So the keyholes have me thinking...

So, I'm going to confess this might be more a Coasterbuzz-worthy topic, but I don't post over there so...

The keyholes have me thinking, as wing coasters become more and more popular (hopefully) how could other parks "top" Gatekeepers keyholes-over-the-gate element?

The only one that I've been able to come up with(and would totally build in RCT3 if I knew how to set up mods) is "Barnstormer" with the coaster themed like a post WWII cropduster having some fun, and making a narrow miss though a barn that has its doors partially open.

The Swarm over in Europe added a fly through element. The first drop I believe goes through a double sided billboard. Both sides have ironic apocolyptic ads on them that tie in with the ride theme. As in future wing coasters, I do see sort of a one up the other guys in terms of near miss elements and keyholes.

Swarm has arguably the coolest station of any of the wing coasters.

Coolest yes, but Raptor at Gardaland has the best theme elements imo.

I dont like that the station doesn't have a roof but other than that, its awesome!!

Titanic: The Ride, but that wouldn't exactly be a near miss...

^ +1

CoasterFreak31899 said:
Titanic: The Ride, but that wouldn't exactly be a near miss...

Main element is hitting the propeller!

CoasterFreak31899 said:
Titanic: The Ride, but that wouldn't exactly be a near miss...

That long awaited Aquatrax at last?!

Jeff said:
Swarm has arguably the coolest station of any of the wing coasters.

I think overall Swarm has the best station, trains, and theme for the ride. It just looks incredible.

This is why I wish we had webcams so we can see what's going on. We could be missing out on a good looking station.

I doubt it, CP is terrible at themeing. They just let the steel speak for itself.

I've always liked how Cedar Point makes appealing design choices in spite of doing an over themed design (at least in terms of recent rides). Dragster, Maverick, STR and (I'm going to guess now), Gatekeeper have pretty decent station designs for what it's worth. They're not over the top but they're not boring at the same time. At least that's how I look at it.

^ Out of all the rides you mentioned, I like the Maverick station the best. The reason to that is because they utilized WWL station and gave it that old western feel to it! :)

I especially like Maverick's station around sunset. It's cool when you're in line for a row and you look out and see the trains flying along the course with the sunset over the lake in the background. At night, TTD's station is the best with the lighting and overall design.

My personal favorites are Maverick and Top Thrill Dragster. Dragster's station is very sleek yet simple. Gatekeeper has to be my least favorite station from looking from the webcams. Hopefully in person it looks better.

Maverick is by far my favorite. Nearly the whole queue is shaded and the landscaping around the entire ride is beautiful.

Maverick is my favorite as well... As for GateKeeper, I think they've done a good job, but there are so many parks that have utilized that station design for their rides such as Storm Runner at Hershey and even Kingda Ka has that similar look to it. My vision of a station for a ride like GateKeeper would be a castle-like structure with gargoyles looming overhead to give it that mythological/medieval feel. Now I'm not saying the station design is "bad", I mean just look at Nitro. Additionally, I'm sorry to get off topic, but it seems as though the way we rate coasters nowadays is like it is with No Limits: The scenery and theming almost matters more than the track design of the ride itself.

That website you linked to appears to be blocked from PointBuzz.

See what I mean? They blocked it because Nitro's station design is that bad! But maybe this link will work: http://www.ultimaterollercoaster.com/news/archives/2001/img/nitro_041201/nitro1.jpg