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Another trip and another extremely hyped coaster. This time I traveled more than 700 miles for two parks, but mainly for one new beast of wooden coaster, Voyage. Luckily, I wasnt let down. It rained on and off all day which must have helped with the lines. At times Voyage was nearly a walk-on! My first ride was in the back seat of the 2nd car from the back. Its fun watching the trees get smaller and smaller as you climb the long, slow lift hill. The first drop is good, though I couldnt really tell it was much steeper than most other woodies as advertised. Theres some nice floater air on the next hill, a bit less on the next hill then you drop into the first of many tunnels. With temperatures in the upper 80s, the tunnels were noticably cooler in comparison to the sections on the surface and the longer tunnels were very dark. Another hill and another tunnel followed by a short hill and another short tunnel. The trip out could have been repetitive, but its not at all. Next you enter the twisted section at the turn around point. Its packed with highly banked turns, two at 90 degree banking and some sections that have small banked hills or bumps. This part of the ride is fun in the front and pretty darn rough in the back of the train. The 90 degree curves are great. You feel like your head might skim the wood and they definitely take riders by surprise. Some of those banked hills are what I believe others are worried about aging poorly. They are kind of rough right now in the back in the future they could be really jarring. Next you dive back into a short tunnel and up into the MCBR. Then you dive into INSANITY. The triple down in the dark is awesome. The bottom literally drops out from under you in pitch blackness. In my ride in the 2nd car from the back it was the best on other rides in different locations it wasnt half as cool. After that you make your way back to station with more short humps (that I guess are supposed to help add to that airtime total) and several turns that give you a kind of sailing side to side motion. This section is less intense that the turnaround but you still have tons of speed. You rise up over the lift and dive into a short tunnel next to the station. Most rides would be over by now, but not Voyage. Youve still got another tunnel and a few more crazy turns. This has been one of the toughest coasters for me to rate and place in my top ten. Mainly because of Voyages roughness and intensity. Normally something this agressive would never get a "perfect" rating from me. You get thrown and flung every which way on your "1.2 mile trip". Holding your hands up is a battle. Is it TOO rough? At times it felt like it, but then I got off briefly exhausted, but not physically beat up. Then I kept finding myself back on another train 10 minutes or so later. It was really weird, like an abusive relationship I couldnt get out of. I rode it 3 times in an hour then two more before I left the park. I normally butcher rough woodies (Predator @ SFDL, Cyclone @ SFNE). You shouldnt need football pads or body armor to ride coasters. But on the other hand Voyages re-rideability was amazing. The roughness must be just at my threshold or the mile long adventure is fun enough to balance out the intensity. Voyage is now my top rated woodie passing Boulder Dash. It recieves one of my few 10s on this site and lands at #5 on my Top Ten. Final Rating - 10.0 (Superior)
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