I first rode it when I was around 8, pretty good but it lashed my neck back and forth on the loops because I didn't keep my head back. Right now, it's a really solid Arrow Looper and it's a must ride every time I go to BGW (unless my neck hurts like hell or i have a headache)
I think the reason why it is so smooth is arrow really used longer and more gentle transitions. It seems that in the early days when this was more experimental They were treating it with the respect that they needed to in taking their time for the transitions. I think what hurt them later on is they start to shortcut things and they got careless on the transitions.
“Please don’t turn the video off” comment on Viper getting an honorable mention is a perfect example of what makes Air Time Thrills such a phenomenal Coaster Enthusiast
yeah, now today we have stupid names like "loop coaster" "wonder woman coaster" "jersey devil coaster" like then it was the big thing of a new "ride" that became the star attractions of parks. Today they think we are dumb and don't know what is and isn't a coaster lol (though ik the gp doesn't sometimes XD).
@@oneandonlysound3453 Six Flags has always had dumb naming conventions. Talking about any superhero-themed ride gets confusing because every Six Flags park reuses the same names. Then came the issue of calling the superloops "coasters," which was embarrassing, but no one was really surprised because it's Six Flags. Jersey Devil would have been a fantastic name if they didn't tack "coaster" at the end of it. Kinda ruins the vibe.
It absolutely baffling to me how Canyon Blaster is all around a smooth ride. I rode it a couple weeks ago during a heatwave on the west coast, and when I rode it, the transition between the second Loop and corkscrews absolutely banged my neck around, other than that the ride was FOR THE MOST PART, pretty smooth.
Its hauling so much during that time it makes sense that itd be a little rough there on the transition. I hate to advicate for trims, but it probably needs one there
@@thrillshaveabeard Kennywood: Yes, we are gonna use some glorified mystical tools we found at the bottom of the ravine and make a coaster genie retrack the coasters for us everyday! Manager: Wait, where did the coaster genie come from? Kennywood: From the mystical tools we found at the ravine? Manager: Yeah, but what ritual did you use to summon the genie? Kennywood: Listen, I need you to get ALL THE Way of my back for the genie summoning! Manager: OK, I'm gonna get off of that thing!
The Boomerang at Weiner Prater in Austria has got LAP BARS and it's such a fun experience. So many old arrow/vekomas could be enhanced by simply not having those huge collar restraints- the parisian Space Mountain improved significantly when they switched to vest restrains too!
Even though it's 2 decades old, phantom's revenge is the smoothest coaster I've ridden. Same with Phoenix. The ride is 75 years old and is smoother than most steel coasters
Well with Wooden coasters it's all about maintenance and Knoebels literally retracts Phoenix every year. They own their own lumber yard so they get lumber at whole sale price
I made my first visit to Kennywood earlier this month and was expecting to get beat up because of all the older/classic coasters, but was pleasantly surprised at how smooth and well maintained they all seemed to be. Wish I could have made it a little earlier before they took out several of their historic flatrides...
I got to ride The Lochness Monster way back in ‘94 or ‘95 ...certainly a memorable experience. Of course The Big Bad Wolf took the cake and I really liked the wooden coaster Grizzly (?) as well. I sure would like to make another trip to BGWV someday as there are so many more coasters there to enjoy now. great video as always. Thank You 😎💯✨
I agree, Viper was surprisingly smooth when I rode it in 2015. I was queued for X2 with Bronze flash pass and rode it like 5 times in a row as there's never really a queue. It was really enjoyable.
Viper, I can see, but Demon? Corkscrew at Valleyfair is a similar model ride, but it is butter smooth. Demon is rough. I still enjoy it, but calling it smooth is a stretch
I know it's a brand new GCI, but Mystic Timbers really impressed me with how smooth it is. I love when wooden coasters make it a fun sort of defensive riding rather than trying to not get beaten up
Grizzly shocked me this year with how smooth it was! As for Loch Ness(same trip) I felt the one rough spot was the transitions into the loops other than that glass smooth.
I 1000% agree on Canyon Blaster, I went to ride it thinking "Oh another arrow looper here we go" and came off impressed! Ended up getting multiple laps because not only is it smooth, but it's the best-paced arrow looper I've ridden!
I went to Kennywood for the first time last week and couldn’t agree more about their rides. Those old woodies were unbelievably smooth. And Phantoms Revenge is a top 5 coaster for me!
KW is my home park and feel lucky to have a great collection of coasters, old and new, that don't give u head aches! Jack rabbit is over 100 years old and smooth!
I also remember Canyon Blaster being surprisingly smooth for an Arrow looper. I was pleasantly surprised by the Santa Cruz Giant Dipper as well (but definitely NOT the San Diego one).
canyon blaster's one of my favorite coasters and honestly yeah, i was also surprised by how smooth it was. at the time it was the oldest coaster i had ever ridden, so i was expecting it to at least show its age... but it's probably one of my favorite thrill rides i've ever been on, especially considering(other than the end)it was REALLY smooth
I expect steel coasters to be smooth, but I like a little roughness from wooden coasters. Not bone jarring, teeth rattling bumps, just a little rattle, which adds to the ride experience. BTW, The Beast is the smoothest wooden I have ever been on.😎
I've been on Giant Dipper in Santa Cruz, and I remember thinking it was going to be rough just because of how old it is, but the park does maintain it really well, so it ended up being a lot smoother than I was expecting. Also a pretty fun ride, despite it's relatively short height.
Giant Dipper at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. It's almost 100 years old at this point as well (and located next to a corrosive body of water) but the boardwalk maintains it so meticulously that you would never know it.
Nessie is so good, it was my first ever coaster and it's been giving me great rides ever since. There's a bit of jankiness here and there, especially where it had to be rewelded, but it's so much smoother than Alpengeist, which is a whole 19 years newer.
Kennywood is my home park and I’ve marathoned phantom 12 times at once when no one was in line and it was and always has been glass smooth. The back seat is so intense with that ejector at the end. Thanks for putting it and thunderbolt on the list :)
Boulder Dash front row ride was surprisingly very smooth for an out of control, 60 mph terrain wood coaster with so many pops and sustained floater moments. Butter smooth compared to Wildcat next door which tried to kill me lol
Agree with all the coasters you mentioned that I've also ridden, which is most of them. One I've said has gotten smoother as of late too is Racer 75 (Rebel Yell) at Kings Dominion. If you stop at Lake Winnie, Cannon Ball is on my list of surprisingly smooth coasters too.
And best of all, sidewinder got rethemed to jolly ranchers and was beautifully decorated! And although comet has somewhat of a rattle, it adds to the experience!
Viper at Great America is an underrated coaster. It has some good airtime and going through the support structure provides some good head chopper elements. The only thing going against it is the PTC trains. I'd like to see them get some Millennium Flyers or Timberliners on it.
Energylandia (Poland) has a new SLC with the new vekoma trains. Having walibi Holland as my home park, which has the very first SLC ever built (design even contains some weird kinks removed from future installments) which is rough as hell, the one in Energylandia caught me by surprise by how smooth it was.
I think peoples height/weight is a big factor in ride experience, especially with OTS restraints. I recently rode Corkscrew at Silverwood in the back and it wasn't bad at all considering it was Arrow's first Corkscrew
When I first started riding Canobie Lake Park's Yankee Cannonball, it was fairly rattly as you'd expect from a woodie installed in 1936. Several years ago, though, it got a major overhaul and since then it has been practically glass-smooth. Some enthusiasts complain that that work also robbed it of force and call it ruined, but I don't really think so--and I do think the change has kept it a very popular ride with the general public.
I missed Sidewinder this past Saturday. Would’ve ridden it as the last ride of the day, but I wanted my brother to get on his first looping coaster. Good to know it’s not a headache. I’d also say out of all the woodies I’ve ridden, Wild One is my all time favorite. Definitely a smooth, fun floater machine.
I don't know how many times I've said this, but I rode Viper in 2019 and LOVED it, even though I'm short. It's at least a top seven in the park after TC, X2, Riddler's Revenge, Tatsu, Full Throttle and Superman Escape from Krypton. As for Cyclone at Luna Beach: whilst most coaster enthusiasts on RU-vid today have never ridden it, it looks to me like the best roller coaster ever built when it was built in 1927. I 2014 when I was merely a latent coaster enthusiast, my aunt took me to Luna Beach to ride the cyclone because her 2nd home was in Brooklyn. Unfortunately: it was a week day in September, so when we were riding the subway there, neither of us realized that everything was closed, due to it being a weekday in September. It's extra intriguing because in 2014 I merely a latent coaster enthusiast who wasn't even trying to ride coasters, yet my aunt tried to take me there to ride The Cyclone, which I still have not yet ridden to this day and very much hope to ride! (That says a lot about my Aunt, especially considering she's had a stoke since then, but I don't wanna make you sad.) Phantom's Revenge has the biggest single increase in DROP in 1991 (when it was known as Steel Phantom) over the coaster with the biggest drop before it: MAX XL-200 with a drop of 194.7'. That means that Steel Phantom was the 1st TRUE hyper coaster when it opened in 1991 with a drop of 220' and a max speed of 85 miles an hour, beating out Max XL-200 by 11 MPH. The last thing I wanna mention is that some enthusiasts will claim some coasters at Kennywood other people don't like are still smooth. To that I can say that everyone seem to think Phantom's Revenge is surprisingly smooth, and either other people (or some of the same people) also seem to think the old wooden coasters are also not only smooth, but even smoother. Having never been there myself, what else can I say, (other than I really wanna ride Phantom's Revenge?). Thanks for posting this, Chris, you bring well thought out entertainment for people with at least half decent brains who may also be going though a hard time. I loved this video, Thanks for posing! Keep up the great work and much love.
Kennywood is my home park and I have been riding Thunderbolt for my whole life. It’s a good ride, but it is very rough. I can’t understand how anyone would think that it’s smooth.
I went on Viper (SFMM) a couple weeks ago, and fuck did my neck hurt afterwards. My dad was ready to leave after that ride, but I got him to go on one more after that. It was way more rough than my backwards 2014 ride on Batman.
I just went to holiday world the other day, and people had said that legend had been running great in recent years. I’ve had my ups and downs with legend, and hearing that it had been running great, me and my friend had no hesitation waiting for the back seat. The first half of the ride was alright, but it was the second half that through me through a blinder. Everybody knows about the pot hole at the bottom of the turn around, and I was expecting that. But it was during the helix that really hurt. Me and my friend jokingly said we hated each other for doing this while we were in the tunnels. Then the final turn around into the station felt like I was riding on jagged rails. 😕 maybe I caught it on a bad day, because I’ve had good rides (and bad rides) on legend but this experience had to be a 3/10. And thats being generous cause the first half wasn’t really all that great.
Phantom's Revenge is a coaster that's definitely improved by its (let's be honest, almost nonexistent and borderline illegal) restraint. A seat belt and a pool noodle are all that are holding you in. If it still had the Arrow OTSR's it originally came with, that ejector barrage at the end would make you vomit before you hit the brakes.
Literally everyone says Orion has a rattle and then there are the Ohio natives who can marathon banshee, Orion and diamondback without making one comment on the rattle😂
had the opposite experience at Kings Island a few weeks ago. The Beast has never been smooth but something's wrong with it this year, it nearly broke my spine. My ride in 2017 was nothing like that.
I love Thunderbolt! I rode it for the first time back in August as my last ride of the night, and other than a bit of rattle going up the lift hill (and my dad went "ooogh" on the last turn), it was such a blast. As it was the end of the day, I got two great rides on it. Can't wait til next year!
Rode Wild One a few weeks ago and while maybe the my best rides ever on it, would not call it smooth. But while one of the most violent rides I have experienced, all the best way possible. No jackhammering, washboarding or nonsense, just hard ejective pops, train slamming back down to the track, laterals during airtime, the bumps skating over the top of the weak air hill, and of course the ridiculous helix.
I love how he talks about how smooth some of the wooden coasters are and the POV looks like it was filmed during an earthquake. I'd rather save the headache and just ride an RMC hybrid.
Sometimes you don't even want smooth rides because I've found that rough ones make the ride more aggressive. A good example of this is Boss at Six Flags St Louis.
7:33 no joke the only coaster to ever make me cry was when I rode the Giant Dipper at the San Diego beach. As a lil child and it being rough as all hell, it scared me both mentally and still to this day a lil bit physically on my leg too lol
I visited Magic Mountain for the first time yesterday, and here’s my opinions on the coasters I was able to ride. Revolution - More fun than I expected, a nice and easy start to my day, good operations. Ninja - Underwhelming, but fun for what it had to offer. (Rode twice). West Coast Racers - My new favorite steel coaster. Smooth, exciting, and fun. My first dueling, launch, and möbius coaster. (Rode twice). Scream - Fun & smooth. Medusa is better (SFDK). My third ever B&M floor-less. Twisted Colossus - The second most intense coaster I’ve ever been on next to X2. I had fun but I wasn’t used to the restraints as I felt I was going to fly out of my seat. I got a headache afterwards, but otherwise it’s in my top 5. X2 - The most intense coaster I’ve ever ridden. I got a night ride without my glasses, so I really couldn’t see what was coming 😅. It was really fun and scary. My first 4th dimension coaster, winged coaster, and my first coaster (not launched) over 70 mph. I missed the others but will try and ride them next time I visit. Magic Mountain was really fun and lived up to expectations. Your channel helped me get here. AirTimeThrills helped to spark my passion for rollercoasters and I thank you for that.
The smoothest part of this video was saying that in your opinion Viper is pretty smooth. I disagree with you on it being smooth but will give you a thumbs up for being honest. ❤ 😄
0:53 yeah abt that…. When they renovated it to twister III I found it extremely rough. I believe it’s an issue with the newer style trains because I didn’t have that issue with twister II.
Viper is a crazy underrated coaster at Great America. If Raging Bull didn't give you the airtime you were expecting from a B&M hyper (and this is coming from a fan of that coaster), then look no further than the coaster that's right next to it. Viper is butter-smooth for a wooden coaster and has some of the best airtime a Cylone knockoff could possibly offer.
Loch Ness Monster is probably very smooth because the ride isn't pushed very hard. The ride has a very mine-train like layout with most of the elements relatively high up, and its interlocking loops being the only parts of the ride to exhibit significant amounts of force. The turns are relatively high up and thus taken relatively slow, so any jankiness in the transitions into those turns isn't as noticeable. In turn, the fact that the train isn't getting jerked around is also easier on the wheeltrucks.
Just got a back row ride on Magnum 45 minutes ago and WOW it was so smooth. The track work was very Arrow-esque, but the train ran on the track very smoothly, and not to mention the airtime HOLY CRAP. I've ridden Magnum quite a few times before, and every single one was really rough and uncomfortable, but after my latest ride this is a very solid #4 in the park as opposed to #8.
It all depends on where you ride, the third row of each car is to be avoided at all costs on Arrow coasters with three rows. That's why Gemini beat him up, he sat in the third row of a car
Funny, I was just at hershey park last month and comet beat the crap out of us and made some ungodly sound on the first drop. It's incredible how different rides can be just based on days or weeks without even accounting for maintenance
Be happy you didn't ride Legend at this year's HoliWood Nights. What happened to that thing!?! It rode so amazing last year, but this year, it was one of the roughest rides I have ever experienced. Last year's rides had it as almost my favorite CCI. This year's rides alone would have had it as my least favorite by far. I'm with you on Viper at SFMM. I found it to be quite smooth, which helped make it my 4th favorite in the park.
Twister isnt smooth but it isnt too rough either, and a perfect compliment to Phoenix at Knowbels! the newer steel one Impulse os very smooth and fun too
Maybe it was just the ride I got but I rode wild one in 2020 and I got bounced around a ton. And there was even a literal drop off the brake run where the track wasn’t aligned right.
Kennywood has great ops now. Phantom never stacks and they are ready to dispatch when it’s going through the turnaround. Jack Rabbit dispatches in about 45 seconds. Sky Rocket dispatches in like 30 seconds. Only Steel Curtain has bad dispatches, but I hear they are doing better after my last trip.
That’s great to hear. It’s such a great, old-school park aside from past operations. I mean, I still loved the place even when the one-train ops on Phantom’s irritated me, but if they had great ops, a lot more people would love the park.
@@AirtimeThrills That did happen on some occasions. If you look at the Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend, they both ran 1 train. Steel Curtain valleyed in early test runs and they had to fix the 33 train and Phantom can only run 1 train in the rain. That day, it didn't matter since it wasn't busy.
Great to hear. My only visit to Kennywood had some awful ops. 1 train on Phantom on a Saturday... then they decided to add the 2nd train in the afternoon and had to stop operations for about 20 minutes to do all the opening checklists and test cycles on the 2nd train. Rather than doing it in the morning and having the 2nd train ready to go if needed.
It cracks me up that you know a ride will “destroy” you and you give it more chances! You’re brave. If a ride hurts, I’m done with it for good. Did ride Mean Streak one last time tho when it was announced it was getting axed haha
I just rode Viper about 2 weeks ago and I was actually surprised at how fast it’s declined. I used to love Viper also but this last time it almost made me pass out because of how much it was throwing me around against the restraints and the side
Comet at Hersheypark was surprisingly smooth for me. I really thought going in that it would be in the bottom half of their lineup. EDIT: I was typing this before you got to #11. Glad to see it made your list, too. Now I am absolutely shocked that Wild One made the list. It is every bit as rough as I expected it to be, and I love it that way.
I appreciate the shout out to Kennywood, my home park. The last few years have been rough as far as the park and operations. They’re going through a sort of a Renaissance in 2021 with people actually being used to welcome you on the rides instead of recordings… More employees… Two trains on coasters more often. Yes it is home, but like I said the last few years have been pretty bad, I’m glad they are trying to make a comeback. Phantoms revenge is a modern classic. I will disagree with Hoosier hurricane, The legend and Thunder Run. I have not been on The Legend since the re-track and I really just do not like thunder run. As far as Hoosier Hurricane, Hopefully I’ll get to go on that this summer since they fixed it up a bit.
