Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Weekly Topic #3


This week's topic comes from The Coaster Critic (link to read the original article) and is about the classic debate over wood vs. steel roller coasters. The Coaster Critic added a twist, though, if you had to choose to ride only one type, which would it be?

I choose steel! All the way, I honestly didn't even have to think about that one. Really, I have two reasons...

The first is that I just find the rides they give much more enjoyable. I honestly don't enjoy a 'rough' steel coaster, so you can imagine how I feel about most rough wooden rides. Sure, some new ones are significantly more smooth than their older cousins, but I'd still get in line for a steel ride first.

And it's not all about inversions for me, while they are interesting aspects of steel rides, they really do not weigh too heavy in my choice. It's an overall comfort factor for me; when I am riding I'd rather sit back and enjoy what the ride has to offer, not work on bracing myself a certain way, or trying to keep my back off the seat so my spine stays as nature intended.

The second reason? Well, steel coasters lend themselves toward being themed much more than wooden rides do. And you could probably surmise from reading NewsPlusNotes that I'm a huge fan of theming. Even modest attempts at a theme make a ride vastly more interesting to me, so since most themed rides are made of steel they score some big points there too.

But don't get me wrong - I'll certainly step up and say that there are some wooden rides I love - I'll admit I'm a big fan of The Great White at Morey's ... but if I were forced to make a choice I'd take steel any day.

Check back for replies from the Weekly Topic participating sites!
Theme Park Village reply
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A Walk In The Park reply


1 comments:

Anonymous said...

Also don't forget that there's more room for technology in Steel coasters. In wood, it is limited to basically only train modifications, whereas steel, you can come up with new track types, new theming, new inversions, and many other features as well!