My Unpopular Roller Coaster Opinion

I've not mentioned this on my Youtube channel or on this blog yet (I think), but as a matter of fact, I'm a sort of amusement park and roller coaster enthusiast. I won't attempt to assert my qualification to speak on this subject by listing every park I've been to and every roller coaster I've ridden, but it's a fair few and I've had the privilege to ride a few record breakers and ACE roller coaster landmarks.

Recently, I went to Six Flags over Texas, the original Six Flags park. To be truthful, I hate Six Flags parks. A lot of their rides are either clones or what you might call "cheap and cheerfuls" (rides that are small and inexpensive to build, added to parks just to say they opened a new ride). Their parks aren't particularly pretty, usually plopped down in metropolitan areas as opposed to in suburban or rural areas. The theming is cheap and ugly, amounting to little more than Looney Tunes and Batman decorations slapped in just because. Their operations are often really slow and inefficient, making lines back up. And they don't run enough trains on top of that. And, like most amusement parks, the food is way overpriced.

But just because I have a few qualms with Six Flags doesn't mean they're all bad. For example, I think Titan at Six Flags over Texas is a really cool hyper coaster. It opened in 2001 and, I think, because it's not a new B&M, it's actually pretty unique. It pulls some pretty hard lateral Gs and has intense elements. But when I settled into my seat to ride, the ride attendant seemed like he was expecting me to be let down. He noted my T-shirt, a bit of King's Island Beast 40th anniversary commemorative merch, and asked if KI was my home park. I affirmed that it was. Then he said, "enjoy the one airtime hill." He was right. There was only one airtime hill, but that didn't detract from the ride.

I think that's a huge problem with the current coaster enthusiast internet landscape. Everyone is all about airtime, as if that's the only thing that makes a coaster great. I feel like this conviction is making new coaster design kind of boring. For example, everyone gets all in a tizzy over RMC hybrid coasters. But honestly, the more you ride them, the more they kind of run together. I really love Storm Chaser at Kentucky Kingdom and Lighting Rod at Dollywood. All the rest I've ridden are bland. Airtime isn't the end all be all of coaster design. There are lateral Gs, speed, inversions, height, interesting track layout, scenic views, etc. Any combination of these factors can create a killer coaster.

The Beast at King's Island gets trashed for being "boring," principally for not featuring enough airtime. But that's not the kind of coaster it is. There's no reason to complain based on that qualification. It's a terrain coaster. And all the defense for the coaster centers around its historical significance or the fact that it was an in-house design. That doesn't matter. It's a cool ride because it's a cool ride.

Anyway, I can't wait for the coaster world to decide collectively that actually lateral Gs make a ride great, or fly by elements, or something else arbitrary like that. In the meantime, buckle up and hold on to your seat, because you're going to be flying out of it for the foreseeable future.