Do you Prefer the large hill first or in the middle of the ride.
Example – Jurassic World VelociCoaster has the Thrill hill in the middle of the ride, but many coasters have the big hill first?
And of course, the water flume rides have the Big thrill hill at the end which makes sense. All the lead up to the splash.
To your point Mr. Velocicoaster Hulk has no big hills and is 100 percent action for the entire ride....
Yes pacing is huge for the coaster design.
From my recollection the big hill cannot be at the end due to friction, but that may be wrong. Hulk may be my favorite, but the new Texas Giant and Outlaw Run at Silver Dollar City are close behind. My preference is a big hill at the beginning and when you think it is all over, you get another big hill in the middle.
But if you could take the Hulk, and put a huge dome over it, and make it the Super Space Mountain, I would die happy.
I mean. . . Hulk has a big hill. . . It just has a zero g roll in the middle of it.
This got me thinking, though. How come only B&M wong coasters start with a dive loop? How come none of there other floorless or loopers do that?
I know the reason that only Flying coasters can pretzel loop is because the g- forces would snap your neck if you did that in an upright position. . . But that doesn't carry over to B&M wing dive loops, does it? Someone help me out here.
IMO, the best drop (which is often but not always the biggest one) should kick off the final act of the ride. If the coaster only has one act (i.e. a single lift or launch with no MCBR), the first element should be the largest hill on the ride, as that works as an excellent opener to the rest of the ride. On a multi-launch coaster, I do think it works best to put the largest hill after the ride's final launch, with each section of the attraction building in intensity and aggression toward the climactic giant top hat that leads to the final few elements. Multi-lift coasters are a lot less common, and as such it's hard to put the big drop anywhere except the beginning (unless it's a terrain coaster, which are difficult to design but can create some really unconventional layouts), but if the ride has a MCBR I really appreciate the rides that crank up the thrill and intensity following that even if the elements aren't on as grand of a scale. What I don't enjoy nearly as much are coasters that get weaker toward the end...if you're not going to end with a bang, why bother prolonging the ride?
As for VelocicoasterFan's question regarding dive drops, that's largely up to manufacturer preference. B&M only uses the element on their wing coasters, but Mack does something very similar on their BigDipper models, which are more of a standard sitdown design. It's also worth keeping in mind that the other models B&M has primarily been making since they invented the dive drop (dive coasters and hyper coasters) have been ones that likely wouldn't be compatible with such an element.
For a classic coaster, I thought Thunderbolt at Kennywood had great pacing. A few medium drops right out of the loading station with the lift in the middle, and then incorporating the terrain of the ravine throughout the ride; very different and intense.
IDK, I think it ultimately comes down to the overall pacing of the coaster and how it fits into the environment and theme. I do find it pretty frustrating with some coasters with MCBRs that the "second half" of the layout is only there to allow an extra train to operate on the track - as much as I love Gatekeeper, the layout after the MCBR is completely worthless (doesn't even have an inversion).
For me, the best coasters don't necessarily have to build to a crescendo like Velocicoaster, but I do think many of the top coasters have some type of iconic maneuver near the end of their layout or find a unique way to utilize the remaining momentum to throw in an unexpected shot of adrenaline into the rider.
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Did somebody say velocicoaster?
Seriously though, to answer your question, the "big hill" does work better in the middle/ toward the end of the ride. For a multi launcher, it's easier, as you can just place it after the second launch, but for a chain lift it's a tad harder. Big bad wolf is an example.
Let me go on a tangent here. Coaster pacing is more than "where do you put the big hill". Iron Gwazi, Arieforce one, (no idea about steel vengeance), and Velocicoaster are great examples of pacing. Ideally, it should keep its speed until the very end, but in my opinion, Velocicoaster has the best finale. Even if it's not the most thrilling, the pacing and interest of elements make it my favorite.