Wild Thing...gimme the lowdown

Seems like the turnaround sucks quite a bit, is that the only thing that kept this coaster from greatness? It seems like the return is full of airtime-goodness but its hard to tell from videos and pictures alone. So, where did Morgan go wrong with this one?
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Idle hands were orient to her.

Morgan didn't go wrong. It was their first one. The airtime is good, but not as good as their later ones. I haven't ridden Steel Eel, but as far as their state-side coasters, each one gets better than the last, with Mamba being my favorite American one. SD2K will be hard for them to top, it was an improvement over over Mamba/Steel Force, and a BIG difference from Wild Thing (not in heigth or speed, but in quality of ride)

Wild Thing is in Shakopee, Minneeota, and is great ride. As many of you know, Shakopee in the early Spring is down right cold! But riding Wild Thing during the summer is GREAT! as humidity is downright Opressive... and wild thing helps you cool down...

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It's conflict that shows who a person really is!

From my post in the News section (about Wild Thing's POV video):

Wild Thing rocks. The best part is that the park usually isn't very crowded, so you can ride it over, and over, and over. Sometimes it even makes me reconsider my top 5. In fact, once I ride MF a couple more times (I've only ridden it twice), I wouldn't be surprised if Wild Thing knocks MF down on my list. MF is great, but just doesn't have enough airtime. Wild Thing is a serious airtime machine.

By the way, I like Wild Thing's turnaround, but I'd rather have Mamba's Helix. Take Wild Thing's Airtime, and combine it with Mamba's Helix, and you would have a #1 coaster on many lists I suspect.

I don't even need to ride SD2000 to know it's probably the best coaster on the planet (now if they could only put B&M trains on it). Keep up the good work Morgan !

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Current favorite coasters:
Wooden: 1) Beast 2) Raven 3) Son of Beast 4) The Boss 5) Timber Wolf
Steel: 1) Raging Bull 2) Millennium Force 3) V2 4) Wild Thing 5) Mr. Freeze
Visit: http://www.dynamicgroove.com

Interesting, I ask about a hyper coaster which is usually at the bottom of the heap, and why it usually is, and it turns into a love thread! lol. interesting to hear different opinions about it, though.

Joe Carroll said: I don't even need to ride SD2000 to know it's probably the best coaster on the planet (now if they could only put B&M trains on it). Keep up the good work Morgan !

I think the trains on SD2K are great. Granted, I love B&M hyper trains, but no need to change a good thing.
Best coaster on the planet? That's just a matter of opinion, but...it's right up there!

Just finished watching the video. For those of you who haven't ridden it, don't judge it by the movie (I know most of you wouldn't, but some of you might be inclined to do so). The movie really doesn't do it justice.

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Current favorite coasters:
Wooden: 1) Beast 2) Raven 3) Son of Beast 4) The Boss 5) Timber Wolf
Steel: 1) Raging Bull 2) Millennium Force 3) V2 4) Wild Thing 5) Mr. Freeze
Visit: http://www.dynamicgroove.com

Ravenguy98, I love Wild Thing! A great coaster in my book with very little in the way of dead time. Granted, I agree 100 percent that the turnaround is a little less than stellar, but it isn't terrible. I love the return after the blocks....tons of air! In fact, upon my first ride, I was more than shocked at the 3 drops especially into the dark. I didn't ride the coaster before the tunnel was built, so I have no idea if the visuals affected the drop, but dropping into the tunnel ABSOLUTELY freaked me out. I swore it was dropping below ground level. The air was huge! Hope I haven't psyched you too much now...:) About SD2K, I have to agree with Peabody. It might very well be Morgan's best, and really hard to top, but best in the world? I don't know. A great coaster nonetheless, and probably the best in Japan, with White Cyclone a VERY close second (if that, eh Jeff?). And the trains....??? Nice. They don't need to change a thing. I thought they tracked well, and were very comfortable. They are big as heck, though.
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Check out my updated website!

ravenguy98 said:
Interesting, I ask about a hyper coaster which is usually at the bottom of the heap, and why it usually is, and it turns into a love thread! lol. interesting to hear different opinions about it, though.

Ravenguy, don't you know this sort of thing works in reverse anyway? ;) Ask why people dislike a certain coaster and it becomes a love thread. Start an *actual* love thread about a coaster :::see Goliath thread::: and people will come out of the woodwork to express what they hate about it. It's called the "high horse vs. underdog" syndrome. ;)

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Have you ever considered that maybe it's not the park that's the problem, but YOU?

You know DWeaver, its the truth, but i guess I really don't mind in this case. :)

C'mon guys, Wild Thing has been dogged by many people, I know, but for some reason I never hear people talk about what makes it so bad. Let's hear it, or else I'm going to start thinking that Wild Thing's metiocre ratings are really unjustified. From the looks of it, it very well could be.

Now all we need to do is start an Arrow Mega-Looper hate thread...;)
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Flying High Again.

No, no, take Phantom's Revenge's airtime, with Steel Forces helix. Now that would be quite a delightful combination for at perfect steel hyper coaster.

Also, Steel Dragon's turnaround looks incredibly boring, I also came to this conslusion reading other's posts.

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Steel Dragon's turnaround may be quite 'obvious,' but it isn't boring, nor is it lacking in intensity. It is quite powerful, and you are moving at a tremendous clip. No video can do any ride justice.
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www.tripowered.com

True, you can't judge a ride by a video, and you can't judge a ride really, without riding it. That's why I'm asking people's opinions of why the over all repsonse to this ride has been so....bland over the years.

I think Wild Thing was a great ride but it's still the worst hyper I've ever ridden. I wish that the second drop was bigger.

Wild Thing is far superior to Steel Force, but it's still relatively tame. Personally I'm a big fan of the ride (part of that is for sentimental reasons) but almost every other hypercoaster I've ridden sits above it on my top ten list (Magnum, Steel Force, and Steel Phantom are the exceptions). The first drop is a lot of fun, but it's the second hill that makes the ride; because it's only 98' tall, you don't crawl over the top like Steel Force does. Rather, you *fly* over it and experience probably the longest section of airtime I've ever experienced. The turnaround is fun with some sweet handchoppers, but it's not intense until the helix. The return run is completely overbraked now but it used to be great. The hill sizes vary more than other hypers so it's difficult to predict the next hill, and the pitch-black tunnel (with more great handchoppers) is fantastic. Definitely worth a ride if you're in the area. Just remember that Morgan seems to be the leader in the "family hypercoaster" market. ;-)
-Nate

*** This post was edited by coasterdude318 on 2/1/2002. ***

Wild Thing is amazing ride it does have some increatible air on the 2nd hill if your in the front seat. However to be honest I would have like to have seen more bunny hops back to the station. Also I would bet that Wild Thing could have been even higher than expected 207 feet but we have height restrictions with Flying Cloud Airport. Wild Thing did get a new paint job this season!
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This will be my 8th year at Valleyfair looking foward to it!

*** This post was edited by The Beast on 2/1/2002. ***

The Beast, actually when Wild Thing was built they didn't have to limit themselves in height like they did with Power Tower. I do agree with you that in the front seat the second hill provides excellent airtime, and if you ever have the privalege to ride WT when they have the mid course brakes turned off the bunny hops in the back are very nice.
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Just wait till next year!

Forget about the Wild Thing, the real question is, "how's Shakopee's night life?" That'd be the key question.. we know about the coaster, but what about the city of shakopee? :)
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It's conflict that shows who a person really is!

Valleyfair Fan, in fact I have had the privilage of riding Wild Thing with the brakes off. Sometimes during the employee ride nights they do turn off the brakes so I know there is a difference going back. Just come to employee ride nights wait and see.
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This will be my 8th year at Valleyfair!