Coaster at PNE Playland is one of the most unassuming roller coasters in the world.
This coaster’s stats will not blow you away.
This ride is just 68 feet or 21 meters tall, has a top speed of just 47 mph or 76 kph,
and a total track length of 2840 feet or 866 meters.
But this ride is one of the craziest roller coasters in the entire world.
The airtime on this coaster is unreal.
So in this video, I will review this amazing wooden roller coaster that not enough people
talk about.
POVs of this coaster do not do it justice.
Located at Playland in Vancouver, Canada, Coaster opened in 1958 and it is the oldest
operating roller coaster in all of Canada.
Coaster is nestled in the corner of the park and it earned the distinction as an ACE Roller
Coaster Landmark.
Coaster was designed by Carl Phare, who only designed three roller coasters in his career.
All three of these coasters were located in the Pacific Northwest and Coaster is the last
of his creations still standing.
And what I find especially interesting, there was a 28 year gap in between Phare designing
Coaster and his previous ride.
But Phare definitely left his mark with this crazy coaster.
This coaster defines Playland.
Most of the park feels like a permanent funfair, especially since I visited during the Pacific
National Exposition fair.
But this is the ride that brought me to the park and I spent almost my entire day waiting
for this coaster.
I got 5 rides on Coaster and I had to wait 6-7 hours total for those rides.
My work trip brought me to the area during the PNE Fair, which is notoriously the busiest
time of the year for Playland.
And Coaster had a full queue line that took roughly 1.5 hours to get through.
The wait was miserable.
The ride was only running one train- for reasons I’ll get to in a bit- and the entire queue
is a sea of switchbacks completely out in the open with no shade.
I’d be hard pressed to think of a worse queue line in terms of the set-up and length,
but it was worth it for Coaster.
And this ride was so good that I kept getting back in that queue line without any hesitation.
If you do want to maximize your rides on Coaster, I strongly recommend visiting when the PNE
Fair isn’t underway but for me, I either had to deal with that reality or skip this
park.
Many people praise Phoenix at Knoebels.
This ride recently won the top spot on Amusement Today’s Golden Ticket Awards.
And it often finds itself near the top of several other polls.
Phoenix is one of my favorites and it’s not hard to see why.
You have just buzz bars and no seat belts, so you have plenty of room to experience the
coaster’s airtime.
And Phoenix has plenty of it, especially during the second half when you’re cartoonishly
ejected.
I have a separate review on this coaster if you want to hear more why it’s one of my
favorite coasters, but I always have my hands up and come off with a smile on my face.
But I’m going to make a bold statement.
Coaster is Phoenix on steroids.
This coaster does everything that Phoenix does well, but better.
As minimalistic as the restraints on Phoenix are, they’re even less restrictive on Coaster.
You also have no seatbelts and just a single position lap-bar here, but it rests a little
higher and it’s a lot thinner.
This lap bar is just a thin metal bar.
So not only are the restraints even less than Phoenix, but the airtime is even stronger.
The airtime in the first half of Coaster reminded me of Phoenix.
But in the second half, I had to hold on for dear life.
I didn’t dare put my hands up.
The power of this airtime was downright frightening.
Some of the hills had the strength of GhostRider’s mid-course brake run drop or Raven’s 5th
drop, which is unreal for a coaster with this restraint set-up.
I genuinely mean this, but I don’t know how Coaster’s airtime is even legal with
these restraints.
But Coaster goes even further.
Whereas Phoenix has seat dividers, Coaster does not.
So on the turns, many of which are unbanked, you are slammed to the side of the train.
And if you ride alone, you’ll slide side to side across the whole row.
It’s a really neat sensation you rarely get on coaster’s nowadays.
The only other one that does something similar is the Coney Island Cyclone.
I am fearful these trains could change in the future though.
At one point, Playland had three operating trains on Coaster- a red train, a purple train,
and a yellow train.
But because they stopped running three trains simultaneously, they decided to turn the red
train into a parts donor for the other two trains.
On British Columbia Day 2019, Coaster had an incident.
The purple train stalled mid-ride right before the PNE Fair.
I was worried I would miss this bucket list coaster.
Fortunately, the park got Coaster back up and running, but they were only allowed to
operate it with the yellow train.
And that is the only train the ride has operated with ever since.
My fear is if something happens with the yellow train they would have to get new trains and
I doubt the restraints would be the same, but I don’t want to think about that dark
timeline.
So where should you sit on Coaster?
Both the front and back are equally as amazing for their own reasons.
The back has stronger airtime, but the front has stronger laterals.
But both rows have airtime and laterals far better than a majority of coasters so you
should try both.
In terms of smoothness, Coaster is remarkably smooth for a 60 plus year old ride.
The ride only had some minor vibrations at points, but this ride was extremely reridable.
The only way this coaster could cause discomfort is from the strength of the forces, not from
the trackwork.
Once dispatched, you round a corner and head up the lift hill.
Vancouver has a beautiful skyline with the skyscrapers and mountains, so you have a chance
to take this in before the mayhem starts.
The first drop gives some good floater airtime in the back row, but like Phoenix, Coaster
only gets wilder as the ride progresses.
The ride then rises up into the first turnaround.
Front row riders will get some very strong floater airtime and you’ll be levitating
against the bar for a few seconds.
After a slow turn, you drop off the turnaround.
And back row riders get a very strong burst of ejector airtime as they are slammed into
the bar.
At this point, I couldn’t keep my hands up.
You then traverse a giant camelback.
Front row riders get their first taste of ejector airtime on this hill, as they are
abruptly launched into the lap bar.
Back row riders only get a weak pop of airtime on this hill.
The second turnaround is great for front row riders.
The entrance into the turnaround is curved at the apex, so front row riders get a wonderful
combination of floater airtime and violent laterals.
Back row riders only get a mild laterals since the train loses most of its speed by the time
you crest this hill.
But don’t worry, the fourth drop is coming.
This turnaround is followed by an odd piece of straight track that I believe used to be
a mid-course brake run.
But then all of the sudden, the track disappears.
The fourth drop is the steepest drop on the ride and one of the most terrifying drops
in the world.
You crest this drop with some speed, so even front row riders get a tiny pop of airtime.
And if you’re in the back?
You get crazy standing ejector airtime.
This hill really does remind me of GhostRider’s mid-course brake run drop because of its placement
and airtime strength.
That’s followed by the third turnaround, which is barely banked at all.
The laterals in the back are good, but up front, they are downright insane.
Then comes a twisted airtime hill.
Front seat riders get a lethal combination of floater airtime and crazy laterals.
Keep in mind, the prior turnaround will have you on the left side of the train so this
airtime hill, which banks to the left, will mercilessly throw you to the right side of
the train.
Back row riders don’t get the laterals on this hill, but the airtime is stronger, as
it’s a powerful ejector pop.
Then comes the fourth turnaround.
This one delivers the laterals of the prior turnaround, so if you’re up front, you’re
thrown from the right side of the train back to the left side.
But unlike the prior turnaround, this one is kinked entering and exiting, so you get
a strong pop of airtime entering this turn up front and a strong pop of airtime exiting
this turn in the back.
That’s followed by arguably the wildest part of the ride- the back-to-back bunny hills.
I honestly have no clue how these hills haven’t ejected a rider.
This is as close as I have ever felt to falling off a roller coaster.
The airtime is extremely abrupt and powerful ejector airtime no matter where you are sitting.
Coaster then has one last turnaround that delivers another strong dose of laterals,
which again are better towards the front of the train.
This turnaround gives no airtime though.
You then zip over a little bunny hill that gives a weak pop of floater throughout the
train and then rise up into the brake run, which gives front row riders a mild pop of
airtime.
And after each ride, I was still left in awe how strong the airtime and laterals were.
I couldn’t believe I was still
in the train.
So what would I rate Coaster?
This ride earns a perfect 10 out of 10.
The trains absolutely make this coaster.
It gives this ride character few rides can match.
The forces this ride exerts combined with those minimalistic restraints makes this an
experience you won’t soon forget.
I could not believe how strong this coaster’s airtime and laterals were.
This ride was trying to launch me into the stratosphere and slam me through the side
of the train.
It was absolute bliss for a thrill-seeker such as myself.
Not only do I prefer this coaster over Phoenix, but this coaster is a top 5 wood coaster for
me and a top 10 coaster overall.
I don’t know when I’ll make it back to Playland, but it would be solely for Coaster.
I know not a lot of people visit the Pacific Northwest for a coaster trip, but this ride
really needs to be on your bucket list since it is one of the wildest rides in the world.
So those are my thoughts on Coaster at PNE Playland, one of the best coasters in the
world that more people need to experience.
Have you ridden this coaster?
Or is Coaster on your bucket list?
I would love to hear your thoughts down in the comments.
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Thanks for watching!