What's Your Favorite Moment on Any Ride?

[upstop]

Disney's Haunted Mansion right about when disembodied voice starts to talk to when little Leota invites you to return.

[TombRaiderFTW]

It surprises me how much my answer to this has changed between 2012 and now. Honestly, there are so few moments from that list that are still applicable. Not that they aren't good--I've just experienced more things that I love a whole lot more. In no order:

-The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman at Islands of Adventure: Spiderman yelling "No!" And then the ride carriage hurtles over the edge of the building. Also, the scene with the Hobgoblin. Also, the moment when you are hit with Dr. Octopus's levitation ray.

-Test Track at Epcot: When you speed for the doors, and they open right at the last second. And then the accelerations afterward.

-Verbolten at Busch Gardens Williamsburg: The scene before the drop, and then the drop itself.

-Curse of DarKastle at BGW: The scene when you fall from the top of the castle.

-Justice League: Battle for Metropolis at Six Flags St. Louis: The scene where you speed through the subway.

-I still love Volcano and its launches.

-I'm surprised I didn't list Tomb Raider: The Ride's hold over the lava.

-Boss's turn after the MCBR

-Iron Rattler's zero-G roll and dive into the tunnel

-Phantom's Revenge's bunny hops, when seated in the last row

[MDMC01]

I've looked back as well, and let me add Storm Runner's launch (and countdown) to the mix here... also, Great Bear and Skyrush's in-station spiels are amazing (the ride- Skyrush- itself, not so much...)! Oh, also, the ejector air from the first hill after Thunderhawk's first drop was pretty unexpected. 

 

And the first launch on any S&S launch tower (Dominator @DP, Power Tower at Cedar Point) is pretty awesome!

[NoChickens]

 Mine would be when I sit on the seat ;-)

[BlondyRidesOn]

The Racer- Bunny hop hills, small splashes of ejector airtime.

The Beast- The helix with all of its force.

Tornado at Strickers Grove- The sudden floater airtime drop that almost catches you by surprise.

[Magenta Lizard]

That pause just before a big snap on the gliders.

[coasterfanatic83]

I couldn't decide a single favorite moment out the following group, so here they are:

• The Voyage's spaghetti bowl turnaround sequence
• Maverick's sequence from the first drop through the first airtime hill
• Magnum XL-200's 3rd hill
• Top Thrill Dragster's launch

[calakapepe]

Third drop of the triple down on Voyage.

In the dark, warm air, smell of wood (slaughtered and living), sudden final airtime.

It's the best memory ever. So far.

[CoasterOhio]

Invertigo
The First initial Drop

The Bat
The first drop

Banshee
The Dive Loop

Adventure Express
The first drop into the tunnel

The Racer
The small hills after the first drop

Flight of Fear
The Corkscrew at the end

Firehawk
The initial lie-to-fly turn

Vortex
The Turn around after the drop and before the loops

Backlot Stunt Coaster
The tunnel

The Beast
The Final Helix

Diamondback
The turn after the first drop

My most favourite moment in the park

When Banshee and Delirium align with each other
 

[Logan Goddard]

Specifically at KI. Banshee's slow inline roll at the end is surprisingly my favorite element. it just gives it such a unique classic end to an amazing invert. 

 

Beast has to be the Helix. Going through it at any time is intense, but the Night rides are EPIC.

[diamondBanshee011]

-DB's drop

-Banshee's drop in the back row

-Firehawk's vertical loop

-FoF's corkscrew

-The racing component of Racer and Gemini

-Maverick's second launch 

-Maverick's i305-style turns

-Raptor's first vertical loop

-Alpengeist's barrel roll

-Apollo's Chariot's random surprise drop at the end 

-Verbolten's drop track

-Legend at night

-Voyage's first 3 hills

-Expedition Everest's backwards helix thing

-Pretty much all of Splash Mountain 

i don't think this thread is active anymore but... oh well!

[McSalsa]

Here's my top 10 favorite ride moments. To keep it balanced, I have limited it to one per ride, so there will be more variety on the rides. I also had to leave out some epic moments IMO. Here we go...

10. Banshee's Zero G Roll

I'm talking about the one after the big loop and into the valley- though the slow twist at the end is also awesome though. This inversion sends you way up in the air, and then because the ride is on a large hill, you drop even further than you went up. And the negative g-forces on this inversion are solid.

9. Drop Tower: Right before the drop

The only non-coaster moment on my list, this is when you near and reach the top of the 315' Drop Tower at Kings Island. You get a great view, and are looking around at other rides are you anticipate the inevitable. And then you hear the click.

8. Diamondback's First Drop (Back Car)

This one kinda only happens if you ride in the very back car, due to how much more airtime there is there. You climb the 230' lift hill, and crest it. The front cars drop ahead of you, and you get whipped over for a full 215 feet of awesome floater air.

7. The Legend's Helix

Lateral lovers, here is the element for you. After the initial out-and-back section, Legend dives into its helix, and it seems to vary between fast and slow depending what part you are in. You also get TONS of lateral forces.

6. Voyage's Triple Down

After the mid-course brakes, you might expect Voyage would calm down a bit, considering how crazy the twister section previous to this already was. These 3 drops, all in a tunnel, however let you know the truth- your Voyage has only just begun, and still more craziness and airtime awaits you on the other side!

5. Flight of Fear's Final Corkscrew

FOF does a great job building up to its final inversion- after the MCBR, you drop, twist, and turn and feel like it is gonna flip a few times, but it never does...until the final corkscrew hits. And when it does, it is pretty forceful, especially if the MCBR happened to be off!

4. GateKeeper's Initial Twist

170 feet up is pretty high, and even a standard drop would be pretty intense from up there. But, Cedar Point's Wing Coaster has something else in mind. Instead of a drop, you flip slowly 170 feet up, and it's pretty darn crazy when you do it. Then you drop into a giant loop and the ride begins proper.

3. Millennium Force's First Drop

If the 215 foot drop on Diamondback was thrilling, this puts that to shame. Going 80 feet higher (aka the same total height as Blue Streak or Raven!) and towering over everything puts this drop on a different level, and it still has great floater air on the way down to boot!

2. Magnum XL-200's Final Bunny Hops

Magnum XL-200 does not have the best first drop- there is not a lot of airtime, unlike the other 2 huge steel coasters I have ridden. However of the 3, it does end the strongest. The pure strength of the ejector air on the final bunny hops alone is insane, and the last 2-3 are done inside of a tunnel! However, one coaster ending is still better IMO...

1. The Beast's Final Helix

Well, this was kinda obvious. Beast has a few memorable moments, but the helix at the end tops everything- especially since the entire ride kinda builds up to it. You crest the 2nd lift, and see Kings Island in all its glory. Especially at night. But then, you turn right, and see a huge 141 foot drop and a tiny tunnel await you! The drop seems to last forever since it is not steep and feels more like a ramp. Faster...faster...trim brakes try to stop you but fail...faster! FASTER! FASTER! Almost there...WHAM! The ride feels out of control and you cannot even hear anyone screaming because the ride is so loud. You get out of the tunnel, get a second to breath...WHAM AGAIN! It happens again. Then you exit, get a nice view of the 2 lift hills as well as Vortex & the Eiffel Tower, do a small drop, and hit the brake run in a sense of awe at what just happened.

Note: I have only been to Indiana Beach, Kings Island, Holiday World, and Cedar Point and also have not ridden everything at all of those parks yet so these are just my top 10 I have experienced so far. Will update or make a new post later if this changes, which it probably will.

 

 

[Hmrapp]

My favorite elements are (in no particular order)...

• The first drop on Millennium Force (the floater is just sensational)
• The airtime hill on Maverick (back row)
• Top Thrill Dragster's launch
• Drop Towers freefall (especially with a full train)
• Diamondbacks insane parabolic, floater airtime hills
• Vortex's first drop
• Banshees inline twist (the hangtime is absolutely stunning)
• Magnum's final ejector airtime hills (not being stapled of course)
• Appollo's Chariots first drop 
• Dangling over the edge on dive coasters
• Verbolten's vertical drop in the dark
• Airtime on S&S screamin' swings
• Initial launch while riding Slingshot models
• Freefalling on Skycoaster models
• The Beast's double helix AT NIGHT
• GateKeeper's wing over drop

[Xdog42]

Best thing I have experienced on a roller coaster is the Quad down on Lighting Rod, The way the coaster ejects you out your seat is crazy! At this moment its the best Coaster I've been on. 

[beastfan11]

1. All the dark ride smells. 

[Arrow]

• Beast's helix at night
• Diamondbacks Airtime hills
• Mystic Timbers' drop and the small ejector air hills
• Vortex's drop and hangtime on the corkscrews
• Magnum's final bunny hills. (Absolutely insane)
• Millennium's drop
• Maverick's second launch

[silver2005]

Here's a short list for now.  I plan on posting more later as I like to find something about each ride to like.  

Beast- the classic view cresting the first lift and the helix, particularly the set up.  All you see going in are the two lifts with its seclusion from the park and the payoff is nice. Oh, you just went through a series of intense drops out of the 2nd tunnel?  Here's a 141 ft lift into a huge helix on top of the main course.  The helix has such a unique sound as well. 

Mystery Mine- The 2nd lift.  The atmosphere is intense with the storm going on and the dilapidated mine, and the holding brake works.  You drop like a rock after that and the ending works out great. Makes up for the mild first half.

Tennessee Tornado- This one only really works if you're on it the first time and you don't know about the enclosed first drop.  I happened to ride it for my first ride in the very back, so seeing that head chopping tunnel come out of nowhere so quickly was a nice shock.  The best half of an Arrow looper out there.

Volcano: The Blast Coaster- Most launch coasters I've been on do well in building up the launch.  FOF has the mystery surrounding the ride, TTD has the drag race X-mas light set up (which is a near close 2nd), but Volcano takes the cake for me. It doesn't hit the gas right out of the station.  You curve anxiously around that corner, and once you see that straight away, you know its on.  The fact that there's that 2nd launch to take you up the volcano just makes for a great sequence.   Storm Runner's would be 3rd as the launch sequence is not as long, so it can get pretty chaotic pretty fast if you're not paying attention, especially with the crazy course it has afterwards. 

Now, TTD's moment after the launch is better than Volcano as after Volcano's, its just a windy course down the mountain with a few heartline rolls thrown in.  TTD's top hat is incredible.  Seeing the track disappear at 400 ft is pretty nerve racking, especially as the ground comes back into view and you're, you know, 400 ft up.  

Thunder Run- I would like to introduce to you the greatest bunny hop of all time.  After a decent first drop and a nice sweeping curve, it goes up, makes an unbanked curve while your butt is still in the air, and comes back down, which leads to the rest of that awesome row of camel back hills.  A pretty good bang-bang way to start a coaster.

Speaking of KK, Storm Chaser's first drop is awesome and I'm glad Twisted Timbers at KD is getting a similar drop.  It starts out as hangtime due to the roll, but as it starts to increase the drop angle, it instantly converts to air time- you just keep in that 0 g sweet spot until it bottoms out.  

As much as SOB was a failure, it did have 2 decent moments.  The first drop was pretty special.  Doing a 200 ft swoop on a wooden coaster was...unique in a good way.  One of the milder moments in terms of ride quality, and then the loud anti-roll backs and the increasing sound as you made your way down the 214 ft drop was a nice bit of welcomed intensity (unlike the painful intensity which followed in the Rose Bowl helix).  And, if you were lucky to ride it before 2006, the loop was pretty great as well.  I wish it had some hang time as it went too fast through it to have any, but with it being steel, it was the smoothest part by default.   

As someone who doesn't make it to CP a lot on purpose, I find Wicked Twister's spikes to be highly enjoyable in the very front or very back.  For the front, seeing the end come up so quick during the 2nd and 3rd forward launches is pretty scary, and in the back, you aren't that aware of how far it is, and that feeling of keeping on going back knowing there's an end to it is pretty spine tingling as well.  It pairs well with the launches which are quite powerful that let you know you're going up pretty far.  The laterals going up are the cherry on top.

Thunderbolt's last 2 drops had potential, but the trims they have before them takes all the build up out of them.  The very last drop was pretty great though regardless.  

Another ride that had potential but didn't pay off to me was Valravn.  It does great at looking huge with the big track gauge needed to support 8 wide cars, and its great looking tall at over 200 ft, the holding brake is well done, but there's no weightless to it (well, a little bit if you're in the back row).  Those new B&M restraints just kill that possibility.  I wish it had B&M's original restraints to allow some body movement upwards.  How you have two 90 degree drops and little weightlessness is perplexing (an issue I have with Power Tower as well).  

 

 

 

 

[BeeastFarmer]

I like going into and coming out of the second tunnel on The Beast.  You have kind of lost some speed going in, when you are in in the tunnel you pick up speed and coming out you are flying and the noise is spectacular.  Add in a springtime ride when the bush honeysuckle is blooming and it's sickenly sweet.  (but I'm not a fan of bush honeysuckle.)

[whengodsaysgo]

The Beast - IMHO, the crest of the second lift hill provides one of the best views of the park.  That combined with the anticipation of the double helix and roaring of the tunnels makes me grin like kid in a candy store.  Just about every time I ride it, I'm still grinning by the time we reach the station.

Diamondback - After that first drop, that first airtime moment is fantastic.  It instigates the cheesy grin when my legs pop up.  I love that my feet dangle - it's just me and that restraint and the mercy of the Lord.  LOL! I also love how it roars on the tracks.

The Bat - The view from the first lift hill!

Invertigo - The pause between the first and second half of the ride.  I liken it the feeling when a kid is being thrust into the air in a swimming pool by an adult.  I have no idea why.

Mysti - That first hill and the crazy sound it makes! I also love that fun airtime curve right before the tunnel, hitting the break run before the shed, singing along with whatever the radio plays, and hoping a tree guy (my fave ending.)

 

.....To be Continued.....

 

[KIBeast]

As a dad, my favorite moment, hands down, is any ride I get to ride and enjoy with my family. It's so much fun to see the enjoyment from my kid. Reminds me of my parents taking me as a kid. It always seemed like, once you entered the gates, there was just some kind of magic going on. Now, I get to share that with him and my fiance' as well. Until we went last year, she hadn't been since high school. which would have been like 1995. 

As a family, our favorite coaster is the legendary Beast. We all agree a night time ride just cannot be beat. Mystic Timbers is a close 2nd though. Our favorite flat is Shake, Ratlle, & Roll.

We are looking forward to next summer as he will be 52", which opens up some new rides for him (although, it's a lot of new rides at Cedar Point).

[kingsislandfan1972]

Definitely that first drop on Diamondback, that always gets my adrenaline pumping!

[NewD4y20]

It used to be Son of Beast's first drop, including the lift hill that would sway as you went up it. Also the loop.

 

Now it's probably the first two hills on Diamondback.