Coasters That Divide and Unite the GP and Enthusiasts

[MestnyiGeroi]

Great topic!

1. Vortex (KI), most GP see a big honkin' steel coaster looming over the midway hammering out inversion after inversion and think "size, loop-the-loops, that's epic!" But us enthusiasts know it's legalized assault.

2. Gonna have to give this one to Skyrush. As we all know, all of us enthusiasts (at least the one that don't have legs made of glass) love this Intamin ejector machine. However, riding it into oblivion two years in a row I heard several comments along the lines of "it'll break your legs off," "it's too aggressive," "the bar hurts your thighs," and many of the nature. It's honestly a bit much for the GP I think, but watching it scare the living daylights out of people is comedy gold!

3. Pretty much any RMC. They usually have long lines, it's a popular choice, and all of them have been very successful. To many enthusiasts it's the holy grail of coaster engineering (me included) and most GP seem to get off pretty happy. I did a speech on RMC to a class full of GP one time and while Ohio isn't necessarily RMC territory yet, we had one girl who had been on and liked Storm Chaser and there seemed to be a lot of excitement in the room for Steel Vengeance, so that seems to suggest they'll only become more liked worldwide as time goes on and they spread their mechanical empire.

4. Many SLCs but the one that sticks out the most? Flight Deck at Canada's Wonderland. The last time I rode it it was on a Saturday in September and I waltzed right on it, and that was just as punishment for losing a bet. It's so bad that even the GP knew to stay the heck away from it!

Good choices.

Just a note: I’m an enthusiast and I don’t have glass legs, but Skyrush beat the living hell out of my thighs. The ride is still in my top five, though, and not because I’m a masochist.

 

[Coastergenius100]

Good choices.

Just a note: I’m an enthusiast and I don’t have glass legs, but Skyrush beat the living hell out of my thighs. The ride is still in my top five, though, and not because I’m a masochist.

I agree, Skyrush is a very flawed design. I could see the GP enjoying it more than enthusiasts. As an enthusiast, I appreciate some space between my legs and the lapbar, and Skyrush has a tendency to staple you. A simple fix would just be for the train to lock in the lapbar's position before departure.

 

[CrashCoaster]

I agree, Skyrush is a very flawed design. I could see the GP enjoying it more than enthusiasts. As an enthusiast, I appreciate some space between my legs and the lapbar, and Skyrush has a tendency to staple you. A simple fix would just be for the train to lock in the lapbar's position before departure.

That might not be a very safe choice. What if someone has too much room, they can't pull their lapbar down any further.

 

[Matt N]

Sorry to bump this old thread, but some of my recent theme park visits have given me some ideas for this thread:

1. Big One at BPB (my parents both seemed to like this, but I wasn't a fan), The Smiler (Even though I personally like this ride, that is a very uncommon opinion in the enthusiast community, whereas non-enthusiasts tend to rave about The Smiler; it's normally the main ride that's talked about positively at the mere mention of Alton Towers in non-enthusiast conversions), Speed at Oakwood (again, even though I like this ride, very few enthusiasts seem to, whereas when I went to Oakwood with school in July 2016, Speed was hailed as the most insane ride in the park by most, and I got some strange looks when I said that my favourite ride at Oakwood was Megafobia.), dive coasters in general (even though SheiKra is my personal number 4, many enthusiasts find dive coasters very bland and see them as one-trick-ponies, whereas in many parks, they seem to be the main talking point among non-enthusiasts; my dad betted that SheiKra would be my number 1 coaster at the end of Florida 2016, for example.)
2. Nemesis at Alton Towers (enthusiasts put this ride on a really high pedestal, but non-enthusiasts never really seem to get it; my sister thinks it's "a bit overhyped" and "rougher than Smiler".), Icon at BPB (I personally have Icon as my favourite UK coaster and my number 2, but my mum found it immensely boring, and found Wicker Man to be far more thrilling and exciting for her. My dad also preferred Wicker Man, but my sister agreed with me and has it as her favourite coaster, I suppose.), Megafobia at Oakwood (I again cite the example of my July 2016 school trip, where I loved Megafobia, but my classmates preferred Speed.)
3. Mako at SeaWorld Orlando (my whole family, myself included, absolutely loved it. My mum, like me, instantly put it as her favourite coaster, and while my dad and sister weren't quite that enamoured, they still seemed to really rate the experience highly.), The Swarm at Thorpe Park (my whole family, myself included, seem to like this coaster to some extent.)
4. Colossus at Thorpe Park (My dad hasn't ever ridden it, but mum and sister seemed to dislike this just as much as I did when I last rode it.), Infusion at BPB (Me and my sister shared the same facial expression of pain as I did on Infusion's brake run.)

My examples are mainly based off of what I've ridden, and I've kind of lumped the general enthusiast opinion as a whole instead of just my opinions.

 

[Y. Kim]

1. Vekoma Boomerang: GPs: Like it!!! Let's reride. Enthusiasts: NO I'll not ride it.

Rolling X-Train(a Vekoma train with Arrow track) : GPs: It's fun. Enthusiasts: REALLY JERKY&Rough coaster

2. T-Express
Enthusiasts: One of the best Intamins in the world.
GP: Too scared for the 1st drop. Too long ride(1.6km), 1st drop is too high... many normal GPs don't try to ride it. But some thrillseeker GPs and enthusiasts try to ride more.

3. Fury 325 and Steel Vengeance
4. All Of VEKOMA SLCS

 

[Zek_Teh_Kek]

Mystic Timbers: A lot of people at my school say that "Mystic Timbers is dumb/bad" but the only reason they think that is because of the shed. At least that's what I think.