Shivering Timbers might be getting new trains

I always keep spare shoes in my car, along with the ham sammitches I've packed to avoid the food prices.

I generally do that with bottles of high-ABV IPAs.

Frontrider said:

Well, I don't mean any of this as an argument, and I mean it with the highest of respect possible.

Totally unrelated, but this is why language is so interesting to me.

I used the word argument and immediately you thought, "fight."

That's interesting to me because my use couldn't be further from that. I meant it as a noun - a statement or claim or position. Like a lawyer's closing argument.

This isn't an argument...

Yes it is.

I've told you once...

From a purely physics perspective, you do actually have a stronger force applied to your body if the restraint is loose. The car has more time to accelerate away from your body before it touches you so its relative velocity compared to you is greater when it finally starts restraining you.

That and being out of your seat is fun.

quote]Lord Gonchar said:

Totally unrelated, but this is why language is so interesting to me.

I used the word argument and immediately you thought, "fight."

That's interesting to me because my use couldn't be further from that. I meant it as a noun - a statement or claim or position. Like a lawyer's closing argument.

Actually, I figured the odds were that you meant it in the "lawyerly" context, but I guess I just wanted to make it completely clear that I wasn't trying to be nitpicky or "trolling" (in case anyone got that impression) because intent is sometimes hard to interpret on the internet.

Raven-Phile said:

I generally want to take off my shoe and throw it at people who do this.

Only thing stopping me is the thought of walking around with one shoe the rest of the day.

Well, I don't yell it on the top of my lungs or anything like that, or even every single time I ride a particular coaster. When I have done this, it was always a natural, unexpected, and subconscious reaction to the ride, sort of like some people might naturally scream (for various reasons), or cheer/clap happily after a particularly awesome ride, etc.

My point was that, the rides that have airtime strong enough to make me say "yes!" without even realizing I am saying it, are the type of rides I remember the most fondly and the ones that occupy the highest tiers of my rankings. I don't recall ever having this natural euphoric reaction to a ride while being stapled.

ApolloAndy said:

From a purely physics perspective, you do actually have a stronger force applied to your body if the restraint is loose. The car has more time to accelerate away from your body before it touches you so its relative velocity compared to you is greater when it finally starts restraining you.

That and being out of your seat is fun.

Excellent points!

Lord Gonchar said:

I don't get the argument that being restrained somehow makes it less enjoyable.

Being restrained is fine. Being kept from floating off seat is fine. Crushing me into oblivion is not fine.

Jason Hammond said:

Being kept from floating off seat is fine.

I believe this is the area of discussion.

I'll give you that it's probably nitpicking, and that my opinion here atypically leans toward that of the typical enthusiast's despite the fact that I consider myself less enthusiasty than most enthusiasts.

That said, I love Phoenix and Toro, but give the former the ever-so-slight edge just based on the fact that I find it more laugh-my-ass-off fun due to the standing air as opposed to the holy-s***-this-is-f***ing-insane mind-blowingness due to probably the most intense negative Gs I've experienced. And the fact that Toro has more restrictive restraints is not only understandable, but absolutely necessary, as I'd bet a large percentage of riders would not make it back to the station otherwise.

Strange that these are the two coasters being compared here, as they are my #1 and #3, respectively. Really, they're so close that either could be better than the other on any given day. So the type of air (out-of-seat vs. stapled) really doesn't matter to me all that much.

Lord Gonchar said:

I don't get the argument that being restrained somehow makes it less enjoyable.

Yes, this, over and over. I've been saying this for years. When I learned to jack down the seat belts on Magnum, contrary to conventional enthusiast wisdom, I began to enjoy that ride ten times more.

Lord Gonchar said:

Jason Hammond said:

Being kept from floating off seat is fine.

I believe this is the area of discussion.

I got that impression too. But, my problem with El Toro is the fact that they practically jump on my restraints when I've ridden. So, I'm just trying to point out that I, who have no problem with being held down to the seat, still have a problem with El Toro.

I've always felt fine on El Toro - I still feel my butt leave the seat just a little bit, and I can feel how hard that lap bar catches me. It lets me know just how awe-inspiring that ride is.

I mean, it rides over the tops of the hills on the unstop wheels for crying out loud. How badass is that?

Among the handful of times I've been on El Toro, I've only been stapled once, and it wasn't a pleasant experience to say the least. Even before we left the station. At the risk of being That Guy Who Volleys, if I were to get stapled like that again, I'd ask to be let out and forfeit my ride -- that's how bad it was. Why waste my time riding when I can just whack myself with a crowbar instead? :)

Apparently it's a bit of a toss-up, because the sensors work on a per-car basis.

I guess I've just never felt or been stapled like that on ET.

I wasn't quite as tight today as usual. This may sound weird, but I think it was because I was wearing this year's CFK shirt, which is a MUCH thinner material than the t-shirts I usually wear. Does that make ANY sense? I guess a quarter of a millimeter could make a difference. I actually saw only one person take the walk today..a very top-heavy woman.

Mike Gallagher said:

I wasn't quite as tight today as usual.

That's what she said...?

It always is.