Robb....I am wondering about a few of the standards by which you are
measuring things. I think I understand your case and point which is
that not every old woodie needs to be moved. I tend to agree if the
alternative is for a park to build a new woodie. However, these are
some points that I find myself pondering:
"Great Escape's Comet, Knoebel's Phoenix, those are all examples of
how
a GOOD ride that was re-located was able to help a park out. But I
don't think rides like Starliner or Big Dipper are really going to
help out even a medium sized park unless there was a real hook behind
it."
I have heard some people say that Phoenix was somewhat of a lame ride
when it existed in San Antonio. I know that is at least true for every
person I have talked to who rode both. Anyone here wish to speak to
this and disagree? If this is true...then the argument could be made
that an average coaster might not necessarily be average at the next
park...could be better, could be worse.
"but I'm glad that some
of the good rides from Geauga, like Dominator, found decent homes.
And even the Boomerang, with the new restraints, is probably one of
the best ones running."
To me the standard being used to measure in the above response might
be worth analyzing in a slightly different way with other coasters.
For one, I find very little enjoyment in ever riding a coaster that is
being replicated in multiple locations. To me, this is poor use of
funds and shows a lack of creativity. Perhaps, if I am going to make
an exception to that thought it would be with smaller rides like a
Wild Mouse, etc. So, to me "good riddance" to the idea of have
multiple boomerang coasters. On the other hand...if I tweak your
standard a bit Robb, then perhaps one could ask...which is the better
of the coasters running NAD trains or which coaster is the best one
with fixed lap bars, etc.? This is a similar (somewhat tweaked)
thought process to you thinking one boomerang is better than another
(while one boomerang is more than enough to me)...I just think we are
losing sight of an important gold standard in wooden coasters. Someday
we will no longer have any wooden coasters without seat dividers or
with fixed lap bars (perhaps even buzz bars). I understand insurance,
safety, etc. is probably the main thing driving that ship, but if I
put two woodies beside each other that are fairly equal in every way
(general ride experience, etc.) except that one has nice leather
seats, fixed lap bars, no seat dividers, etc. then the latter of the
two will rank at least 5-10 spots higher on my list. This is why I
cannot seem to move many coasters on my list above rides like the
Playland Coaster in Vancouver. It happens to be a ride that would
probably be a top 25 coaster for me with newer more modern trains, but
it happens to be a top 10 because of the trains. When we lose trains
like those on Big Dipper (assuming they are lost) then we have lost
something significant.
My other question to you Robb would be this...if you are willing to
say "good riddance" to a coaster that oftentimes ranked in the middle
of the pack, then where is the cut off spot for you personally? I am
not looking at your top ten list, but if there were 100 wooden
coasters in the world and 75 of those were as good as Voyage, would
you think that good riddance was an appropriate thought for the
coaster ranked 60th in the polls?
My overall point is that while I do not enjoy seeing the loss of any
woodie, I would be less impacted by the loss of a similarly ranked
coaster with individual ratcheting lap bars. Make sense?
