El Toro, or The Bull...you know its just such a fitting name; very simple yet it describes this ride with incredible accuracy. This Intimin coaster is pretty unorthodox compared to other woodies, it has a fast lift, absolutely no roughness at all, and extremely hard turns that made the image of the Crystal Beach Cyclone pop into my head. When walking to El Toros entrance, you cannot help but to look at the first drop which faces the path head on, it just looks like a giant wall with a coaster track trailing down the side. My first ride on El Toro was good, I sat in the second to last car. My second ride was absolutely the best ever...I sat in the back seat of course. After speeding up the hill, you make a quick turn and immediately drop down a horribly steep and very tall (for a woodie) drop. In the back you are flung from the seat with great force, its not until the bottom that you actually meet the seat again. The train zips under a very low clearance at the bottom and up a camelback where once again you are ejected from your little seat. Up another camelback, more air, and then you come to a turnaround where the train careens sideways down a swooping curve, my cousin claimed that my raised hands came very close to the side, I beleive him. Next is a little bunny hop which provides a bit of air, around a curve, up a hill, and then you drop down a decent sized hill that absolutely TEARS you from the seat. After seeing the mechanical bull in action at a place near me called Colorado Cafe and after seeing many a bull riding competitions on TV, I can completely see that drop as being the bull rearing back and chucking its lowly rider off. Next came 3 rapid fire turns which also reminded me of a nice bouncer named "Angry Mike" at Colorado Cafe manning the controls of the mechanical bull trying desperately to shake the rider off. The turns are the second best part of the ride if you ask me, and in the back seat you really slam into them. Next you come up over a small hill and coast into the brakes. El Toro is a very vicious coaster for all riders but the backseaters must be the bulls mortal enemy or something. Those people waiting for the front seat are kidding themselves, the back seat IS the seat to be in. I will never ride anywhere else again actually. I havent been on many airtime riddled coasters, but I cant imagine airtime gets any more extreme than on this coaster. I have to give SF credit for this one! Even though when I went on they ran the ride with one train and loaded slowly while everyone waited in a some 1 hour and 10 minute line in the 100 degree heat with only a few areas of shade. Ill save that rant for a trip report though. El Toro gets the numero uno spot on my top 10 list. Again, I feel like a shill giving this ride the top spot but this one is for real. I must have just been up in the moment on Kingda Ka or something because this ride really does supplant Kingda Ka (my previous favorite) in many ways. El Toro has definately impacted the way I will view coasters in the future; it was just the best experience I have ever had on any coaster in my life.
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