Grizzly has earned a strange badge of honor for 15 years straight, being famous for claiming the title of "World's Worst Woodie." Now, is Grizzly really that bad? Why would Grizzly be rated so low?
Grizzly is famous for its layout that does almost nothing. Unlike its sister Grizzly at Kings Dominion, this coaster features long stretches of drawn out track between the turnarounds...thus resulting in a yawn-inducing ride.
Grizzly can also be seen in a different way. Grizzly is often described as the gateway to riding larger coasters. While Grizzly is fairly tall for a family ride, its performance is rather mellow. This could be a good thing for those who aren't quite ready to take on more wilder rides but still want to build up their confidence. As a kid, I was actually intimidated by Grizzly's height but came off fine just after that and was not too frightened. On the flipside, the 'intimidating appearance' can be misleading for one looking for thrills and will come off disappointed. In the end, Grizzly has its strong points (being a good 'large scale starter coaster') but has its weak points (being rather forceless and tame).
As tame as Grizzly is, it features the most seatbelts I've seen for a wooden coaster. It's actually a bit funny that the mellowest of the woodies I've ridden seems to have overkill restraining system. A coaster running similar trains (down at SC Boardwalk) gets by with just the lapbar and no extras...while providing a wild ride despite its age.
