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Roller Coasters

ScarletKnight41 Aug 18 2006 09:48 AM

The Diamond Knights went to Great Adventure last night, and D-Dad and I rode El Toro for the first time. It's a very well constructed ride - probably the smoothest and certainly the fastest wooden roller coaster that I've ever ridden. While most wooden coasters have two major drops, this one had something like four or five (I lost count while I was screaming - lol), and it doesn't have the pauses or other cessation of motion that you get on a lot of roller coasters. If you're into roller coasters, El Toro is worth the trip. On Edit - Here's a [url=http://www.sixflags.com/parks/greatadventure/ParkPress/092805NewCapLeadRelease.html]press release[/url] about El Toro.

Willets Point Aug 21 2006 04:31 PM

Great Adventure had a cool ride in the 80's called the Ultra Twister that disappeared shortly after it was introduced (my guess it was difficult to maintain or insure). The track was all in a big tube and the car got put on it's back so that you went up an elevator looking straight at the sky. When you got to the top the car looped around and went straight down in a free fall the other way and the level-out into some horizontal loops. Then it went on another track and went backwards. It was a complex thing and the ride was pretty short, but it was cool. I'm surprised I've not seen a souped-up version of that anywhere.

OlerudOwned Aug 21 2006 06:21 PM

The smooth ride may be nice and all, but half the fun of the Cyclone is the feeling that it may turn to toothpicks under you at any second.

ScarletKnight41 Aug 21 2006 06:31 PM

OMG - I was never so fearful for my personal safety as I was the time I rode The Cyclone. It was in 1997 or 1998, IIRC. By that time I was very used to riding the coasters at Great Adventure, where you can sit back and brace yourself easily. So on the first drop I did that, and bumped the back of my head. For the second drop I overcompensated by leaning forward, and I bumped my nose on the lap bar. I was sure that I was going to come off of that thing bleeding. I really prefer the smooth ride - as scary as it was, at least I knew that I wasn't in physical danger.

MFS62 Aug 21 2006 08:37 PM

Roller coaster fans. Unless you don't like part of your admission money going to pay for a future St. Louis Cardinal free agent, you might want to check out the Busch Gardens near Williamsberg, Va. MMYF and I aren't roller coaster fans, but when we were there two years ago, they were boasting a lot of world-class coasters. Later

SteveJRogers Aug 21 2006 08:58 PM

MFS62 wrote: Roller coaster fans. Unless you don't like part of your admission money going to pay for a future St. Louis Cardinal free agent, you might want to check out the Busch Gardens near Williamsberg, Va. MMYF and I aren't roller coaster fans, but when we were there two years ago, they were boasting a lot of world-class coasters. Later A-B is long since out of the baseball business, no worries about funds being used for betterment of a ball club in Saint Louie

ScarletKnight41 Aug 21 2006 09:12 PM

The one wooden coaster that really did me in was The Texas Cyclone at Six Flags over Texas (in Arlington). It was a very rough ride, and my daughter and I were jostled around very roughly on it. Closer to home than Virginia, Great Adventure has built up a really great selection of coasters. Nitro is not wooden, but it has great drops like a wooden coaster, and Medusa is a great new generation coaster with loops, etc. D-Dad rode Kingda Ka last year - he enjoyed it, but I haven't brought myself to try it yet. Rolling Thunder was a state of the art wooden coaster when it first opened in 1979, and it's still a great ride (although I know one Crane Pooler who might disagree <g>). Batman, Batman and Robin, Superman and The Great American Scream Machine round out the list of great coasters at Great Adventure.

Willets Point Aug 21 2006 10:51 PM

MFS62 wrote: Roller coaster fans. Unless you don't like part of your admission money going to pay for a future St. Louis Cardinal free agent, you might want to check out the Busch Gardens near Williamsberg, Va. MMYF and I aren't roller coaster fans, but when we were there two years ago, they were boasting a lot of world-class coasters. Later The Loch Ness Monster is spiffy double-looping coaster that I like a lot, and the Big Bad Wolf is one of the first "hanging" coasters that even my scaredy-cat mom enjoyed. One summer at college a bunch of my friends and I got season's passes and went almost every night. We were going to pose for the instant photo on the Loch Ness Monster looking as if we were bored (playing with a magnetic chessboard, reading the Wall Street Journal, napping, etc) but never got around to it. They've installed some new coasters since I've left so I'll have to go back some day, maybe when I have kids.

Willets Point Aug 21 2006 10:53 PM

There is a modern wooden coaster at Hershey Park I liked a lot. Very fast for a wooden coaster with a pretty setting. I believe its called the Wildcat.

ScarletKnight41 Aug 21 2006 11:06 PM

I've been on the Wildcat - that's a good one!