Whilst i think Mandrill mayhem is a novel and interesting coaster concept i find the layout to be rather lackluster in its force. Whilst i understand that this is a family coaster i feel that a large ...
Whilst i think Mandrill mayhem is a novel and interesting coaster concept i find the layout to be rather lackluster in its force. Whilst i understand that this is a family coaster i feel that a large duration of the ride is mostly or completely forceless even when compared to coasters of similar scale.
Walking up to the ride the theming is excellently shining in the small references. This continues in the queue, station and layout and is my favourite thing about this ride overall. I especially love the jaguar statue and market area. When i rode mandrill mayhem it was operating on a virtual queuing system which made it hard to get repeat rides unless (like i did) you stayed on site. I managed to get some early morning ERT on this ride and rode twice in the front, twice in the back (rear facing) and 4 other times in various middle rows. For the duration of the review assume the direction ive stated applies to the forward facing majority of the train unless otherwise stated.
The ride starts with a relatively gentle backward launch into a dip down. This dip has a slight turn enducing some mild airtime and laterals for those toward the front of the train. The ride then heads into a jr scorpion tail. This element varies greatly based on your row. I thought this element was fantastic in rear facing back row getting some good floater air but worsened the further forward you go. In the front of the train this element is downright boring as you gently rock up the spike getting no airtime or other forces at all. You then head back through the station. Whilst the subsequent rolling launch does lack in force the sense of speed is augmented by the location in the station building and hand chopper effect as you exit. You then head left into a banked turn. This turn pulls some light Gs but is relatively mundane. You then rotate through the ride's lone inversion which is a heartline roll. This is the highlight of the ride for me providing some solid hangtime. Although the tight vest restraints do make this hangtime feel toned down. Whilst this may make it less scary to younger rides or riders who may be looking to try out inversions personally i do find this detracts from the ride experience but is understandable.
After this, you proceed into a section of banked turns. These do not provide any force to note but do have some nice themeing with some foot choppers. You then hit a mild rolling launch. No real forces to note here as with the other launches. The ride then proceeds into its second spike which is a giant helix. The helix starts with some ok Gs but these quickly fade away and end in some awkward sideways hangtime. This just feels uncomfortable to me and does not provide much force at all. You then complete the course again backwards. The sensations are fairly analgous but for those who started forward, going backwards is a good extra thrill.
The ride also has a very noticable bounce on outer seats which downright ruins the ride experience. This is the wost of the wing coasters that i've been on for this issue.
Overall, i like this ride's concept and theme and the roll is very good but a large number of the ride's elements fail to be interesting to me even for a family coaster.
