It's way too forceless and also a bit rattly. The launch out of the station is a pretty fun effect, but the rest just feels pointless due to no forces...
It's way too forceless and also a bit rattly. The launch out of the station is a pretty fun effect, but the rest just feels pointless due to no forces and no inversions.
Rode it once first row, no interest in riding it ever again. It wasn't even really uncomfortable for me (because it was cold and so I was wearing a bu...
Rode it once first row, no interest in riding it ever again. It wasn't even really uncomfortable for me (because it was cold and so I was wearing a bunch of clothes that were padding my shoulders/head etc.), but this coaster is just rather pointless. It's not fast, your view is heavily restricted due to the (very much needed) thick cushioning that the seats have for your head which makes the inversions less interesting, it's not really intense, it's rather short, it's just not a good roller coaster. The most fun I had with this attraction was standing in the queue line, seeing the "Iron Claw" entrance sign on the station and then looking to the right and seeing a sign that says "Joy was never an option". I know that it's part of the (very lackluster) theming, but I choose to believe that the person that put this there was aware how fitting such a sign is for an SLC.
It's a completely pointless ride, it's been a waste of time every time I ridden it. Even in the second to last row (not the last one because wheel sea...
It's a completely pointless ride, it's been a waste of time every time I ridden it. Even in the second to last row (not the last one because wheel seat), in the afternoon when it's fully warmed up, it just doesn't give any forces. No airtime, no sense of speed, no real laterals, nothing. And it's not even as smooth as some other woodies. I have no idea why this ride exists and it's sad that it's such a waste of space. The theming is good however, cool pre-lifthill dark ride scene
It doesn't have any good forces, it's not intense, not really fast, nothing. It only has one thing: the worst sideways shake and potholes imaginable. ...
It doesn't have any good forces, it's not intense, not really fast, nothing. It only has one thing: the worst sideways shake and potholes imaginable. Riding bandit feels like driving your car slowly across a bunch of rocks. I had a good amount of fun experiencing this trainwreck once (in the first row) and laughing the entire ride about how terrible it is, and now I'll never have to ride it again.
Steel Vengeance is one of those coasters where I can understand WHY people like it, but it just never really clicked for me. The first half is great, ...
Steel Vengeance is one of those coasters where I can understand WHY people like it, but it just never really clicked for me. The first half is great, but the second half completely kills all of the pacing and feels like it's only continuing the ride just for the sake of "most airtime in the world". The airtime is at great at first, but then that's the only actual gimmick of the ride. I understand the praise, but I don't know how this is universally considered the best RMC.
My favourite coaster of all time and it's not particularly close. Iron Gwazi is a masterclass of intensity, pacing, and elements, with the perfect len...
My favourite coaster of all time and it's not particularly close. Iron Gwazi is a masterclass of intensity, pacing, and elements, with the perfect length to avoid it becoming stale (cough cough Steel Vengeance). I wish the operations were quicker, but the wait is absolutely worth it for such an insane ride.
AWARD WINNER: WORST RESTRAINTS. Bakken stopped caring about this ride an incredibly long time ago, and it SHOWS. A couple decades ago they got rid of ...
AWARD WINNER: WORST RESTRAINTS. Bakken stopped caring about this ride an incredibly long time ago, and it SHOWS. A couple decades ago they got rid of the selling point of this ride, a manual brakeman, a guy who stands on the ride and manually applies the brakes otherwise the car will *literally* fly off the track. That's what makes old roller coasters cool - this kind of technology was made irrelevant by the advancement and development of upstop wheels, but it's still so insanely awesome to see brakemen operate other wooden coasters. Vuoristorata at Linnanmaki. Rutschebanen (the good one) at Tivoli Gardens. Roller Coaster at Great Yarmouth, just to name a few. The lovely interactions you can have with the brakemen who genuinely love their job, and always have a little think about whether to send the train a little faster this time around and toy around with fire. Bakken decided this wasn't their kinda thing, hired good-for-nothing KumbaK Engineers to design a brakeman-less train, and out went one more of the coolest jobs in the world. The energy of Rutschebanen at Tivoli Gardens is rampant - a forty minute queue, sending 5+ trains around the track all at once, brakemen sliding the trains across the corners at the fastest speed they can possibly go while making sure those wheels gain significant airtime on the hills. Slap my hand on a tunnel and nearly break it from throwing them up too high, and I'd gladly go again. The energy of Rutschebanen at Bakken is nonexistent - one singular lonesome train jolts around the course to the entertainment(?) of the three or maybe four people on board. Going around the layout passionlessly, it unceremoniously rattles around while being trimmed to almost zero miles per hour at every opportunity it gets. Slowed to a crawl at all available chances, this all happens with the singular worst roller coaster restraint I have ever experienced, a hideously oversized lap bar that jumps at every opportunity to dig infinitely far into your thighs without ever thinking to stop. The bottom of every hill has it dig further, further, and further as it threatens to cut any and all circulation into your legs while shaking through the turns with no thought process. By the halfway point you're begging for it to be over with the amount of pain you're in, but the lap bar has no brain, it only knows to go further down. And it doesn't stop. The enjoyment goes from six, to three, to one, to zero. An incoherently pathetic downgrade.
AWARD WINNER: BEST NIGHT RIDE. It's no secret that Rookburgh is one of the most beautifully themed areas in the world, and the area turns FLY from a f...
AWARD WINNER: BEST NIGHT RIDE. It's no secret that Rookburgh is one of the most beautifully themed areas in the world, and the area turns FLY from a fairly unremarkable ride experience into something otherworldly. If FLY was in a field, I wouldn't be able to care less for it, but the fact that it's in such an intensively complete area that has every nook and cranny filled with steampunky gizmos and gadgets is what sells FLY to me as a world-class attraction. Zooming around in the daytime is a must-do for anyone who enjoys roller coasters, but at night, FLY becomes the only roller coaster in the world where I genuinely questioned where the f**k I was. The area is lit up to perfection with beautiful blues & purples covering the realm as you dip and dive through dark tunnels and roll around factory roofs. By the second half, my entire life flashed before my eyes - "wait, where the HELL am I?" Am I on a roller coaster, or am I *actually* in Rookburgh? Is this real life, or a simulation? FLY is the only roller coaster to give me what I like to call "true immersion" where designers perfect worldbuilding in a way that has my mind well and truly tricked into thinking I really am in this fantasy world. FLY may barely crack my top 30, but I have no problem with proudly claiming this ride as my favourite night time experience on any coaster.
AWARD WINNER: BIGGEST TEASE. I've never had a roller coaster be so infuriatingly close to being world-class, and just barely missing the mark. Vliegen...
AWARD WINNER: BIGGEST TEASE. I've never had a roller coaster be so infuriatingly close to being world-class, and just barely missing the mark. Vliegende Hollander is spectacularly themed for the entirety of the queue line, one of the most beautiful roller coaster stations ever, and three incredibly themed scenes... three.. THREE. Hollander masters the art of worldbuilding, then throws it all away as soon as it really gets going. A climactic lift hill sequence has your tension absolutely sky-high, before it farts you into a fully unthemed outdoor section before a pathetic splash into the lake and then you're done mate. It's so close to being good. It's SO close. But it misses the mark in a frustrating fashion.
