Menu
What's new
By:
Filters

What is so good about Boulder Dash?

furie said:
It depends on the type of airtime.

Speed at Oakwood has a mass of ejector airtime on the airtime hill (though it may cripple you depending on how well you fit the restraints). Then also at Oakwood you have Megafobia which gives some great ejector on the first and second drops.

Blackpool has Grand National, with some superb ejector if you're in the right train and it's not trying to tear your spine out through your ear, and Wild Mouse probably has some of the best ejector in the world. Big Dipper and Nick Flyer can have a spot or two of mild ejector/strong floater if you're lucky.

Alton Towers has Rita for ejector, but like Speed, you'll be pinned. Oblivion has some bizarre floatery type airtime on the drop.

There are probably others too, but they're the ones I can think of off the top of my head.

Head into Europe and the world is your oyster. There's a mass of airtime machines all within a 1 hour flight or so of your local airport. There's airtime right on your doorstep.
Click to expand...

Ok thanks. Unfortunately I have never been to Oakwood, and I have tried to go to places for example Europa Park. I have to say the Grand National does have good airtime, but with the wild mouse, I'm too busy wondering if I am going to die to notice the airtime :wink:
 
Usefully, the only woodie that mimics the same sort of fast, relentless nature of Boulder Dash for me is Mountain Flyer.

It's NOTHING like the Intamin woodies. At all. And it's not really like many of the other CCIs either. It feels a bit more like a GCI than a CCI I think. It's got that relentless speed, direction changes and little hills that make GCIs so fab.

So, yeah, Mountain Flyer is quite similar, or the fast, low to the ground bits on other GCIs, like the fabbest parts of Terminator, Troy or... well, that's it for what I've been on. Honestly, it's so unique, it's not like anything else.
 
So it has nothing in common with any woodie I've ridden.

Great.

No wonder I'm just not getting this admiration of it. It's POVs tell me nothing, clearly because I've got nothing to compare it to.
 
I think the setting definitely adds quite a bit as well. It's not that it wouldn't be a fantastic coaster anyway (not that it could ever be "plonked" anywhere else as it's built with the terrain firmly at the forefront), but the whole mountain/trees thing just make it extra special for me, kind of like a wooden Eagle Fortress, though they obviously ride completely differently.

Apart from the last couple of hills before the station, you don't really see any of the park, or much of the coaster track in front of you at all, so it has a fantastic effect of "escaping" the amusement park, as Eagle Fortress did. Beast at King's Island and The Ultimate at Lightwater are both similar in that respect as well, so if you like that aspect of those coasters, you'll love it in BD.

BD doesn't ride anything like those though; it's a lot better.
 
The mountain aspect definitely adds to the ride. As you can see in my signature set.. that is what almost the entire ride is like.

As for the airtime, you get spurts of GCI and Intamin in spots.. great floater/spotty ejector. The only coaster I've ridden that even remotely relates is Cornball Express. Of course, not many feel the same, but that airtime/ejector you get is sublime really.. close in many respects to Phoenix.
 
I really don't think the airtime can be compared to Intamin coasters at all. El Toro and Maverick especially has much stronger airtime than Boulder Dash has and I'd say Bizarro is about equal with BD. It's more the way the airtime will come at you. It is persistent, unexpected and really hits you quickly, while Intamin coasters are more gradual, and of course, the PTC lap bars are so much better than any Intamin coaster and allow for so much more freedom. That, and the laterals are being focused to the side of your seat and the dividers, not your hips.
 
Come to think of it, the tiny hills on a Mega Lite are a bit like Boulder Dash in terms of just being tiny, fast and really powerful.

You done one of those bad boys Joey?
 
^As far as I thought, no. Voyage was relentless, but for the most part I thought it was predictable. There's nothing wrong with predictable (I mean, once you've done the first hill on El Toro you've pretty much got the rest of the ride worked out, doesn't stop it being fantastic), but you can see the track ahead of you and have a rough idea of how it's going to feel. Or at least, that's the experience I had on it.

I think the best I would be able to compare to would be a cross between Voyage, Beast and Phoenix. It's got the length, ferocity and speed of Voyage. It's got the mystery of no knowing where you're going next or what else is to come, like Beast and it's got the unexpected forces of Phoenix. It really is the perfect combination of the three. It's a fast, relentless, forceful, unpredictable ride and it's great!

I know it's not one ride that I've compared it to, but you've ridden those three haven't you? I haven't ridden anything that gives anything like the overall ride experience, so it might just need a bit of imagination to blend those three into one ride. :D
 
Well I love Voyage and Beast, Phoenix is overrated but stil great.

But Voyage predictable? Woah, woah... what? Maybe you rode it on a slow day, because it's far too quick to be predictable. If it was predictable, you'd be able to prepare yourself for each force, but you just can't. It is easily the most difficult to ride coaster I've done. It's worse than Ultimate in that respect, but unlike Ultimate you have NO idea what it's going to do next.
 
Joey said:
Well I love Voyage and Beast, Phoenix is overrated but stil great.

But Voyage predictable? Woah, woah... what? Maybe you rode it on a slow day, because it's far too quick to be predictable. If it was predictable, you'd be able to prepare yourself for each force, but you just can't. It is easily the most difficult to ride coaster I've done. It's worse than Ultimate in that respect, but unlike Ultimate you have NO idea what it's going to do next.
Click to expand...
I didn't mean specifically, but you have a rough idea that there's going to be airtime, then laterals, then positives. Mainly because you can see the track so far in advance, most of the time. You can't predict the amount of force, but I felt myself expecting what to come. Doesn't stop it being great though! :p

Boulder Dash isn't like that, you really can't tell (even looking at the track on or off ride) what sort of forces to expect. That was my feeling anyway.
 
Hixee said:
Boulder Dash isn't like that, you really can't tell (even looking at the track on or off ride) what sort of forces to expect. That was my feeling anyway.
Click to expand...
Yeah, you may see the track curve off the to the left and expect laterals, but then all of a sudden you get floater as it gently dashes around and drops a bit. Then explodes with another curve and drop; hidden completely out of site and huge ejector is yours. :)
 
I rode it last night and personally thought it was overrated. Back seat, in the dark, ejector airtime, it was insane. But I preferred El Toro. I prefer the big drops with tons of airtime in one moment, while dash dispersed the airtime throughout the whole ride. Toro had bigger and better hills and high degrees of banking at the end. No disrespect to dash, it is one of the best coasters out there, but I preferred El Toro.
 
^Ah, but you see, Boulder Dash is better in the front. Especially at night. You get better airtime, a better view (or lack of) and an all round better experience. El Toro is good, but it's too predictable to be better than Boulder Dash, even at night.

El Toro is great, in fact, it's my number 2, but it doesn't have anything on Boulder Dash front row at night. ;)
 
bizarrofan10 said:
I rode it last night and personally thought it was overrated. Back seat, in the dark, ejector airtime, it was insane. But I preferred El Toro. I prefer the big drops with tons of airtime in one moment, while dash dispersed the airtime throughout the whole ride. Toro had bigger and better hills and high degrees of banking at the end. No disrespect to dash, it is one of the best coasters out there, but I preferred El Toro.
Click to expand...

But that's the thing. Every thing you mentioned there is why Boulder Dash IS better than El Toro. El Toro is so predictable compared to Boulder Dash. I go on El Toro and I enjoy myself but I never feel like I am ever astonished. Yeah its got 4 moments of good airtime, but with my experience with coasters, that cannot get to me, and to be honest when you see a huge hill, you think extreme airtime, then you start climbing it, you think extreme airtime, then you hit it and you got exactly what you were in for. With Boulder Dash, you get hit from every side: airtime laterals airtime airtime laterals. It is insane. A hill doesn't have to be bigger to be better. I feel like the opinion comes from fear. Since you have that slight fear of El Toro's height and drop, you like it a ton more. But there is no denying that when it comes to sheer fun, Boulder Dash will kick El Toro's ass.

As for the high degree banks, that is also what makes Boulder Dash better. El Toro you will get with some wrong way laterals due to transitional laterals. They aren't that strong, and even then are very uncomfortable on the hips on a bad day (which I had when I was tehre recently) due to the restraints. Boulder Dash has those PTC trains where you can nicely slide into the divider or side of the seat, and they are so much stronger because they are NOT high degree banks. Those laterals are so much fun, and when that is combined with so much persistent airtime, I don't see how Boulder Dash couldn't be better. Its funny how we have completely opposite opinions about roller coasters.
 
mouse said:
This is the one coaster I MUST ride before I die.
Click to expand...
This is the one coaster I must RE-ride before I die.

Joey said:
To those who've ridden it, what woodies are similar and in what ways?
Click to expand...
I think most people have already summed this up - in short, nothing else I've ridden.

It's just downright amazing. It rattles around a bit, so you never forget you're on a woodie, yet it never becomes uncomfortable. It has amazing speed that just never lets up. During the outward stretch, it twists and turns, kicking you up out of your seat as you crest the hill, then dropping away underneath you so that you float all the way down the other side of the hill and land back in your seat at the bottom. On the way back, you get lots of short, sharp pops of airtime, ending with that triple down/double up that provides five short pops of strong ejector airtime in a matter of seconds.

The hour of ERT with TPR back in 2008 was absolutely amazing, and Jerry (East Coaster General) assures me that it's only got better since the trim was added to the turnaround.

It was actually really weird - after the ERT, we returned to the hotel late at night and I ended up going straight to bed as I was really tired (after such a long day, and only a couple of days in the US with a 5 hour time difference). I was laid there in bed, and it was almost as if I could still feel the floating airtime you get on the ride. That's something I've never experienced before or since.

My only real complaint about the ride is that it's a little bit too far away to justify a day trip.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top