What makes a good ride?

[themagician]

It may not be the most comfortable ride, but I find Cyclone even worse. AA must be more comfortable than Lethal Weapon was (I never got a chance to ride it before the change)

[Gary86]

AA is way more comfortable then LW. With LW I was glad when it was over but I do enjoy AA.

[Reanimated35]

AA must be more comfortable than Lethal Weapon was (I never got a chance to ride it before the change)

Then what makes you so sure?

[themagician]

Then what makes you so sure?

I've heard people say and some mates have said. It was something to do with the things that were on either side of your head.

[Jobe]

And seriously Cyclone being overtly uncomfortable? I have never had an issue with Cylcone's trains- they are probably one of the best things on the ride!

[joz]

^^ I'll concede the harness does get uncomfortably tight. For my tastes though, the tightness isn't for long enough to make me prefer the old trains and the head banging they brought. That's my opinion and anyone who disagrees is wrong .

As for what makes a good ride, honestly it depends on what the ride is and what it's trying to achieve. The question was framed around coasters, and I just want to throw in 2 cents and go against the grain here: Themeing/story is totally unnecessary for a good coaster. I would say a ride should be well presented and landscaped, but themeing and especially story is not even close to being important. Don't believe me? Look at all the Busch Gardens rides, none of them have any story, or particularly strong themeing, but they're incredibly well presented, interact with the landscape, and are awesome.

Just to ram this point home; 18 coasters of the top 20 have no story. The two that do are Blue Fire, and Nemesis. Nemesis doesn't actually tell you the story either, you just kinda have to know it, and even then it doesn't really make sense. Talk to me about the importance of story and themeing when Rock 'n' Rollercoaster is number 1 instead of Expedition Geforce. Sure, if done well, like in the case of Scooby and Superman, it make a great ride better, but to say it's a vital part of a great ride is about as untrue a statement as you can make.

[themagician]

And seriously Cyclone being overtly uncomfortable? I have never had an issue with Cylcone's trains- they are probably one of the best things on the ride!

I don't know if you are taller than me, but I am 188cm and when I ride it, my head always hits either side of the restraints, my knees always hit the edges. I couple of times I have ended up with bruises. Thats just my experience.

Edited March 9, 2014 by themagician

[Santa07]

^ yeah me too

and then there's sea viper...

[Gary86]

I find Cyclone very uncomfortable (not as bad as Motorcoaster though!) Sea Viper also gets uncomfortable.

[Jobe]

I don't know if you are taller than me, but I am 188cm and when I ride it, my head always hits either side of the restraints, my knees always hit the edges. I couple of times I have ended up with bruises. Thats just my experience.

Fair enough. I am smaller in height than you but I have never experienced any serious head banging or knee bruising either. But everyone is different. I was just a little surprised because that's the first real negative comments I have heard about Cyclone's trains specifically.( Its usually about the ride itself!!) In saying that, I really didn't experience too much head banging on the old Lethal Weapon trains and strangely I do not find the Kumbak trains on Sea Viper any better- in fact I would say that they are more uncomfortable. Its all subjective really!

[alex_1]

Lethal Weapon was by far the worst coaster I've ever had the displeasure of riding. I got severe headbanging on every ride and was left with a headache for 10 minutes. The restraints were huge, pretty much surrounded by head, and were made of hard rubber. At least some of the other SLCs I've been on had padded restraints!

As Arkham Asylum, I can now appreciate the forces it has, now that I no longer have to worry about whether my brain is being pulverized or not. I found the leg pain pretty mild - only really noticeable on the final helix, for me.

themagician - It's strange that you say you get headbanging on Cyclone considering I'm only 175cm and my head is above the restraints, so I avoid any head banging. Do you just have an disproportionately tiny torso or something?

[BigKev]

^^ I'll concede the harness does get uncomfortably tight. For my tastes though, the tightness isn't for long enough to make me prefer the old trains and the head banging they brought. That's my opinion and anyone who disagrees is wrong .

As for what makes a good ride, honestly it depends on what the ride is and what it's trying to achieve. The question was framed around coasters, and I just want to throw in 2 cents and go against the grain here: Themeing/story is totally unnecessary for a good coaster. I would say a ride should be well presented and landscaped, but themeing and especially story is not even close to being important. Don't believe me? Look at all the Busch Gardens rides, none of them have any story, or particularly strong themeing, but they're incredibly well presented, interact with the landscape, and are awesome.

Just to ram this point home; 18 coasters of the top 20 have no story. The two that do are Blue Fire, and Nemesis. Nemesis doesn't actually tell you the story either, you just kinda have to know it, and even then it doesn't really make sense. Talk to me about the importance of story and themeing when Rock 'n' Rollercoaster is number 1 instead of Expedition Geforce. Sure, if done well, like in the case of Scooby and Superman, it make a great ride better, but to say it's a vital part of a great ride is about as untrue a statement as you can make.

What are the stand-out points of the top rides? Are they amazing tracks or something?

I guess I would think theming makes a difference on a ride that is good without being great in terms of actual ride like maybe Superman?

But something like the Green Lantern doesn't really need the story because it has a stronger ride element perhaps.

[themagician]

themagician - It's strange that you say you get headbanging on Cyclone considering I'm only 175cm and my head is above the restraints, so I avoid any head banging. Do you just have an disproportionately tiny torso or something?

Hahaha. No I don't. I just find that when the train turns, I find my head hitting each side of the restraint. The reason my knees hits the train is because each cart isn't totally rectangular, so my legs have to go to the side a little, so when the train goes around corners the force causes my knees to hit the cart.

i don't think cyclone has a bad track layout, it's just the rest: the train and turbine theming and queue line.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Re: Arkham's leg tightness, in my view, it doesn't actually tighten up until you do hit the brake run - at which point you slide forward against the restraints. I don't notice the tightness until after the train comes to a stop at the brakes.

[coasterdude44]

Lethal Weapon was by far the worst coaster I've ever had the displeasure of riding. I got severe headbanging on every ride and was left with a headache for 10 minutes. The restraints were huge, pretty much surrounded by head, and were made of hard rubber. At least some of the other SLCs I've been on had padded restraints!

As Arkham Asylum, I can now appreciate the forces it has, now that I no longer have to worry about whether my brain is being pulverized or not. I found the leg pain pretty mild - only really noticeable on the final helix, for me.

75cm and my head is above the restraints, so I avoid any head banging. Do you just have an disproportionately tiny torso or something?

When my cousin rode Lethal Weapon in 2006. It gave her a migrane for the rest of the day. Later that night we were at a resturaunt and i remember she said she had to go to the toilets because she was going to be sick, and that was many hours after the actual ride experience

Edited March 9, 2014 by coasterdude44

[Brad2912]

Re: Arkham's leg tightness, in my view, it doesn't actually tighten up until you do hit the brake run - at which point you slide forward against the restraints. I don't notice the tightness until after the train comes to a stop at the brakes.

Same here

[Gazza]

but I tried riding AA 3 different times and all 3 have resulted in leg pain and discomfort. I miss the LW cars.

Stop skipping leg day?

Themeing/story is totally unnecessary for a good coaster. I would say a ride should be well presented and landscaped, but themeing and especially story is not even close to being important. Don't believe me? Look at all the Busch Gardens rides, none of them have any story, or particularly strong themeing, but they're incredibly well presented, interact with the landscape, and are awesome.

Just to ram this point home; 18 coasters of the top 20 have no story. The two that do are Blue Fire, and Nemesis. Nemesis doesn't actually tell you the story either, you just kinda have to know it, and even then it doesn't really make sense. Talk to me about the importance of story and themeing when Rock 'n' Rollercoaster is number 1 instead of Expedition Geforce. Sure, if done well, like in the case of Scooby and Superman, it make a great ride better, but to say it's a vital part of a great ride is about as untrue a statement as you can make.

I think Joz is pretty much on the money there...There are a few coasters that genuinely do need their theming to be good, namey stuff like Scooby and Revenge of the Mummy.

Something like Superman doesn't really need the theming. People would still say its the #1 ride here even if it had none.

What I tend to find with the highly themed coasters is that it's really just a means to an end. Often you'll find with indoor themed coasters that they've had to make the ride so compact that all the theming does is just compensate for that to bring the overall package to an acceptable/impressive level.

This can even apply to full sized outdoor coasters. Black mamba has amazing theming, but it's a bit of a middle of the road coaster when you strip that away...Still, works beautifully as a package:

http://rcdb.com/3117.htm?p=16663

I am one for themed queue lines and stations, as for the ride itself, I think nice landscaping and maybe some carefully placed theming objects to provide near misses can do well; check out what they did with Raptor at Gardaland for example:

http://cache.rcdb.com/ahl92tg0066rsip3mr458m.jpg

http://rcdb.com/9309.htm?p=34123

As for what I like in a ride in general.

-I do like good theming, or at least some sort of effort that you can spot things to smile to yourself about...Don't need to spend a lot of money to do this necessarily.

-Rapid fire pacing, should feel like the ride never really lets up from start to finish. Transformers did this fantasically, you were just tossed from one perilous situation to the next.

-Good forces, I do like airtime, but any ride that mixes things up and does interesting stuff the whole time is fine by me.

-Should make you want to ride again. The B&M dive machines are good for this. You just feel like riding them again and again because they are so fun.

-Should be comfortable to ride.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

When my cousin rode Lethal Weapon in 2006. It gave her a migrane for the rest of the day. Later that night we were at a resturaunt and i remember she said she had to go to the toilets because she was going to be sick, and that was many hours after the actual ride experience

My uncle flew to Melbourne on Virgin Airlines and four days later he got hit by a bus.

Actual connection between both events? Zero.

More likely your cousin was still out of sorts many hours later because of a failure to consume enough fluids during a trip to a park (Yes, I'm looking at you, Slick). Dehydration usually makes you more susceptible to headache and migraine pain (*which is exacerbated by head trauma such as from riding Lethal Weapon). Continued dehydration, coupled with heatsun exposure can result in further illness. More likely your cousin's illness was less related to LW and more related to her distraction from being in the park and failing to eatdrink enough and cope well with the weather.

Just my opinion.

[Mort]

I think if you've only been to Australian Theme Parks you find that airtime and forces make a good ride.

I thought the same before going to Disneyland.

Now I think the excellent theming, story and special FX make a good ride. If you can get some thrills in there it's a bonus.

My favourite ride in the world is Indiana Jones at Disneyland the perfect blend of the above.

I still really enjoy roller coasters, but I think rides Iike Indiana jones and the haunted mansion are far better experiences.

[Slick]

More likely your cousin was still out of sorts many hours later because of a failure to consume enough fluids during a trip to a park (Yes, I'm looking at you, Slick).

I'm confused. I've been fortunate enough to never yack at a park. Or have I repressed a memory?

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

I'm confused. I've been fortunate enough to never yack at a park. Or have I repressed a memory?

Repressed a memory of writing an article for another website which may or may not be operated by you providing tips on surviving a day at a theme park perhaps?

[Slick]

Repressed a memory of writing an article for another website which may or may not be operated by you providing tips on surviving a day at a theme park perhaps?

Ah, yes, i'm with you now. Those theme parks are tough to survive, afterall. Just remember, get there early, kids.

[nitromefans]

In regards to the AA leg squashing, the first inversion does a great deal of tightening although due to the ride's intensity you don't really notice it. When I had the pleasure of doing a double of the track without having the restraints released due to zero queue that one really nails it down especially when it's already tight.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

I'm not saying that it isn't possible, but any time we've done a re-ride, the operator has required the harnesses to be released, and then relocked. Any ride ops or former ride ops (spotty i'm looking at you) confirm this? Is it possible (is it procedure...) to re-cycle without the harness unlocking?

[Reanimated35]

I'm not saying that it isn't possible, but any time we've done a re-ride, the operator has required the harnesses to be released, and then relocked. Any ride ops or former ride ops (spotty i'm looking at you) confirm this? Is it possible (is it procedure...) to re-cycle without the harness unlocking?

Not sure, but from a requirement by design, I don't think so considering when they run cars with broken harnesses/seats, they don't have to keep re-locking those.

From a safety perspective, I would have thought they'd have to check it out every run.