Wood coasters will always be my favorite
Could you explain this? I'm not a connoisseur or anything but I've been to my share of parks growing up, and I remember even the newer/well-maintained wooden coasters always being a rickety crapfest that left me with a sore neck and back. Couldn't enjoy the actual ride because there was so much bumping, etc. But I know of other people who share your opinion. Just curious.
-J
Not speaking for Cable, but the best wooden roller coasters tend to be my favorite as well. It's usually because if they are done well, there is much more of a focus on fast hills, drops, and airtime, which are my favorite aspects of coasters. Yes, some rides are terrible because they are too rough and painful, e.g. the Mean Streak at Cedar Point.
But some of the best wooden coasters are some of the coasters in general, e.g. El Torro and The Voyage.
Pretty much what Implode said! For distinction purposes, I refer to wood rides as having square shaped rails. Rides such as The Beast, The Cyclone, The Phoenix and so on are wood rides. Something like the Gemini at Cedar Point has a wood structure, but actual runs on steel rails. Because wood rides in general are not super high, nor generally have no inversions, the focus is indeed on those the drops, hills and turns. If you look at the enthusiast favourites, wood and steel, and the overall opinion, you will see a focus on negative G's aka "Airtime" as Implode noted. Using Cedar Point again, look at Millennium Force. That ride is consistently rated #1 or near the top of Golden Ticket's awards. It is very much wood inspired- all drops, speed and turns. Even better, the Magnum XL-200 at CP (my favorite there). It is out and back design, and all about hills. Out and back is a classic design, done in the days of wooden only rides. The ride actually isn't designed the best, so it is actually rough like a wooden ride.
I like the aggressive nature- call me a sadist or something. It also scares others away. But there is nothing better to me than a quick, sometimes unpredictable run through a wood structure. To that end, the traditional wood track never produces the same exact ride twice, as the train has more room to bounce around. A steel ride stays glued precisely to the rails. Traditionally also, the restraints are not what they are now. Rides like Millennium Force and El Toro (I think) have more form fitting restraints. They used to have a bench seat, with a shared or simple bar restraint. A ride like the Blue Streak at CP at one time had a restraint like this, and then they put in a seat divider and individual restraints and seatbelts. To many I guess, that destroyed the ride.
On the issue of the Mean Streak, I actually rode that ride when it was full speed. Now the drop is trim braked, and really destroys the ride. On top of course of the painful nature. But when the ride was new, it was amazing. My guess is the structure itself is flawed, as they gutted the Texas Giant in SF:Texas as it was by the same designer. But I am no engineer.
Montu is the best inverted coaster I've been on. I'd say it's probably the best ever, but I haven't had the pleasure of going on Nemesis yet.
Same here. I want to make it out to BG:Williamsburg though, because Alpengeist is like the highest interverted B&M ride. Nemesis looks to be a true mastery of theming and natural features, which can make a ride so much better. Not the best analogy, but something like The Tower of Terror (WDW version) vs. Dr.Doom at Universal or another 200+ ft drop ride. ToT is usually a lot better because of all the stuff involved.