Last Cred Review

[Tonkso]

211: Balder: Started on the second run of the day so it hadn't warmed up, thought it was good, but not great. Rode a couple of times later once it had warmed up and was out of my seat more than I was in it. Loved it in the end, my second place ranking on park. 3x.
212: Valkyrie: Good, but the drop didn't feel as good as the other 3 Dive credits we have. Decently long layout though, but not the best in class. 3x
213: Helix: Probably the best ride in the park. Our first ride was a front-row which was ruined because it started raining, heavily. Front row on a launch coaster in the rain... Got two more dry runs at the end of the day though, where it shot up in my rankings to park no.1. Decently long, great elements, world-class setting. 4x
214-215: I won't rate the kiddie-creds. Still did them though. 1x each. As an aside, I loved the silly rabbit hole dark ride.
216: Lisebergbanen: This is one of those odd but special coasters. Doesn't do anything in particular, but it's just pure fun. I dubbed it (ironically) 'Helix: The ride" as it's just helix after helix... but in a good way. Why does the brake run burp at you? 3x
217: Luna: Was okay, a nice theme and a fantastic setting for a family shuttle. Didn't warrant a re-ride however, we felt as if we'd ridden better family shuttles. 1x

The park in general? Absolutely lovely, sparkling clean, well looked after and landscaped, an absolutely solid rapids and flume combo (so pleased the rumours of the flume being removed at the end of 2023 proved to be false), great selection of flats (though the Disco did not deliver) and plenty of cool bars and restaurants.

 

[Changa]

Hyperia was amazing and lived up to all of my expectations. The first drop and outer bank roll were two of the craziest sensations I've ever felt on a rollercoaster, Mack profiled those to perfection. The stall dive is fantastic, the immelman is forceful, and the final two hills are very fun. Every element is great on the ride, with the big 4 feeling so huge that it made for a complete ride in my opinion. However, the splashdown trims hit quite hard which takes a lot of the energy out of the ride which is a bit of a shame. Even if the final elements as built are taken at a great speed and make for a good end to the ride, if they were slightly larger so that the trim could hit less hard, I'd probably call this a perfect ride.

This currently sits at #7 for me (#6 if discounting TTD), behind Goliath (Walibi) and Shambhala. Though, those 3 are so close, and excel for such different reasons that they're practically equal in my opinion.

 

[Howie]

Gonna be spamming this thread a lot over the coming days. Just got back from America see, with 77 new creds under my belt and man oh man, some of them are reeeeaaalllyy good.
Don't panic, I'm not gonna review 'em all, but I'll try and cover the newest and most notable ones.
Starting with Dorney Park.

Iron Menace. For the most part, a solid addition. For a regional park with a mostly regional clientele, this will offer the casual park goer a more than adequate thrill. There's a rather concerning jolt or two towards the end of the ride, in particular the final bend into the brake run, very un-B&M like, but otherwise it rides rather well. For the well travelled enthusiast though, with bigger and better dive machines under their belt, this is unlikely to amount to much more than a one-and-done.
Decent, but unremarkable. 7/10





Hydra: The Revenge.
Again, another solid, perfectly acceptable mid-tier B&M for a regional US park. Good, original and varied layout in relatively compact footprint. If this was in the UK it would be in the Top 10 in the country, but in the land of giant, coaster filled mega-parks it just gets lost a little and sadly becomes just another one-and-done. 7/10







 Talon.
Ahh now we're talking! This is a kick-ass, old school B&M invert with a powerful, custom layout, great pacing and that classic B&M roar. Big enough to deliver on the speed and the forces but small enough to not require an MCBR. Feet-tingling helix of death to finish off with too. Magic!
Well worthy of rerides.
9/10.



Shout out to Steel Force.
Under rated ride that deserves a bit more love. Really good, old school hyper. Some decent drops, forceful helix with headchoppers, some airtime here and there and very very smooth. Reminded me a lot of Mamba at World's of Fun. Good stuff. 7/10



The woodie was alright.
And if you like Intamin Twisted Impulse coasters Possessed is... one of those.

In the next post, Knoebels.

 

[TilenB]

Alright

#378 - Wild Train, Fantasiana

Well, this was amazing. The ride doesn't look like much from the ground, but just looking at the shaping of the hills tells you this isn't any ordinary family coaster. Or that it isn't a family coaster at all. The ride starts relatively pedestrian, though with a rather speedy helix before embarking on an unhinged rampage through sharp airtime hills that offer some violent ejector and tight turns with laterals strong enough they might get you fearing for your ribs.

Me, dad and most of the train just couldn't help but laugh histerically at how Crazy this Train really was. The difference between front and back is pretty significant, since the ejector and laterals happen at completely different parts of the layout, though the front had a pretty noticable jolt in that initial helix that wasn't as pronounced in the back, so I ended up prefering the back here.

Such a shame that it's leaving after this season, but at least it will get replaced by something really good. It will be interesting seeing a massive Mack in this tiny amusement park.



#379 - Fridolin, Fantasiana

Yeah, fun. It was cute, roomier than Wild Train and all of the kids in the park loved it. Decent.

 

[Sticky_T_Wicky]

208 - Intimidator 305 - Kings Dominion
Holy cow! I had high expectations and was still blown away. Positive Gs rarely get to me but I started to feel my vision deteriorating towards the end of that first 270 degree turn. Then airtime and snappy transitions, oh the snappy transitions! 10/10.

Also, I refuse to call this Project 305.

209 - Twisted Timbers - Kings Dominion
Another gem that met or exceeded expectations. I wasn't a big fan of the barrel roll drop on Storm Chaser but felt this one was executed much better. The three progressively more forceful camelbacks and then a course filled with poppy and powerful airtime, snappy transitions and a floaty zero G roll! 10/10.

Arguably the best one two punch in the country/world. SteVe and Maverick have competition.

205 - Superman Ride of Steel - Six Flags America
Opposite of the two above. This did not meet my expectations. The airtime kinda just ends early in the first drop, the awkward straight track sections, not all that forceful helixes but probably the biggest issue was that this had a really nasty rattle on the wheel seats. Wasn't as bad in the front row of the cars but the front row hydraulic housing in the front row of the cars with those restraints isn't pleasant. Not a bad ride but had higher expectations and am tempted to put Joker's Jinx ahead of it. 7/10.

 

[Howie]

208 - Intimidator 305 - Kings Dominion
Holy cow! I had high expectations and was still blown away. Positive Gs rarely get to me but I started to feel my vision deteriorating towards the end of that first 270 degree turn. Then airtime and snappy transitions, oh the snappy transitions! 10/10.

Also, I refuse to call this Project 305.

209 - Twisted Timbers - Kings Dominion
Another gem that met or exceeded expectations. I wasn't a big fan of the barrel roll drop on Storm Chaser but felt this one was executed much better. The three progressively more forceful camelbacks and then a course filled with poppy and powerful airtime, snappy transitions and a floaty zero G roll! 10/10.

Arguably the best one two punch in the country/world. SteVe and Maverick have competition.

205 - Superman Ride of Steel - Six Flags America
Opposite of the two above. This did not meet my expectations. The airtime kinda just ends early in the first drop, the awkward straight track sections, not all that forceful helixes but probably the biggest issue was that this had a really nasty rattle on the wheel seats. Wasn't as bad in the front row of the cars but the front row hydraulic housing in the front row of the cars with those restraints isn't pleasant. Not a bad ride but had higher expectations and am tempted to put Joker's Jinx ahead of it. 7/10.

Fair comments, I rode all 3 of those coasters last week. Gosh, Six Flags America is a bit of a dump, isn't it?
I'll review those rides myself shortly, but first....




 Phoenix.
Absolutely fantastic! A 10/10 ride without a shadow of a doubt, it's repeated recognition as 'the world's best wooden coaster' is not undeserved. The stats might be fairly modest, the layout is fairly conventional and the POV's don't really give the game away - but good lord, this thing is an airtime machine!
But it's not about the  amount of airtime on this coaster. In terms of quantity, other coasters deliver more. Nor is about the strength of the airtime, other coasters give stronger, ejector airtime.
But the way Phoenix delivers that airtime is like nothing else on Earth. Honestly, in all my years I've never experienced anything quite like it, this was a completely new sensation for me.
Unlike most wooden coasters, avoid the back half of the train. Sure, you'll get airtime as you get pulled down the drops, but it's 'normal' airtime, you've felt it before, you're used to it. For the full Phoenix effect you need to be sat up front, with rows 3 and 4 being where the real magic happens, the sweet spots. Here you'll get amazing, sustained floater as you crest each airtime hill. It's not even metaphorical - because there's no seat belts or lap bars, just a buzz bar - you really do 'float' about 4 inches above the seat for a good second or two. And then comes the best bit - while you're mid-float, the floor of the train just kinda drops out from underneath you giving a sharp pop of ejector, leaving you, the rider, virtually standing up!
And Phoenix does this again and again and again. It's hilarious, and brilliant, and I absolutely loved it. Top 3 wooden coaster for me and worthy of an overall Top 10 placement - it's that good.






Happy goons.


Twister.
Another woodie. Much bigger and more imposing than Phoenix with more of a high speed, twisty, turny layout rather than a focus on pure airtime. It's big, it's fast, it's smooth and it's a lot of fun.
8/10.




 Impulse.
The best way to describe Impulse is: it's like a Gerstlauer Eurofighter... but good. Seriously, I was shocked at how smooth and comfortable this was. It rode really well, helped enormously by B&M style, clamshell restraints. Well presented too, nice shiny paint job and stuff. Yep, very pleasantly surprised by this little gem. 8/10.



We got spited by Flying Turns. I mean, it was open, but because the capacity is so awful they close the queue line a bit earlier than the others and we got denied. Can't say I was overly bothered to be honest. It might be unique, but it looks small, slow, weird and a bit rubbish.

On the whole though, we loved Knoebels, what a charming, pretty, unique and well cared for little park.

In other news, I drove into a plant pot on the way out and damaged the rental car.
Ahh good times!

 

[JoshC.]

I was about to make a joke about the rental car, but I realised I'm not in any position to talk about damage to rental cars right now...

Love the Phoenix love though - absolute beast of a coaster. Will disagree slightly, as I preferred the back, but still got the same experiences you got!

 

[Nitefly]

Hyperia

After the anxiety of seeing it down yesterday, I was able to get three rides on this today.

The coaster is a beast to look at - very impressive - yet I don’t know what to make of ‘fearless valley’. The colour scheme is unusual and bold (which I really dig) but the lack of any ‘tailored’ rock-work and other theming elements gives it a ‘temporary / corporate pop-up’ vibe. Hopefully foliage growth will help counter this, but those cattle pens… oof.

Likewise, the theme music is catchy but perhaps misses the mark, evidenced by several groups wailing the tune (in jest) throughout the day. As it’s ‘persistently-epic’ it can start to feel a little self-important after prolonged exposure.

Anyway, the ride. Yeah, it generally exceeds expectations. From off-ride and POVs the experience looked (to me) like a painfully short ‘series of elements’ but I’m pleased to say that on-ride it flows much better; more than the sum of its parts, I suppose.

The stall and ‘sausage roll’ are absolutely killer - on my row 9 ride in the afternoon these were legit world class (!) elements. Yeah, I said it. The fact I’m even considering whether the stall is on par with the Zadra stall should indicate how good it is (although Zadra probably pips it… just). Ditto, the airtime on the ‘sausage roll’ was incredibly sustained - huuuuge air (Lightning Rod’s ‘wave-turn’, ‘moon walk’-like air).

That was row 9 though. The elements hit 30% less in row 2 (and by that yardstick, maybe 15% less in row 6).

The first drop (or at least most of it…) is also killer and it could well punch as one of the best first drops in the world.

And yet… I can’t discount what is happening on every valley on this ride, which is lots of vibration / rattle. Row 2 first ride was good but gave me a headache. Row 6 second ride was very passable and a great ride. Row 9 had the best taking of elements - world class - but was borderline ‘rough’ in the valleys. Mrs. Nitefly was TKO’ed for the day after ride 3, same row.

Differences per train maybe? Hmm, really not sure.

The ending of the ride is middling but that’s OK. I’d generally rather take a short dose of high quality than a longer, meandering ride.

Overall, Hyperia rides exactly as it looks: high peaks, followed by troughs. It absolutely spanks most UK offerings though and it’s amazing to see the reactions of the public, who generally haven’t seen anything like it. One person next to me had a face full of wind-blasted tears and was laughing / speechless on the brake run. What a wonderful thing.

 

[DelPiero]

As with Howie above, going to put my new creds in and any rerides that are worth mentioning.

8 full park days and every single one had an amazing coaster, really did well with this trip.

Day 1 Dorney/Knoebels

I'd been to both parks before so only needed Iron Menace.





Not the worst Dive coaster. Looks great, station is well themed and the drop/immelman deliver well, but it's a bit meh after that. There were a couple of really bad jolts, worrying for something that opened a month ago.

Steel Force has had some work done and was riding really well.

Talon was fab as per usual, excellent layout, plenty of forces, still the best ride in the park.



Made our way to Knoebels later than we had hoped, meaning that my afternoon consister of one ride on Twister and absolutely whoring Phoenix.



Row 4 baby, one of my happy places. Absolutely love this woodie, and is my 2nd fave so far, there's only a couple of others which touch this masterpiece.
The eyes closed, limp ride was beautiful, and loved running round and round for another go with the other goons.

Back up into my top 10 after that day, can't believe I ever let it drop out, recency bias for you I guess.

 

[TPoseOnTantrum]

Had my own trip through New York State this weekend. Stopped at five locations for 10 new credits across two days, here’s the gist;

Caldwell’s Krazy Coaster @ Lake George Expedition Park (#112); Just a new SBF Visa at a nice little park among the trees. The Helter Skelter here tries to kill you though.

Comet @ SF Great Escape (#116); A lot of work seems to have been done here recently and it was running incredibly. No rough spots, some pops of airtime, overall a consistent layout. It’s still the best coaster in the park even with Bobcat (#115) just opening; my brief review is here.

Roller Coaster @ Huck Finn’s Playland (#119); Essentially a step above a funny permanent fair, located in a kinda ghetto part of town and blasting carnival music nonstop. The Little Dipper coaster US a bit rough around the edges but overall well cared for. Access is $3, good 5 minute enthusiast stop.

Nor’easter Mountain Coaster @ Greek Peak (#120); Fourth alpine coaster, had time to stop by to make up for Sylvan Beach being closed. Gave the family ahead of me a 5 minute head start but I still caught up after speeding through 80% of the layout.

Everything was on the table including two kiddy credits, normally off-limits per a state mandate with more holes in it than Swiss cheese. Great Escape leadership were more than happy to arrange for me to ride the truly awful Frankie’s Mine Train (#118) alongside a few other park benefits thrown in (much appreciated), while a ride op at Seabreeze looked away on Bear Trax (#121), allowing me to achieve the tick after missing it six years ago.

 

[Hutch]

 Phoenix.
Absolutely fantastic! A 10/10 ride without a shadow of a doubt

Good man

And then comes the best bit - while you're mid-float, the floor of the train just kinda drops out from underneath you giving a sharp pop of ejector, leaving you, the rider, virtually standing up!

I actually didn't notice this on my first two visits, but my last visit a month ago it surprises me with THAT. And then sometimes your ass lands on the seat divider! Brilliant stuff. Honestly every time I visit the park the ride gets better and better.

 

[davidm]

Just for a spot of variety in this thread, my last cred was Hyperia, yesterday.

Got 4 rides in - it opened late (1030) but had been in line/holding near the dome since 910 so was reasonably through the line (second switch back outside the "entrance" (but they did not open the entrance until 1030) - was a lot of people behind me. Had ridden by ~1115 (DaveR was behind me in the Q but went into the SRQ and rode before me by about 15 mins I think). I headed straight back into the SRQ, which took an hour (a lot of that was in the main Q before they let you enter the SRQ, which was annoying and unnecessary). The main Q was showing 2 hours at that time though. I got a fastpass (£20) then for a bit later, but it broke down when my fastpass was due - people stuck at the top of the lift for a while again - but they got it restarted after not too long and I used my fastpass then - with virtually no wait (the ride did not seen swamped by fastpasses actually - the ride-access line was a bigger "delay" to the main Q at the last merge-point I think.

The rest of the park was pretty busy too - so I sucked up a long wait for Colossus, which kept breaking down, finally breaking down when I was on it ; took them far too long to evac us I think, but I got a fastpass out of it (not valid for Hyperia) which meant at least I could skip the 45+ min waits for another coaster.

Headed back into the SRQ about 1640 - there were lots of signs saying they were going to close the Q "early" but I did not see them do that? Anyway the SRQ was pretty long then, so I was expecting a fair wait...

...BUT there was a medical issue in the main line just before the final area where the lines converge (someone had fainted and perhaps hit their head falling down in the process as the first-aid peeps were slow to move them). The upshot of that was once the people ahead of the issue had fed through the line, there was no main line - so they just loaded straight from the SRQ - bonus fastpass ; almost - it broke down again just before I was on, but which time they had wheelchaired the faintee out (no-one looked panic-ed so I assume/hope they were mostly OK) and the main Q was back in action again. But what was going to be a 90min wait was about 20 because of that - result!

ANYWAY - the ride;

Yes very good - does what it does pretty gracefully I think. Drop was very good (although the Big One's is "scarier" IMHO) the stall probably the stand-out element for me. But then it comes out of the stall into the water-feature-brakes and it's (almost) done. Such a shame it doesn't do anything more with that momentum, it may be a proper world-beater if it did, but it doesn't, so it's not.

I only rode left-seat once, and I thought that was better (just because of the way it turns). Rode near the front and near the back (but not "at") - bit rattly further back in the low points, but not an issue. Trains very comfortable (as you'd expect). Didn't think much of the station/launch-sequence though - perhaps I was missing something?

But Its GREAT to see the UK get a stupidly big (albeit short) coaster though - we have been missing out on those for 30 years while the rest of the world has been churning them out. So Hyperia is the UK catching up I think. It'll easily be the UK stand out ride for a long time.

The new area is good too (well apart from the incomplete "viewing area" around the water-feature - which all looks a bit muddy construction-site still). Lots of merch - and a LOT of people wearing the merch at the park too.

--

TL;DR - very good for what it does, but a bit short

 

[Hyde]

Twisted Cyclone SFOG - really enjoyed it, and an underrated RMC at that.

 

[James F]

I did a day trip to Ireland yesterday to visit Emerald Park. I managed to just about get all the credits before going home . The park was busy with school trips so not the most ideal conditions.



#236 - Fianna Force

My first order of business upon arriving was riding the brand new Vekoma STC. I've got to say that my curiosity for this ride model was a high given the rather dynamic layouts of it's first two installations. It was advertised at 30 minutes, slightly longer than I expected for a weekday at a smaller park, but this ended up not being the case, I ended up waiting 75 minutes due to the one train service and the apparent overselling of fast passes,
-
While I am not sure that it's worth 75 minutes, this coaster more than delivered on my expectations. In all honesty I expected it to feel mild on forces just like one of the companies family suspended coasters. This coaster was definitely more intense than I was expecting, is it 90's B&M intense? no, but it's just as if not more intense than something like Nemesis Inferno. I could feel quite a bit of force in the valleys and the inversions had a graceful float similar to Monster at Gröna Lund.

The hills towards the end offered some quality pops of airtime, a slightly bizarre feeling on a inverted coaster. This coaster is also glossy smooth, which kind of funny when you think out of all the new 2024 coasters, Vekoma is now building the smoothest ones.

Due to it's smoothness and varied layout, It's incredibly re-ridable too. Once the park eventually put the second train on, the queue went all the way down to 10 minutes, which meant I could bag a couple more rides in. I would say that the back row is the best, but anywhere is good.

I would love to see more STC's in the future. 8/10



#237 - The Quest

A slightly better than average family boomerang. While the theming is not yet complete, the landscaping and interaction with Fianna keep it interesting. Properly the second best one of these I have done after Luna at Liseberg. Unlike it's neighbour, The Quest only had a 5 minute wait. 5/10




#238 - Cu Chulainn

Seems a lot taller than 105 ft in person, so it's no wonder that the park can advertise it as "Europe's largest wooden coaster" without most disputing that claim. Getting on this beast was a pain though, for whatever reason it kept having a paddy and broke down several times throughout the day. I ended up waiting in a painfully slow 1+ hour queue. The dispatches were slow even when the ride was running and with just one train running on a busy day the capacity was really abysmal.

On a more cheerful note, I got lucky and bagged a front row ride. Bad news was that I stupidly left my phone in my pocket, so I couldn't fully enjoy it without having one hand resting on my left pocket.

Still, with all that being said Cu Chulainn was great and made the trip worth doing alone. The pacing and airtime are great throughout, I was surprised by how many airtime moments there were. It's not the strength of airtime you would get from an RMC, but it certainly noticeable. It was also much more comfortable than I was expecting, although granted the front is usually smoother. While I am still not a fan of the timberliner trains, I will agree that they do work better on an original gravity group designed ride rather than on a conversion like Tonnerre 2 Zeus.

Unfortunately it was a one and done for me due to the long queue and the fact it went down yet again towards the end of the day.

Overall it's a quality wooden coaster and it's just about cracked it's way into my top 25. 8.5/10



# 239 - Dino Dash

A fun and fairly whippy Vekoma family coaster. It's impressive how dynamic it is, despite it's small stats. The park repurposed it's Dinosaur walk through attraction into this ride, making it one of the most elaborately themed kiddie coasters I have been on. There are several animatronic dinosaurs scattered through the ride, some even spray mist as the train passes. 4.5/10



# 240 - Flight School

Another slightly better than average family coaster. I like that they went for it with the theming, but theming the station to an airport somehow makes it feel more bland than if they just had basic metal cover. It's a decent coaster for what it is, the s-bends are fun and it keeps it's pace well. 4.5/10



# 241 - Ladybird Loop

The final credit to get and the one that I was putting off the most was this SBF Visa Spinning Coaster. Not only is there the embarrassment of riding a kiddie coaster, but there is also the rotating seats so everyone can see a fully grown adult is riding without a child. Fair enough I could just do the decent thing and not ride it, but I figured that I might as well complete the parks coaster collection. Fortunately for me, there were other adults on the ride, some without kids, so I didn't feel too shameful. 2/10

 

[j-cat5]

Thorpe park today for Hyperia, so much for that, still, got some coaster credits

The Swarm: I was really rather looking forward to this as I've never ridden it before . Many of the makings of a world class ride but it's just a smidgeon on the slow side for me. Additionally, the restraints don't give much freedom (barely even room to lift arms which is pretty annoying). That said, it's absolutely butter smooth which always helps. The theming is also magnificent and those near misses just feel utterly fantastic as you fly over the park. Back row gives a particularly great ride and I now have to figure out if this creeps into my current top ten- 8/10



Nemesis Inferno: This felt very fast for a morning ride I have to say and it had some pretty decent forces and also height in parts It's a little headbangy at stages though which did take away somewhat but it can be managed and it's still a very enjoyable ride- 7/10

Stealth: Just an absolutely breathtaking launch, and I like the fact that there's a little more to it after the main event. Still the best (currently operating) ride in the park for me despite it's short length-8.5/10

Saw the ride: I haven't ridden it for 13 years and was quite worried after hearing people saying it was pretty rough. I kept waiting for something (potentially quite violent)to happen but it never really did.
Them again, not a lot else happened either tbf......
The theming was pretty good though I guess....5/10

Skipped Colossus and swapped for an extra fast pass on Stealth in the back row, which I thought wasn't quite as good as the front....Oh well (my friend thought it was better though but I think he mostly wanted to prove a point about back rows normally being better than fronts (eceKinda wanted to do Colossus again as I remember loving it years ago but never mind.

Did the water rides and the ghost train so might review them too later...