Intamin Pre-fabricated Coasters: Smooth Wood, or Disguised Steel?

[Jake]

This is a debate that has been going on ever since the debut of El Toro. Since then, Voyage and El Toro fanatics everywhere have been debating on the better coaster. And this is an argument that comes up somewhere in the midst of the discussion.. "Oh yeah! Well... El Toro isn't even real wood!!!!!!!"

So how do you feel about the Intamin pre-fabricated coasters? Is the wood as real as the Voyages'? Or is it practically steel with the way in which it is 'created'?

[Thrill Reconnoiter]

Intamin Prefab is made by laminating sheets of wood together....or layering them together with a glue-like resin and letting the unit sit in a vice for an extended period of time to harden. A mill is introduced to cut the desired shape from the laminated stack. Steel tracking or "skids" accompany this.

We were told if you stand at the bottom of Colossos' drop, you would not see the track flex. In my mind, and reality, it still is wooden track...it's just kind of inventively "cheating" their way [construction] from on-site track work.

EDIT: Thought I'd mention, the strength of this type of track gives the ability for the train to ride the up-stops, without any major longterm maintenance issues. This is where the notorious prefab airtime comes from.

[jolash]

Of course it's real wood, there's no denying that. But the roughness of a wooden coaster is one of the major defining features of a the ride though. Taking that out just doesn't seem right. It'd be like a standard B&M invert, with no inversions. Some thing's just missing.

The big question is, if choosing to go with this ride style, why not just go with a steel coaster then?

[rollercoasterfreek]

I want to go on Voyage but I probably can picture it is more disguised steel since it can be a "hybrid." I assume it's more of a steel ride from the looks of it.

[Matt]

Its real wood, and its a great way to have a wooden coaster without all the head-aches of maintaining a real wooden coaster. Although when properly maintaining a real wooden coaster, it can easily rival the smoothness of some steal coasters.

"You're never done building a wooden rollercoaster" is such a true statement.

[Michael]

These coasters aren't steel, by far. The Voyage is an incredble coaster, and has the feeling and heart of a wooden coaster.

But El Torro... different story. It's sort of a stretching the truth to call this beast a true woodie, because the ride style, intensity, and speed is more that of a Giga made out of Wood, seriously, just think about it... :rolleyes: I respect it as a coaster, an amazingly good one at that. But I would not dare call it a true woodie... There just isn't that "spirit" to it, no heart, just hardcore thrills...

[Jake]

The big question is, if choosing to go with this ride style, why not just go with a steel coaster then?

Good point, however if we step into the GP's shoes for a moment...

"Lets go ride Nitro!"

"No way man, it's huuuuuge, and look at all the loooops!!!" (bear with me)

"Man, your right! How about El Toro?"

"Yeah! Its wood so it no have dem loops!!!"

I think that most GP (including me at that stage of my life) find wooden roller coasters much less intimidating than steel coasters. So, the benefit of a pre-fabricated coaster is to have all the butter smooth of a steel, but still have it appeal to a wider audience.

[sirloin]

Again, Jake for the win. Another interesting take on the subject. Granted, sometimes steel coasters have the advantage in that pretty much everyone regards wooden coasters as rough, but they often carry the appeal of being geared towards a wider audience than the high-end steelies that so heavily populate SFGAdv.

[Tom]

I have not ridden either, but I will say how I feel about them. Voyage as a "Hybrid" and El Toro as a Pre-Fab makes them both not true wooden coasters in my eyes. When I think wooden coaster, I think lets get the snot kicked out of you, rough ride, amazingly fun, and well unpredictable. Then I look at both of these and if I have to decide which one is more wooden, I choose Voyage. The layout is more wooden than El Toro, which is basically, as Intamin-Mike said, a giga coaster with wood that is made to look less intimidating. Would I love to ride both? You bet. Which would I prefer to ride? Voyage as it seems like more of a wooden coaster than El Toro.

[Mike T]

This is where I say "Screw El Toro, Sandor Kernacs is an attraction in himself!"...

Seriously, that man is so interesting, and I learned a great deal of information about Pre-Fabricated design from speaking to him. I like the fact that Pre Fabricated wooden coasters now allow us to go above and beyond the conceivable point of imagination with what wooden coasters can do. If you take a look at the structure of one of these rides, you will note that not only are they large, but they are surprisingly smooth, yet they maintain radical layouts and configurations that have yet to be seen done by any other wooden coaster company on the market. Kernacs told me that his rides' structural integrities are up to 12 times stronger than the competitor's product. Not only is this beneficial for the park because the maintenance of one of these rides is comparable to that of a steel coaster, but it frees up room for designers and product buyers to be innovative with what they design. Take good note that El Toro has a 76 degree first drop, and the fact that the height differential between the first and second hill is a whopping 69 feet (181' hill to a 112' hill). There isn't much that can be said that isn't a positive feature of this particular model of roller coaster. It may be a bit expensive from the get go, but when you factor in the overall investment, it seems as if it is on par with something that you can buy from the Gravity Group.

Overall I think Pre Fabricated wooden roller coasters are a step towards the future. Instead of things like Flying roller coasters, or Stand up roller coasters, or even Diving roller coasters, Intamin took a classic design and improved it, to the point where the technology allows for radical ride movements and formations.

[Exceller]

By Mike T
Overall I think Pre Fabricated wooden roller coasters are a step towards the future.

This sentence really caught my eye more than any other one. I think it is amamzing that wooden coasters can do what they are doing now. But where is the stopping point? It makes you think of maybe a 6 inversion wooden roller coaster.

I think we are finally at a fork in the road. Where do we go next? What would the coaster industry be without wooden coasters? Some of the best woodies I have been on are classics. I have not been on very many woodens, but I find classic coasters to be immensely fun.

I have not ridden either of these coasters and are fine with the idea, but where will it go? 76* on a wooden coaster is a bit to steep in my opinion. Same with the 90* banking you see on wooden coasters. What ever happened to a simple, out and back layout? Are they not "cool" enough anymore? I understand that these coasters are supposed to offer a glass soomth ride, but that takes away what a wooden coaster is meant to be. A good ride with the GP is key. Great, a good new ride to go on. I understand that wooden coasters are less intimidating to some, but since when was a 76* drop not intimidating?

[MaverickManJZ]

Good point, however if we step into the GP's shoes for a moment...

"Lets go ride Nitro!"

"No way man, it's huuuuuge, and look at all the loooops!!!" (bear with me)

"Man, your right! How about El Toro?"

"Yeah! Its wood so it no have dem loops!!!"

I think that most GP (including me at that stage of my life) find wooden roller coasters much less intimidating than steel coasters. So, the benefit of a pre-fabricated coaster is to have all the butter smooth of a steel, but still have it appeal to a wider audience.

Well, I have had a few friends in the opposite situation. One went to Cedar Point. They avoided every single woodie because they feared a horrible rough ride.

Same with my friend who went to GL. He avoided the woodies because he thought they would be rough.

[Jake]

Well, I have had a few friends in the opposite situation. One went to Cedar Point. They avoided every single woodie because they feared a horrible rough ride.

Difference being that Cedar Point's woodie(s), are horribly rough.

[zburns999]

"Yeah! Its wood so it no have dem loops!!!"
Most of the general public believes that wood coasters have loops.

As for this debate, the major point I want to bring up is that pre-fab wooden coasters can't "just be made of steel because its the same thing." Most people's preconcieved notions of wooden coasters center around the idea that these are the types of rides our grandparents once enjoyed. Intamin is smart enough to realize that when you make a ride as menacing as El Toro, and you make it out of wood (something that people are used to seeing used on 40 year old rides), it's going to be in its own league. If El Toro was an Intamin Mega, it just wouldn't create the same effect as if it were wood.

[Comet]

Considering the fact that El Toro is 100% wood and Voyage is 50%, if anything Voyage would be less the wooden coaster.

And wether El Toro is wood or not, I don't know why it even matters, it's still an amazing overall coaster that's better then any of the other many coasters I've been on.

[Dan]

I think both hybrid and prefabricated woodies are the future for them, as they dramatically reduce costs (through maintenance), and are smoother (for prefabs). As far as El Toro being Disguised Steel, it's basically wood benefiting from the assembly line status and relative maintenance ease of steel coasters. So, as that basically means cheaper in the long run for companies (maintenance, again), the future should hold many more of them, as people like them as well. A job of a company is to make money, and if parks can be convinced that the prefab. idea is the way to go, they'll buy it.

[Thrill Reconnoiter]

It makes you think of maybe a 6 inversion wooden roller coaster.
This would only be possible on a hybrid/steel structure. Over time a typical wooden structure fatigues and "settles", which also contributes to making the tracking rough. The principal behind a hybrid is that you won't need to worry a lot about the structure, particularly important in creating some of the designs GG does. Take a look at even a three year old GCII and you'll see structure that has been replaced. Heck, even Intamin prefabs are flawed in this way (and people think they're perfect, hah!).

[jolash]

Considering the fact that El Toro is 100% wood and Voyage is 50%, if anything Voyage would be less the wooden coaster.


You must be crazy to believe that statement. Voyage's steel structure is only what holds the wooden ride up. The steel does not affect the ride in any way, shape or form, other than looks.

[Dan]

He's speaking literally, good Sir Lawrence. He means that there is literally more steel and less wood on Voyage.

[Thrill Reconnoiter]

You must be crazy to believe that statement. Voyage's steel structure is only what holds the wooden ride up. The steel does not affect the ride in any way, shape or form, other than looks.
Steel structures don't have excessive flex and sometimes feel like they have a "harsher" ride quality-or maybe that's just placebo from the spiked gravy.

[theRock-steel]

I don't think that we can still call Voyage a wooden coaster. There is just too much medal there. I'm going for hybrid.

[jolash]

It's a wooden coaster, no matter how you cut it. It's called a hybrid coaster in that it has a different support structure than your typical wooden coaster. It's still a woodie.

[tycooner55]

For the Voyage.

Structure = Hybrid

Coaster Type = Wood


For Gemini, another coaster that gets confused.

Structure = Wood

Coaster Type = Steel

[jolash]

Voyage:
Structure - Steel
Tracking - Wooden
Outcome - Hybrid wooden coaster

Gemini:
Structure - Wooden
Tracking - Steel
Outcome - Hybrid steel coaster

You guys seem to misunderstand the meaning of hybrid. Hybrid means to be "composed of elements of different or incongruous kinds", meaning the combination of the two different materials (wood and steel) to create one thing make it a hybrid.

[Jake]

OMG! Dat meanz teh voyage isnt a wooodeeee!!!!! It's a woet!!!! OMGLOLOMFGWTFHAHAHALOL!!!!!!

I always thought this hybrid thing was a little weird. I understand the purpose, but it's not very appealing to the eye. But I suppose it saves the park money on refurbishing the ride, so it's all good, right?

[theRock-steel]

If you want to get into the dictionary, steel is a combination of different medals. Some pictures of Voyage show that the structure could be largely aluminum. That's great for the park - aluminum won't rust. Steel
(has iron in it) will rust. Stainless steel (less iron / more zinc) would have more shine to it than what I've seen in the pictures.

The votes are added up, it's a great coaster, other than that who cares what you call it.

Gemini rocks too !