• Jay Enn

    Airtimes Launch Layout

    This is an excellent ride that has a little bit of everything. All kinds of airtimes, hangtimes, forward and backward launches over hills, a boomerang part, inversions.... it's an amazing layout. I even enjoy the only part of this layout that gets criticism: The trim brakes on the top hat that brings the train almost to a complete stop. I think it's amazing how you dangle down that drop and it helps to build suspense before you enter the second part. I truly love this coaster. The only con is that idiotic loose article system they have. The ride ops almost rip the bags out of your hands and throw them into the carts. They start collecting things from the front row, but the people in the front row are also the first at the exit, so their stuff is at the bottom of the carts. So people just stand around the carts and throw others bags around while digging for their own stuff. A couple of times a ride op came and started holding bags into random peoples faces, because the process wasn't going fast enough for his taste. Stupid concept altogether, especially considering the amount of extra ride ops you need moving those carts around.

  • Jay Enn

    Smoothness Layout Ejectors Lap Bar

    Let's get the negative out there first: That fixed lap bar/shin restraint combination is a terrible idea. The longer your legs and the thinner you are, the worse it gets. Every time in the station when the employees pushed the lap bar it was instant shin pain for me and i got forced into an uncomfortable seating position. But as i wrote: Your mileage may vary depending on your specific anatomy. Luckily it wasn't that bad while actually riding, but i definitely couldn't ride this all day just because of that. Apart from that: It's a flawless ride. The first drop is great and from that point on it just keeps delivering great element after element. You just can't stop giggling through the entire ride, as it happily throws you around in your seat. Lots and lots of ejector airtime on those bunny hills, faster and slower inversions, wonderfully varied banked turns. I can't think of a way to make more out of the length of that track. Also, it's perfectly smooth. Just a fantastic job by RMC. Capacity is a bit low for the ride's popularity and reliability seems on the weaker side, given that both of the 2 trains in operation during my day in the park had multiple seats or even rows that could not be used and it broke down 2 times. But that won't negatively impact my rating, as you need multiple park visits to really get a better overall picture. Could just have been bad luck.

  • Jay Enn

    Theming Launch Masterpiece

    I was lucky enough to ride Taiga and Taron back to back within a week, which are very similar in principle, given the coaster type and the park's space limitations. For theming, the launches and also the overall ride time, Taron easily wins, but when it comes to the layout, Taiga wins it for me with its inversions. Taron has one pretty good airtime hill, but then lacks variety and even has a couple of "dead-ish" spots. The brakes before that last smaller airtime hill towards the end of the ride should have never been there, if they aren't 100% necessary for safety. But all things considered, these are my only points of criticism, as i would still call Taron a masterpiece. The near misses on buildings and terrain adds a lot and it gives me an adrenaline rush and puts a smile on my face every single time.