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Rides that required a second ride or series of rerides for you to fully appreciate them

Matt N

Matt N

CF Legend
Hi guys. Sometimes, you’ll ride a new ride and it will absolutely floor you from the first go. You’ll get off, say “Oh my god, that’s a new number 1/top 3 contender/insert significant superlative here!”, and be flabbergasted by the ride’s greatness from the get go. I find that it doesn’t always work that way, however. Sometimes, I find that you can ride a ride the first time and come off a little disappointed, particularly if the ride in question is very highly rated. You might get off thinking “Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great ride, but it didn’t quite live up to the obscene hype for me”. Or you might even get off thinking “Why on earth is that highly rated? I didn’t like that at all!”. Of course, some of these disappointments stay disappointments, and just become rides that you disagree with the consensus opinion on. But I find that in some of these cases, a second ride or a series of rerides can completely change your opinion. I’ve had rides where I’ve had slight disappointment initially, but a second ride or series of rerides has given me the “WOW” feeling I was seeking the first time and made me understand the hype for it a lot more. With this in mind, I’d be intrigued to know; what rides have required a second ride or series of rerides for you to fully appreciate them? What rides didn’t immediately sell you on their hype, but had you fully converted after reriding?

Personally, I have two possibly slightly controversial picks for this thread, and they are VelociCoaster at Islands of Adventure and Iron Gwazi at Busch Gardens Tampa. Both are very highly rated rides. In both cases, I was slightly disappointed by them after a first ride, but reriding them changed my opinion by a fair amount and made me understand the hype for them a lot more.

With VelociCoaster, I took my first ride in row 9 at the very beginning of my 2023 Florida holiday. After that first ride, I thought it was a great, great ride with a brilliant layout and many brilliant moments… but I was slightly underwhelmed, and not immediately convinced of the ride’s full greatness that everyone was talking about. It ranked highly for me, don’t get me wrong, but I wasn’t thinking that it was right up there like many do, and after that first go, I wasn’t thinking that I ranked it significantly higher than, say, Icon. But later in my holiday, I managed to get a second ride on VelociCoaster in the front row… and my feeling after that second ride was simply; WOW. On that second ride, it’s like everything just clicked and fell into place. The airtime, the speed, the inversions, the stunning layout… it all just clicked for me on that second ride. I’m not even sure if it was necessarily riding notably better than it was the first time… but it just seemed notably better and wowed me a lot, lot more! After the first ride, I wasn’t thinking that VelociCoaster was right up there, but after that second ride, there was no question in my mind that it was right up there! VelociCoaster now sits proudly as my #2 out of 111 coasters ridden, and sometimes, I’m not even 100% sure that it couldn’t be in contention for the top spot… it really was that good! I wish I could have taken more rides on it during my time in Florida, as it’s not at all inconceivable that a 3rd ride, or even a night ride, could possibly have given VelociCoaster the top spot…

With Iron Gwazi, I took my first ride in the morning in row 9. Again, I thought it was a great ride after the first go, with numerous great moments and great qualities, but I was slightly underwhelmed given the absurd hype it receives. There were a few minor niggles I had with it, and overall, I wasn’t wholly convinced of its full greatness after the first go. I rode SheiKra directly after my first ride on Iron Gwazi, and at that time in the day, I actually thought I enjoyed SheiKra more. However, I rerode Gwazi twice more later in the day, in very similar rows… and like with VelociCoaster, it was like everything just clicked and fell into place on those rerides. The airtime seemed more impactful, the pacing seemed more impactful, my niggles from earlier in the day seemed comparatively irrelevant, and overall, I just enjoyed it a fair amount more on those subsequent rerides and understood the hype for it significantly more. Even though I hadn’t been wholly convinced by Iron Gwazi the first time, the 2nd and 3rd rides endeared me to it a fair amount more, and those rides sealed it as my favourite coaster in the park, my 3rd favourite coaster in Florida (behind VelociCoaster and Mako), my 2nd favourite new coaster of the holiday (behind VelociCoaster) and my #4 overall out of 111 coasters ridden. I sometimes wonder in hindsight if I’m even still ranking it slightly too low… Gwazi has been an interesting one for me in that every time I’ve reshuffled my rankings since returning from Florida, I seem to have bumped it a little higher, as I didn’t feel that the previous ranking did my actual love of it justice! It was sublime, and those rerides definitely made me rate it more highly!

For me, both of the rides I mentioned are certainly prime proof that you can’t necessarily judge something after one ride! But I’d be keen to know; what rides required a second ride or a series of rerides for you to fully appreciate them? What rides did you not appreciate the full greatness of after your first ride?
 
Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland Paris. I was pretty underwhelmed by it on my first ride, with a member of my group also not really liking it at all. We were going past some impressive animated sets but... nothing was clicking. It was very much one of those rides where I was looking at stuff but not feeling anything. Came off thinking "that's supposed to be one of the best dark rides in the world?" Nah. I didn't believe them for a second.

The next day I did a take two on it, and while nothing about the ride really changed, nor did I notice anything new, I guess I started to appreciate the ride and its vibes much more than previously. It has a nice atmosphere to it. While I like it far more than I would have if I only ever rode it once, I'm still a little skeptical of its "one of the best ever" status but I guess that means I need a third go on it.
 
Grand National. It was talked about as though it was the best woodie in England, so I was really excited to give it a go. I can't remember which seat I first rode it in, but when I got to try it (in 1999), I was disappointed. The ride was violent and slammed me down into my seat more than I had experienced before. I preferred the Great Yarmouth Roller Coaster, the Margate Scenic, Southport's Cyclone, BPB's Roller Coaster - all the other ones really!

When I tried it in the front seat I thought it was a really good ride. Not one of my true favourites, but the layout is great and the airtime is good if you ride it in the right place. I know it's supposed to be better on the non-wheel seats, but I definitely think it's better towards the front as much as possible. Rows 1 or 2, perhaps. I still wouldn't object to a bold re-profile, as I don't think you should have to choose your seat so carefully, but there's undoubtedly a certain quality to the core ride.
 
Candymonium springs to mind. It was my first B&M Hyper, and on my first ride all I thought after coming off it was "damn, those trims were powerful".

After other rides on it, I got a real good feel and understanding for the ride, and I realised that the trims were necessary for it to serve its purpose in Hersheypark's line up.
 
Zadra - I found the restraints too fussy and borderline distracting (not being used to RMCs). Upon revisiting the park, it overtook Hyperion as being the park’s flagship in my eyes and remains a top 10 ride… although Hyperion is great too.

Steel Vengeance - I don’t think anything will top the hype of this one. That level of hype is fun but also a little destructive… very few things in life that are so hyped can bring the joy you hope. I typically find joy in my expectations being surpassed. Unlike Maverick which knocked my socks off on ride 1, I was quietly disappointed with SteVe… it’s like a weird PC mod of a popular game, where everything is maxed out at the loss of a subtle artful balance that otherwise brings out a great experience.

The visuals on the night ride were just unbelievable - utter madness. From there, I just took it for what it was and decided to love it. It’s an obscene towering cathedral. Pilgrims, rejoice!
 
Great Topic!

You may notice a couple of trends...

Renegade - GCI - Valleyfair - It was a relatively cool morning and I was on possibly the first train of the day and it was a pretty empty train. Afternoon rides were significantly better as the trains were full and it got much warmer delivering a much better paced ride. Probably went from a 7 or 8 to a 9.

Storm Chaser - RMC - Kentucky Kingdom - First rides of the day, empty train, not that cool but it certainly wasn't warm yet. By the afternoon, it was delivering that powerful and borderline painful airtime. Through the morning, I preferred Lightning Run but by the afternoon, it was clear that Storm Chaser was superior. I also hold a little bit of a vendetta against Lightning Run as I was stung by a bee while stacked on its break run. Probably went from an 8 to a 9.

Mystic Timbers - GCI - Kings Island - This again was an early ride but it was a full train. I thought the airtime was great but it seemed to lack the aggression of other GCI's. I think part of this is that it has remained incredibly smooth for a wood coaster. I don't have a problem with the roughness on most GCI's though Renegade's does take away from the experience slightly, but this is so smooth that it almost feels like a negative. Man... I am an entitled enthusiast, ha! Probably went from an 8 to a 9.

Lightning Rod - RMC - Dollywood - Was on the first train of the day and after my first ride, I thought the only RMC it was better than was New Texas Giant. I only was able to do one more ride and that was probably 15-20 minutes after the first one but it had significantly warmed up. It still felt like it should have been faster through its first elements but starting with the off-axis airtime hill after the twist & shout, it got nutty. Probably went from an 8 to a 9.

Fury 325 - This was largely due to seat spot. I aimed for the back of the train as that is usually where I prefer on B&M hypers but aside from the 1st drop, I did not think it was a massive step above any of the B&M Hypers I had been or Orion. But upon getting the front row, any disappointment was deleted and that is why it sits as a top 5 coaster. Such a sense of speed with snappy transitions and plentiful airtime. Went from a 9 to a 10.

Bonus: Steel Eel @ SeaWorld San Antonio - The park was dead and as such this never had better than probably quarter full trains. I've heard people praise this things airtime but it had minimal airtime for me. I think the Morgan trains are pretty light so I wonder if full trains could really help turn this into an airtime machine.
 
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As @Nitefly said, this often comes down to hype. The anticipointment can be treacherous for such highly praised rides.

I came off my first ride on Iron Gwazi thinking that it was good, but not great. After months of hearing the hype, it was hard not to go in expecting a transcendent experience that rivaled my first ride on Steel Vengeance. This experience just, wasn’t that. I was too busy looking for what I expected the ride to do that I couldn’t appreciate what it was doing. After getting that out of the way, I was able to ride it again and it suddenly was an unbelievable experience that gave SteVe some real competition. I had similar experiences with both Fury 325 and ArieForce One. After getting that initial, slightly let down, overly critical ride out of the way, I was able to appreciate each of these for the incredible rides that they are.


The Legend at Holiday World is another one that I had to ride twice to appreciate, but not for the same reasons. I had heard that parts of it were quite rough, so I went in expecting to have to ride defensively. I was too busy trying to fight the forces of the ride to notice what it was doing, so I just didn’t “get it.” After realizing it really wasn’t that rough, just aggressive, I was able to ride it again while more relaxed. On the second lap I just let the ride throw me around (except for that extended helix that attempts to laterally separate your spine, which I still braced for) and suddenly I got it. It was fantastic.
 
RcTmix said:
I was too busy looking for what I expected the ride to do that I couldn’t appreciate what it was doing.
Click to expand...

100x this - expanding my thoughts on SteVe, the only RMCs I had only ridden before it were Zadra and Iron Gwazi. Those two are like brothers, whereas SteVe has bonus DNA shared with something like Untamed, with less emphasis on raw pace and more emphasis on airtime.

Even though they are so similar, Zadra can’t be bested at being Zadra and Iron Gwazi can’t be bested at being Iron Gwazi.
 
Most of my top 20 needed multiple rides to put them where they are. There's certain rides like the Intamin and Mack launchers which really need to warm up first.
So the obvious ones are;
Taron
Helix
Batman Gotham City Escape
Toutatis

Then there's the wacky one - Ride to Happiness - which needs multiple rides to get that WOW ride - @Howie knows what I mean 🙌

Most of the RMC's floored me after one ride, the only one which didn't was Steel Vengeance, as it was potentially number 1, and I was guilty of being on the hype train, after the first few rides it was somewhere in my top ten, only after a few more evening rides did it cement it's place.

Certain rides like Fury, Renegade and Skyrush I knew were special after getting off and in Skyrush's case I knew after 20 seconds it was the best coaster I had ridden.
 
I think any high end coaster needs multiple rides to really be fully appreciated. The margins are so slim at the top that it's pretty rare to form a final opinion on anything after just a single lap.

I've generally used a rule for a coaster that's deemed noteworthy or a 'contender' and always aim for the 'golden four' laps. Three if you're struggling for time. Anything less is unsatisfyingly not enough. Anything more, a bonus!
 
Taron... it simply cannot be judged on a day ride alone. I suppose you could go for a technical loophole and make your first ride(s) the night rides, but then there's still a lot to appreciate about it, and Klugheim, in the day (preferably a nice autumn day).
 
To be honest, any of the top 10 coasters built in the last 5-8 years, especially on the Intamin and RMC fronts feel in this category. With the advent of Alan Schilke/Joe Draves design for the better part of the last fifteen years - highly dense, high-intensity element design is in.

Overall Steel Vengeance and VelociCoaster jump most to mind in recent memory, having a lot packed in that took well more than one ride to download and comprehend.

Some samples of review, going back through the archives:

Steel Vengeance Initial Review
Hyde said:
Steel Vengeance Review - First Ride
@Antinos mentioned this in his trip report, SV is a lot to take in. While Beast, Voyage, etc. may be long rides - SV is a long ride with a lot of technical elements. In general, I found the roller coaster to be very well paced. Airtime was not too overbearing, and flow was very good. The second half of the ride is really where the genius lies - close calls with the support structures are simply accentuated as you are not only doing turns and hills, but inversions, lateral airtime hills, etc. After having grown so acclimated to Mean Streak's layout, SV is like your first time watching the Matrix. Out of the gate, I was confident this would rank a solid top three in any book - and slotted in after Voyage and Storm Chaser for me personally. However, you never rank a roller coaster based on one ride if possible - we needed to ride for a second time.

Steel Vengeance Review #2
What was I missing during my first ride? I remember the inversions, the turns, the drops.. but everything just seemed faster this go round. The airtime more aggressive, the turns faster - everything had been turned up a few notches. And this is what really makes you appreciate the refinements of the ride - every element seems to have so much pre-meditation and perfect placement to maximize every square inch of speed and airtime. There are the obvious elements, but then there are the pre-banks to turns, the course alterations, and otherwise minor portions of layout that still deliver airtime, lateral g's, or other forces. This ride must be ridden multiple times in order to be comprehended - you have rarely ridden something else with so much design put into it. (and certainly gone are the drawn out Intamin element designs)

And it's for these reasons that I struggled to finally rank this roller coaster. Does it have airtime? Yes (literally the most). Does it have a unique layout? Yes. Is it something I would think is rerideable unending? Yes. And is it a #1 roller coaster? .... Yes. Because at the end of the day, my other top ranked roller coasters, while equally massive and delivering in their own right, simply do not have the same scale and stance as Steel Vengeance. This was a methodically plotted out attraction that took 5 years to design, 2 years to construct, and only continues RMC's saga of building ****ing stellar roller coasters.
Click to expand...

VelociCoaster Initial Review
Things I thought were superb:
  • Queue line for a start! Even at longest capacity, the queue moved at a good pace, and through great thematics that keep the queueline interesting and engaging. How can we forget the great Raptor statue, alongside a few easter eggs, and very cool double-glass projection of raptors running alongside the train on the second launch.
  • Finale bowl and Mosasaurus Roll - a great combination of elements, overbanked turns, and the over-the-water-barrel-roll-we-have-always-deserved-since-Maverick-took-it's-out.
Things that exceeded my expectation:
  • The inner-woven twists and turns for the first-half moved at a faster clip than I expected. Theming is light, but still gives some fun, cute pops of atmospheres.
  • Second launch at a rolling start really hits well
  • Hangtime on the inversions were quite good too!
A few things that could have been better (and we're splitting hairs)
  • First launch pre-show is, meh.
  • The top hat is quite slow (to the point of even having a booster LSM), which makes for a nice view, but not the same tug of airtime/g-force you get on other Intamin tophats
Click to expand...
 
I think almost all of the coasters in my Top 10 required a second ride, especially Zadra and Iron Gwazi. I tried them first thing in the morning, and they have nothing to do with the last ride of the day. 😍
 
Millennium Force, easily. My first ride was in the middle and felt completely forceless and quite dull in general, with only the tunnels standing out as particularly exciting.

When I was fortunate to come back to CP, I got to ride it in the front and back rows and had my mind blown. The relentless speed and sense of adventure felt in the front row, and the insanity of the first drop in the back row, catapulted it straight to my #2 spot, where it has remained ever since!
 
Interesting range of replies here.
For me, it's the majority of GCIs. Definitely one of the nerdiest comments I've ever made here, but I've never had a great first ride on a GCI. The rides are so chaotic, it always takes at least a second lap to learn where to tense and lean to make the most out of the forces at play on different parts of the track.

No better example for this, for me, than Wodan.

It was already enjoyable after my first visit to Europa, but having worked there for a season and spending the majority of my days off walking round the park, I must've ridden it 100+ times. Knowing where to hold the restraint so it didn't slap your hips, when to put weight on your toes, where to lean, hands up, so on. It's like a choreographed dance with gravity. By the end of my time at Europa, I'd learnt the sequence no matter the conditions or how fast it was running. I'm sure people have similar experiences with their favourite rides at home parks, but this is a thing I've learnt you have to do on GCIs in particular to enjoy the experience fully.
 
Had my first ride on Wicker Man on a college trip. Was sat in row 3 after a 2 hour wait on a 10-4 opening day... and thought it was absolute trash. But every other time I've ridden I've asked to sit at the back and find it really solid. Its aged so well too.
 
Honestly any hyped ride tends to have this. It's like you need to ride it first, then readjust your expectations and get into the groove of it. Ideally you want at least 3 or 4 rides to get a feel for a coaster.
 
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