Missing out a coasters best version?

There's a handful of coaster legends regarding versions of renowned rides before a certain change ( trimms, restraints, elements, etc)

Which coasters did you get to ride the og version and which coasters you regret missing out

For me, i rode Superman ride of steel New England in 2002 and still to this day, the best coaster ride of my life. Still #1, then the accident happened, then the change to bizarro and bulky restraints. I just feel bad for the people who missed that version. Perfect coaster

I wish i would've ridden 1996 Montu with no brakes and Crocs, original Mean Streak, original Beast. And most definitely, original lighting rod.

Whats your list?

OG Dragon Wagon, obvs.

I wish I could ride every B&M before they add trim brakes to every other airtime hill.

Riding Top Thrill Dragster in 2003 straddling the giant decorative tires on the back of the train

I don’t think there are many recent (last 10 years) B&M’s that have retroactive trims added. I don’t especially like trims, but also they’re clearly part of the design on most of them.What B&M’s had retroactive trims added?

In response to the original question, Ghostrider circa 2001 was amazing and I haven’t ridden since, but I understand it’s gone through many iterations. I probably wouldn’t like them but it would be fun to have ridden Maverick or OG Drachen Fyre or OG i305 just to say.

And yes S:RoS NE is still great, but 2001 S:RoS was really one of the best rides I’ve ever ridden.

Right. They seem to do some testing, then add the trim brakes. I want to ride it before they add them. Designed or not, they're a drag before an airtime hill.

Off hand the only B&M I can think of where a trim brake was added after the ride opened was Mantis:TCFKAB (Rougarou) at Cedar Point. That one had a trim added to the first drop after the first or second season. There are others where trims have always been there but their use may have changed; B&M tend to have their rides set up so that trims are used dynamically so that the train speed will be consistent coming out of the brakes for the setup for the next element. Diamondback is a good example of this, as is Alpengeist. B&M seem to use brakes to compensate for varying operating conditions, so the ride doesn't suddenly go a lot faster just because it got really hot...

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

One coaster that isn't mentioned too often as once being great is Wild One. It's still decent, but when it was first (re)built at Wild World in 1986, it was insane; one of the best wooden coasters around at the time.

Off the top of my head, my top answer would be Wicked Twister. First year, it took both reverse trips fully up the back spike. Now it only goes halfway up the back spike the first time. Since it's a back of the train ride IMO, I miss that.

I rode every version of I305.
I also rode Rattler before it was ever altered. It counts as the most thrilling first drop I’ve ever taken.
I’ve only ridden Wicked Cyclone, and I’m sad that I missed Riverside Cyclone.
I’ve ridden Mr Twister at new Elitch, and I’m extremely sad I missed the original.

ApolloAndy said...

And yes S:RoS NE is still great, but 2001 S:RoS was really one of the best rides I’ve ever ridden.

What changed about S:RoS after 2001? (I've never been to that park).

The biggest coaster that comes to mind is Mean Streak. Granted I was only 14 years old, so take it for what it's worth, but I remember really liking the ride before the most-dreaded-of-all-first-hill-trim-brakes was added to the ride. I would say this is just foggy-old memory, but on those rare occasions when a trim-less ride could be snagged, it was actually fun again, so I trust my 14-year-old self.

One that has not been mentioned in Avalanche Run at Cedar Point. I think we all know the disaster it became after Kinzel decided to play Space Mountain on the cheap, but I loved this ride when it was outdoors. One of the thrilling aspects as a tiny person was the creeping thought that your bobsled might just decide to slip a little too high up the side....not to mention the fun international/Olympic theme it had to it.

I'm also glad I rode Big Bad Wolf. I don't know why I thought of that, and it's cheating the topic a bit, but man I loved that ride.

Rideman can probably comment better to this than I can, but I think the Mean Streak first drop brakes had more to do with structural / mechanical wear, rather than how well the ride tracked. I recall the best ride I've had on Mean Streak being (first drop) trimless in the rain.

Raging Wolf Bobs pre-retrack and the G Trains. Guilty pleasure.

Lucked out with a Raging Bull ride a few years back, trim free on hill #2.

Missed out on? Maybe SROS at SFNE pre restraint mod with the terrible shin bar. That was a huge issue for my long legs. Rode it twice and that was good enough for me! Great ride, otherwise. (From that era of Intamin, prefer Millennium Force and Expedition GeForce over it, though!)

Hercules at DP and the Rattler at SFOT were both pretty good the first year, then they were neutered. I did get on I305 prior to the change and it is still the only coaster that I ever grayed out on (and it did it every ride).

Also, the og Gwazi when it was new and dueling was awesome.

Got to ride the better version:

Beast when it still had skid brakes, on rainy days they weren't very effective. Also buzzbars.

SOB when it still had the loop and the track wasn't beat to hell

Vortex before they really slowed down the post-MCBR part

KI Enchanted Voyage when it was still Enchanted Voyage. Nothing since has been nearly as interesting.

KI Tomb Raider before it became whatever it became.. Crypt? (waste of time really)

Racer backwards, was a gimmick but nice change of pace. Do any coasters run backwards anymore?

Missed out on, wish I would have ridden:

Mean streak right after it was built, heard it was pretty damn good before all the reprofiling

I305, I wanna grey out...

Rode Mean Streak early in its first season. It didn’t destroy you but it was still boring and you had to wait 4 hours for it.

SFNE’s Superman is good enough for me to ignore the restraints. Rode it before and after and it’s still in my top 5.

I wish Cedar Point left Blue Streak in its original configuration with buzz bars and the unload/ forward loading in the station.

I don't think I ever rode SFNE's Superman in its original configuration (first ride was 2007), but the last time I rode it, which was during its Bizarro stint, was still incredibly enjoyable. As its been a few years, please refresh my memory, but it's no longer a T-bar, correct?

OhioStater said:

One that has not been mentioned in Avalanche Run at Cedar Point. I think we all know the disaster it became after Kinzel decided to play Space Mountain on the cheap, but I loved this ride when it was outdoors. One of the thrilling aspects as a tiny person was the creeping thought that your bobsled might just decide to slip a little too high up the side....not to mention the fun international/Olympic theme it had to it.

I never rode Avalanche Run, only Disaster Transport. But I've always found it fascinating how different all the bobsled coasters I've ridden feel. Flying Turns is obviously radically different than any of the steel variants (and the slowest, which oddly doesn't lessen the experience), and Avalanche at Kings Dominion, being a Mack and having long trains, is my favorite because of its perceived speed during the latter half. But DT and La Vibora are both Intamins with very similar layouts (possibly the same?), yet even with each having single car "trains", they feel completely different from each other--DT has wider cars (side by side seating), whereas LV's cars are narrower due to their tandem-style seating. I always thought LV had the feel of being a marble in a trough, where the cars would seem to rotate in some of the turns as if it was almost traveling sideways at times. Really cool ride.

I'm also glad I rode Big Bad Wolf. I don't know why I thought of that, and it's cheating the topic a bit, but man I loved that ride.

Same. I miss it. I'm glad they kept the final drop/turn over the river on Verbolten, but nothing will ever compare to BBW in that same section.

I don't miss it. I trip over one of the wheels from the last train every day! (A friend legally gifted it to me from an employee who legally was able to take it home after disassembly, to be clear.)