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  1. Rupert

    Surprisingly wet water rides

    Obviously completely agree with River Quest - despite knowing it’s reputation I was still pretty shocked by the giant waves that overwhelmed the raft. I was also really surprised by the rapids at Holiday Park - expecting something benign but came off pretty soaked. At the other end of the...
  2. Rupert

    Gröna Lund | Monster | B&M Invert | 2021

    This coaster is absurdly cool. I love the underground section, and I’m sure all of it will feel much faster than it really is given the building and ground near-misses and tight turns.
  3. Rupert

    Cruise Lines to add Bolt & Space Cruiser roller coasters (update page 3)

    I agree, and I think there’s also the wild dimension that the ship the coaster is fixed to will be moving too, either enhancing the sense of speed, or potentially throw in some weird forces if the ship sways (though it’s probably too big for this?).
  4. Rupert

    What’s next for Phantasialand?

    As far as I can work out, they’ve agreed the full triangle west of the park (between the motorway junction, Wakoboto and Matamba), as well as a piece of land east of the China Town car parks? I’ve attached a low-resolution map from the link @siglaze put above, with the green highlighted areas...
  5. Rupert

    Coasters past their Primes

    I think many of the examples here could be sorted with a concerted focus from the parks on aesthetics, restoring removed theming, sound effects etc - in that I kind of agree with VonRolland’s take that the coasters themselves aren’t past their prime as they could be easily restored to those...
  6. Rupert

    Universal IoA | Jurassic World VelociCoaster | Intamin Blitz | 2021

    I don’t know - whenever I looked at videos of Maverick, both on- and off-ride, I couldn’t work out why it was so hyped and rated. Sure it has an obvious airtime hill and the launches etc, but the profiling didn’t look remarkable. It was only riding it that I thought - this is an absolutely...
  7. Rupert

    What is your favourite use of special effects on an attraction?

    I hadn’t seen a lot of these before - some of them amazing in their simplicity but so effective (like the brick wall in Kings Cross). I bloody love the inside part of De Vliegende Hollander. The section with storm/rain, where you seem to get run over by a galleon, it’s great. Looked at a POV...
  8. Rupert

    Plopsaland de Panne | The Ride to Happiness | Mack Xtreme Spinning Coaster | 2021

    It might be the angle, but that looks like a surprisingly snappy zero-G roll. So intrigued as to how this will ride! This and of course Walibi’s spectacular-looking hyper really make Belgium a top-tier country to visit next year.
  9. Rupert

    Walibi Belgium | Kondaa | Intamin Mega Coaster | 2021

    I was being a bit facetious earlier, of course you can’t throw in a tiny bunny hop profiled too small for relevant speeds like on some B&M gigas, and the Ultimate is notorious for crawling through it’s pre-second lift bunny hops. But the overall point is that some quick movements and direction...
  10. Rupert

    Walibi Belgium | Kondaa | Intamin Mega Coaster | 2021

    Echo everything that’s been said, it looks phenomenal. That huge outerbank! Love it. Also just before the brake run, great to see the series of mini bunny hops first pioneered by The Ultimate almost three decades ago. No airtime-focused coaster has the excuse not to put similar in before the...
  11. Rupert

    New Mack Prototype

    Agreed, I don’t think it adds much and it comes at a capacity cost. The earlier footage barely had much spinning as well, it really only picked up towards the end of the video. Why would a park go for these trains over an Xtreme Spinner? Is it aimed at parks already with a Mack launch/mega...
  12. Rupert

    Fantastic old coaster footage/pics

    Stumbled across this amazing picture on Twitter this week - ice floes on Southport beach in 1955 with the great Cyclone in the background. The Twitter account I saw it on is @oldpicposter.
  13. Rupert

    Energylandia | Choco Chip Creek | Vekoma Minetrain | 2024

    I wonder when Vekoma will switch to the new track for the mine train coaster, with the track ties on the inside. Also do we know if this is a standard layout? I found Mammut infinitely more bland than the hilarious chaos of Colorado Adventure, it felt much more out-of-control, no doubt improved...
  14. Rupert

    Busch Gardens Tampa | Iron Gwazi | RMC Gwazi | 2022

    Completely agree with that Howie. I rode Wicked Cyclone at SFNE as my first RMC and was super excited. I came off thinking, “That was a very very good coaster” but not mind blowing. A few days later I rode Steel Vengeance and good lord I hadn’t really experienced anything like it. Incredible. I...
  15. Rupert

    Suzhou Paradise Forest World | Suzhou China | Theme Park

    Wow. That low-to-the-ground roll immediately after this element, before the Immelmann, is going to be absolutely outrageous. It’s like they got wind of Universal’s new Intamin and thought, ‘not outrageous enough’. Also love the intertwined cobra roll and loop, some really funky shaping and I bet...
  16. Rupert

    Are B&M stagnating?

    Thanks all for the responses, a lot of good points. I don’t really agree that they offer variations in track type - changing spine thickness feels pretty standard practice depending on exerted forces/train weight, in the same way that Intamin and Gerst vary between dual-, tri-, and quad-track on...
  17. Rupert

    Are B&M stagnating?

    I was going to start a new thread but this is as good a place as any for the discussion (though please move as appropriate). [Yeah, might as well - Pokemaniac.] Based on Pokemaniac’s post above [moderator's note: in the Surf Coaster thread], and also the “Next European Park to get a B&M” topic...
  18. Rupert

    GCI Titan Track Conversion

    So I guess a long-term aim to reduce maintenance? There are certainly woodies with parts of the track that get much more wear and tear than others and require frequent retracking - I can definitely imagine a park opting to replace the valley of a particularly rough patch with this new steel...
  19. Rupert

    Phantasialand | F. L. Y. | Vekoma Launched Flying Coaster | 2020

    I know what you mean about getting a place for the staff preview, but given they’re only advertising for staff now then I’m not sure I can see it opening that soon, surely it’ll require quite a few weeks to train staff, at least for the coaster operations? Or maybe I’m being naïve and it’s...
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