Coaster Enthusiasts!

[HACKr]

Anyone on GTP a roller coaster enthusiast?

 

[el flexo]

love coasters, and have been on alot of em actually, i love kraken at sea world!

 

[HACKr]

SROS is my local hypercoaster, and I've ridden it plenty.

I need to ride KingdaKa.

 

[F1GTR]

I've ridden Colossus and Nemesis Inferno at Thorpe Park. Sadly, I couldn't ride Stealth since a wheel fell off!

 

[FERGU$_MANERGU$]

i love all the coasters at six flags st.louis

 

[FastEddie12]

I thought this was a thread about those little mats you put your glass on! I'm about to turn 40, so I thought that it might be the sort of thing I should be enthusiastic about. 💡

But this looks like much more fun!! Went to Alton Towers last year, thought Air was brilliant, but some of them are too short (Oblivion? I think that's the name...). The Corkscrew is still a blast, as is the black hole but they're 20 years old now. Can't remember the names of the others, but it's a good day out.

But the best in the world has to be The Nurburgring

 

[Specialized]

I love the things! I went to thorpe park this weekend and it was great, Colossus and Nemesis inferno were great but stealth took the prize of the day.

The thing does 0-80 in 2.3 seconds and is 205ft high! It is the scaryist but also the most adrenaline pumping ride i ever been on.

I spoke to my friends who went on the ride with me and none of us can actually remember getting to the top! From a standstill you are shot to 80 miles an hour then you go up at big ramp, you suddenly realise your at the top and its really peacefull and you kinda experience weightless-ness for a seconds then you come hurtling down 205ft of track and back around to where you start.

10/10 from me!!

heres a little animation of the ride i found

http://www.thorpepark.co.uk/explore_the_park/stealth/stealth_animation.asp?css=2

the ride is about a million times better/worse (depending on your view) than that animation looks!

Spec....

 

[F1GTR]

I'm still pretty pissed off I couldn't go on it. Summer holidays maybe. 👍

 

[Leechy]

I love Air at Alton Towers but the best has to be Rita Queen of Speed heard its 0-100 mph in 2.5 seconds its the best ride I've ever been on its awesome

 

[Max_DC]

The last one I rode was right in the middle of Tokyo.
Tokyo Dome

Really awesome, especially at night, since you have a nice view over Tokyo. The ride is not very long, but from what I can tell the speed is insane, at least the first big downhill section.

 

[MagpieRacer]

Colossus, Nemesis and Stealth at Thorpe park for me, No way out counts maybe? Backwards rollercoaster in pitch black, great fun!

Going to Florida next year so gonna ride some more there

 

[F1GTR]

No Way Out is pretty disorientating. It was the only ride that made me feel like I was still on it hours later.

 

[FoolKiller]

Holy crap, how did I miss this thread? I am a coaster junkie.

I try to get to Cedar Point at least once a year with my dad, although many times it is every other year. We get a two day pass to fully enjoy the experience. I go early in the year (usually the first Monday of the season) so that all the schools are still in. That makes it easy to ride repeatedly without waiting.

My all-time favorite has to still be Magnum XL-200. It is so smooth and fun! When we went in May my dad and I figured that we had ridden this ride over 100 times now. We get in at least 10 rides every year, once we did ten in a row as well as some spread out through the day and the next day.
Millenium Force comes in a very close second. The 300 ft hill and 93 mph speeds are amazing. I love whipping through the overbanked curves and nailing some awesome air time. We have started the ten rides per year on this one too as the lines are finally calming down after six years.
No one can take anything away from Top Thrill Dragster. I know Kingda Ka is bigger and has a bunny hill, but it was not the original. TTD was. The thought of going 120 mph in four seconds gets the adrenaline pumping before it even starts. You already feel your heart rate and your breath increase and then when it launches the G forces make it nearly impossible to breathe at all. Hopefully you sucked in before it launched. Then after the acceleration you grab your breath right as you launch into the vertical climb, staring at clouds and then you turn 90 degrees and peak the hill. You nearly stop and wonder if you will make it all the way (I have seen it fall back down backwards), but then your momentum carries you just enough and suddenly you are staring straight down 420 feet at the ground. Just as you grasp the idea of your height you begin your 270 degree spin and then finish your fall and level out. It is a huge rush. Last visit we did this five times. The cable system is a technical nightmare (Kingda Ka is even worse from what I hear) and to ride more would mean spending half your trip waiting.

Those are my favorites, but I also love the inverted coaster Raptor and the stand-up coaster Mantis. Those will spin and flip you like crazy.

Locally we have Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom which has a slightly bigger stand-up coaster, Chang, but I don't like it as much because the vertical Gs are so strong that you feel your legs tingle from the blood rush. It is unsettling. It actually made my sister-in-law black out. The rest of the park is nearly carnival-like because they are so small.

So far this year I have done Cedar Point and Kentucky Kingdom. I am hoping to get Paramount's Kings Island, which has an awesome indoor LIM coaster, and Holiday World to try out their new record breaking wooden coaster Voyager.

In a couple of years my wife and I are planning a full-fledged Disneyworld trip to hit all four parks and then if we still have any money left try and get Universal Studios and Busch Gardens.

Someday I will get up to Six Flags Great Adventure and try out Kingda Ka and let you guys know if it is worth it or if you are just better off going to Cedar Point with their record 16 coasters.

All the CP coasters I linked above have POV videos in Quicktime so you can see what it looks like to ride them.

For a good site to check out the coaster stats and pics check out RollerCoaster Database or RCDB.

Also, another good thing for coaster fanatics is the RollerCoaster Tycoon games. I play RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 almost as much as GT4. Those two games take up about 90% of my video game time. RCT3 is awesome because you get to ride your coaster after you build it. You can even make videos to show off to others. You do need a 3D graphics capable card though. If you don't have that RCT2 is still a blast to play.

OK, I think I have rambled on about coasters enough for now.

 

[Slick Rick]

Yea, i really liked Colossus and Nemesis Inferno too. I think i went on Colossus 4 times in one day because England were playing in Euro 2004 and the ques were non existent. I must go back to Thorpe Park and try Stealth one day.....

 

[FoolKiller]

Are rollercoasters a big thing in the UK? I just notice that most people on rollercoaster sites and on some RollerCoaster Tycoon sites, and even in this thread, are mostly British.

This always strikes me as odd considering that the US has the biggest and fastest of everything and Cedar Fair and Six flags are currently in a coaster war.

By the way, a coaster war is always an awesome thing to be caught in the middle of.

 

[HACKr]

Our site: http://www.freewebs.com/coastercrazy4evr/

 

[Specialized]

Are rollercoasters a big thing in the UK?

Rollercoasters are a realtively big thing but they are no where near the scale that you guys have in america. just a couple of post above i was talking about the new ride in the uk stealth - 0-80 2.3 secs and 205 foot high, then you smash that with a 120mph 400ft high version of the same thing. I so need to get my backside over to america....... i must remember to bring ALOT of spare underwear though!!!

Spec....

 

[MagpieRacer]

Saw this new Everest ride on a website a few weeks ago, looked so cool, set on an everest lookalike mountain thing, it started off gently with some small hills then went up a hill inside the mountain, went down a hill then up another one to what seemed like broken track, it stopped, then went backwards down a different path and so on, loooked so dam cool!

http://jamie.scottandjamie.com/everest1.jpg

And for the americans who havnt seen many English roller coasters heres some pics of them.

Nemesis inferno:

http://www.parkfunworld.be/dossier/tech/Nemesis_Inferno_2.JPG

Colossus:

http://cimg.163.com/abroad/0407/21/Colossus/5.jpg
http://www.esatclear.ie/~bannister/autoimgs/thrp_cls.jpg

Stealth:

http://www.rcdb.com/pictures/picmax/thorpe-park/unknown14.jpg

Rita queen of speed:
http://www.coaster-net.com/pics/altontowers/rita04_park.jpg
http://www.towerstimes.co.uk/rides/ugland/rita6.jpg

Pepsi max:

http://www.picturesofengland.com/pictures/500/Blackpool_Pleasure_Beach_1117638022.gif

Nemsis (original at Alton towers):
http://members.aol.com/y2coasters/nemesis.jpg
http://www.orlandofun.de/nemesis/nemesispan.jpg

And heres some other random but awsome rides

Rush:
http://www.joylandbooks.com/newsimages/rushthorpe.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/30/46498822_39543e09c0.jpg

Slammer:
http://www.play-and-stay.co.uk/images/playandstay/tho_slam.jpg
http://www.themeparksofengland.com/reviews/thorpepark/tn_slammer2.jpg

Samurai:
http://www.s115142501.websitehome.co.uk/IMAG0124.JPG
http://hometown.aol.com/misspunk16989/images/samuraitp.jpg

Tidal wave:
http://www.themeparks-uk.com/files/tidalbig.jpg
http://dave.lab6.com/acid/albums/thorpepark/thorpe_036.sized.jpg

No way out:
http://www.parkfunworld.be/database/grande_photos/X-wayout.jpg

 

[FoolKiller]

then you smash that with a 120mph 400ft high version of the same thing. I so need to get my backside over to america....... i must remember to bring ALOT of spare underwear though!!!

Spec....

Do it in early May and I'll ride it with you.

There isn't a more satisfying sight after a six hour drive.

It does look intimidating, doesn't it?

But the view is excellent. Too bad you only get to see it for a few seconds.

EDIT: I nearly forgot. Cedar Point is building a new coaster right now. When I was there in May they were already pulling the footers from the old log flume ride and putting in new ones. Since then red track pieces have been seen on site and they appear to be Intamin, which means it will be big. Rumor is it will be taller than KingDa Ka, but is going to use a traditional lift hill. If this actually happens it will also have to be the longest rollercoaster ever.

All Cedar Point will say is that they will have a new ride open spring of 2007. This coaster war has led to some heavy duty secrecy. You can't even tour the factories where they build the track pieces.

 

[F1GTR]

King Da Ka looks safer than Stealth. Stealth has cables holding it up!

 

[FoolKiller]

King Da Ka looks safer than Stealth. Stealth has cables holding it up!

It does? I can't see them (cables) in the pictures. It might be this crappy monitor at work. I get my old desk and monitor back sometime today.

Of course, you have to realize that KDK and TTD are also more than twice as high as Stealth. They need more supports. I will admit I was surpised to see no central support on Stealth.


I have some pics my dad took from Cedar Point this past year. I am going to try and get them online tonight so you can see what it looks like from a guest point of view and not the promotional shots.

 

[F1GTR]

I can't see them on this screen, but in real life they are easily visible.

 

[FoolKiller]

As promised my pictures from Cedar Point this past May. I uploaded them all into an Imageshack Photoblog.

http://img374.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=10007509gw.jpg

I am kind of upset after looking through these to realize that my dad managed to miss getting a shot of what I believe to be one of Cedar Points cooler planned midway elements, the Corkscrew doing a corkscrew over the midway walking paths. So I went out and found one.

 

[HACKr]

Six Flags is selling Magic Mountain.

 

[FoolKiller]

Six Flags is selling Magic Mountain.

Sounds like it. I have only been to Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom, but if their efforts to keep rowdy teens out are anything like they do here then I can understand the smaller crowds. At KK they have metal detectors and security guards wanding you when you first enter the gates. It went off on me and the guard was determined that it couldn't be my metal watch and made me empty all my pockets and wand me again and then run it back and forth over my watch just to be sure. It is a very negative way to enter the park. They would probably do better with visible patrolling security guards. I've seen that at other parks and it doesn't bother me as much as getting harrassed for wearing a metal watch does.

Now I don't know why they are selling Magic Mountain. I would figure that and Great Adventure would be their two biggest parks.

This really doesn't bode well since Cedar Fair just bought all the Paramount Parks and have been experiencing good numbers. It would be ironic if Cedar Fair bought up these six parks as well.

I think Six Flags might be in trouble and this could be an early sign that the coaster war is going to take its toll. Instead of trying to be bigger and better with one over-priced coaster they could probably have done moderate improvements all over instead of things like this as a way to try and improve their park.

Of course, they could have much bigger issues that just aren't being mentioned.

 

[SRV2LOW4ME]

Foolkiller - Great pics, I can't wait to go back to Cedar Point either this year or next. I love how the rides there seem to fly you around the people walking around instead of take you through a field or just over water like at other places. 👍

 

[FoolKiller]

Foolkiller - Great pics, I can't wait to go back to Cedar Point either this year or next. I love how the rides there seem to fly you around the people walking around instead of take you through a field or just over water like at other places. 👍

I agree. I love walking through a tunnel and having Millenium Force fly by overhead or having Corkscrew flip upside down directly over you.

The only exception to this is Magnum but with all the bunny hills and that awesome turnaround it does it doesn't really have a lot of play room around other objects.

I used to work at Kentucly Kingdom for a summer during high school and we had to shut down a ride if anyone had to walk around under it for any reason and then when I went to Cedar Point I couldn't believe how often the guests were led in and around the rides. It definitely makes it more exciting as you wait in line.

 

[MagpieRacer]

http://www.parkfunworld.be/coasterdumois/2004/gravitymax.htm

May be in French but the pics say it all.....Tilt coaster....

 

[GM]

Coasters I've ridden


The Big Dipper
Big Pepsi Max

A few others that I can't remember the names of.

 

[F1GTR]

That tilt coaster looks fun... But at the same time it's a bit dangerous!