The big state-side steel coaster of 2006 no one talked about, or did I miss it?
Did anyone get to Magic Springs to ride X-Coaster, the shuttle-version of the same basic ride? It looks fun, and slightly scary, with the lapbar only restraint. There are pictures on RCDB of it in operation, so someone rode it.
I realize that the summer's talk was dominated by four coasters 1) The Voyage 2) El Toro 3) Maverick (including rumors) and 4) SFOG's Goliath plus the Six Flags ownership change so I may have missed anyone's comments on it.
The park was empty and no lines that day. I would imagine the X Coaster would have a long line on a busy day, with it's low capacity.
I would have rode it more, but the temperature was 104 degrees that day!
Bolliger/Mabillard for President in '08 NOT Dinn/Summers
Yep! Awesome ride. Bassistist and I rode in the front seat for our first ride and the view from the top, seeing the track twist and disappear in front of you, is quite intimidating. And the airtime in the back is outstanding. The restraints are uber-comfy.
Definitely would like to see more of those around.
It also had pathetically bad throughput while we were there, with one train every four minutes at best - and the worst case being eleven minutes between trains. I measured it at about two hundred an hour.
I develop Superior Solitaire when not riding coasters.
Bring on the clones then...I loved that ride!
It also had pathetically bad throughput...
So did the one at Magic Springs...so what? That automatically means the ride sucks?
PhantomTails said:
No one talked about it because there are 5 other installations of this ride, and it was discussed thoroughly when the first one premiered more than two years ago--the one at Magic Springs is just another clone.
Normally, I wouldn't repeat the whole quote, but it shows someone who didn't bother to fully read what I wrote and was trying to be rude or snobby without any backup.
I was familiar that there was at least one other version of this ride, but I asked if anyone had ridden the one in the states. I wasn't asking if anyone had ridden the supposed four others.
I say supposed four, because according to RCDB, when broken down by manufacturer, X-Coaster has one clone called Sky Wheel in Germany. Abismo is not a clone as it has a full-length layout.
If you can find me the three other exact clones of the Skyloop XT-450 ride, then I will be more informed.
Mamoosh said:
It also had pathetically bad throughput... So did the one at Magic Springs...so what? That automatically means the ride sucks?
I was referring to the one in Magic Springs with my comments - and to be frank, my answer to that is generally speaking yes.
If I have to wait an unnecessarily long time to ride something (due to ineptitude/laziness of park employees, one train operation, etc) then this invariably reflects in my overall impression of the ride. I rate the whole experience, not just the time from lift hill to brake run.
This is why El Toro doesn't figure among my favourite coasters, for example.
I develop Superior Solitaire when not riding coasters.
That's like saying the amazing sex you had at the end of a date was only "so-so" because the waiter at the restaurant you ate at earlier was bad.
For instance, I rate Toro highly becuase the RIDE is fantastic, I rate GAdv *sucky* because they don't push people thru the queue...that's HARDLY something I feel like I should blame the Bull for...the ride didn't do anything wrong. Add in the stapling as another thing the RIDE isn't responsible for...but it didn't detract from MY experience as much as it seems to have for some others... ;)
Mamoosh said:
[That's like saying the amazing sex you had at the end of a date was only "so-so" because the waiter at the restaurant you ate at earlier was bad.
That's assuming the date stuck around for the sex after all the moaning in the restaurant!
;)
So Mr. Bannister...are you telling me that the two woodies at the bottom of Mitch's poll [SFMM's Psyclone or PGA's Grizzly] in the condition they're currently running would rank higher simply by being at a park that has better operations?
Or conversely Voyage wouldn't be #1 if it was at parks that are notorious for their poor operations?
Mamoosh said:
That's like saying the amazing sex you had at the end of a date was only "so-so" because the waiter at the restaurant you ate at earlier was bad.
Classic! I'll add that to the archives..heh..!
Fate is the path of least resistance.
Mamoosh said:
That's like saying the amazing sex you had at the end of a date was only "so-so" because the waiter at the restaurant you ate at earlier was bad.
No, it's more like saying that the restaurant was bad despite a pretty good meal because the air conditioning was set too cold for comfort. Though I like the comparison nonetheless :)
So Mr. Bannister...are you telling me that the two woodies at the bottom of Mitch's poll [SFMM's Psyclone or PGA's Grizzly] in the condition they're currently running would rank higher simply by being at a park that has better operations?
Of course not. If a ride is crap then no amount of superb operations will save it. What I am saying is that, for me, if a ride is good but not outstanding it can sink down my ratings because of poor operations. As always, just my opinion. Yours appears to vary :)
Or conversely Voyage wouldn't be #1 if it was at parks that are notorious for their poor operations?
The Voyage being at more than one park? This the Shock and Wave debate again? :)
I reckon Voyage is good enough that I'd probably still consider it my favourite wooden coaster in the USA even if the operations were poor.
To be fair, I rode El Toro *after* riding The Voyage which by all accounts is probably the wrong way round. I think if I'd ridden El Toro first I might have been more impressed by it, but even disregarding the operations it honestly just didn't do that much for me. A great first drop was the high point (pun intended). The rest was decent, but wasn't something I'd make the effort to queue for a second time.
No matter what, however, a ninety minute wait in the heat during which a grand total of five trains loaded with guests were dispatched is not the best way to raise guest satisfaction, especially when at least two of those were entirely made up from people using Flash Passes.
I develop Superior Solitaire when not riding coasters.
Mamoosh said:
That's like saying the amazing sex you had at the end of a date was only "so-so" because the waiter at the restaurant you ate at earlier was bad.
I really thought we were going to keep what was between us hush-hush man....
Bad form. :(
Richard Bannister said:
I rate the whole experience, not just the time from lift hill to brake run.
I TRY to exclude the "whole experience" and just look at the ride itself, but it's very difficult to do so when you're at a truly craptacular park. El Toro ranks highly on my list, but perhaps not AS highly as it might otherwise deserve based on being at Great MisAdventure.
And to turn around Moosh's analogy, I have much fonder memories of the second Matrix movie than it otherwise deserves because that evening was the first overnight stay by that particular then-girlfriend. :-P
*** Edited 12/25/2006 3:06:43 AM UTC by GregLeg***
--Greg
"You seem healthy. So much for voodoo."
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