It's a roller coaster, it's a dark ride, and more!

OK, you guys know by now that I'm NOT the biggest Aerosmith fan around....but, I am becoming more and more of a dark-ride fan (how THAT happened is beyond me).

Well, finally got to Rock'n'Roller Coaster yesterday, and it was GREAT. The only other coasters I've been on where the theming impressed me to that degree were KW's Exterminator and Alpie.....(KBF's log flume ranks up there too). What other coasters out there are THEMED....

P.S....Don't tell me about Disney's other coasters, I know they're themed.....;)

The Lost Coaster of Superstition Mountain and Montu come to mind as themed coasters. I can think of a lot of other rides like Dueling Dragons, Xcelerator, Batmans, and S:TE that have cool themes, but the rides themselves aren't themed.

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"This time I think ... I think it's ... it's going to work!" - Dr.Bruce Banner

Several mine trains are heavily themed. I've also heard that Dollywood has a coaster so heavily themed that it is more dark ride than coaster.

Also, the various Space Mountains and the Flight Of Fears.

D'Oh...I've ridden Blazing Fury, and yes, it DOES kick butt....now that is the kind of heavily-themed, immersive, dark-ride adventure coasters I'm talking about.....you don't need a MASSIVE coaster to have a great ride on something that carries the theming to that degree....

DD does have great theming, but other than ICE's run up the castle wall and then back down the wall (too far to call it a serious foot-chooper).....

I've yet to get a mine train that does it to that degree.....(PKI's is really good, but the statues need to be on the FIRST lift to get the maximum impact from the theming), at least in my notably-twisted opinion....

*** This post was edited by rollergator on 7/22/2002. ***

There is this one park in Houston (SFAW). It has two roller coasters that have good theming. One is B:TE. It is really rough, but through the queue, there are various details based on the movie (batman returns). There is even one time when they show tread marks on the ground, and they lead to the end of the outside part. When you look up, you can see the car that "The Penguin" used. It is flipped over on its side.

Another ride with good theming is Mayan Mindbender. That has superb theming. There are trees every where, and then inside the building there are two giant cobras as you are about to go through the ride. Also there are carvings of mayan heads in the ceiling, and dim candles.When the extremely long train is in the station, the candles are light, but when the only train is dispatched, the candles get really dim. The ride is really fun too. It reminds me of Wald Disney World's Space Mountain, but with way better banking.

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On the seventh day, God created coasters!

My favorite is definitely Alpengeist. It's also tied as my favorite coaster.

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Sean

How about Nemesis?

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This season:
2 parks
28 rides

What about Devil's Den at Conneaut Park. In reality, many wouldn't consider it a coaster, but still. It goes through that ride pretty fast and it's all out interesting.

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Disaster Transport before everything was turned off?

'Gator - how could you forget about the Disney coasters: Matterhorn, Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain, Indiana Jones [Paris], Rock-n-Roller Coaster, Mulholland Madness, and even California Screamin?

Moosh - being a smartass

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"There's nothing sweeter than a bowling ball with a liquid center" - Homer Simpson

Big Bad Wolf has some really great theming as well... flying through that little german village makes it so much more exciting than most suspendeds and many other coasters...

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I have to agree about Blazing Fury! Its such a great ride. The theming makes the ride. And I really wasnt expecting the suprise at the end! :)

Viper at SFGADV actually has some nice theming. All the Batman The Rides have nice theming. Skull Mountain has themeing too.

'moosh, as the saying goes around our homestead...."better to be a smartass than a dumbass"....

BBW gets the nod.....theming THROUGHOUT the ride is a very cool thing....makes it more like an "experience" than simply a ride....

we were a week too early for LoCoSuMo, but it will come....TX is already "on the books", just can't figure out which page...;)

How about Batman at SFGAm? The shot-up squad car, park scene, graffiti, Bolliger and Mabillard's names used in the theming, the "radiation" and sewers.

Actually, on second thought, other than B&M's names, it sounds like how Six Flags parks look unintentionally (lol).

Only kidding. I love SF parks and I sometimes wonder why they get picked on so much. I'm a SFGAm regular.

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Revised projection for 2002: 35 parks & 120 coasters. 21 & 82 through 7/18

LoCoSuMo won't have it's theming in until next year. Sure it has the mountain, but the other stuff (effects) aren't in there yet. Anyway, Nemisis just looks awesome, Disaster Transport (not very well), the Underground at Adventureland (CCI built it), Jaguar at KBF(I think), and there are many others.

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Hi, I'm here to talk about coasters, if you are not, shut up and leave.

Raging Rider - FYI, Jaguar has no theming outside the station proper, so I'm not so sure I'd call that a themed coaster.

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"There's nothing sweeter than a bowling ball with a liquid center" - Homer Simpson

thanks 'moosh....I guess being a Floridian makes me put theming on a higher level than just having a station house that sorta reminds you of a general subject matter (like Jaguar at least goes through the top of the temple - something, not much)....The Batman theme is OK, but it DOES remind me a little too much of the park outside the ride....;). At least the one at SFGAm uses the fog effects....

Don't forget Volcano.

I was just saying recently that I didn't understand the lack of love that RRC at MGM gets. I think it is definitely superior to FoF, and is my favorite Vekoma (is that saying much?).

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No love for the whiners

Du'OH, I think we all forgot FOF at PKI and PKD, a very nicely themed coaster, that, w/o OTSRs, is a very good steel contender!
Matthew