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Your Perfect Coaster

Jarrett

Most Obnoxious Member 2016
I've seen this term thrown around a few times before, often used to describe a number one. This is a hypothetical situation in which a coaster is not only the best in the world, but the best the industry could ever put out. You get off this coaster and think only positives, no negatives whatsoever. This coaster has reached the industry's full potential and to you, nothing could possibly outdo it. You don't think, "I wish it had been smoother," "I wish it had been themed a bit more," "I wish they'd added [element] before [element]," "shame it's in the parking lot," "shame the restraints take away from the ride," "I wish [manufacturer] had tried this concept," or "needs more cowbell." This coaster is purely good to you, nothing to make you even remotely dislike it.

So pick your perfect coaster! Who made it? What type is it? Which existing rides is it most similar to? In what type of park is it? Over which type of terrain is it? Does it have a specific name and theme? What colors would it be? Any odd details you'd have to see pulled off that you love/hate? Discuss!
 
I haven't ridden a perfect coaster yet, the closest would be either Skyrush (I wish it had a single rider line/wish the cable would reset quicker) or Helix (I wish the launches were a little more forceful).
Even if I did find the perfect coaster with perfect operations, and the perfect station and perfect everything, it still wouldn't be perfect because it's not 30 minutes from my house.
 
I tend to think that any one coaster that did everything perfectly "right" would feel overwrought and confused. This is sort of the problem I have with Voyage - everything it does is great, but it's too much for one ride.

I guess I'm saying one of the defining qualities of a "perfect" coaster for me is that it has a very clear understanding of why it exists and what it wants to do, if that makes sense. Like, Oblivion, for example, is a coaster I think is pretty near perfect. It's very short, it does about 1.5 things, there are much longer, taller, and faster dive machines, but Oblivion doesn't need anything more than it has to deliver a very exciting and really fun ride. If they added an immelmann and a water splash it wouldn't make sense. It would just feel like piddling around, beside the point, like the last bits of Air and Voyage. Really great coasters know exactly how big an adrenaline rush they're going to give you, and they know exactly how they want to use that adrenaline up, and then they quit while they're ahead.

There are a few coasters (of all shapes and sizes) that I think do this especially well:
Oblvion
Nemesis
Patriot
Prowler
Outlaw Run
Leviathan
Beast (imo the break in action at second lift hill is critical to the pacing of the ride, and the helix would not work at all without it)
Whizzer
Big Bad Wolf (RIP)
Raven
Millennium Force
 
Perfection for a roller coaster would not necessarily be about having the most/largest elements in the world, it would be about the experience. As steel alluded to, there are many different things you can do with a roller coaster. You can launch it, loop it, make it have airtime, or a vertical drop. But what is most important is what every it does, it feels "right."

Outlaw Run, Skyrush, Nemesis - these are roller coasters that feel very right in their design. Every element, train design, layout and placement; all of these come together for an experience that works so well, it'd be hard to envision doing it any other way.

In this regard, there is no one perfect roller coaster, but a range of roller coaster designs that accomplish an over-the-top experience very well.

As for my preference? I really enjoy roller coaster layouts that traverse dynamic environments with good airtime and not too-overdone elements, such as RF II, Outlaw Run, or Skyrush. These would hit pretty close to a perfect roller coaster experience for me.
 
Re: Tong'an Oriental Heritage Park|Jungle Trailblazer|GG Woo

I think I made a topic like this a while back, but screw it.

I think a ride with the length and airtime as Voyage, the intensity of Maverick and SkyRush, the first drop of Goliath GAm(but taller), the height of Shambhala, a speed of 80 mph, the overall pace of Lightning Run, theming of Taron, 2 inversions(a dive loop and Patriot's Zero G roll), and the intimidation of any Cedar Fair Giga.

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I have some thoughts about this, since I'm one of those NoLimits people (even though I'm not very good, but I am working on something like this).

First, I will find something to whine about. Chiefly, if it does invert, I'll whine that it isn't really a hypercoaster, which is my favorite style. If it doesn't go upside down, I'll wonder why they couldn't have thrown in an inversion.

I'll go with the hypercoaster style, though. Take B&M's track style. I grew up riding lots of B&Ms and Arrows, so that track style looks like how I think a coaster should look. I tend not to like the Intamin track style, even though they've made some great rides.

It won't be a hypercoaster, though, as 200 feet is inadequate for me, as is 300. Let's go break 400 feet and have the drop be the longest in the world, about 420 feet. Let's pitch beyond vertical, too. The drop should go into an underwater tunnel.

B&M hypers/gigas tend to have a pattern where 200 feet means two hills before the turnaround, and then 300 means three hills (or turns or whatever for Fury 325). With this hitting 400 feet, there will be four hills before the turnaround.

I gotten FVD++ to give me seven seconds of floater air on a hill after this drop, without dropping below 50mph. This hill turns a bit to the right at the bottom the way that a lot of B&Ms do. Think of the first drop of Diamondback or Behemoth, since this second hill is about that high.

Then there's a hill with sustained ejector air, Skyrush-style, but perhaps for quite a bit longer than Skyrush gives.

(It's says that Diamondback is my favorite, but it would be Skyrush if it didn't throw me side to side so violently. The first drop and next two hills are amazing.)

My next move is a goofy turn to the left that emerged from a mistake in FVD, but one that I like. As it is turning left, it stayed banked left while moving a bit to the right to give an off-camber turn like RMC has done. This gives ejector air while riders at banked 60ish degrees. The final "out" hill will be an ejector hill like Skyrush.

The turnaround should be more elaborate than a hammerhead or ampersand, though I haven't decided what it should be. Anyway, it leads to some more hills. They could be banked like Fury, since bunny hops have been done a lot, but I don't have strong feelings about what they should be. There probably should be an overbank. They should lead back towards the station, roughly hugging the "out" part like B&M out-and-backs tend to do. I like the idea of a triple dip like The Voyage or a quadruple dip like Lightning Rod, so something like that should appear.

Near the station, there is a block brake. Out of this, the track goes through a twister section like Bizarro has. This will end with a splashdown to entertain spectators.

The coaster is in an area themed after a city build amid waterfalls. My folks read Dinotopia to me when I was a kid, and a drawing of their Waterfall City has stayed with me for 20 years.

Waterfall-City-Afternoon-Light.sm_.jpg


The ending twister section will dance around some waterfalls, spiraling around one like Havasu Falls and probably digging into the rock behind the waterfall. (I've imagined this as Pride Rock from the Lion King with a waterfall on top.) Another turn will wrap around a rock that jutts out of the river, hugging close to the water, and then another turn the other direction will also hug the water.

Attraction_Review-g31371-d109442-Reviews-Havasu_Falls-Supai_Arizona.html

Havasu Falls

I like the trains on Diamondback, but I find it hard to work with such long trains, so a standard B&M hyper train with scoops would probably be the way to go; that's how my NoLimits project is going. The other disadvantage to the staggared trains is that people in the back are pretty far apart. What if there's a really pretty girl over there?

(What does everyone think of Skyrush-style airtime in the B&M harnesses...at 100mph?)

Sixty-five million dollars later, I think this would get a high ranking.
 
In my opinion there are two coasters that I would consider pretty much perfect... not quite. Bizarro is the second closest to perfect in my opinion, it is THE perfect hyper coaster. The airtime is incredible, the intensity is incredible and there is a perfect blend of the two. The drop is also great, only problem is it has a slight rattle. If Bizarro had the same layout as a giga and no rattle it would be the perfect coaster. Helix is probably the closest to perfect, only thing to make it better would be more powerful launches.

Maverick is also pretty close but I hate that it brakes before the launch and I wish it had a top hat after the launch.

The perfect coaster in my opinion would be similar to Maverick and Helix. It would start with an LSM lift and go into a beyond vertical drop like Maverick from about 130-140 feet into an underground tunnel. Then it would a sustained ejector hill like Skyrush then go into and overbank to the right that transitioned into a zero g roll with good hangtime. Then into a bank to the left and a twisting airtime simlar to those seen on Mega-lites. It would then enter a powerful LSM launch back towards the lift and enter a top hat (about 200-230 feet) over the lift at about 90 mph to get sustained airtime over the top hat and into the drop. It would then bank to the left and enter a drawn out heartline roll which would transition into a right bank. The bank would go past the first drop and under a waterfall. Next it would go into what I call an infinity roll, a transition like I305/Maverick, bank opposite way and enter a zero g roll that ejected riders downwards. After exiting it would go through an overbank and floater airtime hill, then to bank right and go into another fast transition into a twisting airtime hill, and two more airtime hills bank right go through a forceful s curve and enter a hill back to the station.

This is the design I take most pride in. Blend of airtime, hangtime, intesity, and have a lot of theming. Also NO OTSRs
 
Okay, time for my opinion on this since it seems to have gotten off to a good start.

Mine would have to be an Intamin Winged Outer Seats akin to Skyrush. However, I would like to see it a bit longer, have an out-and-back yet twisted layout akin to Fury 325 or Voyage, and maybe cool it with the airtime a bit. Replacing the bars with the ones used on Millennium Force and Dragster would also be amazing. It would also have to have some good interaction with some kind of terrain like Skyrush does. I also would like to see some kind of natural-inspired station similar to Wild Eagle and Cheetah Hunt, in that they incorporate natural elements into man-made architecture with an emphasis on aesthetic appearance.

So in essence, Skyrush with a layout like Fury or Voyage and an environment with theming like Cheetah Hunt.
 
I think that the quasi-OTSR harnesses are necessary for the Skyrush wing style, though. Otherwise, it kind of has to have a floor of some sort, right?
 
^No, I meant the bars themselves. Not the full restraint system, just the bar that rests on your lap. Replace the light blue bit with the yellow bit from Millennium.
 
How would it attach to the car, though? I'm really interested in this, because I think that a better harness on SkyRush might be able to keep it from throwing me side to side as violently as it did (which was enough that I had to hold on to hold my position, and I wanted my hands up). Do you mean that the SkyRush quasi-OTSR harness would have a different part across your lap? I like something like that for a B&M floorless or wing.

***PHYSICS TERMS AHEAD***

In fact, I'd like some kind of wing design on my coaster. It might have to be the 4-across Intamin style on narrow B&M track, because the super-wide wing cars result in large torques in routine elements, and I think I want faster changes in direction than would be allowed. Maybe this is where the RMC monorail track could be useful.
 
^Same way it's attached now. It'd be the over-the-shoulder lap bar it has now, just with the yellow foam from Millie in place of the light blue bit it has now. It wouldn't change much, just make the insane ejector a bit more comfortable and enjoyable.
 
Black Mamba really is the perfect B&M invert! It's not my #1 (current #5), but i can't imagine another invert ever beating it. It got it all: extensive theming and landscpaing, great forces, it's quick and has a lovely tune to go along with it :) It really is the perfect B&M invert imo :)

Can't think of another coaster out there which I can't find any faults with...
 
Shambhala is my perfect coaster, big hills & loads of airtime, wish it had lap-bars instead of the mushroom type as they did not feel safe.
 
Oooooh, I just realised there is such a thing as the perfect coaster. In my humble opinion of course.

Nemesis. It does what it does perfectly, I wouldn't change anything about it, nothing. But it's not my favourite due to the ride type not providing enough airtime and I like other coasters more but it's the perfect invert.
 
Agreed about Nemesis. Probably the closest perfect coaster I've ridden. I know it's my #5 but sometimes I feel like I can't praise it high enough for how good it is.

After that I think the next ones would be Skyrush and Boulder Dash. Skyrush would be perfect if it's just a tad bit longer (extra bunny hop or two) and if the lap bars wouldn't hurt as much. I wouldn't change Dash's layout but sometimes it can be a little too shaky (and it'd help if they actually got some good operations going).
 
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