Last Cred Review

[uwurawrus]

Freizeitpark Plohn is a fantastic park on the eastern side of Germany that doesn't get anywhere near as much attention as I feel it should. This is almost certainly due to location, if it were anywhere else it'd be far more frequented than it currently seems to be and has a rather strong collection of coasters along with a few other nice supporting rides also.

As always, I used public transportation to get to the park. There's a nearby train station (Lengenfeld Vogtl) a short ride away from Zwickau, where I stayed, either a 40 minute walk or a 5 minute bus journey from. Unfortunately the timetables don't line up properly with opening, so I got there an hour early and then watched the prior day's episode of Jet Lag: The Game. What a brilliant use of my time. I then, of course, nervous about german public transport, walked back to the station near park closing time.

#316 - El Toro is one of the smaller scale GCI coasters and definitely one I was super interested to get on. The abundance of low to the ground turns and bunny hops made me really excited going into El Toro, and I wasn't disappointed at all. Despite the small height it's absolutely a speed demon with some fantastic transitions as per usual with GCI and brilliant floater airtime. The brief tunnels are cool, the quad down is fantastic, the drop off of that following turnaround is fantastic and the surrounding area is just really nice. Great terrain woodie and fun interaction with the nearby Mack Flume.

#317 - Dynamite is the second Mack Big Dipper and despite being a rather short ride, makes me really excited to get on Lost Gravity and also Voltron. I'm one of those rare people that rode this before Lost Gravity and I'm pleased to report that there is no such rattle that people report with that ride. The wingover drop is awesome, there's some great transitions that provide cool airtime and the zero g roll at the end is absolutely brilliant. Short ride but with a few standout moments that really make Dynamite tick.

#318 - Family Coaster is an SBF Visa Wacky Worm and probably one of the worst worms I've ever done. Both this and the one at Karls Elstal were pretty underwhelming. I don't know what it is with german worms and being trimmed to death, considering I had recently done the absolutely incredible La Pomme at Foire Du Trone. I did not feel the train picking up speed at all on the main drop and the subsequent turn provided absolutely no lateral force whatsoever. Pathetic.

#319 - Miniwah is a Mack Powered coaster and what an incredible one this is! Truly blew me away. It takes place entirely indoors and features audio, animatronics, projection mapping and cool lighting and it all comes together to create this awesome little family coaster. This is how you do a mack powered coaster, folks.

#320 - Drachenwirbel is one of those SBF Visa Spinners and like normal this one made me feel quite nauseous. Wasn't a fan at all. I especially didn't like the miscommunication between me and the operator due to my lack of german understanding when the bloke seemingly asked me if I'd like another lap and of course I failed to communicate my desire to get off the ride. Vile contraption.

#321 - Plohseidon is a Zierer Force 190 that features a rare extended prelift section and is notable for taking place over water. It was alright I guess. This is probably one of my least favorite force models tbh.

 

[Nitefly]

I haven’t ridden a new coaster since SeaWorld, but I feel compelled to provide some updated thoughts on VelociCoaster after I managed to reride it today…

On my first ride on 12th June, I absolutely loved it, and thought it was a great ride, but I was unsure whether it was right up there for me. After the first go, I settled on the #5 spot for it, between Wodan and Icon. It was a great ride, but I wasn’t sure that I enjoyed it discernibly much more than something like Icon on that first go.

Well, I managed to reride it today, in the front row… and WOW! I’m not sure what was wrong the first time I rode it, but I definitely enjoyed it more today!

The first launch is fairly snappy, the speed and airtime were brilliant in the first half, there were some airtime moments I didn’t notice in the first half the first time around, and overall, the first half seemed faster, more fun and like it had a bit more going on.

The second launch was absolutely obscene in the front row, even more so than I’d remembered from the other day, and while the top hat perhaps wasn’t quite as strong up front for me, you still got an absolutely sublime pop of ejector going up into it. The zero-g stall was an element that I weirdly didn’t remember that well from my first ride, but it was brilliant this time, with some really nice out of your seat floater action going through it! The first wave turn had a nice little pop of airtime going through it, the big turning sequence was so fast, with the little off-axis flick providing a surprising pop of airtime, and that mosasaurus roll is an absolutely mind-blowing finale; that’s easily my favourite inversion ever, with the fast barrel roll really flinging me out of the seat and leaving me stunned!

I know this isn’t a new coaster for me, as I rode it for the first time last week, but today’s ride on VelociCoaster was truly mind-blowing and definitely gave me a new perspective on the ride, so I felt compelled to talk about it! I didn’t think it was right up there after my first ride, but after my second… it is right up there!

I’m still not entirely convinced that it’s necessarily my #1 coaster, as I still think the fun, rerideability, speed and sustained airtime of the two B&M Hypers I’ve done (particularly Mako) still really hits the spot for me like nothing else I’ve ridden (which my ride on Mako last Friday confirmed for me), but it’s right up there for sure, and I won’t lie, the thought of “could this be my favourite?” did cross my mind after riding VelociCoaster today… I’ve tentatively settled on #3, behind only Mako and Silver Star, but even then, I still wonder if I’m ranking it too low based on how truly brilliant it was…

But in conclusion; what a ride! Today, VelociCoaster convinced me that it’s top 3 material at minimum, and it’s definitely won me around more than it did the other day; today’s ride was absolutely astonishing!

I would take this as showing the importance of your seat on a ride and also re-rides. Generally, the sense of ‘liberating’ speed and visuals are always achingly the best in the very front row. It’s also often the smoothest. I remember feeling quite dismissive of VC from the rattly rearmost rows, particularly after experiencing the glass-like smoothness of IG. Sooo much better up front, even if some elements hit very well in the back.

Hopefully you can get some more rides on VC and Hagrid’s… plus a marathon on IG today

 

[CanobieFan]

#1,100!!
......that time I essentially planned a visit to my parents house around being able to get a reservation for Brava!

While more of an art piece than a coaster.... it was legitimately fun and I laughed the whole time. The only downside is the once an hour schedule, meaning if you just want to see it run...you end up waiting around forever. But definitely a unique coaster to make my milestone and being from Massachusetts, it's my first milestone in my former home state.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1671913356662390788

 

[Matt N]

It's an overwhelming ride. The more you ride it, the more things you recognize, and the more you appreciate it. Try to get more rides if you can before you leave... it'd be a shame if you only got a handful of rides after coming all this way. Hell, drop your family off at City Walk somewhere so you can go whore.

I’m sensing I’ll get one more ride on Saturday, but I wouldn’t like to get my hopes up for any more. We’re going to Universal for a few hours on Saturday before our flight home, and I would like to ride it again as well as possibly Hagrid’s, but I wouldn’t like to get my hopes up for a marathon, as the queues may well not permit that.

Just as a heads up for everybody, I’m at Busch Gardens today for my only visit of the trip, and I’m not sensing that I’ll be able to get a “marathon” on Iron Gwazi either. The queue seems fairly long compared to everything else, and I don’t picture us staying phenomenally late here, either.

For the avoidance of any doubt, I have ridden Iron Gwazi, and I’ll try to get a second ride later at very least, but I wouldn’t get your hopes up for hearing me talking about super marathons of it and gauging an opinion based on loads and loads of rides on it.

 

[Matt N]

I went to Busch Gardens Tampa today for my only visit there this trip, and I rode 3 new coasters as well as 3 previously ridden ones!

New coasters
Iron Gwazi (#97)
This was a big, hotly anticipated ride for me; it was my first ever RMC coaster, and it’s often billed as one of the best coasters, if not the best coaster, in the world, so I naturally had very high expectations. Make no mistake, it’s a phenomenal ride! The ejector airtime in places is absolutely ludicrous, some of the elements are absolutely sublime, it’s so fast-paced, and overall, the ride has so much going for it! However, the ride wasn’t an instant, undeniable #1 for me like it is for most, and there is one key reason for that… this is going to sound incredibly petty, and I apologise for that, but it’s almost a little bit much for me in areas. It’s not rough by any stretch of the imagination, but it is a pretty fierce coaster in some areas, and for me, the ending section in particular, with all the high-speed jerking about, almost hurt me a little bit and was almost a little bit much. It was… a lot in terms of jerking about and intensity. Overall, Iron Gwazi is an absolutely phenomenal ride, with some truly brilliant elements, but I do personally prefer VelociCoaster at IOA, and I perhaps didn’t love the ride quite as much as I’d hoped, if I’m being honest.
10/10 (#6/99)

Sand Serpent (#98)
I don’t like wild mouse coasters at the best of times, but this one was possibly the worst of the lot for me; it was absolutely abysmal. The hairpin turns were on the rougher side for a wild mouse anyway, which detracted from it for me, but to top things off, the brakes on this one were horrifically sharp, almost feeling as though they give you the Heimlich manoeuvre with how they stop the car so abruptly. Overall, I did not enjoy this coaster at all; I won’t miss it when it closes in a few weeks, and I hope its replacement is more enjoyable.
2/10 (#97/99)

Scorpion (#99)
I was intrigued to try a Schwarzkopf looping coaster without the shoulder bars like Olympia Looping has, but I still wasn’t a fan, I’m afraid. Scorpion was more comfortable in terms of restraints than Olympia for me, and the layout wasn’t quite as uncomfortably intense, but that Schwarzkopf loop was still a very queer sensation for me, and the ride was also horribly rough, which really surprised me given how smooth Olympia was. It jolted about horribly around pretty much every corner, and that final brake run in particular was very harsh.
3/10 (#81/99)

Existing coasters
SheiKra
This was phenomenal, and definitely exceeded my previous memories of it! I love a good B&M Dive Coaster, and this was indeed a good one! The sustained airtime over the two drops was sublime, the sense of speed was awesome, and overall, it was just a phenomenal ride! I would say I prefer it to Oblivion at Alton Towers, the other Dive Coaster I’ve done, and it was just a fantastic ride!
10/10 (#7/99)

Kumba
Kumba was a really decent B&M looper, and quite possibly my favourite of the 3 B&M sit-down/floorless coasters I’ve ridden this trip. The ride held its speed really well, had some great inversions, and was also remarkably smooth for a 30 year old B&M, with no notable rattle and only one minor spot of headbanging! There were one or two minorly unpleasant spots of high positive g’s, with the section between the loop and dive loop in particular providing a fair grey out, but the ride overall was decent, and definitely one I enjoyed my lap on!
8/10 (#21/99)

Cobra’s Curse
This was a fun, albeit unremarkable, family coaster, in my opinion. The final spinning section was quite fun, with just the right level of spin for my liking, and the controlled spinning is admittedly clever and novel, but I wasn’t huge on the initial two sections, with the backwards section in particular feeling like it was there for the sake of it rather than doing anything particularly purposeful. There was also a definite rattle that wasn’t there when I last rode in 2016, but the ride still isn’t rough by any stretch. Overall, Cobra’s Curse is a fun enough family coaster, but not one that will set the world alight, in my view.
6/10 (#47/99)

 

[Niles]

Farmyard Flyer #326

Im a big fan of Paulton's but....this coaster is a miss.

On the positives the theming is brilliant, the train, building and surroundings are so well done, there was a lot of care put in and i love all the details.




The coaster itself however is the roughest in the park, in the front there is a rumble and a bump on the final turn. In the back there are bumps throughout and the bump on the final turn is now a hard jolt that is pretty harsh.

You also break hard into the station loosing all momentum, you slowly go through the station before speeding up the lift once again for lap two.

The biggest problem is how it fits in the coaster line up, four of the coasters have something that separates them from the others. This however is one of the three family Zierer coasters and i think two is enough. I can see Cat-O-Pillar leaving to be fair in the not so distant future, but if they wanted something from Zierer i would have loved something like Verbolten, a launch and/or a drop track would have made it unique and been a great addition to put somewhere in the park.

Farmyard Flyer is beautiful but a bit dull and rough.



Also on a tangent the Flying Frog (Dino chase) should have been moved to Peppa land and re-themed to it, i never see anyone on it, i think it would have been a hit there and having a small cred on that side of the park would have made Farmyard Flyer unnecessary. Still if you had told me 10 yrs ago Paultons would have seven coasters by now i would never had believed you and at least the coaster is very well themed.

 

[Leon_K]

Yesterday I visited a park that has been high on my list for a while: Phantasialand. Every great thing I heard about this park is true. What a beautiful place. The way they used their relatively small plot of land to create themed areas this detailed and immersive is just amazing.

Also their rollercoaster collection is solid. The last 7 or 8 years I only visited a handful of (small) theme parks and my coaster count is not super high yet. But my visit yesterday added some quality rides to my credit count.

The park was crowded yesterday and we took a lot of time to discover the whole park without rushing it. I didn't do any re-rides so I am not going to write reviews that go too deep. But at least my rides gave a good sense of the coaster experiences.

We knew F.L.Y. can get big lines so we decided to get in line for this ride before the queu opened. I am glad we did this because even though we stood in line early, we still had a 40 minute wait. The coaster itself: damn, what a way to start the day! F.L.Y. is a innovative piece of art in an amazing themed area. The ride experience itself was also very good and I was lucky enough to have a front row ride on it. The only reason it wasn't my favourite coaster of the day is because Phantasialand has an even better coaster somewhere else in the park... however it has taken the #2 spot of my favourite coasters overall.

The second coaster we did was Colorado Adventure. For a tall person as I am it wasn't the most comfortable ride. My knees were basically hitting the front of the car. Aside from that, it is a fun mine train with some good moments and (like all the rides in this park) great theming.

The third coaster we did was a back seat ride on Taron. My new #1 coaster overall! What a ride. The launches are powerful, it has a great sense of speed, quick transitions and the overbanks through the rock work of Klugheim are so much fun.

Up next, Black Mamba. It was my first ever B&M invert and I was really excited to get on it. Also the setting of the themed area with the coaster diving through the trenches is amazing. While riding this coaster I didn't really had a sense of the surrounded theming though. I was in the back of this typical B&M 4-across train and I didn't really see a lot of what was happening around me. The forces are solid and the ride has some very fun moments. Black Mamba is a lot of fun but right now, this coaster does not round out my overall top 3 as a full Phantasialand top 3. However I could see this happen with a couple of future re-rides with a front row right included.

The last coaster I did was Reik. I had a complete walk-on so why not... I didn't think it was anything special but it's a smooth and solid ride for the younger ones.

I gained some really nice new experience. Rode my first ever flying coaster. Rode two new generation Vekoma's for the first time. Rode my first B&M invert and experienced some world class coasters that are now my number 1 and 2 overall. I also did some other very solid non-coaster rides and took the time to explore this amazing park.

 

[davidm]

I went to Plopsa today, it was heaving.

I rode Ride to Happiness a few times, long lines each time.

It was good. Very good. Liked it a lot, all the Q was good, liked the audio a lot.

Not earth shattering though. Top 10% for sure, top 10? Nah.

(Heidi was new for me too, better than the one in Orlando)

 

[Fleetwood_Mack]

Finally made it to Margate yesterday. Dreamland is a great, quirky little place. I love the shabby chic vibe of the decor. I couldn't stay long as I was with family + dog so they were at a café on the beach while I hobbled in, got on the Scenic Railway, walked around admiring the place a little bit and hobbled back out. Was the SR anything life changing? Of course not, but it's something I've always wanted to do. So it was very fun. The less said about the rest of Margate, the better

 

[davidm]

I went to Plopsa today, it was heaving.

I rode Ride to Happiness a few times, long lines each time.

It was good. Very good. Liked it a lot, all the Q was good, liked the audio a lot.

Not earth shattering though. Top 10% for sure, top 10? Nah.

(Heidi was new for me too, better than the one in Orlando)

OK right, TODAY I got a bunch of new creds, amongst which was TOUTATIS. And that was a bit more like it..

Oh yes very fine indeed.

I don't really do a top ten, but if I did, it would be placing.

 

[Eyebrows]

Been a while (and a lot of new creds ) since I’ve posted in here, but I figured I’d talk about my experience on my newest major cred!

#280: GaleForce was impressive! After spending a good half hour trying to find parking in Ocean City (try to find a metered spot or park at the McDonald’s half a mile away from the park, avoid the $30 parking lots at all cost) I purchased my tickets and prepared to board, as the park calls it, “the big blue roller coaster”. It’s always odd seeing high end ride hardware at a place like this, but it seemed well maintained and taken care of, at least on a visual level. As for the ride itself, my second ride in the front right definitely left a better impression on me than my first ride in the back left. The layout is filled with many wacky transitions and creative elements, and there’s all kinds of force being thrown at you all at once. There’s ejector, floater, and laterals strong and weak alike. Sometimes 2 or 3 of those at the same time! Overall, this thing packs a huge punch for its size, and absolutely blows any Sky Rocket II out of the water. My only issue with it was the persistent rattle throughout, though it can’t have been as awful as it once was. GaleForce ended up nicely slotting into my top 40 at #38, and I anticipate it staying in my top 50 for some time.

 

[Rob Coasters]

#202 Mandrill Mayhem - Chessington World of Adventures

Erm, errr...
Hm.
Not a fan.

 

[Matt N]

#202 Mandrill Mayhem - Chessington World of Adventures

Erm, errr...
Hm.
Not a fan.

I'm sorry to hear that. If you don't mind me asking, what was it in particular that you didn't like?

 

[Rob Coasters]

I'm sorry to hear that. If you don't mind me asking, what was it in particular that you didn't like?

More will be expanded in my upcoming trip report, but...
-Almost the whole ride is consistently shaky, bumpy & uncomfortable. For a ride pushing two and a half months old, this is extremely concerning for what the ride might be like in a year's time.
-The only good bit is the backwards scorpion tail at the very start of the ride, but unfortunately the ride becomes a car crash from that first corner into the roll for the rest of the ride. I was at least lucky to get near the back, but if you get assigned near the front then you'll miss out on the only part that I wouldn't call bad.
-The sideways hang is a unique sensation, but not in a good way. It's weird, and you very much "exist" on it in a 'huh, this is my life right now' kind of way. It's a very nothing part of the ride.
-I came off it not feeling like I'd achieved anything. Just bitter disappointment that this will be the park's only major investment for the next half decade or so.

Yeah I don't like it at all. Gonna be a real spicy one.

 

[oriolat2]

Word-heavy review. All pictures were taken by my good friend and coaster pal Raúl.

#482 Batman Gotham City Escape (BGCE)

I had the opportunity to ride BGCE multiple times during my 2-day visit to Parque Warner last week. Long story short: the coaster exceeded my expectations. To avoid any spoilers, I will divide this review into different sections, marked properly. The coaster sure makes an eye-catching centerpiece along with the park's triple S&S combo tower. It is a bold statement: we haven't built anything relevant for over 20 years and we are going to make up for it!



Queue and presentation

When you walk up to the coaster you know you are in for a treat, since the Wayne Manor facade makes quite the impression, with its little plaza. The only thing I don’t really like is the entry sign (seriously, 3 different fonts for a single title?). The outdoor portion of the queue is a series of switchbacks in the blazing Spanish sun. There is a small section with a canopy, but PW really needs to work on that if they don’t want people passing out like crazy. After the outdoor switchbacks that circle the showbuilding, the queue goes back to the entrance plaza where there is a designated area to batch groups (60-70 people at a time) to let them into the indoor section of the queue.

Spoiler: Indoor queue area and preshows

Inside are 4 different themed sections, which is quite the feat for a “small” park. Some of the sets or effects wouldn’t look out of place at a premier park like Universal. The first preshow is set in the Wayne Manor library, where you are welcome to an open tour of the premises led by a tour guide (ride attendant). The TV signal is hijacked by the Joker, who interrupts the tour by telling that he has locked the manor and will basically try to kill you with his laughing gas (at this point there is a neat effect: the fireplace is filled with green smoke). Bruce is able to regain control of the TV signal, and tells you to keep calm, and that he is going to get you out of the manor with a high-tech escaping device. When he starts the emergency protocol, the grandfather clock’s hands start turning randomly until they meet at 10:49. Then a blaring sound goes off, a red emergency light floods the room and the library reveals a secret passage.



The second area is this secret corridor made of brick still flooded with emergency lights and alarms that give a sense of urgency, which leads to the third area: a superbly-themed batcave. Since Bruce is away from the manor and is helping you remotely, don’t expect to see him. Instead, you are presented with some Batman suits and a huge panel of screens broadcasting blueprints of the trains (escape device) and newsfeed talking about Joker, Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn having joined forces to set this trap to lure Bruce Wayne (at this point there might be a ride attendant rushing you, but if you can, pay attention to the news, since it gives a lot of small details that complete the narrative of the coaster).



The fourth area starts with a Batcave wall that has been bulldozed as a secret passage to the nearest metro station of the Gotham City Transit network, Robinson Park (which is the actual park where most of the coaster is nestled in). The station itself is a work of art: it really looks like an abandoned metro station.

After going through these preshows, you are assigned a row. I didn’t see any requests being honoured by staff, understandably. However, since the trains are so short, it doesn’t make a huge difference where you sit (the front is marginally better though). Trains are checked reasonably fast, to the point where sometimes attendants had to wait for the train ahead to clear the block (the shortest the coaster can dispatch is when the previous train enters the final spike).

Ride experience

Upon leaving the station, you can see the metro display that gives info of the next trains showing Batman telling you that Joker could be anywhere and that in case of emergency he can take over the escape vehicle remotely.

At this point, you are in a tunnel with Joker, facing you with a cannon that should blast riders with another dose of laughing gas while saying “Not so fast! When Batman comes to your rescue, he will be mine!”, but during the 2 days, neither the animatronic nor the audio worked. Then you hit the first launch: although this one is not really fast, it still has some kick to it. This launch leads you to the first inversion, which is a really slow corkscrew over the ride entrance that gives amazing hangtime. After that, you hit the second launch with the ride’s max speed of 104 kph. The acceleration is nothing to write home about but does a good job.

I should mention that all trains feature onboard audio, which goes superbly well with the coaster. In fact, I don’t think there’s a coaster besides Hagrid that does a better job at narrating a story and actually plussing the ride experience than BGCE. When you crest the top hat, you feel a sudden burst of ejector airtime at the front of the train and some strong floater in the back. I didn’t understand why Intamin had installed those trims on the top hat until I experienced the ride first hand. It’s at this point that the audio cues make the most sense, as Harley Quinn says “I don’t think so, Batman. It looks like your friends are about to drop!” to what Batman says “Guys, I am taking over. Let’s go!” and then you plummet down the 98º drop as if he is piloting the Batwing. The timing of that sequence, although in Spanish, works SO well I am still in awe at how well Intamin, Imascore and Parque Warner pulled it off.






I would consider this BGCE’s second act. And it’s an airtime party. The first hill after the top hat drop is very reminiscent of Skyrush or any other Intamin ejector airtime machine. At night I felt like my body was about to be launched into outer space: it was that intense. With no time to catch your breath, you navigate what Intamin describes as Reverse Sidewinder, which is Intamin’s version of a dive loop, but with a kink at the top giving a surprise pop of airtime and some weird laterals I was not expecting. This dive loop goes into a trench, not without another solid pop of ejector airtime. Then the coaster navigates an S-turn reminiscent of Taron’s second half (although maybe not as aggressive) followed by a very snappy corkscrew (in the morning it was rather weak but at night it turned into a completely different inversion). To close this act, there is a wave turn leading to the third launch, which became a lot more intense as the day progressed. While navigating the wave turn Batman says “We have to get you ouf of here! Full throttle!”.





Ironically, the third is not the fastest launch, but it gave a quick enough burst of speed to keep the adrenaline going. After the short launch track, the coaster goes through another bigger S-turn, which is not as crazy as the first one, leading to the coaster’s stellar moment: the stall. Guys, this is it: I have done plenty of stalls on RMC but BGCE’s leaves you dangling upsde down long enough for your brain to actually process that your entire body weight is resting on your lapbar. It is really well executed and will test anybody’s trust in those minimal restraints. Throughout the inversion, laughter from the Joker can be heard and there is a sarcastic audio cue by Harley Quinn saying “Oops, my bad!” referring to how long you were held upside down. After a sharp maneuver to exit the stall, you pass through a tunnel where your train is heavily braked. However, on the other end of the tunnel there is a beyond-vertical spike with some brake fins as well that will completely stop the train before gently falling backwards and coasting towards the coaster’s turntable.

Spoiler: Spike and indoor section

I love how the narrative continues while you stall for time for the train ahead to clear the block before the station. You can see a Joker animatronic hanging upside down as Batman says “Guys, we have got the Joker, but it seems that Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy are still on the loose. Let’s get you to a safe point: opening Gate 3”, which points the turntable towards the section that connects with the station. There is a small tunnel leading to the ride platform where soma lasers scan the train while saying something like “decontamination in process”.

After getting off the train, you can see that the budget was cut because it’s a long corridor with nothing interesting. It’s just an excuse to dump you into the coaster’s gift shop. A neat trivia fact is that the preview screens of the onride photos are mounted onto a real control panel that belonged to the former Batman Knight Flight simulators that used to be where BGCE sits now. Nice nod to the former ride!

Operations

The ride’s queuetime never went above the 70-minute mark all day, and in some cases it took nearly half the posted time to go through it (at one point it said 50 minutes and we ended up waiting just 25 minutes outside). However, you have to go through another good 10 minutes once you enter the manor, as the preshows are never skipped. They are really well done but they kill rerides, as you cannot easily marathon the coaster without going through this burden. In fact, people who had already been on the coaster knew where to stand in the library to be the first to proceed into the actual queue into the station once the library doors swung open.

As for the coaster itself, operations are really hit or miss. As far as I know, ever since the coaster started operating, PW have selected the best ride attendants to man the ride, achieving 60-second dispatches, leading to somewhat close to the estimated hourly capacity of 720 pph. However, I saw plenty of attendants which were not up to that standard and were a bit clueless or sluggish when loading trains. The morning crew was quite mediocre, to be honest, but the afternoon/night shift was killing it by sending trains as fast as they could, even asking for single riders to fill the trains: that’s how you do it!

Here is where my inner operations nerd comes in. On the first day, PW was running just 2 trains, with some minimal stacking, and most times rolling trains. The second day, however, it was running all 3 trains, which resulted in a bit of an operations cluster, as trains cannot be dispatched before the previous train hits the spike (which is almost at the end of the ride), resulting in a very short window to hit interval without double-stacking. At best, there was always a train stacked before the station, and more often than not you had a second train on the turntable ready to advance. In short: I don’t think that the marginal increase in capacity justifies running all three trains, when you are going to have stacking all the time, resulting in some intense platform operations that the park is clearly not used to.



Pros:
- Amazing theming and preshows
- Killer trains. The headlights look mean!
- Great array of forces: from crazy hangtime to ejector airtime.
- Did I say crazy airtime?
- Great layout with plenty of varied standout moments.
- Amazing soundtrack in the preshows and queuline by Imascore.
- Audio cues that drive the story throughout the coaster’s layout.
- Narrative is easy to follow and is consistent throughout the entire experience and area.
- As the ride warms up throughout the day it gets more intense.
- I had heard horror stories of downtime but I didn't see it go down once during my two days.

Room for improvement:
- Too much queue jumping in the outdoor portion of the queue. One of my biggest pet peeves at Spanish amusement parks.
- Inconsistent operations (props to the amazing night crew on the first day though!)
- Small trains = low capacity
- 3-train operation doesn’t really bump capacity by much.
- Not all audio cues can be heard properly, as they are dampened by the screams of riders. I would like to have a proper transcript of the Spanish audio to provide a full English translation.
- The outdoor portion has little theming (although the ivy growing around the Robinson Park is explained in the Batcave newsfeed).
- No single rider line as of now
- Preshows are a buzzkill for rerides

 

[LiveForTheLaunch]

Joker at Six Flags New England. I don't know if I'm in the minority here, but I think these things are so much fun! I'd been on the other models but yeah, I was just laughing the entire time. Even though I knew what to expect, it had been a while since I'd been on one, so I was pleasantly re-surprised.

 

[Matt N]

I had my first ever visit to Flamingo Land on Monday, and I rode 5 new coasters!

Mumbo Jumbo (#103)
Mumbo Jumbo is certainly novel, but it’s not one that I massively enjoyed, if I’m being honest. A beyond-vertical drop is always good fun and Mumbo Jumbo’s is no exception, but the key thing ruining the ride for me is that it has some very uncomfortable shoulder bars. With the tight turns and sustained hangtime that the ride had, these shoulder bars did really take away from the ride for me, unfortunately, and I'm not the biggest lover of slow, sustained hangtime of that style anyway.
4/10, #74/107 overall

Kumali (#104)
I had low expectations for Kumali given that my least favourite coaster was Infusion at Blackpool Pleasure Beach, a fellow Vekoma SLC, but I have to say that Kumali was actually OK, and nowhere near as bad as I'd expected given my previous experience with Infusion. It is still a bit rough, and that does still detract from it to an extent for me, but it's certainly a lot more bearable than a ride like Infusion, and the layout is actually pretty decent, with some fun inversions and a good pace and level of intensity! It still isn't one of my favourite coasters, and it is still a bit of a headbasher in places, but Kumali was actually OK, with some fun elements; I enjoyed it far more than I enjoyed Infusion, anyhow.
6/10, #43/107 overall

Hero (#105)
I had very low expectations for Hero given its general notoriety, and I'm afraid to say that those were not exceeded. I hate to be negative, but Hero was utterly dire, in my view. For starters, I did not like the car at all; I found getting on the stepladder, getting my head through the head hole and getting whacked in the chin by the bit at the bottom very unpleasant, and when you got into the ride itself, I just got whacked around the cage horribly for the whole thing. I'm not the biggest fan of flying coasters at the best of times, but the additional awkwardness of the cars and profiling on this one made it something I didn't enjoy at all. It's admittedly a novel ride, but it was a very unpleasant one for me; I'm tempted to say that it's usurped Infusion as my least favourite coaster.
1/10, #107/107 overall

Velocity (#106)
I was unsure quite what to expect from Velocity, as the only vaguely similar thing I'd ever ridden was Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure at Universal, and even that had a regular seat as opposed to Velocity's proper motorbike seat. Overall, I found Velocity to have quite a fun layout; the launch is punchy, and there are a few nice pops of airtime and some fun turns! However, I must admit that while admittedly unique, I found the motorbike riding position a little odd and uncomfortable, which did detract from the ride a fair amount for me; I wasn't a huge lover of how the riding position had your whole body weight rested on your chest.
5/10, #59/107 overall

Sik (#107)
Despite not being a fan of Colossus, I was interested to see how Sik rode, as my main issues with Colossus have always been the trains and the roughness, and Sik looked to make an earnest attempt at solving both issues. Overall, I have to say that I thought Sik was a very decent coaster that I thoroughly enjoyed! The lap bars are an absolute game changer, and I also surprisingly really liked the altered first drop compared to Colossus'; I loved how you banked down to the side and then curved low to the ground at high speed! The first half rides quite similarly to that of Colossus, and I've always felt that this first half is quite a decent first half with some great elements. I've never been particularly keen on Colossus' second half with the quad heartline roll, and I'm not 100% sure that Sik has changed that aspect; I find that sequence of elements a little bit dizzying and taxing on the thighs, although I did think that the lap bars improved it somewhat. Overall, though, I thought that Sik was a pretty decent coaster that I definitely enjoyed; it's a vast improvement on Colossus and a very firm headliner at Flamingo Land, in my view!
8/10, #22/107 overall

 

[CanobieFan]

Did a long weekend to Pennsylvania and Ohio last weekend and picked up 6 new coasters, but ended up missing 3 others. Currently in Atlanta this weekend and found a fair with a +1, AT1 tomorrow

#1,107 - Peachtree Rides Orient Express
Found a dumpy carnival at a dumpy mall just south of Atlanta, rode the coaster.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1689798131167207424

#1,106 - Whirlwind at Waldameer
Gotta love all nine million SBF Spinners! This was my first time riding one.....in the rain.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1688901397729669120

#1,105 Wild Mouse at Cedar Point
This one was actually really good! Fun/new layout, pretty fast, no trims. Just wish it had a bit more spin to it.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1688050836524466176

#1,104 Talley Rides Iron Dragon at the Ohio State Fair

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1687788227812343808

#1,103 and #1,102 also at the Ohio State Fair. Orient Express and the Wacky Dig

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1687786423863115776

And lastly (or firstly?) #1,101 Nuclear Rush at Scene75 in Dublin
Yet another SBF spinner

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1687588815471325184

I ended up missing Steel Curtain, yet again.....and also the spin mouse at the Columbus Zoo that was running both times i was in line but broke before I got on it, both times....the second time they said it won't reopened the rest of the day

 

[themepark_hannah]

Mandrill Mayhem at Chessington, UK

First of all, the ride area is stunning, big props to the design team for making Jumanji look good. The virtual queuing system is very meh, it's not really operated as it should be and creates chaos.

Now to the actual ride itself, for reference, I was near the front of the train, row 4, the launch wasn't too powerful. But what can you expect from a kid-orientated park? The ride itself is very short but certainly packs a punch even with the short layout.

Even though is doesn't beat my favourite coaster at the park (Dragon's Fury) it's still a fun ride and worth doing when you visit

 

[CanobieFan]

#1,108 - ArieForce One!

Not really sure how I feel about this one. The first say, 90% is awesome....but the quad-down. it's so rapid fire it's legitimately painful. *none* of the other RMCs bother me, this one did. And from the backseat the slam to a stop ending while still getting airtime honestly hurts and wasn't enjoyable. Like being gut punched.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1690407551572000768