El Toro: A Landmark Roller Coaster Is Born
Ladies and gentlemen, the future is here! Riding El Toro is something any coaster enthusiast, heck, any person
with a pulse should do. Especially if you think you know what wooden coasters have to offer. El Toro is going to turn your world upside down. The Plaza Del Carnival section is appropriately themed with a Spanish flare. The look and feel is definitely a step above cheesy or contrived. Right down to the sandy desert-like landscaping with chill pepper plants. Even the smell of the food reminded me more of restaurants in Mexico than Taco Bell. The Viper’s old southwestern station fit into the area perfectly. The trains are themed somewhat like mine train cars and have a very comfortable, next generation look and feel. Loading the trains is a bit slow, but the trains are longer than normal holding 36 riders compared to 24 on Thunderhead and 28 on The Voyage.
Intamin’s Prefabricated Wooden Coaster Delivers
The ride starts with a quick climb up a relatively quiet lift hill. Already the ride has been uncharacteristically wooden. As I crested the top I looked
over and down at Medusa. The height of El Toro gets forgotten, just because it’s not a record breaker. You quickly turn around and drop down the 176 feet of steep track at 76 degrees. This is easily the best first drop of any wooden coaster I’ve ridden, it provides some air and you really feel the steepness. You cross under some track and rise into the first airtime hill. You’re ejected north to the sky, even though you’ve been stapled in by the ride ops. The next hill offers more of the same blissful airtime. The swooping banked turn is next. It’s great especially if you’re seated on the right side of the train. Thanks to the prefabricated track, the ride is glass smooth so far and it’s even more apparent during the swooping turn. If you closed your eyes you’d think you were on a B&M hyper or some other type of steel coaster. After the turn, there’s another fun drop and a smaller, shorter drop that offers the least air on the ride.
Extreme Ejector Air & A Twisting Finale
Next the track quickly banks to the left which sets up coaster AIRTIME BLISS. The track finishes the turn then rises up and you drop straight into the twisted finale. This innocent looking hill has the sickest airtime on the planet! It’s so forceful that you feel if the restraints failed you’d end up being flung into the tiger exhibit over in the Golden Kingdom. After that El Toro finishes strong with a twisting section close to the ground reminiscent of another bull, Raging Bull at Six Flags Great America. This twisting section is much more satisfying. You finish the twisted finale and eventually reach the breaks. All the riders I rode with returned with the euphoric feeling of heroin. People aren’t used to riding something so thrilling and comfortable. I had 3 rides on El Toro, but I could’ve re-rode 10 or 20 times if I could’ve. You’re not shaken, slammed, bruised, beat up, beat down, jolted, or smacked around the entire ride. Yet it’s thrilling from the beginning to the end.
There’s nothing that I would particularly change with El Toro (hence the perfect score). But I would’ve like to have seen a tunnel or two. It would only add to the ride. I’m a sucker for tunnels, terrain coasters, and the like. But let me be clear in stating that El Toro is missing nothing! It doesn’t unseat S:ROS at SFNE as the best coaster on the planet or Kumba as my personal favorite, but it comes pretty darn close. The Voyage and n
ow sits at number 3 on my Top Ten Coasters. This is why I try to save 10′s for rides that really deserve them. El Toro deserves one of my few 10′s and then some. I’m sure GCI and Gravity Group are doing push-ups if they’ve ridden this coaster. Intamin’s on its way to World domination. Final Rating – 10.0 (Superior)
Check out the rest of my rating scale here. Also, check out this great roller coaster video of El Toro. Note the speed of the lift hill and smoothness of the ride. You can really here those riders scream on those airtime-packed hills.
El Toro is rated ‘IN’ for Intense. It’s a 4 out of 5 on my Thrill Scale for of its height and speed.
What’s Your Take?
Questions or comments about El Toro? Leave ‘em below.
April 15, 2008 at 09:00
you misspelled heroin.
April 15, 2008 at 13:00
Thanks. That's not a word I use too often.
June 11, 2008 at 17:28
I hate wooden coasters. Or rather, when given the choice between wooden and steel coasters, I will almost always pick steel. The roughness of a wooden coaster always leaves me feeling like I need a chiropractic adjustment. Still, I had heard SO much hype about this coaster, and I wanted the credit. I took one look at this coaster and thought I was going to die on it. It looked so intimidating, and the drop looked so high and straight down….So I boarded El Toro with many reservations. We flew up the hill pretty darn fast for a woodie, rounded the corner, and took that drop like….well, a speeding bull. I grabbed the guy next to me and shouted a string of expletives as we sped through the course. He was laughing at my ecstatic terror so hard that I think he almost peed himself. Smooth as silk, this ride blew away everything else I rode in the park, and even when I got stuck on the lift hill on my third ride, I (along with my fellow riders) swore I wanted to stay on until we could ride the bull. I always said if I got stuck on a lift hill or anywhere on a ride, I would never ride it again. Yeah, I rode El Toro twice more after that unfortunate stall. This ride is my favorite coaster on the planet at this time. There are not enough words to describe the merciless bliss of this screamer. Maybe unrelenting, packed with airtime…nope, I can't do it. Too great.
June 8, 2009 at 13:18
Wow, I got a dozen rides in 2 days (all back seat) and could have kept going. This coaster really delivers! The only flaw is that it's over TOO SOON!
June 23, 2009 at 20:49
Judy, the most I've ever done this ride is 9 times in one four hour period. Could have done more, but the park was closing. LOL I was doing the math in my head the other day, and since I started going to Great Adventure last year, I've averaged at least 5 rides on Toro per visit. One can only hope and pray that some day Cedar Fair will pull their heads out of their arses and make some Intamin pre-fab woodies at their parks. Dorney has finally gotten clearance to build 200+ foot coasters without special permission from nearby developments, so perhaps they'll expand and get a prefab. Cross fingers!
June 24, 2009 at 04:32
Yes. Also, CP should ditch Mean Streak and build the world's tallest woodie. As much as they like records…
July 14, 2009 at 15:42
WOW! I rode this first yesterday with my 12 year old and it is the deal! The lap bar saved me from certain death…talk about feeling ejected….it is the BEST wooden coaster by far and actually one of the best I have rode period….
August 7, 2009 at 19:33
My number one wooden and my number 2 overall! This coaster is completely ridiculous. It gives the best airtime sensation i've ever had by far on a coaster! I'll never forget my first trip on this ride. I was actually a bit freaked out going over those airtime hills that i might rocket out, and this coming from a SROS/Bizarro veteran!
August 10, 2009 at 14:50
El Toro is my favorite roller coaster on the face of the Earth! I rate it #1 in best roller coaster of all time!!!!!
August 29, 2009 at 07:55
BEST WOODIE EVER!!! El Toro was awsome the air time and twist near the end were fanominal, and its drop was HUGE!!! i think cc`s right though that it could use some tunnles then it would be perfected.
September 12, 2009 at 11:40
Love this coaster!
October 16, 2009 at 07:22
This ride has the most ejector air on the first drop of any coaster on the planet. You are thrown over the hill in the back seat a 40 plus mph. Even though shorter that element is more extreme than any other drop on the planet. Including MF or Nitro. Atleast in the back seat that is. The front seat first drop is not neat as extreme as you are being held up by the back of the train halfway down the hill.
October 16, 2009 at 12:43
Last seat … right side … intense!
October 23, 2009 at 15:43
Now I know 99% of you will be thinking "This guy isn't right in the head" when I say this, but I don't really like El Toro. I mean, the ride is great and all, but it just doesn't have the feel of a woodie. Beast, Ravine Flyer II, Hades – they're woodies, but El Toro is smooth even compared to a brand new steel coaster. It needs some jolt to be a true, bonafide woodie.
October 24, 2009 at 03:54
i know what you mean, i enjoyed it and all, but it didn`t feel like a woodie, smooth as glass is good but it just didn`t feel right, i mean at least bizzaro had a slight rumble. but you have to take into mind if someone asked for a slightley rough woodie we`d get a replay of ROAR, all in all, this is the best we could ask for from six flags. (excluding bizzaro of course)
November 12, 2009 at 19:38
I have a question. Is the airtime on this coaster at a comfortable level? I'm talking about when you're stapled down so tight in the lap bar, is it painful at all physically? An example is the Georgia Cyclone at Six Flags Over Georgia. There's this one hill that's maybe 5 feet high (I'm not even kidding) and then a really steep drop after the crest of it. You go over it at maybe 40 mph, and it feels like you're being stabbed in the chest because of the tight pull over it, and also because of the roughness. That turned me off to a lot of these extreme airtime woodies because I NEVER want to feel anything like that again. Just wondered if there's a similar experience on this coaster and also Gravity Group's coasters where it appears you go over some pretty small hills with a lot of speed. Thanks in advance to whoever answers my question.
November 13, 2009 at 08:58
i didn`t feel like it hurt me at all, but i have noticed it on other woddies, Your welcome.
November 13, 2009 at 10:01
Good to know. Could you name a few that you say hurt in particular to add to my avoiding list?
November 13, 2009 at 11:17
Thunder bolt at six Flags New England although it`s not too bad, Cyclone at Six Flags New England that thing hurt like crap, and Rolling Thunder at Six Flags Great Adventure. Hope it comes in use.
November 15, 2009 at 16:33
CC, could you put together a Voyage-El Toro coaster show down, just to see how many people dis/agree whith your awnser.