The Coaster Critic's Blog

Voyage Lives Up to the Hype
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 wasn't let down. It rained on and off all day at Holiday World which must have helped with the lines. At times Voyage was nearly a walk-on!


The Trip Out (Hills, Air, & Tunnels)
My first ride was in the back seat of the 2nd car from the back. It's fun watching the trees get smaller and smaller as you climb the long, slow lift hill. The first drop is good, though I couldn't really tell it was that much steeper than most other woodies as advertised. There's 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 felt repetitive, but it's not at all.

The Twisted Turn Around
Next you enter the twisted section at the turn around point. It's 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 other enthusiasts are worried about aging poorly. They are kind of rough right now, in the future they could be really jarring. After the exciting twister section, you dive back into a short tunnel and up into then back up to the surface where you hit the MCBR (mid-course break run).

An Adventurous Trip Back
The train slows considerably at the MCBR and typically after break runs most coasters can't live up to the intensity in their first halves. After Voyage's break run things get really interesting. Immediately after the breaks, just as you let your guard down, you dive into INSANITY. The 'triple down in the dark' is awesome. The bottom literally drops out from under you in pitch black darkness. In my ride in the 2nd car from the back this section was the best. On other rides in different locations it wasn't 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 world-record airtime total). There are also several swooping turns that give you a kind of sailing side to side motion, especially in the front. 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 right next to the station. Most rides would be over by now, but not Voyage. You've still got another tunnel and a few more crazy turns.

Voyage = Not for the Faint-Hearted
This has been one of the toughest coasters for me to rate and place in my Top Ten. Mainly because of Voyage's 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 couldn't get out of. I rode it 3 times in an hour then two more before I left the park. I normally butcher rough woodies like Predator at Six Flags Darien Lake. You shouldn't need football pads or body armor to ride coasters. On the other hand Voyage's 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 10's and lands at #5 on my Top Ten. Final Rating - 10 (Superior)

Check out this roller coaster video of The Voyage. Aside from the music, it's a pretty good video.


What do you think of Voyage? Do you have plans of visiting Holiday World? Leave a comment below.