I was pleasantly surprised by SDD when I rode in February. It’s fun and I’d say it’s not on par with the Barnstormer at all, it’s better – but I think Barnstormer is fun too.
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To each their own I guess. ¯\(ツ)/¯
There isn’t a ride at Disney I’d classify as exciting personally but then not everyone sky dives and flies planes for fun. Despite the lack of straight up adrenaline rush I’m really excited for SDD and all the other rides. I love Toy Story and the idea of the Toy Story Land experience. If I don’t ride Slinky Dog I haven’t experienced the Land.Yes I am borrowing a grandchild for the morning for Toy Story EMM, but I’d have done it sans child if necessary.
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@ryan1 really needs to read that article (actually, he just needs to look at the photos). More specifically, I need to see his reaction while he’s doing so.
Slinky was so fun, I did it 3 times yesterday and loved it each time. RD was pretty crazy so if you dont like mad dashes and dodging strollers maybe start with a different ride.
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The pre ride 'ride?
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SDD is faster than every MK ride except for Splash, so if you ride BTMRR, Space, 7DMT, then SDD is more exciting. It isn’t a long ride, but it moves much faster than I expected.
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instead of dumbo or die…this trip for me is the spiraling dachshund of death. if i don’t get to ride ill be really bummed
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I like your outlook. I will have to adopt it. We have the PP dash in DLR. yes I know what it sounds like…
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We are planning to ride in a couple weeks without children. We are seniors and it looks like fun. Cannot do Rockin Roller Coaster or ToT so looking forward to this ride very much.
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SDD had everyone belly-laughing the whole way through. It’s a very well done smooth coaster with mild to moderate thrill factor. Don’t pass it up!
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Can’t imagine Patrick Bateman ever on SDD!
SDD is not like Barnstormer. Barnstormer was a cramped kids’ ride. SDD is meant for all ages. Is it EE? No. But it was fun. If not for the crazy lines, I’d have gone twice. So, even if you get a FP, you might choose to RD it anyway.
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Thank you for the video on visiting TSL in the last hour or so before the park closes. We’ll definitely try an evening ride of SDD!
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SDD, 7dmt, and EE are all must do after dark for my trip. Pretty sure we are going to be waiting an hour + for SDD, but not sure when I will get back, so I want to make sure I fit all three in.
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I did too, and I’ll say why.
The launch sections were set to that the acceleration barely got you over the biggest hill, and then on to the end of the course.
That’s not how a coaster is intended to run. The preferred/planned speed for both launches was clearly faster, yet they have set the launch speed to bare minimum to make it “less intense” for younger people. Which makes it distinctly less exciting for those of us who like roller coasters. By contrast, because Barnstormer is lift hill/gravity driven, it’s operating at or near “preferred” speed, while SDD was clearly not when I was last there.
Granted, all roller coasters are designed with minimum speeds to avoid valleying, usually maintained by the height of any block break. But that’s not what’s happening here, and simply “fast enough to complete the course” is not generally a quality riding experience.
Hence why I’m underwhelmed.
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Except that your analysis focuses on a single point of detail. There’s so much more to the ride than how fast it goes. And faster ride = shorter ride.
The speed of a coaster directly affects nearly every aspect of it - like, for example, whether you feel airtime, like you’re going to fall out of your seat on a turn, bank or inversion, and all of the things about it.
This is a roller coaster. I have a baseline expectation that it operate within a “fun zone” for speed. Too fast and it’s jolting; too slow and it crawls through part or all of its course.
After 215 different coasters, I have a fair breadth of experience in knowing what makes a coaster fun or not, to me.
I would rather have it take 25 seconds rather than 30 if that time difference meant that I better enjoyed the ride. 25 seconds having fun is far superior to 30 seconds of excruciating wondering of why it’s going so slow.
Look, ride it if you want. I’ll not be spending my time queueing for it, nor expending a fastpass on it. Because I find it severely underwhelming, and it has such potential to be so much more.
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Well, yes, technically. But I wonder if Disney sees it that way. I think it’s an experience. If I want roller coasters there are much better places to go than WDW — and places that don’t involve hugely expensive international flights.
So YMDV. Which is fine.
I think there are multiple ways a roller coaster can be fun. I think SDD is the most fun roller coaster in all of WDW.
An opinion which I do not share, TBH. I find EE and RnRC to be more fun.
The part about it that bugs me so much is that I truly think the experience would be more fun for more people if they ran it at design/desired speed rather than at minimum.
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