I’ve been on quite a few coaster boards while following Fahrenheit construction. During my visits I’ve noticed a trend of people comparing Fahrenheit to Maverick. And for the life of me I don’t understand why these coasters are being related to one another.

Let me start off by saying that they do have a few things in common. The first is that they are both made by Intamin. Both of the rides feature a “beyond vertical drop” (I still hate that term). Finally they have those mini Intiman trains that now seem to be all the rage. If you really want to stretch it you could say that they are both a shade of red, but that’s just silly.

Let’s look at the first thing they have in common, the maker. Now just looking at the two parks, we have Millennium Force, Wicked Twister, Top Thrill Dragster, and Storm Runner all made by the same company. That’s a soon to be six Intamin coasters between two parks (hogs). All of these coasters are drastically different from each other, with the launches from Storm Runner and Top Thrill Dragster being the only things really in common.

Now each coaster features a beyond vertical drop, which is getting more and more popular. There other companies and coasters that also do this, so I’m not willing to compare Maverick and Fahrenheit based on that. The same could be said with the trains. Sorter trains seem to be the “in” thing right now. Look at Mystery Mine, it has short trains and a beyond vertical drop, but it is not compared to either of other two.

But what do these coasters differ on? I’m going to say a lot. Let’s take a look at their lift hills first. Fahrenheit has a 90 degree lift, like Mystery Mine, and Maverick has a non-traditional “launched” lift. Maverick also follows up the first launch with a second launch later in the ride.

What about the layout? Aren’t they pretty close? Sorry, but they really don’t have much in common. Take a look at the pictures provided. Fahrenheit is much more compact. Fahrenheit features six inversions compared to Maverick’s two. Fahrenheit has a Norwegian Loop, Cobra Roll, and a Double Corkscrew while Maverick has two twisted horseshoe rolls (according to RCDB). Fahrenheit is 1750 feet shorter then Maverick, Let’s take a look at the stats for a better idea of how these rides differ.

Just looking at the stats I think it is pretty clear how different these rides are. Now you might be able to claim that Fahrenheit was inspired by Maverick, but we will never know the true answer to that. What do you think about the comparisons being made between the two coasters, discuss it in the forums.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 20th, 2008 at 5:49 pm and is filed under Weekly Topic. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.