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What rides would be considered "Story Coasters"?

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GA-MBIT

GA-MBIT

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Jun 16, 2017
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Isle Delfino
I was driving down I-4 today and saw the big billboard for Hagrid's listing it as the "Most Thrilling Story Coaster". It probably isn't this deep, but I honestly haven't heard this term used very widely so it got me to thinking about what other rides would be put in this subgenre of amusement attractions.

For the sake of conversation, I'm just going to assume the term "Story Coaster" means a ride built off of a roller coaster ride system with heavy use of Dark Ride-style show scenes and elements.

Here's a few I can think of off the top of my head,

  • Hagrid's (Obviously lol)
  • Seven Dwarf's Mine Train
  • possibly Verbolten
What doesn't qualify as a story coaster though? Obviously Mako, Apollo's Chariot, or Kingda Ka wouldn't fit the description, but would Space Mountain count with the initial Spaceship lift hill set? Is Rock N' Roller Coaster just a themed coaster with a preshow, or would it loosely fit in with Hagrid's despite a lack of proper showscenes? Expedition Everest seems a lot closer to a true Story Coaster with it's multiple set pieces and animatronic finale.

Again, probably not that deep. But I love talking about genre semantics cause it can change your preconceptions on some older works. Really interested to hear what yall think!!
 
GA-MBIT said:
I was driving down I-4 today and saw the big billboard for Hagrid's listing it as the "Most Thrilling Story Coaster". It probably isn't this deep, but I honestly haven't heard this term used very widely so it got me to thinking about what other rides would be put in this subgenre of amusement attractions.

For the sake of conversation, I'm just going to assume the term "Story Coaster" means a ride built off of a roller coaster ride system with heavy use of Dark Ride-style show scenes and elements.

Here's a few I can think of off the top of my head,

  • Hagrid's (Obviously lol)
  • Seven Dwarf's Mine Train
  • possibly Verbolten
What doesn't qualify as a story coaster though? Obviously Mako, Apollo's Chariot, or Kingda Ka wouldn't fit the description, but would Space Mountain count with the initial Spaceship lift hill set? Is Rock N' Roller Coaster just a themed coaster with a preshow, or would it loosely fit in with Hagrid's despite a lack of proper showscenes? Expedition Everest seems a lot closer to a true Story Coaster with it's multiple set pieces and animatronic finale.

Again, probably not that deep. But I love talking about genre semantics cause it can change your preconceptions on some older works. Really interested to hear what yall think!!
Click to expand...
It's hard to say as there are several coasters that I'm on the fence about including.

I guess we could say something like Hagrids or Seven Dwarf's count because they are continuously "moving"

But technically Mummy fully stops in one of its block sections for a show scene and is continuously moving the rest of the time

Gringotts relies more heavily on the dark ride aspect but clearly has coaster elements.

Also how many show scenes are need to make it count?


Hagrid
Verbolten
Mummy
Everest
Big Grizzly Mountain
Seven Dwarfs
Thirteen
Baron 1898
..maybe Wicker Man (if you squint hard)
 
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I think this is great designation they've created in marketing. Is Hagrid's the best coaster, no. Is it the best coaster that offers scenery/story, absolutely.

This was one of those things that always annoyed me about the annual "Roller Coaster Rankings". Yes, a ride like El Toro or Outlaw Run may be a great coaster, but is it better than something like Big Thunder where you are immersed in scenery? How do you compare those things? If you're only basing a coaster on the actual ride, something like Matterhorn or Space Mountain is a TERRIBLE coaster, but that's only judging on the hardware not the scenery. I always wanted to see those truly themed coasters ranked separately from a traditional coaster.
 
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GAcoaster said:
I think this is great designation they've created in marketing. Is Hagrid's the best coaster, no. Is it the best coaster that offers scenery/story, absolutely.

This was one of those things that always annoyed me about the annual "Roller Coaster Rankings". Yes, a ride like El Toro or Outlaw Run may be a great coaster, but is it better than something like Big Thunder where you are immersed in scenery? How do you compare those things? If you're only basing a coaster on the actual ride, something like Matterhorn or Space Mountain is a TERRIBLE coaster, but that's only judging on the hardware not the scenery. I always wanted to see those truly themed coasters ranked separately from a traditional coaster.
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Yes theming and immersion takes something decent to something great

Hagrid's is a decent Intamin family coaster made into a great experience by its theming and story telling...and made even better by its use of the drop track and quick switch backward section.

Although, I'd say if Steel Vengeance and Hagrid were in front of me, I'd choose Steel Vengeance every day of the week lol
 
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"The Dragon" at Legoland really elludes me. It's got a long Dark Ride portion with the indoor Lego sets in the front half, but after that it's entirely kids coaster with practically 0 theming. It's practically half and half.

Does a Story Coaster require, yknow, a story? Or is Theming the only signifier? Space Mountain doesn't have a true story, but Rock N' Roller Coaster does. I'd argue the theming of Space Mountain is more elaborate in the actual ride itself with the aforementioned setpieces. Do either count?

Gringotts is another strange case, to me it doesn't comfortably fit into either Dark Ride or Coaster, but it's also wildly different from Hagrids. What a strange attraction.

Big Thunder feels right to add to the list. The theming is what sells that attraction. Maybe that's the distinction?
 
GAcoaster said:
I think this is great designation they've created in marketing. Is Hagrid's the best coaster, no. Is it the best coaster that offers scenery/story, absolutely.

This was one of those things that always annoyed me about the annual "Roller Coaster Rankings". Yes, a ride like El Toro or Outlaw Run may be a great coaster, but is it better than something like Big Thunder where you are immersed in scenery? How do you compare those things? If you're only basing a coaster on the actual ride, something like Matterhorn or Space Mountain is a TERRIBLE coaster, but that's only judging on the hardware not the scenery. I always wanted to see those truly themed coasters ranked separately from a traditional coaster.
Click to expand...

shiekra38 said:
Yes theming and immersion takes something decent to something great

Hagrid's is a decent Intamin family coaster made into a great experience by its theming and story telling...and made even better by its use of the drop track and quick switch backward section.

Although, I'd say if Steel Vengeance and Hagrid were in front of me, I'd choose Steel Vengeance every day of the week lol
Click to expand...

An "immersion" coaster is great, but if if a park doesn't have any "traditional coasters," it feels a bit incomplete. As good as Disney is at what they specialize in, I think WDW really needs a "big thrill" coaster.
 
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Even though it kind of got nuked in execution, the Dark Knight Coasters at various Six Flags parks could kiiiind of be considered story-based, as there is a pre-show, theming that serves the story pretty well, and a reason behind the ride other than "you're on a coaster...go".

Are they big park levels of theming? Heck no.

Are they Six Flags' standard "The Wonders of Asphalt" themed? Also no.
 
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Technically, any rollercoaster with a “plot” - meaning a story with a beginning, middle, and end.

I’d add Rock N’ Rollercoaster and Journey To Atlantis to the list as well.
 
PenguinCowboy said:
Even though it kind of got nuked in execution, the Dark Knight Coasters at various Six Flags parks could kiiiind of be considered story-based, as there is a pre-show, theming that serves the story pretty well, and a reason behind the ride other than "you're on a coaster...go".
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That pre-show was the best thing Six Flags had done in a looong time theming wise

The ride, was a simple Wild Mouse of course, but I appreciated the effort
 
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