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Why do people moan about rough rides?

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I dont get this i have been on around maybe 50 coasters i dont really keep count but i have only found 1 ride to be a bit to rough for me which was the missle at american adventure. I have never found a ride since then rough at all maybe its my build as i am around 6ft2in i have been on a lot of rides that people say are rough and have no problems. I also love wooden rides that throw you around. In fact i think a ride that is bumpy adds to the experince. Maybe its the younger people that find rides rough as they move around in the restraints more??? I just look through theme park forums and cant beleve the amount people that moan about rough rides.
 
Because they hurt?

There's often a limit to the amount people prefer to get thrown around on a ride and there are just some rides that are over everyone's limit (I'm looking at YOU Mean Streak)...

No-one likes to be in pain, and if there's a lot of headbashing, stomach-smashing, knee-grinding, etc going on in one ride then of course it will be lambasted by riders...
 
Yeah, there's a difference between being thrown about, and actually being hurt. When I'm being repeatedly smacked in the head or other wise assaulted, *looks at Saw*, it's no fun.

SOMETIMES, it can add to it, but, the ride has to be something pretty special for a bit of brutality to add to it *strokes X2 and Ultimate*

That's not to say everything should be GLASS smooth, but, hurt makes me have a sad.
 
^Exactly. There is a difference between suck and enjoyment. You also have to remember that different people have different tolerances. What is rough for one may be pure pleasure to another.
 
Oh the ennuendo in talking about rough rides never gets old... :P

I find the more I ride the more my opinion of what is really rough changes. After riding stuff like Goudrix and Ghostrider (I know some people have had great rides on it...) my tolerance has changed a lot because they are so beyond just being rough. A bit of bouncing around isn't a bad thing. When you get off and it feels like your spinal column has actually been shoved in upwards fashion through the top of your skull that is beyond a bit of fun bouncing around. If a ride is that rough that you come off feeling like that I think the person is fully entitled to be moaning... (or groaning with the migraine beating agony I was feeling)

I used to think that Grand National was quite rough for instance. In comparison to that of Ghost Rider though, the nash is a dream!

Then, as Snoo mentioned, you need to take into account each personal preference. I tend to find Rita painful for instance, probably because of where the restraints snag on my neck, but I know others have never had a problem on it.

So really, it is all relative to what experience of rough rides you have been on, what size you are etc...
 
I found the Grand National bumpy on the turn arounds but i thought that was kinda cool, i do boxing so maybe as i am used to getting a few wacks around the head i dont feel it so much. I never found saw rough but when i went on the missile (boomerang) i was about 13 and my head was just the right hight to wack over and over on the restraints although it hurt i went on it five times by the end my ear was in utter pain lol the bizzare thing was i was actualy wondering why i had a head ache on the way home it must have bashed some of my brains out, although i always loved a bit rough :wink: :wink:
 
I don't know, I've only experienced pain on PMBO last time I went on it, because the bar was too tight, other than that, no pain.
 
I haven't experienced the back-pain/broken spine etc. thing on any coaster (yet)...not on Mean Streak, not on Ghostrider...and Vekoma's just give you a headache.

...But this doesn't mean the coaster is good. If it's unenjoyable, in any way, you should have the right to complain about it without coming off as whiney.
 
There are different types of rough and I only complain when I'm actually hurting afterwards.

Fun rough- Hurler, Grizzly- the roughness adds to the fun on these rides because they're just throwing you around uncontrollably but not to the point that it's painful.

Steel rough- Anaconda, Flight of Fear- I've yet to ride a rough steel coaster that I absolutely couldn't stand and as you can probably guess I love Anaconda to death.

Get me the f*** off rough- Thunderhawk (Dorney), Hypersonic- these are the only two rides that I hate so much that I wouldn't ever get on again. Thunderhawk left me with 12 bruises.

Only after the last type of rough will I complain. Also when talking to GP or friends that don't understand what I'm talking about I'll say "Yes that is rough." instead of going into detail.
 
My opinion on this matter is not disimilar from UC's, in that I don't want to pay to go to a theme park to be attacked viciously by one of their "attractions".

However, I do feel that we (as enthusiasts) tend to go overboard when slating a coaster. It comes across as if the coaster is not smooth as glass, then we moan about it. This is unfair and makes us look bad if we're honest.

"So and so is rough as hell because my head makes contact with the restraint at X, Y and Z" or "OMG that ride is pure death because I could feel I was actually riding a spine of metal" really makes me despair - but each to their own.

Personally, as long as a coaster doesn't make me feel like I've done 10 rounds with Mike Tyson, I'm happy. If you want comfort, stay in your bubble. ;)
 
Roughness is usually a bad thing, and if it is excessive on a ride, then I probably won't like the ride (see Gwazi). A little bit of roughness on a ride can be tolerated, as long as it doesn't detract from actually enjoying the ride. Nemesis and Rita are examples of rides that are quite rough, but since it's not in excess and the rides are good rides, I can still enjoy them a lot.

However, two of my favourite rides do not follow this trend. The Ultimate and Wild Mouse (Blackpool) are horribly rough but somehow this makes them better. I think it's the element of control. Since the layouts of these rides give an impression of lack of control, somehow that makes the roughness another characteristic of that. I think controlled roughness just feels as though it's unnecessary, whereas the wild uncontrolled feeling adds to the adrenaline.
 
I do feel as some people also have stated. Usually, I don't care if it's rough, as long as it doesn't take the enjoyment of the ride, a little roughness may be tolerated. But roughness can sometimes give me the "out of control" feeling. Which I do like on coasters, as long as it's not painful out of control.
 
^ Oh, for those halcyon days of backwards Rebel Yell. I really don't know why they decided to ruin a good thing.

I just got back from Kings Dominion and after getting a few rides on Intimidator 305, I'm pretty sure I've found my new #1 coaster. I absolutely love that ride and wouldn't change a thing about it. Why did it unseat my previous #1, Millennium Force? Because it packs a serious punch, as in: heavy positive G's, great ejector negative G's, lateral G's on the sharp transitions... it throws you all over the place. So even though it's steel, smooth, and brand new, I would still call it rough. To wit: there's even a little bit of neck-chopping on a few transitions if you let them catch you by surprise.

So the point of all this is: rough is, to me, a loosely defined term when it comes to coasters. Hurler (to use another example from KD) is rough because it rattles all your bones & compresses your spine about 8 inches. Not enjoyable. I305 is rough in a more 'extreme' way... sharp left-to-right and up-and-down transitions, so it beats you up but it's smooth enough so that you don't feel straight-up abused. In this case, it sets the ride on a new level of thrill that just isn't replicated by anything else I've experienced.
 
^Personally, I wouldn't call what you've described with I305 as "rough". With those transitions being taken at that speed, you're bound to be thrown around a bit; it's part of the design of the ride. It's basically the same as why I won't call the first turn on RITA "rough". Yes, there's that neck-chopping for a lot of people, myself included, but your body is bound to move like that given the speed and sudden change in direction. A restraint issue isn't a reason to label something as "rough" in my opinion.


Rough for me means headbanging, which comes from poorly-thought-out transitions, crappy wheel assemblies, poor maintenance or a combination of the three. Yes, the restraint comes into play, but it's the problems with the train and track that cause those sudden, unexpected, unplanned smacks to the side of the head.

Prime examples for me would be French Revolution, Space 2000, or Space Mountain:Mission 2, all of which are on the verge of causing sub-dural haematomas because of crappy design or maintenance issues. I think I've got a high "roughness" tollerance, but in those kinds of cases, when I'm caused physical pain and there's been very little enjoyment in the process, then yeah, I'll bitch about it.
 
ahh yes - I hate Space mountain m2 too - didn't seem overly rough when riding, buyt I think the slowness of it makes you feel pretty urgh!

I tend to be ok on rough coasters - I rather liked gwazi, and stampida was certainly fun, along with ultimate. I didn't mind jubilee odyssee, and infusion is certainly worth a spin, as is wipeout at pleasurewood.

only one's I'd seriously consider whether to ride or not are mission 2, furius baco and bandit (movie park) - although i'd probably do them once in a visit
 
I think the biggest issue is the shear number of coasters "enthusiasts" ride, and the number of re-rides we will have during a year.

For the majority of guests, they maybe visit a park once or twice a year at the most. From those visits, they'll tend to spend more time "faffing" or soaking up the atmosphere. It's a treat so they go to enjoy it.

If you ride one rough coaster a year, you tend to forget how rough it is. Your excitement level of riding a coaster out-weighs the pain it gives. That doesn't mean people don't notice roughness, it just means considerably less to them.

As an enthusiast, by the time your spine has been hammered out through your skull for the seventh time in three weeks due to a succession of rough woodies and SLCs, you tolerance drops. You are getting less from a ride (particularly if the ride is pretty mediocre), but you're feeling the pain more. The pleasure/pain balance tips the other way from an infrequent rider.

I don't ride Rita often because it hurts me. Yet I'll usually ride once or twice a season. Yep, I'll complain about the pain, but I also enjoy the ride. If I rode it every time I visited Alton, I'd just associate it completely with pain and very little pleasure.

There are some exceptions... Baco I have no desire to ever ride again due to the serious amount of pain it caused me. For the most part though, again, I'm riding a lot of coasters, so more on the look out for the pain issues but getting little "thrill".

It's just simply because we're completely immersed in the hobby it affects us more. Of course, some people don't mind getting beaten up - we all have different pain thresholds after all... :)
 
This is a good example on another forum i saw a post that said he thought the roller coaster at blackpool was painfull because of the last bend, i mean that is one smooth wooden coaster and the last bend is great with the new train when there not running the break. I mean how on earth can you find that ride painfull???? the guy most have the pain fresh hold of a 2 year old.
 
I honestly think most people that complain about a ride being rough are over reacting. (Notice how I said most) With lateral g's going on you honestly can't expect your head to not touch the restraint. :roll: Yes, there are some rides that are genuinely rough, (i.e. Hurler, various Vekoma anything with an OTSR) but just because you hit your head does not mean a ride should be decommissioned...its bound to happen.
 
I've been on a fair few woodies (including Ghostrider and Mean Streak) and think that The Ultimate is far rougher than any of them, and I love it.

I love the idea of genuine danger in a ride, and the closest you get to that is when a ride is extremely rough (unless you want to go in that stupid human trebuchet thing, but I'd rather not die). It's just one of those things where more pain means more enjoyment, to me anyway.

However, I think the reason people might not like this is fairly obvious, it's rough, it's uncomfortable. People don't tend to enjoy experiences that include pain or discomfort, especially when it's out of their control.
 
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