TOGO coasters better in foreign countries?

This is a question that as been on my mind for a while now.....

Has anyone noticed that TOGO coasters in countries such as Japan usually receive positive reviews, as opposed to the horrible reviews that USA TOGOs get, such as Manhattan Express & Viper(defunct)?

I guess my point is, why are TOGOs in other countries better than the ones here in the US? And can/could these problems be fixed?

That's a good question. Some of the best coasters I've ridden in Japan were Togos. I pretty much have hated all the American ones.

I liked Canada's Wonderland's Skyrider, but that's it for the ones I've ridden.

I found that Meisho was worst than Togo... I rode a Meisho copy of the old Knoebels Whirlwind in South Korea and it was horrible. The train had no arm or legroom and the track was horribly mis designed. Who's idea was it to bank the track 80 degrees before hitting a corkscrew? It was so bad I was affraid it broke my jaw after the ride.

But then, South Korea has another stinker of a coaster, this time an Arrow... Its the Rolling X Train at Everland. Its a 2 loops, corkscrew, helix coaster that runs 2 sideless Vekoma trains. The worst thing is that those trains have the same horrible restraint as the SLC and the track is in bad enough shape that the train moves up and down as it goes up the lift hill! Then, the train consist of your head getting destroyed by the harness. Too bad, cause the rest of the park is awesome and among the best I've visited. Eagle Fortress is the best suspended coaster in my view... *** Edited 10/16/2007 5:13:40 AM UTC by Absimilliard***

The only Togo in Japan that I even come close to liking is Fujiyama. The rest of them pretty much suck.

Which ones are those? More I rode were shockingly smooth. (I loved Fujiyama too, though it's been a while since I've ridden it)

Smooth doesn't = fun for me. The layouts were boring, the trains were uncomfortable, there wasn't any airtime and the transitions were comparable to old arrows.

They didn't hurt but they just weren't fun.

Geopanic at La Qua was total crap.

Bandit at Yomiurland wasn't awful but it had a horrible layout.

Momonga at Yomiurland was also lacking in the fun department.

SL Coaster also at Yomiurland is about as boring as they get.

Diving Coaster: Vanish at Yokohama Cosmoworld is another pointless layout.

Wild Mouse at Tobu Zoo was just like any other jerky mouse except it has a loop so the jerkiness include OTSR's.

Jet Coaster at Nagashima is also in the running for most boring ride ever.

Ultra Twister at Nagashima actually wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I didn't need to ride it a 2nd time though.

I'm pretty sure that this is all of the Togo's that I hit. Fujiyama is the only one I rode twice and out of all of the hypers that I've been on it would rank close to the bottom.

O.K. its a question of personal taste. But i think that Bandit has a very good layout and - especially for its time, predating Magnum by a year - was a spectacular ride.

The two drops down the ravine at the end are great as is the first drop, the overbanked turnaround and the upward helix. I haven´t ridden it for more than ten years, but I enjoyed it tremendously.

The only distraction are the useless OTSR.

I also love the Ultratwisters and Fujiyama.

Geopanic on the other hand is a total desaster! When I saw those restraints i wanted to call the police.

I agree with the personal taste comment. ;)

I just prefer the American layouts.

Fujiyama was pretty bad. It had little airtime and the layout looked pretty cool, but Togo completely forgot how to do turns! Whose idea was it to throw a 85 degrees banked turn in a spot where the ride has not enough speed to keep you glued against your seat? The seats were also pretty bad.

Jive2 - I agree with a lot of your asessments. Now that I think more, they weren't all killer coasters, but SO much better than all the American Togos I was shocked. Of course, there were exceptions! (Geopanic!) *** Edited 10/17/2007 2:27:28 AM UTC by Peabody***

What is so bad about Geopanic?

Worst restraints ever! :)

Imagine a lapbar with a bad OTSR attached to it. Then, add the typical Togo bad turns and some really horrible drops and you got a recipe for disaster.

http://www.coastergallery.com/japan/K01.html

Here's a picture.

Zola 7 at Fuji Q Highland was also pretty bad! I'm 6'3 and the only way I fitted was squashing my knees against the front of the car. Even if coaster part of the ride is 2 drops and 3-4 turns, they still found it necessary to put a OTSR.