Steel Vengeance is a wife beater

I rode SV six times over two days. It left me out of breath each time, but for me that's a sign of a good thrill machine. Each ride had me exhilarated and grinning from ear to ear at the end! Two years ago, I got in 27 rides in six hours on Fury 325 (weekday mid-June, short lines), but I would not want to marathon-ride SV like that. However, that doesn't keep SV from being my new #1 coaster by a huge margin. You definitely need a little more recovery time for SV, but that's not a problem at all. I'm a 56-year-old guy, 5'10", 170 lbs., and I had zero issues with the restraints. I thought they were perfect for this ride. I can see how some people might find the ride a little too intense, but for coaster enthusiasts like me, SV is a phenomenal ride.

I’ve decided to let’s not beat ourselves (or each other) up over opinions. While in Richmond this week I had an epiphany of sorts.
At the hotel breakfast on Tuesday I struck up a conversation with another single guy. Turns out he was an enthusiast visiting from Germany and was driving his rented Mustang convertible around to hit many of our eastern/Midwest parks. (What is it with me and these German guys?) Anyway, it seems he’s a blogger-vlogger and he’d already been to SFoG, SWO, BGT, Dollywood, KI, CP, Kennywood, and KD. He was off that day to Virginia Beach then two days at BGW, then finishing up at Carowinds. We had a nice visit at breakfast, and of course our conversation centered around our opinions of the parks and coasters he had visited. And what was his favorite park so far? Kings Island. And his favorite ride thus far? Diamondback.

Well. He was clearly not an idiot, and seemed very knowledgeable and observant. However, he’s a big guy, (tall and large, not big’n fat) and so far he’s not a big fan of RMC’s work. He doesn’t care for ejector airtime and prefers his coasters with comfortable seating and restraints, floating air, and tall, long hills. I was quick to declare SV to be the best ride on the planet and he disagreed. (He did say that the ride at Kolmarden is without a doubt the best ride he’s ever taken, though. So he’s handing that one to RMC, but explained to me that it’s designed and built without many of the usual hallmarks. And I can see that.)

So during our discussion over breakfast I realized, and here’s the epiphany part, our coaster opinions and ranking lists are just that. Opinions. And everyone’s got one. There are many factors that influence our decisions- mainly wants and desires around thrill factor, comfort, height, speed, etc. and those factors vary from person to person. Sounds simple, right? So I’m gonna try to keep from giving the judge-y side-eye to someone who says they miss Mean Streak, or worse yet, someone who compulses endlessly about personal rankings and gets all riled up about it when no one actually cares.
It all just goes to show you, right? And during this month of June when we all should be thinking about diversity, it turns out I learned a valuable lesson myself. It takes a village, even in Coasterland.

Btw, I had a wonderful trip thru Virginia, and I’m chock full of opinions and anecdotes on account of it. I’ll try to work on a trip report today.

Vater said:

kpjb said:

I gotta be honest with you, I'm starting to like SteVe just because it annoys people so much, and because the park officially said not to abbreviate it. Stick it to the man!

I'm going to start calling it Frank. Or maybe Harold. Just because.

Just don't call it Shirley.

Bakeman31092 said:

I could ride Millennium all day; I don’t think I could do more than a few laps on Steel Vengeance before needing a break. That’s the difference, but that’s just me.

Well, I remember marathoning the Cyclone 20x in my youth. Last year I rode Fury 25 and was done for the day. Maybe old age is taking it's toll....

If you only made it to 25 of the 325 then things must be bad for you. I’m sorry.

As I mentioned before on Media Day, I too found St. Venny to be very painful to my thighs. I managed six laps all day long, mostly out of my dogged devotion to this park and desire to hang with my chums of coasterdom. But even so, the last two laps I actually unrolled an extra pair of socks I’d brought and stuffed them down my jeans pockets to try and provide an extra layer of padding. And it was still excruciating.

Yeah... Thays why you stuffed socks down your pants... SUUUUUUUUURE...

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

I had 8 laps on Steel Vengeance during media day and I could feel a little bit of bruising on my legs after about the fifth lap. That is exactly why I love the ride, it's intense, forceful and wild. Count me among those who find MF just a little bit of a snooze fest after the great first drop. Much of MF is just high speed cruising. While fun and relaxing it is not what I look for in a coaster. My favorite coasters at CP are Steel Vengeance, Magnum and Maverick in that order. I like my coasters with a kick to them and of the parks I've been to, none has a terrific one, two, three punch like CP does with Steel Vengeance, Magnum and Maverick.

I had something of an opposite experience with this ride. My wife and I have been visiting Cedar Point for about 20 years. Over the years she has developed some heath problems that severely limit her ability/interest to ride coasters. Pretty much she had been down to Millenium only at CP for about 5 years now.

However, we tried SV on Saturday. She sat a row in front of me with my 9 year old daughter. As soon as the ride was over they both turned around grinning and she said “That was awesome!”

So, at least one wife was not beaten by this ride! We enjoyed it a lot and hopefully next year the line will move more than 11 inches at a time :)

Also, Pete, I am totally with you on what I want out of coasters! Though, I have reluctantly moved Maverick ahead of Magnum in recent years - unless we are talking about trimless night rides ...

This is the same reason Voyage has been my favorite coaster anywhere since it opened (maybe SV just passed it ?!).

Honestly, isn't it better to have a coaster that you *can't* marathon? I mean, lines are long and you may only get to ride it once while you're there - don't you want it to deliver so much punch/fun/memorable action as you can get in one shot?

These coasters are violent because of the unnatural inversions and reverse banking that they use. These are as "gimmicky" as people claimed the loop in Son of Beast was, except the loop of Son of Beast was actually a good sensation.

It's a shame they didn't build something that was re-rideable. It had a lot of potential, but biggest isn't always best.

And marathoning isn’t always the best activity either. Do you mean you’d prefer fifteen back to back laps on an average coaster as opposed to one or two on the World’s Greatest Ride? Not me.

I don’t see RMC rides as gimmicky on the whole. Instead I see engineering marvels that include new, thrilling elements that will likely stand the test of time. Taking a standard roller coaster and making it the “tallest in the world” just for the sake of saying so is the worst gimmick of all. And I can’t tell if you’re standing up for SOB or not, but I considered it to be a bad idea from the first day and probably the worst ride I’ve ever endured. And for all the wrong reasons, besides.

Maybe SV is the biggest RMC, but that’s not their downfall if there is one. I’ve been on large rides from them and I just came from another small one. The size isn’t what makes either ride intense, and they both deliver the same extreme forces. Like with all rides, you’ll have some that love it and some that say no thanks. I think RMC rides add that extra thrill factor that many desire and there’s nothing wrong with that.

While I think SV is my number 1 coaster, I don't think I could ride it more than 4 times in a day since it's so disorienting.

The Voyage, on the other hand, is a completely different story. I have ridden it at least 25 times on a rainy day without getting a headache or nauseous though it is a much rougher ride.

Not sure how much faster it goes, but They Voyage definitely feels much faster when wet. I think the most times I rode without getting off the ride was 8 times and that was only because I had to pee. I would then go take a break and ride Thunderbird a few times with re-rides. Then go right back to another marathon on The Voyage.

Unfortunately, during my last marathon session for that day, after I had unzipped my pocket to check the time on my cellphone, the ride operator who had noticed how many times I had ridden, asked me how I was able to keep riding it...When we hit the trims after the "spaghetti bowl," one of the kids behind me asked the other if he had seen the flash of light. I felt my pocket and realized I hadn't zipped it and the spaghetti bowl ate my phone...ugh!

RCMAC said:

Maybe SV is the biggest RMC, but that’s not their downfall if there is one. I’ve been on large rides from them and I just came from another small one. The size isn’t what makes either ride intense, and they both deliver the same extreme forces. Like with all rides, you’ll have some that love it and some that say no thanks. I think RMC rides add that extra thrill factor that many desire and there’s nothing wrong with that.

I was able to marathon Storm Chaser on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. While it may be smaller than SV, I think many of the transitions are more extreme on SC than on SV, especially the trick track section. When I rode SC in July, 2016, it felt much slower at the end than it does now.

Cedar Point, throughout modern history, has had a way of saying to ride guys “give us one of those but make it the ....-est one ever, please. We like record breakers.” And sometimes it’s more successful than others. SV is an example of success. The scale is larger and the elements are grander. But that in no way takes away from the thrill factor. I agree with you about Storm Chaser and my most recent RMC, Twisted Timbers. I had Storm Chaser to myself and tapped out after about 4 rides. Twisted Timbers was as the same. I’d go back after a rest for some more, but I could’ve done 50 if I’d wanted to. And those small rides deliver the same fun as the Steel Vengeance’s and the Lightning Rods of the world.
I’m a fan.

I somewhat expected the statement below to be the close thread, mike drop, etc. moment. But then I remembered where I was. LOL

here’s the epiphany part, our coaster opinions and ranking lists are just that. Opinions. And everyone’s got one.

Yet the discussion continues as if there are objective answers. Steel Vengeance is too intense. No, the intensity is just right. Can't re-ride it. I could re-ride it all day. Isn't it better to have a ride you can't re-ride? Its a gimmick. Its violent. In reality its all of those things. To different people.

In part I think the issue is if you take something subjective (best coaster or even what makes a good coaster), apply numbers to them, create averages and order them in a numbered list (in the process creating what appears to be objective -- especially when its carried out to 5 decimal places) its still subjective. Perfume on a pig in terms of removing the subjectivity.

Other part of the issue is there are a lot of people who like to talk about such stuff. Years ago my son and nephews became big coaster fans. We took several coaster trips which were a ton of fun. But they also liked to constantly talk about coasters. What is your top 5 or 10? Best steel coaster? Is coaster y better than coaster z? What I quickly learned is that while I love to ride coasters, I really have little interest in talking about them (other than when is our next park visit/trip).

That isn't limited to coasters. There are plenty of recurring discussions seeking to rank sports teams/players, colleges, cities, food, etc. Different ways to be entertained.

After my first ride, most people asked what I thought. I told them it was a fantastic ride, but isn't my favorite due to not being able to sit on it all day and keep riding. (Millennium Force and The Beast are those rides for me)

But that doesn't mean it's not one of the most thrilling and intense rides I've ever been on. I still feel like Maverick is more intense, but that may be due to the nature of the sudden movements on Maverick vs the very fluid non-stop movements on Steel Vengeance.

If you have time, someday, sit by the exit of the ride and just listen to the people exiting. Most of them are speechless. Some are full of adrenaline. And in general, almost everyone comes off the ride looking like they had a world-changing experience.

Right now, I rank Steel Vengeance as in my top 2 rides, but I don't quite know where it ranks in the top two. (The other being Superman Ride of Steel in Massachusetts, or whatever they've re-named it or re-re-named it to). Steel Vengeance is a bit high on the over-the-top airtime scale.

The first half of the ride is just about perfect, and I can't think of any way to make it better. Most of the second half is great too. The twisted airtime hill dive into the structure after the mid-course is phenomenal. The twisting through the structure is so disorienting flying on and off your seat, I woudln't have it any other way.

The part that gets me, is the end with the last four airtime hills. I honestly don't think I would mind if they smoothed it out a bit and went with three larger, less forceful hills that were a bit more floater-air than the super-ejector air they have. In fact, that would be a fantastic spot for a Goliath-style stall. (Yeah, I know, its never going to happen, but I can dream, can't I :))