Reviews • Jackie ODoyle

Wow. I expected a good, not great, coaster that would fall near the middle of my giga rankings. What I received was a ride that was relentlessly well-...

Wow. I expected a good, not great, coaster that would fall near the middle of my giga rankings. What I received was a ride that was relentlessly well-paced from start to finish. The drop is Fury-level, the first hill gives good off-axis air, the turnaround gives a ton of weird, strong forces culminating in a nice pop of ejector into the sustained ejector of the speed hill. The helix is forceful but not overly so, the near miss is absolutely ridiculous, and the last two airtime hills before the brakes hit like a truck - the best elements of the ride. This is my favorite giga.

This is the weakest adult coaster in the park. That said, it's a pretty fantastic racing coaster with many dueling elements, decent airtime, and an in...

This is the weakest adult coaster in the park. That said, it's a pretty fantastic racing coaster with many dueling elements, decent airtime, and an interesting layout. It doesn't hold a candle to its nephew at Kings Island, but it was a very enjoyable ride and experience.

I've never liked the Sky Rocket II model, and this dinky little ride didn't look like anything special. But the launch is incredible, just a bit less ...

I've never liked the Sky Rocket II model, and this dinky little ride didn't look like anything special. But the launch is incredible, just a bit less forceful than a Maverick, the top hat gives far more airtime than it has any right to, the inversions are smooth and provide great forces, and the layout is quietly relentless. This was a surprisingly great ride in a park full of surprisingly great rides.

This coaster operates without lap bars and looks as rickety as my 90 year old grandfather. Needless to say, I didn't expect much more than a fun, if t...

This coaster operates without lap bars and looks as rickety as my 90 year old grandfather. Needless to say, I didn't expect much more than a fun, if tame, old school woodie. What I didn't expect was that absurd standing airtime on the double down, which might be the single greatest element I've ever experienced.

The retracking treated the red side a lot worse than the blue one, and I wouldn't ride this one on a wheel seat. Still a good ride with great floater ...

The retracking treated the red side a lot worse than the blue one, and I wouldn't ride this one on a wheel seat. Still a good ride with great floater and fun races, but the bottoms of the hills are a jolt to the lower back.

An excellent ride on its own merits, when racing, this ride is exquisite. The ahead-of-its-time airtime from modern profiled hills shows the brillianc...

An excellent ride on its own merits, when racing, this ride is exquisite. The ahead-of-its-time airtime from modern profiled hills shows the brilliance of John C. Allen, and the offseason retracking work returned this ride to its rightful position as a classic jewel that led the coaster resurgence in the 1970s.

A wonderful, smooth, intense ride that, despite the hype in the community, still managed to surprise me. The airtime is varied but relentless, and it ...

A wonderful, smooth, intense ride that, despite the hype in the community, still managed to surprise me. The airtime is varied but relentless, and it manages to sneak in some wild laterals and near misses in and around the ravine. This is a masterpiece.

The adorable retrofuturistic aesthetic catches the eye. From off the ride, the coaster looks rough, but the padded seats and single-position lap bar m...

The adorable retrofuturistic aesthetic catches the eye. From off the ride, the coaster looks rough, but the padded seats and single-position lap bar make it feel as smooth as a Modern steel coaster. The pop of ejector airtime going into the lift hill is absolutely absurd, and the sustained laterals following the drop ensure that both you and your riding partner will be pressed against the left side of the seat. Overall a very fun ride!

The infamous pre-CAD Arrow transitions strike harder here than any other coaster I've ever ridden. The drop is solid, as is the hill and loop. The tra...

The infamous pre-CAD Arrow transitions strike harder here than any other coaster I've ever ridden. The drop is solid, as is the hill and loop. The transition into the turn is rough, but it's nothing compared to the jerk coming out of the second corkscrew. Have a chiropractor on speed dial if you set foot in the queue - your neck and back will thank you.

A slow and relaxing ride, this is good if you need a cooldown, but as a ride, accomplishes next to nothing. It would be high on my chopping block to m...

A slow and relaxing ride, this is good if you need a cooldown, but as a ride, accomplishes next to nothing. It would be high on my chopping block to make way for a much-needed modern wooden coaster in its spot and across the river to Millennium Island.

This is a family ride, but it skews toward being entirely forceless. The curved station is an interesting throwback, but the ride is entirely slow and...

This is a family ride, but it skews toward being entirely forceless. The curved station is an interesting throwback, but the ride is entirely slow and offers very little in terms of fun.

The hills give decent airtime, but the turnaround is absolutely lackluster, and the bottoms of the hills are hell on the lower back. In a park that de...

The hills give decent airtime, but the turnaround is absolutely lackluster, and the bottoms of the hills are hell on the lower back. In a park that desperately needs a good wooden coaster, Blue Streak just doesn't hit the mark.

Ouch. My legs and nethers were fine, but my head and shoulders took a pummelling. I understand why Mantis got the conversion, it's just a shame that t...

Ouch. My legs and nethers were fine, but my head and shoulders took a pummelling. I understand why Mantis got the conversion, it's just a shame that there's a world class floorless right across the park in Bizarro.

I'm not a fan of dark rides, so the indoor section wasn't exactly my favorite. This seems to occupy the same strange no-man's-land as Backlot Stunt Co...

I'm not a fan of dark rides, so the indoor section wasn't exactly my favorite. This seems to occupy the same strange no-man's-land as Backlot Stunt Coaster, too intense to really be a family coaster but not well paced enough to be a great thrill ride. It was pretty smooth, and the surprise was surprisingly great, but it suffers from trying to be too many things.

Having ridden Valravn, I didn't expect much from another dive machine. I found this one surprisingly fun, with a much more interesting layout; the lon...

Having ridden Valravn, I didn't expect much from another dive machine. I found this one surprisingly fun, with a much more interesting layout; the longer holding brake makes the drop more thrilling as well, while the splashdown makes for an epic finale.

A fun coaster that should really be considered a family coaster (and given a height requirement to match), it loses a lot of its luster when not racin...

A fun coaster that should really be considered a family coaster (and given a height requirement to match), it loses a lot of its luster when not racing. It's smooth, though, and packs a decent amount of airtime and a surprisingly great handchopper on the drop.

The transitions on this Arrow looper weren't as bad as some others, but it was still uncomfortable. The helix was laughable; I could feel every track ...

The transitions on this Arrow looper weren't as bad as some others, but it was still uncomfortable. The helix was laughable; I could feel every track piece transition into the next, as if they couldn't even track a continuous curve properly. The interlocking loops, while picturesque, felt like crashing into a truck, and the OTSR did not agree with my shoulders.

A decent early GCI, showing its age and SFA's low maintenance budget (which seems to go mostly to Wild One, and for good reason). Seeing what SFDK did...

A decent early GCI, showing its age and SFA's low maintenance budget (which seems to go mostly to Wild One, and for good reason). Seeing what SFDK did with its cousin, I think an RMC on that scale could be great for the park, while removing a less than great coaster that the park can't maintain.

A juddery, meandering ride that only gets good just before it rolls into the final brakes. The pretzel-shaped helices over the water are scenic and fu...

A juddery, meandering ride that only gets good just before it rolls into the final brakes. The pretzel-shaped helices over the water are scenic and fun, but until that point, the ride doesn't really do much. This would be high on my chopping block to create room for a good modern wooden coaster through the trees and onto Millennium Island.

It's a bit rough and shows its age, but it's an intense ride with a lot of interesting inversions and a wild footchopper off of the heart-shaped roll....

It's a bit rough and shows its age, but it's an intense ride with a lot of interesting inversions and a wild footchopper off of the heart-shaped roll. This is considered one of the worst SLCs? I thought it was decent in spite of the bulky restraints.

Surprisingly intense, a shocking amount of hangtime on the twist, and then a wild ride through snappy vertical transitions make for an insane, if not ...

Surprisingly intense, a shocking amount of hangtime on the twist, and then a wild ride through snappy vertical transitions make for an insane, if not exactly the most comfortable, ride.

My first trip to Kings Island was the weekend of the announcement that this relic of my defunct home park would close at the end of the season. I'm th...

My first trip to Kings Island was the weekend of the announcement that this relic of my defunct home park would close at the end of the season. I'm thrilled that I made the trip, but not because of Firehawk itself. The loop offered incredible hangtime, but the rest of the course meandered around while my chest was crushed by the bulky vest restraints. I'm thankful to this coaster for getting me to Kings Island, but I'm not wearing the nostalgia goggles about this one - especially with the plot being used for a giga coaster next season.

Somewhere in the no-man's-land between a quality family ride and an intense launched coaster sits Backlot Stunt Coaster. A sharp banked transition lea...

Somewhere in the no-man's-land between a quality family ride and an intense launched coaster sits Backlot Stunt Coaster. A sharp banked transition leads into a tight and forceful helix that makes no bones about this ride not being fir the faint of heart, but then it seems to die into a tame experience. The ride can't seem to make up its mind on what it wants to be, and it suffers on both ends of the spectrum.

It doesn't hold a candle to its RMC-converted cousin in Charlotte, but the retracked section is butter smooth and the trademark CCI forces make it a p...

It doesn't hold a candle to its RMC-converted cousin in Charlotte, but the retracked section is butter smooth and the trademark CCI forces make it a pretty intense ride.