Steel Force, Magnum, Wild Thing, Mamba question

Well I haven't ridden SF or WT, but I HAVE ridden Mamba & Magnum. The first time I rode Magnum I thought the ride was kind of fun (Raptor was the REAL find back then...it was in 97) . But ever since Mamba opened, i've LOVED it! In my opinion Mamba is FAR better then Magnum! Especially since my last ride on Magnum. It's become VERY rough! Not an element I look for in a steel coaster!
There are a number ef elements that Mamba has, that really make this ride a must! The second hill is awesome! The helix ... there is NO WAY you can get off Mamba and NOT like the helix! You see the track twists down and UNDER itself. Creating the BEST set of headchoppers anywhere! The last thing actually comes from something the Mamba doesn't have! There are no tunnels on Mamba. This is a great thing because there is NOTHING to distract you from the feeling of SPEED that Mamba gives you! I actually got a greater feeling of speed (as well as g-forces) from Mamba then MF (got "assigned" a middle seat-NO chance of a front seat) at CP!
I believe Sparky has ridden SF & Mamba and (if I remember correctly) he likes Mamba more as well.
One thing that makes summer a good time is that Mamba likes the heat. It actually runs faster in the heat then in the cold (TW's best time)! Unfortunatly the trims tend to be a little stronger then.
Anyway, if you're going in the summer let me know when! Maybe we can meet! Our plans to vacation in the PA area have been moved back to August. Not sure of the date yet.

Coaster Nut

P.S. I've got some OLD construction pics of Mamba's helix. Would you like me to e-mail one to you?

I cant say first hand but my cousin tells me that wild thang is fun pretty much all the way through except the second hill is kinda boring.

Rock

When I first rode Steel Force back at Coaster Madness in 1997, I was blown away. It was "the" perfect steel coaster in my mind- not too intense, not too mild, and with perfectly designed bunny hills.

Since then and now, I have ridden all of America's Morgan coasters and Magnum. Since these are the coasters you referred to in your post, I won't bring other hypers into this discussion.

While Magnum did not impress me at first (how any coaster with that much hype could I don't know), it grew on me, eventually becoming a top tier steel in my listings, and rising above any Morgan coaster.

Morgan hypers (which also include the baby hyper "Steel Eel" at San Antonio's Sea World which you did not mention) all deliver similar experiences, despite the fact they were all custom designed for their site. Characteristics that come to mind when I think of Morgan hypers are: smoothness; comfortable, but awkward trains; predictable airtime; and unfortunatly ride ruining trim brakes.

Wild Thing and Steel Eel suffer more than Steel Force and Mamba in the trim brake dept, but they all suffer to some extent.

Mamba and Steel Force are of similar designs, both getting trimmed at the mid course block brake prior to the bunny hill return to the station.

Wild Thing suffers from an overly dull layout that is excessivly trimmed at the block brake to the point that the train barely makes it back to the station.

Steel Eel was easily the best Morgan hyper before its pointless mid course trim was installed. The Eel is a two train coaster, meaning a mid course trim is not needed in the first place. Back in March of 1999 when I first rode the Eel, I was blown away- it truely blew away nearly every other hyper out there (note this was pre Intamin/B&M hyper as SROS at SFDL and both Apollo/Bull had yet to open). For no apparent reason, Sea World not only installed a trim, but a trim that virtually halts the train to a dead stop before it happily rolls down the banked drop and into the bunny hill finale. Without that trim, slammer air was the rule.

Now on Magnum, I do not credit Arrow for much of its success, as many of the things I love about Magnum are results of poor engineering. Unlike many, I love the abrubt roughness and sudden/brief air on the bunny hill return. Add in the magnificent location (again, nothing that Arrow can claim credit for) with Lake Erie acting as a prop on the second drop and you have a truely memorable and legendary coaster.

Outside of Raging Bull, I do not feel that any of the Morgan hypers in America or Magnum can touch any of the three SROS hypers or Apollo/Nitro. Funny that Intamin's only less than perfect hyper was built in the same park as Magnum, making that "favorite ride in the park" title so difficult for me to decide on.

Bottom line is this- as for the Morgan hypers in America, none of them are my favorite ride in their respective park:

-Excalibur (VF)
-Talon (DP)
-Timber Wolf (WoF)
-Great White (SWoT)

-sparky

Hi Coasternut,

The turn around helix on Steel Force is a highlight second only to the great negative G's you get on the camelbacks on the way back in. I can't wait to ride Mamba.

> P.S. I've got some OLD construction pics of
> Mamba's helix. Would you like me to e-mail one to
> you?

Great, send to dalecaskey@earthlink.net. I will let you know when we'll be coming to WoF, probably in early June. I'm sure I'll have plenty of WoF and KC area questions for you between time. Kind of looking at going to the Truman home and Frontier Trails museum in Independence. Will only have a couple of days in KC so time to do things other than WoF will be quite limited.

Thanks for the pics
DAC

I've rode Steel Force,Phantom's Revenge and Magnum. PR is one of my favorite coasters and Steel Force is good but I rode PR 2 days before I rode Steel Force so that my have cause my opion to be less than Great. Magnum is decent but it's kinda rough but it has one of best view/setting for a coaster.

Magnum is the roughest,wildest and most untamed of the three. Of course, it's best from 1-3 IMHO. The butterfly turn-around is still my favorite of the three (even though my last ride was with wide-open trims and I smacked the person next to me in the head--danged Arrow bends!)

Wild Thing was Morgan's test dummy...they tried a few elements that were later abandoned. Hill #2 is essentially a 110-foot bunny hop. Sounds good? Maybe...unless you're stapled or have a gut. If you're aren't, pick your feet up off the floor and try to enjoy it.

WT's turn maneuver is way, way, way too long and the midcourse brake run is much closer to the return run's first drop than SF or Mamba. Translation: You're more likely to notice tight brakes on WT than its Morgan brethen. Last season, braking was incredibly inconsistent--a step up from the prior two seasons (consistently bad). When the brakes are loose, it's within a nose hair of the rest of them. Best bet for loose brakes are Harvest weekends in September.

Steel Force has a tunnel on the drop (nice touch) and a turnaround helix that delivers good Gs--not wild Gs, but good nonetheless. I caught it on a bad day (9/9/01) brake-wise and actually found myself wishing I was at VF for the return run.

I have to agree with sparky that none of these hypers are my favorite ride at the park...

- WT comes behind High Roller (unbelted) and Excalibur
- Magnum comes behind MF, Raptor and Mantis
- SF comes in behind Talon and Laser

-'Playa

IMO, Mamba is better than Steel Force, I really liked Mamba, tons of air, and kinda a tuned up Steel Force if you ask me. Magnum's my favorite of the bunch though, if that helps at all. Steel Force isn't far behind Mamba IMO, and really, to tell the truth, I've never been all that impressed with Wild Thing, first drop's great, but the brakes really hurt the ride.

I have ridden only Wild Thing. I will say the brakes really do hurt the ride though. But the thing that makes it underrated in my opinion is that the first hill has SO MUCH floater airtime and the hills on the way back to the station give more airtime (as do Mamba and Steel Force) But Wild Thing has a tunnel at the end that give a slightly better thrill experience than Mamba(since mamba doesn't have a tunnel) And I will admit, Wild Thing's first turn around can be underwelming, but the view of Steel Venom, North Star, and many more rides is nice, it's even better at night with the lights. The helix following that actually gives some force and is a lot more fun because it's low to the ground. the mid-course kills the ride but the airtime after is awesome. I can actually appreciate Wild Thing's layout more because it's different than Mamba and Steel Force since those two have very similar layouts and the same color scheme. Wild Thing's layout isn't anything special, but the fact that it's a little different makes it underrated. And for the original Morgan Hyper, I love it. but it's not my favorite in the park (#1 Renegade)

I have ridden all four plus Steel Eel, a shorter type made by Morgan who made Steel, Wild, and Mamba. SF and Mamba are the same type of coaster and are almost the same height and length. If you were able to ride them both in the same day, I can't see any serious reason to make that trip. Wild Thing is tamed down by having a slower banked turning hill and fewer airtime "bunny" hills. I don't like Magnum has much because it's rough as you turn around to go back and its smaller hills try to throw you into your legs which causes pain. If all were in the same area, I would go to Dorney Park for Steel Force.

I pray you get the chance to use your passes in Michigan and Ohio. These amusement parks always seem to be in precarious financial situations as it is. I don’t know how Cedar Point gets its workforce in place in current pandemic climate. Those people usually rent accommodations nearby as opposed to being staffed by locals.

I was also a fan of Steel Force at Kennywood. Steel Force made a top ten list along with Thunderbolt. This was before Steel Force was reconstructed with the loops taken out. When I rode, I painfully remember discovering a wee hernia which burned like the devil when my train turned upwards after the first drop. Worth it however and did not prevent additional rides.

^The one at Kennywood before it had the loops taken out was Steel PHANTOM. That was made by the company that made Magnum. The company that made these others from scratch was in charge of turning Steel Phantom into Phantom Revenge. As it is now, it runs quite a bit different from these others.

How would you rank these coasters from 1 being the worst and so on as the roughest shakiest painful and most unbearable coasters ever?

Hercules Dorney park
Son of beast
Hurler Carowinds
Hurler Kings dominion
The villain geauga lake
Raging wolf bobs geauga lake
Grizzly kings dominion
Shockwave kings dominion
King cobra kings island
Vortex kings island
The beast
American Eagle
The demon
Mind eraser Darien lake
Mind eraser six flags America
Category 5 hurricane myrtle beach
Georgia cyclone
Coney Island cyclone
Psyclone six flags magic mountain
Batman the escape AstroWorld
Texas cyclone AstroWorld
Viper six flags great adventure
Rolling thunder
Great American screAm machine six flags Georgia
Great American scream machine great adventure
Shockwave six flags great America
Flashback six flags magic mountain
Big apple coaster
Windjammers
Original Texas giant
Original rattler
Drachen fire