What's Your most Exhilarating ride experience?

[Scooby_Doo]

Just wanting to get to know you all better...What was your most exhilarating ride experience? Was it at Kings Island or another park?

For me it was when I first rode The Beast! Then I rode it at night and it was a whole different monster!

[thekidd33]

For me it was my first ride on FoF the year it opened. It was my first launched coaster and my first coaster with inversions. The whole experience was just incredible.

[Colonel_SoB_fan]

Top thrill dragster opening year.

Went to CP on a 2 day weekend. Day 1 the website said TTD would be down all day.

Day 2 did not check the site, assumed it would be down. Get to parking stand and I look up and there it went. I got so excited. First thing we went to was TTD. Waited for 3 hours with 3 break downs and 5 roll backs. Finally get to the train and they evacuate the train for a break down. 30 minutes later they put us back in the seat. Watch the test train go in front of us and think "I'm crazy". Train rolls out slowly and i think "I'm the dumbest person on Earth". It launches rolls over the hill and back down then it over. Get off saying that was awesome.

[IBEW_Sparky]

Well, since I havent ridden TTD (yet) I have to say the most exhilarating ride experience is a three way tie between...

A)Steel Venom for its sheer "Holy ****" acceleration factor, and then being frozen on the vertical rise

B)Maverick for its nonstop action, element after mind scrambling element

C)Millennium Force for its "OMG Im freakin 310 feet off the ground and about to go over 90mph" factor

[Tom76257]

A few rides come to mind:

My first night ride on The Beast for obvious reasons. WOW!

My first night ride on Diamondback. I'd read a post on here that said you couldn't see the track ahead of you at the top of the second hill. I didn't believe that post. BOY, was I wrong!

My first ride on Maverick. WOW! JUST WOW! It's still my favorite steel coaster simply because it's it's out of freaking control!

My first few rides on The Voyage. I LOVE the feeling of a roller coaster being out of control and this is WAY more out of control than Maverick in my opinion. I had a better adrenaline rush going after my first two rides on it than I did when I went skydiving. It was THAT good!

My last ride on Raptor on Closing Day last year. For some reason I felt like I was FLYING off the rails and got the best speed rush on any coaster I've ever experienced riding. I was sitting in 6-1 of train 1 and think I found my new permanent seat on it. THAT was THE best steel coaster ride I've EVER had!

[DaveStroem]

Voyage's triple down. Followed closely by El Toro.

[gad198]

There have been two coasters that have made me giddy after the first ride:

Millennium Force back in 2001. This was the coaster I had always wanted to ride and it absolutely delivered. The view form the top is unlike anything else, and then to be dropped at that angle and bone-crushing speed was just fantastic. We rode in the second seat, and interestingly enough this was the first and last time I got significant airtime on that second hill. Still one of the few rides I can think of where most everyone on the train starts clapping after the ride.

Voyage back in 2008. I wasn't much of an enthusiast back then but this single ride changed everything. You get a little bit of air on the first few hills and then it just gets insane, all the way through to the finish. My brother and I got off the ride and both looked at each other in this "I have no idea that a coaster ride could be life-altering" way and then promptly re-rode. The only issue I have with this ride is that it changed how I looked at every other wooden coaster. We rode El Toro a few weeks later and got off thinking "well, that was great but it's no Voyage." I really hate thinking that way! Every ride experience should be judged for what it is, but it's really hard to do that after riding the Voyage.

[TOPGUN1993]

Riding El Toro 2 times with out getting off my first time ever... wow can't wait to get back there.

[74Gibson]

My fisrt roller coaster ride... The Beast. I was like 10 and wanted to ride so bad but was too short. My dad and sis went on and I waited with mom. They changed staff at the entrance and I went back up (standing as tall as possible) and they let me through. I totally admit to line hopping (only time I've ever done it) all the way through a full que into the station. The ride was intense and blissful.

My fisrt ride on Maggie. It was the opening year and I waited about 4 hours. I had taped news spots on it and watched them repeatedly. The first drop was so intense I thought my head was going to pop. I loved it!

My first ride on DB is up there too. IT was the reason I joined this forum and it turned my rollercoaster enthusiasm into addiction (I still think this is a good thing). It's the first coaster I've ever followed through construction and when it all culminated in the first ride... wow! What a moment!

[Cortney]

I have 2....and they are 2 different reasons!

1) Vortex...it was my first real big coaster, first upside down coaster. I will never forget them asking for 2 riders and them giving us the front seat. I thought I was riding with some one who had been on it before, we got to the top of the ride and my friend goes "Cortney, I've never been on this before!" and we screamed the whole way down that first hill!! I haven't looked back on coasters since.

2) Nighthawk at Carowinds. The first time I rode it, and I will probably never get back on it. But I thought for sure it would be like Firehawk at Kings Island, got on there and looked around and found you had ZILCH to hang onto and that freaked me out a little bit. To top that off, we were in the front row and also the ride operator going "It doesn't matter where you are riding, you see the water the same way!" The ride up the hill I kept asking my aunt "Are we at the top yet?" She was like I'm not telling you, I begged her to hold my hand, and she wouldn't. The second we flipped over, it was like a rush of emotions. I was scared, I was happy, I was crying, I was screaming....you name it! LOL It was well worth the 1.5 hour wait, but I doubt I will get on it again. It was too much for me.

[KIfan73]

If exhilarating translates to a ride that's really "taken my breath away" (no, not Top Gun ), it would have to be Diamondback.

[gigacoaster2k]

I'm not sure what defines exhilaration! Most coasters for me are like a stress release. I love the sounds, the way they ride, everything about them. I could be feeling sick or having the worst day ever, and the instant I hit a steep first drop or a large airtime hill, my problems and all of my stress just vaporize, any headache or stomach ache goes away instantly, and I feel like I've landed on cloud 9 as long as I'm on that coaster. I'm the one with an ear to ear grin on her face, I've even found myself laughing and screaming with delight as I ride. I come off skipping and dancing on some of them with a smile, and usually run back for another ride. I love coasters THAT much.

The coasters that usually give me the best feeling like this are:

Kings Island: Diamondback, Racer

Holiday World: Voyage

Cedar Point: Magnum XL-200, Maverick, Blue Streak, Raptor

Six Flags St Louis: Evel Knievel, Mr Freeze

Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom: Greezed Lightnin

[XGatorHead 8904]

I can't narrow it down to just one, so here they are...

My first ride on Beast, which was in 1980. I had waited with my grandma for hours the year before for my mom and my uncle to ride it (I was too short in 1979). But the 2nd year it was open I was finally tall enough. We waited for hours, but it was totally worth it rushing through the woods, in and out of the tunnels. And it flew back then...

My first ride on Screamin' Demon. It was my first looping coaster (this was before Vortex was built, so it was the only looping one at the park at the time), and I was quite young. We went through that loop, and when we got to the other side, I was close to tears. I asked "We have to go through that again?", and my uncle, sitting next to me, said "YEAH!!!! BACKWARDS!!!!" with joy in his voice. I ended up loving it.

My first ride on Skyflyer (and pretty much every one since). I'm afraid of "unsupported heights" such as tall ladders, etc. This is one of the ultimate experiences in unsupported heights.

My first (and only) ride on Stealth at Paramount's Great America the year it opened, 2000. As soon as I heard about this coaster, I knew I had to ride it. The fact that Mrs. Gator wanted to go to CA anyway helped me get this trip approved... I was a little disappointed because when we got to the park it looked like it might not open that day. But as soon as we saw it testing, we were there! It was the first coaster of it's kind at the time, and what an experience flying throught the air like that. And that flip at the top of the hill...

My first ride on Millenium Force in 2001. The speed and the setting right next to the lake are excellent. Now to get back down to a size where I can ride it again...

My first ride on Voyage. It was at dusk, and I knew next to nothing about the ride. As I said in my trip report, I learned the true meaning of "catch my breath", because I forgot (or was unable) to breath towards the end of the ride. And now that's why it's tied for #1 woodie with The Beast.

My first ride on Diamondback, opening day 2009. Like a lot of people here, I had been following the construction of this, and that just built up the anticipation. I was in row 15, and what a great ride. As we entered the splashdown, my friends in row 16 and I turned around to see the rooster tail, which just seemed massive from that angle.

My first ride on Thunderhead, November 14th 2009. It was a night ride, and like Voyage, I knew very little about the coaster. It's now my #3 woodie.

[DaveStroem]

The coasters that usually give me the best feeling like this are:

Kings Island: Diamondback, Racer

Holiday World: Voyage

Cedar Point: Magnum XL-200, Maverick, Blue Streak, Raptor

Six Flags St Louis: Evel Knievel, Mr Freeze

Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom: Greezed Lightnin

No Millie? I am shocked.

[Tom76257]

The coasters that usually give me the best feeling like this are:

Kings Island: Diamondback, Racer

Holiday World: Voyage

Cedar Point: Magnum XL-200, Maverick, Blue Streak, Raptor

Six Flags St Louis: Evel Knievel, Mr Freeze

Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom: Greezed Lightnin

No Millie? I am shocked.

I'm not. She absolutely fell in love with Maverick and ESPECIALLY Magnum last year. That probably had something to do with having 4 crew members as friends.

[The Interpreter]

In no particular order and knowing I am leaving things out:

Sneaking up on Psyclone and finally getting a ride on what was then the only wooden coaster in the United States of America I had not ridden, and finding, much to my surprise, that I loved it.

Riding The Georgia Cyclone in sleet, with a group of park managers from Japan...

Riding a new fangled concept, a B and M inverted coaster, Batman at Six Flags Great America for the first time, and before it opened to the public.

Riding what was then Superman at Six Flags New England over and over and over and then running over to ride what was then my favorite wooden coaster, the Riverside Cyclone, the one year in recent times it ran with PTC trains and an unraised first drop. And then riding Thunderbolt, a personal and sentimental favorite, in that same park. What a wonderful year it was to be in that park...

Riding Twisted Sisters far more than 100 times in a day with friends, not once having to leave the station....

Riding Racer the day Kings Island opened, with my Dad and stepmother...

Riding the Shooting Star and spending all but a dollar that I had to my name, only to find out later that year the park was closing and I would never, ever be able to return to ride that beloved ride. I'd give anything to know how well that ride would actually hold up to my other experiences now...

Riding Beast in the last seat with a very good friend for a photo shoot, in the back seat, three dozen plus one times in a row...and later getting to ride it by myself, in the front seat, not once but several times.

Riding Blue Streak at Conneaut with many, many good friends from New York and New Jersey, year after year, and helping to work on that ride...and sitting on the porches of the Hotel Conneaut until the wee hours of the morning spinning yarns and wearing a shower hose around my neck...

Riding Hurler for the very first time at Kings Dominion, and being astounded that a modern wooden coaster could have airtime in every row (which, alas, seems to have been a single season phenomenon).

Riding Top Thrill Dragster the very first time, having waited over five hours to do so...and thinking, wow...if they only knew (enough said about that....)

Riding Raven at early Stark Raven Mads, with a few hundred of my closest friends....tee hee.

Riding Blazing Fury at Dollywood with my stepmom, who is near 80, and listening to her half complain about me dragging her onto it, but knowing how much she loved it at the same time...

And lastly, riding what is now Little Bills, in the front seat, with the one, the only, the late and missed Lucy White, a true friend, and one of the best friends any park, park lover or just plain human ever had....

That all being said, some of the best times I have had in parks have been during hours I have ridden nothing at all, but talked about life, the universe and such. The amusement park industry has brought me many a happy hour, and for that I am grateful. May it continue to do such for both me and the millions of patrons it attracts each year.

[KIfan73]

You should write a book!

[catzdrummer09]

I've got a couple.

1. My first ride on Millennium Force. For obvious reasons.

2. My first front seat ride on Diamondback last year. It was a night ride as well. The fact that there is virtually no train visibly surrounding you makes the ride all that much better. Also, the hangtime at the top of the hill as we waited for the rest to follow took my breath.

3. My last night ride on The Beast. It was the last night of Haunt and I swear, and I know someone is going to tell me different, there wasn't one moment when the trims actually slowed the train. It was the most out of control ride I've ever experienced and it's speed seemed relentless. Even the break shed in the middle.....flew right through it.

[gigacoaster2k]

Millie is dear to my heart. It was my reason for my first visit to Cedar Point, the first coaster I ever rode at Cedar Point, and the coaster that destroyed my paralyzing fear of heights (I used to be the one cussing and crying in fear on Drop Tower.. no joke!). Plus, the first friend I ever met at Cedar Point LOVED Millie so we always rode it together, and have a ritual of last ride on it when we hang out.

But the more coasters I ride, the more I realize I like coasters that pack a wallop. I like being thrown upside down, flung to the side, and ejected into my restraint. I have bitten my tongue from saying this for so long, but I came to realize last year why Millie has been dubbed Millennium Forceless as compared to so many other coasters. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the first drop and the speed, and I will definitely still ride it, but not for a thrill. It's more relaxing than it is thrilling.. to me it has become the porch swing of the roller coaster world, and that isn't always a bad thing.. Millie is tall enough to be intimidating, yet its layout is smooth enough that people of all ages can enjoy it. It's a crowd pleaser, and a good one. I refuse to change my username though, as so many people know me by that, and Millie still has a place in my heart as my first coaster ever at Cedar Point, and one that opened up my eyes to a wide open new world without fear of heights.

[The Interpreter]

I like to say Millennium Force is a coaster grandma could enjoy, if you could just get her on it.

And that second hill definitely causes gray outs...it's a fine ride and has a deserved place among favorites for many people at Cedar Point.

Now, as for me, I think the most underrated coaster in that park is the kitty!

[Braves0511]

The first time I rode Top Thrill Dragster at Cedar Point. I rode in the very front seat, at night. I was a little nervous getting on, even though it's been ages since I've been scared of a coaster. I was high as a kite when I got off that thing, there's a whole scientific explanation for the natural high that coasters give, and that day made me understand it.

[KIfan1980]

Most exhilarating ride experience for me: Big Shot on the Stratosphere tower in Vegas. I struggle for words to describe how that felt the first time (before I'd ever ridden another power/Drop Tower ride) - the rush of the initial launch followed by the weightless and unrestrained feeling as you look out at the desert floor 1000+ feet below.

Most exhilarating coaster experiences:

- Diamondback: Sooooo much airtime

- Wildfire (Silver Dollar City): Incredible first drop into the Immelmann

- Montu (Busch Gardens Tampa): Amazing forces exceed my memories of Raptor, but I'll have to check this year!

[thunderbeast1968]

I have 2 different experiences on one coaster. The Beast, I rode it for the first year with my grandfather, he was in his late 60's we both loved it. I'm not sure which year, but the tunnel on the helix was not installed yet. Second was with my best friend, Last ride of the night and the weather was pretty warm all day, but a pop-up shower came in and I waited it out. We rode the front row with fog so thick, we could not see 2 feet in front of us. FANTASTIC. Another fun coaster was Volcano, first ride and the front seat. The launch is soo cool blasting out of the top of the volcano upside down.....amazing.

[coaster_junky]

wooden coaster: Son of Beast, the first time i rode it, i loved the rough and tumble feeling that it gives you. kind of like the feeling you get when you're on your farm, get bored, get an old blanket, and then roll all the way down to the bottom of a holler with the blanket wrapped around you, with you bouncing around all over the place. ahh...so much fun.

steel: my first ride on aerosmith's rock n' roller coaster at disney world. the theming on this ride blew me away, although very simple (cardboard cut outs, with lights shining on them only for seconds as you pass them during the ride.) and it all going to aerosmith music that's blaring into your ear. simply breath taking.

[Coney Islander]

For me it would be Flight of Fear at Paramount's Kings Island... Flight of Fear was my first upside down roller coaster, and at the age of 7 my dad said, "Lets go ride The Outer Limits." Previously, I had been afraid of riding roller coasters with inversions, but that day, I rode all of Kings Island's major roller coasters and flat rides. I might be the only one, but I find the Flight of Fear launch a bit more exhilarating than Top Thrill Dragster's. The sound affects and flashing lights make it feel out of this world!

I've got to give my second place to Tomb Raider the ride at Paramount's Kings Island, age 8. The most highly themed ride I had ever been on. This was the ride that got me hooked on ride theming, and I've been drawing concepts for new Dark Rides ever since!

[countess_of_tuscany]

I'm not sure if it was the most exhilarating ride for me, but the first time I rode The Crypt was the only ride that I literally thought I was going to die on! (In a good way, if that makes any sense!) Jeff (count_of_tuscany) had been on it when it was Tomb Raider (I started going to KI in 2008 so I didn’t get to ride Tomb Raider) and he said he absolutely loved it and he was telling me all about the ride. We had heard that the theming was taken down, but he still really wanted me to ride it. He said it flips upside down a few times...

This was in the summer of the 2008 season, when it was actually still a thrill ride (unlike it being a ferris wheel now.. ) and when it started going, it was insane! It flipped so many times, so fast, and I couldn't tell if I was up or down! The reason it was so scary to me, was because I thought the ride was broken and somehow out-of-control since it was nothing like he explained it to be – even he didn’t expect it to be that intense. But we absolutely loved it!

The Crypt used to be my favorite flat ride at Kings Island, probably one of the most intense rides I'd ever ridden, until they un-intensified it towards the end of the 2009 season.. What a shame!

[bkroz]

^ I agree that, to me, The Crypt's nine-flip cycle was easily the most forceful and intense ride I have ever experienced. That may be a crock of crap for most of you, but truly, I have never felt dizzy or drained the way I did after our Giant Top Spin tried to accomplish those aerial maneuvers usually reserved for machines half its size. It dizzies me just thinking about it. I found that same cycle to be quite refreshing on Kings Dominion's Crypt, but on ours, it was literally like being plastered into your seat, face-flapping, stomach-churning... And not in an entertaining way.

I much prefer the current two-flip cycle, and I don't even like it that much.... But something in the middle of the two would be ideal.

[Fear the Four]

^ I agree that, to me, The Crypt's nine-flip cycle was easily the most forceful and intense ride I have ever experienced. That may be a crock of crap for most of you, but truly, I have never felt dizzy or drained the way I did after our Giant Top Spin tried to accomplish those aerial maneuvers usually reserved for machines half its size. It dizzies me just thinking about it. I found that same cycle to be quite refreshing on Kings Dominion's Crypt, but on ours, it was literally like being plastered into your seat, face-flapping, stomach-churning... And not in an entertaining way. 

To me this is way worse.

To me the most exhilarating ride experience I have ever had was my first inverted coaster Firehawk in 08' Scared the poop out of me! Once i got off I was addicted and it has changed my life

 

[countess_of_tuscany]

Speaking of how intesne the Crypt used to be, check

top-spin out! Now, I can handle a lot when it comes to rides, but I don't know if I could handle that!!

[Dvo]

I think a lot of straight "flips" would be dizzying, but I dont think it would be as intense as the Tomb Raider cycle.. the parts where you're diving down upside-down, and then where it hung you upside down for a long duration, were what made it really intense for me. But that's just my opinion. And a late welcome to KIC, countess.