My El Toro Review

I'm serious, maybe being stapled to my seat made the difference, but I don't think its an air time/ejector like that say. I'm gonna get some more rides on it this weekend at CC so maybe it will change. Maybe I was to distracted by looking around. I am a little bigger 5'10 220.

I was stapled in my seat too! That really annoyed me. And the fact that the ride attendants personally did the stapling was quite weird AND annoying. Wasn't the one train op painful? Painfully slow dispatching too. They need to work on that. The weekend is going to get messy if they dont track 2 trains and make the dispatching quicker.

But anyway, i would classify the ride as an air machine definately, definately. Thats why when I read your post I was completely thrown off. I don't see how we could have gotten such different rides. I mean when I say I was thrown out of my seat I really mean it. Over those first few hills I was vertically thrown out of my seat and was thanknful for the lap bars. Even with the hard-pressed lap bars I was gettin major air. Good solid ride. Me and my friend couldn't stop talking about it last night.

Its a stellar ride don't get me wrong. I guess I was expecting more. I'll revisist this thread after Saturday when I get 2 or 3 more rides on it.

Loading was horrible horrible!! I guess they are afraid that if they don't staple people will try to cheat for airtime.

And I thought the dispatches of Deja Vu at SFOG were horrible. Even if they personally staple each of the 36 passengers, it shouldn't take them very long to load and dispatch the train. Sheesh. The dispatcher should be able to load and check the train faster than that.

Something I noticed on my visit to MIA last Saturday...
They had only two ops on the Timbers platform, including the dispatcher and they were running two trains with minimal stacking! Only one of the ops was checking seatbelts and restraints and about half the time, they got the first trian out before the second train hit the brakes, otherwise the second train had to sit less than 10 seconds on the brake. Later on, a third op was on the platform and it seemed to actually slow down the dispatch times.

It amazes me to see/hear about such slow dispatches at other parks with more ops on hand when MIA is so efficient about it.

You would think with all the media and being opening day they'd try and speed things up.

Well, I guess i'll add my review here as well:

El Toro brings Six Flags Great Adventure something it has sorely needed, a fanominal wooden coaster. I don't really rank my coasters, but if I did, this one would be up there pretty high.

The fun starts right on the lift hill, which is considerably faster then any other lift out there. You fly up it and around the turn around, and then down the first drop, and what a drop it is.

I don't really know how to best describe the first drop, it leaves you speakless. You are flunf from your seat and don't land back into it until you reach the bottom. As you bottom out you plung into the woodwork, with head choppers that are sure to make you put your hands down.

The next two hills are simply amazing, some of the best airtime hills on any coaster, anywhere. At the turn around you get thrown into a steep banked turn and dive down and around to the other side of the outbound track.

Next is one of the weak spots on the coaster, a few speed humps that give up some airtime, but not much, before a long left turn that leads to the twister section, with a great head chopper right in the middle of the turn.

Next comes the surprise element, the one that will WOW everyone that rides because it is hidden and unexpected. After crossing over Rolling Thunder, you dive into the twister section on this steep, abrupt hill that tosses you from your seat and then quickly flies through a right, left, right turn sequnce that is lightning fast and stunningly close to the ground.

However, this is followed up by the weakest part of the ride, two little bunny hills that the train almost meanders over, giving little airtime. To the coaster's credit, as the day wears on this section does speed up, but never really lives up to what the rest of the ride is.

And the rest of the ride is fantastic. Some people will not like how glass smooth it is, it feels like a steel coaster, but the general public reaction has been fantastic, and those are the opinions that really matter.

Externally, I love the ride's location, you get great views of it, yet at the same time part of it is hidden and a surprise to riders. I love how the ride seems to wrap around the new Plaza Del Carnival section.

The trains are reletively comfortable, I think mostly because of the smooth ride, since there is little padding, and what there is of it is the harder foam. They do staple you in, and larger people will not be able to ride as the sensors on the train are very finiky. Operations were a little slow, but I think they will pick up are they get procedures down.

Overall, El Toro is a must ride, it is simply awesome and unlike any coaster out there.

Dead spots? Say it ain't so. :(

Honestly, I thought what the ride lacks in length, it would more than make up for with its sustained speed which I expected would make every element insanely great.

Dead spots? I think not. Just places where the coasters mass intensity decreases a tad. Which is a perfectly reasonable aspect of every ride.

"Honestly, I thought what the ride lacks in length, it would more than make up for with its sustained speed which I expected would make every element insanely great."-Acoustic Viscosity

You are absolutely on the money with this statement. Yes, the ride is on the shorter side but ya know what? no midcourse break and the rides length warrants a train that paces perfectly and maintains its speed throughout the ride. I would bet the train doesnt go below 40mph at all during the ride cycle. Its just push push push the whole way through to the final brake run. I cant wait to ride it again this weekend, its that good. Better than KA

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Acoustic Viscosity said:
Dead spots? Say it ain't so. :(

Honestly, I thought what the ride lacks in length, it would more than make up for with its sustained speed which I expected would make every element insanely great.

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I think you need to reread what I said. I did not say dead spots, what I did say was weak spots, spots with little airtime, but it was there, and it got better as the day wore on. I've ridden the coaster about 25 times now, and think I have a pretty good feel for it. I'm just giving my honest opinion on the ride. I would have liked to have seen some more action on the end run, but the rest of the ride more then makes up for it.

"Honestly, I thought what the ride lacks in length, it would more than make up for with its sustained speed which I expected would make every element insanely great."-Acoustic Viscosity

In other words, Voyage II.

To me, a ride like Voyage comes along once a generation. El Toro sounds like a terrific ride, but I'm sure that like every other wooden coaster NOT name Voyage, it's not going to be perfect. ;)

And here comes the parade of fanboys....

sounds like a terrific ride?.... it is a terrific ride but how would you know?

Dante, who says Voyage sounds like a terrific ride but how would he know? He hasnt been on it. ahem Do ya get it?

*** Edited 6/13/2006 6:57:24 PM UTC by DorneyDante***

"And here comes the parade of fanboys...."

My thoughts exactly.

"Dante, who says Voyage sounds like a terrific ride but how would he know? He hasnt been on it. ahem Do ya get it"?

Yes I get it captain obvious. Of course a ride can only *sound* terrific until you ride it which is exactly my point. I swear, a new ride opens and people suddenly become a-holes who think that nothing but *all out praise* is a slam against their favorite coaster. *** Edited 6/13/2006 7:32:50 PM UTC by DWeaver***

My bad, Cyclonic. The spots you described as weak looked like they would really deliver from my "scientific" analysis of the ride. I guess I will just have to wait and see for myself. I thought the s-curve bunny hops at the end would be wicked intense like the last one on Voyage. Also, as drawn out as that camel hill along the station is, I figured it was meant to give the longest ever airtime moment. So do you mean they are just weak in comparison to the insane ejector air on the rest of the ride or are they indeed weak?

whoa whoa whoa there pal. Are you not the one who posted this?.....

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DWeaver said:

To me, a ride like Voyage comes along once a generation. El Toro sounds like a terrific ride, but I'm sure that like every other wooden coaster NOT name Voyage, it's not going to be perfect.

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Then this....

"Of course a ride can only *sound* terrific until you ride it which is exactly my point. I swear, a new ride opens and people suddenly become a-holes who think that nothing but *all out praise* is a slam against their favorite coaster."

You pretty much say "Voyage is tha bestest!!!11, oMg!11". Then say new rides open up and people become assh*les? Your so right. Just take a look at yourself.

I simply stated that I rode ET and thought it was a great ride. I made no comparisons to other rides or no crazy statements like you. *** Edited 6/13/2006 8:25:06 PM UTC by DorneyDante***

Yes I posted that, and still you completely miss the point. My comparison was for people who think that every ride needs to be a version of Voyage to be great. Read it again, this time without your *El Toro colored glasses on*.

I was actually defending the coaster against obvious comparisons to what most are calling the greatest wooden coaster on earth.

Hush now...it's not that serious. ;)

Greatest wooden coaster on Earth? I thought this thread was about Toro, not Mean Streak!

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DWeaver said:
Yes I posted that, and still you completely miss the point. My comparison was for people who think that every ride needs to be a version of Voyage to be great. Read it again, this time without your *El Toro colored glasses on*.

I was actually defending the coaster against obvious comparisons to what most are calling the greatest wooden coaster on earth.

Hush now...it's not that serious.

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Do we have a case of "woops I said that but I didnt mean it and I cant take it back cause if I do they will see I used the edit function so let me say something clever to defend my sorry self"

ahem, I do believe so.

Dante, who still says "ITS THE BESTEST!!!111" OMFG! *** Edited 6/13/2006 8:50:58 PM UTC by DorneyDante***

yup. as in stick a fork in you. DONE You walked yourself into this one.

Talk about trolls? Does anyone have any treats to feed this one? Im all out. O humph!

Whoa! Dude, go take your meds.

Your completely making an idiot of yourself, all over a coaster. LOL

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DWeaver said:
"Honestly, I thought what the ride lacks in length, it would more than make up for with its sustained speed which I expected would make every element insanely great."-Acoustic Viscosity

In other words, Voyage II.

To me, a ride like Voyage comes along once a generation. El Toro sounds like a terrific ride, but I'm sure that like every other wooden coaster NOT name Voyage, it's not going to be perfect.

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I REALLY want someone else to chime in about this post you made and see how they interpreted it.