ExRx.net

Category: Classic
Favorite: Intimidator 305 at King's Dominion, near Richmond Virginia

This is a classic coaster design, up the hill, down the hill, turns and more hills. But the lead hill is 305' high, so at the bottom of the first hill you're basically seeing black spots. Lots of air time in the back row. Modern computer aided design makes for an incredibly smooth ride and modern risers get you to the top fast.

Category: Hydraulic Launch
Favorite: Volcano Blast, also at King's Dominion

Suspension coaster with two hydraulic launches. First gives you the basic flying around business you get with suspension coasters, second shoots you vertically up a tunnel (that's the volcano blast part) and out the top. This one is all about bends and twists to get the most out of the suspension aspect. Combined with hydraulic launch it's incredible.

Category: Vertical/Near Vertical
Favorite: Griffon Rider, at Busch Gardens, Williamsburg Virginia

Instead of a train of cars they have only three rows of 10 seats each - very wide. Great for large parties. My kids are at the perfect age where it is fun to work out each time who is sitting next to whom. They get you up 200' pretty fast, round the bend and over to the drop, where you stop and hang for 7 seconds. Then with no alarm or buzzer it just drops 200' straight down. A loop and some basic follow-up to bleed off speed and it's run-around-and-go-on-again time.

Category: let-down
Loser: King da-ka, at Six Flags New Jersey

400' straight up and then down. But they ruin the drop by twisting, so you can't appreciate the full impact of it. Also you wait 3 hours. The only reason I rode this is my coaster buddy from childhood was visiting, so we got up at the crack of dawn and drove out there to do the teenagers-running-to-get-on-first-thing at park opening. Big let down. Besides the fact that I think that park is a dump.

Reading this makes me want to lose weight and get the wife in on it too. We are too pudgy to be comfortable at amusement parks. Now, this is the incentive I need.

I'm not too much of an afficionado, but I like the Beast, old coaster at Kings Island. Not sure if either still exists.

The Grizzly at Kings Dominion, I think. It's an old clunker and won't have you standing up or doing twists, etc., etc., like the new ones. I just like the creakiness, and bumpiness of it. It still gives me that thought and thrill of danger in the back of my mind (which none of the new ones do) whenever I go on it... 'Is it going to break down', lol. It definately falls into the 'Classic' category.

UK is $h1t in comparison, very, but we have a place called Alton Towers which has 2-3 good ones. One called nemesis is suspended (legs dangle) with a few good cork screws and a loop, one called oblivion which is just a horrific verticle drop at 70mph (thats 130 yards per knee slap to you Americans :) ) and a pretty tame one called air which is in the superman position - needs to be much more harsh/scary as it's speed isn't really that exciting - I'm not well up on the American ones but the island of adventure sounds good, that superman is supposed to be VERY VERY high up.

I hate heights, but if its a rollercoaster in a modern country (not some health and safety nightmare) and I'm locked in, doesn't bother me half as much, so the higher the better, but speed is the main thing.

This was my first ever amusement park attraction: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkhkk0C0WU It goes 60m high and has 4.5G (I don't know how much that is).

4.5 G would feel like you have 4.5 people sitting on you. You wouldn't be able to lift your arms, (Matt Z might be able to) and it would feel like you were being sucked into you seat. Jet pilots wear special compression suits to keep blood from pooling in their legs but they can still black out at about 9 G.

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Let thy food be thy medicine, and thy medicine be thy food.~Hippocrates
Strength is the adaptation that leads to all other adaptations that you really care about - Charles Staley
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Thanks TimD

The one that does not make me puke.

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Diana
Goals
squat 150
bench 100
DL 175