Coaster reviews

A slew of poor Intamin rides in various other parks (e.g. Colossus, Furius Baco, Cheetah Hunt, Rita) largely meant I ignored Maverick; having done the ECC trip in 2006. Big mistake. Returning in 2019 I found an absolutely outstanding ride. The modified trains are most welcome. The not-lift-launched-lift is a novel addition and means the ride is hauling right from the first moment. The whole route offers uncompromising snap rolls and airtime. One of the best rides the park, and crucially, it is highly re-rideable. (Cough, Steel Vengeance). This ride format is ideal for many parks that can't build up to high altitudes; a shame that there aren't more of its ilk.

Airtimes Intensity Ejectors

This was one of the earliest stops on the 2006 ECC tour, and absolutely excellent. Speed, wide open trains, heavy G in all directions; a tunnel; and a great setting. Sets an incredibly high bar for hypercoasters that I don't really feel has been bettered. I hear this one was Werner Stengel's favourite too...?

Violent, nuts, probable clearance issues if you are stupid enough to put your hands out. Chain lifts moving within inches of your head. Stallable if you rock the cars side to side to bleed off speed. Totally understand why and how it came to it's end. Still one of the best ever rides in the UK, it's like will not be seen again against backdrop of H&S gone mad.

Superb ride. One of the best wooden coasters currently operating, quite incredible given it's age!

Airtimes Dead spots

Hugely fun ride with superb specifc elements; drops 1, 2, 4 and 5 are excellent, however the turnaround lacks force and there is a "lurch" mid-way around it. The ride is essentially over at the mid course brake run as it loses a lot of energy climbing back up the hill. The pacing issues aren't a big deal, but I think there are probably better examples of the genre dotted about.

Huge historical significance; this is a ride that needs to be on absolutely every coaster fans to do list, at least once. Do whatever you have to do avoid wheel seats to avoid chiropractic treatment.

Pretty good 1960's PTC, at least it was on the ECC 2006 trip. Built within the limits of the type of tech used; and therefore was highly re-rideable & fun.

Historically significant as a museum piece, so lucky to have experienced it. We are convinced the sign in the station says "Crap the Dips" too; due to odd choice of gothic font.

CCI Ground Zero, therefore historically important in the context of coaster evolution. Fun family ride, but I really wouldn't have bothered with the park or the ride outside the context of the ECC trip in 2006 - then or now.

While this has "elements" of rollercoaster about it, it's a dark ride first and foremost. Good one at that. Don't miss it. 3 star rating only because it's not a coaster.

Preferred all the other Space Mountain variants I've tried so far to this one. Still glad to have got on it and would re-ride plenty enough given the opportunity.

Underrated ride, probably because it's in a park surrounded by exemplary rides. May not be staying at CP much longer if the Great America rumours play out. Restraints said by some to err, interfere with gentlemen. I didn't have a problem and I'm not exactly on the small side. Front of train seems to give better ride experience overall.

Quite a few negative reviews and comments about Valravn going around. The restraints, like Yukon striker, are set to cause conversations for decades to come. They undoubtedly interfere with airtime-out-of-seat feeling. This is a problem, when the ride has two major drops and significant airtime pops throughout the route. The inversions are plenty smooth enough, but don't generate intensity; largely because they cannot snap roll with their size. Fun and superb build quality, but really doesn't do anything that Gatekeeper does better. Hold for the front row if at all possible for a much better experience. Not CP or B&M's finest hour; but certainly not a bad ride either.

Hmm, Rougarou. The conversion of Mantis has a few problems. The ride is relatively smooth on the back row; however, if you watch closely you can see significant shuffling amongst the cars in front of you - by row 3 there must be at least an inch of side-shuffling. Now, it's true, I find the back rows of virtually all older B&M's smoother in the back row, but in Rougarou's case it means it pays to be very selective on seating. This is a shame, because what I found up to the mid course brake run is actually a pretty decent sitdown looper with some hints of Kumba going on. It's certainly more memorable than Mantis; which 13 years earlier I have largely erased from my memory. The transition into the MCB, however, and final block of the course through the corkscrew are bloody awful regardless of seat. The ride has already undergone some pretty severe surgery, perhaps, it needs some more to the latter half of the route to "fix" it. I do wonder if it's days are numbered. Ridership is low, queues were non-existent even with the park busy. Time will tell.

This is more or less the only B&M that was a once-only affair on the ECC 2006 trip. With just over 2 days in the park, this obviously didn't catch our attention. I don't remember it being bad per se; just that there was far better calling our time everywhere else in the park. In another park; Mantis probably would have had a better reputation.

OTSR hides the fact that this is a big family coaster. View it that way, and it's actually pretty good. Raptor is only a few hundred meters away for your suspended G-fix!

I've been critical of wide B&M trains not being able to roll particularly snappily on loads of rides before. Gatekeeper (nearly) proves that theory wrong. It still rolls relatively slowly, but the positive G and fantastic location still make for a fun ride flirting on the edge of intensity. This is absolutely everything the Swarm failed to be. Major shout out to the CP maintenance crews; apparently the ride had completely stalled due to very heavy gusts the Saturday before we arrived; yet we were on it by the Monday and nobody would have known any different. I would suggest if the ride has any problem, it is the 7/8ths course brake; at which point the ride is basically over. The final drop and helix don't add anything, other than avoid a long straightaway at the point the ride has otherwise ran out of altitude and ideas.

Biased review again, due to being somewhat overweight! I'll blame it on the Poutine... The restraints had to be properly jammed in to get me on this one, consequently very uncomfortable. If it weren't for that, I'd give a better rating.

My first looping coaster! Hopelessly biased rose tinted view of this ride... In reality I know it was just a minimal corkscrew. What the hell. Good memories.

Masterpiece Capacity Harness

Demented genius, this ride is. Utterly uncompromising, smooth yet violent, relentless speed and intensity to leave even the most dedicated coaster fan wondering what the hell just happened. You will come back battered, bruised, out of breath, probably on an adrenaline high. It is almost impossible to not whoop and holler as it goes round. I am reminded of the craziness of J2 at Clementon Lake; merged with Magnum's brutality, the intensity of Nemesis and a whole bunch of other original material rolled into one monster of a package. The ONLY downside is it is very hard work to do multiple rides. This ride does plain hurt; and would desperately benefit from a deeper restraint system to spread out the huge amount of force piled onto your thighs for the whole duration. I hear Untamed at Walibi Holland has further refined the RMC train design so there may be adaptations to bring back to SV to help. I cannot imagine we are riding SV in it's finished form at this time; and I am absolutely sure there will be modifications over the coming years. Possibly for the better. Even so, come and experience it while it is what it is; you will not regret it one jot. The ride is not free of problems, 3-train stacking in the station is way too common. Throw more staff at it; add Yukon's bag-bin conveyor - do whatever you have to to get the thing up to speed. It would seriously be worth considering having two staff per four seats to deal with the legal issues imposed with handling carry-on item specific to this ride. All that said, would still get 6 stars on a scale of 1-5. Come ride it!

Terrible. Minebuster on the opposite side of the park is far more fun.

Airtimes Layout

Another superbly built B&M, Giga this time, is hugely fun to ride and the first drop is astoundingly large. Perhaps, as a somewhat jaded enthusiast the difference between 200ft and 300ft is largely irrelevant whereas what you do with that height and speed is more important hence much preferred Behemoth. Of course, it offers massive floater air; and not a lot else. Car park overlook. Behemoth on the other side of the park has a much better setting, and more to look at. The ride feels incomplete, what with the final brake run above the highest point of multiple other coasters in it's vicinity; feels like a missed opportunity really... Could have ran some mad crazy twister elements into the structure of Wilde Beast perhaps? But nope. Missed opportunities aside, this is a brilliant ride, just one that could have been a stupendous one for a little more effort.

Straight sections are OK. Square corners leave the latter half utterly unenjoyable. Considering this was the "best" upside down coaster at Canada's Wonderland ALL the way up to the opening of Yukon Striker, it now looks hopelessly anachronistic. Doubt this will be around for much longer.

Fun launched family coaster with a rapid launch. Better acceleration than Red Force! Sure there are more thrilling rides elsewhere in the park, but that is missing the point of this ride. Appeals to a wide audience, won't scare them off, and might invite them onto the bigger stuff.

Back in 1999, this was one of the more local parks to me and therefore relatively accessible. The best feature was the first inversion; which gave an incredible view of the very long beach at Southport. Call me insane, I did one day go and ride this about 20-odd times in a row. That's enough SLC to satiate even the most desperate coaster fan!

Better than most of the BPB wooden coasters; not especially intense but was a lot of fun. Arguably could have been mothballed rather than destroyed while Amanda Thompson stabilised the finances of the family business. Rode this a lot in the early 2000's and probably the best ride in Southport at the time.

Airtimes Harness Launch

The LSM launch of Red Force doesn't deliver. Sure, it goes fast, but rate of change of speed is very poor. Your average hatchback can accelerate as fast as Red Force, consequently the ride is therefore about the huge hill instead. Gives a good blast of air and view from the top. Also, goggles on the front row, seriously? Don't be bloody daft. They aren't necessary on significantly longer and quicker rides. The trains are somewhat lurch and if you sit back flat to the seat you will bounce off-and-off it randomly and uncomfortably - sit forward to avoid this effect. Final "bonus" hill into the brakes is neat in principle but feels like you've just stacked your car into a wall. All things considered we're lucky to have a ride like this at all in Europe, but I can't rate it highly.

The awesome force that is the Klondike Gold Mine... Terrible coaster in all respects, but it was a lot of fun nontheless!

First Drop Pace Duration Airtimes Dead spots Layout

Millie is a corker of a ride. By hypercoaster standards, it lacks heavy-G in any direction, and occassionally is known to us as Millenium Forceless. It's all about the speed and height. Much fun to be had especially at sunset, but there are technically more forceful and better hypercoasters out there.

Fun Masterpiece Intensity Discomfort

Arrow dynamics swansong, and a flawed masterpiece. This isn't a rollercoaster, it's an experience that happens to be a rollercoaster. If it didn't have the un-necessary wobble and calf-slapping trains it'd be perfection.