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Bobbejaanland | Fury | Gerstlauer Triple Launch Coaster

I never said bigger means better lol. My favorite coaster is Boulder Dash. My whole point is that height and speed do happen to be factors in a ride, hence why TTD exists in the first place, otherwise you might as well just build Kanonen.
 
Yeah, maybe we should get back on topic now?

I have mixed opinions on Gerstlauer honestly, but I definitely think they are underappreciated. The Smiler is one of my favourite coasters, but Saw The Ride is one of the roughest coasters I have ridden (has a nice dive loop though, I'll give it that).

I think that the general consensus is that Infinity coasters are better than Eurofighters, so hopefully we will see many more of these great coasters.
 
You know I think the best Gerstlauer I've ever done might actually be Firechaser Express. It has a good length, variety of fun elements, nice theming, and of course no awkward transitions. It might not be my favorite Gerst when it comes to thrill, but I can't think of any major drawbacks. I had a pretty good time on it and it put a smile on my face.

The others I kind of like are Dare Devil and Mystery Mine. Dare Devil has lap bars so while it doesn't have any transition/roughness problems, the ride just doesn't do anything interesting after the first drop. It's just kind of there. Mystery Mine is cool because of the theming and fun finale, but the middle portion outside is garbage.

Rest of the ones I've done aren't as good, so as a result I can never really get behind Gerst as a whole. Some of the newer ones seem a bit better (Karacho, Junker, etc), but if they ride anything like Dare Devil then I'm not eager to ride them anytime soon.
 
@Hutch I think the best regarded Gerstlauer coasters are the Smiler and Der Fluch des Kärnan. Did you ride those?
I didn't by now. I didn't ride a bigger Gerstlauer coaster. I only have some Bobsled coaster credits and the wooden coaster Mammut. But I'm really looking forward to visiting Hansa Park at the end of may. Bobbejaanland might be worth a visit at the end of this year or next year.
 
UP87 said:
@Hutch I think the best regarded Gerstlauer coasters are the Smiler and Der Fluch des Kärnan. Did you ride those?
I didn't by now. I didn't ride a bigger Gerstlauer coaster. I only have some Bobsled coaster credits and the wooden coaster Mammut. But I'm really looking forward to visiting Hansa Park at the end of may. Bobbejaanland might be worth a visit at the end of this year or next year.
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I've done Smiler... not a big fan. Only ridden it once in the back row though, obviously not the best place to sit I suppose. Poor restraints, repetitive layout, typical awkward transitions... yeah it wasn't that great. And honestly I don't think Smiler is really regarded as one of the better Gersts anyway? At least not on this site. I know some people are fans but it tends to get more mixed reviews.

Karnan I haven't done. But yeah, most seem to rate that pretty highly. Karnan seems like more of a special case because it's so much different from all the others. On paper it does seem pretty awesome (200 ft indoor drop with some low to ground elements in the second half? Sure!). It's just the fact that it's a Gerstlauer makes it hard for me to get excited for it. It's probably the one Gertslauer I'm most interested in trying out, but it's never been up on my overall bucket list.
 
Hutch said:
You know I think the best Gerstlauer I've ever done might actually be Firechaser Express. It has a good length, variety of fun elements, nice theming, and of course no awkward transitions. It might not be my favorite Gerst when it comes to thrill, but I can't think of any major drawbacks. I had a pretty good time on it and it put a smile on my face.

The others I kind of like are Dare Devil and Mystery Mine. Dare Devil has lap bars so while it doesn't have any transition/roughness problems, the ride just doesn't do anything interesting after the first drop. It's just kind of there. Mystery Mine is cool because of the theming and fun finale, but the middle portion outside is garbage.

Rest of the ones I've done aren't as good, so as a result I can never really get behind Gerst as a whole. Some of the newer ones seem a bit better (Karacho, Junker, etc), but if they ride anything like Dare Devil then I'm not eager to ride them anytime soon.
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Ironically, you just listed the only 3 Gerstlauer coasters to my name - and I pretty much agree with your statements about each one! Dare Devil Dive may not be the greatest ride ever, but the lap bars make the first drop and heartline roll finale much more enjoyable; whereas I used to praise Mystery Mine as my 2nd favorite coaster at Dollywood, but after riding several better vertical drop/vertical lift coasters I don't think as highly of it anymore. FireChaser Express is a surprisingly intense and pretty fun family coaster with a long ride duration, great terrain interaction, several pops of airtime and forceful little launches! However, I prefer Impulse at Knoebels (Zierer's attempt at a euro-fighter) to all three of those for several reasons. Here, let me explain; First, the lap bars are incredibly cozy and snug, even providing an absolutely incredible sustained ejector moment at the top of the first drop. These slam into your stomach though about halfway down, a painful moment that along with the coaster's shorter duration makes up the only flaws of Impulse. The rest of the ride that follows, fortunately, is a pretty intense coaster filled with hang-time at every inversion's peak and some good laterals in the helices (most memorably the final one just after the heartline roll).

Overall, while Gerstlauer is not known for making most of their best rides over in America or even the U.K. (exceptions given to Monster, HangTime and Hydrus/Adrenaline Peak), I feel that if I had traveled to mainland Europe (countries like Germany, France, the Netherlands, Finland, etc.) I would regard Gerstlauer more highly. Still, I can't deny that Karnan looks like a fantastic coaster up there with the likes of Skyrush, Maverick and Intimidator 305 (Numbers #4, #3 and #2 in my top coasters list)!
 
CrashCoaster said:
Sorry for being pedantic, but it's Der Schwur des Kärnan. The Euro-Fighter is Fluch von Novgorod. The amount of people who spell it wrong kills me on the inside.
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Yeah... I know :oops: I tend to mess this up! The names are just quite similar.
 
Gerstlauer get a lot of hate but I honestly think they’ve done quite a few really good coasters, especially in recent years with the rise of their Infinity Coaster. I’m not a fan of The Smiler, but the others I’ve done have all been rather good and Junker/Kärnan are excellent really. They may be the only two Gerstlauer’s that I’d consider world-class, but plenty more good ones exist: Fluch von Novgorod, Lynet, Karacho, Gold Rush, HangTime, Anubis, Madagascar Mad Pursuit to name a few...

And that’s just more on the thrill-side of things, their collection of family coasters is undeniably solid: Firechaser & Pégase Express, Bobsled Coasters (particularly Heiße Farht), Dragon Fly etc. Im not a big fan of their spinners because of the seating arrangement but they’re decent enough too tbf.

Sure, there are a couple really bad Gerstlauers and ones that are just plain underwhelming, but the more I ride of their stuff the more fondly I feel towards them as a manufacturer. They’re not top league, but I love that they’re becoming more prominent in the industry with some exciting designs, especially for medium-sized parks.

I agree with @Kw6sTheater that Mainland Europe is where they’ve got by far their strongest holding, and even then, they don’t tend to exist at the most major parks. The UK is not a good place for them really (my favourite here is probably the one at Paulton’s tbh) and the US is only just starting to catch the newer/better ones, so it’s understandable why many people aren’t a fan, but I’m hoping that’ll eventually change as the company continues to improve their quality of coasters across the globe.

And Fury looks like another win for their portfolio. Looking forward to riding later this year :D
 
Antinos said:
Good god, y'all. This is just another Guerst pseudo-shuttle. It won't be the next Steel Vengeance.
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Precisely why I'm not that excited for this. :p

EDIT: Meant to get this in as well...
Kw6sTheater said:
However, I prefer Impulse at Knoebels (Zierer's attempt at a euro-fighter) to all three of those for several reasons. Here, let me explain; First, the lap bars are incredibly cozy and snug, even providing an absolutely incredible sustained ejector moment at the top of the first drop. These slam into your stomach though about halfway down, a painful moment that along with the coaster's shorter duration makes up the only flaws of Impulse. The rest of the ride that follows, fortunately, is a pretty intense coaster filled with hang-time at every inversion's peak and some good laterals in the helices (most memorably the final one just after the heartline roll).
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I've done Impulse as well and I rate it similarly to Dare Devil. Fun drop, smooth ride, but unremarkable elements. The inversions and turns don't really do anything, apart from the hangtime in the zero g roll I guess. Hangtime in general, while fun, doesn't really do it for me anymore. I used to find it as a really cool feeling, nowadays I just find it a decent moment that's never really a highlight of the ride.
 
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I put Impulse ahead of Dare Devil Dive because of the insane ejector on first drop that I mentioned. Hangtime is a unique sensation, but I find that I tend to enjoy airtime and high G's better. I am actually pretty hyped for Fury, not just the ride itself but also the interesting storyline of the land!
 
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