TR: Twisted Timbers Review

I had the opportunity to attend KD's media day as a guest for Twisted Timbers.

I'll be honest, at first I wasn't super excited about it. If it wasn't for the construction for Steel Vengeance in my backyard, I might have more interest in the ride. It looked like another run of the mill RMC conversion. That's not to say that it is a bad thing, only that we've seen this before. My only experience with RMC has been Storm Chaser and I absolutely loved the ride. It was forceful, smooth, and just an all out fun ride.

Don't let its smaller stature deceive you. Twisted Timbers is a home run for the park. Every part of the ride from beginning to end is there to thrill and entertain you. I'll break down my ride experience based on the layout. The twisting drop off the lift is phenomenal from the back seat. I felt like I was floating as the world and the wooden lattice swirls around me. From there the little hops and the overbank turn tossed me up a bit to set up for three airtime packed hills in a row. As the day went on, those hills only got more powerful as the ride gained speed as the temperature warmed up. The next part was my personal favorite element and I call it the cutback. Not sure what it's officially called, but it's two half corkscrews put together to completely invert and then send you back nearly 180 degrees from which you came from before. A few more airtime hops and I was twisted around in the trick-track and turn around to head into the finale: a 360 roll on the ground a few 90 degree banked turns a few hops and we're back into the brakes.

I can only imagine how these forces are going to feel on an 80 degree sunny day compared to the 50 degree day I experienced. There is a slight change to the train design where the road wheels went from one to two on each bogie. This could have contributed to a much quieter ride as well as a smoother ride from what I remembered on Storm Chaser. It's possible that the scraping and squealing noises I heard on Storm Chaser developed as time went on, so we shall see. In the end though, the seats and lap bar as well as the smooth ride are well suited for this powerful and quick directional changing experience. For those who are into power riding, this will be great news.

The station has been completely reused, even some of the steel paneling from the Hurler's station were twisted up against the station to look like a twister or something 'weird' had gone through it. The queue area has some elements of theme with some old farm equipment left over from an apple orchard that had been abandoned since 1950 after something 'weird' had happened. I'm not saying it was aliens... but it probably was.

Seriously though. Don't underestimate this ride. You will absolutely love it.

I only did Hurler once, circa 2000, but I remember thinking it was a pretty cool ride. The low turns were cool. I imagine this conversion would make it even more interesting, I'm just not sure when I'll next get there.

Sounds like another winner. I love the 4 RMC's I've been on, but the rolls on Rattler, Outlaw Run, and Joker feel gratuitous. They don't add much to the ride, except disorientation and I feel like they're just there because "inversions on wood!!111one" I felt all three coasters would have been better with straight air hills wherever there was a roll. Needless to say, NTG is my favorite of the 4.

My wife and I got 4 laps today. Two up front and two in the back. I like that the intensity doesn't let up from start to finish. It really is that good. We love I305 and it's as intense as that ride.

It's my second favorite of the three(Lightning Rod and Wicked Cyclone are the other two,) RMC coasters I've been on. We were waiting for our 5th lap and it broke down. We called it a day after they said it would be down for a while.

I love RMC design's, and am really looking forward to Steel Vengeance at CP, and Storm Chaser at KK this summer. Hurler had really gotten painful in that high speed bank turn in my recent rides, so this was exactly what was needed to reinvent the ride for the future. Pretty soon everyone will forget Mean Streak, and made me wish that Dorney still had Hercules to convert.

Broke down?

I’ve very quietly said that even though Steel Vengeance (not in my back yard, but in my back 40) is so highly anticipated, that Twisted Timbers maybe the sleeper hit of the season. The thing I noticed about SV is that the elements are huge and rather drawn out. And that makes sense as Mean Streak was really long, really tall, and the new ride is faithful to the original footprint. A hallmark of the most successful RMC rides is quick and relentless transitions. KD’s ride seems to have that in spades. And I agree that time and temperature will eventually allow for a faster ride. Something sure caused Storm Chaser to pick up speed by the time I got there in August of that year. The end of that ride went from sluggish to holy crap. (I’ve heard there was a change in the wheels from what they started the season with, so that may have helped.)
Steel Vengeance will already have extreme speed going for it, so maybe that will cause that huge ride to seem snappier.
I’m sure looking forward to trying both.

I'm looking forward to both as well, but I find your comments on Steel Vengeance interesting. A coworker and I were discussing it and we wondered if it would suffer Voyage-itis, i.e. trying to pack so much into the layout that it almost detracts as much as it adds. Now, I seriously doubt that will happen, but I'm trying to temper my expectations a bit to guarantee the ride will be even more amazing than I expect. ;)

As for Twisted Timbers, I'm absolutely, incredibly excited about it, and I'm sure that a chunk of that excitement comes from the fact that as far as hype, it's been otherwise overshadowed by its Ohio counterpart.

2018 is definitely the year of RMC, and I applaud Cedar Fair for embracing the possibilities they've offered. Here's hoping that the Carowinds Hurler and CGA Grizzly get some love in the coming years.

Great review of the ride, and looking forward to July when we'll be back to KD for the second time.

I never had a chance to ride Hurler; did they hand out little cups when you boarded the trains?

Running today.....made four trips already (fpass). It’s a phenomenal ride. Storm chaser, combined with lightning rod (minus wood track). Awesome, if steel vengeance is anything close, it’ll be a homer in year for rmc

I agree the first half of Steel Vengeance has rather large drawn out elements in the first half, but man, does it look wild in the second, especially when you're flying through the structure.

Some of the drawn-out elements on Steel Vengeance are what makes it seem so spectacular to me, though. That huge reverse-banked turn in the first part of the ride? It’s terrifying to watch that in just the animation.

Awesom to hear. I’m going Friday to check it out. I’m excited for RMC #7. And #8 in May :-D.

While Steel Vengeance has the drawn out elements in the first half, I wouldn't underestimate the little hops between the first drop and second hill as well as the one between the third drop and leading up into the 'turn around.' Those hops were similar in scale on Twisted Timbers and really added more craziness to the layout.

I’m more excited for the outward banked hill on Steel Vengeance than anything else for 2018.

This excites me to no end. My only RMC credit to date is also Storm Chaser, which I loved. One question, though, is on the restraints. How are the leg restraints on this one? My shins were terribly bruised after Kentucky Kingdom, between Storm Chaser and Lightning Run, but not sure which of the two caused the biggest issue. I'm super excited to find out for sure as Kings Dominion is on the docket for this summer. Really looking forward to this ride.

How are the restraints in general on TT? The side bars now come to a V at the pivot, where do your feet go? Any big boys out there get to ride?

Got my first ride in on pass holder night. Rode at night, in the back and I found the first drop to be faster than Storm Chaser. The three hills on the back side are directly comparable to SCs first huge ejector moment in the first hill. The transitions were incredibly smooth which surprised me on the cutback, I was really expecting some jankiness there. The outward turn and the strong air time pop right before it for the camera were my favorite parts.

Despite riding it in probably 40 degree weather at that point (9pm) it moved fairly fast and did not die at the end like I was preparing myself for.

I rode with two friends who both need disability passes for their knees and they were both expecting problems with the shinguards. He is a larger guy with fairly beefy lower legs and she was concerned about her knees getting beat up in them especially on the brake run. Both were raving about the comfort when they got off. I however didn't see any significant difference from storm chaser except that the seat belts are much improved.

All in all this ride knocked it out of the park for me. Greatly exceeded my expectations. Will probably wind up disrupting the top of my list.

Yeah, I don't know about Steel Vengeance. The POV has me a bit worried that it's going to be too much for me to handle. (I've readily admitted on here to being kinda a wuss when it comes to extreme forces.) I remember feeling the same way watching the Twisted Timbers POV on announcement day when I played them on the 60 inch TV. Even the big screen TV viewing left me a little woozy.

Case in point, last week we took a trip to SFMM. This was my 2nd time on Twisted Colossus, first being opening year, but this time it absolutely beat me up in the back row and I didn't enjoy it at all. The front row was better, but the transitions were still too abrupt, IMO. I don't recall feeling that way in 2015.

We'll see. I'm still beyond excited for SV only 45 minutes from home! It's going to be amazing, and I don't have to worry about power riding because let's face it, the lines are going to be insane.

RCMAC they were changing sensors on the brake run right around 5pm. I'm sure it wasn't down for long. We were staying in Williamsburg and decided to head there to check in.