Popular coasters that you just didn't "get"

I experienced a bit of anticipointment with Diamondback earlier this year at PKI. Thing had a hard to pinpoint vibration each time I rode, which was in multiple locations. I guess I was expecting something more smooth, considering it wasn't that old. Good ride, but not anything special.

Also, a few years back at Knoebel's I felt no need to re-ride Twister, though I will give it another shot when I go to my second PPP in October. I like intensity, but not when there is no "safe" word involved...

I agree with ya, I only ever ride Twister once per visit. My kid likes it, so I go on with him once, then that's it for the weekend. I usually take about 10 rides on the Phoenix though... seat 3 right?

The first woodie to come to mind that I consider to be "popular" that I just couldn't find the love for (and I really wanted to) - SFGE's Comet. Someday I'd like to get another shot...

I'm not reviewing this thread, but considering its age, I may have said B-Dash in here somewhere....my opinion of that ride has improved with each subsequent visit, and is now easily top-10. Just caught it on a really sub-par day on my first visit.

Phoenix if by far the one that I don't get. I have ridden it all over including 1-3 right as mentioned above.

Honorable mention goes to Bolderdash. It was a fun ride but it never seemed to "warm up" (it was in the high 90s°) even by 5 pm when we left.

Shivering Timbers would have made the list too if I only judged by our first few rides. Later in the day it woke up and had quite a bit of airtime.

Conversely, Thunderhawk at Dorney had the opposite effect for me. No one seems to think it's that great a coaster, yet I think I'm the only one* who has it ranked #1 in my wood list...

*with more than one wooden coaster in their track record

Morey's Great White is one that now that I have the credit, I feel no desire to ride again.

Vater, my first rides on T-Hawk were absolutely glorious...since then, each subsequent visit seems less like the original. (Thinking back, maybe T-Hawk impressed even more due to the fact that Herc-and-Jerk was still operating, and hurting guests)... ;)

Timbers....like Comet, I need another try...it simply cannot be THAT lame.

Way back in 2002 (in post number 7 of this thread) I said:

Dueling Dragons, Roar (SFA), Steel Phantom/Phantom's Revenge and Laser (Dorney).

7 years and many coasters later I have to add:

Mellinium Force: It's okay... but I believed the hype. For me, its smaller cousins (the former S:ROSs, now S:ROS, ROS and Bizarro) are more fun.

Voyage: There is a piont where Intense turns to painful and rough. With some coasters, their length doesn't permit the ride to reach this piont (Tsunami... er... J2... no... Hell Cat at Clementon comes to mind). With Voyage, somewhere along the long course of this coaster I reach the point where the intensity just gets too much and becomes painful. Two, maybe three rides on this thing are enough for me. Now the nearby Legend... I could ride that thing all day long.

BoulderDash: Like the thread title says... I just don't get it.

Seven years from now when this thread gets bumped back up to the top again I'll probably have a few more to add.

I wanted to love Thunderhawk. It wasn't a 'bad' ride, I just found it boring with lots of potential.

To be honest most stand up would fit into this category for me. I really don't enjoy stand up coasters - never seen the appeal.

And to a lesser degree, I'd say flyers aswell. Give me a sit down or inverted coaster any day.

Alpengeist...man did that ride hurt.

There's one - Alpie. I expected it to be Raptor PLUS, and it turned out to be a snoozefest.

I also don't get the Vekoma flying coasters. I'm always too uncomfortable and too scared to enjoy it (and I'm not usually scared of rides). Maybe I have a little fun when I ride them, but I always think of riding it as a chore, for some reason.

Goliath at SFMM.. After the first drop there's essentially nothing to this thing other than a spine-jarring mid-course brake run.

Raging Bull.. Slow that thing down any more and there's no way it completes its circuit. Enough with the trims!

Volcano: The Blast Coaster.. Really enjoyed the launch(es) and theming... but once I was out of the top of the Volcano, it just seemed boring and repetitive.

Well, nobody gets the Gio hypers. ;) If I could get off Goliath at the MCBR, I would.

I am going to give Gator another heart attack, but I absolutely do not get the for the Antons. Shuttle loops, double loops, single loops, Mind bender, Shockwave...I would not be disappointed if I didn't ride a single one ever again.

I also completely love Comet at GE, but I do not understand the love for the GCI twisters. Thunderhead was meh at best and the rest that I've ridden are in the same league. Voyage was also really good, but it didn't unseat Phoenix or El Toro at the top of my list.

For those who don't get Boulder Dash, did you ride in front and/or at night? I don't know if it's "fair" for a ride to need such specific conditions to be good, but I got meh rides during the day and incredible rides at night in front.

After riding Kawasemi, I was really looking forward to Bizarro (S:ROS at SFNE). I expected a smooth ride with enjoyably forceful transitions, but I got cramped seats, jackhammering, shuffling, and transitions taken straight from an Arrow textbook (and I even like Arrow, but not from Intamin). It may have been a bad day, but I was extremely disappointed with this No. 1 coaster.

Tekwardo said:
I wanted to love Thunderhawk. It wasn't a 'bad' ride, I just found it boring with lots of potential.

I like Thunderhawk more than a little. I think it's potential would be realized much more fully if it was at LEAST 30-45 seconds longer.

As far as my choices go on a thread topic started LOOOONG before I arrived here:

A lot of peeps still rave about SFNE's Bizarro. I rode it once as Superman, and it blew me away. It does virtually nothing for me now. On a related note, the former Superman at Darien comes off as a wannabe to its cousin down in Maryland. And while I like Phoenix, I prefer Twister at the park. Phoenix is definitely a phun time, though.

My list:
-Pheonix: Never got anything that I would describe as even decent airtime on that ride, rode towards the front and back

-KW Thunderbolt: Not everything its cracked up to be, the first drop out of the station is fantastic (especially in the back) but the rest is mostly boring

-KW Racer: This one is all boring, only exciting thing is hand slapping and I can do that on the Gemini and have a ride that is enjoyable as well.

-Knobles Grove in general: Its dirty, dusty, employees are non energetic and really slow operators, I didn't care for the food, and other then the fantastic fliers, bumper cars and carousel there is nothing there I need to go back and ride, ever.

Boulder Dash goes from fun during the day to crazy good after dark. The first time I visited in 2001, it had zero airtime. Now, everytime I visit (several times per season) it's full of floaty airtime during the day and ramps up toward ejector air as night time arrives. I personally prefer the back for a more forceful overall ride.

The big disappointment for me still is The Great Escape Comet. It is so lame as far as out & back coasters go. I get more airtime on the Tornado at Adventureland and that's far from an airtime machine.

I still don't get the love for Millennium Force, but there seems to be a lot of people who agree with me on that one. The one ride that I know I'm in the minority on not being crazy about is El Toro. It's a great ride in general, but severely lacks the qualities of a woodie to me and has such a disappointing ending (the last two hills) and two other dead hills before the (usually) sick airtime hill over Rolling Thunder. It's definitely better than most coasters, but far from being the best woodie ever.

ApolloAndy said:
Well, nobody gets the Gio hypers. ;)

I love Goliath at SFMM, actually. Better than anything else there except X (Haven't ridden Deja, Terminator, Ninja, or Tatsu)

I've been riding the Phoenix for 25 years, my parents took us there damn near every year, because I had relatives up there. +

When I was younger I thougt it sucked and was happy Knoebels got that Whirlwind coaster thinking it was better than the Phoenix because it had loops.

No airtime on the Phoenix? I've never had a lap on it without my ass coming out of the seat half the ride.