• Brian Sheldon

    Inconfort A raser ! Lap Bar

    Torture! If you are over 5'-10" tall or weigh anywhere close to 200lbs...RUN! Stay away. Don't even think about riding this coaster--especially if you are male. The "T" shaped lap bar on these only have one locking position. For me this was about 2-3 inches embedded into my groin. I seriously couldn't believe the pain I was in. I tried everything I could to re-position on the lift hill to no avail. I think I blacked out after that. I remember absolutely nothing about the ride itself. I had to sit on a bench for about 15-20 minutes to recover afterwards. If you are anywhere near the measurements I listed above, trust me, avoid this at all costs. Your man parts will thank you.

  • Brian Sheldon

    Airtimes Confort Fluidité

    This is perhaps my favorite B&M hyper. It is a basic out and back layout, but they do throw a few surprises in for extra excitement and fun. I loved the left-hand dive turn off of the third hill that takes you out to the turn around. They throw in a couple more "twister" type maneuvers towards the end to add more excitement. It reminded a bit of Ragin' Bull in the second half. It was typical B&M Hyper--super, super smooth and comfortable. Because of this smoothness I was able to carry on a conversation with my wife during the entire ride. It is too big and comfortable to be all that intense. The level of intensity between this and El Torro is night and day. I know that this goes 80mph, but it never feels that fast. I loved and appreciated the extra "twister" maneuvers to add to the overall thrill and experience. A great coaster.

  • Brian Sheldon

    Théma

    The hype surrounding this made it out to be the best ride in all of Disney’s parks. I must say it is an excellent, excellent family coaster and a perfect addition to Disney. However, if you put this ride at Cedar Point, Magic Mountain, Hersheypark, etc, it would be highly out of place as a coaster. Here it does what it is designed to do. Move tons of people of all ages and sizes through the line. Purely judging it as a coaster enthusiast, especially if you take away all of the gizmos and gadgets, it really isn’t anything too special. It would just be an average coaster. With all the theming, it’s very cool. With that said the music and the constant talking annoyed me to no end. I was trying to focus on the ride and the music was a bad song that was just annoying. I learned after the fact that this supposedly goes 60mph. I have no idea when or where that happened. It seemed markedly slower than Tron. I honestly never felt like we broke 40. Overall an excellent experience that is pretty cool to do—once, maybe twice. Then all the build up I’m sure would just aggravate me to no end. I won’t ruin any of it, but it is very cool. Again, overall, a great experience that just happens to involve a decent coaster.

  • Brian Sheldon

    First Drop Fluidité Déception ! Airtimes

    This ride could be, more to the point SHOULD be so much better than it is allowed to be. The first half is super solid. Zero complaints. Huge hills, tons of speed, smooth and the long sweeping helix turn around is excellent. Then and this a HUGE THEN, right where the real fun should begin they castrate this thing. Right as you are entering the series of bunny hills back the station there is a brake run. Fine, lots of great rides have brake runs in the middle. However, this one basically takes you to a stop and you enter the "airtime" hills a crawling pace. It is essentially a kiddie coaster from the brake run back to the station. Where this coaster should shine is on that return trip. It should be air followed by air followed by air--think Magnum, but they brake this so much it delivers absolutely nothing. It is a 205 foot tall, 75 MPH kiddie coaster. If they only would let it rip through the small hills on the way back it could literally have been one best coasters on the planet for the last 20+ years. As it is, it is a hugely wasted opportunity and a massive let down.

  • Brian Sheldon

    Airtimes Intensité Ejectors

    My first ride, I wasn't 100% sold on its greatness. After a few back-to-back night rides, however, it launched its way up my favorite coasters of all time rankings. The air is crazy, ejector style. Literally on the border of downright frightening and/or painful. It isn't painful at all though. Truly on the edge of what our bodies can withstand and still enjoy. The most intense ejector air ever, by a wide, wide margin. Crazy fun. The launch up the hill is...interesting, not necessarily spectacular, just different--it does give a decent air pop over the top. Then the 90 degree banked turns at the top of the hills were truly disorienting--especially at night. Then the return trip home down the mountain. Truly epic. Air, then air, then air, then air again. The whole time you are getting faster and faster and more and more intense. Good times for sure. Great coaster for sure. Truly a world class thrill machine.

  • Brian Sheldon

    Vitesse Layout Longueur

    This was by far the longest line we waited in all day. It was about as long as I will tolerate to wait in. We had ridden everything else in the park except this--some many times. Was the hour-long wait worth it? In a word, absolutely. This is GCI at its best--just the way it should be. Fast, long, good air, and relentless. I loved the fact that it winds and twists through the wooden forest structure repeatedly. Great woody.

  • Brian Sheldon

    A fun, decent, little, figure-8 coaster. It spins as the name states. So, you get a slightly different experience on every lap. Each ride session lasts a good little while, I forget how many loops you get on the tiny track, but it is several. There is actually a couple spots that could be called thrilling. A very good family coaster.

  • Brian Sheldon

    Solid, solid, solid coaster. It is a very good woodie--even when compared to more recent creations. It is surprisingly good. It has a classic, basic layout. It delivers excellent pops of air on both the tops and drops of the hills. It is rickety enough to be exciting and jittery everywhere--especially the turns. This ups the fun factor as it is no way painful. If this exact coaster were in 50% of the other amusement parks in the the States, it would be considered one of their premier rides. Here it is vastly overshadowed by every other world record breaking coaster in the park that has been built since. The fact that this is as old as it is and still delivers a great ride is truly a testament to what classic woodies were and should forever be. Great coaster.

  • Brian Sheldon

    Think of this as an oversized and overly long mine train with a ton of theming and you pretty much have. Plenty fast and herky-jerky to be mildly thrilling. Slow enough and comfortable enough for everyone to enjoy. Great family coaster that still delivers enough to please enthusiasts. Excellent coaster.

  • Brian Sheldon

    Théma Fun

    Fun, fun ride. I’m not sure which side is Alpha and which is Omega, but what I did experience was a ton of fun. Probably my favorite coaster at Disney world. It isn’t perfectly smooth like modern coasters, but to me, that is a good thing. It makes it a more visceral and thrilling experience. I love being in the dark and not being able to see hardly anything. Again, just a fun, fun ride.

  • Brian Sheldon

    Théma Fun

    This is just such a fun, fun ride. It is a bit jerky-jerky. At these speeds that just equals more intensity. I love being in the dark and not knowing where you are going. Classic ride that is a ton of fun.

  • Brian Sheldon

    Excellent fun. I won’t ruin what this coaster actually does. I’ll let you be surprised like I was. Let’s just say it changes direction in a way that I thoroughly enjoyed. At one point there was an excellent bit of air and I lost my stomach for a bit. Good times. The theming actually caught me off and scared me a bit twice, which upped the enjoyment. This is totally a Disney ride—as much of an experience as it is a pure coaster. Purely as a coaster it is still very good and I would gladly reride it many times. Excellent fun.

  • Brian Sheldon

    Théma Vitesse Fluidité

    Easily the most unique and perhaps the best coaster in all of Disney. The riding position is rather cool. “Cool” is the word that repeatedly comes to mind when thinking about this coaster. I don’t really understand why Disney chose Tron, as the remake is already over ten years old and I don’t remember it being that popular. Regardless, this is a cool ride in just about every way. I think I liked this theming as much if not more than any other coaster I have ridden. The structure is truly breathtaking at night. It sits all alone at the back of Tomorrowland in essentially its own Tron Village. People just seem to hang out there. Super cool main boarding station. The lockers are cool. Excellent launch, not other worldly, but very good. It is liquid smooth from beginning to end. Tons of excellent transitions that you don’t really see coming, especially at night. I never touched the handlebars after loading. I sat up and essentially kneeled with my arms up. It created a nice flying sensation that I enjoyed thoroughly. It felt faster than the 59mph it says it is. Super cool ride that actually delivers an excellent coaster experience.

  • Brian Sheldon

    Confort Fluidité

    This is my favorite B&M hyper. I really remember loving the free and open feeling with all of the lovely floater air on Goliath (SFGA), but I feel this is had a bit more intensity. That actually may be first time I have ever used the word "intensity" to describe a B&M hyper as they are mostly so perfect and so smooth that they actually lack intensity. Candymonium is of course liquid smooth and perfectly comfortable with B&M's wonderful clamshell restraints. The seatbelts were a bit of a surprise, but in no way distracting at all. This actually delivered some solid forces that I really enjoyed. The floater air on the second hill lasted all the way to the bottom and you instantly transition to strong positive G's. There was zero transition time. Very cool. I rode it in the back to experience as much forces as it has to give and it was a very, very good ride. Far, far superior to Diamondback at Kings Island. I've always compared B&M to Intamin like comparing a Lincoln Towncar with a Mazda Miata. The Towncar has more power and ultimately can go faster, but it just so smooth you don't feel like you are going that fast and it is kind of tame. Whereas the Miata isn't really all that fast, but it is so small and nimble that it can deliver forces far beyond what the Towncar can. I've always felt that B&M hypers are too good to be extremely thrilling. Yes, they are fun and deliver some nice floater air, but not much in the way of "thrill". Candymonium is the first one that I can say delivers a fair bit of thrill. It is a great ride even though the last 1/4 of the ride is very, very tame. Now the real bad news: Why does this essentially brand new coaster already have 2 sets of massive brakes on it? Did they mess up the math? It is tearing itself up already? Both are very, very noticeable. They are both on uphills and neither totally kills the air over the top, but I have to wonder what could the air have been like. I'm sure more intense and it could have finally been a B&M hyper that delivers some serious, serious thrill. Not to be. It is still an excellent ride, but the brakes do annoy me.

  • Brian Sheldon

    Inversions Confort Layout

    Excellent all steel RMC. Super smooth. I guess I’m getting spoiled by most of the giant, modern coasters, because this first drop, while quite good, seems super short. First inversion right off the first drop is nice. Good pop of air after then it goes into the zero g stall. They say it is the longest in the world, it doesn’t really seem any longer than others I have experienced. It then goes into the fancy, world first “Raven” turn. It is good. Not other worldly, but more than just interesting. It then delivers a few air hills and then a corkscrew, a helix, another corkscrew and then 4 air hills before the abrupt final brakes. I rode this at 10:30 in the morning, it was taking 54 seconds to complete the circuit. It was my first time riding it, but even then it felt sluggish. No air on the return trip air hills. Later in the day, it was running 47 second circuits. It is much, much better at this pace. All the air hills deliver decently—none are truly ejector or anywhere near Lightning Rod or even Magnum levels. I’ve never said this about any other coaster before, but the first corkscrew is my favorite element. It is taken quite quickly and suddenly. It is excellent. I really like the screen that shows which seats are in the locked position and which are not. It takes away the mystery as to why the ops are crushing certain people. Here you know if your seat number doesn’t turn green, you don’t fit. Nice touch. The only slight concern I have is that it is already showing rust in many places. It is only 10 months old. Overall, a superb addition to this nice little park. It is a great ride, perhaps a bit like B&M’s too perfect and too smooth to be overly thrilling. This still delivers a very, good ride. It is very, very re-rideable. There is a local whose goal is to ride it 5000 times before it turns 1 year old. Another employee rode it for his 405th time today. It doesn’t take your breath away where you literally need a break after riding like most of my top coasters do. It won’t break into my top 20 because of this. Truly a great ride, not over the top take your breath away thrilling.

  • Brian Sheldon

    Decent little kiddie coaster. Plenty of room in the cars. You get two cycles around the track for your ride. It isn’t too jerky-jerky at all. This is actually called Sea Serpent.

  • Brian Sheldon

    First half was much better than I expected. 2nd half delivered the herky-jerky that I expected, but was pleased that the first half didn’t have. Almost decent jolts of air. Decent little coaster. Desperately needs a paint job.

  • Brian Sheldon

    Airtimes Chef d'oeuvre Ejectors

    My favorite coaster on the planet when I first rode it in 2004. After 2 subsequent visits in 2015 and 2018, and even after having ridden over 100 other coasters, nothing has changed that. To me it is as good as it gets. Sure, it isn't liquid smooth like some modern coasters, but I think that is what makes it so great. That rattling and shaking ups the intensity vastly. The first drop is spectacular, the second, decent. The turn around suspended way up in the air on the supports is fabulous. Then, and oh boy, THEN, the return trip back to the station. That is where this thing earns its money. The airtime hills are truly the best there are anywhere--in the right seat. It is way better than decent in any seat, but get it right and it is pure ejection city. It just makes me laugh. To me this is coaster perfection and still my favorite coaster I have ever ridden.

  • Brian Sheldon

    Fun Harnais Déception ! Inconfort

    On several sites online this is considered to be one of the worst coasters on the planet. I don't really understand that. Sure, it isn't at all what I would call smooth, but it isn't painful. The first drop delivers a nice pop of air. Then a couple of loops, followed by corkscrews. It finishes with a rather forceful (positive G) helix. Overall, it delivers a pretty decent ride. There are a couple of rough transitions--especially entering the first corkscrew, but it isn't nearly as bad some others I have ridden (Ninja at SF Georgia). I have ridden this as many as 10 times in a row without bruising or limping afterward, if that means anything to anyone. Nowhere near a great coaster, but also nowhere near the worst. More than a useful addition to the park. Fun and worth the ride.

  • Brian Sheldon

    Airtimes Intensité Ejectors Inconfort

    This ride had huge expectations to live up to. It is widely considered to be one of, if not the best wooden coaster on the planet. I rode it in the very back seat to maximize the intensity and airtime. This coaster is known to deliver airtime in bunches. The lift hill is rather unique--quiet and this accelerates on the way up. It reminded me of Millenium Force. Then the turn-around at the top. This is your last chance to breath for quite a while as this quite a long ride. The first drop is right up there with the best in the world--on any coaster of any type. It is astounding. It is ridiculously steep. It almost seems inverted like the Jersey Devil. The airtime is insane. I was thrown up into my lap restraint the entire way down. This process is repeated on the next 2 camelback hills. Fantastic. Then, there is one more major airtime pop on the fourth hill that is an amazing head-chopper on top of that. This is right when the coaster transitions from a standard out-and-back style to a twister style coaster. There is one section right after that first, amazing transition drop that is quite rough. The only real rough part of the ride. It slows decently on the second half, but it doesn't need any more speed than it has as it is truly intense all the way to the end. Great ride, a bit too extreme to endure arms up in the back seat, from start to finish, but still a world class ride. I didn't get a chance to ride up front, but the sustained, ejector air delivered in the back seat is amazing and truly some of the best in the world. It pains me a bit, as I absolutely love the wooden goodness at Holiday World, and The Voyage is one of my very favorite coasters in the world, but I think this is even better. Truly worthy of the all the praise. It is absolutely world class.

  • Brian Sheldon

    Bonne suprise ! Confort Fluidité Trop court Sans intérêt Layout

    I know, I'm a credit whore. I rode this just because there was literally no one in the line and I walked on. The cars are extremely roomy. I couldn't believe how much room there was. the ride itself was liquid smooth. I couldn't believe how smooth the ride was. It did not have any herky-jerky violence like most of these family coasters. I really couldn't believe how smooth the ride was. Now, it is only 10ft tall and really slow and doesn't really provide much if anything in the way of thrills, but it is still a nice little family ride that is surprisingly smooth. A great starter coaster.

  • Brian Sheldon

    Fun

    Decent compact coaster. Not nearly as herky-jerky as most of these types of coasters. Technically, I have ridden this before as this was relocated from Celebration City in Branson. It was know as Thunderbolt back then. It loads from the end here instead of from the side like it used to. There is one really steep dive turn about halfway through the ride that really picks up the speed and intensity. It is good fun and very re-rideable.

  • Brian Sheldon

    Fun

    Best coaster of this type that I have ever ridden. It is surprisingly fast and it seems to last forever. Some of the turns are taken at seemingly impossible speeds. I really loved the several little airtime bumps. Good fun.

  • Brian Sheldon

    Inversions Bonne suprise ! Harnais

    Great ride experience. I didn't really know what to expect by such a unique ride. It truly delivers a one-of-a-kind experience that I really enjoyed. It has you flipping and spinning around over and over, and it never gets the least bit uncomfortable. It just made me laugh. Great surprise. Great ride.

  • Brian Sheldon

    Intensité Vibrations

    My first RMC I-Beam coaster. I was truly shocked at the rattling and noises that this made on the entire length of the ride. It wasn't quite as pudding smooth as I hoped it would be. The transitions are extremely quick and intense. I can't believe the loading procedure where you don't get to choose your seat. I got lucky and got the very first seat. The views were great and I really enjoyed the ride. I'm not 100% sure I would have from other seats. It was quite an intense ride. It borders on being a bit too intense. I had to hang on after the second hill all the way to the end to keep from banging around in my seat. Very unique and fun ride overall, just not nearly as perfect as I hoped it would be.

  • Brian Sheldon

    Launch Vitesse Fun

    It was essentially exactly what I expected. I love TTD and I knew this is very similar. I had zero issue with the restraints. They were completely fine. The hill adds precisely zero to the ride experience. The launch and the views from the top are exceptional. Obviously, only TTD compares to this. Launch seemed a tad bid tamer than I remember TTD's being. However, I could just be more jaded now than I was 15 years ago when I first rode TTD. Amazing experience. Great ride.

  • Brian Sheldon

    I'm not sure what went wrong with this ride. It is a B&M invert. On paper it looks like it should be very good. Every other one I have ridden has been smooth at the very least. This one is herky-jerky basically from beginning to end. It seems far slower than the stats suggest it is. The inversions don't seem to deliver any fun. It reminded me far more like a Vekoma SLC than any other B&M invert. Even every one of the 30 year old Batmans are far smoother than this and far, far more intense. There is just nothing good to say about it. Highly disappointing. By a huge margin, the worst B&M invert I have ridden.

  • Brian Sheldon

    The ride itself is pretty damn good. However the single train operation and the screwy loading and unloading procedure made the line incredibly slow moving. This was literally one of the lowest capacity coasters ever built. This needed 2 trains--one that would slide to the side like on Mr. Freeze. The loading procedure was just awkward and it took forever. You had to get to this ride first thing before there was a line otherwise you had to wait forever. Again the ride experience was excellent. It was an inverted giant boomerang that went straight up instead of inclined. Fun to ride, when it wasn't broken and there weren't more than 100 people in the line.

  • Brian Sheldon

    Layout Baffes Inconfort

    I rode this back when it was still call Ninja. I guess after seeing the hate that the Ninja at SFSTL receives they wanted to distance themselves from that when they repainted it. I was very excited, with a bit of apprehension, to ride this. I truly enjoy Ninja at SFSTL and ride it every time I go--it's my home park. This is a larger version with a couple more inversions. I was set to be thrilled. I was aware of what type of coaster I was riding and did everything I could to alleviate the headbanging and the roughness--to no avail. This isn't the roughest from beginning to end coaster I have ever been on, but there were several, not just 1, but several transitions that were absolutely brutal. Would I re-ride it today with the fresh paint job? Probably.

  • Brian Sheldon

    Fun Intensité Layout

    I love Schwarzkopf looping coasters. I love Schwarzkopf trains. I love going backwards. Put all three of things together and it is no surprise that I love this coaster. It is just such a different experience than the vast majority of modern coasters. It is comfortable and thrilling. There is something magical about a Schwarzkopf loop. I don't know if they just nailed the math perfectly or what, but they are more thrilling than any other loops. The sudden surges of acceleration as nature intended is fantastic. Going through the loop backwards always leaves me with a huge smile on my face. I hope this classic stays is working form for many years to come.