Cyclone

I last rode Cyclone years ago when SFNE was still Riverside Park, and I noticed it hadn't changed (much) when I went back in 2000. The ride itself is lots of fun (if you're into really rough rides), and as woodies go, it really wants to be a twister, but it's not. The queue was in rough shape when I last rode, and general consensus tells me nothing's changed there, but all in all, once you get past the complete lack of theming, it's a fun ride. Ride it in the rain if you ever get a chance.

When I got into line for this, it was dirty and just smelled horribly. When you had to walk onto the ramp leading into the station, I knew why they let a certain amount of people on it. It needs to be replaced, desperately. They only run one train. That causes long lines. They reprofiled it, which really looks bad, as you can see the old track under the new unpainted track. The first part of the ride wasn't that bad, but it gets alot of worse, and that trim kills everything about this ride. I would wish they just took a year to completely redo this ride, add another train, retrack it, paint it, because it really does look visually stunning in the park's skyline.

I am posting this review mainly to comment and even warn other people about this ride. The queue for the ride is from what I remember of my trip last year a very simple wooden ramp leading up to the ride's station. That is what the line is like for most wood coasters, what brings the Queue rating down is that the hand rails, and for that matter the floor, were coverd with chewed gum and other things that I don't want to think about. This is one of the filthiest lines I have ever waited in. The themeing was non existant except for the entrance sign. The ride itself was worse. It is the only ride I have ever been on that rivals flashback at SFMM in terms of pain. If anything this is the wood flashback. Unlike other wooden coasters where the pain comes from the roughness of the ride, the pain on Cyclone comes from a sudden change in the track during the big drops of the ride that cause extreme ejector airtime. So extreme in fact that it slammed my legs into the lapbar. This happens at least five time throughout the ride. I was literaly limping when I got off the ride and the next day there were two huge bruises on my legs. I can't really comment on the other elements of the ride because all I wanted to do after the first drop was to get off. I'd welcome another opinion on Cyclone because maybe I just caught it on a bad day or even got the bad train. But one ride was enough for me and I didn't want to test this theory