Outlaw Run sets out to be the most daring, innovative, and wild wooden coaster on the planet, and make no mistake: It's great. And yet, I find myself at least somewhat disappointed.
Your journey on Outlaw Run starts with a surprisingly fast 100-feet tall chain lift ascent. You only have a few seconds to take in the view of the Ozarks from the top before you take a quick dip, rise up, and begin the 160-feet tall record breaking 81 degree descent. The airtime in the back is great, but I hesitate to call it ejector air. The drop is unfortunately at 81 degrees for too short of time as you're pulling out of the drop just as the airtime reaches its peak intensity.
Next, you launch up and to the left towards the 153 degree turn/inversion. I found this to by far be the weakest point of the ride. I was hoping for a Maverick-like experience without the awful OTSR: a wild flip to the side. Instead, the inversion feels surprisingly gentle - almost like any other zero-g roll. It's far from bad, but somehow manages to fail miserably at feeling unique. There is some airtime coming in and out of it, though, which is a nice surprise.
After a somewhat weak element, the ride charges to the left and begins the best series of elements on the ride: the two airtime hills and the turning hill below the lift. You get very intense and wild airtime over these hills that's oh so sweet, but unfortunately, also oh so short lived. Unlike rides like The Voyage where you're launched into the air for seconds at a time, the airtime on Outlaw Run usually comes in fairly short but very intense bursts. In a way, it's more like a very intense GCI coaster. Again, it's great, but I prefer remaining out of my seat for much longer periods of time. The one exception to this rule is the exit of the turn below the lift: you get very intense airtime, it lasts much longer than the previous hills, and you're wildly twisting the whole way through. This is more like what I was hoping the first inversion would be like.
Next up comes the strangest element of the ride: what I call the sideways hill. The train remains tilted 90 degrees to the right and yet never really turns. Unfortunately, I call this the strangest element in that it somehow feels...normal. I'd read reports online that there was very intense "Lateral airtime" on this hill and I'm honestly confused what they meant by that - My brother and I both agreed that if you had blindfolded us, we'd honestly never know we weren't right-side-up. With that being said, you still get plenty of airtime on this hill although not as much as the hills that come before it, so it's still fun.
After one last quick airtime hill, you charge up into the double barrel roll. Before riding, I honestly expected this element to feel the least unique, and it blew away my expectations. During the second barrel roll, you definitely feel yourself turning while you're still mostly upside-down. It's a very unique and fun feeling and by far the most original part of the ride. And on that note, Outlaw Run hits the brakes.
As great as the ride is, I definitely found myself disappointed as I hit the brake run. Perhaps all of the overwhelmingly positive reviews online had raised my expectations too high as I was expecting it to easily become my favorite wooden coaster. And yet, not only did that not happen - it didn't even come close to happening. I was hoping this would feel like a game-changer: something so wildly unique that I couldn't imagine another ride like it. However, with the lone exception of the final barrel roll, it simply feels like a really good ride. It tries to be wild and it does succeed, but not as much as rides like Maverick. It tries to be an airtime machine and it is but not as much as The Voyage. If it were longer, maybe it could have found a perfect mix between the two but it's way too incredibly short for that.
And then there's the other major problem: The restraints. There's a horizontal bar that runs right along your legs and if you're tall like me, it's uncomfortable no matter how you slice it. Making matters worse, if the ride staff staples you as they check the lap bars, the restraint quickly becomes a torture device. During my second time on the ride after this happened to me, my leg hit the bar so hard on every airtime hill that I still have a giant bruise half a week later. The pain in addition to the wildness of the barrel rolls pretty well made me not want to ride anything for the rest of the day, and that simply isn't the feeling I want when I get off a ride.
Now, with all of this being said, you'd probably expect me to give the ride a much lower grade than a 9. The simple fact is that in spite of all of its problems, Outlaw Run is still a solid ride that's tons of fun. The airtime, despite how short lived it is, is very intense and even the worse elements still aren't bad. It's a very great ride - it's just not one of the best.
Pros
+++ Intense Airtime
+ Mostly consistent quality
+ Great theming
+ All around enjoyable
+ Smooth but retains a slight rattle: it definitely feels like a wooden coaster
Cons
-- That dang bar across my legs
- Unbelievably short ride time
- Airtime comes in short bursts instead of prolonged hills
- Original elements don't feel as original as previously hoped
Overall Grade: A-
