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folks, i want to take this moment of your time to move this ride into the "most underrated wood coasters" category. i felt for sure that roar was going to be the wood MVC of the day yesterday, and a nice but fairly ordinary back seat ride on wild one early in the day confirmed that suspicion. however at sunset i got a wild hair to take a front seat spin (i seldom ride the front on wood because of long lines and USUALLY duller rides), and this hunch turned out to be sent from the wood coaster fairy godmother because it was a magnificent ripsnorting airtime and side-slamming good ride. actually i rode wild one in its first season in md. although i was but a wee lad it blew me away and turned me into a lifelong wood coaster fan. sadly, until yesterday, i have not had a chance to try the wild one again and id often wondered if the thrill would be there for me when i did. the reprofiled look immediately disturbed me but yknow, the proofs in the pudding, and in this case the pudding is quite tasty. i found it so strange that the back seat would be a lesser ride than the front...but sure enough it is. the back has good floating air where youd expect it - cresting the hills. but in the front you hang on the fairly weak first drop, then you abruptly accelerate into a maelstrom of ejection seat air, head chops, and one hell of a nasty helix. the double up double down turnaround was great and im pleased to say it was taken at speed so no dead time creeping around the turn. there are serveral lateral shifts, and while theyre not exactly unexpected due to the very exposed out and back shape of the coaster, they certainly do surprise you with the force and violence in which they come. then the ending is the real capper as you sail into the helix, which comically smashes you into the side of the train and feels impossibly like its the fastest part of the ride. i was yelling and cussing throughout this last ride because i honestly did not expect it to give me such a funky journey across its mild and humble profile...and in the front car no less! i was tossed righteously hard into the lap bar twice during that ride. but there you go - big things come in small packages. in closing, not to sound like a hater, but damn, this ride - while a little dinjy in appearance - is quite smooth and actually seems to get love from six flags. and here i thought six flags was the de facto butcher of the classic wood coasters they inherit and subsequently assimilate. this ride and roar make a sweet wood combo for this park.
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