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Last Cred Review

Peet

Giga Poster
Expedition GeForce - one I've been massively looking forward to, and had very high expectations for it.

I'll keep this as a cred review rather than a trip report, but in brief the SRII was closed so +1 for my ever-growing list of spites, although I did get the Zierer +1.

Anyway, back to the main event:
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It was pretty quiet at the park, but the ops were absolutely dreadful, the main operator in particular showed an amazing lack of interest in his work. This meant the wait time was 15 mins instead of 5 so I can't complain too much.

It struck me on the lift hill that this is a really beautiful coaster - looking down on its twists and turns in and out of the trees is fantastic. The first drop is absolute carnage if you are sitting near the back, the combination of ejector airtime and lateral Gs is a wonderful mess. The rest of the course is relentless, surprisingly disorientating, and packed with strong ejector airtime, with a couple of great head-choppers. In short, this is an amazing ride, I can see why it has always been held in such high regard.

I got 8 laps on it which is enough to get to know the twists and turns well, and enough to give me some pretty sore thighs from the restraints which are not too comfortable under strong negative Gs.

I'm still digesting the experience but I think it's going to be around #3 in my ranking after Hyperion and Helix.
 

Hixee

Flojector
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It struck me on the lift hill that this is a really beautiful coaster - looking down on its twists and turns in and out of the trees is fantastic.
This is a comment we don't hear often about EGF, and I agree with you completely! It's a very picturesque ride, too.

It's great for photos too - lots of 'big hills poking out above the tree line' type things.
 

Mushroom

Goon of the Year
Limit... simply a +1 I needed. Ughhhhh ****s sake, 1 slc in Europe to go =/
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Sent from my small tapping device...
 

DelPiero

Strata Poster
Ughhh
No!
Hell no!
1
NOPE!
(FYI, best SLC is Rollercoaster Mayan thanks to them restraints)
It's not as good as it once was. The headbanging is obviously not an issue but it's got a lot more jolts and shuffling than last year.
It's still got the fab footchoppers though, but 1 ride was enough for me last week.
 

Hixee

Flojector
Staff member
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Short hand for Expedition Geforce
Whilst correct, I feel the need to also point out that the ride name is formally formatted at Expedition GeForce, which makes the EGF nickname even more fitting. :)
 

Tomatron

Giga Poster
Lightning Rod:

Been waiting 2 years to ride it after it was very broken on my first visit in 2017. It's had loads of problems, but now it seems to have finally got over the worst of the issues it was suffering. And I'm delighted to say it was worth the wait.

The front of the train in the mornings is a fantastic ride, but the back row at the end of the day was unbelievably good. It's not butter smooth like the Iron Horse RMCs but that really doesn't matter. It feels like a really well looked after wooden coaster. And the airtime is ridiculous.

I honestly can't decide if I prefer this or Steel Vengeance as my number 1. The only thing that would make me re-ride one over the other is that Lightning Rod is in a nicer park than Steel Vengeance is.
 

JJLehto

Hyper Poster
Goliath @ SFoG

Not just the last coaster I rode on my Carowinds, CP, SFoG trip but perhaps the big surprise, (I already had high expectations/knew what to expect for Fury, Twisted Cyclone) of the trip. A 10+ year old B&M? I can't say I had hopes of much more than a fun ride, but wow, was I blown away. In the back row, there was sustained, often strong, floater on every hill. It may be knocked, but when done well there is just something so fun about floater, and makes a coaster more rerideable. More than all the air, the layout was great. No MCBR, that helix had some legit force on it (Force on my B&M hyper? What is this old Nitro?) and it has a good length.
2 full days later, I am still digesting whether I prefer this over Twisted Cyclone, which is not something I ever imagined. A top 10 steel though for sure.
 

UP87

Mega Poster
Okay... sorry... this is basically a trip report but It‘s my first try at writing over my coaster experiences and I thought better to hide it here ?



First we went to Tivoli which is right in the middle of Copenhagen between the central station and the town hall. We entered from the central station and started with the oldest coaster:

Rutschebanen (danish for roller coaster) a wooden coaster from 1914 with an operator on the train who handles a brake. It's interesting how the coaster feels different not only depending on where you are sitting but also on who operates the train. I experienced three or four different brakemen and none felt alike. The coaster feels really good and not like over 100 years old. Most turns are taken rather slowly. That's definitely in favor of the ride experience. After all it's really impressive and interesting to see the handling of the brakes and the fun the brakemen have doing their job. The theming of Rutschebanen is awesome. Mountains, animals, lights, darkness! It's really cool! And you get some nice airtime.

The newest coaster of this trip was... the small Zierer Tivoli Kamelen that just opened this year. It's nothing too special but since it was past 8 p.m. it made at least 8 laps. After all this is a nice childrens coaster that is not completely without any forces or height. (Looks over to Europa Parks Ba-a-a Express) The biggest coaster in Tivoli Gardens is a compact B&M floorless coaster: Dæmonen. It's interesting to have a helix before the first drop. Additionally it's noticable that the track only touches the ground at the bottom of the vertical loop and the immelmann. It's quite a compact design. I didn't try the VR option but as classic coaster this is quite fun though not as forceful as other B&Ms I've done. It looks really good in the dark when lights illuminate the track and other lights rush arround it.



The next evening we visited Bakken (also known as Dyrehavsbakken). It opened in 1583 and is the world's oldest operating amusement park. Tivoli Gardens opened in 1843 is the second oldest operating amusement park - the more you know. ;) Compared to Tivoli Bakken doesn't have an admission price and only charges for the rides (Tivoli charges for both). Both are similar in that they don't only feature rides but also events, restaurants and other amusement venues. Bakken feels a lot more carnival like though.

The first coaster we rode was Mariehønen since we feared that it might be closed later as it was in the evening again. It's a small Zierer Tivoli. So nothing special. The fun thing was a short stop for the kids to wave and the parents to take a photo.

Up next we went to Mine Train Ulven which is not really a mine train. It's an Intamin family coaster and has a suprising curved first drop and some nice near miss elements with plants and buildings. It's quite fun but nothing too special.

Bakken has it's own coaster with the innovative name of Rutschebanen. Well... at least it's another piece of history! It was built in 1932. Until 2010 it featured trains that required a brakeman, as well. Today it has KumBak trains and lots of brakes! First thing you notice is that the lifthill isn't straight. With brakes before all drops it doesn't really have any airtime. Even though there are multiple double downs. That's quite unfortunate. I'd love to experience it with a brakeman and more speed. The way it is it is interesting and of historical value but even though it's a lot higher than its cousin at Tivoli it is a lot less fun. But Bakkens coaster features a naked lady with spreaded legs above the tunnel.

Tornado is the only spinning coaster by Intamin. And if you rode it you might know why. Since I knew enough about the ride I knew that some parts can be rather unpleasant. The chain lift is quite fast and basically an acceleration. The transition to the first drop is rather rough and there is one curve towards the end that hurts, as well. As with other free spinning coasters the ride experience can be quite different depending on the weight distribution. Some vehicles seemed to spin at completely insane speeds. After all the ride is quite short and doesn't impress with anything.

Vilde Mus is a wild mouse coaster by Mack. It was quite smooth and thus more fun than Crazy Mine at Hansa-Park. Nothing more to say about that.

Racing is quite charming. It's a Zierer Flitzer that was built in 1971 and travelled until it was relocated to Bakken in 1981. You take place in a small sled alone or with another person in front of you and you slide around the track consisting of banked right drops and inclines. There is one curve to the left. At the end there is an operator next to the track who manually closes the metal fins to brake the train. I find things like that really charming. In general it felt like a backyard coaster. The brakeman fitted in perfectly.

So... If I were to rank the top coasters of this trip it'd be:
3. Mine Train Ulven
2. Dæmonen
1. Rutschebanen (Tivoli Gardens)
 

Kw6sTheater

Hyper Poster
I've already gotten the Mindbender coaster credit (My #70), but I might as well share with you all my first ride on it in 2 years. Before this ride, Mindbender was my #5 overall beating out rides like Fury 325, Mako, Twisted Cyclone, Lightning Rod, and Kumba; however, I'm not sure if I am going to keep it at its current spot or move Mindbender down a few spots. The coaster was still awesome, don't get me wrong, but I just didn't feel those reported 5.3Gs of force in the back-to-back loops. Maybe it was that there were only 2 other people in the train besides myself, or that I was focused on defensively riding, or that I had hyped it up a little too much, but Mindbender unfortunately disappointed me by a little bit. That being said, it still has that wild first drop where you just keep gaining speed until Mindbender slams you into your seat, the third loop is still impossibly tight and impossibly intense, and there's even that unexpected pop of floater air towards the end. After Galaxy Orbiter and HAVOC reopen from maintenance, I'll make another trip back to Galaxyland and I hope Mindbender may be just as great as I first made it out to be in July 2017.
 

Pear

Strata Poster
Manhattan Express / Big Apple Coaster

This ride is horrible but in a fun way I guess. It's insanely rough and the shoulder restraints hurt a lot but the ride itself is fun because of how bad it is. It's one of the few coasters I've ridden that actually make me terrified for my life.
 

DelPiero

Strata Poster
Lightning Rod:

Been waiting 2 years to ride it after it was very broken on my first visit in 2017. It's had loads of problems, but now it seems to have finally got over the worst of the issues it was suffering. And I'm delighted to say it was worth the wait.

The front of the train in the mornings is a fantastic ride, but the back row at the end of the day was unbelievably good. It's not butter smooth like the Iron Horse RMCs but that really doesn't matter. It feels like a really well looked after wooden coaster. And the airtime is ridiculous.

I honestly can't decide if I prefer this or Steel Vengeance as my number 1. The only thing that would make me re-ride one over the other is that Lightning Rod is in a nicer park than Steel Vengeance is.
I'm super happy for you mate, glad it's still running well :)
 

Hutch

Strata Poster
Joined @Youngster Joey at his visit to SFNE today and did some good stuff, including a new cred:

Joker
Finally got this thing today. Neither of us had done anything like this, so I wasn't really sure what to expect. I didn't think it would be that great but honestly I kind of loved it? It was a lot more wild and unpredictable than I thought it would be, and some of the flips were pretty ridiculous without being uncomfortable. I actually liked it enough to get some rerides on it, and each time it rode a little differently. The big takeaway is that it got a few loud reactions out of me, which normally doesn't happen unless a ride does something that I'm really impressed (or disgusted) with. Certainly doesn't do anything amazing but just a really funny ride, and I think a big part of it for me is the novelty. Although I better appreciate it now before I come across more of them and start to get sick of them like I do for Boomerangs and Wild Mice. 7.5/10

Superman: The Ride

Still kicks ass! It's gained a bit of a rattle but it has a quality layout and a great mix of positive and negative g's. The airtime is quite strong in some spots and it's only really held back but the dumb lap bars. If it had the nice T-bars then it might still be a Top 10 contender, but right now it's still kicking around the bottom half of my Top 20. 9/10

Wicked Cyclone

I seem to love this ride more so than other people, and honestly the pacing throughout is fine. In fact it hauled ass this afternoon, thanks to the rain! Some of the airtime almost hurt, even on the little hills at the end. Even some of the basic turns ended up having some solid lateral moments. I was really pleased to see it running this well, and there's just so much packed in there and there isn't an element I dislike. I almost want to move it up a spot over Storm Chaser, but I'd rather wait until I ride that again next month. 9.5/10
 

tomahawk

Strata Poster
Did a quick pop into SFOT on Sat...

Freeze: This seriously might be better than NTG. Couldn't compare because Have a Six Flags Day it was closed. Seriously, rode front and back. Hangtime in the front is awful, but such a good ride.

Shockwave: So ****ing good. As always. It was hot and we didn't want to wait so we went in the middle, and the guy I was with greyed out on the double loop and had standing airtime throughout.

Judge Roy Scream: They must have done some retracing because it wasn't awful.



Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
 

Hyde

Matt SR
Staff member
Moderator
Social Media Team
Kentucky Flyer - Kentucky Kingdom

Was looking forward to riding my first "kiddie" Gravity Group coaster, and it was a pretty fun ride. Definitely give it props for being a tight, compact layout that fits nicely behind the water rides to offer a nice visual backstop to the park. Actual ride was pretty fun, with some decent pops of airtime and element transition... for a roller coaster that goes 35 mph. :p Overall a great ride for what it is, and far superior to the Vekoma Junior Coasters of my youth.
 
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