Wood: coming or going?
Don't get me wrong, I like many steel coasters, However good wood brings me back for repeat visits.
Many parks have become destinations and really only have good wood, Knoebels, Kennywood, Lake Compounce.
It just seems to me that CP is the only park people go to and not for the wooden coasters. Well maybe SFMM.
Chuck, who loves to ride woodies. (Coasters that is)
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Charles Nungester.
Is it about coasters or friends? I say both!
Pssst...Chuck...There's this cool coaster at Kennywood called Phantom's Revenge. It's steel. :)
chris, who otherwise agrees with Chuck.
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'I feel it coming on again just like it did before. They feed your pride with boredom and they lead you on to war.' - The Soft Boys 'I Wanna Destroy You.'
Wood: coming or going?
I present my response:
Wood: here to stay.
Ditto that for steel.
Wood belongs to wood.
Steel belongs to steel.
I think they're taking technology a little bit to far.
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Keeping Youngstown Living Exciting
CoasterKrazy said:
Fierce Pancake said:
Matterhorn wasn't the first steel coaster, however I'll give you the benefit of the doubt for this argument that it was the first steel coaster that really popularized the type.
What was the first steel coaster then?
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Intelligence is a God given gift: Know how to use it.
Wasn't the steeplechase steel?
Matterhorn wasn't the first steel coaster but it was the first tubular steel coaster.
*** This post was edited by Colonel Sanders on 1/21/2003. ***
I *wood* find it hard to believe that ANYONE goes to SFGAdv for RT...;)
I know quite a few people from *the region*, and while they are *hoping* for some serious improvement to THE wooden coaster at the park, for the most part it's the "Psucklone" of the East....;)
*Cringes at the excessive asterisks.* ;) Woodies can't be replaced they're not as advanced but who cares. It's called amusement for a reason. A lot of woodies outlast steel. Think of arrow horsecollar loopers.
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And on the eighth day God created premiere lapbars.
*** This post was edited by Colonel Sanders on 1/21/2003. ***
auscoasterman said:
Give us a decade, and I'm sure you'll look back at today's fancy B&M floorless coasters as having had there time (its just happened with the Standup).
Hey! Somebody else "gets it"! :)
Although I think the next "flavor of the month" to move on will be the flying coasters. Just like stand-ups they'll build a few and then build something "bigger and better" and then people will be over it.
There will always be a place for wood, but like others here, I think the future is in smaller rides. While steelies get bigger, faster and crazier, the woodies that still rule the roost are the smaller creations. Keep in mind that any given park's attendance is mostly GP and I've heard more times than I care to mention how someone didn't like a superior (IMO) woodie compared to an inferior steel ride because it was "bumpy" or it "knocked me around".
Sadly there's more in it for a park to build a big, smooth as silk, steel coaster over a small wooden one with some personality. The average family parkgoer will enjoy the steel ride more, have a more comfotable ride, feel safer in a big OTSR and be able to "brag" that they rode the big coaster, not that little wooden one in the back.
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www.coasterimage.com
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Cedar Point 2003, where no coaster rider has gone before...
The Matterhorn was the first coaster using tubular steel rails and synthetic wheels. This was the major change in coaster design that brought about the modern steel coaster. Try riding a 1950-60's mouse with flat top steel rails, and you will realize the difference quickly. Lakemont Park has one of these mice, and there are a few others around. You will also realize that flat steel rails don't give the same sensation as wood rails. It might be possible to create some sort of composite that gives the same sensation as wood, but just steel doesn't do it.
I expect that we will see both types of coasters around for a long time.
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I see TTD from my living room, I live 4 miles away from the Point, and life couldn't be better.
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I see TTD from my living room, I live 4 miles away from the Point, and life couldn't be better.
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"If you make it too smooth, it'll be like sitting in your living room."
-Bill Cobb - Designer, Texas Cyclone
Lord Gonchar said:
Although I think the next "flavor of the month" to move on will be the flying coasters. Just like stand-ups they'll build a few and then build something "bigger and better" and then people will be over it.
On the other hand, a very similair style of coaster, the inverted, has become a staple of the amusment world. And there are many more of the small, compact type than the large behemoths in this category. Of course, I haven't ridden a flyer yet, so I can't say anything for sure. I'm just pointing out possibilities.
Steel has already taken over the coaster market and rules it. In this day of marketing a new ride to get people through the gates, steel is all that is used. How many Steelies are going to open in 2003 vs. Woodies? I am trying to think. Is Boss, Villain, SOB and LR the only woodies to go into a "Big" park in the last 5 years? CP will never put in another woodie. Busch Gardens has one and will never build another. Only us coaster enthusiests and the small parks care about woodies. Don't count on many going up in the next decade.
As for SOB, it did nothing for the woodie market good or bad. It falls into the catagory of prototype. When it failed miserably, It told the market not to build a hyper woodie. Just as the market knows not to buy a Hypersonic, Deja Vu or 4D.
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I can't be bargained with, I can't be reasoned with, I don't feel pity or remorse or fear and I will not stop EVER until I have ridden them all.
If you had a chance to ride the amazing Coaster in Vancouver, BC you would most certainly hope that wood continues to remain a viable style of building. I don't see ANY way coasters would just move into the steel catagory exclusively. It was like this in the 80s with drums... for the longest time, only geeks played wood drums, while the "cool" guys played electronic kits. Well, the tables turned, because look what's dated now.... and it always was. ;)
(BTW, with a title like this, I am still waiting for this thread to be hijacked. ;))
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Still trying to be evil here!
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Coming in 2003-The Spawn Of Magnum!
Rob, I actually thought of hijacking it *myself* in lieu of recent events, but I'll let it slide. Anyway, in many ways, steel coaster, to park owners, are a superior product than wooden coasters. Everything now days has to have some sort of *angle* or *hook*. You just dont see a whole lot of rides that dont have a marketing edge. Aside from racing/dueling there isnt much else you can do to make a wooden coaster "stand out" other than stick it in the woods or something. Many of the big parks just dont have that type of terrain to work with.
While with steel you can bend it in a plethora of ways. You can have different seating positions and you can go for the "higher" & "faster" titles that resonate with the Adrenaline junkies. Basically, I submit to you that there is nothing that can be done with a wooden coaster that could not be done with a steel coaster and gain similar mass appeal. So-called "coaster enthusiasts" may wax nostalgic over woodies, but on the average, steel coaster are likely every bit as good.
lata, jeremy
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"Sunshine, daisies, butter-mellow! Turn this stupid fat rat yellow!"
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