine Wildcat would move it up tons IMHO. Wolverine Wildcat has to be the most dramatic coaster that could be so much better with a little care to me.

thanks for reading

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Charles Nungester
Park Jockey :)

Indiana Beach! Well, kind of...

Gotta love Schwarzkoft!

My theory for this is that the GP wants steelies. But, small parks can't afford the big steel coasters, so they go for the smaller, cheaper woodies. Whereas big chains like SF can afford big hypers and inverted coasters. And since the GP mainly wants new, high-tech steelies with knots of inversions and steep drops, SF and others focus on steel and really doesn't pay attention to wood, IMO.
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Sit back, hold on tight, because Mamba is about to strike! Enjoy Your Ride!

ApolloAndy said:I guess BGT, and HP, SFGAm are the only parks I could think of that even come close, and BGT's wood isn't that great (especially since it stopped dueling), SFGAm's isn't that great, and HP's steel isn't that great either.

I think Gwazi is a fantastic woodie, even when it doesn't race. It's definitely a top ten of mine. Viper is a really good wooden coaster also. That's just my opinion.Has anyone mentioned Nagashima Spa Land with the world's tallest roller coaster (SD2K) and White Cyclone, which I hear is a great woodie? Edit: ColumbusCoaster beat me to it. :)

*** This post was edited by SFGA2001 on 12/4/2001. ***