This year for my birthday trip, I’m headed to New York City to ride the legendary Coney Island Cyclone. While I’m in the area I’m also checking out Rye Playland. In true Coaster Critic fashion I’m going to cram it all into one day. Hopefully my subway, train, and city bus research pays off. This trip is really more about the experience than the number of new coasters. For roller coaster enthusiasts, The Cyclone is one sought after ride credit. Plus, both amusement parks are historic and traveling through the Big Apple should be an adventure.
The Cyclone & Its Clones
The Cyclone opened in 1927. According to Wikipedia it was the fastest roller coaster in the World until 1972. As a result of its success, Six Flags has created four Cyclone clones over the years. They are the Psyclone at Six Flags Magic Mountain, the Texas Cyclone at (the now defunct) Six Flags Astroworld, the Georgia Cyclone at Six Flags Over Georgia and Viper at Six Flags Great America.
The Psyclone was panned as one of the worst woodies around and was removed in 2005. With the Cyclone’s fast, aggressive layout I’m not surprised that it could get really rough. I rode the Georgia Cyclone in 2002 and it was the beginning of my new found respect for wooden coasters. The GA Cyclone really took me by surprise as did Viper at Six Flags Great America. Viper was surprisingly smooth and a lot of fun. Its just outside of my Top 10 Wooden Coasters. So, in less than two weeks I’ll finally get to ride the original Cyclone in all of its strange, weird, Coney Island glory. Will it make my top ten? Does it still hold up after more than 80 years?
What’s Your Take?
Have you ridden the Cyclone or any of the roller coasters at Rye Playland? What did you think? Do you have any NYC travel, Astroland, or Rye Playland tips for me? Leave a comment below. Image courtesy of CoasterImage.
September 5, 2009 at 16:08
if you have a six flags season pass and some extra time to kill you may want to stop by the great escape and splash water kingdom. (a six flags theme park) theres only one roller coaster realy worth riding if your in a rush, but theyve got a good water park and some rides that arent worth riding except for the fact that they have a good view of the new york wildernes (ive seen pictures of wildeness everywhere elses and it basicaly looks the same but you said you liked terrain coasters so what the heck) as i said, only if you have a season pass and time to kill beacause the only good coaster there is the comet and have you heard of the crystal beach cyclone? thats the comet. they saved it from a scrap heap andreabuilt it at the great escape. its taller and faster than the cyclone at coney island, im pretty sure if it had more publicitey it would be alot higher rated. other than that its mostly a kids park but a good one at that, but still it is about 2Hrs away from NYC. then again, i did say only if you had time to kill, so do or dont but if you go, make sure to ride the comet.
September 13, 2009 at 10:52
Thanks for the suggestion. I've looked at Great Escape before, but the lineup didn't warrant the distance I'd have to travel. I always thought that one day I could tie Great Escape into a trip to Montreal for LaRonde. Looks like Comet just received ACE Coaster landmark status!