The big state-side steel coaster of 2006 no one talked about, or did I miss it?

I can see where someone's experience waiting for a coaster can taint one's fondness (or lack thereof) for the ride. I thought El Toro was a great ride, but when you add in the experience of waiting for it in the cold (and your're not making a whole lot of progress because of Flash Pass people and breakdowns) then yes, I don't have an overall good vibe about it.

I think a good analogy could be like this; Someone asks you how Band X was live. "Well, they were great and played a lot of my favorite songs and played two encores, BUT, my ears rang for four-hours after the show with earplugs in, the club was packed to capacity and you couldn't move, every other person was smoking cigarettes in a non-ventilated room, and some jerk decided to block my view to stage-center by taking three-hundred overhead pictures of the band with his digital camera." [the last example really happened to me at a recent concert].

^ In the above example, I'd rate the VENUE as poor (or worse), but I wouldn't say the BAND was bad because the club was poor.

I'll probably ride Voyage more than Toro or Hades over the next few years. The real reason I'll likely get more future laps on Voyage is that it's located in the more enjoyable PARK...if the rides were all switched up, I'd probably end up going back to the better PARK.

It's hardly *wrong* to rate however you choose to rate. For myself, I prefer to TRY to separate the RIDE experience from the park experience.

But Nitro's a dud under either method... ;)

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rollergator said:
But Nitro's a dud under either method... ;)

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It's better than Silver Star...!

Back on topic... Yes, I rode X-Coaster on the Saturday of Labor Day Weekend and absolutley loved it. The flip upside down and twist at the top is a one of a kind moment - "mountains come out of the sky" indeed! The visual is amazing as is the ride itself, we rode it over and over all day until the park closed. Oddly enough it wasn't busy at all, the waterpark is the big draw for the locals, especially on a hot day.

Magic Springs and X-Coaster are definitely worth a visit.

Actually mamoosh your right. that is the only reason why el-toro wasnt number two because its at a six flags park wich everybody seems to hate no matter how the park cleans itself up.

^ Enter the Six Flags Great Adventure defender.

Tom, while this may be true for some people, it probably isn't true for all. El Toro is an amazing ride--one of the best coaster rides I've had all year--but it just isn't enough--IMO--to beat Voyage (at least for me). But, to each his own.

I used to think more highly of Six Flags Great Adventure, but they've just dropped the ball too much. Yes, they have made some good improvements, but they have definitely dropped the ball. If they would run at least as good as SFGAm (which IS a Six Flags park), then I might complain less.

In comes the six flags bashers.

I did not say number one I stated number two. I honestly felt el-toro should have had the number two spot underneath voyage and i feel that because its in a six flags park it got a lower rating just because its in a six flags park.

I never stated anything about it being better then voyage.

Actually mamoosh your right. that is the only reason why el-toro wasnt number two because its at a six flags park wich everybody seems to hate no matter how the park cleans itself up.

The reason El Toro doesn't rank higher has nothing to do with the park its in. While the ride does offer moments of extreme air the layout has its flaws, specifically the long rampy hill on the first return run and the fact that the train loses all of its momentum travering the figure-8 and feels as if its crawling into the final brakes.

Compare that to Voyage, which hasn't a single dull spot and reaches its fastest speed in the station tunnel, right near the end of the ride.

I don't fault anyone for liking El Toro and even voting it as their favorite...but its no Voyage ;)

This is what I hate about this board. I never stated that el - toro is better then voyage. But everybody is replying to me stating that I did.

All I am saying is that I feel el -toro should have been in the number 2 spot. I also feel that it didnt get that number 2 spot because people didnt like the park that it was in.

This has nothing to do with voyage wich if you notice is in the number 1 spot.

I never said you made that claim, Tom. I am simply stating my opinion that the ranking of El Toro has nothing to do with the park and everything to do with the problems in the ride's layout, as previously stated.

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majortom1981 said:

I honestly felt el-toro should have had the number two spot underneath voyage and i feel that because its in a six flags park it got a lower rating just because its in a six flags park.

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The park sucks so hard I never even bothered to visit this year and I only live 3 hours away.

Of course Mitch's poll isn't affected by *volume* of riders, but I'm thinking the ride's rank could have been impacted either positively or negatively by people who are so turned off by the place they didn't even bother. Voyage had 171 riders and El Toro had 158, in a location with a much higher density of population in a park that has 3 times the attendance of HW.

Not saying this either hurt or helped El Toro but it would have been interesting to see how people vote as more people ride it. The late opening probably had something to do with it, too.

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Mamoosh said:I never said you made that claim, Tom. I am simply stating my opinion that the ranking of El Toro has nothing to do with the park and everything to do with the problems in the ride's layout, as previously stated.

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I think for YOU, and for apparently MOST of the others here, that the park Toro (as an example of a *trend*) is located in isn't an issue at all. For some others, apparently it does have *some* impact. The impact of the park may be minimal, it's clearly not non-existent.

Not fault-finding (with anyone's viewpoints or feelings), just fact-finding... :)

*** Edited 12/26/2006 11:46:57 PM UTC by rollergator***

I agree, Bill...there are going to be those who will downgrade a perfectly stellar ride for conditions that have nothing to do with the ride experience.

If El Toro were mechanically free of fault, I think that would have gone a long way towards people's attitudes as well. As it were though, clearly the day I was there in October, the cable-lift system was causing all kinds of problems.

When it works correctly, it works flawlessly. But when it didn't, sometimes it would get stuck towards the top, and then would move after a short period. I'm guessing there was some kind of blocking issue (I'm having the same issue in No Limits, but my coaster is free and has no lines:)).

There were two major breakdowns while we were in line as well, one involved the lift and the second the advance to the lift. It shouldn't have been that difficult, but unlike on Millennium Force, somehow they didn't get it right this time.

Does this mean if Six Flags provides its guests with fantastic sex, people would like its parks a whole lot more? :)

^ And apparently the rides would be rated higher too! :)

LOL, Bear. I like your thinking. ;)

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RatherGoodBear said:
Does this mean if Six Flags provides its guests with fantastic sex, people would like its parks a whole lot more? :)

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Why do I get the feeling that Six Flags's idea of "fantastic sex" would be vastly different from my own.

I'm sure there's some joke here about flash passes...

If it's Six Flags it'll be Q-Butt.

:)