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Coasters that surprised you

Matt N

Matt N

CF Legend
Hi guys. Sorry if we already have a thread for this, but this thread is for any roller coaster that you rode that really surprised you. It can be a positive surprise, a negative surprise or just a general surprise! I'll get the ball rolling with some of my personal biggest surprises:
  • Wicker Man at Alton Towers surprised me with how superb it was! Originally, I was expecting the ride to be on a similar thrill level to Thirteen, what with how the UK enthusiast community was moaning about it, but I remained cautiously optimistic, especially when the layout being built looked better than the one shown in the original plans. I did not go in on 25th March expecting it to top Megafobia… but somehow it did! The ride maintained its pace very well, in my opinion, even through the not-so-boring corner! It was also quite smooth, and flowed beautifully compared to Megafobia! There wasn't much airtime to speak of, but Wicker Man is more designed for twistiness and speed than airtime, from what I can tell! Overall, I was very impressed with Wicker Man when I first came off it! Well, I was actually evac'd from the maintenance shed, but that's a story for another topic!
  • SheiKra at Busch Gardens Tampa also surprised me with how much more I liked it than Oblivion! I expected it to be good, but I didn't expect it to take my number 2 spot (was number 2 when I rode it; number 3 currently.) just behind Montu! It's still my number 3 behind only Montu and Mako now! I liked SheiKra because it had some really good G's, the drop was really good and it was just executed beautifully as a coaster! Really loved SheiKra!
I'll probably think of some more! So, what have you guys' personal biggest surprises been?
 
I have several!

Hydra: Wasn’t expecting much out of this when I rode it considering my other two floorlesses at the time were Rougarou and Scream but I really liked this. Interesting layout that plays with the hillside nicely and some fun air pops here and there.

Great White NJ: By far the smoothest non-machined wooden coaster I’ve ridden, some great airtime around, pacing is incredible, and the view can’t be beat.

Wild One: I’m not a fan of older outdated wooden coasters at all but this won me over fairly! The airtime on it is great, layout has a ton of bite, only thing I didn’t care for was the Helix. The rest is amazing though, my favorite in the park!

Raging Bull: I liked that this hyper focused on doing fun aerial maneuvers instead of that iconic but weak in magnitude B&M hyper airtime that I’m pretty much over at this point. Loved charging up into those turnarounds and regaining momentum to get slung up into the next one! What few airtime moments are on the ride are awesome too, better than anything on Nitro for sure. My favorite hyper, fight me on it all you want, but I stand by it.

Avalanche TFAP: Another Great Lakes coaster I had heard nothing positive about, anyone calling this rough clearly never rode Predator, Gwazi, or Compounce Wildcat! It’s full of airtime and the pacing is ballistic, not to mention it was great in its location. RIP little guy... :(

Runaway Mountain: The surprise of my recent Texas trip, I’d heard next to nothing about this strange little Premier cred in a shed but it’s acrually really good! Smooth, snappy little transitions, not a positives guy but there were a lot for such a tiny coaster, I loved it. It deserves much more recognition than it gets, Ben didn’t even know it was there when we go to the park.
 
Silver Star (Europa) during Winter: it was blitzing around the circuit like an absolute boss. Loads of ejector and positive Gs. Nothing like the boring, drab experience of it during the summer.

Xpress: Platform 13. Yes it's the same layout as the Aerosmith rides but it's way more intense, so intense I started greying out! Loads of near misses/headchoppers. I just wish the OTSR were better, maybe with vests. One of the best queue lines in Europe.

Goliath (Waliabi Holland): I was expecting it to be good. It was so much more. I've NEVER experienced as much airtime before. More airtime that Expedition Geforce (bite me). Super loose lapbars too, I was almost standing up during the airtime. Bunny Hills are some of the best I've ever experienced.
 
I can think of a couple at the moment:

Grizzly at Kings Dominion - Not the smoothest coaster ever but so much fun because of the fact it zooms off into the forest and it gave rather hilarious boob bounce :D Also, the fact that I went on it in the dark made it more fab!

Steel Vengeance Cedar Point - I knew it was going to be good as I'd done Twisted Timbers before it and that had been crazy and amazing but SV is a step up with crazy and fabulous airtime and the whole coaster instantly became my numnber 1.
 
Goudurix. Not only is it not the worst coaster in the world, I was surprised to find out that it's actually pretty good. Apart from a slight hiccup on the batwing element, fairly smooth too.

Verbolten. I had no idea until I rode the thing that it had a drop-track. Now that was a surprise, I can tell you!

Same with Fluch von Whatsisname at Hansa Park - I didn't know it had a mid-course launch until... well, y'know, whooooshh!

And not really a coaster, but Blitz Bahn at Toverland surprised the sh*t outta me. I didn't even know what I was queueing up for, I was just following @Sandman at the time.
Powered alpine coasters!! Who'd have thought it? Not me, that's for sure.
When I pushed forwards on that lever... holy crap! Mind. Blown.
 
Juvelen at Djurs Sommerland. I thought it would be a fun family coaster but nothing could have prepared me for the intensity of the 2nd half. That thing is NOT a family coaster!
 
The cred in a shed at Six flags Over Texas and the one at Six Flags Great Adventure were definitely nice surprises to ride. Fun little rides with a little air and snappy transitions.

Lightning Run at Kentucky Kingdom really surprised me. Powerful Airtime and in such a small compact layout. I'll keep saying it there should be more of these.

Leap the Dips at Lakemont. Really wasn't expecting anything at all but what i found was a fun ride that was genuinely terrifying and had some solid air.
 
X2, I expected a good ride but it really blew away my expectations.
Mind Bender, I just really love this ride, wasn't expecting much.
Joker clones, think these are underrated even, so happy these are the new Six Flags clones
Rollin' Thunder OWA, an Alabama Zamperla sneaking into my top 50, what's happening
Comet Hershey, had an amazing night ride and thought it had pretty good air
Raptor CP, heard it hadn't aged well but it's one of my fav inverts after my recent ride
GateKeeper, Don't know why this doesn't get more love? It's the best use of a wing coaster's potential, imo.
Goliath SFNE, shocked me because I'd heard it was bad but not the worst coaster I've ridden
 
The masterpiece at the back of a zoo, in the middle of nowhere in Sweden. Wildfire was truly the shock of my year. Went in expecting "pretty good", but never expected it to land as my #4. The variety is incredible, truly one of the most well rounded coasters. Ejector and floater, hangtime-filled inversions, great pacing (except for 2 or 3 spots), and one of the most badass settings ever.
 
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Verbolten - The indoor portion blew me away. I rode this before I became a true enthusiast so since I wasn't following construction I didn't know what to expect. I had no idea a coaster could do that at the time.

Kingda Ka - Went on with a generally open mind, but I honestly didn't expect it to be a piece of ****.

Flyers at Knoebels - Okay not a coaster but wtf that ride was scary.
 
Furios Baco - virtually everyone bitches about how rough it is so I thought maybe people were being a bit dramatic. Surely it couldn't be that bad?
Needless to say it is. I rode back row outer seat and was almost shaken apart. The front is noticeably better but nah this ride :emoji_mask:
 
Lost Gravity - I expected it to be fun, but THAT much fun? Nah.

Van Helsing's Factory - Brilliantly themed, fun little layout and just generally well executed

Bob, Efteling - On my first visit, I was very meh over it. When I returned a couple of years later, I really enjoyed it, which was a massive surprise.


Condor, Walibi Holland - I was surprised that a coaster could be that uncomfortable and generally terrible and still operate at a park which has some form of reputation and monetary backing.
 
Dodonpa - Didn't have high expectations but **** me, that launch! Plus the fabulous top hat (RIP).

Bandit - Expected a rough woodie but it is actually fab! It's such a fun coaster!

Fukiyama - Did not expect much but this a great coaster!
 
Off the top of my head:

Bandit: Was expecting rough but not that disgusting!
Blue Streak (Conneaut Lake): Same as above, probably the roughest coaster I've ever done???
Skull Mountain: Airtime! In the dark!
Temple of the Nighthawk: Just nice and lovely.
Superman (Madrid): So, much, airtime. Go for the back and you won't regret it!
Batman (SFGAdv): This is up there with the most intense coasters I've done. Was just expecting the same of B&M invert clone kind of thing but I was so wrong!
 
Renegade comes to mind immediately. Our first trip to Valleyfair and didn't even know it was there. I noticed a lift hill in the distance and we ventured that way. We had just finished up a lengthy coaster trip - it was by far the best woodie on that trip.
 
Phaethon. That looks like normal B&M invert like Batman however it has quite high drop&loops. It has a lot of loops than my expectation, never lose speed, every loop is high, tight helix (grayout) for 4s and exciting
 
The following may also belong in the Least Common Opinion thread but:

Dragon Kahn: Looks fantastic and is still a great ride but it came nowhere near my expectations. Perhaps they were set too high by other fantastic coasters on my Spain trip and the fact it is (literally) overshadowed by Shambhala but I was still disappointed by it. Still got the t-shirt though as love the design of it.

May think up of more later
 
Thekingin64 said:
Dragon Kahn: Looks fantastic and is still a great ride but it came nowhere near my expectations. Perhaps they were set too high by other fantastic coasters on my Spain trip and the fact it is (literally) overshadowed by Shambhala but I was still disappointed by it. Still got the t-shirt though as love the design of it.
Click to expand...

Sort of agree about DK. I really didn't like it. Found it pretty dull and quite rough. It is no where near as good as Kumba and I even prefer Kraken over it!
 
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