Let's remember who made El Toro. To my knowledge Jr Gemini/Wilderness Run is the only coaster Intamin ever built that is not plagued with constant issues. Intamin is the worst! I love Maverick, and have not ridden El Toro, but would probably love it, but Intamin has more problems than any other manufacturers. Maybe even more than all the others combined!
I think its the end of super large scale record breaking wooden coasters but wooden coasters in general are here to stay. It just seems that wood as a material is not meant to take the level of force for a long period of time. For example i dont think that its a coincidence that gravity group started making wooden giants like hades, voyage, and ravine flyer II but is now making more family wooden coasters that have forces but dont tear the rides apart.
Great to see a new video. But I think it is missing the context or history of a "traditional" wood coaster. It is true to say that wood coasters have hit their limit on height, and speed but not that the style is dead as a whole. Styles of building wood coasters that have less than 5 examples should not sum the whole category. (ie. pre fab, topper, gg inversion, gci steel track). They still have a use to build when done right and it has done poorly, a lot. Bad wood coasters are common and the reason why can be a whole video (Dinn comp./maintenance) and that is why rmc has had a lot to work with. Failure of the new does not make they old system bad. The real problem is the gems are few and far between. A wood coaster need to be more that just pretty. It needs to cost less, be easy to maintain, and make a small scale coaster feel like it is going 2x the speed. To feel out on control and not calculated by a computer. But not be painful and not the biggest or fastest thing around. Just don't toss the baby with the bath water. Thanks for the video.
I agree with this fully. I personally love wooden coasters for the wild out of control experience. I think they're the perfect mid-range ride, where they're not the biggest or baddest coaster in the park, but they still pack a punch. I feel in America the rush to break records resulted in overly massive wooden coasters that ended up being problematic. I don't care if the ride is the biggest or fastest, I want it to be enjoyable. I love hybrid coasters, but I can only handle riding them once or twice a day, whereas I am always up for riding a woodie (or a wild mouse for that matter, I love those things)
Honestly, I love the feel of a wooden coaster. Ghostrider is one of my favorites, dipping under the wooden supports is so cool. It’s gonna be really sad for these to go, but I’m glad that hybrids are here to stay!
Wooden coasters need to be properly maintained. Wodan at Europapark is 10 years old amd running better than ever because the park actually cares and constantly maintains and retracks this ride.
They do need to be maintained, but it's way more expensive than steel or hybrid so parks don't *usually* maintain them very well. Kinda sucks, but that's the truth. That's what keeps me away from most woodies, it gets too rough and then my head starts hurting after the ride.
@@masterrguy4465 It's very cheap compared to steel coasters, what are you talking about? Yes it needs to be done more often, but retracking a steel coaster costs the same as essentially rebuilding it from the ground up whereas woodies are always cheap.
@@chrismdb5686 I was probably wrong then, but unless there's a peer-reviewed research paper on what kind of coaster costs less to maintain, I can't totally believe you. I just hold a grudge against a lot of woodies because they get rough WAAY to quickly lol
@@chrismdb5686 Because I've seached literally everywhere and can't find a solid answer. If you can give me proof, I will admit I was wrong. I'm not very knowledgeable about coasters so sorry.
Well if Seaworld, Cedar Fair, and Asian parks have taught us anything over the last few years, woodies can still play a vital role in a park's lineup. Yes RMC reinvented what what a coaster that consists of wood can do (crazy inversions, weird angle airtime, crazy heights), but let's be honest- a wood coaster just has a charm that newer coasters wish they could have, even if a park insures they survive over a century from now. I mean Parc de asterix basically 2.0 their coaster (which look awesome imo) that was once considered one of the greatest, and they have an new-style Intamin coming next year. Clearly the park, and guests for that matter, saw value in having it stay around and having some track re-imagined and engineered. I don't know how many steel coasters would ever get that treatment once the service life is close.
I'm sure I heard Gravity Group want to try and stick with wood track, but they now offer prefabricated wooden track sections which 'should' last longer. I guess we'll have to wait and see how that turns out.
@@alexbaker7722 it may not be out of control like Voyage or El Toro but Beast is meant to be more like an experience then an actual coaster. (The upgrades actually made it my favorite woodie at KI I love that ride so much)
@@rivertownproductions that's fair, everyone has their own taste. I felt the night ride was way overhyped. But I had ridden trimless Voyage the previous day... so it's hard to compete with that experience.
Well a wooden coaster done right can prove to be incredibly popular. Example: Wicker Man at Alton Towers, heavily themed and still after 4 years can genarate queues of 3 hour sometimes even more they just need to have really good theming to make it good an emersive story, I'm sorry to say but the british have just one upped you. But I'm still convinced that Walace and Gromit themed woodie would be supreme (it was john wardlys idea but it was never made). YET
This is just an entire video of bad takes. Just because a ride type has hit the limit of height and speed doesn’t mean it’s ‘dead’ as a medium. The SR-71 was the fastest and highest flying aircraft but that didn’t make every aeronautical engineer pack up and quit because a supersonic spy plane isn’t going to preform as a cargo plane, a passenger plane or even a fighter jet, hell, most people wouldn’t be able to fly in an SR71 because of the Gs. There is more to coasters than just going really fast and really high, that’s just park dick measuring and I feel like it actively inhibits making enjoyable and accessible experiences. Wooden rollercoasters really don’t need to be tall or fast to be fun and the fact they’ve ‘hit there limit’ indicates that designers will need to focus more on experience than specs.
RMC turns mostly family coasters into thrill coasters. There will still be demand for family wooden coasters . Yes they don't last as long as steel coasters but those also don't last forever.
I think it's interesting that people keep referring to ArieForce One as a "hybrid" even though, as far as I can tell, there's no wood in it at all--not in the track, not in the structure. It's I-Box, but it's no more a hybrid than Incredicoaster. It's a steel coaster that has the look of a wooden coaster. I've been thinking about this since I re-rode Boulder Dash recently. Boulder Dash is the greatest woodie I've ever ridden. And Boulder Dash is getting rough, uncomfortably so. It's worse than it was despite a lot of retracking and reprofiling in the years since I rode it last. And if that ride is feeling the bite... maybe there's just a fundamental problem with big ambitious woodies.
I personally don't consider Arieforce One a hybrid and apparently neither does Wikipedia ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I've only ever seen younger thoosies call it a hybrid.
Wooden roller coasters can really be great longterm investments for parks, though. While steel coasters seem to have a fairly limited lifespan, look how many wooden roller coasters have been around 50+ years and are still operating and in good condition. I agree the wood ones have limits on just how intense they can get. But let's be real, once a ride's record breaking status loses its luster and novelty, people return to it for the quality of its experience. There's a reason why coasters like Phoenix are still king despite being decades older than many of their contemporaries.
Plus Wooden coasters are often much much cheaper to build than Steel coasters, though of course wooden rides cost more to maintain. But it is a really good business proposition for a lot of parks, especially new ones starting out. And yeah, when they're well maintained, their longevity is insane. When they're not maintained well then... yeah, we get stuff like Mean Streak.
I definitely blame RMC, but I also blame enthusiasts who want every woodie RMC'd, even the beloved ones are not safe, and the parks for not taking care of their woodies properly. It's a vicious cycle. While I sound hardcore anti-RMC, which I'm not as I'm obsessed with their ground ups and single rail, they definitely are the catalyst here.
Most of the woodies that have been RMCd were in desperate need of it. Can't hate on them for, like stated in the video, taking a coaster that is losing all the appeal to the GP and making it a top tier attraction
Another pretty big aspect about woodies that's hurting their popularity: maintenance. It's so much more time and money every year to keep a woodie going, especially in good condition. See how much work Holiday World does every year. Meanwhile 10 year old RMCs are still glass smooth with no retracking necessary. That's def attractive to a lot of parks.
Yes but steel coasters are made to last 30 years. Great wood coasters can last forever without repurchasing the coaster again. Maintenance is key and scale is key.
@@jeremy6732 there are plenty of steel coasters approaching their 50s at this point and hanging in there. But let's be real: most parks aren't looking to keep any rides (wood or steel) that long, unless they're bona fide classics. A lot of the RMC conversions are for rides in that 25-35 range. And I think parks will continue to go that route, until all that's left are new Gravity Groups / GCIs and 100 year old John C Allens.
@@jeremy6732 Part of the reason why older steel coasters didn't stick around is due to the technology at the time they were built. Older steel coasters got unbearably rough due to a lack of precision in bending the track. It was all done by eye until computers took that over in the 90s. You'll find steel coasters built today could probably last 50+ years if the park doesn't replace them solely because of land space availability and wanting newer rides.
I think the only major wood rollercoaster that is/has opening/opened this year would be Leviathan in SeaWorld Australia. It is incredible for what it is, better than the povs, and then the theming is the best of any wooden coaster
I don't think wooden coasters are ever really going to go away, it's just that we're getting into an era where we probably won't see many record breaking ones anymore. Like, they're such a classic and popular ride type, and there's tons of iconic wooden coasters out there that will probably remain preserved for their historical value alone. Like, side-friction coasters are WAY more archaic than woodies, but there's still a handful being kept maintained to this day. Most Woodies also fill a really nice niche that not a lot of other coasters seem to fill as like an intermediate thrill coaster. One that isn't too intense to scare away people who are intimidated by the big looping steel coasters, but also is still fun and exciting enough for more seasoned coaster fans to enjoy.
Woodies largely just havent been designed properly for decades. The old PTC are masterpieces. Gravity Group seems to be making the best ones out there now, but the old designs of Schmeck and Co. From PTC need to be studied and modernized to get some epic new woodies.
I don't think wooden coasters are dead, but I do think the 2nd woodie Renaissance we seen with the rise of GG, GCI, and Intamin (and fake wood coasters like RMC) is over. So woodie focused manufacturers need to diversify. Making family models, making steel hybrids, and getting into fixing existing coasters (like GG did with the beast). But we will still get thrill woodies. Just not as often.
I don't think the end of the wooden coaster is near, their expertise just isn't those big groundbreaking extremes. Besides you quite underestimate how many parks don't have wooden coasters, I mean a ton of newer parks in Europe like Djurs Sommerland, Skyline Park, Energylandia, and many others don't even have any wooden coasters. Plus they've been selling like hotcakes in China especially. You might not see many 130ft+ tall wooden coasters but they still fill a lot of roles whether it be as good twister rides, airtime machines, or as all rounder family rides, or just a solid backbone for parks new and old. I mean again they certainly still have a lot of business value with their lower construction cost than most steel rides, I mean some wooden coasters like Parc Saint Paul's "Wood Express", a 50ft tall woodie by Gravity Group, are insanely cheap, like less than half the price of an equivalently sized steel coaster. I mean compare the price of that, some 3 million euros, to that of Fyr & Flamme, a Gerstlauer kiddie coaster in Norway's Tusenfryd amusement park. So yeah something tells me there's still gonna be lots of wooden coasters going forward.
strong opinion on vekoma woodies for someone who hasn't ridden any... I've never heard anyone say they're bad. I mean they're not amazing wooden coasters but they're fine.
Darien lake six flags is getting a titan track next year for their wooden coaster predator. It’s my favorite coaster, period and I love wooden roller coasters, and so do many other people like me. They’re here to stay
That’s why I thought it was incredibly courageous for SeaWorld on the Gold Coast Australia (one of my 3 home parks) to build a GG woodie, considering none have been built in Australia for almost half a century. And especially given Australian parks’ enthusiasm for performing required maintenance has been somewhat patchy.
Steel supports are used in places that are very humid, making wooden supports not economically viable. This is why Switchback at ZDT has steel supports instead of wood. It has a higher up front cost but saves on maintenance in the long run. This is kind of a moot point though, the supports have nothing to do with a coaster's classification. Having wooden tracks on steel supports is still 100% a wooden coaster.
The small wooden coaster still has its small niche market. The fact that wooden coaster has insanely low friction value compare to steel coaster (due to steel wheel and steel strip track, whereas steel coaster couldn't do that because of vibration). So, wooden coaster could maintaining waay longer maximum speed and length compare to steel one (up to twice of that, which is insane). Espescially with park that has strict height requirement, and surprisingly quite a lot. Let's be honest, Oscar Wacky Taxy use steel structure but wooden rail, despite they could absolutely use steel coaster for that.
I don't think this take will age very well. It'll probably look good for the next decade or so, but as more and more parks have an RMC there will be less interest in building them. At that point there will likely be a renewed interest in classic woodies. RMC did something that is common in the steel world, but rare in the woodies, they innovated. Steel models tend to have a fad like lifecycle to them. When they first come out everyone wants one. So there is this wave of that specific model being made that eventually dies out. In the case of stand-up coasters it dies out completely, but some models survive such as inverted loopers. That rarely happens with woodies, they are very tried and true technology, change and innovation is much slower. Now that someone figured out an innovation on woodies that same lifecycle is being applied.
Wooden coasters offer some of my favorite ride experiences. My top 5 woodies are 1.) El Toro 2.) Phoenix 3.) Shivering Timbers 4.) Mystic Timbers 5.) Beast. I generally feel that minus beast, the airtime on the four I listed are some of the best I have experienced on any coaster, not just wooden. I wouldn't count out this ride type in the slightest. Kings Island is a park that thrives off its wooden coasters, and the place just wouldn't be the same without them. They added Mystic Timbers when the park was already loaded with wooden track and the public and enthusiasts alike praised it, and todays its still my favorite ride in the park.
I generally agree, though smaller-scale woodies might stick around, these massive behemoths are just too expensive and too hard to maintain. Most new wooden coasters are likely going to be some form of hybrid. Hybrids hold their value long term and there's a lot more flexibility on what you can do with them design-wise.
For large scale thrills, you're right, but wood isn't dead as a whole. I've recently seen a trend here in Europe where small starting theme parks, primarily start focusing on families with small children because they cannot compete with the giants like europa park Phantasialand and Efteling. This means There's less of a need for high, fast and forceful. They just want a nice family ride and just the rattling of wood is already thrilling enough for these kids. An example is Plopsaland with Heidi the ride. It's a fun small-scale gci and it doesn't offer a lot of forces, which means it's not the complete maintenance hell large scale woodies are. It's within these family focussed small amusement parks where the wooden coaster is here to stay.
Top wooden coasters for me: 1. Mystic Timbers at King’s Island 2/3Ghost Rider at Knotts and Shivering Timbers at Michigan’s Adventure 4. The Beast at King’s Island 5. Bolder Dash at Lake Compounce I have not ridden any of your top three nor have I been to Holiday World.
I went six flags first time summer 2023 and only went on El Toro once and it's the best in the park but it's sad to see iconic wooden coasters die over time
Pretty great woodie is “The Great White” on the wildwood boardwalk in Wildwood NJ. I guess it’s technically a hybrid because the structure is steel, but it’s pretty good ride with no slow sections and it’s even better with the setting, right on the beach. Would love for them to Give it the RMC treatment.
Wooden coasters are all over my Top 25, I personally like a great woodie over a great steel coaster all day! But it's different strokes for different folks and most of these parks don't want to pay to keep a ride tracked when they can essentially "set it and forget it" with a steel coaster.
Surprisingly enough, the Vekoma Woodies aren´t even that bad, the most noteworthy thing about them is just how completely average and not noteworthy they are.
World's of fun is going hardcore woodie with Zambezi zinger. That makes 2.5 GCI woods and .5 djinn woodie. One morgan and one B&M. They really need a intamin launch
As a brit we love our wooden coasters both old and new but the only parks that have them (That I know of) are BPB with 5, AT with 1 and LWV with a weird hybrid.
If anything, it's more likely that woodies will just become smaller scale rides. Like parks choosing to make woodies on the scale of InvadR, or even smaller like TGG's family woodies. But even then, I think we'll still see a few large scale GCIs. And The Gravity Group has been pretty vocal that they will continue making wooden coasters and retracking with wood. I think the market for wooden tracked coasters is still massive, and at most we'll just see almost all woodies open with steel support structures instead, just cause the maintenance is much easier. But steel track could never replace the iconic feel of wood track, and I think even non-enthusiasts will flock to new wooden coasters when they open.
Dude you need to get to Holiday World, you won't be bashing wooden coasters after you get off their fantastic collection (seriously find two other rides that compliment each other as well as the Voyage and the Legend do)
Good opinions, tons of them have been removed from last century, and RMC and GCI steel could fix the remaining ones (when/where appropriate)! The wood structures are still lovely especially when painted white. But this video needs more toons!
I think you are right in that we are going to see less new wooden coaster projects in America but there’s still going to be a good amount overseas as there are plenty of parks that could use or are interested in wooden coasters. There are two GCIs under construction in China and Leviathan at SeaWorld along with Bombay Express are also opening soon. Also Gravity Group won’t be going to steel for a long time if ever, they recently revealed their preengineered wooden track that is said to be 30 times stronger than their other wooden track which is their answer to RMC and Titan Track. It has been used extensively on Beast and Tonnerre Deux Zeus and has received high praise. GCI seems to want to use the Titan Track more for maintenance or for certain elements rather than building a full ground up coaster even though they could if they wanted to. Zambezi Zinger was originally designed as a full-on wooden coaster before it was decided to put Titan Track on the spiral lift hill and turnaround which I learned from a recent interview.
Idk ive grown up around wooden coasters my entire life and I absolutely love them. My dad used to design wooden coasters so I some might say I'm a bit brainwashed, but I don't see wooden coasters going anywhere. There are some incredible new wooden coaster that many people love. For instance, Mystic Timbers is an amazing ride.
I think wooden coasters will only die as a material. There is something special about the track and support design that can't be replicated with a traditional steel coaster.
Well, it looks like that we are going to see less wooden roller coasters in America because of that. Hopefully that GCI will still continue making more wooden roller coasters in the world and America!
I wish Intamin or GCI would be bold enough to make a hyper woodie. I'll probably get a some hate for this but the world NEEDS a modern version of Son of Beast. Having the world's tallest, longest, & fastest wooden coaster would be incredibly marketable & unique. Something likebVoyage, SOB, & Wood Cosster at Knight Valley China would be incredible.
Thankfully Alabama hates progressing in anything so I can still “enjoy” the single cci we have in this state Alabama splash park adventure if your interested
I forgot what video you said it in but you said you went to another really big park over the summer and would make a ultimate review of it like when you did for cedar point and now we know that it’s silver dollar city. Hope you make that video soon and it’s great to see you upload again
Rides like the Beast at KI are what give me hope that manufacturers will realize that woodies can be good and even better than a lot of steel coasters if done correctly. They are the perfect coaster for anyone of all ages so I am hopeful that woodies will not be going away anytime soon.
I don’t see wooden coasters being completely dead as I think parks can still market a wooden family coaster so if they really want one that’d be the best bet for them probably.
Well actually here in aus we are finally getting a new wooden coaster in decades at seaworld in Queensland. Not saying it would be be anything great but I have always wanted to ride a wooden coaster.
voyage was pretty rough when i road it this year but it was amazing and is well worth the trip but i couldnt ride it anymore after 6 rides throughout the day. but i could have road the legend all day. voyage is still my fav woodie tho id hate to see them go away but i think they will remain as a time capsule for us.
El toro is a major coaster but may be closed for maintenance reasons and costing too much, and rmc made all of their steel coasters, BECAUSE the coasters cost too much and need too much maintenance, tbh I dont see this happening but perhaps el toro wouldn’t have to go if RMC came along
Now I'm kind of curious to see what everyone's top 3 woodies are. Mine are: 3. Tonnere 2 Zeus (Parc Asterix) 2. Colossus (Heide Park) 1. El Toro (Please reply with your list or else this will be very akward)
Let’s give thanks to gci’s first wooden coaster, but wildcat honsestly wasn’t that good, and Ty rmc, for saving wildcat, and making it the best coaster in Hershey, but comet and lightn8ng racer isn’t going anywhere
This was made pre toro's 2nd accident. If anything the second one strengthens my case
I didn't know there was an accident.
Let's remember who made El Toro. To my knowledge Jr Gemini/Wilderness Run is the only coaster Intamin ever built that is not plagued with constant issues. Intamin is the worst! I love Maverick, and have not ridden El Toro, but would probably love it, but Intamin has more problems than any other manufacturers. Maybe even more than all the others combined!
if you want a video idea, you should do one on intamins new models that were put on yt today
If you want a video idea, how about a hagrid review, it would be great to get an enthusiasts full opinion on it
I think its the end of super large scale record breaking wooden coasters but wooden coasters in general are here to stay. It just seems that wood as a material is not meant to take the level of force for a long period of time. For example i dont think that its a coincidence that gravity group started making wooden giants like hades, voyage, and ravine flyer II but is now making more family wooden coasters that have forces but dont tear the rides apart.
And even they got steel supports these days
I’m so unlucky I went to great adventure the day after the toro accident
That's what I came here to comment. GCI has been doing a great job making family coasters. It might be the standard for new woodies from now on.
Agree and wood coasters have a lower CAPEX but higher OPEX which benefits small parks
@@RandomStuffIol you’re probably more lucky cause you could have been in the accident and the ride was unbearably rough.
Wake up babe, new coastoons video just dropped
That’s what I said
Wtf
I woke up at 645 waiting for this moment
33d Like
Great to see a new video. But I think it is missing the context or history of a "traditional" wood coaster. It is true to say that wood coasters have hit their limit on height, and speed but not that the style is dead as a whole. Styles of building wood coasters that have less than 5 examples should not sum the whole category. (ie. pre fab, topper, gg inversion, gci steel track). They still have a use to build when done right and it has done poorly, a lot. Bad wood coasters are common and the reason why can be a whole video (Dinn comp./maintenance) and that is why rmc has had a lot to work with. Failure of the new does not make they old system bad. The real problem is the gems are few and far between. A wood coaster need to be more that just pretty. It needs to cost less, be easy to maintain, and make a small scale coaster feel like it is going 2x the speed. To feel out on control and not calculated by a computer. But not be painful and not the biggest or fastest thing around. Just don't toss the baby with the bath water. Thanks for the video.
I agree with this fully. I personally love wooden coasters for the wild out of control experience. I think they're the perfect mid-range ride, where they're not the biggest or baddest coaster in the park, but they still pack a punch. I feel in America the rush to break records resulted in overly massive wooden coasters that ended up being problematic. I don't care if the ride is the biggest or fastest, I want it to be enjoyable. I love hybrid coasters, but I can only handle riding them once or twice a day, whereas I am always up for riding a woodie (or a wild mouse for that matter, I love those things)
Honestly, I love the feel of a wooden coaster. Ghostrider is one of my favorites, dipping under the wooden supports is so cool. It’s gonna be really sad for these to go, but I’m glad that hybrids are here to stay!
Wonder if CF will just Titan Track the ride after a while
@@hellacia8151 most likely, and im not apposed to that
Ghost rider @ Knott's?
@@DJDerpyify The renovated version, much better than before
I love ghostrider!!! Its amazing!
Wooden coasters need to be properly maintained.
Wodan at Europapark is 10 years old amd running better than ever because the park actually cares and constantly maintains and retracks this ride.
They do need to be maintained, but it's way more expensive than steel or hybrid so parks don't *usually* maintain them very well. Kinda sucks, but that's the truth. That's what keeps me away from most woodies, it gets too rough and then my head starts hurting after the ride.
@@masterrguy4465 It's very cheap compared to steel coasters, what are you talking about? Yes it needs to be done more often, but retracking a steel coaster costs the same as essentially rebuilding it from the ground up whereas woodies are always cheap.
@@chrismdb5686 I was probably wrong then, but unless there's a peer-reviewed research paper on what kind of coaster costs less to maintain, I can't totally believe you. I just hold a grudge against a lot of woodies because they get rough WAAY to quickly lol
@@masterrguy4465 Why would you need a peer reviewed paper to tell you when it's common knowledge in the industry?
@@chrismdb5686 Because I've seached literally everywhere and can't find a solid answer. If you can give me proof, I will admit I was wrong. I'm not very knowledgeable about coasters so sorry.
Well if Seaworld, Cedar Fair, and Asian parks have taught us anything over the last few years, woodies can still play a vital role in a park's lineup. Yes RMC reinvented what what a coaster that consists of wood can do (crazy inversions, weird angle airtime, crazy heights), but let's be honest- a wood coaster just has a charm that newer coasters wish they could have, even if a park insures they survive over a century from now. I mean Parc de asterix basically 2.0 their coaster (which look awesome imo) that was once considered one of the greatest, and they have an new-style Intamin coming next year. Clearly the park, and guests for that matter, saw value in having it stay around and having some track re-imagined and engineered. I don't know how many steel coasters would ever get that treatment once the service life is close.
I'm sure I heard Gravity Group want to try and stick with wood track, but they now offer prefabricated wooden track sections which 'should' last longer. I guess we'll have to wait and see how that turns out.
The Gravity Group refurbishment of The Beast uses that prefabricated track, and it works like a charm!
@@rivertownproductionsyeah it did feel smooth earlier this year. Shame the actual layout is so dull.
@@alexbaker7722 it may not be out of control like Voyage or El Toro but Beast is meant to be more like an experience then an actual coaster. (The upgrades actually made it my favorite woodie at KI I love that ride so much)
@@rivertownproductions that's fair, everyone has their own taste. I felt the night ride was way overhyped. But I had ridden trimless Voyage the previous day... so it's hard to compete with that experience.
Well a wooden coaster done right can prove to be incredibly popular.
Example: Wicker Man at Alton Towers, heavily themed and still after 4 years can genarate queues of 3 hour sometimes even more they just need to have really good theming to make it good an emersive story, I'm sorry to say but the british have just one upped you. But I'm still convinced that Walace and Gromit themed woodie would be supreme (it was john wardlys idea but it was never made). YET
This is just an entire video of bad takes. Just because a ride type has hit the limit of height and speed doesn’t mean it’s ‘dead’ as a medium. The SR-71 was the fastest and highest flying aircraft but that didn’t make every aeronautical engineer pack up and quit because a supersonic spy plane isn’t going to preform as a cargo plane, a passenger plane or even a fighter jet, hell, most people wouldn’t be able to fly in an SR71 because of the Gs. There is more to coasters than just going really fast and really high, that’s just park dick measuring and I feel like it actively inhibits making enjoyable and accessible experiences. Wooden rollercoasters really don’t need to be tall or fast to be fun and the fact they’ve ‘hit there limit’ indicates that designers will need to focus more on experience than specs.
RMC turns mostly family coasters into thrill coasters. There will still be demand for family wooden coasters . Yes they don't last as long as steel coasters but those also don't last forever.
I think it's interesting that people keep referring to ArieForce One as a "hybrid" even though, as far as I can tell, there's no wood in it at all--not in the track, not in the structure. It's I-Box, but it's no more a hybrid than Incredicoaster. It's a steel coaster that has the look of a wooden coaster.
I've been thinking about this since I re-rode Boulder Dash recently. Boulder Dash is the greatest woodie I've ever ridden. And Boulder Dash is getting rough, uncomfortably so. It's worse than it was despite a lot of retracking and reprofiling in the years since I rode it last. And if that ride is feeling the bite... maybe there's just a fundamental problem with big ambitious woodies.
I personally don't consider Arieforce One a hybrid and apparently neither does Wikipedia ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I've only ever seen younger thoosies call it a hybrid.
Wooden roller coasters can really be great longterm investments for parks, though. While steel coasters seem to have a fairly limited lifespan, look how many wooden roller coasters have been around 50+ years and are still operating and in good condition. I agree the wood ones have limits on just how intense they can get. But let's be real, once a ride's record breaking status loses its luster and novelty, people return to it for the quality of its experience. There's a reason why coasters like Phoenix are still king despite being decades older than many of their contemporaries.
Plus Wooden coasters are often much much cheaper to build than Steel coasters, though of course wooden rides cost more to maintain. But it is a really good business proposition for a lot of parks, especially new ones starting out. And yeah, when they're well maintained, their longevity is insane. When they're not maintained well then... yeah, we get stuff like Mean Streak.
They are not dead but less just less record-breaking and innovative woodies will come out.
Agreed and well said.
I definitely blame RMC, but I also blame enthusiasts who want every woodie RMC'd, even the beloved ones are not safe, and the parks for not taking care of their woodies properly. It's a vicious cycle. While I sound hardcore anti-RMC, which I'm not as I'm obsessed with their ground ups and single rail, they definitely are the catalyst here.
Most of the woodies that have been RMCd were in desperate need of it. Can't hate on them for, like stated in the video, taking a coaster that is losing all the appeal to the GP and making it a top tier attraction
Another pretty big aspect about woodies that's hurting their popularity: maintenance. It's so much more time and money every year to keep a woodie going, especially in good condition. See how much work Holiday World does every year. Meanwhile 10 year old RMCs are still glass smooth with no retracking necessary. That's def attractive to a lot of parks.
Yes but steel coasters are made to last 30 years. Great wood coasters can last forever without repurchasing the coaster again. Maintenance is key and scale is key.
@@jeremy6732 there are plenty of steel coasters approaching their 50s at this point and hanging in there. But let's be real: most parks aren't looking to keep any rides (wood or steel) that long, unless they're bona fide classics. A lot of the RMC conversions are for rides in that 25-35 range. And I think parks will continue to go that route, until all that's left are new Gravity Groups / GCIs and 100 year old John C Allens.
@@jeremy6732 Part of the reason why older steel coasters didn't stick around is due to the technology at the time they were built. Older steel coasters got unbearably rough due to a lack of precision in bending the track. It was all done by eye until computers took that over in the 90s. You'll find steel coasters built today could probably last 50+ years if the park doesn't replace them solely because of land space availability and wanting newer rides.
@@thomasxl200 and the one good Dinn coaster.
I think the only major wood rollercoaster that is/has opening/opened this year would be Leviathan in SeaWorld Australia. It is incredible for what it is, better than the povs, and then the theming is the best of any wooden coaster
I don't think wooden coasters are ever really going to go away, it's just that we're getting into an era where we probably won't see many record breaking ones anymore. Like, they're such a classic and popular ride type, and there's tons of iconic wooden coasters out there that will probably remain preserved for their historical value alone. Like, side-friction coasters are WAY more archaic than woodies, but there's still a handful being kept maintained to this day. Most Woodies also fill a really nice niche that not a lot of other coasters seem to fill as like an intermediate thrill coaster. One that isn't too intense to scare away people who are intimidated by the big looping steel coasters, but also is still fun and exciting enough for more seasoned coaster fans to enjoy.
Woodies largely just havent been designed properly for decades. The old PTC are masterpieces. Gravity Group seems to be making the best ones out there now, but the old designs of Schmeck and Co. From PTC need to be studied and modernized to get some epic new woodies.
5:13 wait, wait hold up, WHEN DID YOU GO TO SILVER DOLLAR CITY? WE NEED A VIDEO ON THIS
I don't think wooden coasters are dead, but I do think the 2nd woodie Renaissance we seen with the rise of GG, GCI, and Intamin (and fake wood coasters like RMC) is over.
So woodie focused manufacturers need to diversify. Making family models, making steel hybrids, and getting into fixing existing coasters (like GG did with the beast).
But we will still get thrill woodies. Just not as often.
I don't think the end of the wooden coaster is near, their expertise just isn't those big groundbreaking extremes. Besides you quite underestimate how many parks don't have wooden coasters, I mean a ton of newer parks in Europe like Djurs Sommerland, Skyline Park, Energylandia, and many others don't even have any wooden coasters. Plus they've been selling like hotcakes in China especially. You might not see many 130ft+ tall wooden coasters but they still fill a lot of roles whether it be as good twister rides, airtime machines, or as all rounder family rides, or just a solid backbone for parks new and old.
I mean again they certainly still have a lot of business value with their lower construction cost than most steel rides, I mean some wooden coasters like Parc Saint Paul's "Wood Express", a 50ft tall woodie by Gravity Group, are insanely cheap, like less than half the price of an equivalently sized steel coaster. I mean compare the price of that, some 3 million euros, to that of Fyr & Flamme, a Gerstlauer kiddie coaster in Norway's Tusenfryd amusement park.
So yeah something tells me there's still gonna be lots of wooden coasters going forward.
I know you just made this whole video just to say the “derailed” joke 😂
You definitely need to ride some more woodies.
There's something sincerely nostalgic and exciting about the wooden coasters at Silverwood. They're themed around Tremors, the movies.
If they do die, parks can install the boomerang clones!
#salutetheboomerang
If you have the means, I recommend carving out time next summer for a KI->Holiday World->SFSTL road trip for a good mix of woodies.
I don't think they're dead, Wicker Man was a huge success and still one of the most popular rides in the park, I do get what you're saying though
Also BPB although it has an abundance steel coasters the woodies are still the biggest queues on average.
strong opinion on vekoma woodies for someone who hasn't ridden any...
I've never heard anyone say they're bad. I mean they're not amazing wooden coasters but they're fine.
Darien lake six flags is getting a titan track next year for their wooden coaster predator. It’s my favorite coaster, period and I love wooden roller coasters, and so do many other people like me. They’re here to stay
0:36 *Almost every park in the US has one. Here in Europe they're not that common at all.
They are quite common
That’s why I thought it was incredibly courageous for SeaWorld on the Gold Coast Australia (one of my 3 home parks) to build a GG woodie, considering none have been built in Australia for almost half a century. And especially given Australian parks’ enthusiasm for performing required maintenance has been somewhat patchy.
And Balder in Liseberg is closed since 2021 for the same reason as Colossos, ty Intamin.
Steel supports are used in places that are very humid, making wooden supports not economically viable. This is why Switchback at ZDT has steel supports instead of wood. It has a higher up front cost but saves on maintenance in the long run. This is kind of a moot point though, the supports have nothing to do with a coaster's classification. Having wooden tracks on steel supports is still 100% a wooden coaster.
Cool vid but no. GCI will be building wooden coasters for a while yet. Gravity Group will keep building their family coasters.
The small wooden coaster still has its small niche market.
The fact that wooden coaster has insanely low friction value compare to steel coaster (due to steel wheel and steel strip track, whereas steel coaster couldn't do that because of vibration). So, wooden coaster could maintaining waay longer maximum speed and length compare to steel one (up to twice of that, which is insane). Espescially with park that has strict height requirement, and surprisingly quite a lot.
Let's be honest, Oscar Wacky Taxy use steel structure but wooden rail, despite they could absolutely use steel coaster for that.
I don't think this take will age very well. It'll probably look good for the next decade or so, but as more and more parks have an RMC there will be less interest in building them. At that point there will likely be a renewed interest in classic woodies. RMC did something that is common in the steel world, but rare in the woodies, they innovated. Steel models tend to have a fad like lifecycle to them. When they first come out everyone wants one. So there is this wave of that specific model being made that eventually dies out. In the case of stand-up coasters it dies out completely, but some models survive such as inverted loopers. That rarely happens with woodies, they are very tried and true technology, change and innovation is much slower. Now that someone figured out an innovation on woodies that same lifecycle is being applied.
Wooden coasters offer some of my favorite ride experiences. My top 5 woodies are 1.) El Toro 2.) Phoenix 3.) Shivering Timbers 4.) Mystic Timbers 5.) Beast. I generally feel that minus beast, the airtime on the four I listed are some of the best I have experienced on any coaster, not just wooden. I wouldn't count out this ride type in the slightest. Kings Island is a park that thrives off its wooden coasters, and the place just wouldn't be the same without them. They added Mystic Timbers when the park was already loaded with wooden track and the public and enthusiasts alike praised it, and todays its still my favorite ride in the park.
I generally agree, though smaller-scale woodies might stick around, these massive behemoths are just too expensive and too hard to maintain. Most new wooden coasters are likely going to be some form of hybrid. Hybrids hold their value long term and there's a lot more flexibility on what you can do with them design-wise.
For large scale thrills, you're right, but wood isn't dead as a whole. I've recently seen a trend here in Europe where small starting theme parks, primarily start focusing on families with small children because they cannot compete with the giants like europa park Phantasialand and Efteling. This means There's less of a need for high, fast and forceful. They just want a nice family ride and just the rattling of wood is already thrilling enough for these kids.
An example is Plopsaland with Heidi the ride. It's a fun small-scale gci and it doesn't offer a lot of forces, which means it's not the complete maintenance hell large scale woodies are. It's within these family focussed small amusement parks where the wooden coaster is here to stay.
Top wooden coasters for me:
1. Mystic Timbers at King’s Island
2/3Ghost Rider at Knotts and Shivering Timbers at Michigan’s Adventure
4. The Beast at King’s Island
5. Bolder Dash at Lake Compounce
I have not ridden any of your top three nor have I been to Holiday World.
WOOOOOOOOOOOOO i love coastoons but i need woodies so stop saying a model will leave!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FRICKING GIGAS FRICKING WOODIES GOD DAM COASTOONS
I went six flags first time summer 2023 and only went on El Toro once and it's the best in the park but it's sad to see iconic wooden coasters die over time
Pretty great woodie is “The Great White” on the wildwood boardwalk in Wildwood NJ. I guess it’s technically a hybrid because the structure is steel, but it’s pretty good ride with no slow sections and it’s even better with the setting, right on the beach. Would love for them to Give it the RMC treatment.
You should make some videos on Silver Dollar City.
Wooden coasters are all over my Top 25, I personally like a great woodie over a great steel coaster all day! But it's different strokes for different folks and most of these parks don't want to pay to keep a ride tracked when they can essentially "set it and forget it" with a steel coaster.
Surprisingly enough, the Vekoma Woodies aren´t even that bad, the most noteworthy thing about them is just how completely average and not noteworthy they are.
World's of fun is going hardcore woodie with Zambezi zinger. That makes 2.5 GCI woods and .5 djinn woodie. One morgan and one B&M. They really need a intamin launch
As a brit we love our wooden coasters both old and new but the only parks that have them (That I know of) are BPB with 5, AT with 1 and LWV with a weird hybrid.
Bro dude the gravity group woodie leviathan at seaworld in Australia literally opens tomorrow. September 3rd 2022!
Upload more :D good comment and thx for helping me getting over my fear on coasters I’ll try to open my eyes the next time I go on one
The future of wooden coasters is likely gentle, graceful layouts that aren’t too intense that they put significant strain on the tracks.
If anything, it's more likely that woodies will just become smaller scale rides. Like parks choosing to make woodies on the scale of InvadR, or even smaller like TGG's family woodies. But even then, I think we'll still see a few large scale GCIs. And The Gravity Group has been pretty vocal that they will continue making wooden coasters and retracking with wood. I think the market for wooden tracked coasters is still massive, and at most we'll just see almost all woodies open with steel support structures instead, just cause the maintenance is much easier. But steel track could never replace the iconic feel of wood track, and I think even non-enthusiasts will flock to new wooden coasters when they open.
Dude you need to get to Holiday World, you won't be bashing wooden coasters after you get off their fantastic collection (seriously find two other rides that compliment each other as well as the Voyage and the Legend do)
There was a time when The Voyage was rough before a retract, even El Toro has gotten rough this year and most likely will be closed down
Nah. GCI woodies are amazing, butter smooth… you’re trippin.
Good opinions, tons of them have been removed from last century, and RMC and GCI steel could fix the remaining ones (when/where appropriate)! The wood structures are still lovely especially when painted white. But this video needs more toons!
I think you are right in that we are going to see less new wooden coaster projects in America but there’s still going to be a good amount overseas as there are plenty of parks that could use or are interested in wooden coasters. There are two GCIs under construction in China and Leviathan at SeaWorld along with Bombay Express are also opening soon.
Also Gravity Group won’t be going to steel for a long time if ever, they recently revealed their preengineered wooden track that is said to be 30 times stronger than their other wooden track which is their answer to RMC and Titan Track. It has been used extensively on Beast and Tonnerre Deux Zeus and has received high praise.
GCI seems to want to use the Titan Track more for maintenance or for certain elements rather than building a full ground up coaster even though they could if they wanted to. Zambezi Zinger was originally designed as a full-on wooden coaster before it was decided to put Titan Track on the spiral lift hill and turnaround which I learned from a recent interview.
Idk ive grown up around wooden coasters my entire life and I absolutely love them. My dad used to design wooden coasters so I some might say I'm a bit brainwashed, but I don't see wooden coasters going anywhere. There are some incredible new wooden coaster that many people love. For instance, Mystic Timbers is an amazing ride.
I think wooden coasters will only die as a material. There is something special about the track and support design that can't be replicated with a traditional steel coaster.
Well, it looks like that we are going to see less wooden roller coasters in America because of that. Hopefully that GCI will still continue making more wooden roller coasters in the world and America!
I wish Intamin or GCI would be bold enough to make a hyper woodie. I'll probably get a some hate for this but the world NEEDS a modern version of Son of Beast.
Having the world's tallest, longest, & fastest wooden coaster would be incredibly marketable & unique.
Something likebVoyage, SOB, & Wood Cosster at Knight Valley China would be incredible.
Great vid as always❤. Can u do an Australian coasters vid?
Thankfully Alabama hates progressing in anything so I can still “enjoy” the single cci we have in this state
Alabama splash park adventure if your interested
Hey now I thought Rampage was pretty good. I have it ranked behind Legend but ahead of Raven
@@AdamSmith-gs2dv it is, I was more complaining that it’s the only one. We love what we have!
finally another coastoons vid i rewatched all ur vids lol
I forgot what video you said it in but you said you went to another really big park over the summer and would make a ultimate review of it like when you did for cedar point and now we know that it’s silver dollar city. Hope you make that video soon and it’s great to see you upload again
yeah I'll make another ultimate review type video but it won't be for a while because of school starting again
Wickerman is doing a good job at standing out as a wooden rollercoaster
Rides like the Beast at KI are what give me hope that manufacturers will realize that woodies can be good and even better than a lot of steel coasters if done correctly. They are the perfect coaster for anyone of all ages so I am hopeful that woodies will not be going away anytime soon.
If you want a video idea, how about a hagrid review, it would be great to get an enthusiasts full opinion on it
I don’t see wooden coasters being completely dead as I think parks can still market a wooden family coaster so if they really want one that’d be the best bet for them probably.
“Derailed” 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Well actually here in aus we are finally getting a new wooden coaster in decades at seaworld in Queensland. Not saying it would be be anything great but I have always wanted to ride a wooden coaster.
I just started liking wooden coasters. I can’t believe these are going away..
honestly this is a Very good point and might happen but it is pretty sad that this could happen
I love how ALL OF A SUDDEN he has been to silverdoller
mom a coastoon videos just got uploaded
voyage was pretty rough when i road it this year but it was amazing and is well worth the trip but i couldnt ride it anymore after 6 rides throughout the day. but i could have road the legend all day. voyage is still my fav woodie tho id hate to see them go away but i think they will remain as a time capsule for us.
El toro is a major coaster but may be closed for maintenance reasons and costing too much, and rmc made all of their steel coasters, BECAUSE the coasters cost too much and need too much maintenance, tbh I dont see this happening but perhaps el toro wouldn’t have to go if RMC came along
GCI and gravity group will prove otherwise. Innovation of woodie coasters is dead but, the desire of woodies is still alive and well.
Now I'm kind of curious to see what everyone's top 3 woodies are. Mine are:
3. Tonnere 2 Zeus (Parc Asterix)
2. Colossus (Heide Park)
1. El Toro
(Please reply with your list or else this will be very akward)
1. Voyage 2.Mystic timbers 3. Viper SFGA
5.) Cyclops
4.) Tremors
3.) Mine Blower
2.) Classic Coaster
2.) GhostRider
Gravity Group has it's own prefabricated track that has shown a lot of success. Wood shall not be killed
This is really depressing I like wooden coasters
POV a new coastline video come out 🎉🎉
I was just watching coastoons and then he. Uploads
3:42 Robin Hood wasn't bad at all, Untamed is just 500 times better 😂
You need to try the Beast. Been to a couple dozen parks, no steel will come close
Lightning rod, although unreliable, is one of the best coasters in the world.
Let’s give thanks to gci’s first wooden coaster, but wildcat honsestly wasn’t that good, and Ty rmc, for saving wildcat, and making it the best coaster in Hershey, but comet and lightn8ng racer isn’t going anywhere
when’s that park review coming out?(sdc probably)
not for a while
@@Coastoons okay
Hey coastoons, do you know when you are able to ride iron gwazi?
Now that’s this video is out RMC just introduced a new retrack model lol
Long live the Coney Island Cyclone!
I absolutely love your channel.
Love the future beat I appreciate
noooOoooOo I love wooden coasters!!
You should go to Kennywood thay have a lot of good wooden coasters and the Phantom.
me when coastoons upload: 😎😎😎😎😎😎😯😯😯😯😯😯
Can’t wait to see the silver dollar city review 😐
prolly won't be for a while
Make a video talking about every islands of adventure ride
also gravity group will likely not go for metal track. based on posts they make and what not i think they would rather go bankrupt honestly
i love wooden coasters 😭😭😭😭😭