Coaster reviews

Fun Intensity Smoothness

Invertigo was smooth, forceful, and fun.

Inversions Headbanging Dead spots

Much better as a floorless than a stand-up, but it's really not an exciting ride. The corkscrew off of the brake run is one of the worst, most painful transitions I've felt on a B&M coaster.

Airtimes Fun

Fun enough, though it felt like a knockoff of Racer at Kings Island without the recent trackwork. It wasn't exactly rough, but several of the transitions felt like the train hit a pothole.

Location Launch

The launches are forceful and fun, and the twisted spikes give great views of the beach and lake.

Launch Intensity

A solid launch coaster with some odd elements and a couple of incredible handchoppers. The spaghetti bowl layout was fun if not exactly awe-inspiring.

Inversions Intensity Dead spots Layout

The ride was fun but lackluster until the loop, which packed a lot of force. The trains and restraints are a marked improvement to the Flying Dutchman, but this is a shadow of what the ride type seems capable of.

Pace Intensity Layout

What a fun classic coaster. Surprising intensity and excellent airtime and laterals are hallmarks of John A. Miller's pre-depression design, making this a ride that stands the test of time.

Theming Lap Bar Launch Too short Dead spots

A one trick pony with a strong launch but not much else. It's a good gimmick, but it doesn't feel like a full coaster. A full layout like Formula Rossa, while impractical in the available space, would have been a better experience - I'd sacrifice Iron Dragon for a layout after the tophat.

Inversions Intensity Headbanging Discomfort

The layout would be great if it wasn't built by a pre-CAD Arrow. As such, the transitions are horrendous - the observation area on the pathway gives a few great views of riders getting their necks snapped by the unsmoothed banking changes. The park needs a good, intense sit-down looper, but this one ain't it. I wouldn't be disappointed if this was the next ride to leave the park, especially if it was to make way for a ground-up RMC, Mack launcher, or Intamin blitz.

Inversions Dead spots Layout

I wanted to love this relic of my defunct home park, but it just wasn't great. The pacing was loose and it didn't maintain a feeling of speed. The layout doesn't hold a candle to its New Jersey brother Bizarro.

Airtimes Lap Bar Smoothness

Some really solid airtime, but the ride falls short everywhere else. I will say that the trims were not nearly as bad as I was led to believe - definitely odd to trim on the way down after an airtime hill, because it makes it feel like much more speed is sapped than actually is, while a trim before the crest (like on Diamondback) just adds to the feeling of floater.

Intensity Discomfort Dead spots

I respect what this ride does. I got severe tunnel vision from the pullout of the drop all the way to the crest of the first airtime hill - that's some insane sustained intensity (to the point of discomfort and a bit of panic). But after that, it just seemed to durdle aimlessly to get back to the station. The transitions were whippy, but it was just long low turn after long low turn. I found it a bit monotonous; it's called the Maverick turns section, but there's so much more variety and better pacing on Maverick than just sharp transitions between s-curves.

Location Fun Layout

The side-by-side helix is a very interesting element on a traditional-style racing coaster. Unfortunately, dispatches were staggered when I rode, so I didn't get a racing run, but it was a pretty fun, if forgettable, ride.

Comfort Fun Layout Too short

Surprisingly intense for a suspended model, The Bat is a very fun ride through a picturesque part of the park. A second half would add a lot to this ride, but it's still quite good.

Location Intensity Ejectors Discomfort Dead spots Lap Bar

She's tall, she's fast, she's reasonably smooth - until you get to the jank transition into the turnaround and remember that pre-CAD Arrow built this ride. The triangular airtime hills give great ejector, but the transitions are nowhere near smooth and the lapbar is quite uncomfortable even when bracing. Maybe a Morgan retracking or new B&M trains would make this a great ride, but for now, I just lament that Schwarzkopf and Stengel couldn't have designed and built it instead.

Theming Inversions Smoothness

Not a whole lot to this one, but the near miss elements are incredible and salvage a mediocre ride.

Location Fun Layout

For what it is - a family woodie for a park in need of family coasters - it's pretty fun, packs some interesting forces, and interacts very well with the flume and the terrain. Is it tame? Sure, it's no Mystic Timbers. But it's a good ride that serves its purpose well.

First Drop Fun Dead spots

It's fast, it's forceful through the first tunnel, and it's pretty fun. It just doesn't do anything after that; it's just overbanks and straight track once you get to Millennium Island.

Airtimes First Drop Hangtime

An incredible warmup or cooldown ride, GateKeeper gives insane hangtime on the inverting drop, strong positives on the pullout, then some great floater air and some solid zero g moments through the keyholes. Worth the wait for the front, and if you're riding with a partner, make sure both of you get the chance to experience an outside seat.

Lap Bar Pace Smoothness

The speed of this ride could have given more forceful airtime, but it was still quite fun.

Fun Smoothness Hangtime

This is an odd one, as I feel it would have been better as a wing coaster. The drop and first few elements are fast but smooth, unlike the snappiness inverts are known for, and the elevated inversions later in the ride offer incredible hangtime.

Lap Bar Pace Fun

An odd ride, with some solid forces. It doesn't hold a candle to its cousin in Williamsburg, but it was enjoyable. The second half kind of died off; a twister section just doesn't seem right for this ride.

Inversions Fun Intensity

The Immelmann is a fun twist on the invert formula, but the rest of the ride lacked the pizazz I wanted from it.

Pace Intensity Layout Discomfort

Slamming into the headache-inducing transition before the brake run is an awful final impression to a tight, fast, intense ride. Hearing the signature roar from the parking lot is a great way to start the day.

Location Fun Intensity Dead spots

Let me get this out of the way: at night, this feels like a really nice hike through the deep woods. I love the vibe in the dark. But when the sun shines and the flaws can't be hidden, you notice that the ride is made mostly of straight track. Half of the ride duration is devoted to climbing the two lift hills, and while the rose bowl helix is incredibly forceful and a wonderful finale to the ride, it's almost not worth waiting three minutes strapped into the ride just to experience that.

Pace Intensity Layout

An intense experience from drop to brake run. This was my first invert besides Raptor, and the snappiness, relentless pace, and forcefulness took me by surprise.

Pace Intensity Layout

Alpengeist was everything I wanted from an invert. It was intense without being nauseating, and the layout was a fun deviation from the generic B&M invert layout - not just the Batman clones, but Raptor as well. It felt fast, and the terrain interaction was incredible.

Airtimes Pace Fun

A bit of a one trick pony, but the airtime on Diamondback is quite strong. You haven't lived until you've put your arms out, Rose from Titanic style, in the back row. The splashdown is exhilarating when you do.

First Drop Capacity Lap Bar Dead spots

For a ride so revered by the community, I felt that Fury didn't really *do* much. The drop was tall, fun, and gave some decent airtime, but after that, the layout was lackluster aside from the lateral air atop the treble clef. This would rank highly among hypercoasters, but I didn't feel it warranted the level above most enthusiasts seem to put it in.

Airtimes Pace Intensity Too short

A more raw ride than the IBox, this is the only inverting wooden (or "wooden", as there is no wood between the wheels - however, I found the laminated grout to feel quite similar to the laminated wood of "true" woodies) coaster I've ridden. It's a strong ride, with the stall being unsurprisingly the standout element.