Terminator Salvation: The Ride, reviewed

GCI's deliver the goods, period. They started out strong over a decade ago with HP's Wildcat, and have gotten progressivly better since. There is/was no reason to doubt that Terminator would follow suit. Since it looks like my trip to Ohio got cancelled, I'll be happy to get on TSTR as a consolation to Diamondback...

A wood corkscrw COULD be done. It would just cost hundreds of man-hours and about a gazaillion bucks. Anything can be done with enough $$$$. :)

Gah. That would be a MESS. Could you imagine being involved with that project, though? Especially if you pulled it off.

but is short, low and slow by today's standards.

Nonsense. Some of the best coasters built over the last several years have been 100' +/-. Thunderhead isn't much taller or faster, and it kicks backside the whole way through.

Oh, comeon Brian! Don't you know the success stories of wooden coasters like Mean Streak and SOB? :)

Soggy said:
GCI's deliver the goods, period. They started out strong over a decade ago with HP's Wildcat, and have gotten progressivly better since.

Progressively better, you bet, but I find nothing strong about Wildcat. I just got off it a few hours ago, and while the new trains certainly help, and it's running relatively well, it's really not that interesting of a ride. I'm sorely disappointed, more now that it runs "well."

It's been a few years since my last ride on HP's Wildcat, so I'll take your word for it, Jeff. But I'd still give it a thumbs up. And, at a glance, it sure looks a lot like the later GCI's. (looks can be deceiving)

I wasn't an enthusiast back then, but considering the "stellar" coasters that had come out from Summers/Dinn in the late 80's early 90's, Wildcat still serves a a glimpse of the better things to come.

I can't wait to ride it! I believe it will he super fun. And six Flags WILL NOT GO BANKRUPT! I donat even want to think about that happening to Six Flags!

I've never been a huge fan of Wildcat. Especially given what's right next door. :)

Aside from the boomerang and mine train, easily my least favorite coaster there.

Ensign Smith said:
I've never been a huge fan of Wildcat. Especially given what's right next door. :)

The Wild Mouse?

Hey, I heard Hershey's unbraked mouse is pretty rabid.

I meant this one:

http://rcdb.com/ig597.htm?picture=5

Okay, so it's not quite right 'next door'. What can I say? It's been about four years since I've been to Hershey.

I'm in the camp that says Wildcat was somewhat rougher with the PTCs, but that the reduced aggression of the ride more than offsets the benefits of the smoother ride. Still somewhat surprised HP lets the mouse run that way, it's tops among non-spinning modern mice (still not a Herschell, but very fun and forceful).

I LOVED Wildcat with the PTC trains. I thought it was rough and intense. I've heard nothing but the opposite of that now that they have switched to MFlyers :(.

kRaXLeRidAh said:Here's some media day and b-roll footage of the coaster.http://www.prnewswire.com/broadcast/38252/press.html

DaveStroem said:It looks interesting, but is short, low and slow by today's standards. Even Test Track at Epcot is faster. I think that SFMM is just trying to go after CP's coaster count before they go bankrupt.

This ride is on par with nearly every GCI coaster built to date in terms of stats. I'm sure if Magic Mountain wanted to go after Cedar Point's coaster count, they wouldn't have taken down Psyclone and Flashback, and instead of a GCI for this year, they would have opted to plop down something cheap and theme-less, like a Wild Mouse.

Priced a good mouse lately? Almost as much as a GCII and usually more than a TGG.

He didn't say good mouse. If they were really just looking for the count, there would be much easier ways to go about. Too bad nobody cares.

I've enjoyed great rides on Wildcat and also endured some pretty lousy rides. It has been more consistent with the Millennium Flyers but there were times I really enjoyed the coaster with the PTCs. While it's no doubt a twister, it's easy to see that Mike Boodley was just getting a feel for an "all curves" coaster at that time since there are straight sections between the curves. Modern-day GCI coasters don't seem to have any straight track aside from the station, lift and brakes. But back in '96, Wildcat was considered to be a home run for a new coaster company on the scene and I still think it's a good ride, despite what has been built since then.