A Good Old-Fashioned Thrill Ride

[Browntggrr]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/11/travel/e...amp;oref=slogin

Shameless plug-

BUT even mastering the art of falling couldn’t prepare me for the force of the Ravine Flyer II. “I’ve ridden once in the front, and once in the back,” said the park’s owner, Paul Nelson, who combs the grounds of his family’s park like a benevolent George Steinbrenner. “I’m 74 years old. That’s enough for me.”

The coaster was a 15-year labor of love for Mr. Nelson, who, operating under an “if you build it, they will come” kind of theory, spent years cutting through red tape before finally getting the go-ahead to build in 2006.

It was worth the wait. The Ravine Flyer II is a slick and beautiful, fast and furious wooden coaster that begins with a deceptive 85-foot lift hill that crests high above Lake Erie (is that Canada?) before blasting you down a 118-foot ravine (surprise!), into a pitch-black tunnel, up and out into the light, over a four-lane highway, curving onto a second 86-foot hill, back over the highway, around some crazy bends banking up to 90 degrees (sideways) followed by some other indescribable funny business (total chaos) and ends only when you are near hysterical, winded and happy, wondering who you are, how you got there — and when you can ride it again.

And absolutely none of it compares to this: the Ravine Flyer II — the wooden coaster that Derek Shaw claims “could be the best new ride this year in the world,” that thecoastercritic.com is picking for “sleeper hit of 2008,” and has been the talk of coaster forums all year long — costs exactly $4.50 to ride.

How old-school is that? Just remember to tighten your seat belt.

[welchce]

That the Keystone State was littered with the things (15 operating wooden coasters, to be exact — more than any other state, according to the Roller Coaster Database) and I needed time to adjust?

Haha, everyone references RCDB.

Here's an interesting paragraph...

THERE’S a different psychology of fear to wooden coasters. They aren’t nearly as high as the steel ones, nor do they carry the bells and whistles like loops and inversion. But some people argue that their groaning wood and disconcerting wobble (wood tracks are meant to give a little) can make them more terrifying than the steel behemoths. Not to mention the reasoning of aesthetes like Mr. Shaw, who tend to think they have more character. As he put it, “I don’t need another loop inversion.”

(italics add my me)