Ive been dreading writing this review since I last disembarked from Shivering Timbers three days ago. The last thing I want to do is criticize one of the most daring and ambitious (not to mention popular) wooden roller coasters built in the last decade. Yet after giving myself time to reflect on the experience and after carefully weighing the rides many fine qualities, I cannot escape the conclusion that this ride, as a whole, was a qualified disappointment.
I say qualified because its everything its cracked up to be: fast, intense, filled with airtime. But for me, the whole seemed less than the sum of its parts. I respect the ride, but I simply didnt have much fun with it. I had one transcendent moment in the front seat as the car fell away beneath me on the first drop and then gently rose up under me on the pull-up into the second hill. Three hills later, however, the ride became...and Im sorry, I dont know how else to put this...monotonous. Not as in boring, mind you, but as in monotone, a beautifully rendered note repeated so often and so insistently that I eventually longed for some syncopation, some flourish that would break-up the techno-like rhythm of the ride. I finally got my wish with the helix, a virtuoso finale, to be sure, but one that seemed more like a tacked-on coda than an integral part of the overall composition. I rode again and again, straining to feel the magic, but for me, it just wasnt happening. The first drop, the turnaround, and the transition into the helix all were moments of inspiration, but as I whole, I found the ride too repetitive and one-note to rate among the classics.
This, of course, is an entirely subjective assessment. Without a doubt, Shivering Timbers is as impressive and uncompromising as any wooden roller coaster I have ever ridden. I applaud the fact that Michigans Adventure and CCI went to such lengths to celebrate airtime, and Shivering Timberss devoted following proves just how worthy an undertaking this was. But for me, the ride is proof that you can have too much of a good thing, especially when its repeated over and over without interruption. This may be the mark of devotion, but it is not what I consider the pinnacle of roller coaster design.
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