B&M Wing Coasters, Best to Worst

[cjbrandy]

The one for inverts was a thought provoking and popular topic and now there are quite a few in the world, its about time someone made one for wing coasters! Ive only ridden The Swarm and whilst I really enjoy it, it is too short and I reckon all of the other wing coasters are superior.

 

[gavin]

I've only done three, but actually enjoyed all of them

1. Parrot Coaster: fantastic first drop, decent length, a bit of airtime, not focused on inversions. The most substantial of the three.

2. Raptor: the near misses work great with this one. Fun coaster.

3. Swarm: decent enough ride, but feels short and relies on inversions too much. Doesn't really make the most of the ride type.

 

[Ben]

I've only done Swarm and I quite liked it.

#basic

 

[GuyWithAStick]

Re: B&M Wing Coasters, Best to Worst

I've only done X Flight, but it, like what everyone said, is very fun. I will however be adding Thunderbird, maybe Wild Eagle, and very unlikely Gatekeeper to the list.

Sent from my VS840 4G using Tapatalk

 

[Jordanovichy]

I've ridden 2,

1. The Swarm - I have a big soft spot for The Swarm, it has some poor seats but front row on the right side it is such a good ride experience, thoroughly enjoyable. When I was way more basic than I am now, (and let's be fair I'm still pretty basic) as it was my 33rd cred, it was one of my favourites and I still enjoy every ride I have on it.

2. Flug de Daemonen - I wasn't sure at first but a few more re-rides and I realised it is a very good coaster and it's setting is exceptional, crammed into such a small space is fab. It takes second though because back row towards the end of the ride it seems to slip and jolt on the track and I hate the feeling that gives you, you don't experience this further forward but yeah.

 

[Jarrett]

Been on two!

GateKeeper- Such a fun, beautiful coaster! The drop is terrifying with the unlocked vests, keeps a nice consistent pace throughout, those keyholes are pretty awesome, and the location is gorgeous.

Wild Eagle- And I have nothing negative to say about this one either! Good pacing, good forces, gorgeous location, and it has such a unique and well executed theme.

Once I ride Thunderbird this coming weekend I expect it to shoot straight to the top of this list.

 

[CanobieFan]

Uh... I've done Swarm (Mraws 'front row' left side), X-Flight (Front right and back left), and Wild Eagle (Front left and back left and right and a middle row). None of them really impressed me but Wild Eagle was the least 'enjoyable', the only reason I kept riding it was to see if it could be fun.

Gate Keeper looks rather... blah and failed to make me want to visit CP but I would like to try Flug der Dämonen.

 

[TilenB]

I've been on 2 of them; Raptor and Swarm. While I found very little to separate the two, I did find Raptor to be just a bit better. The first drop is more fun on Swarm, but it otherwise kind of dies out after it, while Raptor keeps the pace throughout the course. And also the near-misses on Raptor are way better than those on Swarm, since they do feel so real.

 

[CookieCoasters]

I've done two:

1. The Swarm: Disappointed with it at first, but gradually, it has grown on me over the last few years. It is a little too short, but its a very fun and re-rideable coaster. I swear it's getting more forceful as well. 8/10

2. Raptor: I initially preferred this to Swarm, but as I have started to like Swarm more and more, this has fallen behind. However, if this too has gotten more forceful over the past few years since I rode it, I may change my mind when I ride it again. 7.5/10

I doubt it's a ride type that I'll ever find to be amazing, but from the two I've ridden, it's a very enjoyable experience, providing you know to expect a more floaty than forceful type of coaster.

I should be riding Flug der Dämonen later this year. I'm interested to compare it to the two above because from what I've seen and what I've heard, I'm not sure if I'll like it as much.

 

[LiveForTheLaunch]

Ha I actually just realized I'll have five by the end of next month, and six by the end of the year. That's quite a lot! But as of right now I've only been on three, and I'd rank them like this:

1. Raptor- Even though it's not as big as the others, it does what I believe a wing coaster should do. It uses the theming and landscaping perfectly, isn't too intense but still intense enough, and has a few decent inversions.

2. Swarm- This coaster doesn't get the credit it deserves, in my opinion. It's a decent size, fairly intense, has some okay theming, and has an awesome first drop as well as a backwards facing seat which provides an interesting (yet somewhat sickening) experience to say the least.







3. Gatekeeper- UGH. Good first drop and the keyholes are fairly fun, but other than that it's just a whole lot of meh.

 

[Edward M]

1. The Swarm- I really like The Swarm actually, the ride itself, while forceless, is really fun, but the foot/head choppers make the ride. The extra elements make the ride much better than it could have been.
2. Wild Eagle- I used to hate this ride however now I've grown to simply dislike it. I really dislike how it doesn't use any of the advantages of a Wing Coaster, almost no head/foot choppers and without those added elements it is just a sub-par B&M forceless looper. Not a big fan.

 

[Chris Coasters]

Only been on two GateKeeper and Wild Eagle.

Love them both but GateKeeper is easily the better coaster.

 

[Nemesis of oblivion]

Only ever done The Swarm, pretty good, but a lot of that is more due to the near misses rather than how it actually rides, other than the first drop and turn around by the helicopter.

 

[Maverix]

I've been on 3.

Thunderbird: Fantastic ride, love the launch and the rest of it is smooth and forceful, with little bits of airtime and some floaty bits thrown in. Plus I love the barrel roll at the end.

GateKeeper: I seem to like this ride a lot more than most and have it just behind Thunderbird. I love the laterals you get on wing coasters and GateKeeper has plenty. Love the drop and general force around the ride, not to intense, but constant enough to keep it interesting. Also the sleeper element of the ride the second zero-g over the entrance, love it.

Wild Eagle: Still a great ride, but sadly doesn't take advantage of the wing design as much as the other two, and the ride lets up a bit at the end. Wild Eagle, however, definitely has the best view of any of the wing coasters by far. Love cresting the ride and getting to look out over the Smokey's.

 

[DelPiero]

I'm not a huge fan of the ride type so they are all very close to each other;

1: Gatekeeper - The biggest of the three, and just about the best, night ride on this was pretty good, smooth with some fun elements, actually had a bit of force in the turnaround.

2: Flug Der Daemonen - I liked this one too, one of my rides I had the bumping/jarring but it's worse in the outside seats. Front left inside and back right inside were really good runs, the airtime hump and pretzelish thing were tasty back right.

3: Swarm - It's ok, I've ridden it too much maybe, but it's smooth and has minor moments of force but there is only 1 near miss and that's left side, right side has a bit of force in the helix.

 

[peep]

Raptor is by far the best one. Excellent near misses and just "gets" what the ride type was made for.

Flug der Damonen is second for me, a couple of nice near misses and a crazy compact layout.

Swarm is very similar to Flug, if a little short. Just as it gets going it hits the brake run.


Hmm, then I suppose Wild Eagle, I only managed to get one ride on it and it definitely wasn't a great way to gauge if it was any good or not. First impressions weren't great though.

Gatekeeper was just the opposite of what the ride type was made for. It bounces around the track due to forces the trains just can't handle and just isn't a fun experience.

 

[Hutch]

Went to go dig up this topic… Let's see, been on a few now and I enjoyed them all.

1. Gatekeeper - I loved this. The inversions are a lot of fun with some interesting hang time and force in every one. The keyholes are fun, the airtime hill has good floater, and there's some good positive g's at the bottom of the drop. Beautiful, long ride.

2. Thunderbird - Maybe if I rode this more than once it may be on top (whereas I rode GK several times), but it's still a lot of fun. The launch is great and I really like the second half (zero g, airtime twist, and then near miss into an inline). The middle bit with the turns don't really do much though.

3. Swarm - Fun enough, but maybe a little short. The drop, zero g, inline twist, and near misses are good but the rest is kind of forgettable. Backwards is weird but interesting nonetheless.

 

[GuyWithAStick]

Should update this.

1) Thunderbird: Absolutely fantastic coaster. Great launch, intense all throughout, nice inversions, quite secluded, and overall is a fun experience.

2) X-Flight: This is quite intense with some great theming. Front row ride for sure. Drop is meh unless you're in the back, the rest of the layout is front row though. Also, the Zero G roll is fantastic. Third best in the park imo.

3) Wild Eagle: This is a giant B&M Sitdown with Wing trains plunked on it. It does nothing a wing coaster is supposed to do. No theming, no near misses, no terrain interaction(despite being build on a mountain, it's still fairly high in the air most of the time), and just kinda meanders. Quite forgettable too.

Might add Gatekeeper next year, thinking it'll go down next to Wild Eagle. What position relative to Wild Eagle is up to Future Me.

 

[gavin]

Re: B&M Wing Coasters, Best to Worst

I've only done three, but actually enjoyed all of them

1. Parrot Coaster: fantastic first drop, decent length, a bit of airtime, not focused on inversions. The most substantial of the three.

2. Raptor: the near misses work great with this one. Fun coaster.

3. Swarm: decent enough ride, but feels short and relies on inversions too much. Doesn't really make the most of the ride type.

4. X-Flight. It's a piece of s**t to be fair. I only got one ride in, at the back - well, 2nd to back because the actual back row was taped off on the train I was on - and it rattled to f**k most of the way around.

 

[Hixee]

I've only done three, but actually enjoyed all of them

1. Parrot Coaster: fantastic first drop, decent length, a bit of airtime, not focused on inversions. The most substantial of the three.

2. Raptor: the near misses work great with this one. Fun coaster.

3. Swarm: decent enough ride, but feels short and relies on inversions too much. Doesn't really make the most of the ride type.

4. X-Flight. It's a piece of s**t to be fair. I only got one ride in, at the back - well, 2nd to back because the actual back row was taped off on the train I was on - and it rattled to f**k most of the way around.

That's a shame - I remember really enjoying X-Flight back in 2012. I remember thinking it was much better than Swarm, as it has a more substantial layout.