This is a good ride and I love it espically the launch out of the station they usally dont have those on woodies.I rode it once I was nine it was last year.

You know I really had high hopes for this coaster. When I rode it I had just come off of a top ten wooden coaster stint (Holiday Woodies, Kentucky Rmbler, Ozark Wildcat) so I really thought this would be great. The pre-lift section is probably the best pre-lift area in coasterdom, and tunnel is pretty bad a$$. I just simply was not blown away, the first drop was good, but the 5 car trains minimize the airtime in the back in comparison with 6 and 7 car PTCs, and the tunnel while it was fast and dark, it just didnt strike me as great. And oddly enough me and the people I rode with found that everytime we rode, our heads hurt afterward. I didnt find it rough, but our heads seemed to hurt, it was bizarre. It still is a good ride with some good elements, but I just dont think that it is the best, not even in WI.

Hades: A Trip to Hell and Back
In Greek mythology, Hades was the god of the underworld. Hades, the roller coaster, more than lives up to its name. It boasts the single most impressive tunnel section Ive ever experienced. The tunnels not only long, its a white knuckle journey through a terrifying pitch black abyss.

"They Dont Pay Me Enough to Smile"
The Hades experience starts with a station that you have to climb three stories to reach. After your hike, youre greeted with a sparse station, just large enough for the queue and the train. Theres no theming and indifferent ride ops that are unfriendly and dont speak to you. One thing I always look for in a world-class coaster is a raucous station with enthusiastic, efficient ride ops and a D.J. that hypes you up as you leave and greets you upon your return. You wont find any of that on Hades. Youd think Mt. Olympus would have their best people working their main attraction, but I hope that wasnt the case with Hades. At one point I saw these two foreign-born, (Im guessing Eastern European) ride ops sitting on the floor of the chatting to one another as the train hurled into the station. I was glad to see that the stations brakes were automated, but it was just a little unnerving to watch their lack of attentiveness. Luckily, the ride itself makes up for the operations shortcomings.

One of the Best Openings Around
Thanks to the elevated station your ride starts with a short drop from the very beginning. You better have your hands up or be ready to hold on tight, the opening has a few pops of air, twists and turns, and more speed than youd expect from such that short drop out of the station. Theres plenty of action pre-lift hill. Then, you start your 13-story climb. The big drop is fairly steep for a wooden coaster at 65 degrees and all you see is a hole below as the track dives below the parking lot.

The Subterranean Masterpiece
The next thing you know youre in complete darkness. You cant even see your hand in front of your face and its not like the dark tunnels on The Voyage that are fairly brief, this truly is a journey. As you tear through the dark at 70 mph the train banks and dips as it tries to throw you around like a rag doll. You cant see a thing, but I couldve sworn I saw some red eyes down there. Its insane! Did I mention that this coaster lived up to its name? As you start to see light breaking through at the other end, you realize that the train is not right side up. You climb up the wall and ride along it, but because of the darkness and speed you cant even tell. You come down from the wall and rise up into the turn around point.

The Trip Back
The columns around the turn around section are a great touch. You crest a hill and drop back down near the highway that passes the park, rise up a shorter hill and drop back down into the tunnel. The ride back is less eventful, but still very dark. As you exit two back-to-back airtime hills follow. Next, you reach the finale, which is the weakest part of the ride. I remember a bit more roughness than the rest of the ride. Finally, you reach the brakes. As the train re-enters the sub par station, the cold ride ops release you and your on your way.

Hades narrowly missed a 10 because of the rougher finale, single train operation, the sparse station, and those terribly uninterested ride ops. Aside, from these negatives that actual ride on Hades is top-knotch and enough to push it all the way up to number seven on my Top 10. Its almost a toss up between Hades and Boulder Dash. I can see why their site ratings totals are so close. Get to Wisconsin Dells for Hades and Avalanche and you wont regret it! Final Rating - 9.5 (Excellent-Approaching Superior)

The Hades is the star of Mt. Olympus, though maybe not the overall star of the Dells area. That Galaxi at Riverview is something else. Kidding. The tunnel absolutely makes the ride. Theres nothing else like it. After 7 rides I was still unable to anticipate or prepare for the experience of racing through that tunnel in total darkness. Yes kids you can see nothing in there. Its as dark as turning the lights off in a cave. Going towards the light at the end of the tunnel is another experience in itself. My favorite Hades experience was my first ride in the front seat. Staring down from the top of the lift hill it really looks like youre going to crash straight into the cars in the parking lot. Awesome. You have to look down in order to see that this is just an illusion. The pre-lift hill stage is, as other people have said, the best around. You get some really nice drops and turns before the ride even climbs the lift, especially in the back seat which is forcefully ripped out of the station by the weight of the rest of the train. You gotta love that back seat. Now onto the problems. Firstly, I wanted more airtime. Why oh why does this major attraction only have one train? I dealt with 20 minute waits nearly all day that would have been half that or less with a second train. The design also looks like installing a transfer track would be a real nightmare now. Furthermore, you have to wait on some cheap cantilever steps in line. They are rickety and dont feel solid, but the train shaking them in the fly-by I actually liked. Also, why not have your best ride ops work your star attraction? The girls that worked the day when I went spoke nearly no English and were disinterested to the extreme. Finally, how about adding a handicap accessibility ramp to this multimillion dollar ride. Im not handicapped, but it just seems half-assed to not spend a few more thousand on a ramp. Seriously, thats peanuts compared to digging under your entire parking lot.

See Timbermans review. The man hit the nail on the head. Insanity from the moment you drop out of the station thinking "WHOA WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING". Airtime, laterals, speed, fun, intensity, excitement, this thing has all of those and delivers them in spades.

Absolutely Amazing!!! This coaster opened my eyes to the wood coaster universe. From the drop out of the station---to the final moments when you hit the brakes, it does not let up. It has the best pre-lift section of any coaster in the world. What it may lack in negative Gs, is totally redeemed by the utter intensity. This ride is the most intense ride I have ever been...I had a hard time catching my breath walking down the exit because it toally took my breath away. The only down-side for me was having to walk up the endless flights of stairs to the station, and the fact that Mt. Olympus has the WORLDS WORST STAFF EVER!!! Still...Im completely hooked by Hades and will certainly be returning numerous times over the summer. I cannot recommend a better wood coaster...you have to ride it for yourself!

My favorite roller coasters have always had an element of gnarliness -- not roughness or harshness per se, just some edge that demands something of the rider. At their most elemental, roller coasters are based on the illusion of riding a train that has gone out of control. Sustaining this illusion, for me, requires a ride thats not afraid to get physical, to shake you up a little. Yet a roller coaster should be a fun, thrilling experience, not a potentially injurious endurance test. While the line of demarcation between the two varies by individual, the modern trend is toward larger, faster, and more refined. I dread the day when gnarliness becomes a thing of the past and the experience of riding a roller coaster involves little more than than a quick rush of variously tilting scenery, the feeling of more or less weight on ones tuckus, and a stiff breeze in the face.

Thankfully, however, were not there yet. Instead, with Hades, we may have arrived at the most nearly optimal roller coaster experience for the widest segment of the population. This is a coaster that stout thrill seekers, children, and grandparents can all enjoy together. Its ride would be almost annoyingly perfect, except that this close an approximation of perfection cannot be annoying.

The thrills come with no waiting. Before you even reach the lift, you are treated to a microcosm of the entire roller coaster experience: a great drop, airtime, speed, laterals, and expertly-executed transitions which lead into a long, shallow lift that allows you ponder the mystery of being in the middle of Wisconsin aboard what just may be the worlds most well-balanced roller coaster. Im not into stats for their own sake, but who can argue with a tall, steep drop when followed by a stellar layout? Before I rode Hades, I thought the underground section was just a gimmick to grab the easiest available record. I was wrong. Even if it were ridden in clear, calm daylight, the stretch of track that follows the lift would be amazing. In inky blackness, it is transformative. The train dips, jukes, climbs the walls, and leaves you wondering which way is up during eight plus seconds of total disorientation before blasting into the light and up and around a twisting, diving turnaround. Then it hurtles over a brief hill and through some kitchy plastic ruins back into the subterranean Maelstrom. The station fly-by on the return trip is the best of its kind. From the queue, the entire station shakes, and the train doesnt just lumber past, it rockets by and negotiates the next turn like Roadrunner giving Wile E. Coyote the slip. The finale, a low-level, sweeping turn, features shallow banking and heavy laterals to remind you that this ride, however finely-tuned, means business.

After the final descent into the station, riders often break into the sort of cheering normally seen these days only on the supermodel steelies. Stepping off the ride, my legs were literally wobbly, yet the experience, while intense and even gutsy, could not be called gnarly. Rather, Hades feels like the bridge that will bring wooden coasters into the 21st century. It captures the essence of the traditional icons but with a finesse that refuses to look back. Impeccable engineering combined with a sense of adventure equals hope for the future of roller coaster design.

I agree with most of what has been said so far. Its a great ride. The ride is a a bit more stiff then there other coasters, not rough, just doesnt have that fluid feeling the parks other coaster have. The tunnel is what sets this coaster apart from all other wooden coasters... you fly through at top speeds and the tunnel is still long enough for the majority of the the trip through is pitch black. One of a kind.

Im not going to go into much detail, but I just have to say that this ride is all about the tunneled sections. Just completely mind-blowing fun. The entire ride is filled with little unexpected pops of air, and great long floating air, as on the drop and entrance back into the tunnel from the first turnaround. Excellent ride, as good or better than Raven, Cornball Express, and Avalanche.

Amazing. Like no other wooden roller coaster on the planet. The height, the speed, the airtime, the exhiliration, the originality. This ride has it all! The back seat is the money seat. In the back, you get a strong pop of air coming out of the station and on all of the hills leading up to the lift as well as over top of the lift hill. The amazing tunnel is also even crazier in the back with the rest of the train whipping you through all of the turns and hills including the ridiculous 90 degree banked turn, all in complete darkness. Grazity Group has debuted in a big way and I will go to the ends of the Earth to ride their rides if theyre even close to this good. Too bad a "real" amusement park didnt get it.