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First Rides: Best, Worst, and...Interesting

Jarrett

Most Obnoxious Member 2016
When you first got on that coaster that was either just built at your home park or you traveled across the globe to ride, notable first rides are something that tend to stick with me. Maybe the conditions were just right to get me the best ride it could possibly dish out on my first go, maybe all your excitement was anticlimactic because something unspeakably horrible happened to ruin your first go, maybe you didn't even remember the ride because something so hilarious happened that you were focused on the new story you had to tell. Which first ride was your best ever? Which was your worst ever? Which was the most...interesting?

Best: Fury 325. Connor and I had been in the car all day driving from Ohio to Charlotte, the drive was annoying to the both of us with how hyped we were to get on the thing, and we were making awful time. By the time we rolled in, the sun was starting to go down and turned the sky that beautiful orangey-peachy color you get when it goes down just right. So we walk in, this big B&M is absolutely shredding the plaza as we walk in, noise is deafening, after all that drive the stage was set to finally ride this thing. Our first ride was a colorful sunset ride after all the lighting effects had turned on and MAN was it gorgeous! Riding that awesome ride for the first time in that perfect lighting, getting to the top of the lift as it slowed down and seeing the Charlotte skyline behind the setting sun, and all the cool green lights adding to those surprisingly powerful ejector hills at the end. The whole thing was so memorable, easily my single greatest first ride on anything.

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Worst: Boulder Smash. I rode this in 2016, a year it was supposedly not doing too well, and I believe it. But to make it worse, my group decided to go for the very back and sit right on the wheel seat. I had heard so many great things about this coaster but based on that ride alone, it was about to go in my bottom ten. We fortunately decided to grit it out and deal with Parques Reunidos ops once more to ride up front. Haven't ridden it since, hopefully the help it got from M&V did wonders because it needed them.

Interesting... I have two.

Twisted Cyclone- I rode this on Media Day so I elected to style my hair before going to the park, knowing I would likely be on TV. My first ride on this RMC beauty was live televised on Knoxville's local news, something I've never done before. Turns out they get the train checked and cleared but hold it for several minutes while waiting for their TV spot, so you're sitting there strapped in for a good six minutes before they start speaking into the camera and then dispatch the train. Got a sunrise rain ride in the back with another RMC Connoisseurs member so that was nice, but remember the rain? Yeah it washed the product right out of my hair and into my eyes, so my eyes have chemicals in them while it's twisting and turning around all these tight elements, turning my hair into a gloppy mess. This day was incredible, unforgettable, the coaster is amazing, but what it did to my hair will never be forgotten!

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Boardwalk Bullet- The novelty of this experience started with the awful operations, two guys on the whole coaster running one train with no sense of urgency while the station is pretty full. So Ben and I take the back, it's a nice sunset on the Gulf of Mexico...and then in walks these two teenage boys. Both had obviously been using drugs before getting there, both were being as obnoxious as humanly possible, and both sit down right in front of us. Spent the whole time yelling vulgar language and insults at other guests to the point that it actually kind of distractedus from the relentless pacing as the balls to the wall Gravity Group we were on wound endlessly around itself. After the ride one of them tried to pick a fight with Ben to which he shut them down, walking away we saw them antagonize this man and woman on the exit ramp leading him to turn around and say something very vulgar about one of their mothers, sending them packing. I told him we should speak to security about what had just happened, we went to the photo booth thinking they could call security for us to let them know these troublemakers were in the park, but Kemah was being Kemah and he simply didn't care.

Post yours!
 

b&mfanboy123

Mega Poster
Best - Fury 325
Worst - Mighty Canadian Minebuster
Interesting - Outlaw Run - There was something stuck into the seat next to me so they spent 5 or so minutes trying to get it out
 

Y. Kim

Mega Poster
Best: T Express when I was 8 years old
Raining day, 1 train operation day. Pushed by my dad, and fell love with coasters.
Wait 30 min. and time to pass the air gate
That taught me what ejector and floater airtime is, how the steep drop feels like, and how to enjoy endless(very long) coaster. Really enjoyed myself about 12 airtimes.

WORST:Rolling X Train at Everland
JERKY HEADBANGER that Vekoma train and Arrow track mixed. just a :emoji_thumbsdown:(MeH)

Interesting:
Revenge of the Mummy was interesting, because of airtimes and turns in FULL darkness. But that GP friend had trauma because of this ride.
 

Hutch

Strata Poster
Had to think of this one for a bit.

I think I'll go with Lightning Rod for the best "First Ride" I've ever had on a roller coaster. It was back row, first train of the day, ERT, beautiful summer day out. At the time I also didn't recognize the rough spot at the bottom of the first drop, that took me a few rides to notice. So much excitement had built up and less loose as we pulled out of the station. It met all the hype, and had me laughing and speechless on the brake run. That was probably a perfect ride right there.

Worst first ride? Uhhh, there's a first time for every coaster you ride, so I guess I'll go with like T3 or Vortex or Kingda Ka or another one of my least favorite coasters.... although I never rerode those so that's kinda cheating isn't it. :p Actually you know what I'm gonna cheat anyway and say Mantis/Rougarou, which is technically one cred and I have multiple rides on it. ;) I rode Mantis once and it was awful but now it's Rougarou and it's actually pretty good.

"Interesting" first ride: Phoenix. My first ride wasn't quite what I expected. During the airtime hills I kept slamming my abdomen forward into the restraint, and it was kinda annoying. I fixed this no problem for my second ride: there was a little bump hidden at the bottom of the car, I pressed my feet up against that and it kept me from flying forward and hitting my stomach. I could then appreciate the beautiful airtime and freedom it was known to have.
 

Edward M

Strata Poster
Best: That ride on X2, brilliant. It usually takes me until ride three to properly understand a coaster, but this was just unlike anything I'd done. It was such a rush.
Worst: My ride on Goliath, SFNE. I heard the new trains were bad, but I'd always wanted to try a GIB. I was kinda excited. It was vile.
Interesting: My first ride on Space Mountain DL was awful cause it was the first train of the day front row, and it was lugging through that layout. Rides later in the day were quite fun and always in the back. Unlike the front row ride of Space Mountain WDW, which is absolutely joyous <3
 

Matt N

CF Legend
Great topic idea, @Jarrett!

As for my best, worst and interesting first rides, they are as follows:
Best: Mako at SeaWorld Orlando - I know I've mentioned this many times before, but my first ever ride on my current number 1 coaster was nothing short of breathtaking! Mako was my most anticipated ride of my family's Florida trip in August 2016, but I wasn't quite sure what to expect from it before riding; the only ride I'd ridden before that was even remotely similar to it was Megafobia at Oakwood, and that was only due to the airtime! So as our Mako train was climbing the lift hill, part of me was a little nervous, worrying that the experience of a properly airtime-focused steel coaster wouldn't live up to my expectations. But that part of me was hastily silenced as we crested the lift hill and plunged down the first drop... because I was up out of my seat for what felt like an eternity; I had never felt such a wonderful sensation on a coaster before! Throughout the rest of the ride, I experienced a wonderful cocktail of different sensations, from out-of-my-seat sustained airtime over each and every airtime hill, right through to a wonderful sensation of speed and some great forces during the ride's overbanks! Might I mention that while it was accomplishing all of these wonderful things, Mako remained blissfully smooth and comfortable throughout, with no signs of rattling or roughness anywhere! After that first ride, I knew it had to be my number 1 coaster, and 2 further rides reaffirmed Mako's lead; a lead that it still has nearly 2.5 years later!

Worst: Infusion at Blackpool Pleasure Beach - Now, I only had one ride on Infusion during my visit to Blackpool Pleasure Beach in August 2018, but that one ride was enough to tell me that Infusion is a ride best enjoyed from a distance. It was my first ever Vekoma SLC, and I have to say it actually looked very nice from off-ride, with all the fountains and the lovely location over a lake! I had not heard particularly good things about the SLC as a ride type, but I walked into the queue with an open mind, and I remained optimistic that it wouldn't be as bad as everyone said it was, especially as we were seated in row 2 for our ride. I was hoping it wouldn't be too rough in this row... but despite my reasonably low expectations, it somehow managed to be worse than I'd envisaged. From the second it plummeted down the first drop, the train started bumping and shaking like mad! This shaking got gradually worse as the ride progressed, and by the time it was drawing to an end, the ride was incredibly rough and painful! As our Infusion train sharply jolted into the brake run, me and my sister looked at each other with the same pained look. Let's just say it became my least favourite coaster from that moment on, despite its visual appeal and OK layout...

Interesting: Shockwave at Drayton Manor - As with Infusion above, I only had one ride on Shockwave during my visit to Drayton Manor. And as the position I've allocated it implies, it was extremely interesting to say the least. The ride was my first ever stand up coaster, and it's one of those rides that I wouldn't rate as amazing, but I wouldn't rate as awful either, if you get what I mean? I was interested to see how Shockwave rode, as I had never ridden a stand up coaster before, and let's just say that the riding position was very strange! I personally felt that the coaster actually had quite a good, albeit somewhat short, layout, with some good forces and good moments! However, I'd say the standing position felt a bit too strange for me to fully embrace the ride's layout, if you get what I mean; I even got what I'd call standing airtime during the zero-g roll, which felt very weird! The ride also started to rattle quite a lot as we neared the end. One very amusing part of my first ride on Shockwave that I must comment on, however, is the sheer force that the brake run stops the ride with; it quite literally rattled the station platform!
 

Peet

Giga Poster
Great topic idea, @Jarrett!
Worst: Infusion at Blackpool Pleasure Beach - Now, I only had one ride on Infusion during my visit to Blackpool Pleasure Beach in August 2018, but that one ride was enough to tell me that Infusion is a ride best enjoyed from a distance. It was my first ever Vekoma SLC, and I have to say it actually looked very nice from off-ride, with all the fountains and the lovely location over a lake! I had not heard particularly good things about the SLC as a ride type, but I walked into the queue with an open mind, and I remained optimistic that it wouldn't be as bad as everyone said it was, especially as we were seated in row 2 for our ride. I was hoping it wouldn't be too rough in this row... but despite my reasonably low expectations, it somehow managed to be worse than I'd envisaged. From the second it plummeted down the first drop, the train started bumping and shaking like mad! This shaking got gradually worse as the ride progressed, and by the time it was drawing to an end, the ride was incredibly rough and painful! As our Infusion train sharply jolted into the brake run, me and my sister looked at each other with the same pained look. Let's just say it became my least favourite coaster from that moment on, despite its visual appeal and OK layout...
Congratulations, you have now ridden every SLC ever built.

I've probably never been so blown away by a first ride than I was by Nemesis; it was only my 12th ever cred.
I'll go with Goliath at SFMM as the worst ever first ride; considering it's a similar size to Shambhala it's amazing how much poorer the ride experience is, a big disappointment. And I got berated by my non-goon friends for persuading them to ride it since we all nearly blacked-out.
 
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MLDesigns

Hyper Poster
Best: Think I'd put Lightning Rod here. Took me 3 visits to get on the thing and it was just as frustrating as you'd imagine. Finally got on it in April of 2017, and it was an instant #1 the second I hit the brakes. Lived up to every expectation and more. Quad Down is still the best couple hundred feet of track ever created.

Worst: I honestly don't even know. I've never been on a ride that I genuinely hate for being rough or painful (yet). Might put Phoenix here just to voice my animosity for that glorified Woodstock Express model. It's seriously a kiddie/family woodie minus a restraint, so if that's your thing, continue to whack off to it I guess.

Interesting:
Steel Vengeance. After recreating the thing and making progress renderings in NL2, I went into this thing knowing every single inch of that track and thought I knew exactly what it would do to me. First ride was on a nice June night around 10:30pm, Row 10, with Mr. Theme Park World Wide himself. All I remember from that first ride was "wait this doesn't feel like I thought I would..". Might have just been the fact of being overwhelmed by the barrage of forces I just experienced, but I honestly didn't think it was my #1 like I was expecting it to be. The next couple days at the park I finally meshed with the ride and fell in love with it. Went back for Halloweekends in late September and got an entire weekend of that thing hauling ass with no MCBR. Best coaster on earth.
 

GuyWithAStick

Captain Basic
Best: I think I'm going to have to say Goliath SFGAm for this one. I remember the day like it was last week; 70-some degrees out, it was its first day of operation, and the line was nearly 3 hours long. I waited through it all, in a specialty Goliath sweater, and was able to get my first ever ride on it in the back row. And it absolutely rocked my world. It was fast, smooth, intense, it had it all. Instant #1 for a long while, and made for an experience I won't ever forget.

Worst: Probably Dragon at Adventureland. I knew from the lift hill with the sound of a tin can I would not have a good time. This thing was so brutal with janky transitions, a sub-par layout, and some fairly old trains. Only redeeming quality is how photogenic it is.

Interesting: I'll do GateKeeper this one. Now 'growing up' with X-Flight in my back yard led me to develop this sentiment against GK. All the POVs made it look just ok, but nothing stood out. When I got to CP the first time, the thing was broken the whole day, so it wasn't until this past June where I was able to get on it, and I thought it was pretty good. Again, not as good as some other US Wings, but still better than my expectations. Nothing overly strange about it, but still a different ride than anticipated.

Sent from my VS501 using Tapatalk
 

HeartlineCoaster

Theme Park Superhero
Congratulations, you have now ridden every SLC ever built.
But the bonus helix layouts are such a different experience ;)

Best first has to be Revenge of the Mummy @ Universal Singapore. It was my first ride outside of the UK and the first time I got properly excited by/obsessed with a ride.
I 'liked' rides and parks long before, but the UK coaster scene just never managed to spark my passion for it. They really are quite poor on a global scale (pre-2018).
After riding this, I saw the light. There is amazing stuff out there and I must find it all. I haven't taken a trip abroad without hitting parks since that experience.
It had far more character (and airtime sadly) than anything I'd ridden before and remains the best piece of coaster hardware combined with epic dark ride that I've come across. The world needs more of that.

Worst first was probably Ultimate @ Lightwater Valley. I've been back since and like it now for it's ridiculousness and brutality, but I first rode it far too early on to appreciate any of that. It was the first time I remember pain being the foremost experience on a ride and I just regarded it as one of the worst things I'd done for an unfortunately long amount of time.

Had too many ...interesting rides to count, so I'll pass on that one for now.
 

Lori Marie Loud

Giga Poster
Best: Lightning Rod. See CoasterMac's post.
Worst: V2. My head crashed into the restraints several times. The same happened on Mystery Mine, but was not as bad.
Interesting: Thunderhead. Pretty fun, and jerked us around like crazy.
 

Luca B

Mega Poster
Best:
I’d have to say Tatsu, it was the final credit for me to get on in SFMM and by the time I got round to it, it was very dark. The people who I went with (my mum and my friend) did not get want to do it, my mum because she doesn’t like flying coasters and my friend because he already rode it and hated it. We still had fast lane for 3 people, and somehow we ended up taking a man and his daughter from San Francisco. It turns out it was his daughters birthday and every year for her birthday they go down to SFMM because she loves it and her favourite coaster there is Tatsu. So we skipped a 2hr queue for Tatsu and got a front row nignt ride. It was such a unique experience, it felt surreal: looking down at the lit up park. Also the pretzel loop was great. Unfortunately that was the only ride on Tatsu I got, but it was still incredible.
Worst:
I would say my worst first ride is my first ride on Hyperion. I got to Energylandia in the morning, it was extremely cold and I went straight to Hyperion. From my first ride, it was quite underwhelming, there was an overpowering rattle, the first hill only provided floater, the twist and dive was alright, the Stengel dives lacked any force, the floater airtime hill did not provide any airtime and the speed hills just felt like straight pieces of track. However throughout the day it got better, and my foggy night rides the next day were excellent.
Interesting:
I don’t have too many interesting experiences, I guess I could say my first ride on Great American Scream Machine at SFOG because everyone said it was really rough and bad, but I rode it and it was really smooth and the floater airtime was incredible, right now it barely evades my top 10, and is definitely one of my favourite woodies.

 

Kw6sTheater

Hyper Poster
Best: The Beast. I'd been queuing 50 minutes for this thing at night, and from what other enthusiasts had told me it was a rough, boring and drawn-out coaster. I was shocked to find that I could enjoy the bouncy roughness (which made the train feel like it was flying at 100mph through the national park-like settings), and that its helix finale was one of the best moments I've ever experienced on a wooden coaster. For being such an old ride The Beast still delivers thrills to this day.

Worst: Ninja at Six Flags Over Georgia. Back in 2015, when I went to Six Flags Over Georgia for the ACE Spring Fling event, I had read a coaster book that said that "due to recent track upgrades, Ninja is no longer a rough experience" or something along those lines. Good news was, I got to skip the hour-long line and get front row with the Exit Row Pass that each ACE member present had been given. Bad news was, it became my least favorite coaster of all time after I got off. I was stuck with a headache for the next hour due to Ninja's atrocious restraints, godawful headbanging sensations, jerky track profiling and miserable inversions (especially the butterfly roll). I got to give it a second chance when I revisited Over Georgia last September; and it was much better than before, but Blue Hawk still isn't going to crack my top 50 lists.

Interesting: This was still not a first ride, but it was the most interesting coaster ride I've ever had. So I got the chance to do Holiwood Nights last June, and it was absolutely incredible to meet hundreds of fellow coasterfans and even speak to Matt, the kind and knowledgeable manager of Holiday World, but I was primarily there for the thrill of trimless Voyage at night. So on the last night of Holiwood Nights (there are 2), everyone stockpiled into the Voyage station once the security had ensured everyone else had left the park. I was able to secure a 9th row ride, and boarded the PTC car, but suddenly thunder struck in the distance and the Holiday World ops ordered all of us out. For the next half hour, I anxiously prepared for the thunder to stop. Most other coaster enthusiasts participated in a Gobbler's Getaway tournament nearby while myself and twenty other coasterfans waited out the literal storm. I praise the ride ops who were trying to make sure that we were having a good time whilst we waited for Voyage to be able to reopen. And I will forever cherish when we were given the all clear, and instantly the entire station burst into joyous cheering. I boarded that train and sailed into the forest, returning with an experience I'll never forget.
 

Zek_Teh_Kek

Hyper Poster
Best: My best first ride was probably Shivering Timbers. I had gone in expecting a very rough, airtime-less wooden coaster, but instead what I got was a floater filled wooden coaster with a bit of ejector thrown in every once in a while. The helix is really fun too! This was after the trick-track removal.

Worst: Easily the worst first ride (And only ride, for the rest of my life) was on Kiddy Hawk. The most painful roller coaster experience I've ever had to experience, such a pretty coaster with such awful restraints and such bad trackwork.

Interesting: This award goes to Anaconda at Kings Dominion, and it had nothing to do with the ride. There was actually a ride op that noticed my Steel Vengeance shirt, and she asked me if I watched Coaster Studios and if I was an enthusiast, and I answered "Yes" to both. It was probably the weirdest thing that's happened to me in the station for any ride. Too bad the ride itself was meh overall, but it was at least better than I expected.
 

Hyde

Matt SR
Staff member
Moderator
Social Media Team
Best - X2 at SFMM. I have the fortune of only ever having ridden this roller coaster at night. And that first night ride? Utterly fantastic, especially being my first true 4D coaster and not knowing what exact ride experience to expect.

Worst - Ironically at SFMM, Gold Rusher. I got smacked in the face by a damn branch on the drop after the second hill.

Interesting - I think Maverick at CP, as our train was the first public rollback on the launch lift (funny enough, @Snoo had a rollback on the launch just before, also the first public rollback). As Maverick was a roller coaster three years in the making, followed through many, MANY pages of CF discussion, it was all too funny that our ride was delayed just a bit more.
 

shaunthatkid

Mega Poster
Best: shambhala A great floater machine i think we have heard enough about.
Worst: I have two stories, 1 Grand national back row, since this was my first woodie and i did not know what i was doing riding this i had a god awful ride on it and my friend had to visit first aid, but i've had a great ride on front row since then so i don't know what i think of it. But what i account is the Pinfari Looper at pleasure land, need i say more?
Interesting: as a kid i visited a camelot abit and used to have a blast so the most unique thing was the petrol powered dragon flyer coaster shame it and knightmare never went to SPL but it never was really going to happen.
 

shaunthatkid

Mega Poster
Congratulations, you have now ridden every SLC ever built.

I've probably never been so blown away by a first ride than I was by Nemesis; it was only my 12th ever cred.
I'll go with Goliath at SFMM as the worst ever first ride; considering it's a similar size to Shambhala it's amazing how much poorer the ride experience is, a big disappointment. And I got berated by my non-goon friends for persuading them to ride it since we all nearly blacked-out.
the two other UK slc's are pretty neat.
 

DelPiero

Strata Poster
Best - Skyrush - This was right at the beginning of my enthusiasm, at the end of summer 2013 and was the 2nd cred I rode on the trip. This was my first ever real airtime machine and it totally and utterly blew me away.

Worst - Nighthawk - Rode it once, 2nd row I think, stuck in the baking hot sun, on your back after being tortured through the layout. Nah, **** you Nighthawk.

Interesting - So many potential ones to choose from here but I'll have to go with The Beast - Obviously everyone knows that The Beast at night is one of the Coaster Enthusiasts 7 wonders of the world, but we almost didn't ride it. We were aware that it closes for the fireworks but it closed for ages, what felt like a hour, people were leaving the queue constantly, @Howie was trying to call it a day, I wouldn't let it happen.
Eventually it re-opened and half an hour later we enjoyed an unspoiled ride on the 3rd longest cred in the world, screaming as we plunged into total darkness and being stunned by the experience. It was great, it was unrivaled and it's definitely one of the most interesting rides I've ever ridden.
 

Howie

Donkey in a hat
^LIES!
I didn't want to call it a day. Once we'd joined the queue I was all in. What I did do however was whinge at you for making us wait until after the fireworks which meant we didn't ride until about 10.45pm. I wanted to do it before the fireworks at 9.45pm - it was plenty dark enough already but noooo, Mr Picky wanted it darker.
But like the man said... what a ride! :)
 

Snoo

The Legend
Best: Top Thrill Dragster.. waiting 4.5 hours, through numerous delays (the line was realistically only 45 minutes at the max), and 90+ degree heat sweating to the bones.. we weren't going to give up. My best friend and I jumped on and our minds were completely blown. The sheer power and force was like nothing we'd every experienced before. Also, as I was a budding enthusiast, it made me even more excited to get out and ride more. This was, of course, only a few weeks after opening so it was rife with pain and suffering. A fun little chestnut after is that we went with my best friends church group, bus full of 45 people, and we were the only 2 people to ride it that day.

Worst: The Villain at Geauga Lake.. this ride, by the looks, should have been good! Nope. Death. It was bad from beginning to end. The only thing I was happy to see demolished when Geauga Lake closed.

Interesting: Lightning Run at Kentucky Kingdom.. I say this one simply because we had no idea and no hype around this ride. EVERYONE was blown away by Storm Chaser and we were like.. hey.. cred! It happened to be my 300th but that hyped me up more then anything. Then.. we hit those airtime hills. Crazy out of nowhere experience I still love to this day. Can't wait to ride it this year!
 
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