I’m not going to lie. I think I feel that drop on Sky School more than any drop on Incredicoaster. I don’t think it’s far fetched to say it’s the best drop of any coaster at DLR.
It's not a bad drop, but that particular ride is basically identical to any number of wild mouse coasters made by Mack (albeit tamed somewhat for Disney's sensibilities). So while good, it's not one I associate with Disney particularly.
My favorite DLR coaster drops are the big drop in the middle of Space Mountain or, even better, the dip on the Matterhorn Tomorrowland side that goes under the Fantasyland side. They're not necessarily intended to be as thrilling, but I also enjoy the dips into the water at the end of Matterhorn just because there's the unknown of potentially getting soaked (which hasn't happened to
me ever but has happened to at least a few POV recorders over the years).
But it was never meant to be like the mountains. The original was meant to mimic a seaside amusement parks coaster.
I would argue it’s in the middle and in its own category. The ride itself is too “extreme” (I can’t think of a better word) to be compared to any of the other Disney rides and is too themed and not extreme enough to be compared to the behemoths at MM.
I suppose it's true that it was never meant to be like the mountains, but Superstar Limo was never meant to be like Pirates or Mansion and yet was judged against them anyway. To me it's a similar sort of case. It may not be a fair or equal comparison, but it most certainly happened when that ride was around
Incredicoaster is definitely "extreme" or bordering on it for the bulk of Disney's demographic, but of the roller coasters that currently exist at DLR, if you were to put all of them out in the middle of an empty field at a more conventional amusement park, Incredicoaster would easily fit better than any of the others. It's made by Intamin (a coaster manufacturer typically associated with more extreme rides) with their signature, undisguised track style, so that's immediately going to make subconscious associations in my brain, which is admittedly perhaps more of a personal problem rather than any actual fault of the ride itself. If the ride is themed, which is kind of dubious to me, its theming is/was primarily in its structure, in which case all one would need to do to adapt it for a conventional park would be to change the structure and it would instantly look right at home at a Six Flags park, where it would likely be lauded as a perfect "in between" sort of ride.
Not all of Magic Mountain's rides are extreme (ex. Goldrusher, Ninja) and arguably one of their newest rides, West Coast Racers, isn't really too far removed from something like Incredicoaster. So I think it would actually fit in just fine at a park like Magic Mountain (and it would actually fit in quite well in many more coaster parks than not, giving them an in between sort of ride they would benefit from). Here's West Coast Racers for comparison (with apologies for the awkward middle section where the train's just waiting for the next train be dispatched before the ride continues). Other than going upside down a few more times it's not doing anything dissimilar to what Incredicoaster does: multiple launches, banked turns, helices, etc.:
EDIT: I can't believe my enthusiast brain also forgot Revolution in the same park! Another ride not all that dissimilar from Incredicoaster, down to only having a single loop. Other than using specialized terrain, it's not doing anything terribly different from the DCA ride:
I haven’t been on a non-DLR coaster (besides the Mummy at USH) in over 10 years. It’s time.
Oh my. Not even Knott's?
So what you're saying is that next time I'm in California we need to take an emergency trip to Six Flags?
