Night Rides on Woodies. They DO make a difference don't they!

Coasters that I have ridden that are dramatically changed for the better at night: The Beast, Big Bad Wolf, Big Thunder Mountain, Lockness Monster, Magnum, MF, Wildcat (HP), Lightning Racer, Steel Phantom (RIP), Sooperdooperlooper, and Yankee Cannonball.

I am of the mind that all roller coasters are better in the dark, those are just the ones that really stand out in my mind. I think why we think they are better has a lot to do with our mindset, night time is the time to party and have fun and you are riding on your 3rd and final crest of adreline (1st-opening, 2nd-after lunch) and due to reduced eye sight your eyes think you are going faster.

The key to a perfect night ride is to minimise the lighting on the track except to highlight a head chopper (like the German town in BBW) or to light up the first hill or those chasing lights most parks have on woodies (like Lightining Racer).

I can think of other things that are better in the dark but I'm not even going to go there. *pulls mind out of the gutter now* :)

The Giant Dipper ate SCBB seems to fly at night. Combined with the already awesome airtime, it makes for a great ride for night time.

Some other great night rides are ghostrider at Knotts, Top Gun at PGA, and Nemesis at Alton Towers

Yeah I agree, any coaster is going to seem faster at night when you have the trees and what not going by you and you can hardly see them. Also, the cool dark air has to add to the illusion too. I heard that on warm humid days many coasters have been clocked at higher speeds. Is this true? And if it is, wouldn't the opposite actually be in effect if it was at night?

I have Ridden The Beast at night its a totally different Monster

Last ride of the night on Rampage at Visionland. Amazing.

The Beast at night is an ENTIRELY different ride, IMO. So is the Thunderbolt at Kennywood, that ravine is dark.

Rampage at VL at night after a rain is completely out of control. I was at a loss for words which does not happen often.:)

I think if you ride mean streak in the day and then at night you will be able to tell the difference. I am not sure if anyone mentioned this yet but when it gets dark most times it gets colder. When it get colder the wood changes and friction between the wheels and the track changes. So even if you don't think there is any difference there actuly is. The biggest change is the beast. It is completly different. But maby having only a couple lights on the ride helps.

TTD was built, TTD was broke, TTD is alive

Im partial to SFMM's Colossus in the dark, backwards during fright fest. Rode it in the very back (actually the front) and it was awesome...

I also like Psyclone at night just after a rain...a lot smoother then...plus the darkness enhances the feeling of speed.

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haiderodes said:

I also like Psyclone at night just after a rain....

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What!?!

Are you mad man? :)

Frank, who can't believe someone likes Psyclone

It is amazing to me that the Beast at night is one of the best night ride even after 25 years. I hope all the favorites age as well as the Beast. I am not sure if I can put any woodies over the Beast at night. Only one that came close to the Beast was the Grizzly in 1991. I understand that the woods around the Grizzly was chopped down though.

the week of SRM last year i rode both the raven and legend over 30 times a piece before friday night's ert session. towards the end of friday night's ert they were trying to cycle out people at the front and the back of the line on the legend so a few of us in the middle of the train ended up riding 5 or 6 times in a row.

i am convinced that the legend was running significantly faster (3-5 mph faster) during the ert. two things convinved me of this:

-the increased intensity of the laterals that were experienced on the helixes

-the "pile driver" effect of the airtime hills after the diving helix turnaround (by zinga) and before the helixes.

both of those were the effect of the increased speed that the train took on. i know that both coasters are worked on and checked right before the ert sessions begin. what kind of changes could be made to generate that additional speed. *** Edited 3/30/2004 3:58:31 AM UTC by Johnathan***

Besides the examples already mentioned, I would add Viper (SFGAm), The Villain and The Boss.

I agree that part of the nighttime appeal is not being able to see the surroundings, but on many woodies I notice a clear increase in the forces (both ejector airtime and laterals) at night.

A number of woodies also seem to perform poorly in the morning before they've warmed up. Viper and Wild One were especially noticeable last year - almost boring in the first hour the park was open, but much better later in the day and especially after dark.

Where do I begin. The Legend and Raven at night is about as close to insanity as it gets on a wooden coaster. The all time out of control nighttime wooden coaster riding for me was the lights out ERT on The Boss at SpringCon 01. Going into that double down in pitch black darkness as you fly through the structure and can't see the drop coming at all was completely nuts. The Beast at night is amazing. You feel like you are out in the middle of nowhere and that the ride will never end and that is just the first half of the ride. Once again I don't know what it is about CCI coasters because they just come alive at night. Boulder Dash during the day is a great coaster but at night it is mind blowing. Ghostrider at night is crazy because of the overbuilt structure it is so dark it just makes it feel that much more out of control. Grizzly used to be an amazing night ride. You would go over that first drop into pitch black darkness. Now w/o all the trees it is just not the same anymore.

Last year I got to ride Mean Streak up front trimless during the employee ride night. There were only like 3-4 cycles before the trims were back in full force, but I got my first ever trimless ride on Mean Streak and I kid you not it was right up there with the most fun I've ever had on a coaster. It was an entirely different, fast, smooth, awesome ride. I got some wicked laterals on the first two turns on the turnaround through the lift hill as well as a few nice moments of airtime on the hills. This showed me that Mean Streak at its best could be held in as high of regards as some of the best woodies. If only it was run with out trims all the time...

Blue Streak was also hellafun during employee ride night. Since the trains were all full, the turnaround gave some awesome laterals and all the hills had great airtime in the back. That ride really is a hidden gem of the park...if only more people would ride it at night.

Oh yes, and The Raven and The Legend become an entity unto themselves at night. The Raven is really fast and fun...unfortunately it seems that it goes so fast that just as you start to enjoy the ride its over though. The Legend owns my number one spot as far as roller coasters with seemingly uncontrolled insanity. If there were any such thing as a religious experience, you would find it on The Legend. It's simply the most forceful ride I've ever been that it borders on too much. I had so much fun one night during ERT that I got a headache from riding...lol That night we overshot the station's brakes by like 15 feet and were sent back through for a reride to correct it. I have to get back down there and ride it sometime to see what the PTC trains are like on it...
*** Edited 3/30/2004 9:09:18 AM UTC by CPgenius***

The Beast at night is SCARY fun!

I have been to Holiday World the last two years, and raven, even at the beginning of the day blew me away, but I have to say that pretty much all of my rides on Legend in 2003 were dissapointing. I beleive it wasn't running very well. While it is still a top ten woody, it just didn't feel as out of control and insane as 2002. I still love it. But I tell you what I have to say that New Mexico Rattler has as strong of lateral forces or stronger lats than any other wooie. They come in shorter spurts but they are POWERFUL. I think that would be another killer night ride. To bad Cliff's had to design that crappy line, it is just stupid. 1/3 the people go for the front, 1/3 go for the back, and 1/3 go for the middle 4 cars.

For a fact. wood swells under heat and humidity creating more friction in the daytime. This is the reason for a slight increase in speed after dark.

However I know a valuable lesson was learned at a favorite park in how to grease the trains properly. Seems many parks just pack the bearings full of grease and let em run. It's not the proper or best performing way.

On a six car train. Each car should be greased about halfway full. One each day with the seventh day off. (Each parks coaster may vary) But packing them full is only creating more resistance.

Two or three pumps of grease in half the wheels can make a big differance in speed. We would grease half the bearings, then run several laps then go and grease the other half. After that we would let it run for an hour or so then start the process again.

It's amazing how much just grease packed in bearings can slow a ride down.