| June 20th, 2006- Nitro1118 conquers El Toro...#1?
Pre-El Toro:
Arrived at park at 9:50, got dad in with bring a friend free coupon, and as we were walking to fountain rope drops and everyone is off. I RUN through middle of park and arcade, and 3rd person at El Toro! Let me just say this was my first time in PDC, and it looks fantastic. Very nice theming, clean, good atmosphere, and love the beast hovering over it. When I get to entrance, what am I greeted with? "El Toro won't be open for a few hours..." *****! Ok, so we run over to KK. IT isn't opened yet, but queue opens at 10:15. 2nd train with people's horn goes off, but brake fins go up, which means breakdown. They let us into station, and we wait for 3rd row on I believe GAK. We were gonna be on 3rd ride. They reset ride, blah blah blah, and it is back up and running. At 11, we are on. This was my first ever pulse launch, and it wasn't very good. Loses tons of intesnity. Anyway, we walk into PDC, and ther eis a line forming for Toro. I didn't see it test, so I thoguht that would be pointless. Asked police guy, he said earliest would be 12. So we walk to Medusa, and ther eis absolutely no one in station. Waited an unecassary 10 minutes for front row, despite 2 train operation and only 2 trains in front of us. These are by far the worst ride op's in park. Anyway, while going up lift hill, something catches my eye.....Toro climbing lift hill with people, and it's only 11:40!! So, after out great front row ride, we run to Toro, and go into the entrance.....
El Toro- The queue:
Queue started right between first and 2nd set of switchbacks. 10min later it would be out of entrance. The queue for the ride is nice. It has a beach feel to it, with sand, those posters on fence, and of course the ride going right over the queue. The queue is basically 2 switchbacks, and at the end of the 2nd they stop you, and let about a trainload into the station at a time as station is fairly small width wise. It gets HOT in the queue as ther eisn't much shading and no misters. Anyway, while waiting there was a DJ playing decent music, and there was the SF party patrol, which were pretty funny and entertaining. After about 45min wait, we were going up the stairs to the station. The station is MUCH nicer than when it was Viper's station. It is VERY long and cleaned up from its past, along with fans that really cool you down. We went to 2nd to last row, and waited a train to get on....
El Toro- The Ride....Ole!
After an hour wait in total, we were finally on the ride. The trains themselves are very nicely detailed, with the bull head on front car, and some nice touches to sides of trains. The wings themselves aren't as bad as I thought, and are between shoulder/elbow. It is more of an armrest then anything else. The lap bars are different than the T-bars....a little bulkier, and fit much better to your body....it fit perfectly with hips/thighs. Anyway, i buckle seatbelt, move up in seat an inch, they staple me with lap bar (not as bad as people say, though), then i move back the inch so I got a tiny bit of space and am comfy. All clear, and we make the 180 degree left turn out of the station. The cars in front of us start to rise upward, and soon we do, too. Click....click....BAM! Once back car is on incline, the train rises upward SO fast!!! It felt much faster than MF's lift. When we were at bottom of lift, Medusa was at middle of lift. When we were at top, the Medusa train was just dropping! Once we get up to top, we make the 180 degree left turn into what is, IMO, the 2nd best drop in the world. Hands up! The first quarter of it is floater, and then it just throws you out of your seat, even if you are stapled. It is pure insanity, and just a taste of things to come. The pullout is very intense with a nice headchopper. We then ride upwards yet again into the first camelback. I cannot speak for front rows, but in back row the pullin to the apex of the camelback is on the line of floater and ejector, while the pullout of the apex is INSANE ejector airtime!! You are literally tossed out of your seat for a good 5-6 seconds throughout the whole hill. Next hill is exactly the same, and for a reference of how good it is think S:RoS at SFNE's 3rd camelback, but even more sutained and at bigger height. And at bottom of the hill are even more great headchoppers. Next up is the turnaround. I was sitting on right side, so the railings and catwalk were both sort of head/side choppers, and very cool effect. The turnaround is extremely fast, very smooth, and the positive and lateral G's are fantastic. Next up is a tall, curving hill into straight drop, which is also fairly intense with some great floater airtime on drop portion. Next up is the small bunny hop, which also gives great floater airtime. The 2nd half of the bunny hop is engulfed in heachoppers. Next is a sharp left hand turn, which throws you to side of trains, and with an insanely close heachopper midway through it. Next is the infamous hill over RT. The airtime on this is insane, and one of best airtime moments I have ever experienced in terms of intensity. The pulout of the hill is interesting, as it is sharp and with the airtime makes you sort of pushed forward. Next is the twister section, which is FULL of heavy lats and positive G's. I can't even really remember it, it was just a blur. Next is the first S-curve, which gives some borderline ejctor in back seat, and 2nd which is gentle, then brakes....
El Toro- The review:
For the 1st time since....well, first time in a LONG time, I said "WOW....just wow!" after this ride. For the first time in a LONG time I was blown away by a coaster. It is now sitting in my #1 spot as my favorite coaster, edging out the amazing S:RoS at SFNE, and totally distancing itself from MF and Boulder Dash. While S:RoS has 6 moments of fantastic airtime, El Toro has 4 spots that are better than S:RoS' single best moment (the 3rd camelback). The airtime moments are just amazing. I found the trains to be way more comfy, yet more secure, than MF's and S:RoS', and I like them generally as much as PTC trains. The layout itself is just fantastic, the ride N-E-V-E-R loses speed or intensity. Whenever it is not throwing you out of your seat for 5-6 seconds at a time, the forces of the ride are pushing you down into the seat, and in almost every section of ride there are headchoppers that add to excitement moreso than tunnels do. And for those saying Toro is a "short ride"- I thought it was a little short too from the POV, but when you are on ride it doesn't feel short at ALL. It has every type of force you could want and is most thrilling coaster I have ever ridden for a ride over 20 seconds. It's spice is that it is non-stop intensity, and dragging it out would make it lose some of that experience. To those of you who say it's not a true wooden coaster- You guys have to ride it before deciding this. It is very smooth, but not same smooth as an Intamin mega. It is like Lightning Racer smooth. Because it rides differently on tracks than Intamin megas, it has a little shake to it, but glass smooth. Hard to explain. It uses its wooden structure to its fullest advantage, with headchoppers everywhere. It also has the intensity and out of controlness of a wooden coaster, despite riding very smoothly and no PTC trains. I was buying the it is a steel coastera rguement until I saw it and hear dit making WOODEN coaster noises and when i rode it and felt, for the most part, like a smooth WOODEN coaster. Overall, El Toro is one helluva coaster, and my new #1. It is just intensity personofied, and uses its wooden makeup to fullest advantage.
GADV, post-Toro:
After my stunning ride, I headed to other side of park. Went into Nitro's queue, expecting a huge line since it was around 1:15, but there was no one there. We waited around 10min for a back row ride....despite riding El Toro right before it, it still was great, and airtime it gives is always fun. We then were tired from heat and left park around 1:45. Overall, great day, and riding KK and Toro in under 3 hours was awesome!
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Top 5 coasters: El Toro, S:RoS at SFNE, The Voyage, Millennium Force, Cornball Express
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