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UK dark coasters

Black Hole was great Furie. What you on about?

Raptor Attack is great. The actual coaster is a bit tame but the themeing in the queue and exit is brilliant and the dinos on the ride are a nice addition to something that the Rat didn't have.

We do need a big new dark coaster in the UK though. Something similar to the Mummy rides would be great.
 
Ollie said:
Black Hole was great Furie. What you on about?
Click to expand...

I'm on about the fact it was rubbish. Pretty simple really I thought?

I rode it just before it shut and was thankful it was going. It was slow, dull, laborious and just a little painful. Absolute nothing of a coaster and only mildly better than Space Invader 2 (though I prefer the 4 Man bob rides personally).

When did you last ride it and what other coasters did you have for comparison the last time you rode it? What was your real wealth of experience at the time?

How well do you actually remember the coaster in real terms, not just through rose tinted soppy eyes of a piece of your youth going?

What I'm saying, is realistically, now - would you really think it was a great coaster? I thought it was brilliant when it opened and I was ten. I still thought it was good at fourteen. By the time my balls had dropped though and I'd been on better coasters, it rapidly became what it realistically was, just a fairly mundane kiddy coaster in a tent.

Blackhole simulation kit:
http://www.coasterforce.com/plugins/p17 ... s/1143.jpg

100% true.

It. Was. Rubbish!
 
^lol.

You know I sort of agree. I was luckily? able to ride Black Hole before it was removed, and that was over 10 years ago now, and I don't remember the ride that much at all so it couldn't have been particularly good. However I do remember queueing absolutely ages for it, riding it, getting off and thinking "All that queue for THAT?!"
 
Yeah, Black Hole really wasn't all that. It was OK, but, not a patch on the park's other coasters.
 
The key with these sort of rides is the buildup. Black Hole was very well themed and absorbing. Rat Ride even more so and Raptor Attack EVEN more so. How good the coaster is is secondary, but Raptor Attack's new elements this year (plus it's a decent coaster anyway) make it the best in the UK and a must try experience this year for anyone not been on it!

Loved Black Hole as well, they would do well if they could get a new coaster in there.
 
I'll admit that my love for the Black Hole is partly sentimental - I went on it when I was young and it was one of the first big coasters I ever rode, so for that it will always hold a special place for me. Also, the very first 'big' coaster I ever went on was the New Beast, and I was sad when it was removed, so I guess I always viewed the Black Hole as being the Beast living on (I know they weren't identical but they were very similar Jet Star coasters - if I recall the Beast had 3 drops whereas the Black Hole only had 2 - but other than that quite similar rides).

I still won't admit that my love of it was purely sentimental, though! I just loved the build up on the circular lift hill (the 'music' was quite atmospheric I thought), the first drop was good and I loved the star tunnel effect. I didn't find it that slow, either - its top speed wasn't that far off Nemesis (44 mph compared with 50 mph) and I think the sense of speed was heightened by its being enclosed.

All in all, I think the coaster itself was as exhilarating a ride as either Eurosat or Vogel Rok, but just lacked the superlative theming of those two rides.

And I agree, a ride like the Mummy in the UK would be amazing, but I can't see any UK park ever spending that much money on a ride :-(
 
I'm going to continue with the slightly off topic Black Hole conversation!

I also used to love it. I hadn't ridden it since I was a teenager and that was also quite a few years before I became an enthusiast. I recently rode a very similar coaster (a Jet Star as opposed to a Jet Star II), and was actually quite looking forward to it because of how much I used to love The Black Hole and New Beast.

'twas, however, a pile of crap.
 
It may have even been The New Beast that kicked off my love of roller coasters. I was so scared when I first went on it; it had no lap bars whatsoever and the first drop looked huge (to me back then). I'll never forget the first time the train wound its way around the circular lift, seeing that drop get closer and closer, and the feeling I got in my stomach when it went down the drop was similar to what I get on Oblivion now!

Interestingly, the New Beast was sold to a Mexican park and run as Space Mountain for a while, in a tent that looks rather like the Black Hole tent: http://www.rcdb.com/685.htm?p=8167

Did anyone ever ride the Flying Fish when it was Space Station Zero? Was it well themed?
 
I find it REALLY hard to believe Black Hole went 44mph, it was 44ft high! Nemesis Inferno goes 47mph and that's more than twice the height...

Beast was 44mph, are you getting confused?
 
Dark coasters are obviously the product of over officious HSE requirements, which is a shame, and something I cannot see reversing anytime soon.

With regards to the Black Hole tent, I'd put a Tower Drop with some oomph, like the one at pleasure island, flanked by a couple of berry bouncer style rides for the littles. Call it 'Space Shot' or something, and I'm sure a USP could be found in there somewhere....
 
Ben said:
I find it REALLY hard to believe Black Hole went 44mph, it was 44ft high! Nemesis Inferno goes 47mph and that's more than twice the height...

Beast was 44mph, are you getting confused?
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Wow you're right; Black Hole only went 32 mph! Was there really that much of a speed difference between Beast and Black Hole!?
 
slappy mcguire said:
Dark coasters are obviously the product of over officious HSE requirements, which is a shame, and something I cannot see reversing anytime soon.

With regards to the Black Hole tent, I'd put a Tower Drop with some oomph, like the one at pleasure island, flanked by a couple of berry bouncer style rides for the littles. Call it 'Space Shot' or something, and I'm sure a USP could be found in there somewhere....
Click to expand...

I hate drop towers so that'd be a massive kick in the balls for me. Having said that, I make an exception for Mystery Castle so if they could pull something like that off then it'd be amazing. Would need to add a turret to the tent, though!!

Interesting pics of the ride here: http://www.coastersandmore.de/previews/belantis/belantis.shtml

It's been done up and repainted by Gerstlauer and is currently awaiting a purchaser.
 
Well, I made it to LWV today and rode Raptor Attack. Was actually rather impressed with the ride, and think the park can be proud of it, although it's very sad to see that the 'newspaper articles' (i.e. the posters) in the outdoor portion of the queue line are already flaking off - so much so that parts of the text can now no longer be read. How long has this ride been open? Only a few months isn't it? That's incredibly poor indeed - they should be behind glass or something.
 
I just remembered that last year Hyde Park's Winter Wonderland had a travelling dark coaster, called 'The Black Hole', which was a Zierer Hell Dive (edit: according to RCDB the *only* one of its type) and apparently quite good.

Images: http://www.ridesdb.com/db/thumbpic.php?ride_id=1502

On-ride: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGE9N-xuNi8&feature=related

Apparently it originally operated at Movie Park Germany, and has been making appearances at travelling fairs since. I really regret not going on it now (curse the fact I was there with a non-coaster fan!), and hope it's back this year!

Did anyone ride it? Or has anyone ever ridden it?
 
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