This coaster is difficult to review, because it's a fun coaster, but it's at the wrong park. I cannot comprehend how nobody involved in the planning p...
This coaster is difficult to review, because it's a fun coaster, but it's at the wrong park. I cannot comprehend how nobody involved in the planning process realized "even under optimal conditions, this coaster will never have enough capacity".
The day I went to the park was pretty quiet, Hyperspace Mountain and Flight Force were around 20 minutes most of the time, even less towards the end of the day to the point where HyperSpace Mountain was walk-on. But this one was 45+ mins the whole day. Because I wanted the credit, I bought the priority pass, and still had to wait 15+ minutes. Once in the station, the problems became very obvious. Not only does the ride have a laughable capacity on paper, it's also impossible to even get close to the theoretical maximum. The cars are supposed to move through the station continuously without stopping, but it is WAY to short, the cast members we're trying to be as fast as possible and looked like they're out of breath all of the time. Still, almost every car had to stop at the end of the station and they had to send out some cars empty because they could not keep up. They couldn't even keep up with the priority queue, so there was basically no progress in the main queue.
Once I "finally" got on (20 mins would be fine, but not if you paid 16€ for "instant" access), it was a fun ride. I'm usually prone to getting sick on rides that spin or go backwards, but I didn't have any issues here (but I also asked to start facing forwards, that definitely helped). It's nothing revolutionary, but it's a good spinning coaster layout that neither has too much nor too little spinning.
If this coaster was built at a smaller park, it would probably be fine. But for a Disney park, this is a complete and utter failure from the operations point of view. It's terrible on paper and even worse in reality.
I liked the parts in the dark at the beginning and the end. They add some intensity without making the coaster phyisically more intense. However, I fo...
I liked the parts in the dark at the beginning and the end. They add some intensity without making the coaster phyisically more intense. However, I found the rest of the ride a bit too tame and repetitive, even for a family coaster. It feels like it's missing just a few more dips or some gentle airtime moments to make it more interesting. One more thing that I disliked were the sound levels in the lift sections. The noise of the lift gets amplified by being in a tunnel, and then there are even louder sound effects on top of that. It just found it uncomfortable and was glad when I left that section. Otherwise, the theming is neat, the water feature is a nice touch. In my opionion, it's a mediocre family coaster with good theming.
I haven't ridden the original version, I'm not really an Avengers fan, but I liked the sleek Sci-Fi theming in the queue. The theming during the ride ...
I haven't ridden the original version, I'm not really an Avengers fan, but I liked the sleek Sci-Fi theming in the queue. The theming during the ride is mostly screens, and I didn't recognize much, but I liked the overall atmosphere, it felt quite "space-y" and the effects added to the ride. The launch feels punchy and I also liked the light effects during the launch. Just like Hyperspace Mountain, it rides surprisingly smooth, I didn't experience any headbanging even though it still has bulky OSTRs. I rode its clone, Xpress: Platform 13 before, and while they rode mostly the same, I somehow found the transition into the corkscrew smoother on Flight Force. The layout is a bit lackluster though, it has an intense start, but then, there's a lot of nothing with a corkscrew somewhere in-between. It's still fun, but feels like a worse version of Hyperspace Mountain.
I was positively surprised about the roller coaster itself. For its age, it's quite comfortable, and even though it's a bit bumpy, the transitions and...
I was positively surprised about the roller coaster itself. For its age, it's quite comfortable, and even though it's a bit bumpy, the transitions and the overall layout held up well. Regardless, to modern standards, the trains are a bit cramped, and even though the new restraints eliminate any headbanging during the ride, when the final brake run has to stop the train, it can cause your head to slam against the headrest. That caught me off guard on my first ride and that hurt quite a bit, just a bit more padding on the headrest and it would be fine.
I didn't get to ride the original version or Mission 2. The Star Wars theming is better than nothing and the soundtrack and sound effects add to the ride experience, but I am sure that I would have preferred the Mission 2 theming and soundtrack. Especially the queue looks bad the way it is, it's just empty with a few Star Wars posters. The last room feels so out of place and even to me, who was at DLP for the first time, it was obvious that stuff was missing there.
I had more fun than I ever expected from such an old ride. But I just don't understand why they're still keeping the obviously temporary Star Wars overlay, it just feels "incomplete".
The short of it: It's a really intense, quickfire roller coaster with cool special effects. But the rattle can make it difficult to enjoy it.
When I ...
The short of it: It's a really intense, quickfire roller coaster with cool special effects. But the rattle can make it difficult to enjoy it.
When I heard people complaining about the rattle, I thought "it can't be that bad".
But on the outer seats, it is *that* bad.
It's surely the not the worst rattle ever, but because of how intense the layout itself is, the discomfort because of the rattle is greatly amplified. The ride has some quick transitions and strong forces, which usually would be a good thing, but when there's so much shaking, it's difficult to brace yourself for the elements and deal with the forces. I felt like I had to invest a lot of energy and focus on just keeping my head straight, which made it a bit difficult to enjoy the ride.
With that out of the way, let's talk about the layout and experience itself. There are some really cool effects before the launch, the vertical launch is a fun experience, and while it can't be compared with a regular launch, it's a unique element with some great hangtime.
After that, insanity ensues. The pacing is really fast for this coaster, it's just a barrage of elements with some great ejector airtime pops between. The mid course brake run/turntable gives you a second to breathe, but after that, it just keeps going on like in the first half and keeps throwing you through the elements up until the airtime hill into the final brake run.
If you like a really intense coaster, this is for you. I was barely able to process what's happening on the first ride.
As mentioned in the beginning, I'm on the edge about it. If it was as smooth as it should be, I would probably enjoy it a lot more. But the insanity of this layout plus the rattle was almost "too much" to be enjoyable.
That's definitely how I felt after my first ride, which was on an outer seat.
The second time, I was on an inner seat, which had much less rattling, and I could enjoy the intensity of the ride much more.
If they manage to reduce the rattle, this would be really, really good and very intense coaster with cool effects and a nice look.
But at the moment, it's not the kind of coaster "I can't get enough" of. Instead, I needed a break after the ride on the outer seat.
In its current state, it feels like it's wasted potential.
As a side note: The operations are insanely good. Even though basically everyone wants to ride it, it was "only" at 60 minutes, which, for a brand new headliner attraction, isn't all that bad.
It uses a conveyor belt station where the trains never stop, as well as automatic restraints. Loose items and baggage are stashed into double-sided lockers before the station. The station length (which is important because of the conveyor belt) is adequate, they were done with loading and restraint checking before the trains were halfway through the station. That means a train is sent out every 40 seconds consistently (yes, I stopped the times).
The actual, realistic capacity is 1400 pph, and considering they can basically guarantee to keep that up, it's probably more than some coasters with a higher theoretical capacity actually do.
It's also a pleasure to watch from the outside for coaster fans. It just looks very cool and you consistently have 2-3 trains on the track, and because of the consistent 40 second dispatches, it has a mesmerizing rhythm.
I've stopped riding it after it hurt my neck during a ride which continued to hurt for multiple days.
The views are nice during the start of the ride...
I've stopped riding it after it hurt my neck during a ride which continued to hurt for multiple days.
The views are nice during the start of the ride, but especially when you're going backwards, the rough, rattling ride and the relatively high forces make it difficult to enjoy this coaster at all.
I'm waiting for the refurbishment.
The first drop has a nice kick to it, overall a fun layout with some positives and airtime. Especially the last few bunnyhops give excellent ejector a...
The first drop has a nice kick to it, overall a fun layout with some positives and airtime. Especially the last few bunnyhops give excellent ejector airtime and it has a nice pacing, it's fun all the way into the break run. The queue and station look terrible and desolate though. The ride has a noticeable rattle, but since it was very constant and didn't have any bumps, I didn't mind it at all. It's pretty much just a strong vibration.
It's smoother than I would have expected, starts off great with the launch and the Sea Serpent Roll, but becomes straight up boring after that. You're...
It's smoother than I would have expected, starts off great with the launch and the Sea Serpent Roll, but becomes straight up boring after that. You're just coasting through forceless curves, until you get smacked by a janky transition into a corkscrew, after which you crawl back to the break run.
If the transition into the Corkscrew wouldn't be as bad, there would be nothing negative to say about this ride. But also nothing that's really positive.
It's very obvious this was designed as an indoor coaster with special effects, it just doesn't really work without them.
The launch is nice especially because of the motorbike position, but I found the ride generally pretty unpleasant as it put pressure on a specific par...
The launch is nice especially because of the motorbike position, but I found the ride generally pretty unpleasant as it put pressure on a specific part between my legs.
It's also not very smooth and with its complete lack of theming it feels out of place in this otherwise great looking park.
It's super smooth and still a great layout for a family coaster, which has even been improved by the refurbishment.
Though the new theming feels unde...
It's super smooth and still a great layout for a family coaster, which has even been improved by the refurbishment.
Though the new theming feels underwhelming and the music is lame and uninspired compared to the old techno music, which made the coaster feel like a rave.
Still very smooth and comfortable, but a pretty uneventful layout except for the 3 rolls. The loop gives a nice feeling of weightlessness, but is not ...
Still very smooth and comfortable, but a pretty uneventful layout except for the 3 rolls. The loop gives a nice feeling of weightlessness, but is not very intense either.
