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Helix vs Blue Fire

Which coaster do you prefer?

  • Helix

    Votes: 13 81.3%

  • Blue Fire

    Votes: 3 18.8%
  • Total voters
    16
ThomVD

ThomVD

Giga Poster
Two are very highly regarded coasters, both made by Mack. Which of the two major Mack mega coasters do you prefer?

I prefer Helix overall, but I think both coasters do things better than the other.

With Blue Fire, I prefer:
-The launch and the build up to it
-The final heartline roll
-The theming
-The music

With Helix, I prefer:
-The variety and amount of inversions
-The setting
-The terrain hugging layout
-The ejector airtime hills
-The length
-The trains
-The interaction with other rides (Blue Fire has interaction with Wodan, but Helix has interaction with Lisebergbanan, Uppswinget, the log flume, Atmosfear, the shot and drop tower and multiple pathways).
-The fact that night rides are amazing and actually really easy to pull off (in Europa Park you either have to go on a good day in the winter or you have to be lucky that the opening times get extended as far as possible in the summer.

Both fantastic coasters though.
 
Blue Fire is graceful, beautifully smooth and manages to to provide some good airtime, hang-time and even some forcefulness in the two corkscrews. The highlight of the ride is the very snappy heartline roll, which stands out because the rest of the ride is so controlled. I think the fact that Blue Fire is so controlled, often lacking intensity and arguably quite tame is what puts it below Helix for me.

Helix is considerably more intense and ferocious in certain parts, with ejector airtime, laterals and the inversions. It is also longer and contains a very diverse variety of features, dare I say it is probably the most diverse coaster in the world. The launches were quite a big let down and are nowhere near as good as the one on Blue Fire. Apart from this and the fact it isn't as butterly smooth as Blue Fire, Helix wins on all accounts for me.
 
Forgot to mention the smoothness. Helix is still very smooth, but Blue Fire is probably the smoothest coaster I've been on.
 
Helix has a lot more good things than BF, I don't really care for BF's launch, especially into the stall turn, feels awkward.
All the other elements of BF work really well but they aren't outstanding, except the heartline which still remains one of my favourite elements ever.
Helix on the other hand flows perfectly, especially in the evening, off ride it's gorgeous and the air and hang time generated is bliss.
 
I think it's weird how they're labelling Helix as a launch coaster. Yes, it has launches, but they seem to me to be more of a way to keep speed up than as a main feature of the ride.

Anyway, out of the two it's definitely Helix. Blue Fire is great, but Helix takes the coaster type to a whole new level.
 
Helix is IMO like Blue Fire NG - the setting, length, interaction with other rides and the negative G elements are just way cool. Plus the frist drop out of the station in the rear in guranteed to give butterflies!
 
If I had to pic one it has to be Helix, of course. But they're both good rides with their own pros and cons :)

Helix:
+Nice long layout
+Ejector airtime
+Some standout elements like the drop out of the station and the airtime hill/zero-g combo
-A bit rough in places
-Weak launches
-Some parts are a bit lame (like eg the s-bends and the final heartline-roll)

Blue Fire:
+As smooth as a new B&M
+Crazy heartline-roll and curve after the loop!
+Nice theming
-Short layout
-Slow pacing
-Several lame elements (stall-turn/tophat, cork-screw, "airtime" hill trhough the loop etc)
 
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