• Dave Scott

    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.

  • Dave Scott

    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.

  • Dave Scott

    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.

  • Dave Scott

    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.

  • Dave Scott

    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.

  • Dave Scott

    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.

  • Dave Scott

    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!

  • Dave Scott

    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.

  • Dave Scott

    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.

  • Dave Scott

    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.