Welcome to airtime heaven. There are really only four good moments of airtime but they are insane ejector airtime moments. The best airtime Ive ever experienced. All seats deliver an amazing ride but i reccomend at least one front seat ride so you can truly experience the greatest drop on any roller coaster, anywhere. I also highly reccomend the flash pass, especially if you want to experience the bulk of the park in one day. We went on a pretty busy day (most days at great adventure are) and got a handful of rides on both kingda ka and el toro with no wait while the general public line for both hovered around 2.5-3 hour waits. An extra 1,000-1,500 feet and I probably would have given the edge to this ride in the great el toro vs. the voyage debate

just rode it today as my 96th wooden coaster. This is a great addition for SFGAdv to fill a much needed niche in the wood department. It seems like two different rides with the front half providing air and the last third acting like a twister.

This ride falls just short of a 10 for a couple of reasons. While there is airtime you are stapled in too tight to enjoy it. Also, the change of directions in the last third just doesnt feel right. If they are there for you to enjoy the overbanked turns they do it too quickly but if it is meant to feel like a trick-track it is done too slowly.

This is a new generation woodie that provides air, speed and overbanked turns after the 76 degree drop. It should be a big favorite with the general public.

Before anyone gets all over me for "only" a 9, please keep in mind I think it is very close and the rating may go up as I ride it more. Im trying to limit my ratings of 10 to only the 10% of my wooden coasters and there are at least 9 other wooden coasters I prefer over El Toro.

Edit: 9/11/06 Ater riding two more times yesterday I have increased the rating to a 10. While the operations still have room for improvement it is a vast step forward from the rest of the summer. The transitions in the last third seem crisper and more fun than earlier in the season.

WOW!!!just rode it for the first time today. i was in the front row, and it was well worth the wait! this ride is INCREDIBLE. the fast cable lift gets you excited. the first drop is just pure speed and insanity. the airtime on the next two hills is amazing, most ive ever felt. the turn around was smooth and fast. the hill going into the twister section has THE MOST INSANE airtime ive ever experienced and probably youll ever experience. the twister section was smooth, very fast, and just plain fun. i got off this ride knowing, this is my new favorite roller coaster.the airtime alone makes it awesome, but the drops and twists are awesome too.so if you havent been on el toro yet, GET TO GREAT ADVENTURE AND GRAB THE BULL BY THE HORNS!!

I have only had one ride on El Toro and all I could say for the whole ride was "Wow!" There are only two rides (out of 50 some) that make me happy just thinking about how great the ride was: S:ROS @ SFNE and El Toro. Truly amazing airtime throughout with a mix of twisting banked turns which were taken with such speed and smoothness. The ejector air was more powerful than any coaster Ive ever been on including superman, and is my new favorite roller coaster. I have only one ride in the very back seat which was truly the best ride Ive ever had on any roller coaster. The first drop feels vertical, or nearly so and the aitime crossing over RT was by far the best moment of air time EVER. The elevator lift system is faster than millenium force, and starts off slow, then picks up all of a sudden, and it felt like a launch almost! Intamin hit it home with this and aI cant imagine how they could possibly top it. Everyone should get out to SFGAdv and ride this beast.

This is the future of coasters! Nearly 9 months Ive waited to ride this animal. 8+ months and an additional 2 hour wait, but it was all worth it, trust me. Ive anticipated it even more than Kingda Ka. But what about the ride itself? Uh----Mazing!!! The trains were great and comfortable, but I do understand why they "staple" you in. That air is so powerful its not funny. The cable lift proved to be a nice change for woodies, and its one of the fastest out there. Its slow at the bottom, but the train gains speed higher up. While cruising through the turn way up there, you might think, "Hmmm, are they SURE this things been tested?" That first sucker looks unnerving from the turn at the top. Then it happens. All hell breaks lose on the drop and Im glad that SFGA decided on breaking the record for steepest drop on a wooden coaster. The next two hills are incredibly airy, and the turnaround is surprisingly smooth for such serious banking. I enjoyed the speed hill, but one of the rides signature moments is when it drops into the twister section. In the words of airtime, this is extremely hard to beat its just crazy! More aggressive banking lurks in this section. Some people will scoff at how the ride ends after such impeccable elements, but it was good enough for me. Smoothness, speed, air. Thats what all coasters need to top the charts. I say El Toro checks out a-okay. Im sorry mister, but even after riding it again today, I still think Magnum rox better than this. Either way, you must be at least 100 percent fun to conquer this child.

This is an exceptional coaster in appearence, features and ride quality it deserves a "5" rating. However, I am not convinced that it is the world's best wooden roller coaster as Six Flags claims. First, although it has a wood frame, it rides more like a steel coaster than like a woodie. Indeed, it is easier to compare El Toro to Nitro or to Superman Ride of Steel at Six Flags New England than it is to compare El Toro to Rolling Thunder or to Boulder Dash at Lake Compounce. Second, most coasters are either out and back or a twister and in its desire to be both El Toro falls short of being the greatest at either. As an out and back, it features a unique lift hill, an unusually fast top turn, a wickedly steep first drop, numerous head choppers and great airtime. But, despite these positive attributes, El Toros out and back section lacks the sense of covering vast distances that the great classic out and backs enjoy. The Boulder Dash, The Beast at Kings Island, The Comet at Great Escape, the Wild One at Six Flags America, even The Racer/The Rebel Yell at Kings Island and Kings Dominion, all make you feel like you went someplace. Nitro also has a better there and back feel. As a twister, El Toros twisting section is fast and fun, but it is too short and compact for a coaster in this class. The Coney Island Cyclone and the various B&M and Batmans mix you up in furious knots in ways that are more satisfying than El Toro. The twisting elements should be bigger (e.g., think of the double helix on The Beast and the second mist tunnel on Superman Ride of Steel) and the section should be longer in duration (e.g., The Coney Island Cyclone). Indeed, the twister section of El Toro is so compact it is vaguely reminsicent of much smaller bobsled coasters like the Avalanche at Kings Dominion that try to compensate for their lack of scale with small tight turns. It is possible for a hybrid design to be great at both out and back and twister elements. Superman Ride of Steel's twister section has a scale befitting a 200 foot coaster, while the big drops at the start combined with the sunstantial bunny hills at the end remind you this is also a great out and back.

Appearence: 10 Comfort: 10 Originality: 9 Ride Experience: 10 Re-Ride: 10

Ok, to start, this ride looks incredible, especialy from across the creek. Its just a mass of support and it makes the ride look terrifying yet very cool at the same time. It has descent theming, ive seen better but at least they tried. Theres the bull statue in the front of the line and then they have all of those posters, its not bad. Next, this ride was VERY comfortable. The restraints fit nicely, and you barley notice the seatbelt. The ride is smooth as glass, and incredibly quiet.
For originality, well the first part was pretty much a direct copy from Colossus. It has a good variety of elements, from the cable lift hill, to the headchoppers, camel backs, and twister section.
Now for the important part. This ride is absolutley incredible! Ive been reading about the ride and how it has amazing ejecter air and how the drop is incredible. But i didnt exactly know what that was if you understand. Ive never in my life expierenced ejecter air, so I didnt know what was coming. For the drop nitros drop was the best ive experienced before this so i was thinking something along the lines of that. But i was wrong. Very wrong. This drop blows nitros out of the water, you are THROWN over that drop (especialy in the back) and its almost straight down! Absolutley amazing. Exceeded my expectations. The airtime, just wow. I now know what ejecter air is, and i love it. It was amazing. Then the turnaroudn was good, very fast and on the right side of the car its pretty cool. Then the drop coming out of it was cool, no extreme forces, but cool, same thing with that little speed hill after it. Then the drop into the twister section. I read before i went on this, that it has the most amazing ejecter air ever. After reading that and now knowing what ejecter air time really is, that part still surprised the hell out of me. It was incredible, nothing like ive ever experienced. Then the twister section, which was good and you really fly through those turns.
Now for Re-Ride, lets just say that the next time i go to the park, i want to go straight to this. I really dont want to ride anything else. That is how good this ride is. For some final statements, this ride was aproprietly named. It really tries very hard to throw you off this ride ,like a bull would do if you were trying to ride it. Overall a 10/10 i feel that the ride experience overwhelmed the fact it wasnt perfectly original, so ill give it the perfect score.

El Toro is not an average straight out & back, up and down woodie. B&M and GCI seem to have hooked up and had a love child in Madrid or Mexico City, that mustve been kidnapped by Intamin. It is fast, silky smooth, and curvier than Linda Carter as Wonder Woman. Maybe it’s just a really good faux wood finish on steel. Approaching the station, I love the broken looking façade where it abuts the track, however the anatomically correct (I guess) bull statue in the courtyard outside is obscene. The train loads slowly, since ride ops must place the lap bars down for you, and apparently must ram them in until they are dangerously close to vital organs – you’ll forget that soon enough. It seems that if they don’t have enough pressure on the passenger’s body the dispatcher receives an error message, so until the ride ops are more experienced you will hear “Check one, check six” so the ops can reset and re-jam the restraints.

Once the train is finally dispatched, you will curve around and approach the lift which starts up normally but then switches into a smooth clickety-clackless turbo. At the crest of the lift, you turn to face first Kingda Ka, then Rolling Thunder far below, and then just rolling hills of wood stretch before you. Then you plunge 176 feet down at 76 degrees. After trying the third row, middle, and back twice, while I feel like I am staring straight down and my bottom is full out of my seat, that descent just doesn’t last long enough for me to call it ‘white knuckle,’ but man is it fun! I have an acquaintance who always tries to greet and bid adieu with a ‘high five,’ and I’ve advised him that unless I’ve just scored a touchdown, it is not a ‘high five’ moment: THIS was a ‘high five’ moment, I just didn’t fear for my life. Towards the front of the train, the first set of head choppers did make me fear a concussion a little. While the next hill was smaller, to me it was more thrilling, and the third hill was also marvelous, ending in more headchoppers running under the returning track. The turnaround curves you up, then down and around at slightly more than 180 degrees while you feel like you are about 80 degrees on your side. I definitely prefer the right side of the train for that. There’s another hill which is just nice followed by a bunny hop/speed bump. And then you turn towards Rolling Thunder.

Reviewing some old SFGAdv fan sites, the really knowledgeable coaster lovers knew from last September when it was first announced with drawings that this minor-looking hill was going to be, well, awesome. On every ride, in every seat, I felt like the human cannonball as we crested over Rolling Thunder’s track. The twister section has some nice banks, including a 270 degree turnaround, but for me this was an opportunity to catch my breath and count all my pieces. Another bunny hop, brakes, and back into the station.

This is an amazing ride, easily the best I have been on in my limited experience. I don’t expect to come across anything better, or equal, anytime soon. The demonic bull on the front of the train can keep his evil eyes, but he really should be grinning from ear to ear.

Im afraid I cant be as eloquent as these gentlemen, but my feelings are about the same. This coaster is just about perfect. We sat in the third row which is in the same portion of the train as the first row, only more elevated. The lift hill was smoothness incarnate. The first two hills were amazing. The laterals were amazing. Ive always enjoyed a good wooden coaster but usually gravitated more toward smooth steel coasters. This coaster puts me back in awe of a good woodie. In fact, it replaces Nitro as my current favorite coaster, bar none. Youve got to ride it.

El Toro brings Six Flags Great Adventure something it has sorely needed, a phenomenal wooden coaster. I don't really rank my coasters, but if I did, this one would be up there pretty high. The fun starts right on the lift hill, which is considerably faster then any other lift out there. You fly up it and around the turn around, and then down the first drop, and what a drop it is. I don't really know how to best describe the first drop, it leaves you speechless. You are flung from your seat and don't land back into it until you reach the bottom. As you bottom out you plunge into the woodwork, with head choppers that are sure to make you put your hands down. The next two hills are simply amazing, some of the best airtime hills on any coaster, anywhere. At the turn around you get thrown into a steep banked turn and dive down and around to the other side of the outbound track. Next is one of the weak spots on the coaster, a few speed humps that give up some airtime, but not much, before a long left turn that leads to the twister section, with a great head chopper right in the middle of the turn. Next comes the surprise element, the one that will WOW everyone that rides because it is hidden and unexpected. After crossing over Rolling Thunder, you dive into the twister section on this steep, abrupt hill that tosses you from your seat and then quickly flies through a right, left, right turn sequence that is lightning fast and stunningly close to the ground. However, this is followed up by the weakest part of the ride, two little bunny hills that the train almost meanders over, giving little airtime. To the coasters credit, as the day wears on this section does speed up, but never really lives up to what the rest of the ride is. And the rest of the ride is fantastic. Some people will not like how glass smooth it is, it feels like a steel coaster, but the general public reaction has been fantastic, and those are the opinions that really matter. Externally, I love the rides location, you get great views of it, yet at the same time part of it is hidden and a surprise to riders. I love how the ride seems to wrap around the new Plaza Del Carnival section. The trains are relatively comfortable, I think mostly because of the smooth ride, since there is little padding, and what there is of it is the harder foam. They do staple you in, and larger people will not be able to ride as the sensors on the train are very finicky. Operations were a little slow, but I think they will pick up are they get procedures down. Overall, El Toro is a must ride, it is simply awesome and unlike any coaster out there. UPDATE - Ive now ridden the coaster at night, and boy does it pick up speed. There is air on every hill, and the train just flies through the course. It is still not enough for me to bump it to a ten because it is not consistent, but it is close. EDIT - Corrected some spelling mistakes.