#Delayed Broadcast

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Graduation Day

Well, it's finally here. The end of college. It's definitely been a ride and did not pan out the way I expected it to, but I've reached the end.

More talk about my college experience in general below the cut.

Graduating with a bachelors in Digital Media Arts, with honors and as a member of Lambda Pi Eta, the national communication studies honor society (that's what the red and white cords and pin are for, the medallion in the middle is my school's insignia), I can say I must've done pretty well here. At the same time though, I don't know that it's really set in or like, hit me yet. I don't know that it really will until August or September when I expect to go back to school and then just, don't aha.

But even then, I don't know that I can say I'm super proud to be here(?) It's sort of like that one post that's like "I don't really feel proud after finishing something, there's just a vague sense of relief that it's done" or however it goes. That's kind of how it's been for me over the last maybe 5 years or so. What also doesn't really help is that my college experience was not the best. This school was really over-promised and under-delivered to me, on the social front at least. Academically, the school's been very solid, but it's been lacking in the social side of things. I've really only made one substantial lasting-after-college friendship, which I'm very grateful for, but it would have been nice to have more people to hang out with in my time here.

After being in school pretty much my whole life since I was like, 5, being completely done with it (kind of) is definitely a weird feeling. I say "kind of" because technically I do still have to complete my internship, which I'll be doing back home over the summer and that is technically a class. So once I finish that, the school will send me my diploma. But that's barely a class so it's feels like it only sort of counts.

But anyways, I keep catching myself thinking "man I hope I don't have any more 8am classes next semester" to which then I think "wait, there's not gonna be a next semester." So like I said before, it's gonna take some adjustment aha.

But thank you to all of you guys who have stuck by me and supported me, my art and all my work while I've been in school. I know that it's caused some pretty drastic art droughts and stuff, so I really appreciate you all sticking around so much <33

[the-desert-urbania]

His mic work has improved so much!

THIS IS GREAT

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Reach for the Stars!

A gift for my sister (Creative_Lass on Toyhouse) of her character Neon, because she's graduating today!! :D

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Tac Talks Coasters - Post 1: #170

Photo Sources: All photos are mine

Nighthawk at Carowinds!

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Opened: 2000 (Relocated to Carowinds in 2004) Closed: 2024 Manufacturer: Vekoma Height: 115 ft (35 m) Speed: 51 mph (82 kph) Length: 2,766 ft (843 m) My most recent ride: 2019

Starting off this whole thing is a ride that unfortunately closed pretty recently as part of the new Six Flags cleaning house. Nighthawk was a ride I was never very fond of. I always found it to be uncomfortable, rough, with bad transitions and even worse restraints. The main things I remember about it are the painfully slow operations and by extension, the really long and slow moving line you always had to wait in if you ever wanted to ride it.

Usually I enjoy flying coasters (or at least I've enjoyed the one B&M flyer I've ridden) but I don't think Vekoma really nailed it with this one. It was their first, and from what I've heard, their two others that came after, Firehawk and Batwing, do ride better than Nighthawk did. I never got the chance to ride Firehawk and have yet to get to Batwing though, so I can't speak for those.

The main reason Nighthawk comes up at the bottom of my list is that most coasters, even other bad ones, have something you can do to make the ride experience even slightly more comfortable if you brace yourself a certain way or something like that. You couldn't do that with Nighthawk, at least not in my experience. The restraints were basically light a straitjacket and if you were flying facing down and the train went up, you'd just get thrown into them in a really uncomfortable way. And if you're on your back, you feel the forces of the ride a bit more comfortably, but you're rattling against the seat back from the roughness.

A few pros for Nighthawk, because like I said in the intro post, every ride has at least something positive about it: Firstly, it pulled some strong forces. Especially in the loop you took on your back, the ride had a good variety of forces to offer. And secondly, visually the ride looked great. That bright yellow track and blue supports really looked nice and the ride's placement over the water right as you walked into the park made for a solid entrance plaza. But with it now gone, I'm sure Carowinds will do something great with that space.

Thanks for checking out today's coaster post! Keep an eye out for tomorrow's coaster!

[tacoma-narrows]

Tac Talks Coasters - Post 3: #168

Photo Sources: All photos are mine

Swamp Fox at Family Kingdom!

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Opened: 1966 Manufacturer: Philadelphia Toboggan Company Height: 75 ft (23 m) Speed: 50 mph (80 kph) Length: 2,400 ft (730 m) My most recent ride: 2019

From what I see online at least, not a whole lot of people talk about this ride. That's understandable, as Family Kingdom is kind of out there down in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, away from most major parks people hit on road trips. I believe Carowinds would be the closest major park, and that's still about 3 and a half hours away.

But maybe it's for the better that not too many people have experienced Swamp Fox though, because based on my rides from my visits to this park in 2019, this thing was BRUTALLY rough. There was jack-hammering (bouncing up and down in your seat) through pretty much the entire layout to the point that I got off the ride with a killer headache that lasted me a good half hour afterwards. This was easily the roughest coaster I've ever ridden. It goes above Corkscrew and Nighthawk because those rides beat you up in a number of different ways (mainly due to the restraints on both), where as Swamp Fox just bounces your brains out, but it's not a lot keeping this one above those two.

From reviews I've seen online that have come out more recently than when I rode Swamp Fox, it's running better now, so hopefully that means the park is taking care of it or even did some re-tracking. I sincerely hope it's running better because it's a classic beachside wooden coaster and it's always sad to lose one of those. I'd be interested to try the ride again to see if it's running better now, because those reviews also said the ride had strong airtime pops, which I do remember, but not very clearly because I was focused on not getting rattled to death.

I do really hope the best for Swamp Fox, because it's clear the ride has good bones. It's just a matter of maintaining the ride properly, as is the case with all wooden coasters really. It looks fantastic in its park with it's classic white and red color scheme and just captures that classic boardwalk feel. So I do hope it sticks around and that it's running better now for more people to experience in the future.

Thanks for checking out today's coaster post! Keep an eye out for tomorrow's coaster!

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Tac Talks Coasters - Post 2: #169

Photo Sources: All photos are mine

Corkscrew at Cedar Point!

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Opened: 1976 Manufacturer: Arrow Dynamics Height: 85 ft (26 m) Speed: 48 mph (77 kph) Length: 2,050 ft (620 m) My most recent ride: 2022

Cedar Point's numerous coasters span all shapes and sizes, and with their legacy of record-breaking rides, they had to break their first records with something. That something was Corkscew, opening in 1976. Corkscrew was the first coaster to feature 3 inversions, and the first coaster to go over a footpath. These were big things for their time.

The key phrase there is "for their time." Corkscrew, nearing 50 years old at this point, is no longer the impressive feat it once was and is now just buried in Cedar Point's lineup. And as you can see from it's second-to-last placement on my list, I'm not a fan. The ride just doesn't do a whole lot for me. Like a lot of old Arrows, it's rough, jerky and uncomfortable, and overall is just outdated design-wise. The one bunny hill between the first drop and the loop doesn't really deliver any air, and the transition into the namesake corkscrews has always been jarring like on a lot of Arrow coasters.

My guess as to the main reasons as to why it's stuck around at Cedar Point for so long are: A) It's not an expensive ride to maintain. Arrow rides are robust, clearly as a lot of them have had pretty long lifespans. Since Corkscrew isn't very big, it doesn't put as much wear on its track and trains so it can just keep on going. And B) There's not a whole lot that could realistically replace it. Corkscrew's plot of land is super long and narrow, smack in the middle of the park. Wedged between the midway, Top Thrill 2, Power Tower and the Super Himalaya on one side, and a backstage area and Hotel Breakers on the other, there's not really a whole lot that could go there without taking some other rides out or making some other kind of major change to the area. Unless you put in some kind of shuttle coaster or just some smaller rides, I can't think of too much else that would fit there, meaning that (I'd imagine) it's not usually on Cedar Point's chopping block.

Finishing up with some positives, similar to Nighthawk, Corkscrew does pull some surprising forces. The last time I rode it, I remember being surprised at how forceful the loop was, as well as getting a bit of hang time on the corkscrews. I can also see Cedar Point keeping it around for it's icon status as the first triple inverting coaster, and it's iconic corkscrews over the midway. The ride really does look nice right in the center of the park. Lastly, it also works well as an introductory ride to someone going on a looping coaster for the first time before moving on to bigger things, so I guess there's a market for that too lol.

So that's the first out of 21 credits I have from Cedar Point. Where do the others land? You'll just have to wait to find out :3c

Thanks for checking out today's coaster post! Keep an eye out for tomorrow's coaster!

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Tac Talks Coasters - Post 6: #165

Photo Sources: First two photos are mine / Last photo

Stinger at Dorney Park!

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Opened: 1998 (Relocated to Dorney Park in 2012) Closed: 2017 Manufacturer: Vekoma Height: 131.3 ft (40.0 m) Speed: 50 mph (80 km/h) Length: 1,013.8 ft (309.0 m) My most recent ride: 2017

Poor Dorney Park, you're my home park and you deserve so much better </3 Before 2024, this was Dorney's newest coaster and it was the first to go, even before they got anything else new. Stinger was not long for this world at Dorney, only having operated for 6 years at the park. I remember it opening the first year I went to Dorney and then being really surprised to see the announcement that it would be removed basically out of nowhere in late 2017. Given it's placement near the bottom of my list, clearly I didn't like the ride, but it was still sad to see the newest coaster at my home park get taken out so soon (relatively speaking) after it had opened.

But anyways, on to the ride itself. I don't usually mind Vekoma Boomerangs a huge amount. Yeah, some are worse than others but more than anything it's annoying that there are so many of them around. The inverted model of the Boomerang, the Invertigo model is significantly less common, with only 4 having ever been built. Stinger was one of only two in the US during the period it was open, with the other being Invertigo at Kings Island, which we'll see in this list down the line. Invertigo is fine for what it is, but I did not enjoy Stinger.

I don't know if it was the fact that it was relocated from California's Great America or what, but Stinger rode significantly worse that Invertigo did (which I didn't ride until after Stinger had already closed). I mainly remember the ride just being rough and jerky the whole way through. The cycle facing backwards was always worse than going forwards because you couldn't brace yourself as well for whichever element was coming next.

Being a rarer model, Stinger was something relatively unique for Dorney that did act as kind of a detriment to their lineup when they took it out. But even as a shuttle coaster going both forwards and backwards, it was still kind of redundant considering it was right next to Possessed haha. The ride's bright blue color scheme also looked nice and I do like how the ride's logo mimics the shape of the ride itself with the claws forming the cobra roll and the tail as the lift hills. Beyond that though, honestly Stinger is a ride I've barely thought about since it closed. At least it was replaced (eventually) by something significantly better.

Thanks for checking out today's coaster post! Keep an eye out for tomorrow's coaster!

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Tac Talks Coasters - Post 17: #154

Photo Sources: All photos are mine

Blue Streak at Cedar Point!

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Opened: 1964 Manufacturer: Philadelphia Toboggan Company Height: 78 ft (24 m) Speed: 40 mph (64 kph) Length: 2,558 ft (780 m) My most recent ride: 2022

Hello fellow Cedar Point enjoyers, this might be my most unpopular opinion thus far </3 Blue Streak is a ride I always go into with an open mind hoping I'll enjoy it because it's a classic wooden coaster, and more often than not, those tend to be enjoyable. But I don't know what it is, Blue Streak has just never been that enjoyable to me. In my experience, the airtime hills don't really deliver and the ride as a whole is pretty rattly. This could be because I've ridden it on a wheel seat, which generally offers a rougher ride experience on wooden coasters compared to a non-wheel seat. I've also heard that the best row for airtime is the front, so I'll have to give that and a non-wheel seat ride a shot next time I'm at Cedar Point.

Maybe once I ride Blue Streak in a good row, I'll see why a fair amount of people think pretty highly of this ride. But at the moment, every time I go to ride it hoping I'll enjoy it, I come off thinking "yeah, that's still not really it for me :/" Which sucks, because like I said, I want to enjoy it! Also for the record, this won't be the last ride that has the "I go into it with an open mind but end up not enjoying it" theme about it. Not even the last ride like that at Cedar Point, but we'll get there when we get there.

Another thing about Blue Streak that I don't like, and I have no idea why this is the case, but about halfway between the lift and the turnaround, on both going out and coming back, there always seems to be some really gross smell you pass through. It's sort of a rancid, gross smell and I have no clue what it might be. But I've noticed it over my last several rides on Blue Streak in both 2018 and 2022 and I tend to just think "ah yep, that's the Blue Streak Cesspool again" lol.

Anyways, I'm sorry Blue Streak enjoyers, I'm glad you can enjoy a ride that I don't. I hope Cedar Point continues to keep this classic around for many years to come.

Thanks for checking out today's coaster post! Keep an eye out for tomorrow's coaster!

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Tac Talks Coasters - Post 41: #130

Photo Sources: All photos are mine

Woodstock Express at Kings Island!

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Opened: 1972 Manufacturer: Philadelphia Toboggan Company Height: 38.6 ft (11.8 m) Speed: 35 mph (56 kph) Length: 1,350 ft (410 m) My most recent ride: 2019

We have finally reached both the last of the Woodstock Express wooden family coasters, and the final of the five coasters named Woodstock Express on my list!

This one I will keep short because to be completely honest, I am struggling to think of what to say here that I didn't say in the post for Kings Dominion's Woodstock Express two days ago, let alone the one at Carowinds from yesterday lmao.

Much like I've said for its sister coasters at Kings Dominion and Carowinds, Kings Island's Woodstock Express is a really nice, high quality family coaster. It's got some nice little airtime pops on its two biggest drops and some semi strong laterals on its turns. After I rode this in 2019, I thought it was maybe a bit more rattly than the other two, but not to the point where it detracted from the ride or anything.

Even more so than Kings Dominion, Kings Island takes fantastic care of its stacked wooden coaster collection, so I imagine this is still running great. I can't speak from experience on that specifically in the time since my one ride in 2019, but I have faith in Kings Island haha. Again, make sure you don't miss this little gem of a ride buried in Kings Island's lineup!

Thanks for checking out today's coaster post! Keep an eye out for tomorrow's coaster!

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Tac Talks Coasters - Post 5: #166

Photo Sources: All photos are mine

Vortex at Carowinds!

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Opened: 1992 Manufacturer: Bolliger & Mabillard Height: 90 ft (27 m) Speed: 50 mph (80 kph) Length: 2,040 ft (620 m) My most recent ride: 2018

As we go through the lower ranks of my list, you'll find a lot of standup coasters. I just don't think they're a pleasant ride experience. The feeling of blood rushing to your feet, as well as the pain in your uh, crotch area, are not sensations I look for on a roller coaster. What also doesn't help Vortex's case specifically is that it was also one of B&M's earliest coasters, so it doesn't even do anything interesting with it's layout. At least the newer standups I've ridden like Mantis and Green Lantern (which I still don't like, to be clear) at least had bigger and more dynamic layouts.

The main upside I'll give to Vortex is that it's not that rough, at least from what I remember. There are other standups that have/had a much more significant rattle than Vortex does, so I think that's where being smaller than the others worked in Vortex's favor. Similar to what I said with Swamp Fox though, it's been a long time since I last rode Vortex, so I'm not sure how it runs as of recently.

Along with the smoothness being better than expected (based on my recollection at least), I will give standup coasters credit, they definitely bring the positive forces and Vortex is no different. Granted, that's part of what leads to the blood rushing to the feet problem I mentioned before, but still, credit where it's due.

Apparently I don't have quite as much to say about this one as I did for the other rides so far, but really it just boils down to the fact that I just don't really like standup coasters as a ride style. I haven't ridden what is usually considered the best one, Riddler's Revenge at Six Flags Magic Mountain, or the debatable standup but more different in general Pipeline at SeaWorld Orlando (that one's high on my bucket list though). So maybe once I experience those, my thoughts on standups as a model will shift a bit, but at the moment, Vortex still ends up down here.

Thanks for checking out today's coaster post! Keep an eye out for tomorrow's coaster!

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Tac Talks Coasters - Post 8: #163

Photo Sources: All photos are mine

Green Lantern at Six Flags Great Adventure!

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Opened: 1997 (Relocated to Six Flags Great Adventure in 2011) Closed: 2024 Manufacturer: Bolliger & Mabillard Height: 154 ft (47 m) Speed: 63 mph (101 kph) Length: 4,155 ft (1,266 m) My most recent ride: 2017

A lot of my thoughts from my post about Vortex will hold true here because I just don't like standup coasters as a ride style. There are a few pluses to Green Lantern, which is why it lands a few spots above Vortex. Firstly, the layout was a lot more interesting. With it's big inversions and overall better forces, you can see that B&M honed their craft in terms of their layouts and ride designs between when Vortex opened at Carowinds in 1992 and when Green Lantern (originally called Chang) opened at Kentucky Kingdom in 1997. And secondly, with the bigger elements and better layout, the ride had stronger forces than Vortex, and I particularly remember the strong positive Gs at certain points of the ride.

Unfortunately, that's where the positives about Green Lantern end for me. Although the ride was taller, longer, faster, and overall more interesting than Vortex, it had one problem that was way more prevalent here than on Vortex: the roughness. I wouldn't call it brutally rough, but it had a very strong rattle all the way through which led to a lot of headbanging against the restraints. The bulky over the shoulder restraints that really boxed you in made the headbanging pretty much inescapable, even if you put your head forward. And then of course, the bicycle seat thing between your legs cause pain there as well. One of the times I rode this ride was in the front row in the rain. That was not particularly pleasant either lmao.

Overall, Green Lantern, and standup coasters in general are just not for me. There's one more you'll see in tomorrow's post as well. But like with several coasters we've talked about so far, Green Lantern was another one of Six Flags' victims this past year, getting removed with no pre-closing announcement and zero fanfare. It was a particularly bad year to be a green coaster at Great Adventure in 2024, considering it was not the park's only, nor the most notable, casualty.

Thanks for checking out today's coaster post! Keep an eye out for tomorrow's coaster!

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Tac Talks Coasters - Post 7: #164

Photo Sources: All photos are mine

Mean Streak at Cedar Point!

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Opened: 1991 Closed: 2016 Manufacturer: Dinn Corporation Height: 161 ft (49 m) Speed: 65 mph (105 kph) Length: 5,427 ft (1,654 m) My most recent ride: 2016

Big, long, fast and boring. Those are the four main words I would use to describe Mean Streak to you. The ride was huge, with it's almost 5 and a half thousand feet of track, but it chose to not do anything interesting whatsoever with that track. It was just long drawn out turn after long drawn out turn. The fact that the ride was rough also didn't help matters either.

It wasn't as egregious as Swamp Fox, but it wasn't a whole lot better. My favorite personal anecdote about Mean Streak is the way my dad described the experience: Imagine you're sitting on a stool in the middle of a blank room. A buzzer sounds, and a bunch of hatches open up at the base of the walls around the perimeter of the room. A half dozen or so orangutans all run out and start beating you with 2 by 4s for about 2 and a half minutes. The buzzer sounds again, the orangutans run away and the hatches close within a few seconds and you're sitting there trying to figure out what the hell just happened. Mean Streak, everyone lmao.

While the ride experience left a lot to be desired, I have to give Mean Streak credit for it's visual appearance. Not many coasters give you the sense of immensity that Mean Streak did, at least not in the same way. To quote my dad again, he said standing in the middle of the ride walking through the queue felt like being in the middle of a cyclone of wood, and honestly that was a good way to describe it. The ride felt huge when you looked at it. It was made with 1.7 million board feet of Southern Yellow Pine and I believe that metric. Flying through the structure that dense with wood towards the end of the ride was a pretty cool experience visually at least.

But in the end, Mean Streak closed at the end of 2016 to make way for something much, much, MUCH better :3c

Thanks for checking out today's coaster post! Keep an eye out for tomorrow's coaster!

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Tac Talks Coasters - Post 51: #120

Photo Sources: x / x

Alpine Mountain Coaster at Mountain Creek Waterpark!

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Opened: 2011 Manufacturer: Wiegand Height: Not listed Speed: Variable Length: 2,805.1 ft (855 m) My most recent ride: 2015

The second of the two alpine coasters I've done, and this one may be shorter in length than the Goat Coaster, but I actually ended up enjoying this one more haha. The ride felt faster (although since you can control your speed manually with a brake lever on alpine coasters, you can change that speed if you want lol), and the layout was more interesting and dynamic.

I also liked the setting of this one a bit more than the Goat Coaster, since it has the same path through the trees that the Goat Coaster did, but also passes right through the middle of the park, under and around different water slides and past different attractions. Also just like Goat Coaster (though I didn't mention this in that post) the Alpine Mountain Coaster was a very smooth ride all the way through, which is always a plus as well haha.

Though what might be most interesting thing about the Alpine Mountain Coaster is what it represents at Mountain Creek :3 You see, you may not have heard of Mountain Creek, but you might know it by it's former name: Action Park. Action Park is infamously known as the world's most dangerous amusement park, with poorly designed, unsafe rides including the notorious Cannonball Loop (that water slide with a full-on vertical loop in it), and 6 people died there over it's 20 year run. It is a cornerstone of New Jersey folklore, tradition and history. They also had the Alpine Slide, which was a trough people rode down on a little wheeled sled and would often fly out of and get really nasty abrasions.

The Alpine Mountain Coaster is built as a successor to the Alpine Slide, and is thankfully much, MUCH safer lol. Riders are secured into the ride vehicles with a seat belt and the vehicles are secured to the track via up-stop wheels so they have no chance of coming off. So the spirit of the Alpine Slide and Action Park lives on with all the thrills, but none of the spills haha.

Thanks for checking out today's coaster post! Keep an eye out for tomorrow's coaster!

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Tac Talks Coasters - Post 44: #127

Photo Sources: All photos are mine

SandSerpent at Busch Gardens Tampa!

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Opened: 1996 (Relocated to Busch Gardens Tampa in 2004) Closed: 2024 Manufacturer: Mack Rides Height: 45.9 ft (14.0 m) Speed: 28 mph (45 kph) Length: 1,213.9 ft (370.0 m) My most recent ride: 2021

We're gonna be on a run of Wild Mouse coasters for the rest of this week, so brace yourselves lmao. I always felt like SandSerpent was a bit of a weird fit at Busch Gardens Tampa. Their lineup is stacked with great rides, and in the middle of the park, you had this standard Wild Mouse coaster. I understand the role it filled at the park, as a stepping stone for kids between Air Grover and Cobra's Curse, but it didn't seem to be up to the same pedigree I guess as BGT's other coasters.

Of all the Wild Mouse coasters I've ridden, this one felt to be the weakest one (though similar to the Woodstock Express wooden coasters, there's not a whole lot to differentiate them from each other haha). I don't remember it being rough or jerky, but on my one ride I got in 2021, the trim breaks were hitting hard and really killed the pacing. That's unfortunately not uncommon for Wild Mouse coasters, but I remember it being particularly jarring on this one.

To SandSerpent's benefit, it is one of the models with some larger dips after the initial switchback turns on top, but I don't remember getting a whole lot out of those either. Wild Mouse coasters by nature have a lot of good lateral forces in the switchbacks so that's a plus for all these models in general, but when they don't have a lot else to offer beyond that, they all tend to blend together.

Thanks for checking out today's coaster post! Keep an eye out for tomorrow's coaster!

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Tac Talks Coasters - Post 9: #162

Photo Sources: x / x / x

Mantis at Cedar Point!

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Opened: 1996 Closed: 2014 Manufacturer: Bolliger & Mabillard Height: 145 ft (44 m) Speed: 60 mph (97 kph) Length: 3,900 ft (1,200 m) My most recent ride: 2014

The last of the trio of standup coasters I've ridden, Mantis is what I consider the best one, but given how each standup coaster is within a stretch of 5 spots in my ranking, that's not a lot of differentiation in quality lol. Anyways, Mantis combines the better attributes of Vortex and Green Lantern in my experience. It has the bigger, more dynamic layout of Green Lantern with the (relative) smoothness of Vortex. I actually hadn't realized that the first half of Green Lantern's layout was actually a mirrored near-clone of the first half of Mantis until making the previous post lol.

Anyways, yeah, I don't have a whole lot to say about Mantis that I haven't already said about Vortex and Green Lantern. It had a lot of strong positive Gs and an interesting and very twisty layout, but again, standup coasters are just not my thing. The blood rushing to your feet was not a comfortable sensation, plus the feeling of being jostled around in your restraints made headbanging possible here too. It wasn't as bad of a problem here as it was on Green Lantern, but it was still there.

A couple pros about Mantis, though these have less to do with the ride experience specifically: Firstly, I liked the ride's color scheme a fair bit. The bright primary colors of the red and yellow track with the blue supports looked really vibrant and popped against the sky. And secondly, this ride ROARED. You gotta love that old school B&M roar found on a lot of their earlier coasters, and this one had one of the loudest I've seen. That holds true even now after the ride was given floorless sit-down trains and converted into Rougarou. My thoughts on that conversion are for another day though :3

Thanks for checking out today's coaster post! Keep an eye out for tomorrow's coaster!

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Tac Talks Coasters - Post 50: #121

Photo Sources: All photos are mine

The Goat Coaster at Goats on the Roof!

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Opened: 2015 Manufacturer: Wiegand Height: Not listed Speed: Variable Length: 3,061.0 ft (933 m) My most recent ride: 2022

The first of two alpine coasters I've ridden, this one is definitely one of the best coasters I've done in terms of vibe and location lol. You go to a fun little roadside attraction in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee (a town full of fun roadside attractions lol) where you can pet and feed goats! On the roof! And there's a roller coaster! What more could you want? :D

Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg both have a ton of alpine coasters between them, but this was the only one I got the chance to ride while I was there, but it was definitely still a lot of fun! Being able to zip down the side of the mountain through the trees definitely gave a fun sense of speed with lots of the twists and turns that alpine coasters are known for.

For as much fun as it was, I remember being kinda surprised as to how short the ride felt. I'm not sure if I had my expectations in the wrong place or what, but the downhill portion of the ride went by faster than I had expected it to. Looking at PoV videos to refresh my memory for writing this, it didn't seem overly short there, so again, it may have just been an expectations thing.

But either way, it was still a fun ride and something you'll definitely wanna check out if you're ever in Pigeon Forge! Alpine coasters are similar to some of the other family coasters I've covered previously, where they're really good for what they are, but just get pushed down in my ranks by bigger and better rides.

Thanks for checking out today's coaster post! Keep an eye out for tomorrow's coaster!