Voyage trims question

Initially, on most coasters when the mid course / trims hit my first thought is oh no: MS, Raging Bull, Mantis, etc but as the ride move along I find myself forgetting about the brakes and simply enjoying the ride. Its packs a big enough punch to where it doesn't take away from the ride.

It sounds like Voyage's trims aren't quite as severe as some others, so that's good news.

Also, it sounds like the trims are speed-activated. I know that on Magnum, if you get on right after the morning test runs, the trims may be off. Is Voyage like this, sometimes trimless in the morning? (Yes, I know this sounds dumb and nitpicky as the rest of my posts are, but if there's a chance to ride it trimless, I want to take that chance... besides, I'd probably go to Voyage first anyways.)

Dude. Voyage is a top 10 woodie world wide -- almost unanimously (and if not better).

This thread should have been a non-starter. Stop worrying about when, how, if, maybe, kinda, the ride might be trimmed and just go ride it. Appreciate the fact that Holiday World spends such lengths to make their woodie as great as they are and trust that their knowledge has informed them to make the best ride experience possible.

Move on. Case closed. It's a fantastic ride no matter what.

The Voyage is my favorite wooden coaster, and one of my top coasters overall. It became that before the trims, and remains that after the trims. It is absolutely amazing coaster, and as others have mentioned, other than getting insane airtime on the triple down without the trims, the ride isn't very different with/without them. I got a couple of untrimmed rides last year at HWN among my 20 rides, so it provided a nice comparison. It was completely insane without them, but still extremely insane with them. Seriously, I wouldn't let it ruin your day, or dissuade you from going to the park! As an airtime fan, you will love the ride, with or without the trims. One of my best friends, who is an even bigger coaster fanatic than I am (and is actually in the picture of The Voyage that rotates on the main page here on CBuzz), says that The Voyage is his #1 coaster without trims, and #2 (behind Boulder Dash) with them. So, it's not a huge deal, really...

Trims or not, I'm excited for Voyage. Sorry for being so trimophobic :P. However, I still would like to know if it trims lighter on the first runs of the day (empty trains.) I know that's how Magnum works, and I believe it's a common means of controlling trims.

It seems you've ignored the answers that everyone else gave you to that question, so I'll provide you with what you want to hear:

Yes, the trims are lighter on empty trains early in the day.

But ideally the trains would still be traveling at the same rate of speed throughout the course as if they were fully loaded and braked more.

^That is true. The train would slow down as the second half goes on, because an empty train has less momentum. However, hopefully, the triple-down is affected more by lighter trimming (before the lack momentum of the empty train has as much chance to take speed off.)

Sorry for not fully reading.

I was talking about you on the phone just this morning to a friend who just may be the biggest HW fan ever. He asked me to assure you, (and I agree,) that the airtime on The Voyage lives, and always has, on the out portion, the part that remains the same. Big honkin' hills with nice lift at the top of each. The turnaround section is surprisingly long with forceful turns. The back portion is low and fast, faster, and faster still due to the downward change in elevation. Keep in mind this block brake you're dreading is only 6 (yes, six) feet off the ground. If there was ever a need to evac you could jump from there. Seriously. By the end of the ride you're probably hitting around 60 mph anyway.
Edit: There's that awesome drop to a lower grade along side the downstairs queue that's under the station, and I think you'll find it quite satisfying. And by then that triple down will seem like a distant memory.

Stop compulsing about this trim brake and worrying yourself to death about how you might avoid it. You can't. And if you think you won't be able to live with it then just cut your nose off to spite your face and stay home.

Edit: sorry to sound grouchy. Now I'm curious to know what are some of your favorite airtime rides.

Sorry... maybe I did make too big of a deal out of it. Especially considering that the trims were worse last year (looking up videos from 2015 and 2016, the 2015 video shows a near full stop while the 2016 video shows a relatively brief grab.)

Yeah, I know the "out" run is the same. I'm confident I'll enjoy Voyage... it really is not like anything else. Extreme length, airtime hills, terrain. Trims or not, I'm excited to ride it.

It's understandable...certainly the "-est" coaster of our time.

No other wooden coaster provides the true physical workout that Voyage does.

rollergator said:
No other wooden coaster provides the true physical workout that Voyage does.

Boom. That.

Update: I'm going to HW, leaving for my trip tomorrow to go there Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday!

I'm still hoping for a light-trim ride, but it won't stop me from enjoying it.

What can I expect? The closest thing I've ridden to Voyage is Shivering Timbers, I've kinda thought that Voyage would be "Shivering Timbers on crack" if you will.

If the closest thing to Voyage you've ridden is Timbers, pray for a trim heavy ride to give you a chance to get your sea legs.

Seriously no real comparisons to be made there.

We're having a heatwave here in the Midwest, especially in the southern portion, so expect it to be hot. :)

I suppose The Voyage might be compared to Shivering Timbers, but not really. Expect a long, rigorous ride.

Here's the thing. The late Will Koch was one of the only park owners anywhere that kept an eye toward his enthusiasts and what we might like. As a card-carrying enthusiast himself, he personally designed and oversaw every detail of his three outstanding wooden coasters. Each one improved in certain areas over the one before and The Voyage was his pièce de résistance. He conferred with coaster fans, found a designer that would deliver, chose the site for its terrain, and set about to build the most thrilling, unique, and bar-raising wooden coasters on earth. And in the eyes of most riders he succeeded.

So, you tell us. Enjoy your time there, you'll have plenty. Spend a day, or two, or three at their outstanding water park and beat the heat.

Just enjoy your day and don't over analyze things like Voyage trims. I have only spent one day at Holiday World, back in 2011, and it was one of the most fun amusement park days I have ever had.

That said, I wasn't prepared for Voyage either. It is the only coaster that has ever truly taken my breath away to a point where I needed to sit for a moment after my first ride. This coming from someone who was barely fazed by my first rides on stuff like X2, Millennium Force, and Falcons Fury. I can think of just a few experiences that haven't taken place in a bedroom that have absolutely taken my breath away and made me go "whoa" - two of them include skydiving and my first ride on Voyage. And I couldn't even tell you what the trim settings were that day, it didn't even register in my brain. That, plus some night rides in the back seat on Raven made for some incredible coaster riding that day. I truly hope someday I can return.

I've been on El Toro and several RMCs (including the wooden Goliath)... I should say Timbers is the closest "traditional woodie" that I've ridden to Voyage. (That and Hades, but Hades is much worse and I rode it about 8 years ago... Not a fair comparison.)

Yeah, I know that the HW woodies were designed with enthusiast input. That shows in their design... They all have speed, length, airtime, etc. in some combination.

Back from HW! So here's my review of Voyage...

What a violent ride, but what an awesome ride at the same time! It's extremely bumpy, but at the same time intense and packed with unusual airtime moments and turns. I would like to see some retrack work and new trains, but leave the current layout and profile alone!

As for the trims, they seemed to "grab" the train twice, or occasionally 3 times. One ride, I could have sworn it barely grabbed the second time. The triple-down is not extremely intense relative to the rest of the ride, and offers floater air on the last dip, along with the two bunny hills after it. However, after those bunny hills, the ride goes absolute bat-**** insane with its turns. I can easily see why the trims help keep the ride from tearing itself up here, and that maybe it should be trimmed until the ride gets either or both of the following-

• More agile, articulating trains like Millennium Flyers or non-prototype Timberliners. (Preferably 14-row trains, too. But that's another story.)
• Some very heavy-duty trackwork, perhaps even RMC topper track in some high-stress sections. However, I love the unusual, unique profile of the "weaving section" (as in the section after the triple-down and two speed/bunny hills) and really hope that any retracking keeps the same profile.

However, I did notice that there is a relatively straight section of track between the bunny hills and the start of the "weaving" section (right before the left turn leading into the right turn under the first camelback hill.)

In my coaster enthusiast pipe dreams, the best compromise between maintenance and intensity would be to turn off the MCBR, but rather add trims after the two bunny hills, in the straight area approximately 2 minutes into the video. The trims could be set to be the equivalent of the MCBR trims today (keep it at the trimmed speed going into the weaving section.) You'd get the airtime of the triple-down combined with a "weaving section" that is a bit more manageable (but still insane.)

Either way, Voyage is a great ride, and likely my favorite traditional woodie. Legend was very good too, and very smooth in the new, retracked parts. I was a bit disappointed by Raven (even in the back row and second-to-back row) but it was still a fun ride. And Thunderbird, of course, is a great wing coaster, and has the best theming of any coaster there. (I would say my favorite at HW, by the way, is Voyage.)

Well after all that discussion, I'm glad you enjoyed it. :) That weaving section is something to behold after dark and after the rain. That happened during HWN a few years ago, one of the years when they'd just done some hefty track work, and it was amazing. I think the word I used was "graceful," the way it swished through there.

As others have said, the triple-down isn't a dealbreaker, but it is a pretty cool element you don't get on many other coasters. Hopefully you can make it to HWN one of these years and experience it, assuming they turn the trims off again.

^I hope so, too.

Incidentally, my one ride where the trims only grabbed hard once and barely grabbed twice (also happened to be my "fastest", but maybe it was just because it was nighttime) was not long after a bit of rain had fallen on the park.

Considering how plain violent Voyage was this trip (it gave me a very slight headache after a few rides, and my friend and mom also had headaches, particularly my mom - and this pretty much never happens to us), I wouldn't be surprised if HW called GCI or even RMC to do some work, especially to the weaving section. (I hope they keep the ride's profile, though. Not like Legend where they modified the profile, which doesn't seem to be a bad thing, but Voyage's profile is very intense as-is.)

Heck, I'd be OK with large amounts of RMC topper track (keeping the ride's exact profile, though.) Topper track develops a small rattle after a few years (SFGAm Goliath has a very slight, but noticeable rattle) so it wouldn't totally eviscerate the traditional woodie experience. (Not RMC trains, though - Voyage's airtime isn't the sheer ejector airtime that requires RMC's hydraulic lap bars.) And of course, if the ride was overhauled in such a way, I'd like to see the trims turned back off (that's a shocking statement coming from me, isn't it! :P)

GigaG said:

I would like to see some retrack work and new trains...

Based on what? You're falling into the enthusiast trap of thinking you know better than the people who own, operate and design these rides.