Coaster reviews

You'll never get another experience like reaching the peak of the 1-minute, 300-foot lift for the first time. I looked over the Pacific with my girlfriend next to me and knew I was where I wanted to b...

You'll never get another experience like reaching the peak of the 1-minute, 300-foot lift for the first time. I looked over the Pacific with my girlfriend next to me and knew I was where I wanted to be. The drop is honestly not that intense for its staggering height, but the real fun comes from the 2nd half, where the steel dragon starts flying in a sine wave.

Would have to say the best coaster I've ridden. Not a moment where I would blame someone for screaming their lungs out--the ride operators aren't too strict on the lap bar tightness, so you could be o...

Would have to say the best coaster I've ridden. Not a moment where I would blame someone for screaming their lungs out--the ride operators aren't too strict on the lap bar tightness, so you could be out of your seat the whole ride. Never ridden a coaster with so many inversions without having a headache after, but this was the first. Must-ride if you're in Japan. (necessary addition: nagashima has some awful ride-ops with almost all coasters running only 1 train, so even the short average lines will have you waiting 25-30, but even 90 minutes would be worth the wait for this one)

This was my first Intamin hyper (and my firsts Intamin with a chain lift hill too). I think it is also one of Intamin's early hypers too, and it shows. It is definitely fun, but in a jankier way tha...

This was my first Intamin hyper (and my firsts Intamin with a chain lift hill too). I think it is also one of Intamin's early hypers too, and it shows. It is definitely fun, but in a jankier way than I was expecting with some apparent tangent-radius bank transitions. The first drop is great and offers ejector airtime in the back of the train. The large camelback also offers solid airtime, though the hill isn't profiled as well as newer hypers, so the airtime doesn't last as long as you might expect. The bunny hops at the end also have strong airtime, but I prefer more sustained airtime than that. The helices offer good positive Gs and strong laterals, but are plentiful and drawn-out enough to become uninteresting after a while. The tracking isn't what I would call smooth, but it also isn't rough in a way that I suspect would give me a headache. The trains are a bit cramped for someone with legs as long as mine.

I already suspected I was going to like Batwing since I am one of the rare people who actually enjoyed Nighthawk at Carowinds. That said, I still left pleasantly surprised at how much fun it was. Un...

I already suspected I was going to like Batwing since I am one of the rare people who actually enjoyed Nighthawk at Carowinds. That said, I still left pleasantly surprised at how much fun it was. Unlike many of the B&M flyers, this one keeps up the intensity the whole time and even pulls some positive Gs in the flying position. The inversions are all fun. The inline twists are more comfortable and less disorienting than the corkscrews on Nighthawk were. The best inversion is of course the vertical loop though. It has plenty of positive Gs in both the entry and the exit, and honestly the lying position is my favorite way to experience positive Gs since I am rather prone to grayouts with positive Gs in the sitting position. As far as the ride experience, I don't really have anything negative to say. The tracking isn't quite glass-smooth, but there aren't any potholes and I could see myself riding this many times without getting a headache. However, the capacity and reliability are awful enough to the point where that would be difficult. While I was waiting in line for it, it went down. After the mechanics worked on it, it did an empty cycle and then a cycle with 2 operators. The train got stuck in the "down" position after that cycle, so maintenance came back and worked on it again,, followed by another empty cycle. After that, I finally got to ride. (Almost the entire line had cleared out in the meantime.) I can definitely see why these were never popular with parks, but I will be sad to see this one go. Fun fact: This coaster, which was made in 2001, is the newest-manufactured coaster at SFA. With that level of neglect, it is really no surprise this park is extinct…

The rattle caused the ride to be slightly jarring but I liked it overall. I didn't get to pick my own music though as I overestimated the amount of time I would have to pick. The straight up lift hill...

The rattle caused the ride to be slightly jarring but I liked it overall. I didn't get to pick my own music though as I overestimated the amount of time I would have to pick. The straight up lift hill is great, an the layout is decent.