Eric Esty - Reviews

Poltergeist is a fast paced, forceful, whippy launched coaster from beginning to end. The first three inversions in quick succession give huge positive Gs right out of the fast launch. The rest of the...

Poltergeist is a fast paced, forceful, whippy launched coaster from beginning to end. The first three inversions in quick succession give huge positive Gs right out of the fast launch. The rest of the ride is a spaghetti bowl of fast transitions and turns as you accelerate faster and faster as you go farther down the bowl, ending in a corkscrew finale. Unfortunately it's all over concrete without scenery, but at least the queue is themed!

Superman Krypton coaster is one of the best floorless coasters in the world, especially with its location next to the quarry wall. It's enormous in its curved first drop. The first loop is similarly e...

Superman Krypton coaster is one of the best floorless coasters in the world, especially with its location next to the quarry wall. It's enormous in its curved first drop. The first loop is similarly enormous, with both hangtime and positive forces. The overbanked helix going over the quarry wall is forceful and awesome, you feel like you can touch the rocks. The zero-g roll and cobra roll are both also great and snappy. The drop off the MCBR is forceful and can be unexpected. The interlocking corkscrews are unfortunately an uninspired end to the otherwise creative and awesome ride, which keeps it from being my favorite. Nonetheless, it's an awesome, huge, forceful ride with an amazing setting and an awesome color scheme that's very photogenic.

Titan is a very intense coaster. With its two greyout inducing helices and a powerful airtime hill, it has great forces. But the midcourse brakes ruin the pacing, and the other elements aren't that fo...

Titan is a very intense coaster. With its two greyout inducing helices and a powerful airtime hill, it has great forces. But the midcourse brakes ruin the pacing, and the other elements aren't that forceful besides the two helices and airtime hill. This includes the first drop, which isn't very forceful at all.

Shockwave is a fantastic Schwarzkopf looper with two extremely intense loops that will make you grey out. There's three moments of ejector air in the front, too, and the lap bars make all of this bett...

Shockwave is a fantastic Schwarzkopf looper with two extremely intense loops that will make you grey out. There's three moments of ejector air in the front, too, and the lap bars make all of this better. A really fun ride that will surprise you with its intensity.

Raging Bull is a very unique hyper that accomplishes what it sets out to do very well: thrilling with smooth, swaying overbanked turns, with some airtime thrown in. Unfortunately the first camelback i...

Raging Bull is a very unique hyper that accomplishes what it sets out to do very well: thrilling with smooth, swaying overbanked turns, with some airtime thrown in. Unfortunately the first camelback is trimmed to have no airtime, but that's the only boring part. It has airtime in the second half as well, and the turns are fun throughout the ride. Back row is the way to go for three great drops on this ride, especially the enormous first drop.

The first drop and inversions are the highlight of the ride, but the rest of the ride is boring meandering. The lap bars help a lot, but the capacity is abysmal and gives it a line way longer than it ...

The first drop and inversions are the highlight of the ride, but the rest of the ride is boring meandering. The lap bars help a lot, but the capacity is abysmal and gives it a line way longer than it warrants. A fun ride, but the line is too long to ride again if you already have the credit.

El Toro, while the airtime is extremely powerful, is badly paced, has an annoying rattle, and probably the worst wooden coaster restraints I've ever ridden in, that makes the airtime painful. After th...

El Toro, while the airtime is extremely powerful, is badly paced, has an annoying rattle, and probably the worst wooden coaster restraints I've ever ridden in, that makes the airtime painful. After the explosive start with the first drop, two sustained ejector hills, and cool turnaround, the ride dies. The rest of the ride is hills without airtime and rattly banked turns, save for the Rolling Thunder hill. Probably the most overrated coaster I've ever ridden. I understand the appeal for sure, but this coaster isn't for me.

Green Lantern is, while forceful, extremely uncomfortable. A forceful stand up is hard enough on my body as is, putting pressure on my legs and making my inner thighs uncomfortable. But when you add u...

Green Lantern is, while forceful, extremely uncomfortable. A forceful stand up is hard enough on my body as is, putting pressure on my legs and making my inner thighs uncomfortable. But when you add unavoidable headbanging, it becomes too much to enjoy or even bear. Add to this the lack of any scenery besides gravel, and you have a really crappy coaster.

Kingda Ka is the worse version of Top Thrill Dragster. A double loading station that's never used, crappy hard vest restraints, a wonky launch, and an incredibly annoy rattle. And its capacity it wors...

Kingda Ka is the worse version of Top Thrill Dragster. A double loading station that's never used, crappy hard vest restraints, a wonky launch, and an incredibly annoy rattle. And its capacity it worsened by Zumanjaro and its worse reliability.

I've found that Nitro is a perfect hyper coaster. It's one of only two B&M hypers in the US to not only feature a forceful helix, but also maintain its strength in airtime throughout the entire ride. ...

I've found that Nitro is a perfect hyper coaster. It's one of only two B&M hypers in the US to not only feature a forceful helix, but also maintain its strength in airtime throughout the entire ride. The first drop is enormous and fun. The first turnaround gives airtime in the front. The two camelbacks give great floater. The hammerhead is surprisingly forceful. The turning airtime hill gives some surprising ejector air. The helix is suppressingly forceful and long. There is ejector airtime into and dropping off of the midcourse. And the three hills on the return trip give great airtime. It's perfectly paced, is thrilling beginning to end, is forceful in both positive and negative forces with some surprise ejector, has an awesome color scheme, and has a great location out of the way from the rest of the park in the forest. A phenomenal coaster that makes it worth to visit SFGAdv by itself.

Storm Runner is absolutely explosive. The launch is, well, explosive. The airtime into the top hat is huge, and the immelmann is forceful. The flying snake dive is the best part of the ride, airtime i...

Storm Runner is absolutely explosive. The launch is, well, explosive. The airtime into the top hat is huge, and the immelmann is forceful. The flying snake dive is the best part of the ride, airtime into a double barrel roll, and the second roll dives down mid roll. Add some twisty s-bends at the end, and the ride is over. Obviously it's very short, but man is it so sweet.

Fahrenheit is an odd coaster, but a fun one and a Hersheypark signature! The first drop and Norwegian loop are awesome, with airtime and positive forces in action. Unfortunately it rattles through the...

Fahrenheit is an odd coaster, but a fun one and a Hersheypark signature! The first drop and Norwegian loop are awesome, with airtime and positive forces in action. Unfortunately it rattles through the cobra roll, but is smooth for the rest of the ride. The two corkscrews are fun, and the airtime hill at the end is a fun surprise! A fun coaster that fits the park well.

Great Bear is an incredibly underrated masterpiece invert. It has an awesome, forceful helix before even the first drop. The loop, immelmann, and especially the zero-g are super forceful, whippy, and ...

Great Bear is an incredibly underrated masterpiece invert. It has an awesome, forceful helix before even the first drop. The loop, immelmann, and especially the zero-g are super forceful, whippy, and in quick succession. There's an airtime moment into a fast turn over the creek that I didn't expect! Then after a speedy straight past the creek, we twist and turn forcefully upwards, and corkscrew the opposite direction very forcefully, and then meander into the brakes. It's oddly paced, sure, but so forceful and whippy. And it's awesome looking, super engineered support structure is marvellous to look at, and even creates footchoppers! The setting itself is marvelous, it adds to the ride tremendously. A really fantastic invert that I find is greatly under-appreciated.

I rode this bad boy on its 18th birthday! It's the only wooden coaster I've ridden to focus solely on lateral and positive forces, and succeed. The laterals on the turn between the two lift hills are ...

I rode this bad boy on its 18th birthday! It's the only wooden coaster I've ridden to focus solely on lateral and positive forces, and succeed. The laterals on the turn between the two lift hills are huge! The furst two drops are among my favorite wooden coaster drops ever, and the rise after the first drop gives huge airtime. The double rose bowl helix is the highlight; Enormous positive forces on a wooden coaster, with laterals between the two dives? Yes please! The ride finishes with a tunnel and some airtime hills, and is just a blast to ride.

It's not the most forceful hyper in terms of airtime. The airtime is pretty solid throughout, but nothing mind blowing. What is mind blowing is the helix, which is absolutely enormous and gives a huge...

It's not the most forceful hyper in terms of airtime. The airtime is pretty solid throughout, but nothing mind blowing. What is mind blowing is the helix, which is absolutely enormous and gives a huge combination of positive and lateral forces. For that helix alone makes this ride kick ass.

It's not forceful or whippy at all, but it has hangtime, airtime, and cool shaped inversions that are really cool to go through. The coaster is gorgeous, and the situation on a hill contributes to how...

It's not forceful or whippy at all, but it has hangtime, airtime, and cool shaped inversions that are really cool to go through. The coaster is gorgeous, and the situation on a hill contributes to how fun it is.

A short little ride with an airtime hill and some loops. There's headbanging on the corkscrews, but otherwise it's a fun ride that I hope sticks around, especially because of how awesome the corkscrew...

A short little ride with an airtime hill and some loops. There's headbanging on the corkscrews, but otherwise it's a fun ride that I hope sticks around, especially because of how awesome the corkscrew midway is.

This stand-up coaster meant layout works beautifully for a floorless coaster. The first drop, three loop varieties, twisted airtime hill, and twisty second half are so unique from any other floorless,...

This stand-up coaster meant layout works beautifully for a floorless coaster. The first drop, three loop varieties, twisted airtime hill, and twisty second half are so unique from any other floorless, and more physically intense than any other either. The downsides are that it's short with less inversions, and headbanging kicks in after the inclined loop. I was able to move my head forward to avoid it, but others may not. But since I was able to negate the roughness, I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Gatekeeper is a super fun coaster just because of the hang time, and how huge it feels next to the beach and over the entrance. It's a gorgeous coaster on and off ride. The hangtime and near misses ar...

Gatekeeper is a super fun coaster just because of the hang time, and how huge it feels next to the beach and over the entrance. It's a gorgeous coaster on and off ride. The hangtime and near misses are great, and every inversion is fantastic. Unfortunately the "airtime" hill is forceless, but that's the only dead spot. Great iconic coaster otherwise.

Top Thrill Dragster is the most terrifying coaster I've ever ridden, and I love it. It always makes my palms sweaty and makes me hold on as tight as I can. Short, but sweet. Pure adrenaline for 20 sec...

Top Thrill Dragster is the most terrifying coaster I've ever ridden, and I love it. It always makes my palms sweaty and makes me hold on as tight as I can. Short, but sweet. Pure adrenaline for 20 seconds.

This ugly coaster, while a decent launched family coaster, ruins the view from the Eiffel Tower of Coney Mall and Rivertown, and is an ugly reminder of how inept and out of touch Paramount was at mana...

This ugly coaster, while a decent launched family coaster, ruins the view from the Eiffel Tower of Coney Mall and Rivertown, and is an ugly reminder of how inept and out of touch Paramount was at managing theme parks: by making a coaster based on a movie nobody has seen or remembers. It doesn't fit into either section, and its prime spot on the hill should be given back to the antique cars.

By far my favorite GCI wooden coaster. The airtime is strong from beginning to end, the pacing is perfect, the ride through the woods is dark and feels extremely fast, and the theming at the end is th...

By far my favorite GCI wooden coaster. The airtime is strong from beginning to end, the pacing is perfect, the ride through the woods is dark and feels extremely fast, and the theming at the end is the wonderful icing on the wooden coaster masterpiece cake.

This is a coaster that defies how it thrills its riders. With only two drops in the first half to speak of, some may find it pointless. But it's an otherworldly experience. The downhill acceleration t...

This is a coaster that defies how it thrills its riders. With only two drops in the first half to speak of, some may find it pointless. But it's an otherworldly experience. The downhill acceleration through the woods at top speed is one of the few times I've been terrified on a roller coaster. The coaster is so long, it takes a second lift hill just to do the finale: an inclosed, enormous double helix. The wooden feel of the coaster adds to the sense of speed, danger, and terror. I'm extremely happy I'm able to appreciate this coaster, as it's my #1 wood coaster, and the most thrilling ride I've ever been on.

Legend is absolutely amazing. A huge first drop, enormous laterals, and a last half with slamming airtime and lateral turns. It rides through the woods and over and under the slides. It's a blend of l...

Legend is absolutely amazing. A huge first drop, enormous laterals, and a last half with slamming airtime and lateral turns. It rides through the woods and over and under the slides. It's a blend of lateral, positive, and negative forces that is extremely rare. The fast ride by the forest, the huge scale, and the spooky theming put this ride over the edge as one of my favorite wooden coasters.

My least favorite coaster. I hate that this coaster stands for the Eisner era of Disney, in his aspect of cutting corners to cut costs. The restrains are uncomfortable and the theming is tacky and dis...

My least favorite coaster. I hate that this coaster stands for the Eisner era of Disney, in his aspect of cutting corners to cut costs. The restrains are uncomfortable and the theming is tacky and disgusting. The coaster is always painful. And I hate having to ride it whenever I go to Disney with family. Awful coaster, I would be very happy if it closed without warning tomorrow.

The individual elements are great. The first drop, non-inverting loop, treble clef, twisted airtime hill, and overbank at the beginning of the ride are all great. The pace, however, is abysmal. Midcou...

The individual elements are great. The first drop, non-inverting loop, treble clef, twisted airtime hill, and overbank at the beginning of the ride are all great. The pace, however, is abysmal. Midcourse breaks put this otherwise cool and unique coaster's experience to a halt. After the overbank, the ride dies, and nothing else interesting happens. The music selection is fun, but outdated. The lap restraints are awkward and uncomfortable. Fun ride, but Maurer was probably the worst choice for USO's hyper style coaster.