Lightning Rod: Launched RMC Coming to Dollywood!

[Coasterkidmwm]

GerstlCrazy wrote:

Well, I rode twice in the back car, once front row, but it wasn't until I rode the exact middle that I found it reasonable (don't get me wrong, I love getting f&%$ed up by a roller coaster). The extremes are retarded. We must have ridden in very different conditions, I almost envy you.

You could just have a really weak pain tolerance compared to Paradox. I mean Dirk, who is the only person's opinion on coasters I actually trust besides like Oscar, said RMCs are pretty overrated.

[Paradox]

Coasterkidmwm wrote:

GerstlCrazy wrote:

Well, I rode twice in the back car, once front row, but it wasn't until I rode the exact middle that I found it reasonable (don't get me wrong, I love getting f&%$ed up by a roller coaster). The extremes are retarded. We must have ridden in very different conditions, I almost envy you.

You could just have a really weak pain tolerance compared to Paradox. I mean Dirk, who is the only person's opinion on coasters I actually trust besides like Oscar, said RMCs are pretty overrated.

Yea I rode it twice due to the lines (one front one back) and on different sides and to be honest I found the ride to be severely overrated. The prelift did absolutely nothing and the two lifts go so slow the "four minutes of ride time" is more like 3 on the lift and one on the actual ride. The drop, high five, and double up were the only things that were worthwhile and the second lift was extremely unnecessary. For a ride of Colossus' size there is so much more they could have done with it and I got off feeling completely unsatisfied.

I've ridden 3 RMC's in total and this is how I would rank them in ascending order: Twisted Colossus, Outlaw Run, Wicked Cyclone.

I know that SFNE is my home park but on pretty much any day WC produces airtime on a similar level of intensity as El Toro. I only got about one ride on Outlaw Run before it died on my trip to SDC, but it was a lot of fun, though a bit overrated as well.

All in all, I like "traditional" wooden coasters more than RMC's.

^ Keeping to ride smooth coasters means that you may forget the shakey feel of a typical coaster. I guess that's why we should go on traditional rides to find out how Montana Rusas have evolved so far.

Coasterkidmwm wrote:

GerstlCrazy wrote:

Well, I rode twice in the back car, once front row, but it wasn't until I rode the exact middle that I found it reasonable (don't get me wrong, I love getting f&%$ed up by a roller coaster). The extremes are retarded. We must have ridden in very different conditions, I almost envy you.

You could just have a really weak pain tolerance compared to Paradox. I mean Dirk, who is the only person's opinion on coasters I actually trust besides like Oscar, said RMCs are pretty overrated.

It has nothing to do with pain. Did I ever use the word pain? It's simple, objective forcefulness. You need to learn to develop your own thoughts on roller coasters by riding them for yourself, especially since Dirk Ermen's opinions are typically pretty ridiculous no matter how well ridden he is. There are overrated RMC's, but two of the three I have been on are extremely underrated. Learn to think for yourself, not by what someone else tells you.

GerstlCrazy wrote:

Well, I rode twice in the back car, once front row, but it wasn't until I rode the exact middle that I found it reasonable (don't get me wrong, I love getting f&%$ed up by a roller coaster). The extremes are retarded. We must have ridden in very different conditions, I almost envy you.

Those retarded extremes are the best part about Twisted Colossus.

Continuing the off-topic TC discussion instead of LR's construction,
I rode Twisted Colossus with GerstlCrazy and I can attest to his description of it. The extrema seats were absolutely ridiculous. I've also ridden El Toro many times in the extrema seats but not Wicked Cyclone and I can say that TC's G-Forces are easily comparable to El Toro's, just as you say WC's G's are. TC is short in height, so all of the elements are really "quick" and "jumpy". More technically, the amount of jerk, in physics that's the rate of change of acceleration (m/s^3), that TC produces when entering and exiting its elements is generally higher. In other words, the acceleration change from +__ G's to -__ G's is shorter and thus it's more snappy and noticeable. On El Toro, I remember the hills feeling really flowy because they're huge. I can't speak for Wicked Cyclone, but it is also not very tall, so I don't know if its transitions perform more or less like TC's. It's quite a phenomenon that we enthusiasts can disagree to such degree about a coaster--I can't actually fathom how TC could be considered overrated. I don't know what part of it you would be downrating. It has two lifts, it's not that big of deal, I didn't feel like it ruined the ride experience, but that's my opinion. It's certainly not a reason to say the ride is overrated. I suppose if you were to be saying it was "too forceful" and thus it doesn't deserve as high a rating, I could see that, but I think that's the opposite of what you're getting at. Which, again, I don't understand, as it is immensely powerful during all of its elements. Maybe we rode at really different times of the year and outdoor environment conditions or something else was significantly different--as in, we did ride it during the last full week of park operation which is basically the off-season so a train maintenance overhaul hadn't been performed in a long time--because the bogies were loose as hell and it tore through the two courses at a pace that I would consider to be almost undesirable.

[Dirk_Ermen]

Coasterkidmwm wrote:

I mean Dirk, who is the only person's opinion on coasters I actually trust besides like Oscar, said RMCs are pretty overrated.

Don't base RMC so far on what I've ridden from them. I've only ridden one so far and that coaster was extremely overrated.
But it doesn't change the fact that I still think the rest of the RMC's look extremely overrated. All I see them doing is building a track full of gimmicks that make up a coaster. Perhaps this opinion turns around when I get the opportunity on riding a few more RMC's.

[Turbo]

Which one did you ride? I got the chance to ride Outlaw Run and it was pretty sweet

[Dirk_Ermen]

Turbo wrote:

Which one did you ride? I got the chance to ride Outlaw Run and it was pretty sweet

New Texas Giant. Probably not as hyped anymore. But at the time I rode it, it was extremely overhyped. I'm really hoping to get a new proper trip to the US soon. Too many new coasters being built in parks and plenty of others that I'd want to (re)ride.

Yeah New Texas Giant is boring as hell...

Dirk_Ermen wrote:

Coasterkidmwm wrote:

I mean Dirk, who is the only person's opinion on coasters I actually trust besides like Oscar, said RMCs are pretty overrated.

Don't base RMC so far on what I've ridden from them. I've only ridden one so far...

[Dirk_Ermen]

GerstlCrazy wrote:

Yeah New Texas Giant is boring as hell...

Well, the first drop and the following double up was nice. But after that nothing happened

The thing about RMCs, which is one of the things I love about them, is people are not going to agree on which one's are the best. There are no right or wrong answers, it's almost entirely subjective. I've heard people call NTG one of the great coasters currently operating in the US, others think it's overrated. The same can be said about pretty much all of them. So I always take someone raving about one or someone else knocking one of them with a huge grain of salt, because chances are, many other are going to love it.

We knew Twisted Colossus was going to have two lifts from the get go, so if you're not into that you're going to subtract points for it. Others like me, think that adds a uniqueness to the ride that separates it from the others. But I don't agree the ride is tame, it's pretty damn forceful, but not so much that it's not a crowd pleaser, anything but. I'd place TC somewhere around the middle of the pack, below Medusa and Iron Rattler, about even with WC (which has it's own strengths and weaknesses like a painfully slow ending), and above Goliath and NTG. Just my thoughts.

I still feel all of the 2016 RMCs will be better than last year's twosome though.

^Magic Monte, I'd love to see how you'd rank the RMC's you've ridden.

I've been on over 350 coasters, including 5/7 currently operating RMC's. I've also been on every major Intamin in the US (only excluding the two ROS clones), and 47/56 of the currently operating B&M's in the US. In addition to 2 other visits to TC during normal operations, I rode TC during it's commercial shoot in May before the ride opened (Probably totaling around 15-20 times). Goliath I've only ridden twice (front and back). NTG, IRat, and Outlaw Run I've ridden between 10-15 times each. I've ridden all 5 of these in 2015. I only say all this so you all can respect my opinion on RMCs. (I'll be riding LR, Joker, and SC this year).

I think TC and NTG are the two weakest RMC's I've been on (in terms of positive forces). But NTG excels at airtime, there's just so many spots full of it, a truly great coaster that a ton of people can enjoy! Twisted Colossus also has a whole lot of airtime (I counted around 19 moments) but really almost no positives. My girlfriend said "it almost felt like a family coaster" because it doesn't travel very fast.


Outlaw Run, Goliath, and Iron Rattler are more forceful in positives (OR's turn after the stall, Goliath at the valley of the dive loop, and IRat's huge sweeping turn before the Zero-G for example). But these coasters aren't really that packed full of positives either, and that's why I like them!

Here's my rankings of the RMC's:
1. Outlaw Run - amazing pacing, great elements, very intense, good airtime moments
2. New Texas Giant - So many airtime spots! Very long coaster (3 initial overbanks are ehh)
3. Iron Rattler - Great drop, 5 great spots of airtime, (but the banks on quarry are dumb and slow, )
4. Twisted Colossus - Lots of airtime, very long ride, neat when dueling, each side by itself is short but good (2nd lift KILLS pacing)
5. Goliath - Some great spots, very neat inversions (too short, not enough airtime)

Outlaw Run (my #1 wood) has insane pacing, much like an Intamin, it never slows down. I've heard (and seen the POV) that Medusa is much like OR in pacing, and I'm sure that one would be my favorite of the steel RMC's if true. Now if Lightning Rod also has that same style of pacing, I believe it would easily become the best RMC. That quadruple down looks insane. The animated POV gives me hope, but I can't be sure until a real POV comes out and then I get to ride it.

Well if we're including the RMC wood in there, that would change my list a bit. I've been lucky to ride every single RMC currently operating although I only managed 2 rides on Wicked Cyclone because the wait was well over an hour. But I made sure to ride once in the back and once towards the front to get a good ideal how both ends ride (had to barter for the front seat due to that stupid assigned seating). Now one thing I will say up front is part of the problem with these rides (and Intamin rides for that matter) is that people always build up so much hype and excitement over the ones they HAVEN'T ridden, that once they finally do it can't possibly live up to advanced word. That's why there is such wildly varying opinions on almost all of them.

Which is why I don't argue with anyone's opinion on any of them because I know they either over hyped it in their head, or went in wanting not to like it to justify their pre-bias. The RMC backlash is real! lol I'm more likely to trust the opinion of someone who have ridden a ride multiple times, in multiple seats, on multiple days. With that said, here is how I rank them currently:

#1 Medusa - This isn't even a contest. From the setting to the intense mangled track, this ride is amazing. Watch the "off ride" POV and you can see this ride is so snappy, that you can't even catch your breath.
#2 Outlaw Run - My number three wood overall, this one is nearly perfectly executed from beginning to end. The setting doesn't hurt this one either.
#3 Iron Rattler - There's a theme here. The RMC coasters that best utilize their terrain rate highest for me. The first and final drop alone make this a must ride. Takes a few rides to click.
#4 Wicked Cyclone - I LOVE this ride in the back, not nearly as much in the front seat. I wish this one had one LESS inversion and maybe a tunnel instead. Still an amazing ride.
#4 Twisted Colossus - Good blue run, awesome green run. This ride is glorious when it races, not as memorable without that feature. Great inversions and the double ups in the front seat are sick.
#5 New Texas Giant - The first half of this one is as good as it gets. Great first drop, thigh bruising airtime and the best feeling of speed of all of them. And then after the mid course I get bored every time. The second half does absolutely nothing for me.
#6 Goliath - I love the look of this ride more than the ride itself. It's very fun, but I wanted so much more. Damn SF for trying to squeeze a record breaker in such a small space, they repeated the mistake they made with it's steel California cousin.

I'm a big RMC fan, so I still love all of them. Can't wait for the new batch to open!

Lightning Rod looks great in the snow.

From Dollywood's Facebook.

Wow. That first picture is going to be my new wallpaper!

This looks chorfing amazing.

Lightning Rod looks excellent. I'm really looking forward to riding it this summer (assuming my plans work out).

Wow, i love the shape of the first hill and main drop!

^ I love the look of this woodie as well! However the only minor gripe is that the first drop should be like a huge double down! I'm satisfied, at least, with the rest of that hilly layout, though!

[Paradox]

10/10 supports

[Paradox]

Trains on site

vroom vroom

Reminds me of a Xcelerator train, lol! The wooden version!

Paradox wrote:

10/10 supports

Lol, are those permanent?