Long time never a ride on this and when I finally got to do it, I was positively surprised. I imagined this thing to be overhyped immensely, but can see where its reputation comes from.
After going u...
Long time never a ride on this and when I finally got to do it, I was positively surprised. I imagined this thing to be overhyped immensely, but can see where its reputation comes from.
After going up the fast cable lift hill providing you with a great overview of the layout, the drop - as usual - offers vastly different experiences in the front and the back. While the front slowly exposes you to the steepness of the drop and finally lets you plummet down, the back row is clearly where its at. It feels like multiple stages of "WHOA!" in quick succession, until you finally realize, you are really being pulled down that seemingly vertical drop that fast and completely fly out of your seat. You really do not feel being connected to the coaster for a moment, but rather like you were skydiving or something. I think it is amazing. If you prefer drops that feel very long, this might not be for you, though, as it is over quite quickly.
Now you are going full speed over the first airtime hill. This does not feel like the strongest airtime of the ride, but the longest. And for its duration its still incredibly strong! So the opening is great. You take a curve and then your second airtime hill. This is my favourite out of the larger hills, your thighs will immediately remind you of that. Absolutely strong ejector. I had a tendency to imagine Senator Palpatine screaming his "unlimited-power"-line before my eyes, when I rode this hill. Now imagine Werner Stengel saying this line in his office. It's hilarious. I'm getting off track.
The layout in general is very smart, comprising little element-diversity, but is done in a way that it is still not very predictable for the first couple of rides. Also, the timing of the elements is perfect, for me personally there are no dead spots.
The transition roughly halfway through the track is another highlight, giving a little bit of air in conjunction with the surprisingly noticeable change of direction (nothing violent though). Final bunny hops provide equally strong ejector airtime again and provide a great closer. Constantly strong positives in between the hills are present, as well.
Seems like a description of a 5-star-ride. It is not for me and that has all got to do with the park. It is a mystery to me, how a ride of this quality can be presented so cheaply. The station building is a joke (I heard it didn't even have one for a long time), as is the "tent" for the second train. The ride would immensely benefit from a proper soundtrack (it actually had one once), but is now sponsored by a radio station and has to endure weak remixes of sub-par chart songs. Immediate fairground atmosphere, but not in a good way. The bleeched orange colour of the track totally mismatches the cheap-looking yellow trains, that make you hope their underlying structure is of greater stability. If it weren't for the beautiful forest this park can use to its advantage, this coaster's overall presentation would be a disaster. I developed no emotional connection to the coaster at all, because the park as a whole gave me no incentive to want to come back (which would be just for this ride anyway). That is kind of a tragedy, because out of its European sibling coasters Goliath at WH and (more remotely) Colossos at Heide Park, as a ride this is the best of the three for me - just not far ahead enough to compensate for the overall experience.