Rollercoaster Thread

[Bettyboo]

This one is about to close:



Colossus is a wooden roller coaster located in the Colossus County Fair area of Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California. When it opened on June 29, 1978, it was one of the tallest and fastest wooden roller coasters in the world, and the first roller coaster in the world with two drops in excess of 100 feet (30 m).[1] Colossus features two identical side-by-side tracks, but it is not considered a racing roller coaster since the trains do not normally race due to the setup of both tracks pre-lift. They can line up at the lift to race, however this rarely happens.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossu...Magic_Mountain)

I suspect that many of you have been on it.

I've not, but have been on this in LA:



20 years ago, so it was branded as something else then...

I also nearly had a go on this, but looked a bit scary in the end!





Do you like these things? What's your favourite?

[BaitongBoy]

The old wooden rollercoaster in Vancouver, BC at the PNE...My daughter and I have fond memories of that one...

[BaitongBoy]

Best Ever?: The Wooden Roller Coaster at the PNE


by Remy Scalza in Town on September 1, 2010


With the PNE in town, it might be a good time to revive the age-old debate: Could the Wooden Roller Coaster at Playland be the best coaster ever?

Upon initial consideration, this claim might seem a bit over the top. The Wooden Roller Coaster, after all, was built all the back in 1958. Its maximum height is a mere 75 feet and its top speed is a sluggish 90 kilometers per hour (Modern steel coasters, by comparison, can reach heights of nearly 500 feet and speeds in excess of 200 kilometers per hour). The Wooden Roller Coaster doesn’t go upside down or backward. And the ride lasts a mere 90 seconds.

But the old coaster’s got one big thing going for it: The ride feels really, really unsafe. It’s not, of course. No one to my knowledge has ever been seriously hurt. But talk to anyone who’s survived a ride, and you’ll hear the same refrain: Oh my god, I thought I was gonna get thrown right out of the @#!$ car.

And it’s this element – terror; the sensation that your body is in immediate physical peril – that sets Playland’s coaster apart from all of its competitors. Get on a gleaming new steel coaster, and they strap you in snug as a bug. You may race along at blistering G-forces and corkscrew until you’re dizzy, but you never feel in any real danger.


Not so on the Wooden Roller Coaster. It starts off innocently enough. The rickety cars are slowly towed to the top of the first hill. Been there. Done that. Nothing to write home about. But then comes that first, horrifying drop. It’s not the speed so much as the fact that you’re literally lifted out of your seat, held in place only by the skinny steel bar stretched across your lap. That’s when the adrenalin kicks in: the feeling that something’s gone terribly wrong with the ride and you might not make it through.



And it gets worse. After that initial plunge there’s a sharp turn. Because you’re not strapped into a seat, momentum sends you crashing into the side of the car. Then the tracks veer in the opposite direction and you’re tossed about again – neck and back whipping with enough force to make your chiropractor cringe.

And just when you’ve steadied yourself and got your bearings comes another plunge – worse than the first, shorter but steeper, so that it feels for a second like you’re floating above the car rather than riding in it. It’s at this exact point in the ride that the coaster’s automatic camera snaps your picture. Take a look at your photo on the screens on the way out – Unless you’ve got nerves of steel or were concentrating real hard on flipping the bird to the camera, the look on your face will be one of sheer terror. Not delight or excitement, but real “I’m-not-gonna-make-it” fear.

That’s what makes the Wooden Roller Coaster special. As many times as I’ve been on it and as many times as I’ve told myself “It’s just a ride,” there’s always a point where doubt creeps in and my fingers dig into the metal safety bar and I just know I’m about to end up splattered on the Playland pavement.

Sounds like fun, doesn’t it? Any other fans of the Wooden Roller Coaster out there? What makes it special? Could it be the best ever?

[Bettyboo]

^

[Waid]

Wow. Those are wonderful pieces of engineering. Love going on roller-coasters.

[Dillinger]

Alton Towers i used to love. Sometimes i'd let my kids wag skool and drive them up there to avoid the weekend queues.When I was at school the Corkscrew was a hairy ride, that pales to the ones they had last time i went, about 7 years ago. I remember Oblivion being good and a few other great ones with huge drops and one that was in the dark.I'd love to go back again.

Blackpool pleasure beach had a good one too, The Big One.Drayton Manor wasnt so good, but not bad for a day out.

You notice one thing in common here Betty, none of them are down South for you Southern Poofters.

How was Legoland, Windsor?

[somtamslap]

none of them are down South for you Southern Poofters.

Nonsense. We've got Logger's Leap in Thorpe Park. Real hardcore stuff.

[FlyFree]

Never liked roller coasters much.

Can we make it the Hang Ten thread?

[Bettyboo]

Middle ground (everybody's favourite, as Slap's Thorpe Park ride):

[Smug Farang Bore]

Used to have some pritty crazy roller coaster rides back home from the pub in the late 70s in my mate Kev's Renult 10.


This was before people took drink driving seriously though...

[FlyFree]

Middle ground

Middle ground's good.

[nora tittoff]

Went on a roller coaster at some theme park in Thailand about 40 years ago frightened the shit out of me.Never again.

[BaitongBoy]

Went on a roller coaster at some theme park in Thailand about 40 years ago frightened the shit out of me.Never again.

It was a bloke, right?...Tell the truth...

[Breny]

^

Tell a bird that you are fxcking that you have done her mum, Try that for a rollercoaster.

[BaitongBoy]

Was watching a porno movie with the Thai gf once and realized the starlet was a "friend" of mine...with benefits...

That CD was ripped to shreds...

Another type of roller coaster ride after that...