This is an incredible ride. The green side starts with a powerful launch (yes, really, a powerful launch on a Mack) into a first half with multiple s...
This is an incredible ride. The green side starts with a powerful launch (yes, really, a powerful launch on a Mack) into a first half with multiple strong, sustained ejector airtime moments. The second half then focuses on racing/dueling with lots of near-miss moments with the other train, the supports, and the track, including an inversion where the trains twist around each other. These combine to give an experience not quite like anything else I've ever ridden. The airtime is definitely better on the green side. It is also very satisfying how the ride automatically synchronizes the trains during the launch to ensure proper dueling. As usual, the operations at Universal are excellent with stacking only seldom occurring and double-stacking never occurring. They were also happy to accommodate my requests for the back row.
As of the time of this writing, this just barely makes it into my top 10. That leads me into the only issue I had with this coaster, rattle. The rattle seems somewhat train-dependent, but is definitely worse overall on the green side. It even manages to vibrate rather badly during the strongest airtime moment of the ride, when the green track passes under the yellow track during an airtime hill in the first half. That is the first time I can remember ever experiencing such a sensation during airtime on a steel coaster. While it certainly isn't bad enough to ruin the ride, it does push it across the line into headache-causing territory if I were to try to marathon the ride, which is why it isn't any further up in my rankings. I'm also concerned about the future, because if this thing starts rattling as bad as Copperhead Strike currently does, in combination with the higher intensity, it could easily become headache-inducing in just one ride. I'm hoping that Universal's maintenance will be good enough to avoid this.
Also, as a side note, I typically collect a T-shirt of a coaster (usually my favorite coaster there) from each park I visit. However, when I visited Epic Universe in October 2025, I wasn't able to find a T-shirt for this or any other coaster in the park at any of the gift shops I could find. Considering my political inclinations I never thought I would say this, but Universal, please offer ride T-shirts and take my money!
This is an incredible ride. The yellow side starts with a powerful launch (yes, really, a powerful launch on a Mack) into a first half with plenty of...
This is an incredible ride. The yellow side starts with a powerful launch (yes, really, a powerful launch on a Mack) into a first half with plenty of airtime moments, but none that are as strong as on the green side. The second half then focuses on racing/dueling with lots of near-miss moments with the other train, the supports, and the track, including an inversion where the trains twist around each other. These combine to give an experience not quite like anything else I've ever ridden. I like the inversion better on the yellow side because seeing the green train above you while upside-down is an otherworldly experience. It is also very satisfying how the ride automatically synchronizes the trains during the launch to ensure proper dueling. Speaking of that, the yellow train seems to "lose" the race in the first half, and therefore gets rewarded with a more powerful second launch to bring it back closer to even with the green train. As usual, the operations at Universal are excellent with stacking only seldom occurring and double-stacking never occurring. They were also happy to accommodate my requests for the back row.
As of the time of this writing, this just barely makes it into my top 10. That leads me into the only issue I had with this coaster, rattle. The rattle seems somewhat train-dependent, but is definitely worse overall on the green side. The yellow side also has some rattle, but not as bad. If I was going to try to marathon this ride, it would need to be on the yellow side.
Also, as a side note, I typically collect a T-shirt of a coaster (usually my favorite coaster there) from each park I visit. However, when I visited Epic Universe in October 2025, I wasn't able to find a T-shirt for this or any other coaster in the park at any of the gift shops I could find. Considering my political inclinations I never thought I would say this, but Universal, please offer ride T-shirts and take my money!
I was hoping that Joker's Jinx might be better than Flight of Fear due to the outdoor setting allowing for easier defensive riding, but I was not prep...
I was hoping that Joker's Jinx might be better than Flight of Fear due to the outdoor setting allowing for easier defensive riding, but I was not prepared for exactly how good it was going to be. The launch is the same punchy LIM launch we know and love from Flight of Fear. The twists, turns, and inversions are actually fun now that I can see where I'm about to go and lean into it to keep from getting repeatedly and unpredictably jerked and slammed back and forth in the train. The inversions are fast and whippy. The second half is also much, much faster without the trim brake and therefore has some unhinged positives as well. It tracks fairly decently (and well enough to keep from giving me a headache), but there is some shuffling here and there. As would be expected from Premier, the restraints aren't great with the shin guards uncomfortably pinning my legs, but they at least didn't cause any pain. Surprisingly, this ended up being my favorite coaster at SFA, unexpectedly beating out both Superman and Batwing.
This was the biggest disappointment of my day at Epic Universe and I went in not expecting much. The theming is really all it has going for it. It d...
This was the biggest disappointment of my day at Epic Universe and I went in not expecting much. The theming is really all it has going for it. It doesn't have any speed to speak of, the layout is uninspiring, and the "trackless" gimmick didn't really do anything for me. It is just a slow-moving, janky, rattly coaster with lots of block brakes. The way the "trackless" gimmick works is by turning a normal coaster track on its end and then mounting a gondola with rider seats on a "boom" connected to the actual car that rolls down the vertically-oriented track at 90°. I suspect that is also the source of the rattle, because what I experienced is when it was just rolling down straight or sloped track with a constant roll angle, it would track fine. However, when the roll angle changed, it would often seem to shake violently with both a horizontal and vertical component. I suspect what is happening there is that the car riding on the track is hunting back and forth between the side-friction wheels on the bottom rail. The weight of the train must necessarily be borne solely by the road wheel on the top of the top rail (since there can't be a road wheel on the bottom rail due to the track structure being in the way. This leaves only side-friction and upstop wheels on the bottom rail. As with any coaster, it can't be tuned so that both the road wheel and the upstop wheel or both side-friction wheels are continuously loaded as this would cause excessive bearing wear and probably bind up in turns. On normal coasters this doesn't cause an issue because the weight of the train is stably transferred to the track by two sets of road wheels. However, since this coaster only has one set of road wheels, that leaves the bottom side-friction wheels to control the roll angle. Since the ones on either side can't continuously be loaded, that leaves a tiny bit of play between them. Then, when the roll angle changes, the car hunts back and forth between the wheels before it finds equilibrium. This hunting is translated and amplified through the 90° boom to the gondola as both vertical and horizontal shaking. I was sitting on the side closer to the boom, so I have to assume it would have been worse on the other side. This ride also has an interesting setup for its block brakes. It has a normal row of releasable magnetic brakes followed by a pair of friction brakes to slow down and stop the vehicle if the next block is occupied (normal enough), but it also has a row of what look very much like LSMs that appear to be used to trim the vehicle when no stop is required. At first I was wondering if these were actual LSMs used to accelerate the vehicle back to proper speed after a set-up, but I witnessed several set-ups during my extensive wait and no re-acceleration was done. And with that, I segue into the ugly aspect of this ride: reliability and capacity. With single-coach train and 4 seats per coach, it is basically a wild mouse in terms of capacity. It has a continuously-moving station platform which improves the capacity beyond what most actual wild mouses can manage, but it still isn't enough for this park. I waited over 2 hours in line for this ride, and it was a slow-moving line too. And then, when I was maybe 5 minutes away from riding, it broke down. Initially they thought it would be a quick fix, but shortly after that they "strongly recommended" that anyone who was in line leave and try a different ride. I wasn't about to leave the line in which I had just spent 2 hours and almost surely have to wait 2 more hours later to ride again, and many other people had the same idea. Several people tried asking the staff present if we could be given a single-use queue-skip pass if we were to leave, but they were unwilling to do this. I thought this would be a completely fair exchange as we had in fact already waited a significant amount of time for the ride, so it didn't make sense to make us wait again later. But, apparently Universal management doesn't agree. So, I waited probably 30 more minutes while they fixed it before finally riding. I don't regret riding this, but I do think it is a mediocre ride that doesn't really do much and certainly isn't worth waiting >=2 hours for.
I honestly wasn't sure how I would like this going in. I hadn't really heard anything about it and hadn't seen a POV. I left pleasantly surprised at...
I honestly wasn't sure how I would like this going in. I hadn't really heard anything about it and hadn't seen a POV. I left pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it. Obviously it is just a family coaster so there isn't any crazy airtime or inversions or anything. The launches are good for a family coaster and the layout has plenty of well-themed twists and turns that deliver nice forces. The slow second launch followed by backwards movement and then another more powerful launch (does this count as a swing launch?) is also a fun gimmick. These also cleverly conceal the block zones that, in addition to the dual stations, allow for running 5 trains on a layout where most parks would run at most 2. That said, I don't think they were running enough trains when I was there. I'm not sure how many were running, but I noted multiple stretches where both stations were empty simultaneously. And that goes to the only real issue with this coaster in my opinion, capacity. While the Universal ops are as good as you would expect, this ride still managed to have a 2 hour wait time when I rode it, and a good portion of that was unshaded overflow queue. That's just too much for a family coaster. I wonder if the reason for the smaller-than-optimal train count is reliability issues when running the maximum number of trains like Hagrid's formerly experienced. If so, they will probably eventually be able to improve this. All in all, I think this is one of the better family coasters out there and I enjoyed it even more than Hagrid's, possibly because it wasn't hyped as much. I suspect it would be really fun at night too, but I never got a chance to do a night ride, mainly because I was unaware of Epic Universe's recent policy to keep the Celestial area (including Stardust) open for an hour after posted close time and I wanted to use the time I had available to get night rides on that.
Am I the only one who thinks that a roller coaster called Hiccup's *Wing* Gliders ought to be a wing coaster?
The main draw of a B&M dive coaster is obviously the holding chain and first drop. The general public loves that. And honestly, I loved it too. Tha...
The main draw of a B&M dive coaster is obviously the holding chain and first drop. The general public loves that. And honestly, I loved it too. That is, until I rode Siren's Curse. That ride does the drop gimmick so much more effectively than a B&M dive coaster that it's comparatively tiny little drop seems to have ruined hyper-size B&M dive first drops for me. I just don't feel anything on them anymore. When I rerode Griffon I at least found a new reason to enjoy it (airtime in the back row.). I was hoping SheiKra might have some of that too. It did, but only a tiny bit. It also didn't help that I had been mercilessly stapled for some reason. And if you're wondering, "Well, why don't you just ride it again until you don't get stapled?", I'll tell you why: They were running one train. On a busy Saturday. In October. This coaster was built to run 5 (five) trains. It has dual stations, an apparent setup-after-dispatch system, and two course blocks. It should be a capacity monster. But instead, I waited nearly two hours for it. So no, I certainly wasn't going to do that again. So, to sum it up, this isn't bad. It just isn't good.
This ride is just stupid intense. Not many coasters provoke physical reactions from my body anymore (besides greying out), but this one managed to bo...
This ride is just stupid intense. Not many coasters provoke physical reactions from my body anymore (besides greying out), but this one managed to both give me the stomach-drop feeling I so rarely get anymore from the first drop and make my legs trembly after the ride from all the positives. The best part of this is the inversions. They are all whippy and intense and come one right after the last. The cobra roll is easily the best cobra roll I have ever experienced on a sit-down looper and is second only to that of Alpengeist overall. Going in I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to enjoy this due to rattle and, while it isn't glass-smooth, I didn't find the rattle particularly objectionable. There is some headbanging in the entries into the corkscrews though (at least in the back row), so watch out for that. It must have been truly mind-blowing for people riding this for the first time in 1993 when all they had experienced prior were janky Arrow loopers and perhaps a one- or two-inversion Schwarzkopf.
These things are *way* too much fun for how compact, short, and clonable they are. The launches have good kick. The backwards stall is disorientingly ...
These things are *way* too much fun for how compact, short, and clonable they are. The launches have good kick. The backwards stall is disorientingly fun since you can't tell where you will stop. The transition to horizontal after the third launch has great airtime. (I imagine this airtime is probably better in the front, but I never rode it in that row.) The heartline roll is delightfully hangy, made even better by how high up you are. Then you hit a trim brake before the drop, but this is absolutely necessary, because the extremely strong ejector airtime created by the combined drop and twist would probably kill the back row riders otherwise. (Seriously, that has to be some of the strongest airtime I've experienced on anything not made by RMC. The non-inverting loop is also whippy and fun. I also noticed and appreciated how quickly and precisely the train parks back in the station at the end. Despite not being stapled this time, the restraints are still quite awful. The lap bar isn't really even a lap bar for me; it pins me in by the lower thighs and shins, which isn''t the most comfortable during the strong airtime. The comfort collars aren't uncomfortable to me, but they are also completely pointless and make a train that is already difficult to board even worse. I really wish Premier would figure out how to make a better restraint; that would make this ride even better.
The first time I rode this in 2023, I didn't have all that great of a time. That was really before I discovered airtime (and learned not to staple my...
The first time I rode this in 2023, I didn't have all that great of a time. That was really before I discovered airtime (and learned not to staple myself). Re-riding in 2025, it is actually quite awesome. While the airtime isn't as good as later B&M hypers, it is still quite fun especially if you give yourself a bit of room with the restraint. It can be a bit rattly at times, so while I can enjoy it, I can't marathon it without giving myself a headache.
As someone who rode the original Big Bad Wolf, nothing else will ever quite live up to that. This does swoop through a Bavarian village, but the lack...
As someone who rode the original Big Bad Wolf, nothing else will ever quite live up to that. This does swoop through a Bavarian village, but the lack of swinging is disappointing. The layout is longer and better than its counterpart Phoenix Rising at BGT, but it tracks just about exactly the same. There is quite a rattle in valleys and certain other places. It isn't painful, but it is sad to see how much B&M's quality has fallen since ~2020.
It's a good family coaster. Nothing crazy, but just some twists and turns around various theming elements. The launches are fun and the air conditio...
It's a good family coaster. Nothing crazy, but just some twists and turns around various theming elements. The launches are fun and the air conditioning is much appreciated. The capacity is awful. This is not worth a long wait. If you're going to ride it, rope drop it and you'll be able to get in a few walk-ons before people start getting to the back of the park.
I don't have much negative to say about this, but I don't have much positive to say either. The first drop is fun and is rather unique for a wild mou...
I don't have much negative to say about this, but I don't have much positive to say either. The first drop is fun and is rather unique for a wild mouse, but the rest of it is just a regular wild mouse. This one seems to run a bit slower than the one at Carowinds, but the brake runs are also less crashy.
Rapterra has a great layout. It has lots of elements atypical of past wing coasters, including hangtime at odd angles. The inversions are fun. The ...
Rapterra has a great layout. It has lots of elements atypical of past wing coasters, including hangtime at odd angles. The inversions are fun. The launch has a pretty good kick to it as well. However, as with most/all of the other post-2020 B&Ms, it doesn't track very well. It shuffles about quite a bit and there are several potholes throughout the course. It wasn't painful at all, but it is sad to see how B&M's quality has fallen. The significantly-older Gatekeeper is still much smoother than Rapterra is in its very first season.
Somehow over the last year I have gotten to be OK with being brought to the verge of consciousness, and that finally allows me to actually enjoy Panth...
Somehow over the last year I have gotten to be OK with being brought to the verge of consciousness, and that finally allows me to actually enjoy Pantherian for what it is rather that just dreading the blackout turn. I have passed out completely there before, but only in the front row of the train. After said blackout turn, I love the high-speed turns and whippy transitions. The transitions are honestly my favorite part. They are so violent that you somehow get quick pops of ejector airtime, but they aren't uncomfortable at all in my experience. There is also airtime from the hills, but the restraints here don't allow me to experience it as well as normal Intamin gigacoaster trains or B&M hyper trains. No one is ever going to build anything like this again and probably for good reason, but I'm glad they did it once.
This thing tracks about like a shopping cart rolling down a flight of stairs. It jerks and bangs its way throughout the entire layout, slamming my br...
This thing tracks about like a shopping cart rolling down a flight of stairs. It jerks and bangs its way throughout the entire layout, slamming my brain around inside my skull. While seemingly tolerable for a ride or 2, it seeds a migraine for me that then ruins the rest of my day. If it was smoother, it could be *much* better than it is. The non-inverting loop is an incredible element, there are bursts of strong airtime throughout the layout, and I enjoyed listening to Start Me Up by the Rolling Stones (song 122 on the secret menu) while riding a roller coaster much more than I thought I would (but you will need to use the secret menu though because all the regular choices suck). This could easily be 4 or 4.5 stars if it didn't hurt me. Despite its impending closure being the reason I went to Florida when I did, this was the worst coaster I experienced during that trip. I can't say I'll miss it.
Now that I've gotten a chance to ride a Skyrocket II without being stapled, I've decided that these things are *way* too much fun for how compact, sho...
Now that I've gotten a chance to ride a Skyrocket II without being stapled, I've decided that these things are *way* too much fun for how compact, short, and clonable they are. The launches have good kick. The backwards stall is disorientingly fun since you can't tell where you will stop. The transition to horizontal after the third launch has great airtime. (I imagine this airtime is probably better in the front, but I never rode it in that row.) The heartline roll is delightfully hangy, made even better by how high up you are. Then you hit a trim brake before the drop, but this is absolutely necessary, because the extremely strong ejector airtime created by the combined drop and twist would probably kill the back row riders otherwise. (Seriously, that has to be some of the strongest airtime I've experienced on anything not made by RMC. (Edit: According to rideforcesdb.com, it is in fact the strongest airtime I have experience on any coaster to date, including RMCs.)) The non-inverting loop is also whippy and fun. I also noticed and appreciated how quickly and precisely the train parks back in the station at the end. Despite not being stapled this time, the restraints are still quite awful. The lap bar isn't really even a lap bar for me; it pins me in by the lower thighs and shins, which isn''t the most comfortable during the strong airtime. The comfort collars aren't uncomfortable to me, but they are also completely pointless and make a train that is already difficult to board even worse. I really wish Premier would figure out how to make a better restraint; that would make this ride even better.
This is what B&M dive coasters should have been. The tilt is a crazy effect, hanging you from the restraint in anticipation of the drop. Towards the...
This is what B&M dive coasters should have been. The tilt is a crazy effect, hanging you from the restraint in anticipation of the drop. Towards the back of the train, the drop initially feels more like a drop tower than a roller coaster. After that, you get a series of rapid-fire elements with a good mix of positives, some whip depending on where you are in the train, and plenty of airtime, ranging from floater to ejector depending on the element and where you are in the train. The first inversion has inverted ejector airtime and felt sort of similar to the Velocicoaster mosasaurus roll to me, though not as forceful. The latter part of the course features lots of airtime, some straight and some off-axis with even faster pacing than the already action-packed start. The profiling and tracking are both ultra-smooth and this is one of the most re-rideable coasters I have ever ridden. The train handling is also some of the best I have experienced with smooth lift hill engagement and braking that doesn't feel crashy at all. The coaster is also quite mechanically quiet when running; it doesn't make much rolling noise and the anti-rollbacks are silent. This is a truly incredible coaster. Vekoma has done a great job and I really hope to see a lot more of these getting built. Really the only complaint I have is that it could stand to be longer and that it will probably have capacity issues given its location at Cedar Point. An idea layout for here likely would have had a taller drop, an MCBR, and 3 trains, but I'm just happy that new-gen Vekomas will start getting more exposure in the US now.
For being the first gigacoaster, Millennium Force stands up quite well against the more modern ones. The sense of speed is incredible and it never le...
For being the first gigacoaster, Millennium Force stands up quite well against the more modern ones. The sense of speed is incredible and it never lets up throughout the ride. There's plenty of positive Gs and I gray out continuously from the pullout of the first drop to partway through the first overbank. (The people who call it "Millennium Forceless" are just silly.) This isn't really an airtime-focused coaster, but what airtime is there is perfectly executed. The first time I rode this in 2024 I was a bit underwhelmed, but after reriding it with the new lift motor and fully warmed up on a hot day, I was blown away. It hauls so much ass now. The funny thing is that I can't really explain why I like it so much more now. Going fast is fun, I guess.
Truly, mind-blowingly insane. I really don't have words to properly describe this coaster. It starts off with a slowish forward launch, but still ma...
Truly, mind-blowingly insane. I really don't have words to properly describe this coaster. It starts off with a slowish forward launch, but still manages to have a good kick at the beginning. That part isn't hugely exciting, but it is just the pre-show. The next launch, being launched backwards at 102MPH up the spike, is unlike anything I've ever experienced before. For a few seconds during this ride, I actually set a new personal overall land speed record while traveling in reverse. The fastest I had ever traveled on land was backwards. That's just crazy. Then, there's the spike. I already knew sort of what this was going to feel like because I have ridden Pantheon at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, which has a similar but much-smaller element. That could never truly prepare me for this one though. Pulling up into the spike pounds you with positive Gs. Being that high above the ground and staring straight down at the people and things on the ground is an insane experience. Plus, there is excellent floater airtime for most of the time the train is on the spike. Then, it gets even more insane with the third launch up to 120MPH. That obviously set a new personal land speed record for me, and being in an open-air vehicle going that fast is an unreal experience. The pull-up into the top hat once again delivers extremely strong positive Gs. I might have grayed out (I was certainly very dehydrated when I rode this), but I'm not sure because it happened so fast. As soon as the pullout is complete, it is airtime, airtime, and more airtime until the next pullout. The 90° whip into the crest of the top hat delivers a burst of strong laterals along with more airtime. When the train was cresting the top hat, I could look down at the top of Millennium Force's lift hill. That coaster was of course once the tallest in the world and is still high up in the rankings., which is yet more insanity. The way down delivers yet more laterals on the "heartline roll" and similar positive Gs as before on the pullout. That ends the experience. It is short but very, very sweet.
The restraints are very comfortable for my tall, leggy frame. I would describe them as on-par with Intamin and Mack over-the-shoulder lap bars, which they resemble closely. They also have no seat belt at all, which makes for a quick restraint check (and the ops are hauling). I have but 2 complaints, only one of which is about the ride experience. The train does vibrate some while traveling at high speed. I don't suspect this would normally cause me any discomfort, but I did get a (manageable) headache from my ride, likely due to my dehydration, which brings me to my next point, reliability. This is just not a very reliable ride at this stage, and I had to wait in line for about 2 hours through multiple breakdowns in order to ride (which is why I was dehydrated). After the longest breakdown (which involved work being done by a Zamperla engineer who was already on-site), they announced that the ride was back up and everyone already in line would get to ride, but it would be shut down again for maintenance afterward. I sincerely hope Zamperla and Cedar Point can get this thing working reliably, as it is an excellent ride and I hope as many people as possible get to experience it.
It's pretty smooth for an old-gen Vekoma. There aren't really any forces of which to speak. I'm sure the little kids have fun on it though. The onl...
It's pretty smooth for an old-gen Vekoma. There aren't really any forces of which to speak. I'm sure the little kids have fun on it though. The only reason I rode it is because I was at 98 credits and I wanted to make Top Thrill 2 #100.
This was my first SLC and what I had previously suspected is true: It is an amazing layout let down by bad profiling and poor tracking. The intensity...
This was my first SLC and what I had previously suspected is true: It is an amazing layout let down by bad profiling and poor tracking. The intensity rivals the best B&M inverts I have ridden and the inversions are quick and fun, but the poor tracking was tossing my body around like a ragdoll. Obviously with vest trains there can't be any headbanging, but at points it still shuffled and jackhammered so hard as to bang my brain around inside my head. I would love to see a new-gen Vekoma take on this layout (or at least ride the fully-reprofiled Great Noreaster at Morey''s) someday, but it seems that even with the vest trains, these are still rather unpleasant to ride.
This thing spins like absolute crazy. I don't know how they got it to spin that much, but I'm glad they did. I had much more fun on it than I probab...
This thing spins like absolute crazy. I don't know how they got it to spin that much, but I'm glad they did. I had much more fun on it than I probably should have.
I'm so happy I got to ride the very first B&M before it meets its demise later this year. It isn't awful. It has a nice layout and forceful inversio...
I'm so happy I got to ride the very first B&M before it meets its demise later this year. It isn't awful. It has a nice layout and forceful inversions. The corkscrew was the only headbangy bit for me, but it did bang pretty hard there. It tracks somewhat better than the woodies to which it is adjacent, but not a lot. There are quite a lot of potholes littered throughout the course. Props to SFA for continuing to maintain the fire effect, though I certainly didn't need that when it was already 90℉ outside.
At some point, GCI figured out how to design a wooden coaster layout that wouldn't beat itself to hell. That point was after they built Roar. Honest...
At some point, GCI figured out how to design a wooden coaster layout that wouldn't beat itself to hell. That point was after they built Roar. Honestly, I'm not 100% sure what they were going for with this layout anyway. There isn't any airtime of which to speak. There are laterals, but the laterals just slam your legs into the lap bar. (Maybe it would have been better with Millennium Flyer trains?) It is also very, very rough, both in profiling and in tracking. A few sections appeared to have had significant track work recently, but those were not noticeably smoother than the rest. Thankfully, I didn't get a headache. I'm sure I would have if I had attempted any re-rides. I will be sorry to see many of the rides at SFA gone, but this won't be one of them. I am sorry that RMC will never have a chance to hybridize this one, however. I do see quite a bit of potential for that.
Wild One is by far the oldest coaster I've ever ridden (at 107 years old when I rode it). I went into it really wanting to love it, but I couldn't qu...
Wild One is by far the oldest coaster I've ever ridden (at 107 years old when I rode it). I went into it really wanting to love it, but I couldn't quite get there. It does have good airtime and very strong laterals, but it is rather jackhammery even in a non-wheel seat and the laterals kept painfully slamming my leg into the lap bar. I'm sure this would have been much more fun with the original buzz bars My hope is that someone (maybe Knoebel's?) saves it, restores it to tip-top shape, and puts buzz bar trains back on it.
This was my first Intamin hyper (and my firsts Intamin with a chain lift hill too). I think it is also one of Intamin's early hypers too, and it show...
This was my first Intamin hyper (and my firsts Intamin with a chain lift hill too). I think it is also one of Intamin's early hypers too, and it shows. It is definitely fun, but in a jankier way than I was expecting with some apparent tangent-radius bank transitions. The first drop is great and offers ejector airtime in the back of the train. The large camelback also offers solid airtime, though the hill isn't profiled as well as newer hypers, so the airtime doesn't last as long as you might expect. The bunny hops at the end also have strong airtime, but I prefer more sustained airtime than that. The helices offer good positive Gs and strong laterals, but are plentiful and drawn-out enough to become uninteresting after a while. The tracking isn't what I would call smooth, but it also isn't rough in a way that I suspect would give me a headache. The trains are a bit cramped for someone with legs as long as mine.
I already suspected I was going to like Batwing since I am one of the rare people who actually enjoyed Nighthawk at Carowinds. That said, I still lef...
I already suspected I was going to like Batwing since I am one of the rare people who actually enjoyed Nighthawk at Carowinds. That said, I still left pleasantly surprised at how much fun it was. Unlike many of the B&M flyers, this one keeps up the intensity the whole time and even pulls some positive Gs in the flying position. The inversions are all fun. The inline twists are more comfortable and less disorienting than the corkscrews on Nighthawk were. The best inversion is of course the vertical loop though. It has plenty of positive Gs in both the entry and the exit, and honestly the lying position is my favorite way to experience positive Gs since I am rather prone to grayouts with positive Gs in the sitting position. As far as the ride experience, I don't really have anything negative to say. The tracking isn't quite glass-smooth, but there aren't any potholes and I could see myself riding this many times without getting a headache. However, the capacity and reliability are awful enough to the point where that would be difficult. While I was waiting in line for it, it went down. After the mechanics worked on it, it did an empty cycle and then a cycle with 2 operators. The train got stuck in the "down" position after that cycle, so maintenance came back and worked on it again,, followed by another empty cycle. After that, I finally got to ride. (Almost the entire line had cleared out in the meantime.) I can definitely see why these were never popular with parks, but I will be sad to see this one go. Fun fact: This coaster, which was made in 2001, is the newest-manufactured coaster at SFA. With that level of neglect, it is really no surprise this park is extinct…
This is an incredible jack-of-all-trades coaster. It has great launches (especially the second). It has great inversions, especially the mosasaurus ...
This is an incredible jack-of-all-trades coaster. It has great launches (especially the second). It has great inversions, especially the mosasaurus roll that makes you feel like your are about to be ejected into the water just below. It has great ejector airtime in a few different spots. I seem to remember even getting a bit of hangtime, though I can't remember where in the course. I found that the back row was best for airtime and the operators always let me sit there if I asked nicely (and wasn't in the single rider line). The seats and restraints are very comfortable, as always with the newer Intamin OTSLB trains. There is a trim brake on the top hat, but it is a variable trim brake and if it was hitting, I couldn't tell. The only complaint I have is that it has a remarkably shaky ride, much more so than, for example, Pantheon. It normally wouldn't cause me any problem, but I think my head still hasn't fully recovered from getting beaten to hell by Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit yesterday.
I was surprised at how good the forces on this were. The launches were great (and I could even hear the awesome Intamin LSM growl over the theming so...
I was surprised at how good the forces on this were. The launches were great (and I could even hear the awesome Intamin LSM growl over the theming sounds). At one point, it even gave me the stomach-dropping feeling that most bigger coasters can't manage. There's also a surprise element that I won't spoil here. This is almost perfect, but it misses the last half-star because it just isn't quite intense enough for my preferences. That's not a knock on it though; I'm not in the target demographic for it.
This is so far my favorite B&M sit-down looper and my favorite traditional (non-inverted) looper. It starts off with a surprisingly powerful drive ti...
This is so far my favorite B&M sit-down looper and my favorite traditional (non-inverted) looper. It starts off with a surprisingly powerful drive tire launch. (I seriously had no idea a drive tire launch could kick that hard!) You can even smell hot tires in the launch tube if you sniff at the right time. It launches you into an intense sequence of inversions that are whippy without (usually) causing headbanging. (I found that the front was more likely to headbang than the back.) No one inversion stands out, but they are all fun. There's even a couple pops of airtime mixed in for variety. I found that, as usual, the back row offered the best forces. The tracking is mostly smooth, but there are a couple of potholes here and there. It calms down a bit after the MCBR, but the first half is more than enough to make this a phenomenal ride. I honestly never thought a traditional looper would rank this high in my personal favorites.
