Coaster reviews

Launch Fun Duration Theming

I put theming as a downside because of how they’re killing off the Aerosmith theme that it’s had for like 35 years. Even so, this ride rocks. I’ve done it on two separate occasions and had a very positive opinion both times. Smooth, forceful, great launch, a very long ride that keeps throwing more track at you, and like I said, Aerosmith theme is awesome.

Fun Smoothness

Great classic ride. Done in 2010 and 2017 and great on both occasions.

Theming Nice surprise! Fun

Idek what side I rode lol but this ride was good. 89 feet tall seems wild

Location Fun Smoothness

This ride was visible over the treeline at my condo and I knew I wanted to ride it. When that time came, I thought it was great. I bought a shirt, but must have given it away at some point because I can’t find it anywhere. If anyone knows where to get an orange-brownish Wildfire shirt with all the stats on the back from the early to mid 2010s please let me know.

Theming Fun Dead spots

The only reason I put dead spots as a con is because the ride’s dead. I don’t have a great recollection of this but I remember it was a cool ride. And if I remember correctly there was a wicked ejector drop right before you hit the splashdown, which was cool. I rode it a couple times when I was thirteen, and grateful to have done so seeing that it’s no longer with us. Rest in peace, Fire in the Hole.

Fun Layout

Having this in my credit count is a flex. Unfortunately, I only rode this side, but still. I won’t pretend like I have a great recollection of the experience (hell, I couldn’t remember which side I rode for years) but I know I loved the dueling loops in particular and came off with a positive experience on the ride. I can’t believe this didn’t get relocated. Real shame. And I regret not snapping a couple pictures of it.

Good for a kiddie coaster, I suppose.

Theming Fun

This thing blew me away and I know a 3.5 stars doesn’t really suggest that but it did, the queue is so well themed and the ride is really good too. I don’t rank it too high due to its lower thrill factor and I remember the queue more than the ride experience but it’s a must-do attraction either way. Oh, and I saw the real Gringotts filming location 2.5 years later which was cool.

Theming Layout Rattle Discomfort

This thing looked pretty good but it was a disappointment. I couldn’t find a song I liked, was unaware of the secret menu, and found the ride to be too rough to enjoy. Now they removed some of the music and the ride’s future is uncertain, so I wish I had a better time on it since I don’t know if I’ll get back before it bites the dust.

Layout Discomfort

Ninja was another surprise on the trip as it turned out to be nowhere near as bad as I expected. It was still not something I’d go out of my way to recommend or ride but I thought it was going to be dreadful and it was alright. I said the loop had some whip and my head didn’t get banged at all. The only real problem was some rough spots and janky transitions. What helped was that I specifically went near the front to save some of the roughness and that worked out.

First Drop Fun Rattle

This was my first Vekoma Boomerang experience, and I thought it was really solid. The drop caught me by surprise when I zoned out in my own thoughts, which made it way more awesome. The rest of the ride was fun, but that drop is the lasting memory has stuck with me. I said it was a little rattley but not too bad. Don’t know why this gets flamed on the site, I thought it was good.

Nice surprise! Pace Fun

Never has a ride exceeded my expectations more than this one. I didn’t have much expectation one way or the other since I knew it had a polarizing reputation but I absolutely loved it. It has such a good sense of speed. I hope to re ride it sometime.

Fun Layout

Wasn’t as intense as the other ones I’ve ridden, although I was near the front and I usually ride in the back. Still good, and I think I ranked it fourth in the park that day

Launch Too short

One of the most memorably awesome experiences I’ve had on a coaster was launching out of complete darkness into the light and by the time my eyes adjusted we were halfway through the inverted top hat

Discomfort Layout Intensity

I can only speak on the POV of an eight year old riding what was easily the largest coaster I’d done at the time but this was the most miserable experience I’ve had on a coaster by far. I rode a simulator version and thought it looked fun but when I did the real thing the ride was dreadful and too much for me to take at the time. I thought the layout was really boring and did not appreciate the airtime at that age with how aggressive it was. And I was in the back row since my logic was that it was lower down on the lift hill at any given time than the front. Wrong move- you live, you learn. The other coaster on the simulator was Gemini, and I do wonder how that would have fared in comparison. I think I’d find this ride to be passable nowadays so I did give it a little bit of credit there since I can see a solid ride in there. But still, this retains a spot near the bottom of my overall list.

Harness Discomfort Dead spots

Can you believe this almost went to Michigan’s Adventure? Even as a 12 year old that ride vehicle was tight, and wasn’t any better as a 20 year old. The helix going down is fun by the end and the vertical lift is cool but this ride fucked up my arm when it smashed into the ride vehicle.

Fun

Best coaster in the park, no lap bar and super good laterals. They were so much stronger than I thought as a 12 year old

Tear it down! Layout

Rough, janky and awkward is how I described it in 2022. My first ride was in 2014. That final turn is such a meme, I love that it exists. The ride is a meme of a coaster, they should replace it with something better because this layout is dumb. But I don’t hate this ride

Masterpiece Layout Rattle

Amazing layout, but so damn rough. Regardless, the ride is amazing.

Capacity Location Duration Rattle Pointless

Middy alert!

Fun Smoothness

I don’t have a great recollection but I know I got a good ride on this.

Intensity Dead spots Layout

I loved the intensity this coaster brought, and gave a pretty strong gray out on one of the low helixes but in retrospect the track does have a lot of meandering and the inversions aren’t spaced apart well. Still, a very good ride and it’s gotten better since with the upgrades to theming.

Intensity Layout

Back then I said it was about on par with the original, so… that’s pretty dang good.

Inversions Intensity

I don’t have a date for the first time I rode this but it was somewhere around 2015. Anyway, this ride is freakin awesome. There’s a reason it’s been cloned so many times, though some of which (like Goliath, which I have also ridden) switch the direction. This thing is super whippy and an intensity machine. You‘re catching your breath at the end. I have a hard time picking the best element because all of them rock and they all give you great positive G’s. The ride rattles a little, but I don’t mind since I think it adds to the intensity and the out of control feeling. Despite being cloned a bunch, Batman is one of the rides I have to do every time because of how intense and fun it is, and the original has the bonus of being built for its terrain.

Launch Fun Smoothness Too short Capacity

Much like Goliath, it took me until its third season to ride this. Once I did for the first time, I was blown away by the launch. The ride landed at #19 on my first-ever top 20 and official ranking list. I used to be harsh on it for the short length, after a rather positive first impression, and at one point ranking it behind Vertical Velocity and 9th at the park. Since then, I’ve came to look past that and just enjoy it, although I still am a little miffed that they rejected the originally-longer layout that S&S sent over. And sometimes I think back to my memories at the Pictorium. Still, this ride rocks. It’s super smooth and that launch is a gut punch. It probably took until my fourth time riding it for me not to have my heartbeat go significantly up as we approached it. The launch is still a powerhouse even after riding it near a dozen times. Any row. The front gives you the unobstructed view and wind in your face, while the back has this awesome feeling of just being pulled along that might be even crazier. The rest of the ride doesn’t quite live up to that launch but it’s still good fun all the way through. Contrary to its name and S&S’ goal of making the craziest possible ride in the smallest amount of space, it isn’t really that forceful. To talk about the cons of the layout, the dog tongue is slow, heartline roll doesn’t really feel like the world’s fastest inversion due to its large size, and the Maxx dive loop doesn’t really have any flaws but you do hit the brakes halfway down. Each of these elements, as you are traveling through, still however contribute to a fun experience. I still think this is third best in the park’s lineup, at least for now. It has a really good fun factor that makes it worth riding. I’d love to marathon it, but that line never moves and the capacity is bad along with it being at the front of the park. So I normally get my rides in early and have yet to double-ride it on a visit. Every time I come off it, I feel like I liked it even more than before; it’s got my position of third in the park locked up for the foreseeable future unless Rakshasa tops it out. Maxx Force is great, even though I nagged on it a little in this review I do want to emphasize that I think it’s awesome.

Pace Fun Intensity Too short

I didn’t get to ride Goliath until its third season of operation. Back then, they printed out tickets to give you in line that you would then show the ride-ops at the front of the line. It was weird. Ever since my first ride I’ve came to love Goliath. I think I used to under appreciate how good it was. I never had any distaste for it but there were other rides like X-Flight, Raging Bull and so on that I would make sure to get every visit and Goliath initially wasn’t on that list. Goliath is a freakin beast. It set the record as the world’s fastest wooden coaster upon opening and definitely feels like it. This thing rips through its course. The ejector hill is the best element in my opinion. The first drop is good, but not amazing. The two inversions are good. Even the two overbanks I always enjoy. And the weird transition into the brake run I’ve always found to be a bit humorous. And no, this didn’t morph into a review of Pegasus at Mount Olympus. Goliath retains a ton of steam going into that brake run so it can sometimes give weird forces going into it. With all that speed left and a short track length it could theoretically have fit in more elements. Keep in mind this is on the plot of a small B&M standup coaster, retaining the same station (and you can see Iron Wolf’s row markers under the paint.) There are so many people who complain about the length. There are tons of morons who say it’s the “worst RMC” and while it is currently my second-ranked out of two, it’s a completely pointless statement to make. This is RMC. All their coasters have been great to some extent. It’s not worth putting down one for only being a 9/10 ride. If you’d rather have Iron Wolf, I’m sure Six Flags America would appreciate the extra profit. I don’t see anyone complain that Top Thrill Dragster was too short, or even something like Montezooma’s Revenge. So I don’t get why this gets hated on, along with Twisted Cyclone. Everything else about it is great. Sorry that it’s not Steel Vengeance, or Zadra, or Wicked Cyclone. If everything was a perfect ten, nothing would be. If you’d rather skip it, then shorter lines for me. I’d happily ride this all day. Goliath is an amazing ride and it’s super re-rideable. Here’s to many more rides in the future, where it will continue to blow me away each time.

I rode this a couple times within its last two seasons at the park and I don’t think I liked the spinning back then. I had an opportunity to give it a second whirl in 2018 at Six Flags America but that planned trip didn’t pan out so I missed both this and what would have been my first ride on Iron Wolf, at its new home. And who knows when I’ll be back in the DC area. I haven’t been on a Spinning Wild Mouse since.

Airtimes First Drop Lap Bar

November 2nd, 2014 was the day my life changed forever. After visiting the park consistently for two years, I finally took my first ride on the Bull. And while I don’t have a perfect recollection of that specific ride, I know I fell in love with it. I loved the clamshell restraints, and how tall it felt as a 12 year old. It was like I conquered a giant. It was terrifying to go up what seemed like such a tall lift hill for the first time. But when we hit the final brakes I’m sure I had a huge smile on my face. I used to make tons of coasters in RCT3 with pre-drops just like this one. I still do sometimes. Since then it’s given me amazing ride after amazing ride. The first drop is the most wickedly awesome thing I’ve ever experienced, and while I’ve done it tons of times it still blows me away. I didn’t realize back then how the pre drop contributed to it. The rest of the ride is so much fun too, including a couple good airtime hills and a superb mid course drop. It still gets a long line 25 years after it was built, and in all that time is still very smooth. Raging Bull has never been outside of my top three and I hope it remains at the park for decades more.