We had a copy of this in australias wonderland that had a much higher first drop. They also removed the tunnel from the second drop from another copy of this coaster from whatever USA theme park.... you guys have too many :P cant remember the name.......
This was my first roller coaster, when I was a kid that first drop felt like hell, Now, I'm totally unphased by it, along with Topgun (Flightdeck). It might seem like a shabby coaster, but its more for family use rather than thrill
I think you're right and there are a few medium size wood coasters around that offer the same kind of ride. Two that come to mind are the Kingdom Coaster at Dutch Wonderland in PA the Comet at Waldameer Park in Lake Erie. Personally I'm glad there's still a place and demand for these lower key rides because I'm past the stage of of wanting harnesses dig into my shoulders or getting off a ride half dazed.
it seems pretty tame but I don't think that's a bad thing. It's good to have milder coasters for people who don't like wild back breaking rides. I rode a side friction coaster that was built in 1918 and ran until 1989 when i was 6 years old so it would take a a very rickety, wobbly and essentially falling apart roller coaster to put it in the bad list for me.
It's definitely the "least fun" of the one's I've been on. I've been on some amazing wooden roller coasters, but I certainly lack the experience to label it "the worst in the world".
I took my nine year old son and his friend on this two years ago and they both loved it. So, it's definitely a great family ride, but if you're into more extreme stuff you'll probably be bored.
I agree with you, I don't mind this coaster at all. The only thing it is lacking is much faster operations. The loading process is barely halfway through by the time the other train comes to the brake run.
I'll be honest, this coaster is so generic that it probably IS Wooden Roller Coaster 1 lol. They must have refurbished it, though, because I remember back in the late '90s, this ride had a tunnel full of nothing but used chewing gum all over it. It was so dense with used gum that you couldn't see the wood anymore.
Great America is my home theme park, so I've practically grown up riding this, and I can tell you that it's not THAT bad. First drops a dozy, but that's more due to the curve of it, and after that it's a good ride. I think the big fault of it is that it's just.....meh. that's it. Nothing super exciting, just an average layout for a woodie. I think it needs an RMC makeover if it's going to stand out or evolve, but fat chance that's happening soon. Thanks Cedar Fair.
This was the first coaster I ever went on and it terrified the heck out of me back then. Of course, that was near closing time and there was no one in line so the operator let the entire train ride it 11 straight times in a row. It definitely wouldn't phase me now and of all the wooden coasters I have been on, it is definitely the mildest one. I haven't been on Gold Strike yet though because I haven't been to Great America since it was still Paramount's Great America.
It' s a classic style wooden roller coaster without all the bells and whistles. People from the bay area love it as it always has big lines and lots of screams (isn't that what it's all about?) I seen worse that TPR filmed in like, Japan...who cares what everyone else thinks it's the worst roller coaster but it's ours!!
I don't know if anyone posted this. But from what I've heard, the real reason people voted this as the worst wooden coaster is not because of roughness but due to having a sort of "Bland" layout. The layout on this coaster is pretty much "Toned-Down".
I can see why people would rank this as the "worst", simply because there's not a lot of twists, turns, huge drops, and neck-breaking shifts in the track position. That hardly ranks this as the worst, in my personal opinion. People have become spoiled and forget what a real coaster started as. It's not all about only corkscrews, sudden drops, and looping tracks.
You can learn one thing from this coaster: Critics are not the best people to rely on when it comes to judgement. They might be even the worst. (The worst wooden coaster I've been on is Bandit at Movie Park Germany)
I remember when it was new and it felt so broken. It's selling point was that it would beat the hell out of you. The fear factor was not about it being an intense design but the feeling that something was about to break or collapse at any moment. It's like the track moved more than the cars did. You could see it rattle from ground level with the only saving grace being the bulk of cables barely keeping it centered. If anything, they over-maintained it and made it too smooth as time went by.
It may sound strange, but i love it! Even though i love extreme rides, this is an exeption. It may sound wiered now, but ilove painfull rollercoaster. Yeah i know! I'm strange!
My quote from a 2003 article: " After a few hours, we board The Beast, SoB's forerunner and at 7,400 feet still the world's longest coaster. Back when my wife and I lived in Cincinnati, this was our favorite ride. We loved the front car at night and could ride it over and over. But we were younger then, and so was the coaster. The Beast is still fast and long, but now it's way too rough. Behind us on our one ride, we hear Carr's commentary: "Ow. Ow. Ow ow ow. Ow!"
I rode this over 10 years ago, and they didn't have those cushioned cars. It was the most bumpy whiplashed ride I have ever been on. I had bruises the next day from hitting the side of the seats.
I wouldn't say it's the worst nor the best. But this would be a good ride for kids who don't really like "extreme" rides or like a ride if you have a weak stomach. Overall it was okay
I think this ride is only for like beginners on wooden roller coaster. I don't think this is for like people who want HUGE drops. I think thye created this for like kids who are starting wooden roller coasters then make their way up on the HUGE coasters.
This is an awesome entry level rollercoaster. Its fun, yet still good for getting younger riders familiar with thrill rides. After this you can hit up The Demon, which is right next door.
This is a good roller coaster because it's a starter roller coaster. It builds up the hype so you can go on more insane ones like vortex. So to say this is the worst is wrong.
+legomasterphd I agree I like to start with a more tame one before going on something more intense. It really does make you hyped up about going bigger after you get an appetizer!
Klaro yeah like look at Kings islands coasters diamondback and banshee while they aren’t sit downs they are both B&M like patriot but banshee has 7 inversions and diamondback is 230 feet tall and goes 80mph those are the big intense coasters lmao but patriot is a big coaster in comparison to grizzly
The worst wooden coaster is the original Colossus at Magic Mountain, especially when they were running only one train. Grizzly isn't really bad, it's disappointing. It does have a good first drop. The most disappointing coaster is the original Mean Streak at Cedar Point.
Paris Scholt You suck. gtfo hater. I happen to love that song. We all have our opinions. My comment got a like, so someone agrees with me. You mad bro? XD yeah, I know you are. Fuck off -__-"
Well, at least it is renowned for something. I was 19 year old foreman running a 5 man crew building the Grizzly ... 7 days a week, 12 hour days for almost 5 months. April 15th 1986 it opened.. I was one of the crew that first tossed the sand bags out of the train and got the first ride with the rest of the crew. Fun times.
I worked at Great America summer of '88. People always complained one of the trains gave a very rough ride. I always joked that train had square wheels. No matter what the park did, that one train would ALWAYS ride rough. They used to be painted black and brown. I rode both trains and would have to agree one of the trains rode real rough.
The Gerd I have been on mean streak, and it is worse because all mean streak does is turn and turn and turn for days on end, no spice or anything special in the layout. Grizzly on the other hand I got some airtime here and there and the turn under the first big turnaround makes me feel like I'm gonna collide with the support structure, kinda creating my own near miss element.
+ThatIntaminGuy on your first point, yeah kinda, but on the second, on mean streak you go through the support structure dozens of times. Mean streak is taller, faster, longer, scarier, and pretty much everything is bigger.
The Gerd Just because it's bigger doesn't mean it's better. Using that logic I could say Fujiyama @ Fuji-Q Highland is better than Goliath (SFOG) because it's overall bigger. And mean streak is quite rickety that it kinda ruins the airtime.
Rode it today. A LOT smoother than it's been in the past. The real issues here are a.) a layout FULL of missed opportunities b.) Lack of elements for the sake of speed, which never lives up to its potential (it really never goes that fast, nor does it give the illusion of speed) c.) the trim brake after the first hill kills all momentum and d.) those horrible Morgan trains. I really can't believe that we have three California coasters still using Morgans (Grizzly, Dipper in SD and Dipper in SC - Colossus at SFMM had them until morphing into Twisted Colossus). I get it - Morgan Manufacturing was local, and did a LOT to save the Belmont Dipper, but really, those coffin cars are a travesty, and always have been.
I think that rating is a bit unfair, because it doesn't take context into account. First off, most "woodies" rated are probably steel framed or "hybrids", which doesn't make them true woodies. Secondly, as a relatively modern build (1990 IIRC) this was always intended to be sort of a homage to a more or less bygone era. Note the straight flat-track the cars ride on (albeit I believe the cars have interior side-wheels, and all urethane). I live here, so maybe I'm a bit biased. :) But it's a fun ride. For true vintage woodie, drive a couple hours to Santa Cruz and ride the Giant Dipper. Confined space gives it lots of high-G turns, and it's almost a century old. Scary right there!
After 3 months of travelling the US and Canada, riding over 100 coasters across 13 parks I can safely say the worst is Wilde Beast at Canada’s wonderland. I came off with a black and purple bruise and was begging for it to stop lol
My Problem with this coaster is that it's too tame, especially for a woodie. It is a mirror image of the one at King's Dominion, however, that version had steeper drops and tighter turns, making it more intense, and being surrounded by trees and bushes and tunnels made that version more fun. This is a child version of that ride with smoother turns and more real backdrops. Because of the smoothed out layout, the ride does nothing and you get no airtime at all. That is why it gets a lot of flack.
Don't even insult the Big Dipper like that! Big Dipper is STILL giving lots and lots of airtime! You can tell in this video how mellow every transition is...every turn stretched out.
i remember riding this when i was a kid over 20 years ago. I really liked it and this video brought back fun memories. I do remember it being a really shaky ride. i have been on worse but i forgot the name.
It can't be the worst rollercoaster in the world if multiple kids are screaming "that was awesome!" Great America is my home park, I've ridden this roller coaster 100 times. In the 90s this ride felt like it had square Wheels. It was pretty bad. Sometime in the mid-2000s they did some sort of a refurbishment and now it feels like a wooden coaster should. Much better
This ride's only crime is how generally not exciting it is in comparison to what it could be. This ride is basically a mirrored version of Grizzly at King's Dominion, the problem is that the sharp transitions on the version at King's Dominion that supplies all that crazy airtime were smoothed out on this one and were replaced by long sweeping turns. It's not a rough ride, it's just kind of boring.
I rode the Grizzly many years ago, and I was not dissatisfied at all. [On another note, the original TV commercial for it scared the snot outta me as a young man!] The wooden roller coaster I have enjoyed the least is Ghost Rider at Knott's Berry Farm. Too rattle-y and un-smooth a ride.
I'm not sure if you guys noticed, but there is another roller coaster at King's Dominion in Virginia that is also called the Grizzly. I've ridden the one in Virginia many times, so when I watched this I realized that this is almost exactly a MIRROR IMAGE of the one at KD. Which raises the question, how can they decide this is worse than the other one?
What makes this a bad coaster on a technical level is its complete lack of momentum. After every hill the train slows down so much it takes any sort of thrill out of the ride. Not to mention the first drop has a completely un-needed banked turn right at the bottom that's a wonderful source of whiplash!
I thought it was "meh." There wasn't anything that shocked me or wowed me about its layout, and it was a little rough. I have ridden far worse wooden coasters, (Thunderhawk at Dorney Park, Ghostrider, and Gwazi).
I remember the commercials for this ride and have been riding since its first season. It was always rough and then got more rough with age. To the point I wouldn't ride it. They retracked it a few years and it has improved the rideability of it.
Anthony Santoya It was so rough when I rode it in the 90's that my back was killing me after I got off of it. That was my first and last time on it. It looks like they changed the seats when they revamped it because I was sliding all over the place with just a metal bar. That was much scarier than the ride.
The ride was so much rougher during those years it was voted worst. You left with a mild head ache and body bumps and bruises. They really smoothed it out it over the years.
Its scary!!! I went on the screaming eagle at Great America in Chicago. I was 9 years old. That long almost 90 degrees drop, I was so in shock until I couldn't scream. I was so traumatized by that. Til this day, I can go on any ride upside down, whatever, but this wooden ride, forget about it! Yeh 😨
The Worst Woodie that I've been on was Ghostrider in Knotts berry Farm. I didn't want spinal alignment work done, especially in an amusement, but it some things don't go as planned... Will never go on that ride ever again...
Possibly the reason it's rated the worst wooden coaster is because the pace doesn't seem as exciting as other ones out there and there aren't many steep drops, turns and twists in the ride's layout, resulting in it being less forceful than most wooden coasters.
This is literally a flip version of Wilde Beast at Canadas Wonderland. It's almost exactly the same but reversed, and I don't think it's that bad. It's one of my favorite wooden coasters.
I'm fairly certian Grizzly is older than 15 years. I remember riding it back in high school when it was fairly new, and I haven't been in high school for close to 25 years now.
i went to kings dominion once for my birthday,and waited in a 45 minute line for this ride. it was pretty underwhelming. at least there was only a 5 minute wait for the hurler, because that was even worse.
It's not a terrible coaster. It could be used as a nice cooldown coaster, where you ride something more exciting like Gold Striker then use this for some easy fun and let the adrenaline calm down for another ride.
I really enjoy this coaster, it always felt like it was trying it's best to emulate a classic wooden coaster say from the 40s and I always thought it did so well
I'm gonna go on this ride since I never been on a rollercoaster (except for the kiddy ones lol) but this is my first big one I think this is good for beginners! I'm excited to ride this with my friends on the 27th! Wish me luck :D
Of the wooden coasters I've seen on RU-vid and ridden, my personal worst is probably ROLLNG THUNDER at Six Flags Great Adventure. It finally meets its end at the end of this season when Great Adventure opens ZUMANJAROO Drop of Doom next year.
Rode this yesterday for my 50th coaster credit. Would have liked a different ride but it wasn’t open when I went in 2019 so I was behind by 1. It’s honestly not as bad as people make it out to be and was actually really smooth, just would like to see better operations as the seatbelt on the restraint it what slows it down.
I grew up at this park and back in 86 it was an awesome coaster. 15 years ago the ride was already almost 15 years old, a lot has changed since then. The ride often had the longest lines in the park and great america wasn't a huge contender in the park wars. No hate here for the grizzly. The turn at 2:40 was quite jolting if I remember correctly
This is almost a mirror image of the Kings Dominion Grizzly, except the KD version adds a nice airtime hill after the first turnaround, followed by a tunnel passing UNDER the track after the second inclined turnaround. This version reverses which track goes over which at this point, and in the process removes two high-speed airtime sections. I am sure there are a lot of worse coasters, but I think the KD version is better.
Well it maybe dull for adults and teenagers but the kids sure had fun on it. Just hear at the end how the kid is screaming "IT WAS AWESOME". It's rare to see such a big ride for kids!
I'm so terrified of roller coasters even this ride is nothing to me, so the next time I go to great america i'm going to get on the grizzly ride to see how it feels to be on the it.
I have been going to Great America since the park opened in 1976 and rode the Grizzly when it first opened. The roller-coaster at that time was excellent but over the years the ride has declined in quality. I think it is due to the wheels being not properly maintained. When it first operated there were some sort of rubber or other material on the end of the axles but now it is a metal bar with no rubber wheel. This arrangement causes the train to rattle every time the axel goes over a track connection segment making for a very rough ride. If great America would fix the wheels Grizzly would not be the worst coaster. It is strange that the " Giant Dipper" in Santa Cruz which has been around since 1924 is smoother than the Grizzly? Maybe Great America should ask them why.
It reminds me of the old switchbacks. So much potential in that first drop leads to ... nothing. Just a descending track - much like The Big One in Blackpool.
The only things that are noticeable are the seemingly odd banking on some of the turns, and the low speed on that first turnaround. But other than that, there is no good reason for this ride to be called the 'Worst Wooden Roller Coaster In the World'.
This was only my second coaster of the day when I went to great America and it ruined the rest of the evening for me. Made me sick to my stomach and hurt my neck so bad I didn't touch another ride for the remainder of the day
