19 replies to this topic

[Coasteridiot]

Would you call Steel Eel, the Morgan coaster at Sea World San Antonio, a hyper coaster?

It is 150 ft. tall with a 150 ft. drop. Some would say no, because it isn't 200 ft. tall and it doesnt have a 200 ft. drop. I don't really agree with the 200 ft. rule, because while it is how the term was made, I would still call rides like Goliath at La Ronde and Goliath at Walibi World hyper coasters, both with stats lower than 200 ft.

Steel Eel acts like a hyper coaster with tall drops, bunny hops, an out-and-back layout, and a MCBR, but the height and drop aren't even close to 200 ft. so I can't really decide.

What is your opinion?

[Brad]

I personally say yes, just because Hollywood Dream is a Hyper and 3 of the Goliaths are Hypers.


Heh... it's Morgan's Megalite!

[krosscoasters]

Well, I don't know. It's something, but it's probably not a Hyper coaster per se... since afterall, the rule is 200 ft.

[JDcoasterConqueror]

It's true in both senses: it acts like a Hyper, but it doesn't meet the Hyper rule. It's quite hard to identify what type of coaster it is, so I call those types of coasters"Mini-Hyper Coasters" for that reason.

[Vater]

Yes, it isn't most uncertainly not a non-hyper coaster. Perhaps.

[Coasteridiot]

Yes, it isn't most uncertainly not a non-hyper coaster. Perhaps.

So I take that as a yes?

[Jness3]

Well, according to the 200 ft. rule, it is not a hyper coaster, but I still classify it as a hyper because it does what hyper coasters do.(large drops, airtime hills, speed...)

Edited by Jness3, 30 December 2009 - 12:26 AM.

[steel-Rock]

This is interesting. I believe that Cedar Point first used the term "hyper" with Magnum XL200, an Arrow. On rcdb.com, all the B&M's with a 200ft or taller lift or drop have the word "mega" for the "model". Both of the 200ft Giovanola's also have "mega". Six Intamin's have "mega" including Expedition GeForce that has a height of 173 with no drop listed, and Goliath (Walibi World) that has nothing above 154ft. Son of Beast does not have "hyper" or "mega". None of the taller Morgan's have "hyper" or "mega". Steel Dragon 2000 doesn't have "giga" either.
I guess the bottom line is if you have a history with Intamin you can be a "mega" or "giga". If you are an Arrow you can be a "hyper". If you are a Morgan you are only allowed to have a "model" if there are a few parts left over from an Arrow (Phantom's Revenge is a "hyper"). The style is right and the height doesn't matter, but Steel Eel is just a tall coaster. It has lots of airtime but the hard breaking before the turnaround hurt its rating with me. It is pretty good though.

[ That was very long. Maybe I should have just said no. I'll try not to use the '' key so much next time; others on my keyboard are already not working. ]

[Silver Swordsman]

I have to say yes for this. In my opinion, height is nothing--hypers, megas, gigas, are all about the speed and drops, are they not? Let's say for roller coasters like Oblivion: it's less than one hundred feet tall, but the drop is so deep... you get the idea.

Similarly, although I've never seen Steel Eel, we can consider the possibility: Eel's track drops underground, or like Alpengeist, the highest and lowest points of the coaster exceed 200ft. Of course, I am no roller coaster guru compared to you guys... so

[Ryan Shrout]

I refer to any hyper-style ride under 200 ft. as a junior hyper. Its really that simple for me. I use terms for the sake of categorizing rather than trying to be model specific.

[Brad]

^^Steel Eel has a 150 foot lift and a 150 foot drop

[drachenfirebgw]

My take on the terminology is straightforward. It's traditional that the park that builds a roller coaster that break a height threshold gets to the name the type of roller coaster it is. Cedar Point chooses the terminology Hyper Coaster for a roller coaster between 200-299 feet tall. The did the same with Millennium Force by calling it a Giga Coaster, which is defined as a roller coaster 300-399 feet tall. SFMM and Dreamland both built Intamin 100 mph freefalls in the late 1990's and could have 'named' the category for this type of roller coaster based on its height, but instead, they ignored it and choose to boost about the fact they reached 100 mph.

Cedar Point hit 400 feet with Top Thrill Dragster and dubbed it a strata coaster, which has stuck. The Steel Eel and other roller coasters that act like a Hyper Coaster, but do not hit 200 feet I call Jr. Hypers. Mega Coaster I think characterizes the type of roller coaster rather than defines it. With Mega Coaster, there's not set height requirements. It's in regarding to how the roller coaster behaves. Therefore, in my opinion, the Steel Eel would also be considered a Mega Coaster. Now that's the generally accepted definition of a Mega Coaster.

An example of this is that Intamin has adopted the term Mega Coaster in describing there Hyper and Jr. Hyper Coaster. On there website Goliath at Walibi World (which is under 200 feet tall) as well as Thunder Dolphin at Tokyo City Dome (which is over 200 feet tall), are both considered Mega Coasters.

[Coasteridiot]

This is interesting. I believe that Cedar Point first used the term "hyper" with Magnum XL200, an Arrow. On rcdb.com, all the B&M's with a 200ft or taller lift or drop have the word "mega" for the "model". Both of the 200ft Giovanola's also have "mega". Six Intamin's have "mega" including Expedition GeForce that has a height of 173 with no drop listed, and Goliath (Walibi World) that has nothing above 154ft. Son of Beast does not have "hyper" or "mega". None of the taller Morgan's have "hyper" or "mega". Steel Dragon 2000 doesn't have "giga" either.
I guess the bottom line is if you have a history with Intamin you can be a "mega" or "giga". If you are an Arrow you can be a "hyper". If you are a Morgan you are only allowed to have a "model" if there are a few parts left over from an Arrow (Phantom's Revenge is a "hyper"). The style is right and the height doesn't matter, but Steel Eel is just a tall coaster. It has lots of airtime but the hard breaking before the turnaround hurt its rating with me. It is pretty good though.

[ That was very long. Maybe I should have just said no. I'll try not to use the '' key so much next time; others on my keyboard are already not working. ]

You can't go with rcdb on this one, they are just listing what the manufacturer calls their coasters. Like you said, Intamin and B&M call their hyper-style-coasters mega coasters, even though most of them go above 200 ft. and Arrow calls their hyper-style-coasters hyper coasters even though some go below 200 ft.

[Vater]

Why does everything have to be categorized?

[Coasteridiot]

Cause we're coaster nerds that are obsessed with negative g's sitting on the computer debating about coasters? What else are we supposed to do?

[Nessie]

I class Steel Eel as a Mega Coaster, or a Jr. Hyper. It is in spirit of a hyper, however, so I usually just call it one.

Vater, we catagorize everything because it is one of the ways to have fun on an internet forum .

[drachenfirebgw]

Note that the term Mega Coaster has only been used in two instances. Intamin uses it and for some reason rcdb.com uses it. B&M uses the term Hyper Coaster not Mega Coaster. See here.

[Coasteridiot]

^ Yes, that's what the company calls their coaster. But us coaster enthusiasts like to take Cedar Point's term and turn it into an entire group. Magnum XL-200 is above 200 ft., so it's called a hyper coaster. Does that then mean rides like Wicked Twister, Mr. Freeze, Son of Beast, Xcelerator, etc. are hyper coasters? I don't think they are. That's why I don't agree with the 200 ft. rule. But if you do, okay, so if you don't call the rides I listed above a hyper coaster, your term for a hyper coaster is probably a ride that goes up-and-down etc. that is above 200 ft.? I don't think that's fair. I think rides that go up-and-down and have hyper-like elements should be considered hyper coasters too. So shouldn't Steel Eel count?

[drachenfirebgw]

I never said that I considered rides like Wicked Twister, Xcelerator, Son of Beast, and Mr. Freeze. I guess I didn't explain myself well enough in my first post. Hyper Coaster I consider to be a roller coaster that ranges between 200-299 feet tall, and features a tradition lift hill, has airtime hills or banked hills/curves, and no inversions. (Basically what we all think of when we say Hyper Coaster).

However, I wouldn't categorize the Steel Eel as a hyper coaster because it doesn't meet the height requirement. Therefore, I categorize it as either a Jr. Hyper (acts like a hyper but isn't as tall) or a Mega Coaster, which is a term in my opinion that has few strings attached to it. Like I said before, a Mega Coaster I feel doesn't have any height requirement, but merely categorizes the features of a Hyper or Giga Coaster, (with the exception of Intamin of course, which actually uses the term Mega in place of Hyper).

[steel-Rock]

Note that the term Mega Coaster has only been used in two instances. Intamin uses it and for some reason rcdb.com uses it. B&M uses the term Hyper Coaster not Mega Coaster. See here.

Ok, if we are going to go by what term the builder uses then we should look here:
http://www.chancemor.../coasters3.html That must mean we are more interested in the style of the ride not the height or speed.