• Daniel Stark

    Theming Fun

    I barely consider it a credit. I don't get why they would buy a water coaster and make it do just what a normal boat ride would do. Still, the simple seat belt restraints are weird and fun, the drops are enjoyable and the theming is awesome. Quite a pity the queue is just a cattlepen with some themed colummns around, but once you get on the ride the inmersion is great. Not if you look down in the part before the drops, though, as you can see the metal structure behind the rockwork. Big flaw there for me.

  • Daniel Stark

    Theming Pointless

    Theming around the queue is very well done. That's all that can be praised about this ride. Why on earth does a theme park of this category buy a cheap wild mouse in 2016? It's not even a Mack. It feels cheap and out of place. It was meant to open at 12, two hours after the park, so I went then to avoid queues, but it broke down just before opening and had to wait longer than average. At least it's spinning, that's fun, but the design doesn't seem good at all. The forces and speed look a bit random (maybe I'm wrong and they're exactly as intended). I mean, the first turns are very slow, hardly any laterals there, but it keeps gaining more and more speed, having thus higher laterals each time, so that the last turns end up uncomfortably extreme. It seems they didn't know the concept of trims. One of my least favourites wild mice, did it only for the cred.

  • Daniel Stark

    Location Fun Duration

    So much fun, it exceeded expectations. I rode only for the cred, knowing it to be just another kiddie, but having watched no POVs. Wow, it was very long, and it had awesome capacity, running two huge trains. The setting around some trees and close to the ground was nice. The coaster felt like some of those I'd design as a kid on RCT, with absurd constant lifts to gain potencial energy again, but towards the end it had a couple of more consistent helixes, and it was a lot of fun. Nice kiddie, nothing more.

  • Daniel Stark

    Theming Lap Bar Duration

    One of my favourite mine trains. Theming is pretty well done and the ride is very long. The transitions weren't as janky as on other mine trains and, besides, the individual lap bars really helped in that regard, so I could ride hands up without suffering through those transitions, leading to a very fun experience. In top of that, the layout provided more than those of other similar coasters, with three or four weakish floater moments I enjoyed a lot. Overall, great family ride with an awesome capacity to deal with its popularity.

  • Daniel Stark

    Airtimes Inversions Masterpiece

    Having closely followed its construction for over two years, this coaster has a lot of emotional value, and it exceeded the high expectations I had. It is my solid top 2 overall, clearly better than my #3, but not even close to my #1, though. The only element which didn't provide was the hill after the first launch, which didn't have the floater I expected. The rest was excellent. Like everybody, I found launches 2 & 3 a bit weak, but fun anyway. The first one disappointed me, though. I expected the short but powerful kick everyone praises and I thought it would be Gerstlauer level. Ok, it's strong, but not that much. The layout is perfect. There's an incredible variety of elements and forces: launches, hangtime, floater, ejectors, laterals, whip, near misses, drop... Everything. Although there are two corkscrews, they're entirely different, the first one providing some of the best hangtime I've experienced, and the second one giving floater/laterals/hangtime/whip (the forces varied everytime for some weird reason, probably due to the row and left/right seat I'd chosen, idk). Climbing the twisted top hat is a lot of fun, a bit better at the front, and you get nice ejector there. I LOVE the trims, if you sit at the front it's like a dive coaster, but better. At the back it's not as good, yet it's fun anyway and I love the views; besides, the drop gives then some powerful air. The following twist has some slight and enjoyable laterals and the camelback is as great as it is said to be. The outward banked dive loop provides very strange feelings, some mild flojector with a few laterals while inverting. Great design decision, I like it. Then comes a powerful ejector pop into the best headchopper of the ride (not as good as Phantasialand's, though) followed by a twisted hill providing floater and laterals, just fun. Then the corkscrew I've already detailed and the great ejector on the wave turn. Afterwards comes a moment similar to Taron: a launch into a sharp upwards banked turn. This one gave surprisingly way better laterals, combined with the twists that lead into the stall and making it one of my favourite moments of the ride. And finally that stall, another awesome element, wonderful hangtime. I love hangtime and I don't quite get why many dislike it. This element, with those lap bars, is superb. By the way, the theming is quite good, the Wayne manor, the preshows and the short but nice indoor queue have hight quality standards, better than the rest of the park. The trains arriving at the station with those leds look great. The onboard audio only worked once out of seven times for me, but I didn’t think it was really good; quite expendable, actually. Overall, Gotham City Escape is such a masterpiece, the complete package and one of my favourite rides of all time. Finally something word class at this lovely park.

  • Daniel Stark

    Theming Fun

    I love the theming. That's the best part of the ride, both because it's decently made and because of the theme itself. I've always been keen on the Roadrunner, it's hilarious, and being able to ride one of Wile E. Coyote's catastrophic ACME gadgets is such an experience, even if I'm not a kid anymore. Besides, the coaster itself is a lot of fun, it's from Mack, so it is a quality ride and that first drop used to be really impressive. __EDIT__ (6/23): the theming, though fun, isn't as good as I remembered, but the coaster is still great.

  • Daniel Stark

    First Drop Nice surprise! Intensity Theming

    Good coaster overall, although I'm not very fond of this model. The drop is really good, and that airtime hill stands out, being the only one in the park (as of 2019). However, the location is appalling and the theming in the queue could be improved. Finally, it lacks the pacing and intensity of other coasters of the park, such as the Stunt Fall or Batman, and even though I wanted to love this big ride, I can't do more than just like it rather much. None of the inversions provided any memorable hangtime (which is what I mostly want from inversions) and not even the corkscrews gave any whip. Really fun and rerideable, and yet overrated. __EDIT__ (6/23): Rode it again this year, and it was better than I remembered. The pull off that drop at the back is really good, for an old-school B&M looper it keeps surprising me every time I visit the park. And the floater hill after the cobra is just as I remembered, a weakish floater moment which fits perfectly into this inversions packed layout. However, I didn't remember this coaster to be as intense as it is. It's not as crazy as the B&M invert next to it (which I prefer), but it's got many sustained and considerably strong positives all throughout the layout. I even got a very slight greyout on the exit of the immelman, on my two rides, something I don't remember experiencing ever before on any other coaster. And the inversions also exceeded expectations, the corkscrews and the zero-g-roll gave some decent whip which I loved (nothing crazy, though).

  • Daniel Stark

    Fun Duration Discomfort

    It's a fun kiddie. I appreciate the duration (Tivoli Large instead of Medium or Small), but the cars are too small for adults, and the theming disappointed me. I remembered some great and enjoyable theming, but it's quite cheapy, my memory deceived me. Better than nothing, and over average for a kiddie, anyway, but it could be better.

  • Daniel Stark

    First Drop Hangtime Headbanging Theming Disappointing!

    This used to be my favourite at the park, but now it's fallen down under both batmans. I'm not a person to complain about headbanging, I can enjoy many coasters despite heavy rattles and I don't usually suffer from headbanging. Last time I rode this, though, I experienced some headbanging like never before, it's gotten rougher this years. It hurt and made the experience unpleasant. Besides, the loop backwards sitting at the very back made me nauseous, and that scary drop wasn't as good as I remembered. The theming is nonexistent. It's still way better than the normal Vekoma Boomerangs, the loop is not that bad and the drops, specially the first one, are great. Hanging face down while climbing up really builds a lot of anticipation.

  • Daniel Stark

    Theming Inversions Intensity

    Unpopular opinion: I prefer this over Black Mamba. The theming is of course not nearly as good (although it's great, I love that queue). However, when I rode Black Mamba it disappointed me as a coaster, and I thought my memories of Shadows of Arkham were idealized. But on my last visit to Parque Warner I found out this B&M was as good as I remembered. It is very, very intense, specially that helix after the second loop, and it's glossy smooth. But the best part is the whip you get in the zero-g-roll and both corkscrews (which is where Black Mamba dissapointed me). I really enjoy this coaster, and now it's a solid #2 at the park for me. Living in Europe, I don't care much that it's a clone. Pity that they removed the VR, though; it was decent, and fun.

  • Daniel Stark

    Nice surprise! Fun Smoothness Capacity

    If a couple of years ago I'd been told I'd ride Coaster Express with a loose lap bar and hands up (and enjoy it) I wouldn't have believed. My gosh, I knew the retrack had helped, but I never imagined it could be this good. There are a few spots were it still rattles a bit, but the rest is glossy smooth. Besides, now it loses less speed throughout the layout, so there are a couple of very weak floater moments where before there was nothing. I love wooden coasters and how they feel, and although this one isn't the best and isn't very thrilling, it's still a lot of fun to ride this massive coaster at such high speeds. No need to be more thrilling, there are already four intense coasters at the park. The only issue is the capacity. It's not really the staff's fault (they're not great, but not too bad), it's because of the ride design. Damn RCCA! That distant brake run, always with a complete stop (even with one train ops) and then too slow a return to the station.

  • Daniel Stark

    Comfort Fun Too short

    It is listed on Captain Coaster and CoasterCount, and Coasterpedia counts it as a roller coaster. Atlantica at Europa Park is considered a coaster and it's the same model. I don't care if RCDB disagrees, for me this Supersplash is a credit. Not a good one, though. I love the lift, and the drop is fun, but Atlantica's is better. Besides, that's all of it. After that small floty hill, it just meanders around slowly back to the station, without any theming or anything (Atlantica had a dolphin with a water stream, was a lot of fun). Therefore, it's both too short (lack interesting elements) and too long (once it's over, it takes too much time to end). However, it is fun, the drop is decent and I love the restraints; I always enjoy water rides with coaster harnesses.

  • Daniel Stark

    Fun Discomfort

    The new theme isn't very appealing, but at least with the retheming the ride got a station and queue building, as well as some decent theming. The trains are quite uncomfortable. It's another Tivoly Large, very kiddie, but I prefer the one at Parque Warner Madrid; it looks a lot nicer. I rode at the very back, and it was weird and fun.

  • Daniel Stark

    Theming Disappointing!

    The station building, queue and train are all beautifully themed, I love that castle, but the coaster is too tame. Worst Mack powered I've ridden. It just did nothing. Specially after Bob Express at Bobbejaanland, I expected a lot more.

  • Daniel Stark

    Fun

    Best kiddie at the park. It's fun, and a credit.

  • Daniel Stark

    Theming Ejectors Disappointing! Discomfort

    At first it didn't meet expectations, but almost every time I rode it (a total of 10) I liked it more. This is just an airtime machine, and that's how it should be judged. My issue was I thought it would provide some good laterals and whip, and it doesn't. But the ejectors are awesome. It's a pity, as many say, that the trains have lowered seats (hence the "discomfort" tag), as touching the floor during the airtime really takes away from the experience. However, I found out that, if you cross your legs, the ejectors lift them, so you are only in contact with the harness; a lot more enjoyable that way. The lap bars are great, as expected, but B&M's hyper clamshells provide more room for airtime-aimed rides. The theming is awesome. I love the mini-land and the arquitecture of those buildings. The station is pretty nice, the trains are great, the queue lacks theming but is still not a compact cattle pen and provides great views and ambient "music", and even the merchandise is highly appealing. The coaster itself, contrary to expectations, is similarly enjoyable on every seat. I thought the back would be better, but it doesn't feel like it; only at the drop, which is just one of the 15 airtime moments. By the way, the drop's twist was a disappointment, it wasn't nearly as aggressive as I would have liked. The same goes for the NICR, the side banked double down and the stengel dive, which hardly had any whip. Regarding the NICR, it was fun, though, specially the drop off on the back row. The wall stall is completely pointless, weightlessness in an ejector-packed layout is simply out of place for me. A small zero-g-roll or another inversion would have fitted there way better (not another hill, to avoid repetition). Finally, out of the four last bunny hops, the first was very weak, and the second and third were the best. Overall, Kondaa is a great airtime machine, providing quality ejectors and a lot of fun; once I got over the initial disappointment, it became my top 1 coaster, though it didn't last much, as a couple of days later I went to Plopsaland de Panne...

  • Daniel Stark

    Theming Fun

    Nice kiddie in a nice kiddie area. Theming is colorful and well done, and the location by the lake is good. All in all, enjoyable kiddie, did it for the credit.

  • Daniel Stark

    Theming Fun Capacity

    Awesome family coaster, perfect addition to the park. It's not intense, guys, but it's not meant to be, so stop complaining. The ride is a lot of fun, and it does have some weak but enjoyable pops of floater airtime on some points. The theming is wonderful, from the gorgeous trains and nice station and queue (with one or two "rotating totems" to enjoy the wait), to the whole Exotic World area built around it. It is some good quality theming. This colorful coaster stands out in the area, goes over paths and looks beautiful in the Exotic World. Lines are usually too long due to the capacity, so make sure to ride this first thing in the morning (right before going to Kondaa, as they are close to each other). Overall, best family coaster at the park (it beats Calamity Mine, although it's a bit more thrilling, so they both complement) and one of the best I've ridden.

  • Daniel Stark

    Fun Hangtime Too short Capacity

    More or less as expected. The trains are some of the best, very comfortable, but they have a low capacity. For a park like Bobbejaanland, this might be okay, but on my visit it was quite busy, so I waited over an hour and the line barely moved. Besides, there is a huge need for a single rider queue, as there were plenty of empty seats. The operations were appalling, by the way, and the few fast pass riders led to chaos in the station. The theming is pretty nice (for the park). I got two rides: one fwd. and one bwd. Riding backwards wasn't as crazy as I expected, and it overall felt better forwards, but it was fun to try. The voting system, although a nice new thing, was quite useless due to the separate only-fwd-queue and random-voting-queue. The launch was fun, and the spikes, both at the beginning and the end, were a great surprise, providing some weird hangtime; way better than Star Trek's spike (only thing that Fury does better than Star Trek). The top hat gave some good floater airtime, and the following inversion, some weightlessness hangtime. There was a hill with some weak floater and the loop was quite pointless, no hangtime at all, as expected. It felt quite short. Overall, a nice ride and a perfect addition to the park, with some floater and hangtime and a very enjoyable multi-pass launch; however, not as good as the older and less complex Anubis.

  • Daniel Stark

    First Drop Harness Inversions Discomfort

    I hate boomerangs. Not the family ones, nor the Giant Inverted Boomerangs (I love those GIB). But the normal ones are horrible. At least the one at Walibi Holland has some theming and better restraints. This is, so far, the worst coaster I've ridden. It looks nice from the outside, those tracks going nowhere, the queue in the middle of the ride, the cobra roll intimidating park visitors... Great thrill ride to appeal some fearless GP. However, once you ride, you find out it was a trap. The only "not bad" thing is the drop, which is fun and builds a lot of anticipation lifting backwards. The following is simply not good. The trains and OTSR are some of the worst out there. And that backwards loop is just too intense for me. I can´t like a coaster if it leaves me feeling sick for a long time.

  • Daniel Stark

    Theming Nice surprise! Pointless

    As far as I can remember, this is the best SLC I've ridden. It's definetely the best themed one, at least (which isn't saying much). I like the look of the station, even though it's below the new theming standards of the park. However, it is an SLC. I don't get the hate against this model. I didn't find the ones at Movie Park or Walibi Holland to be painful. My issue with this coasters is that they are pointless for my taste. No airtime, whip, laterals, hagtime... Only positive Gs (which I'm not a fan of), and even that was scarce. Vampire did feel quite shaky and hurt a little bit, but that's precisely why I liked it more; at least it felt aggressive in the inversions. Call me weird if you want. Besides, the fog in the trench was a nice surprise.

  • Daniel Stark

    Theming Fun Discomfort

    Don't kill me, but I think I prefer this one to Colorado Adventure at Phantasialand. It's said. Yeah, the coaster itself is worse, tamer, but the theming makes up for that. I would have never thought Phantasialand could be beaten at theming: Colorado Adventure is one of the least themed rides at the park, whereas Calamity Mine has that gorgeous rockwork and water, and the coaster interacts a great deal with the scenery, making it a lot of fun to ride. Of course, it's not nearly as good as a BTM, but still a great family coaster. Besides, the fact that it's tamer than Colorado means that those shaky transitions and horribly hard trains are less uncomfortable.

  • Daniel Stark

    Theming Fun

    Very enjoyable ride, exceeded expectations. The theming and the enclosing building are nicely done, and the music played on the queue builds up a fitting atmosphere. The preshow on the screen is just perfect: short, funny, understandable without language knowledge and creates anticipation for the launch. This one, by the way, is a lot of fun. Then the loop is intense and very disorienting taken in the dark. Specially due to the upwards spike right afterwards, it seems you keep doing the loop forever and forget where up and down are. When taken backwards, in the middle seats, the loop gives some weak (though nice and surprising) hangtime, which is an awesome feeling in such a disorienting element. Then, however, the ride is over. Overall a great old ride, but maybe not worth the long lines it usually gets.

  • Daniel Stark

    Comfort Fun Theming

    Overhated ride, in my opinion. If you find this too rattly and pointless, go ride an RCCA. The trains are great, with very comfortable cushions and not too bad lap bars. They are not Millenium Flyers, but still nice. It does have a small rattle, but it's bearable. I got two rides, one on the second last row and on the second first train on the morning; another on the second first row and on the second last train of the day. Funny coincidences! The back was a bit better for the drop. The turns were a bit pointless, true, but the hills gave some decent floater, which was a lot of fun. And it was a woodie; that adds points for me ;) However, it lacks some theming. I love what the park's been doing lately to other lands and rides, and I hope they get round to renovating Werewolf and the area (the bumper cars, Vampire and so) soon.

  • Daniel Stark

    Theming Lap Bar Fun Disappointing!

    The ride has some decent theming and it looks great from the outside. I find the boats very comfortable, including a small hole on the seats to avoid puddles. I've always loved water rides to have (good) coaster restraints, and this lap bars are pretty good. The ride, though short, was fun, and it was very well measured to avoid too extreme a splash. For such a high speed, I didn't get too wet, which was great, as it was a cold morning yet. Nevertheless, it was a bit disappointing, as I expected a bit more. The spikes felt a bit pointless, as a couple of days before I had experienced Fury's... And the airtime on the third launch was good, but I sort of expected more. Overall, enjoyable ride, but I don't find it as great as many say.

  • Daniel Stark

    First Drop Hangtime Capacity Disappointing!

    Capacity capacity CAPACITY. According to RCDB, this coaster was designed to have 8 trains. I believe it only had 4, of which only three were operating, and it was quite a busy day. Bobbejaanland isn't prepared for crowds. Besides, this filthy ride didn't have an unloading station. Why?! With such a horrible cappacity, at least add that. They did have the space, there was always one train inside the station building, stopped, waiting for the one at the front to end loading and let it start unloading. And the coaster wasn't worth the wait. For a beyond vertical drop (the first one I've experienced), it wasn't that good. Yeah, some ejector, but not very strong and not very sustained. I've done way better drops. The loop didn't provide either decent hangtime or positives. The barrel rolls did provide great hangtime, but the harness and the shaky transitions sort of ruined it. Okay, I'm been too harsh, the ride isn't that bad, but you must understand my mood wasn't particularly good after waiting over 100 minutes to get on it, with the queue barely moving at all and seeing plenty of free seats on the trains, even sometimes two adjacent ones!!! Really, this park needs a single rider line. This was one of the most "expensive" credits I've done.

  • Daniel Stark

    Nice surprise! Fun Discomfort

    I really like Maurer SCs and, although this wasn't the best (that goes to Tarántula so far), it was still a lot of fun. It's very family-friendly, but the smooth spinning around is quite enjoyable. I must say, I liked the coaster itself (not the experience as a whole) more than the Winjas. The trains could do with some theming, however, and they are rather uncomfortable. There is something at the back that really hurts my spine. By the way, brace yourself at the end, the alignment system is "powerful" here.

  • Daniel Stark

    Too short Disappointing!

    From reviews I expected this to be a very weird and fun ride. Well, it certainly was weird, but not as fun as I had thought. I expected it to be darker, with more effects and cool lights, a bit like Rock'n Roller Coaster, as well as slightly more intense, with maybe some airtime pops like on Bob Express. However, it was just a fast (and man, did it feel fast) downwards turn, and the ride felt a bit too short. The Mount Mara VR option wasn't available for some reason, which was quite a disappointment, as I usually enjoy VR coasters. Oh, and the longest train in the world was hilarius, it made the experience definetely worth it.

  • Daniel Stark

    Fun Disappointing!

    Another wild mouse clone. For some reason, I found the one at Movie Park a lot more fun. Maybe the trims here hit harder.

  • Daniel Stark

    Theming Discomfort Pointless

    The (new?) station building is pretty nice, i didn't expect that theming from this park. The ride, however, is quite pointless. Not even propper for fearful kids and beginners due to the height and suspended trains. And it is uncomfortable. It somehows accelerates and decelerates very awkwardly on some turns, leading to bumbs and discomfort. Just a cred.