Texas Giant - Whats it like?

I was wondering, what is Texas Giant like? Mean Streak and TG seem similar in size, but are they similar in ride experience?

You mean other than Texas Giant not blowing? Sorry, couldn't resist. ;)

Mean Streak is big, has no airtime, and is generally forceless other than when you're getting jackhammered (at least, that was my experience). Texas Giant is almost as big, has relatively no airtime, but has all sorts of good lateral forces, and a great out-of-control feeling. And it doesn't hurt. I liken it to The Beast if it were coiled in on itself.

^I agree with the above. I could add that the pacing is what I always appreciated about TG. If you like a good "magic carpet" finish ride TG as late as possible on a scorcher of a summer day. Awesome ride.

-Oh yeah, I haven't ridden my beloved TG in about 6 or 7 years. I'm sure the differences are huge, but maybe not.

The Texas Giant used to be my favorite wooden coaster (back when I used to rate) after I rode it in 1995.

On opening day at Cedar Point (1995), I rode Mean Streak and was very impressed with the ride I got. I thought that Cedar Point did wonders for that ride and even rode it more than once in the same day(I usually limit myself to riding it once a year).

That impression I got from that ride didn't last long for me as the very next day I was at SFOT taking my first ride on Texas Giant. After I got back to Cedar Point, Mean Streak just didn't seem the same to me for some reason.

The couple of days I spent at SFOT in 1995 resulted in many, many rides on TG. Back then, I considered it the most out of control wooden coaster I had ever ridden.

I went back in 1998 and was really disapointed in the way it was running. Last year, it was running fast, but it still didn't match the impression I got of it when I first rode it.

-Sean

Nice insight, Sean. Do you think when you rode in '98 it didn't match your previous impression because you had experienced other woodies you hadn't ridden when you first tried Giant? Or was the ride riding differently?

I would also agree to having that out-of-control feeling similar to Beast. Other than that, it's a totally different ride.

No air. None that I noticed at least.

I could also re-ride TG unlike the very similar Meanstreak.

I think last year's visit I re-rode about 14 times and loved every second of it. One part I really love is how much the pace picks up at the very end. Very Cool!

Most impressive is the care that SFOT seems to put into this ride. You can tell they really put a great deal of work into it.

SFOT takes good care of Giant, though it's tough when we have those periodic Texas droughts, they really hurt the ride. Ater some wet weather though, watch out.

Zingo,

My ride in 1998 was very slugish and rough. I was kind of surprised as my 1995 ride was very fast and offered some great airtime. I should also mention that the double up was removed in between the 1995 and 1998 season.

Thanks to the parks relaxed photo policies, I shot POV on the ride in 1995 and 1998. You can tell a difference just by watching the POV. I even shot one ride in 3-D, but it didn't turn out all that well as the coaster was running pretty rough.

-Sean

I rode it for the first time on Friday and I was impressed.
- Well paced
- Exciting from start to finish
- A nice variety of curved sections with highly banked track
- A couple pops of air in the back (not much in front), but it is not designed to be an airtime machine.
- Very imposing wooden structure, which looks especially impressive from the Oil Derrick tower.
- Kind of rough

Overall, I liked it a lot, just not quite as much as the CCI masterpieces like Ghostrider or Legend. It felt like a very well-designed ride, I just wish it were a tad smoother (not smooth, just smoother). There is no comparison between the Texas Giant and Mean Streak - the Giant is at least 20 times more enjoyable. *** Edited 5/11/2004 7:33:47 AM UTC by Skittlebrau***

Here is an excerpt from my July 2003 Trip Report on SFoT:

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My wife pointed out earlier that she could see the coaster sway back and forth as the train passed by on the track. I heard of this happening with wooden coaster but have never seen it myself. The queue for Texas Giant is one of the longest I have ever seen, does this thing ever fill up? After about a 10 minute wait, I boarded the middle car of the train. I sat in the seat and again I realize there is no lap belt. This is when I realize that no matter what coaster I ride in this park, I'm not going to find a lap belt. The ride operators were doing an excellent job of loading the coaster and getting it out of the station before the next one returned. It was nice to see how rides ops are suppose to do their job. After reaching the top of the lift hill, I suddenly realized my fear of coasters is over as I raise my hands above my head for the first drop. We crest the hill, decend down the other side, get blinded by the on ride camera and eechh, ouch, ooch, eecch, oucchh, I suddenly realize I was going to return to the station a new man (or is that woman). The Texas Giant was one hard on your bottom woodie. I enjoyed the air time and the sharp turns of the coaster but it was a rough ride. Between the hot sun and the hard pounding I took on this coaster, I had a headache by the time I returned to the station....

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I cannot beleive some of you stating that TG has NO air. There is a huge airtime hill, the one after the midcourse, and then the magic carpet finish had at least 4 moments of air. Maybe not as much as a CCI like Ghostrider or Shivering Timbers, but still good quality air.

I'll agree that it is rough and has the out of control feeling, but it is a ride that I find both rough AND exciting.

Admittedly, I dont recall "air" on TG. That being said, I dont think that it was a bad ride at all. It was quite aggressive (not rough per se) and jostled me around quite a bit (that's a good thing), but no moments that I would catagorize as "air". In fact in the rear of the train, the ride was quite mundane. Those who have compared it to the Beast, IMO, are on point, except I dont think that TG has such a 'defining moment' like the helix on Beast.

I dont really get *what* the 'magic carpet' ride is *supposed* to be. It only reminded me of driving down a pothole ridden DC street, that may knock you out of your seat, but it's not what *I* think of when I think of "air". In the front of the train though, I think that this is a nice ruff 'n tuff ride. Good enough to elicit smiles and warrant re-rides. But as far as "ranking" coasters goes, I'd rather ride Texas Cyclone :)

lata, jeremy

Note: Hostyl was a big HurtMePlease fan. Your mileage may vary...

How does the magic carpet compar to GhostRider's finale? The finale of GhostRider is insane, especially in the complete dark.

Ghostrider's ending is better but TG's is solid, too.

GRider's ending is way more intense, and I like the way the final helix provides such strong lateral forces and then a pop. TG just magic carpets. This ending on GR, to me, would be the kind of "signiture element/series of elements" or the "defining element" as 2Hosty! was speaking of, that could liken TG more to the Beast.

Thanks for the input Sean. TG was once my favorite wooden coaster as well. I did ride pre and post double up removal. I really liked the double up, but in my uneducated opinion I would think keeping certian "trouble" elements might not do so well for the overall upkeep of the coaster.

It's great to hear TG is still servin' up sick rides!

None as sick as the ones it offered up during its debut season, so I'm told. That's when it was in the business of cracking ribs!

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Zingo! said:
GRider's ending is way more intense, and I like the way the final helix provides such strong lateral forces and then a pop. TG just magic carpets.

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When TG is running well I think it's much more intense than GR. GR just ends with a helix--typical CCI--no big deal. TG has turns, ups, downs, more turns, left, right, overbanking, underbanking and a nice pop onto the brake run. It's a great ending, and very unique.

The problem with the Giant is that it is very tempermental. I get a lot of ho-hum rides, but when it's running well, it's hard to beat.

*** Edited 5/11/2004 9:56:15 PM UTC by Jeffrey Seifert***