X at SFMM

^ You never know with Arrow. TT at Dollywood was an amazing last-ditch effort. Everything but the last knee-bashing hop into the final brakes was fun. BBW is also great considering what other Arrows are like.

yeah, and so the story goes, Big Bad Wolf was designed by Schwarzkopf and engineered by people working for Intamin - though it still had the Arrow-Huss nameplate. Don't know where I heard that, but it was in several places and it's persisted for more than 20 years.

Love that Tennessee Tornado, though. Bigger inversions, wider curves. That's all it took.

I hate to disagree, but I thought X was a pretty cool coaster. Of course, not the smoothest I've ever been on, and it was uncomfortable at times, but for me, that added to the experience. One thing I do have to agree with, though:

"Best thing about X: shorter lines for Goliath, Riddler, Tatsu, Ninja..."

Yeah Lee I thought it was cool but just way too rough for fun.

The second half of the ride is a lot bumpier than the first.

this is the first thread where X gets major dissing in terms of it being a "bad coaster".
people were annoyed with the long lines, it always breaking down etc, but not with the ride itself.
i still think it should be great if you avoid the outside seats and ride somewhere in the middle of the train, but i have yet to have my first lap on it, ironically (i will go though within the next 2 weeks).
its still one of the milestones in coaster design after all.

---

Audioslaved said:
I think that it is a gimmick ride and I was highly disappointed riding this but, I now thinking back on it I should of expected the Arrow roughness, but I guess I had hope that it wouldnt be a typical Arrow.

---

How is X a gimmick ride? I don't believe you actually know what you're saying. It's probably the most technologically advanced engineering we've seen on a roller coaster in decades.

Stand-up coaster: Gimmick.

Floorless coaster: Gimmick.

Top Thrill Dragster/Kingda Ka: Gimmick.

X Gimmick!

I kinda see where Audioslaved is comming from about X being a gimmick. While I don't think a gimmick was the original intent of X, it seems to have turned out to be so. I mean, since it's opening, X has turned more into a visual landmark then a ride with all the clouseurs, and as people flock to the park to ride it, they realize all the ride is is either an idle bunch of steel or a 6 hour wait for a 3 minute ride. So while the purpose of X was to revolutionize the coaster riding experience, the result has left many disappointed, and I think it's the result that leaves Audioslaved to call it a gimmick.

Am I close Audioslaved? *** Edited 6/12/2007 2:01:15 PM UTC by Lee Grant*** *** Edited 6/12/2007 2:03:51 PM UTC by Lee Grant***

That is a fair assumption. I for one, totally wanted X to be the greatest thing ever. All I walked away with was a savage beating and killer headache.

this is the first thread where X gets major dissing in terms of it being a "bad coaster".

No, it's not. People have long been complaining of the ride's roughness.

Two definitions that I can find for "gimmick" are somewhat contradictory and probably adding unnecessarily to this *debate*.

1. an ingenious or novel device, scheme, or stratagem, esp. one designed to attract attention or increase appeal.

2. to equip or embellish with unnecessary features, esp. in order to increase salability, acceptance, etc. (often fol. by up): to gimmick up a sports car with chrome and racing stripes.

kRaX is thinking along the lines of definition 2 making X sound like a needless complication that draws attention (i.e., "all hat, no cowboy").

Looking at the other posters' responses, it looks like most other people are going with definition 1, which IMO is way closer to the reality of X. It is a *spectacular* innovation, and for me at least, TOTALLY changed the way I saw rollercoasters. I love *and* hate the ride - but is it truly "radical"? Oh, yeah, it's a whole new WORLD of riding. It still needs further modifications and tweaking (the new train increasing capacity is a HUGE step in the right direction, for instance). But regardless of how enjoyable or rough you perceive the ride (both, IMO), Schilke deserves an incredible heaping helping of praise for turning the entire coaster world upside-down.

(... to make the long story short)

I had three laps on X yesterday, in rows 2 and 5 - the ride is run efficiently but shakes+jerks terribly.
The best ride was in row 5 inside seat.
The jerking behavior was not consistent from ride to ride.

The layout itself is magnificient - the elements are fantastic, some of them pure genius (first drop, flying section after first raven turn, and of course the last raven turn) but the shaking and roughness is unbearable and is worse than most Vekoma SLCs at times. (it keeps you "fighting" with the coaster the entire time)
X in this state is not the revelation it deserves to be - the jolts are mostly back-front vibrations when the seat motion starts/stops.
Especially the last raven turn and the half-half before the breaks were hard to like.
I had my head banged seriously several times and both my lower legs hurt all day after the second ride.
(luckily, no bruises developed though).
*** Edited 6/26/2007 12:58:18 AM UTC by superman***

If you don't want your legs banged, just put them up. They don't bang than.

Wow. I'm sorry to hear about your experience. Maybe we just had a good two rides when we were there. I'm notorious for hating rough coasters and I didn't think X was rough at all for me. We rode in the back once and the front once. Both times were about the same. Viper knocked me around ten times more than X did. I guess X isn't very consistent with rides.

But so, will bracing your head up from the headrest prevent the headbanging or not??

---

Peabody said:
That is a fair assumption. I for one, totally wanted X to be the greatest thing ever. All I walked away with was a savage beating and killer headache.

---

Oh same here. I only got *THAT* headache after the second time. My first reaction was "WTF......was......THAT???" ;)

-Tina

I've ridden on X 3 times (twice during a visit in 2003 & and once more in 2004). It is my favorite coaster. I've never had a rough ride or unpleasant experience. I was blown away and very satisfied each time. Each ride was in an outside seat in either row 2, 4, or 5. I'm hoping I don't experience the roughness/ headbanging that people are whining about the next time I visit!

Hm.. really strange, it seems to be really different for different people.
I suspect it comes down to a tuning problem with the trains. They are really running the ride now one train every 1.5-3 minutes all day, so the stress level on all parts of the ride is definitely up from the way they ran it in 2003/4.

Small tidbit, kinda thought it belonged here...

In the nice pile of junkmail today, I get an ad from SFMM - "For every 10 tickets bought, get one free". TEN? Really? Shapiro comes from a LARGE family, huh?

But anyway, on this nice glossy color ad, the following attractions are mentioned and shown. Written about: Tatsu, Bugs Bunny World, Batman Begins Stunt Show, fireworks, Hurricane Harbor. (Sounds good, all the *family* stuff and the big new coaster). Pictured: Kids at play on a beach (HH), Tatsu, and and S&S tower (conveniently located in SoCal next to some flat heavily-wooded land, LOL).

We always like a good laugh like the S&S tower (looks like it's a S:TOP, maybe oT's). But I guess I find it weird that promo stuff coming out of SFMM would *completely* fail to mention the star attraction, X. Maybe that bridge was just burned too often by poor capacity, enormous downtimes, and its (relative) age? Can't really proclaim "five hour waits now down to less than two", can you? ;)

Anyhow....good deal on tickets, even if you're not buying them by the dozen. $25/day. That's right, $25 gets you into SFMM. The $17.50 figure on HH seems almost "pricey" by comparison, LOL. Much more in line with what other waterparks charge, anyway. Seriously, that's a little more than a THIRD of a day-ticket to DL, right?