Rupert
Mega Poster
Apologies if a thread exists similar to this but I couldn't find one from my scan.
As I'm sure many of us do, I often look at coasters from satellite view, RCDB and POVs, especially before a trip, to get a feel for what they're like - including seeing what elements they have, potential airtime spots, layout quality etc. I find though that some coasters just don't look especially amazing, even in cases where they have great reputations. This builds on Coaster Hipster's old thread 'POVs that do not do justice to the ride - at all', but includes looking at satellite views and other pictures to think objectively something like 'I can't see this being a particularly good coaster?', but then finding out you're broadly wrong.
I've thought of a few examples that I haven't ridden, have heard great things about, but can't quite work out what is the special thing about them.
Ride of Steel (Darien Lake/SFA)
This has plenty of height, but barely anything else. A good-looking first drop but then into one of the widest turns of all time. Luckily an airtime hill appears but then again you face an incredibly drawn-out helix, followed by a long dead straight section before another airtime hill. The worst part looks to be yet another really wide helix, but upwards! Just to kill what little speed and thrill appears to remain. The saving grace is the series of classic Intamin airtime bunny hops at the end. Is this coaster as uninspiring as it seems? For all the good-looking airtime moments, there appears to be twice-as-much dead time where there is either no force or a consistent force (the helices and straights).
Lightning Run (Kentucky Kingdom)
This Chance coaster has a reputation for great airtime and you can feel it from the POV. However the layout seems pretty bizarre - some of the drops pull-up quite a bit higher than you'd expect, so not getting as much speed as it could, and then some of the turns appear pretty janky, especially with that track type (bogies inside rather than outside).
Maverick (CP)
One of the very best coasters in the world by reputation, and one I'm incredibly excited to ride in about 6 weeks. But I'm trying to work out what makes it so good (and with all of these I'm probably overthinking and should just enjoy it, but this is a coaster forum). Is it the couple of pops of airtime (there don't seem to be that many)? The high speed turns (these do look great)? The couple of well-profiled inversions? I'm assuming it's the combination of everything to make this a really well-rounded coaster of which there aren't that many, but from satellite view in particular it doesn't look like the world's best layout.
I can also think of coasters I've now ridden that I wasn't sure where the hype was coming from, but do now (Colorado Adventure comes to mind as something that's pure fun but really difficult to judge before riding).
Obviously the three above are quite varied in how good I expect them to be (getting progressively better), but I'm curious if you agree or have your own examples. What are the coasters you can think of that are surprisingly great despite appearances?
As I'm sure many of us do, I often look at coasters from satellite view, RCDB and POVs, especially before a trip, to get a feel for what they're like - including seeing what elements they have, potential airtime spots, layout quality etc. I find though that some coasters just don't look especially amazing, even in cases where they have great reputations. This builds on Coaster Hipster's old thread 'POVs that do not do justice to the ride - at all', but includes looking at satellite views and other pictures to think objectively something like 'I can't see this being a particularly good coaster?', but then finding out you're broadly wrong.
I've thought of a few examples that I haven't ridden, have heard great things about, but can't quite work out what is the special thing about them.
Ride of Steel (Darien Lake/SFA)
This has plenty of height, but barely anything else. A good-looking first drop but then into one of the widest turns of all time. Luckily an airtime hill appears but then again you face an incredibly drawn-out helix, followed by a long dead straight section before another airtime hill. The worst part looks to be yet another really wide helix, but upwards! Just to kill what little speed and thrill appears to remain. The saving grace is the series of classic Intamin airtime bunny hops at the end. Is this coaster as uninspiring as it seems? For all the good-looking airtime moments, there appears to be twice-as-much dead time where there is either no force or a consistent force (the helices and straights).
Lightning Run (Kentucky Kingdom)
This Chance coaster has a reputation for great airtime and you can feel it from the POV. However the layout seems pretty bizarre - some of the drops pull-up quite a bit higher than you'd expect, so not getting as much speed as it could, and then some of the turns appear pretty janky, especially with that track type (bogies inside rather than outside).
Maverick (CP)
One of the very best coasters in the world by reputation, and one I'm incredibly excited to ride in about 6 weeks. But I'm trying to work out what makes it so good (and with all of these I'm probably overthinking and should just enjoy it, but this is a coaster forum). Is it the couple of pops of airtime (there don't seem to be that many)? The high speed turns (these do look great)? The couple of well-profiled inversions? I'm assuming it's the combination of everything to make this a really well-rounded coaster of which there aren't that many, but from satellite view in particular it doesn't look like the world's best layout.
I can also think of coasters I've now ridden that I wasn't sure where the hype was coming from, but do now (Colorado Adventure comes to mind as something that's pure fun but really difficult to judge before riding).
Obviously the three above are quite varied in how good I expect them to be (getting progressively better), but I'm curious if you agree or have your own examples. What are the coasters you can think of that are surprisingly great despite appearances?
Fixed!
