Coaster reviews

Theming Fun Smoothness

So much pure fun. The music is what makes this ride, but also it essentially rides like a good version of Space Mountain East. If you asked me to come up with a bad thing to say about this I don't think I could.

Lap Bar Launch Ejectors Rattle Capacity

This ride kicks ASS! Bam, launch! Bam, top hat! Bam, brakes! Ride it again! The launch is so addicting and the top hat has this wonderful airtime all the way through it.

Theming

The theming is cute and it tracks well.

Inversions Fun Rattle Dead spots

Fun weird invert with a couple good moments, but most of it just doesn't do a lot. The corkscrews are super cool though.

Fun Layout Hangtime Rattle

I love how they fit this in Boomerang's plot. It's stunning at night with the lighting package.

Airtimes Fun Duration Capacity

What a gem. Not the most intense thing in the world but it absolutely oozes good vibes. Full of that wonderful CCI floater and it kind of just keeps going. Splendid all the way through.

Theming Fun Disappointing! Dead spots

The ride hardware itself is one of the coolest collections of amusement technology anywhere, and the physical sets are massive and impressive. However, the ride film and story happen to be from an era where Universal forgot how to write a good script. The story is rote and unmemorable and the stakes are nonexistent. If the story was anywhere near as good as Universal’s better dark rides, this ride could have been something truly special.

Nice surprise!

The ride operators have to manually push the train out of the station. It's seriously a sight to behold.

Pace Intensity

This ride randomly has some insane laterals and crazy drops, and all with one tiny seatbelt. It's just a shame it's so expensive to ride.

Theming Rattle Lap Bar

I hate the new B&M family lap bars. The rattle is embarrassing but the layout is fun enough and the show scenes are charming.

Airtimes Layout Rattle Dead spots Lap Bar

I came off of this a little disappointed, a lot of the awkward profiling led to pain or missed forces. The layout from a macro perspective is an all-timer though, and those twin camelbacks are not to be trifled with. I can see why this ride was king back in the day, but now it's just outclassed. I'd love to see a modern take on this layout somewhere with the profiling and forces we've come to expect from new Intamin (and without those awful lap bars!).

Airtimes Inversions Layout Inversions Dead spots

Awesome little RMC! I loved the variety of airtime moments, and the stall is just incredible. However, the other inversions I would prefer the ride without, hence "Inversions" as both a pro and a con. Some of the third lap took me out of it and left me bored, while other moments of it yanked me right back in. Amazing first half, mixed bag second half.

Location Intensity Layout Rattle Dead spots

What an insane location for a woodie, combined with a ride experience that I can only describe as a cross between Raven's second half and pre-2022 Beast. It's a wild ride experience mostly throughout, just with some odd dead spots and some hills that really should hit harder than they do. Overall, though, it's a crazy unique ride that's worth the hype. Don't miss out on the night ride.

Fun Smoothness Dead spots

The work done recently by Gravity Group allows this coaster to shine. It's got some great moments of air and laterals in the first half. The second half dies a little which is why I don't like it as much as some other CCIs, but it's still an awesome little thing.

Airtimes Ejectors Rattle

It’s impressive that they squeezed this much layout out of 40ft, but the ride is starting to show its age.

Airtimes First Drop Too short

The airtime hill, stall, and drop are all super great, but there isn’t much else to the ride.

Lap Bar Inversions Launch Too short

The launch is so powerful it feels like your soul is still in the station by the time the ride is done. The inversions are great, especially the last one.

Inversions Intensity Headbanging Harness Discomfort

It is impossible to ride this and not come out hurt.

Fun Intensity Smoothness Capacity

Awesome little Schwarzkopf that packs a big punch in a small footprint. The headchoppers in the turns are amazing.

Theming Comfort Fun Capacity

I love this ride so much. Everything about this ride is so silly and full of whimsy, and the only criticism I can really level at it is its abysmal capacity. The unique trains may as well be couches with how well padded they are, and the ride throws you around like you’re a ragdoll as it goes through the impossibly tight layout. Riding this was the hardest I’ve laughed on a coaster in a long time.

Lap Bar Location Rattle Pointless Dead spots

Eye candy ride that looks beautiful coming across the bridge to enter the park, but ultimately does nothing. The station setup is probably the thing about this ride that brought me the most joy.

Inversions Smoothness Hangtime Capacity Harness

My first El Loco exceeded my expectations for it. It’s a smooth ride with lots of cool hangtime, and the last inversion blew me away. While a ride with those weird shoulder harnesses was never going to rank incredibly highly for me, I was more than satisfied with the experience.

Airtimes First Drop Lap Bar Dead spots

Cute family wooden coaster with some solid floater moments made excellent by the buzz bar restraint. The first drop, while lacking air, has a very cool lateral slam in the back row. The ending helix is fun with progressive sustained laterals, too.

Theming Smoothness Too short Capacity

The queue and area are so lovely, miles beyond what other regional parks are putting out. The ride is surprisingly dynamic and provides the park’s first proper family coaster. Absolute home run in my opinion.

Theming Launch Smoothness Too short Capacity Dead spots

it's impressive that they managed to fit this much coaster in that little building.

Pace Intensity Ejectors Layout Reliability

The way these newer RMCs absolutely rip through their layout is insane. It feels like this ride doesn’t slow down at all after the first inversion. The big airtime hill is great, the double down combines airtime and laterals wonderfully, and I love the third inversion. My biggest issue with the ride is the layout feels repetitive, especially in the second half. Overall though, it absolutely stands out as a solid #2 at the park, and it elevates Hersheypark’s lineup to a relevance it hasn’t seen in nearly a decade.

Masterpiece Layout Duration

As of October 2023, the new track on this ride has broken in perfectly. It's now just as fast as it was last year, but with the incredible new first drop and camelback. My old review for this ride said that you need to go to HoliWood Nights to get the proper experience on this ride. I have since been proven wrong. This ride is better than any other coaster on any day at any time, and that gap simply increases without trims and/or at night. Nothing compares to what this ride does.

Inversions Launch Too short

How Holiday World and B&M managed to make a wing coaster this good is beyond me. The launch kicks harder than nearly any other LSM, and the elements hit harder than those on other wings. If all the B&M Wing Coasters were like this, I wouldn't mind the model.

Pace Fun

The original behind the "coaster in the dark" trope. People definitely give this ride a lot of slack due to its classic status, and I am one of those people. Feels a lot faster than it is, due in part to how janky it is. There's no ride system quite like the one on this ride. Both sides share largely the same pros and cons, but I very slightly prefer Omega to Alpha. On Omega, I prefer the front to the back. This is because of some seriously strong pops that try to forcefully remove you from you seat, which you feel the hardest in the front.

Pace Fun

The original behind the "coaster in the dark" trope. People definitely give this ride a lot of slack due to its classic status, and I am one of those people. Feels a lot faster than it is, due in part to how janky it is. There's no ride system quite like the one on this ride. Both sides share largely the same pros and cons, but I very slightly prefer Omega to Alpha. On alpha, I prefer the back row to the front, as in the middle third of the ride there a few drops that hit very hard in the back.