Menu
What's new
By:
Filters

What do you look for in a coaster?

Jarrett

Jarrett

Most Obnoxious Member 2016
So I just finished gushing about Skyrush in that other topic and it got me noticing certain things that I tend to enjoy in coasters as I mentioned them that weren't just specific to Skyrush. So I was thinking, we all have different tastes, but how do they differ? What exactly is it that you enjoy about some coasters more than others? We throw shade and nail one another for liking and not liking coasters all the time, maybe this would help us understand what we don't see eye to eye on?

For me, I have a few things...

*Aggression- Not necessarily force, but aggression. Good pacing, the way a coaster feels as it traverses its elements. I like it when the coaster keeps you on your toes, twisting and diving through its course unpredictably so that it's harder to prepare for what's to come. Usually but not always, a coaster that does this well has a twisting out and back layout like Cheetah Hunt, Voyage, or Fury.

*Ejector- I like floater, don't get me wrong, but nothing compares to the feeling of a coaster ripping you from your seat and pinning you against the restraint. Skyrush, Outlaw, Fury, sometimes Millennium Force, and Phoenix all do this and I love it.

*Exposure- I love being exposed on a coaster. I love being on a seat precariously held as far away from anything supporting the structure as possible with just a bar holding me in. Skyrush does this better than any coaster I've ever ridden, and this is probably why I like wing coasters so much. My biggest complaint about Fury was that while it did have an amazing layout full of everything I look for in a coaster, the hyper seats felt a little too comfy and secure and that killed the ride a smidge. Still an amazing coaster.

*Design- I like it when I can tell the engineer behind the coaster spent time making the coaster a unique one-of-a-kind machine to do a certain job. Skyrush, Outlaw Run, Banshee, and Thunderbird were clearly designed for a very specific purpose to do something really specific, and they all do it well.

*EDIT: Retention- I don't like it when coasters burn off all their kinetic energy through a few elements and then meander through the rest of the layout. This is the main reason I like Banshee so much, it's just as intense at the end as it is at the start. I'm not saying the coaster can't lose kinetic energy, but if it does, it needs to know how to work with it. Skyrush definitely loses some, but it counters that by going through tighter hills and throwing twists in there. Same with Outlaw, that double barrel roll uphill has that crazy WTF ejector hangtime that kicks you one more time before the ride's over. Fury's the same way, it starts with those powerful turning elements but gradually moves to airtime elements which it does beautifully, ending the ride with a few awesome bursts of ejector. Love it when a coaster can do this.

These things aren't key for me but they do help:
*Theming/branding/appearance of structure
*Good location
*Good texture (not too much rattle if it's steel even though it won't kill a ride for me, for wood just enough rattle to tell it's wooden)
*Nostalgia/Memories
 
One reason why Voyage sits in my #1 spot is because it is long. It keeps on going. If something isn't too long in ride time, relentlessness is my second best option. Things like Outlaw Run, Lightning Run, Skyrush, Goliath, all fairly short, but don't let up. Another thing is airtime. If it has airtime, I already like it. My favorite is Flojector. It just feels so right, and I love it so. This is why Viper is so high up. It has so much unnoticed airtime where I can literally stand up. Finally, it has to have a lasting impression. If I forgot about a ride in my list, chances are that I forgot about it 5 minutes after I got off. But the coasters in my top 10 have a lasting impression to the point where I have photogenic memories of the first time I went on them(notable ones being Goliath, Skyrush, Dragster, Maverick, Outlaw Run, and Viper).

Nice topic idea, by the way.
 
Air, speed, drops, and comfort.

Air: I like floater and ejector, though my ranking goes sustained ejector, sustained floater, pop of ejector (though this is nice for some color, like El Toro's Rolling Thunder Hill), and pop of floater.

Speed: I think it's the wind in my face. It's also fun to see the world zip by.

Drops: These give speed and air.

Comfort: This is more an issue of lack of comfort working against rides. Skyrush was my favorite coaster through the -2G hill, but then it started throwing me side-to-side, making me grab the restraint to brace myself, so Diamondback regained the top spot. I'm not convinced that I'll ride old Arrow coasters anymore.

My top five coasters (Diamondback, Millennium Force, El Toro, Nitro, and Skyrush, in some order) do not go upside down. I'm hardly against inversions (as far as I know), but the ones that invert tend to lack the speed, drops, and especially air that the hypers have. That makes me interested in an inverting RMC like Wicked Cyclone, which doesn't have the drop height of even El Toro, but it's supposed to have a fun first drop and some good ejector air.
 
It's hard to give any specifics. I just take coasters as they come. There are some general guarantees of quality though:

Good forces: Depending on the coaster, strong positive or negative Gs are always welcomed. It's hard to say "specifically X, Y and Z" makes a coaster good. Well laid out, flowing sequences of forces usually work well. Sometimes just bashing out a load of airtime hills works too.

Feeling of speed: Not just "speed," a coaster has to feel fast. On something like the Big One, it feels relatively fast but ultimately there's something missing from the fact that you're high up in open air. Compare to some kind of ground-hugging coaster, where your points of reference for gauging speed are the trees and the ground, both right next to you. I've heard theories that part of the reason things feel faster at night (apart from having warmed up) is that you can't see far-away objects, so your speed is judged by everything close to you.

Pacing: there's nothing worse than something that starts out amazing and ends up feeling like it's killing time towards the end. Kumba is still my number 1 because, though it goes on for a while, it still maintains the high intensity, even through a simple helix onto the brake run. Even something like Stealth, though short, leaves you still buzzing on the brake run.
 
I kind of care a lot about what I can see. This could be the views I get, the setting, terrain interaction, theming etc. It obviously doesn't count as much as it does for dark rides, but it clearly matters for me.

I love G forces, just like everyone else here, and they can be positive, negative (the best) or lateral. No surprises here.

I like fast directional changes. I don't care how fast the coaster is going, I rather have something surprising and dynamic than sluggish any time.

Relentlessness also ties in with the above point. Rides that don't let up or lack real dead spots are great. Although variety is great too - I do think some weaker areas of a coasters layout can amplify or put into perspective the stronger parts of they layout. (e.g. the turn before Nemesis' last inversion)

I think roughness can also make a ride more fun, in a similar way aggression does.

A memorable and interesting layout also helps.
 
Ejector airtime
Speed
Tall and Steep drops
Fast Launches (the reason I'm looking more forward to TTD than Maverick and Millennium for CP. 0-120 MPH in 3.8 seconds sounds like pure bliss)
A ROAR- I love it when a coaster screams your name from across the park. Mr. Freeze <3
 
Jarrett said:
*Exposure- I love being exposed on a coaster.
Click to expand...

Not sure what kind of parks you go to Jarrett, but surely this is frowned upon at most places?
 
Howie said:
Jarrett said:
*Exposure- I love being exposed on a coaster.
Click to expand...

Not sure what kind of parks you go to Jarrett, but surely this is frowned upon at most places?
Click to expand...
Not really. Some places staple you to crap, yes, but he probably means restraint exposure(ala Skyrush restraints, clamshells, buzzbars, etc.)

Sent from my VS820 using Tapatalk
 
^ Ah, that tragic moment when sarcasm is lost in written text. :p

Something to add to all the good factors already listed: re-rideability. This is a pretty big one for me actually. Those roller coasters I enjoy most are those that do not require riding in this specific seat at this specific time with these specific conditions. If a roller coaster is to be good, it should be good in every seat on every train every time you ride it.
 
When I think of this question, I don't really think of those different categories like airtime, forces, comfort, etc because not all good coasters have all those things. Honestly, it really comes down to if it's "good" or not. I know it's kind of a cheap answer but that's what it is for me. TTD last 17 seconds but it's still amazing. Nemesis doesn't have any airtime and that's still amazing. If I'm eager to go back and re ride the ride (which is true for pretty much my entire top ten), then that's good enough for me.
 
Sanchezmran is right, IMO.

I think, typically, I like relentless coasters... But more importantly I think rides should do what they say. Whatever is expected from their visuals they must live up to. There are plenty of coasters I like which are in part so good because theit visuals undermine them, like Skyrush, but the opposite is a problem = if it looks amazing and isn't.

I think all coasters should be exciting and there's this misunderstanding that non intense coaters can't be exciting. A good family coaster is one which adults enjoy as well as children. Layout and pacing has a LOT to do with this, as do spectacular elements be that part of the ride or scenic effects.

Sent from my MotoG3 using Tapatalk
 
Pacing and overall experience. I look for rides that offer different experiences, but are well paced and thought out. The thought of hitting brake run at still half the initial speed or more on some of these newer coasters is mind boggling to me. Don't end it where an MCBR should be, go the extra mile, literally and figuratively.

I don't want cookie cutter. I want something with very high positive forces, small pops of ejector, and more floater. If it looks intimidating, that is important as well. Aesthetically, I want it to be seen as cared for. Xcelerator is a prime example of a great ride, but due to the parks management, it looks horrendous and puts me off.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk
 
tomahawk said:
I don't want cookie cutter. I want something with very high positive forces, small pops of ejector, and more floater. If it looks intimidating, that is important as well. Aesthetically, I want it to be seen as cared for. Xcelerator is a prime example of a great ride, but due to the parks management, it looks horrendous and puts me off.
Click to expand...
That is a good point on cookie cutter. While many of us were budding coaster enthusiasts, Batman: The Ride was a certain hit with many because of its tight layout with high inversion count. However, I have never been able to fully appreciate these B&M Inverts, as it all felt too canned and copied from one Six Flags park to the next.
 
EJECTOR. EJECTOR. EJECTOR. Man, I love me some ejector airtime. It's the first and most important thing I look for in a coaster.

Intensity. I like a coaster that tries to kill me. Not in a painful SLC way, but in an agressive, forceful way.

Since I'm a PR major, I do look at branding/colour/marketing/uniqueness, etc.

Jarrett said:
*Ejector- I like floater, don't get me wrong, but nothing compares to the feeling of a coaster ripping you from your seat and pinning you against the restraint. Skyrush, Outlaw, Fury, sometimes Millennium Force, and Phoenix all do this and I love it.
Click to expand...

What? Ejector on Millie!? Hahahaha. You and I need to have a talk tonight; haha. Floater, maybe. Ejector? Nahh.
 
Honestly, I just want to have a good time. Of course, most of my top ten is made up of rides that are exceptional in mostly all of the categories that we, as enthusiasts, tend to base a coaster's quality on (airtime, speed etc); however, if you look further town into my top twenty and thirty, there are rides like Verbolten, Revenge of the Mummy, and Expedition Everest, both of which really don't fit the criteria that generally makes a coaster rank high. They're simply rerideable and fun.

On the flip side, there are coasters like I305, Katun and ISpeed (Mirabiladia is apparently full of disappointments) that really SHOULD be up there in theory, but they are nowhere to be found in the upper echelon of my rankings because they're too intense, not fun, or just not rerideable.

So basically, airtime, a good amount of intensity (that doesn't give me grey vision), and fun are the three main things, but it can be lacking the former two and still rank very high in my book.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top