Wooden coasters

[dreamworld_rulz]

(fingers crossed for GCI woodie )

Woodies suck. They are crap. Edited October 17, 2007 by dreamworld_rulz

[djsupersleuth]

Woodies suck. They are crap.

That's a bold statement.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

This discussion has been done before, with overwhelming statements playing to the majority being woodies rock, but also that those who said straight out "woodies suck" generally hadn't ridden a proper one. Living in melbourne, and with dreamworld as his favourite park, this 34 year old victorian is just talking through his rear end, as usual. Back your statement up with some fact, or shut up.

[dreamworld_rulz]

This discussion has been done before, with overwhelming statements playing to the majority being woodies rock, but also that those who said straight out "woodies suck" generally hadn't ridden a proper one. Living in melbourne, and with dreamworld as his favourite park, this 34 year old victorian is just talking through his rear end, as usual. Back your statement up with some fact, or shut up.

Listen here. I've ridden a few woodies and believe me THEY SUCK. Just because i live in Victoria doesn't mean jack****. EDIT : What's my age got to do with it BTW? Edited October 18, 2007 by dreamworld_rulz

[lisalila]

but also that those who said straight out "woodies suck" generally hadn't ridden a proper one. Living in melbourne, and with dreamworld as his favourite park, this 34 year old victorian is just talking through his rear end, as usual. Back your statement up with some fact, or shut up.

Lol he's a Victorian so he automatically has never ridden woodies before? lovely. You have no idea if he's ridden any woodies (which he has) so take a dose of your own medicine and get your facts right before you post. Edited October 18, 2007 by lisalila

[Richard]

What wooden coasters have you ridden dreamworld_rulz?

[dreamworld_rulz]

The Bushbeast at Wonderland. Plus the small one (can't remember the name) Scenic Railway at LPM. Plus a few more. BTW Alex. What is classed as a "proper one" A woodie is a woodie regardless how long the ride is and where it is.

[Gazza]

Ok, we'll narrow it down, what wooden coasters outside Australia have you ridden?

A woodie is a woodie regardless how long the ride is and where it is.

You are lumping everything into one basket. Thats a bit like saying Corkscrew and a Dragon Wagon Coaster are both the same because they are made of steel. But clearly corkscrew is a lot more exciting. What the ride is made of has nothing to do with it, its the track layout that matters. So yes length does matter, because longer rides are normally taller and faster and do more, and where it is does matter because if a good park builds a woodie, its going to turn out better than if a poor park tries to build one.

and believe me THEY SUCK

I wont believe you at all! I have ridden more wooden coasters than you, and I have ridden good ones, not ones that were built 95 years ago (Scenic Railway) or whatever. Edited October 18, 2007 by Gazza

[mickey_079]

Dreamworld don't judge them till you have ridden Ghost rider and the colossal and similar woodies (big ones) Bush beast wasnt the best woodie out the but it still sure was a fun ride. I wouldn't class the one at LP a TRUE woodie, look at its age, its lift mechanism, and well its basically a scenic ride not a thrill ride which most woodies are intended for. Those "other" woodies you have ridden, what are they?

[nev]

The Bushbeast at Wonderland. Plus the small one (can't remember the name) Scenic Railway at LPM. Plus a few more. BTW Alex. What is classed as a "proper one" A woodie is a woodie regardless how long the ride is and where it is.

Ok, so excluding the LPM one which is more Scenic Railway than true wooden coaster, you've been on one 'real' wooden coaster. So the comment you are making can be said to be the same as someone who has ridden Lethal Weapon as their only steel coaster, and then makes a post saying "Steel is Crap". How can you even think of making a bold statement that includes a generalisation for a few thousand coasters? I've ridden about 50 around the world, and I think I'm in a position to safely say that wooden coaster quality differs significantly more than steel coaster quality. You can get some truly woeful wooden coasters, but others give a ride experience that in my opinion beats the hell out of the majority of steel coasters. When you say "plus a few more" - what are they? You don't forget, or if you have just tell us where you've travelled and it won't be hard to work out. To make a statement like that just screams ignorance to everyone on this board who have ridden any significant number of woodies. A more suitable post might have been "I rode the Bush Beast and thought it was crap - is this the same experience for all woodies?" - That would have at least provoked some intelligent discussion. I honestly think that so many fights start on here because people make massive generalisations and think they are a world authority on coasters, when it turns out they've been on one, two, or even only a handful of actual rides, and often none in Australia.

[Richard]

A woodie is a woodie regardless how long the ride is and where it is.

OK, you've ridden three wooden coasters. One of which is nearing 100 years old and a whole different breed to what coasters are today. The Beastie is a 35 year old children's coaster design. Bush Beast is a 25 year old design and widely regarded as a rather poor example of a wooden coaster. None of these three rides were/are maintained the way that wooden coasters are meant to be. In the past decade or so wooden coaster technology has advanced tremendously. Wooden coasters pre- and post-1990 almost can't be compared because so much changed in the 90s. Your claims are totally baseless given that you have absolutely no experience with modern wooden coasters.

[dreamworld_rulz]

Well in that case. I rest my case. BTW I've never been outside Australia.

[mickey_079]

Plus a few more.

Fair enough. Just one question, what and where are these other few in Australia? Please don't lie to try and win an argument.

[Gazza]

The wooden mad mouse at the Show ?

[dreamworld_rulz]

Fair enough. Just one question, what and where are these other few in Australia? Please don't lie to try and win an argument.

Can't remember where but i know I've ridden a few. It's not about winning an argument. Alex mentioned my age and location and stated that i hadn't ridden a "proper" one. Well i came here and said what i had ridden. As far as I'm concerned I've answered his post. So to me the debate is dead and buried.

[Gazza]

Ok the only wooden coasters currently operating in Australia are: Scenic Railway (Luna Park Melbourne) Mad Mouse (RAS Showgrounds) Wild Mouse (Aussie World) Wild Mouse (Luna Park Sydney) Defunct wooden coasters are: Big Dipper (Luna Park Sydney) Closed in 1979 Big Dipper (Luna Park Melbourne) Closed in 1989 Bush Beast (Wonderland) Closed in 2004 Beastie (Wonderland) Closed in 2004 Old Version Wild Mouse (Luna Park Sydney) 1979 (There was another wooden coaster in sydney, but it closed in 1911) Those are the only possible ones you could have been on. IMO the wild mouses which make up a large chunk of what we have/had dont really count because when people refer to 'woodies" they are talking about a larger scale ride with banked turns, trains rather than individual cars, open layouts etc.

Edited October 18, 2007 by Gazza

[dreamworld_rulz]

Well there u go.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Listen here. I've ridden a few woodies and believe me THEY SUCK. Just because i live in Victoria doesn't mean jack****. EDIT : What's my age got to do with it BTW?

Age? nothing. I just would have thought somebody of your age would be able to come up with a more intellectual argument than "woodies suck"

The Bushbeast at Wonderland. Plus the small one (can't remember the name) Scenic Railway at LPM. Plus a few more. BTW Alex. What is classed as a "proper one" A woodie is a woodie regardless how long the ride is and where it is.

The rest of the discussion has been played out so I won't go on any further with this. Needless to say, as an example of how long \ where it is \ what it's made of - Thunderbolt was very long, on the gold coast, and made of steel, in comparison to Superman Escape, which is reasonably short, on the gold coast, and made of steel. I'm sure most would agree that SE was a much better coaster. In regards to a "proper one" I think this has been covered before by others - as above, so theres no need to continue to rehash on it.

Lol he's a Victorian so he automatically has never ridden woodies before? lovely. You have no idea if he's ridden any woodies (which he has) so take a dose of your own medicine and get your facts right before you post.

Lisa, I think you need to read my post a bit more before you post. I know you guys are victorian also. let me cover a few things here: 1) there was no mass generalisation about victorians 2) I did have a very good idea about whether he had ridden woodies or not 3) I also had a very good idea that if his favourite park was dreamworld, chances are he hadn't been overseas, and could only have ridden the woodies as listed above.

[downunder]

Having ridden a large number of woodies this year, I thought I might be qualified to comment. 1. There has never been a decent woodie in Australia, though I was too young to remember what the Sydney Luna Park original Big Dipper was like, so it's hard to judge woodies on Australian ones. 2. GCI woodies are great, if Kentucky Rumbler was any indication of their quality. 3. Intamin Pre-fabricated woodies like El Toro are unbelievable. 4. Woodies can suck if they were badly designed and/or not well maintained. 5. Woodies can be great if they are well maintained and were well designed, even if the are old, Phoenix at Knoebels was originally built in 1948 and that is still great by all reports.

[Churros]

I think the problem with some of these discussions is that people make statements like, "We need a woodie" when a wooden coaster does include a whole heap of pie coasters that have been built made out of wood (such as the ones at Wonderland). I think what the fella at the top of this topic did well was state what type of wooden coaster they would rather see. When people make suggestions for other forms of coasters people say what type they are after. EG: I would like to see them build a GIGA. Rather than saying Movieworld should build a steel coaster out the back of their park... and so on and so forth. It is just a case of making a distinction, because let's face it, by saying a woodie, you mean a coaster built from wood and this includes all wooden coasters. If you mean a woodie with pre-fabricated track say it. And as I said, at the top of this discussion, this was done, so perhaps some of the pre-dispositions against these kinds of coasters could be premature. That being said, I too am a culprit of jumping to conclusions based on the wooden coasters I have ridden. Personally, I would still not rather see them install a wooden coaster anytime soon, but wouldn't mind regardless - if it is a good ride, with decent theming and cost effective, I would be content with that. EDIT: I think I am refering to Gazza - the one who said we should get a GCI Woodie to spark this discussion.

Edited October 19, 2007 by Churros

[Richard]

They're different styles of rides, but it's hardly the same as not differentiating between a B&M standup coaster and an Intamin hyper (for instance) when talking about "steel coasters". All the major wooden coaster manufacturers build very high quality rides. I don't think anyone who'd like to see a wooden coaster at an Australian park would be opposed to anything built by any of these companies.

[Churros]

^Yeah, but I just meant that in some cases the idea of a woodie conjurs up memories of those at Wonderland for those who have not visited international parks. And rather than just saying woodie (which includes those) people could give reference to a particular type of woodie they'd like to see.

[Gold Coaster]

Definitely a GCI woodie. "Queensland Rumbler" anyone? Or something like Voyage (Gravity Group) going through woods with a heap of airtime hills, tight cornering and the like:

Edited October 19, 2007 by Tony Teulan

[mickey_079]

^ Hmm I'm getting the feeling that may be a banked curve lol. Thats bloody awesome!

[jcgoldcoast]

Thats NINTY DEGREES!