I havent ridden many woodies, but so far Lightening Racer is the best and will most likely remain the best I have ever been on for some time to come. It is just an overall great ride. Its smooth, well-paced, has a great layout, and its a beautiful coaster. However without the racing element, it might just be another ordinary (but extremely smooth) woodie. Racing/dueling adds a whole new dimension to the ride. I think the best way to describe it would be that it adds a lot more to the fun of the ride. But maybe its just me, because I got pretty into the whole racing thing.

Before even getting on line for Lightning Racer, I was struck with awe at the beauty of its station. Like the ride itself, the station is a wooden work of art. With its patriotic colors and cozy feel, Lighting Racer’s station is easily the most stunning station to look at and easily my favorite one to wait in line in. With that said, the station is the loading dock to a coaster which is as wonderful to ride as the station is to view. Since I have never sat in the front seat of Lightning Racer, I can’t really comment on any unique experience that the Millennium Flyer trains produces. After the train leaves the station and crawls up the first hill, you are neck-and-neck with your racing rival (but you don’t notice this because the lifts are at two different levels). Pretty soon though, your train will be flying towards, next to, over, and under your opponent. The first drop of Lightning Racer is pretty steep and fast, so it leads perfectly into the first camelback. Sadly, this is one of the only hills that really provide a solid amount of airtime on Lightning Racer. From then on you go through some crazy turnarounds and helixes while roaring next to your opponent. This leads into an ending that causes the two tracks continually go over and under each other until the finish line. After a ride like Lighting Racer, you don’t really mind losing. The only reason this ride doesn’t really deserve a 10 from me is that it doesn’t really provide any crazy airtime. It is smooth, fast, and an all around very fun ride, but it just lacks those strong negative G’s. So place your bets and get ready for Lighting Racer.

the smoothest woodie with the most airtime. nuff said

i, quite frankly, dont see what the fuss is about the millenium flyer trains. here is my theory - because each seat is an individual train car, giving the train a lot of flexibility, and the seats themselves are so obscenely well padded and comfy, that the MFlyer trains the are able to transform the twisting woody from a bucking and farting bull into something more oriented towards the general park-goer...perhaps something more like a charming spin around country roads on a well restored model A ford than a furious moment on the aforementioned bull. however, from my perspective, i rode LR after i rode its neighbor the rather wild wild cat and from the moment i sat in the millenium flyer train i got what is known to many as a "bummer." i dont like those ultra cushy seats on a roller coaster. look, i like the seats fine...as seats. i mean if hershey goes bankrupt and they grind the LR into mulch chips, i would gladly take one of the MFlyer train cars into my home as a nice lounger to watch DVDs on. but on a wood coaster? not for me personally. not to mention that i dont like the lap bar falling down into my lap like that. the bar sat right on top of my bladder every time i rode the LR. in a perfect world all wood coasters would have PTC type fixed position (buzz) bar because it leaves one lots of room to get tossed around enjoying the quirks of whatever coaster it happens to be rolling on top of. the lightning racer just felt kind of flat to me. my girlfriend loved it, and she really hated the wild cat. my feeling was the opposite (though how could i hate LR? thats too strong). i think its just a clear dichotomy. it is wild versus domesticated. LR is smooth and generally speaking it lacks surprise and strong distintive flavorings. there are fine elements to it, but my overall feeling each time was, "wheres the beef?" my experience was improved somewhat by riding the back seat, but still i have an overall yawn here. LR also lacked a strong ending, which to me is the big blinking green light for a high rating.

This ride has planted itself in my top wooden coasters, just falling short of beating Kennywoods Thunderbolt. Lightning Racer is by far the most beautiful wooden coaster I have ever seen. The wood-work is as complex as it comes, and the layout is phenominal. The station was very well done as well, and the seats were the most comfortable seats with a divider that I had ever sat in on a wooden coaster. As for the ride itself, it is fantasitcally done. There is plenty of airtime throughout the ride and the dueling/racing aspect really drives up the intensity and thrill-factor. But what sets Lightning Racer so far above many of the other woodies is the smoothness. I was truly shocked at how well the trains maneuvered those complicated dips, banks, and hills. Great job to GCI and Hershey on an amazing woodie. And on a side note, I won each of my races on this beast, with the third and final victory within feet of the other car. What a rush

The best woodie I have been on to date. Fast, smooth, and thrilling. The dueling/racing aspect is nice with some good duels throughout the layout. And also, the high capacity makes this all the better. A must ride for all enthusiasts.

This is one of the most SPECTACULAR woodies ever! It packs speed, hight, +Gs, -Gs, lateral Gs, dueling, racing, tunnels, on-ride photos, and theming all in 2 coaster!!!:trophy:

excellent! anyone who take the time to make this coaster so long and to make it race without knowing who the winner is ddeserves much credit. it is fun, thrilling, and has all the elements of a good wooden coaster.

Did you see that? I gave Lighting Racer a green number next to my name! Yea, I thought it was worthy of a 10. This is due to a few reasons. Now, occasionally I come across a coaster that I just have a blast on. Lightning Racer was one of them. We rode three time, once near dusk, once at dusk, and once at night, and all three times the line was short. I rode Lightning twice and Thunder once, and posted a perfect 3-0 record. I love those trains, by far the best on wood Ive ever encountered. The open aired front (one of my Lightning runs was in the front seat) on the trains, the single articulation allowing smooth flow between elements, and comfy as can be, even with a divider. The coaster itself looks very good as well, and lights up nicely with chasers at night.The ride itself was pretty good, but not exactly of top 10 variety. It was smooth of course, and the pacing lived up to the name. The ride did a great job in its hybrid role of part racer part dueler. I loved the staggard lifts and first drop, and the multiple flyby points. The ride was certainly fun, and I even got over the blatant lack of airtime. I didnt even know that there was a tunnel, or that there were cameras in the tunnel, so smile I would probably rate the coaster as an 8 or 9, but man I had far too much fun on it to give it such a rating. We really got into the racing thing, especially my girlfriend, and it created a buzz as we talked trash with the other car on the last two rides (both of which we were accompanied by others as well). That added a whole new element to the ride, because it became a competition, and at 3-0, a fun one at that. I think the moment where I saw the faces of rejection on our opponents after we beat them in out last run really solidified my justification for a 10. The looks were from a master card commercial, as you would have thought they just lost the World Series. Oh, it was great, and for that, Ill go with a 10. Sure, its not the best coaster, but much like the Hulk, its just one of those coasters that I had a fantastic and fun time on. Ride it, the line will probably be short, and it moves fast anyway.Oh yea, it gave my girfriend hope for woodies. She generally dislikes them, but loved Lightning Racer, and really, really got into the fun of the ride. It is her favorite woodie. That alone adds points as well. Hmm, Ive only ever twice (to date) given a woodie a 10, and both were GCIs running Millennium Flyers.

This is an impressive ride just looking at it, and it delivers. The trains do a great job of actually racing, and the whole ride is suprisingly smooth. I cant give it a 10, beacuse a wooden ride needs some rougness. But it was a fun ride with almost no wait, and much more enjoyable than The Wildcat.