Much Needed LOVE Thread: Villain & SFWOA.

"No love for Villan from the Mooshmeister (or Mooshinator if you perfer), but the whole park gets lots of lovin?"

I said I like SFWoA. Like does not equal love. However I do love Bid Dipper and S:UE.

I would not blame anyone if they really liked Villain. If it's your thang, great! If it brings you joy, fantastic! We don't all have to like the same things. I'm merely giving my opinion of the ride.

mOOSH

Love it love it love it.

I will add, in all fairness though, the last ride I had was on opening day for the SFO---> SFWOA transformation. That day it was running easily as one of the best coasters in the world.

The one day I had the pleasure to ride Ghostrider a few years back I was sorely dissapointed, so there you go. Comparing those two rides on different days, Villian blew Ghostrider out of the water. I still need to get on Ghostrider after a few weeks of mantinence, I saw clearly how great it COULD have been.

Villain needs to be ridden after 8pm in the evening, in the last seat to be fully appreciated. Truely a religious experience in any seat after it's been running all day.

I'm curious how many people who don't care for the ride only rode it once or early in the day when it hasn't warmed up yet. That was my problem with GhostRider (the park closed at 8pm in mid June!!?). I never got any night rides on my only trip there. Four rides on that coaster during the day because of one train operation is truely not enough to fairly judge the ride.

Wood - anything else is an imitation

Thrillerman hit the nail on the head with his comments. The first time I rode Villain was in the middle of the day and I was completely un-impressed. But after many rides at night, I think Villian is a very good ride. Not as good as Ghostrider, but not that far behind either.

Thrilleman - my "issues" with Villain are not with its performance. I've ridden it at park opening, midday, and at night. Its rampy as all-heck [something Boss and Hurricane Cat5 also suffer from] and it also runs those horrid G-trains. And lets not forget the least-effect trick-track ever.

That's not to say there were not good moments on the ride. The first and second drops, and the drop following the scenic turn mid-ride were all good. But the rest left me really frustrated.

IMHO, Villain's negatives far outweight its positives...and I'm not talking about Gs ;)

mOOSH

Actually Moosh, I wasn't thinking of your comments when I posted. Your comments are usually pretty objective when you critique(sp?) a coaster. Well...at least when I'm not trying to pick myself up off the floor or cleaning freshly spewed iced tea off my keyboard and monitor anyways. :)

Wood - anything else is an imitation

And if I can do both at the same time...BONUS ;)

mOOSH

I agree the Villian runs better at night. I got a good 30 or so rides on it this past Labor Day weekend it got better as the night went on. Plus with the rain we had it just was just flying. The air time on it was good and so was the laterals. It made my trip. I don't mind G Trains....I actually like them so that isn't a factor for me. Villian and Legand rank #1 and #2 not in that order though. I really enjoyed it. While the trick track isn't great its far from un noticeable.

Mamoosh, what do you mean by rampy? Do you mean the little hills on the last return, or do you mean the steapness of the larger hills?

But should you really have to ride a coaster at a specific time to "see how good it really is?"

Couldn't you challenge that with reverse logic and tell people who love it to ride during the day to see "how bad it really can be?"

Every one of my favorite coasters gives a great ride regardless of when you ride - outside of the standard issues of slow morning rides or night rides being more fun in general, etc.

I love this ride. Every time I go to the park, it's the first ride we hit and usually end up with 6-7 rides by the time the park closes. It's my favorite wooden coaster that I've been on (gonna see what Beast is like this June). I know alot of people don't like the trains, but I don't see a problem with them. Just gotta figure out how to position yourself in the seat during the ride and try not to "staple" yourself in.

There probably a few sections of the ride that could use a little bit of retracking, but it's still a blast. the layout is sweet and the airtime is killer. And the best time to ride it is at night. People say Beast is a different animal at night, so is Villain.

Either you love it or hate it, Villain is still the best coaster at SFWoA and thanks CCI (RIP) for making it. Hopefully the park can get a coaster from Gravity Group :)

Thrillerman and I were actually talking about this coaster the other day, and if he'll allow me to "steal" one of the points that he made during our conversation, I'd like to point out one of the strokes of genius that is evident in the coaster's design.

Right after the second turnaround (at least I think it is the second one), there is a straight & flat section of track... it could probably be used for a block brake if the park so desired to add one. The section of track may seem boring and pointless, but it actually sets you up for a sudden and steep drop that you don't see coming until the heads of the riders ahead of you disappear! Its an example of a coaster playing "mind games" with the rider- convincing them that nothing is going to happen, followed by something very far from "nothing"- and its one of the reasons why CCI coasters are such fine designs.

I am honestly not just saying how bad Villain is just for the sake of it. It really WAS that bad. I had two rides on it before I couldn't take anymore of it. It was better than Raging Wolf Bobs and The Big (or Giant?) Dipper, but that really doesn't say anything. The trains were extremely uncomfortable, there was absolutely NO airtime going over the hills (I was not stapled either times), the laterals were very weak, the ride's speed felt considerably slower and slower as the ride progressed, the tracking was very rough and rattly, and it just was simply not thrilling. Of course, it's nothing in the likes of Psyclone...but I wouldn't consider The Villain a great wooden coaster. Just slightly above mediocre at best and nothing better.

---

RCTfan said:
I've never ridden in Millennium Flyers, but I can't see how a bar in the middle of a person's legs on a woodie can be enjoyable.

---

Actually, the bar poses no problems, but I hate with a passion the lapbar itself which digs down into your stomach (and no, I'm not fat!).

---

kRaXLeRidAh said:
The trains were extremely uncomfortable, there was absolutely NO airtime going over the hills .

---

Well you must have sat in one crappy seat, because I always tried to sit in the very front, which produced mega air, and was pretty damn smooth......

I think this love thread should be about the Big Dipper. Now THAT is truely a gem. I got off an instinctivley headed right back to the entrance. The airtime was delicious. Villain on the other hand, looked pretty, but I came off less than impressed. The forces just weren't there for the majority of the ride, and if they were, it was the force of me being thrown around inside those blasted G-Trains. There ARE however, worse CCI's.

-BullGuy, who also endured the MB Hurricane, and The Boss.

Yeah I totally agree. I think BD is 10x better than Villain. BD has some excellent air, doesn't run G-trains, and has classic coaster written all over it. I think it will get a lot more attention when they get it retracked for '04 and it stops washboarding.

Big Dipper played simon sez with me. Simon sez OFF THE SEAT, NOW! Simon sez SLAM THAT BUTT DOWN, NOW! Simon sez REPEAT, AGAIN!

Villian seemed to be under the weather when I got to ride. Squeak, squeak, squeeeeeaaallllll.

Edited to correct mis-spelling of Dipper. DOH! *** Edited 1/27/2004 1:59:04 AM UTC by boblogone***

On Page 1, Gonch said: "But should you really have to ride a coaster at a specific time to 'see how good it really is?'"

Amen! Case in point: Phoenix, which is why I rank it at #1 [out of 85]. Phoenix never seems to need "warming up"...it just delivers from the get-go.

mOOSH

any pics that display the layout well? The ones on rcdb only focus on the first drop and hill. thanx