• Jake H.

    DPV Wacky Worm. Doesn't even do anything, but nicely themed.

  • Jake H.

    Airtimes Too short

    I know it's just an Oblivion clone and the layout is incredibly short, but the force on this drop is magnificent. Borderline ejector airtime in the back, followed by a huge blast of positives through that tunnel. It's dizzyingly high, brilliantly smooth and just a whole lot of fun. I can't hate it, and I'm happy to have it as my first B&M credit. Love it to bits.

  • Jake H.

    First Drop Capacity

    Look, I know that this ride is just a one-trick pony, but I don't care. That trick is absolutely astounding. This is probably one of the best old-gen Vekoma roller coasters in the world. The harnesses provide so much room, really giving you some incredible hangtime on the tilt. Then, the drop is stacked with floater weightlessness that lasts an eternity, and the positive G-forces on the bottom of the drop made me grey out on every ride. The loop is pretty decent, too. The helix is just filler, but really, it doesn't need anything else. It's great the way it is. I just wish the operations weren't so comically slow. You'll wait an eternity for this one.

  • Jake H.

    Theming Dead spots

    Big Thunder Mountain is the strongest coaster at Tokyo Disneyland for me. It feels fast and fun, the theming is, as expected, great, and it's long! However it suffers from some dead spots, particularly having three lift hills which kills the pacing.

  • Jake H.

    Theming Rattle

    Space Mountain. Just the name elicits something special. It runs a little bit rough, but you'll forget all about that when you're racing through the darkness on the adventure of a lifetime. It's just a great ride. There's not much more to be said.

  • Jake H.

    Launch Too short

    Superman Escape is such an underrated treasure. First of all, the theming. This is an Intamin Accelerator with a pre-show. Can we appreciate that for a moment? The ride itself lacks a little bit in length, but the airtime is spectacular and the launch is smooth, graceful and incredibly forceful. I could ride this again and again. Great coaster.

  • Jake H.

    Intensity Rattle

    Wrath of Zeus is magnificent! Such an intense ride. I love my coasters fast and furious, but this one made me grey out. The launch, top hat and inversions are absolutely insane. However, it is starting to develop a bit of a rattle already, which is concerning given its age. Hopefully it can maintain its smoothness, because my God! This layout is fantastic! Please build more Firestorms, Vekoma!

  • Jake H.

    First Drop Intensity Ejectors

    How do you describe perfection? A first drop that is out of this world. A huge camelback with sustained strong floater. A non-inverting loop that might be one of the best elements on the planet. A turnaround that provides a pop of airtime followed by intense positives. S-bends that stack on the laterals and airtime. And then those final bunny hills, slamming you with ejector moment after ejector moment. It's a masterpiece of Mack Rides. And to top it off, you can ride backwards, which is so insane it's beyond words. The only element that doesn't absolutely slap is the Stengel dive, but we can forgive that on a ride that is two minutes of pure bliss.

  • Jake H.

    Theming Launch

    By launch in the criticisms, I'm referring to the first drop (but this isn't an option from Captain Coaster). The drop is heavily trimmed, to the point that the train is almost completely over the crest before you even begin to pick up speed. The theming is tremendous and it's a smooth, zippy ride, but I'd love to actually get a decent drop out of it.

  • Jake H.

    Fun Too short

    One of the rare 85-metre Junior Coasters. It doesn't do much, but it doesn't need to. It's just a fun little kiddie-scale coaster, and reasonably good-looking too.

  • Jake H.

    Nice surprise! Rattle

    This was the surprise of the day from Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village! This is a fantastic, zippy, fun little family thrill coaster that doesn't get enough attention. A cheap Space Mountain knockoff it may be, but it has some great banked turns that run fast, smooth and induce some serious laterals. There's even a faint little airtime pop, all in the dark with some very good theming and lighting effects. Don't be fooled by the ride's humble facade and station - it's a fun one! The reviews of this coaster are wrong. Ride it for yourself and see. Besides the kind of rattle you'd expect from a 30-year-old Vekoma, it's running like a charm.

  • Jake H.

    Theming Too short

    This is a fun ride. It looks great, in one of the best-presented areas of the park. There's not really much to the ride, however, and it runs fairly mildly and with a slight rattle. It's definitely enjoyable and gets you absolutely soaked. But mostly, it's just damn photogenic.

  • Jake H.

    Fun Discomfort

    Dingo Racer is a very nicely-presented little coaster. The station and ride area look fantastic. The ride itself has a rather interesting layout, but unfortunately it did not provide the spinning that I expected. There were also several jarring and uncomfortable moments depending on which direction you are facing when you take corners or dips. The seats and restraints are a little bit hard, meaning you can often be painfully slammed against them with unusual force. It's a fun ride though!

  • Jake H.

    Theming Layout

    Mysterious Cookie Train is a weird ride, there are no two ways about it. The layout is very amateurishly designed, and there are moments of discomfort due to forces that the ride doesn't seem to be built for. However, the theming is good, and it runs pretty similarly to a Vekoma Junior Coaster. Kids will enjoy this one.

  • Jake H.

    Intensity Layout

    Giant Digger is the best Blue Fire clone I have ridden to this point, simply due to the pace with which it seems to take its layout. The force through the inversions and airtime moments seems to have been kicked up a notch with this model, and it definitely makes the experience more fun! The theming and presentation, as with the rest of Lotte World Adventure Busan, is absolutely immaculate. Great ride.

  • Jake H.

    Launch Inversions

    Steel Taipan is a great step forward for Dreamworld! The swing launch adds something different to this Blue Fire clone, but more importantly, the spinning seats in the back are a great addition and a totally wild experience! Worth every cent! However, I do find that this ride seems to wander through a lot of its layout. The airtime hill is a misfire, and the first three inversions don't have a lot of force to them.

  • Jake H.

    Location Intensity

    Scenic Railway is beyond a classic. It's an institution. You simply can't miss it because of its significance in roller coaster history. The views are great too, overlooking St Kilda Beach. Don't expect a proper roller coaster ride. There's really no speed, momentum or forces on this one. Just sit back and enjoy being on the world's second-oldest roller coaster!

  • Jake H.

    Hangtime Too short

    Green Lantern Coaster is a little bit out of place at Movie World. For a park that advertises itself as Australia's only theme park, it is a questionable decision to build a carpark S&S El Loco. But, it's a decent enough ride. The hangtime and laterals are really forceful and it's just a whole lot of fun. It will always play second fiddle to DC Rivals and Superman, but it's worth a ride if the line isn't too long.

  • Jake H.

    Fun Discomfort

    It's a Pinfari Zyklon. What more do you need to know? This thing is pretty generic.

  • Jake H.

    Launch Too short

    Big Dipper is an interesting ride. Obviously, Luna Park didn't have a huge footprint to work with, and they did a reasonably good job with this Intamin Hot Racer. The second launch is fantastic, the inversions are great, and the ride feels fast and well-paced. However, it's still incredibly short, and the light 7-seater trains have a huge rattle in the back seats. Could be much better than what it is.

  • Jake H.

    Intensity Too short

    Tower of Terror was an institution. There is no describing or matching this experience, except for riding its clone. The launch, the incredible speed, the feeling of being weightless at a height that seemed so unimaginable... If this ride wasn't consistently down for maintenance, running with low capacity and only 30 seconds long, I would give it five stars. I remember it so fondly.

  • Jake H.

    Layout Rattle

    I have to start this review by disclosing that this ride is a little bit rough. It does have a rattle, particularly exiting the second corkscrew. But all the complaints in these reviews are way overboard. If you can tolerate a mild rattle, your reward is a magnificent straight drop with sustained floater airtime, two whippy corkscrews, some slamming positives in the valleys and some surprise lateral moments in between. It's a great, varied layout full of force and it deserves more credit.

  • Jake H.

    Ejectors Dead spots

    Atlantis Adventure was hyped up to me perhaps a little too much. I expected a world-class ride. What I got was a great first launch, some unexpected ejector airtime, and other than that, a ride that felt too short and poorly paced. However, it still stood out for its theming, airtime and launch. It's a great ride - just don't set your expectations too high.

  • Jake H.

    Airtimes Too short

    Wow! Roaring Timbers is fantastic! The use of the terrain, the laterals, the airtime, the smoothness, the theming... I could go on and on. Sun World are really onto a winner here, I just wish that it had better capacity and was slightly longer. What a great ride, really! By far my favourite wooden coaster at the time of writing!

  • Jake H.

    Theming Capacity

    Leviathan might be one of the best-themed wooden coasters in the world. Its queue area, station and pre-show elements are fantastic. The ride itself lives up to the hype, with good airtime and a surprisingly long, action-packed layout. The backwards experience is also worth doing, although it is already very intense with the roughness of a wooden coaster, and I expect that it will not age well. Unfortunately, the pre-show slows operations down terribly, reducing the throughput to a standstill. However, it's definitely among Australia's best coasters!

  • Jake H.

    Pace Discomfort

    This is such a strange and unique coaster. The lighting effects and dark theming are simplistic but somewhat effective, and the custom layout has a good amount of pace to it. It tends to turn in the same direction a lot, leading to some uncomfortably long lateral moments, but generally speaking it's pretty fun and runs a lot smoother than the Vekoma Junior Coaster a few kilometres away.

  • Jake H.

    Ejectors Headbanging

    Abyss is much more fun and forceful than I was expecting! The ejector airtime over the indoor drop and the beyond-vertical drop are fantastic, and there's also a good airtime moment in the airtime hill. The inversions ride well, the theming is quite good, and it's just a fun ride all around. A little bit of head banging, but nothing that will ruin your ride. A great coaster!

  • Jake H.

    Launch Too short

    Giant Splash was my first Mack PowerSplash, and I was very pleasantly surprised! The launches are intense, and the lap-bars lend themselves to a a good amount of airtime on the vertical spikes. The splashdown is absolutely huge. This ride will definitely be popular in smaller parks that require a good summer day ride with minimal footprint. This particular ride is also very well-presented and themed!

  • Jake H.

    Fun Rattle

    Family Coaster seems to have suffered from very poor maintenance at its tiny little home in the middle of Seoul. Despite being a newer-generation Vekoma SFC, it already suffers from a severe rattle that makes it loud, rough and uncomfortable. Not only that, but the 395-metre clones are just not that interesting and forceful compared to some of the other layouts. It's not a great ride, really.

  • Jake H.

    Intensity Too short

    French Revolution absolutely blew me away! Don't listen to the haters, this ride is not rough. While there are a few bad transitions, it rides very smoothly for a Vekoma MK-1200 of its age. The intensity and theming more than make up for it. Particularly the drop into the vertical loop is absolutely incredible, and the entire ride looks immaculate. Great coaster!