Wooden Coasters You Never New About

I always thought Holiday world's Raven was CCI's first coaster,at least that's what I was told on all the coaster shows.

Wasn't the Outlaw in between Princess and Cyclops (that can be taken in a very sick way too)

Anyways, How are those CCIs over at Silverwood? Tremors looks VERY good, but a trip from Wisconsin to Idaho PROBABLY would never happen.

Finally, any ride that has to "warm up" in order to be a good ride...well isn't a good ride. I rode ST 4 times a few weeks ago, finishing up in mid afternoon and there was almost no air on it.

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Titan Uranus 1776-2001

The Grizzly at Kings Dominion is an awesome woodie, it always delivers plenty of airtime, and a nasty headchopper just as it goes into the tunnel, it hits a small hill and ALSO a piece of trick track all at once, so not only do u come out of your seat, but it throws you from side to side in the air just as u enter the tunnel...FUNFUNFUN

Count me in as one that was surprised by Blue Streak at Cedar Point. I initially didnt want to ride it, but my best friend insisted, and im glad, airtime galore, and its probably my favorite woodie right after the Villain at SFWOA.

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hunter11 said:
The Grizzly(PGA) is the worst woodie I've ridden. While riding it you can't help but laugh at how crappy it is. They need to tear it down or do some major maintenance on it. Is it a clone of Grizzly at PKD?

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Steel: 1)MF, 2)Goliath, 3)Magnum
Wood: 1)Villain, 2)Beast, 3)Roar(SFMW)

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For reals. Grizzly is crap. It was somewhat decent when it first opened. Then again, I was 10, so any coasters were good. I noticed you are a Roar fan too. The Grizzly definitely has no "Roar" to it. I heard someone saying that they called it Roar to go against the Grizzly, since it was the first all new ride built at SFMW to compete with PGA. If you want good lumber in Norcal, Roar and Giant Dipper are the way to go. They should tear the Grizzly down and sell commemerative toothpicks at the gift shop. They might actually make a profit.

*** This post was edited by BassHedz on 7/20/2002. ***

Grizzly at PGA is certainly not the best woodie out there, and NorCal woodie-lovers certainly have better places to get a woodie-fix, but the worst wooden coaster still operating is about a 5-hour drive south. I had ridden Psyclone before and thought it was also "sub-par". Then came the last trip out, for the Con....I never thought any wooden coaster should be destroyed, never will, but Psyclone IS clearly in laughably bad shape...it may be beyond repair.....the trains are AWFUL, it bangs and bounces without any real speed. It's the coaster I wish that I had never known about..... Grizzly, OTOH, could be saved with a reasonable amount of retracking/reprofiling....

Wow, talking about Big Chiefs turns into a Grizzly topic. I just have to say, Cyclops doesn't really have all that much air. I got none on the ride, until the last drop. Last drop, it's insane, more intense than RB's first drop back seat and Demon first drop back seat combine. That drop alone is worth a trip from more than 300 miles away (I'm lucky, live only 100 miles away, but would try to go once a year if I lived in Florida, just for that drop.) Unfortunatly, it's (litterally) overshadowed by Zeus, also a great ride with abundant airtime.

The main reason there are no lines there, I think, is because of the park's location and it's main draw. It draws people in for go-karts. The coasters are just an added bonus (the best added bonus to anything ever!) Also, it's in the middle of the tourist trap capitol of Wisconsin, so there are so many things to do, people usually don't spend more than 4 hours at the same place, unless Noah's Ark (which sucks, IMO.)

Is there any way to get to Big Chiefs by public transport? I'm going to be in Chicago (with no car and don't feel like renting one) and can get up to Milwaukee quite easily. Form there it looks pretty grim though...

For person to say one coaster has the most airtime is missinformed. Unless he has ridden each coaster of the type on more than one day.

Moosh is right in the instance about Shivering Timbers, Catch this on a cool evening and your out of your seat about 80% of the time excluding the lifthill. This coaster is almost unbelievable when running right and I am envious of STchick for having about 550 more laps on it than me :)

I can tell you one thing I know for certain, SROS at SFNE has several places of great and forceful airtime but ST still beats it by a long shot on Total airtime.

Chuck, who just rode Raven again yesterday and this coaster will not let go without a fight. (Meaning yes, I ride some other coasters that I think are better ECT but every time I ride Raven it's my #1 again)

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Charles Nungester
Lesourdsville Lake, The great American amusement park opens the season June 6th Thurs-Sun every week. Park phone is (513)539-2193

Ive ridden both of those coasters and have to say they dont get the attention they both deserve.There awesome smooth, great air, bunny hops, and everything you could ask for.

*** This post was edited by SFOT RULES on 7/20/2002. ***

I have never realy heard about the famous Zeus & Cyclops at Big Chief untill I made my first visit to Big Chief last season to check them out. Boy was I glad I made a stop. Lots of air time on both not to mention you get 2laps for the price of one :) along with major air time in the back seats. Can anyone name any other park were you can get 2laps instead of 1 without stopping in the station?

I'm going on a coaster trip this weekend and Big Chief is the 1st stop ;). 2nd visit.

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Valleyfair Security 2002! 8Years working at Valleyfair :)! 10Parks in 2002 so far ;)!

Do we have a comprehensive list of the top wooden coasters in the USA? I've not had the opportunity to ride a lot of them (The Beast, Son of Beast are my two favorites, along with Blue Streak), and I'd really like to make an effort and get more of those great wooden coasters under my belt! I'd love to hear some suggestions. I'm in central Texas now, but I do travel, so I'd like to hear what the top woodies are ...

I might buy one of those toothpicks so that every time I ride a bad coaster I can reflect on the crappiness of the Grizzly, which would make me feel better about the ride I just rode. By the way the Giant Dipper is one of my favorites especially at night.

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Steel: 1)MF, 2)Goliath, 3)Magnum
Wood: 1)Villain, 2)Beast, 3)Roar(SFMW)

The Boss is also faster, by 8 mph according to rcdb. Although I haven't been to Big Chiefs, I have heard a lot about these coasters from this site. They have definately gotten their share of praise and jeers for the size of the park. There are others out there that are hardly even mentioned (Megazeph, Excalibur at Funtown, Sky Princess, anything at Adventureland, anything in Arkansas, etc.)

The Comet at Hershey Park is a pretty good woodie. How come no one ever brings up the Mean Streak at Cedar Point? Granted, from what I hear it is not GhostRider but it is still pretty friggin big and fast. I didn't care for the Blue Streak all that much. It was designed by the same people that did The Comet at Hershey but it seemed rather tame with a rough handling. That is just my thought though.

First off while I think "Da Playa" is off his gourd for having it #1 Cyclops does indeed rock. I actually think that the Ravine Drop is better than the infamous 5th Hill on Raven (except of course when Raven is running in Insane Mode (TM))

But Zeus was a very nothing coaster IMO. There was only one part that I thought was cool and that was a very tiny bunny hill after the turnaround. And by the very laws of physics I do not understand how they made the claim that Zeus was ever the fastest woodie in the midwest. 85' drop v. 147' drop. YOU work through the equation.
lata,
jeremy
--who notes that American Eagle is NOT a Cedar Fair big wood and is thus NOT trimmed on the first hill :)

I was jst checking out pics of these rides yesterday. They do look very very fun/exciting. My only problem with woodies is that almost every one has something special and makes it my number 1 woodie. So far The Beast, Son of Beast, Raven, Legend, Cornball and Screechin Eagle are my #1 woodies. Each something special and different. These look like they may add to my list when I ride em. Now I gotta firgure out when I can get there. ;)

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Kara owes me two cookies. hmmmmm cookies.

How come I never see anything about the Comet at Waldameer, sure it's a 37 foot woodie, yes 37 feet, but it has some speed and some excitement for little ones, also it's pretty smooth all in out for a 1957 coaster, I mean you can some fun while on this "beast" lol

Since it's come up, anyone going to PKI/Cincinnati area had BETTER find a little time to head over to Americana (GAAPALL, whatever)......Screechin' Eagle is amazing! For an OLD coaster, the air on the way out is nice and fun, but after the turnaround, you need to be a thrill-seeker, and you have to "Dare To Fly"......

bill, SO happy we found a day to go during our trip, and had the good fortune to watch them finish testing and take on the first trainload since the re-opening....

I have lived in Southern California all my life, and I never knew that there was an old wooden coaster in San Diego. Since becoming an enthusiast, I have made the trip a few times to ride the Belmont Giant Dipper, and it is really fun. It may not be up there with Raven, Timbers or Phoenix, but better than the current wood at SFMM!

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Nothing... NOTHING... can prepare you for... the Fourth Dimension!