Coaster reviews

Theming Launch Smoothness

Aside from not being a very forceful coaster, Big Bear Mountain is an outstanding ride. Well themed, smooth, comfortable, and very long. There's mild airtime all throughout, some fast transitions, and onride audio.

First Drop Fun Smoothness Too short

This ride is short but has a good first drop and overbank. The rest has 2 pretty strong helixes and minor negative g forces that don't give airtime. Fun ride.

Theming Nice surprise! Smoothness Dead spots

A stop and go family coaster with a surprisingly intense backwards section. Well themed and fun.

First Drop Theming Rattle Headbanging Discomfort

Would have been great if the harness didn't bang around my head and shoulders.

First Drop Inversions Location Discomfort

The ride has strange potholes and bumps in some spots, but the first drop is sharp, the inversions are smooth, and the hangtime is exceptional. The view is beautiful and the best part of the ride, plus it's well themed and has nice merchandise. The harness feels tighter on my shoulders and collarbone than on Thunderbird but not enough to ruin the experience, which is ultimately pretty mild but fun.

First Drop Theming

A fun dark ride with some moving figures and a handful of cool special effects. The drops are excellent. A big surprise for me.

First Drop Inversions Harness Too short

There's some shuffling but none to cause any sort of headbanging. The first drop gives incredible airtime, great hangtime on Dolly's Iron Butterfly, and very powerful positive gs on the last two inversions. The ride is unfortunately very short but is great start to finish.

Airtimes Location Layout

I wish this ride was a little longer, and I wish it had an inversion. There are some rough spots on the last turnaround. That's my only critique. The ride has airtime on every element, is well paced, and has a great terrIn layout. Not my favorite RMC but a damn good one.

Airtimes Pace Lap Bar

These timberliners seem tiny and hard to fit into. Made the airtime painful. Good ride but I dislike the lap bar.

Theming Fun Smoothness Too short

A smooth and fun ride with nice theming. The curves are smooth and twisty, the first one being fast and powerful the first time and giving slow sideways hangtime the second. There's a curve before the spike that gives great positives. There's an airtime hill that gives good airtime the first time and weird backwards floater the second. The spikes are great, especially midway through giving great floater air.

Location Comfort Ejectors Too short

A fun little ride with a couple crazy airtime pops. It's short but very comfy and fun, not very rough especially for its age.

Airtimes Pace Layout Too short

Orion's only weakness is its length. If it had a couple more elements it would be a contendor for my favorite coaster, but Fury's final hills eek it out. Orion is an outstanding coaster. Ride in the front row near the end of the day and you'll see what I mean. The speed is incredible, the airtime is excellent, and every element brings something unique. The scale of the ride is enormous and every element feels huge. And it has the huge benefit of being a B&M hyper model, with its high capacity and very comfortable restraints. The giga speed and size make this one absolutely world class and somehow my new favorite coaster at Kings Island, beating out the truly incredible Beast, Diamondback, and Mystic Timbers in dramatic fashion and becoming my second favorite Giga, somehow beating out Millennium Force and 305 somewhat effortlessly.

Theming Location Fun Discomfort

Though not that comfortable, it's a well paced and well themed mine train with a cool setting and ending.

Inversions Layout Rattle Disappointing! Intensity

Banshee is my least favorite invert. It has no whip in its inversions, and the moments of intensity are ruined by stange jackhammering that I've never experienced on any other invert. The beautiful paint, theming, and layout make this such a shame.

Airtimes Pace Intensity

My first ride on Diamondback in 7 years and my first ride in the front row has provided me with a new perspective, as now with the knowledge that I prefer front row on most coasters I can confidently say this is no longer my least favorite B&M hyper, and one of my favorites at Kings Island. Every hill gives great airtime, there are impressive moments of positive gs, and the setting and theme further elevate the experience. As always the ride is very comfy and accommodating. No complaints, but the second half's airtime is noticeably less intense.

Rattle Headbanging Harness

Slow, rough, boring. Not as bad as the average SLC.

Comfort Fun Dead spots

Hurler is an unremarkable coaster. Regardless it fills a valuable niche in the Carowinds lineup. It's smooth, boring, inoffensive. Probably really good first wooden coaster for a kid. I find the minimal theming almost charming.

Location Capacity Harness Discomfort

The only good thing about this coaster is the needlessly gorgeous landscape, and its status as the first proper flying coaster. The line moves slow, the loading is slow, the capacity sucks, and it's the most uncomfortable I've ever been on a coaster. Crappy ride.

Discomfort

This ride is not comfortable. Really powerful G forces, really unkind to the legs and groin somewhere as hot as North Carolina.

Pace Layout Rattle

Great layout. Unfortunately despite all the work that's been done on this ride it is rough as shit. Completely unpleasant and hardly bearable.

Inversions Discomfort

Great layout. Unfortunately this park already has a good floorless coaster so this ride won't get converted. I can't handle the power of early B&M while standing up on a coaster this long after the long walk to the back of the park. Arduous and not for me.

Theming Headbanging Harness Discomfort

I don't remember this ride being enjoyable. It banged my head and legs around, the transitions were jarring, and the sound wasn't working. But at least the flame effects and the station music was cool.

Smoothness Duration Harness Lap Bar

The best mouse layout with the worst shin guards.

Airtimes Lap Bar Intensity Discomfort

Janky and odd, but not excessively so. No OSTRs to hit your head on. You might get decent airtime or positives out of this ride, and the coaster is definitely better than an empty plot of land where Windstorm used to be. Definitely fits better here than it did at Wild Adventures.

Inversions Location Headbanging Tear it down! Dead spots

Vortex died in vain, because this is Cedar Fair's worst Arrow looper. Why does such a big ride only have four inversions? Why is there no awesome drop? Why is so much potential energy wasted on the worst designed turns in the history of American steel coasters? Why does the midcourse hit so hard? Where's the final helix? Now it's not all bad, because the inversions are quite good, and the location is excellent, but that's about it. Anaconda is such an anomaly, and this enormous land plot over the water is way better suited for a kickass Mack launched coaster.

Inversions Pace Intensity Rattle

While I love Kumba from riding it in my formative years in its glory days there's something I can no longer deny; Kumba is rough. It rattles, it shakes, and the strong sustained g-forces hurt my head. Both me and Kumba are getting old. I love this ride but with it being far in the back of the park and Florida always being hot nowadays, I tend to skip it more often than I used to. Still, the revolutionary layout it pioneered remains legendary.

Airtimes First Drop Inversions Too short

This version of Goliath is an RMC, and it is the definition of short but sweet. Sustained ejector airtime, a rare RMC dive loop, the worlds first mind blowing Zero-G Stall, excellent overbanks, awesome tunnels, consistent pacing, and an excellent first drop. Plus, it's smooth and comfortable. This one is hard to skip on a visit to SF Great America.

Rattle Headbanging Harness

Definition of hang n bang. Will not miss this ride when it's gone. I hope it's replaced by something good, but an empty lot would still be an improvement.

Rattle

This is a nothing coaster. It's not smooth, has an awkward drop which banks left the whole time while not turning, and a helix that smacks you around. The train and theme is cute but that's it. Go to this zoo for the wonderful animals, their great shoot the chutes Roaring Springs, and to grab this free credit and never ride again.

Airtimes Fun Layout Theming Discomfort

My feelings for pipeline are pretty mixed but generally positive. I dislike the lack of theming beyond some surface level stuff. The queue isn't even fully covered. The moving seats don't solve the issue of how uncomfortable positive gs are while standing up. If anything they make it worse by forcing you to squat. However, the fun factor of literal standing up airtime with a seat moving assist cannot be overstated. This makes pipeline incredibly fun save for a few uncomfortable valleys. The Corkscrew and turns are smooth, the layout suitably twisty, and the short layout is as all standups should be. I'm not yet sure if this surpasses Georgia Scorcher as my favorite standup, but it is absolutely in the top two. The launch has an excellent kick to it that just might put it over the edge.