The Dells 6/4

First stop was Timber Falls for a ride on their new S&S woodie, Avalanche. This is a nice woodie with lots of floater air. It basicly makes two laps around the perimeter of this tiny park. Nothing imaginative about the layout. There just isn't room to do much, but a very enjoyable ride.

Next on to Mt. Olympus. This is an unusual park. 6 Coasters, lots of karts, a few kiddie rides, and a large waterpark, but no flats at all.

First straight to Hades. WOW! This is one terrific coaster. The tunnel is nice, but this ride would be a great coaster even without the tunnel. You should ride the front row once for the view on the unusually steep first hill, but it is definitely a back row coaster. Right out of the station you have excellent air you twist around for quite a while just to get to the lift hill and get a couple more pops of air before you even hit the lift. After the lift hill it's high energy all the way except for a brief slowing going up the turn around hill. The tunnel is fast and loud with nice trick track effects, though you don't really know that you are on a 90 degree bank with no visual reference. And, I do mean no visual reference. It is coal black in the there even on a bright sunny day. Lots of air and laterals all the way back. The speed never lets up. You arrive back at the station feeling feeling exhausted and exhilerated.

Zeus is a big step down and like many older CCI's is now in need of track work. Pegasus is a nice junior woodie. Not quite as nice as the best John Allen juniors, but pretty good.

Cyclops is a very good ride. It would probably seem even better if I hadn't just come off Hades.

Dive to Atlantis is a one trick pony, and it's not the greatest of tricks. It also has terrible capacity. Timing the dispatches, I estimated the capacity at about 120 rider per hour.

Next over to Riverview Park for a quick ride on their Galaxi. Yes, it's just a Galaxi, but it's a nice one and has cool lights.

After a jet boat ride, back to Mt. Olympus to marathon Hades. Met up with a few other enthusiasts and had a great time. Hades is even better when it's dark outside the tunnel.

Thanks Jim, Your making a very convincing argument to visit the Dells.

Chuck, who hasn't seen a bad Hades report yet.

I originally was going to skip the Dells portion of CoasterCon but after reading all the great reports on Hades I added a day to my trip. I can't stand the "tourist trap" nature of The Dells but I'll put up with it for a day or so.

Next trips:

BeastBuzz

CoasterCon *** Edited 6/7/2005 4:10:30 AM UTC by Brad G***

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Charles Nungester said:
Thanks Jim, Your making a very convincing argument to visit the Dells.

Chuck, who hasn't seen a bad Hades report yet.

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OK, I will comment...
I got my first three rides on Hades over the Memorial Day weekend--Sunday evening. It was rather cool and had rained earlier, so I'm hoping I caught it on an "off" day.

Although Hades was very fun, I have to say I was very disappointed in it. I loved the prelift section, the big drop into the tunnel and the drop into the return tunnel, but other than that, it reminded me of Millennium Force--fast and forceless. I was hoping for gobs of airtime in the tunnels and the final woodsy section, but it was just floater air at best.

That said, it's still a top-ten contender for my 200+ track record. It is indeed a great ride. I was just hopeing for so much more. Surely in time, it will get better, but right now, Hades seems a little over-engineered. I wonder if TGG expected it to go so slow over the top of the turnaround hill and the big hill along the lift. Those two spots really kill the pacing for me. And the other hills seem way too rounded at the tops.

Don't let my review hold you back from seeing for yourself. Just don't expect it to be an airtime machine. :)

Matt:

The tunnels don't have air since they are pretty much out of necessity flat. Otherwise, your description pretty much matches what I experienced riding in the front row. In the back I got major air, not quite Phoenix, but well beyond floater.

When I rode Hades during the media day event...I got plenty of small pops of air in the tunnel and I definitely could tell I was banked at close to 90 degrees but only because I knew it was there. There are some interesting trick tracks in the tunnel too. I dont know where I would rate this ride but it is a lot of fun.

I rode in the back twice and the only good air I got was on the two drops into the two tunnels. That drop into the return tunnel is a great moment. I was really hoping for some nice air down that big drop under the lift structure, but the top of that hill is so rounded, the train needs to pick up quite a bit more speed to make that moment pop.

I also rode in the second seat (1.2) once as many had said this was the "money" seat, but I found that didn't offer anymore air than the back did. Also, I didn't notice any difference form the right seat and left seat. There seems to be strong arguments for both being superior, but I couldn't tell the difference in my two back seat rides. I rode the right seat when I was in 1.2.

I can live without ejector air in the tunnels, but I really hope the speed over the turnaround hill improves--right now it's like haveing a midcourse brake--or I would suggest reprofiling that section (as well as the big hill along the lift)to make Hades all that much better. Of course if the park got exactly what they wanted, than leave it alone, but my feeling is that the park was shooting for the wildest craziest experience they could get.

There is a nice moment in the first tunnel section--just after the turn to the right, the track seems to drop farther under ground (I'm guessing it's just air off of a bunny)--that was a nice in-the-dark surprise. Once the ride ages and roughens up a bit, the tunnel could become even more interesting.

I wish the 90 degree banked turn was lit up in red or something, just so you could appreciate the banking. A motion sensor that turns on a red glow right at that part would be cool.

But like I said, Hades is definitely a top woodie. For comparison, my top favorites would be something like Shivering Timbers, Ghostrider, Cornball Express, Boulder Dash, Avalanche, Ozark Wildcat, Thunderhead, Hades, Raven, Lightning Racer, Knoebel's Twister, Beast, Phoenix.

Good report!!!
Are there any good coupons to be found in the Dells for Mt Olympus or Timbers Falls??

My boss just went to the Dells for the weekend and he rode Hades. Without me telling him, he knew it went sideways in the tunnel and told me he kept slamming into his wife.

I agree that the ride does not deliver as much air as I would like which is why I have the ride ranked at number 6 on my top ten woodies right now.

As for what side to sit on, when you are near the front of the train, sit on the left to fully experience the air on the double up. That might be my favorite part of the ride.

I'm planning on heading up to the Dells in a week or two. Could anyone say how long I could expect the lines to be on a Sunday?

If I may ask a question to the people who have rode Avalanche and/or Hades. Im going up with a buddy for the first time in August and am a little worried about my buddy fitting in the seats. For example, when we went to Kings Island, he had a very hard time fitting in SOB and had a really hard time with Racer and Beast. Im surprised they let him ride. Are the seats in Avalance and/or Hades any more forgiving or are they pretty much the same thing. Its not really a big belly that is the problem, but the actual width of the trunk. If he could actually fit in the seat width wise, everything would be cool.

He is on a diet to lose some extra pounds. I was just curious if there would be potential for any more or less problems than what he had on PKI's coaster seats. Thanks for your help.

I would not worry about the lines unless you happed to go during con. They get a "rush" from time to time, but then those people run out of tickets or want to go do other things. For the majority of the day, you should be able to find walk on or one wait seats.

As for fitting in the cars, here is a pic I took of the inside of the Hades car. Avalanche should be about the same.

I just rode Hades the other day and I feel it's a average coaster at best. It has a few good pops of air before the lift but not much after that. The tunnel might actually be better if the lights were on and you could see when you were going through the 90 degree turn.

It's got alot of speed but that's about it. At this point I would almost call it a overrated coaster with all the attention it has recieved.

On the other end of the dells...the real underrated coaster is Avalance. This coaster is just amazing, $20 and you can stay on the ride as long as you want without having to get up. Great Ejector airtime over every hill up front and like Hades also has alot of Speed. I came away from the dells liking Avalance more then I liked some of the top rated wooden coasters in the world (Raven, Legend, Ghostrider, Cornball, Beast). The ride is just fantastic.

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RavenTTD said:As for fitting in the cars, here is a pic I took of the inside of the Hades car. Avalanche should be about the same.

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Thanks for the picture. Im not one to pay to much attention to the trains and how they fit since Im as skinny as a rail. I think I remember a lot of wooden coasters having that divider in the middle of the seats. Im doubting there isnt to much difference in wooden coaster seats as far as width goes in respect to your fanny width. Is this a fair assumption?

Ive tried to find pictures of other wooden coaster train seats, but I cant seem to find any. Im hoping everything will work out for my buddy to be able to fit on Avalanch, Hades, and the other Dells coasters. They look like a blast.

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RavenTTD said:
I would not worry about the lines unless you happed to go during con. They get a "rush" from time to time, but then those people run out of tickets or want to go do other things. For the majority of the day, you should be able to find walk on or one wait seats.

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Have you been there on a weekend since Memorial Day?

You can count on 5-10 minute waits for Zeus and Cyclops, 30-40 minutes for Hades.

-Nate

I had to wait 40+ minutes for Hades in the evening on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. Earlier in the day, the wait was about 15 minutes. I left for a few hours to ride Avalanche, and when I returned, the line for Hades had gotten much longer. Cyclops and Zeus were walk-ons the whole time I was there however.

No, I have not been there this year after Memorial Day. I have been there several weekends last year and would rarely get a full train on anything. I guess Hades is paying off for them.

If you go to the MtOlympus website, there are coupons you can print for 12 bucks off June 16th-24th and Father's Day has free fathers and half off kids.

As for the seat dividers, I think they all the PTC are pretty similar, but I really don't pay too close attention to them.

I would think the waterpark is more of a factor then Hades with the increased wait times. When I was there Tuesday and Wednesday Hades wait was either in the station or all the way down the stairs. It really varied.

Also on Tuesday when I was there they were putting together a Disco ride...and they had it opened and included with the wristband the next day. So they now have 1 flat ride. :)

Sweet! I have been wanting to try one. There is another one in the Dells over on the road with Avalanche, but it was never open when I was there.

On Saturday 6/4 I had 1-2 train waits for Hades during most of the day. The line got longer as it got dark and the wait went up to about 15 minutes. The line never got even half way down the stairs. One factor may have been that the weather forcast for Saturday was not good. (There were tornadoes in southern Wisconsin Saturday night) They were only running one train because they only have one train. ;)