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CWOA | Mandrill Mayhem (World of Jumanji) | B&M Wing Coaster | 2023

I think it looks pretty decent myself!

Yes, shuttle coasters aren't my favourite. Yes, I am more excited for Pipeline of the two B&M prototypes I'll be riding this year. Yes, I expect that I'll probably prefer Swarm.

However, it's a starter thrill ride for young children. For what it is, I think it looks really good, with some surprisingly fun turns in places!
 
In 10 years time Merlin will just be installing cardboard cutouts of coasters. People will still be defending them even then 😂

The level of complacency within this company really is astounding. Let's be realistic here, there are a lot of fabulous "family thrill" coasters around the world. This isn't going to be one of them.
 
Looks like it's open today, various people posting reviews and photos.

Press event today. Annual Passholder preview tomorrow. Officially open Monday.

Apparently no one is allowed in the station area until the ride has completed the circuit, because the fences / airgates in there aren't high enough. Can see that being (another) damper on the throughput.

Current suggestions are somewhere around the 400-500pph mark.
 
On a side note, I've heard that the solitary backwards row cannot be queued for or specifically requested; you just have to hope that you'll get batched into row 7 if you want to ride backwards.

I'll admit that I do find it slightly bizarre that they have just the one row facing backwards with no separate queue or anything.

I think it would have made a bit more sense to either have all of the seats facing in the same direction or to have half the seats facing one way and half the seats facing another. That way, you'd at least have either everyone getting the same experience or a 50% chance of getting each separate experience.

A different row, where you only have a 1 in 7 chance of experiencing it due to the batching system and no way to queue for it separately or anything, does seem odd to me...

It doesn't even look like they've tried to sell the backwards row, either, which I find very interesting... it's just there.
 
A backwards last row on a shuttle coaster isn't really a different experience though is it, you just get the 2 halves of the ride experience in the opposite order (more or less). Seems like a no-brainer to me to have the back row facing backwards to me since it gives 2 rows with a "front row" type experience. And I don't think people would pay for it when the front row is free so the whole back row thing at least makes total sense to me.
 
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A backwards last row on a shuttle coaster isn't really a different experience though is it, you just get the 2 halves of the ride experience in the opposite order (more or less). Seems like a no-brainer to me to have the back row facing backwards to me since it gives 2 rows with a "front row" type experience. And I don't think people would pay for it when the front row is free so the whole back row thing at least makes total sense to me.
That's a fair point.

I should clarify that by "sell", I meant "market separately" rather than literally sell. Think along the lines of what Thorpe did with the backwards seats on Swarm.
 
Rode it many times today. I think they have a sleeper hit on their hands, I found it more intense and a lot more interesting than The Swarm - definitely not a kids ride, especially in the backwards facing row!

Lots of announcements urging guests to hurry into their seats with ride hosts doing a speedy job.

One thing I will say is the ride is quite bumpy / rattly and the sideways stall is as awkward as it looks.

You can request row 7, they put you in a holding area.
 
I reckon this ride could be better than many expected... I've heard a fair few good things about it!
 
Rode this today with the group covering for CF. As we joked, it's the best inverting coaster at Chessie, the best B&M shuttle I've ever done, and the best green coaster in the UK.

In all seriousness - it's smooth, rides well in all seats (although I have personal preference for the left wing rear-facing seats), I personally quite like the colour, and the area is cute. The first two launches are decent too.

My criticism will seem longer, in comparison.
  • Throughput is horrific. Yes it was the media day, so bit more faffery, but the one train ops really make this suffer.
  • You can't pick your row (or at least, you couldn't today). Today they were letting people wait for a train or two to get thr row they wanted, but on a busy day it simply won't be practical to operate it like that.
  • The other rides in the area really suffered with technical issues all day and their ops were also chronically slow.
  • The launch near the spike is basically nonexistent.
  • The sideways spike is very odd. Not hugely good, to be honest.
  • The media event was all a bit strange. They staggered the entry for the various media groups, which makes sense when you see the chronic capacity, but it means that a lot of people missed the initial big reveal. Not the most sleek of events.

Overall my view is that it's a decent addition. I'm very glad to have gone today, as I think it'll be impossible to enjoy on any other day - at least not opening season. It's exciting to see B&M doing something non-full circuit, and I'm optimistic that they'll carry on doing more of this sort of experimentation. It's hard not to think that one of the full circuit baby wing coasters wouldn't have been a better fit.

I'll post some more pictures and thoughts another day. Happy to try and answer questions and things too.
 
Thanks for the detailed review @Hixee!

Out of interest, would you say that there were any standout elements or bits that pleasantly surprised you?

And did the ride exceed your expectations overall?
 
Thanks for the detailed review @Hixee!

Out of interest, would you say that there were any standout elements or bits that pleasantly surprised you?

And did the ride exceed your expectations overall?
The ride basically entirely met my expectations, which were not particularly high.

It's very mild in terms of forces. The back row gets a nice semi-inverted feeling on the spike, and has a good view coming down off the spike. Left side has better pops of floater (if you can call that), and for some reason the right side was a bit more nausea inducing.

I'm going to sleep on it a bit and think again. :D

Seems to me like a lot of people on the media-day have good things to say about it.... which will not at all reflect the normal, virtual-queue poor GP experience at all.

:(
I think this is the thing. You've REALLY got to try and dissociate an invite only, free food and drink, walk on ride and more flexible row choice reviews from the reality of how this ride will fare on a normal day. The throughput aspect of this is concerning.
 
Something about the area appeals to me and I can't quite put my finger on it. Maybe it's just nice seeing B&M track or just the general look of the place, I just don't know. I won't be rushing out to visit this year but definitely next year when I visit Thorpe Park for their new coaster.
 
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Is this true?

Throughput will be even worst than expected.
 
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Is this true?

Throughput will be even worst than expected.
Yes, many vlogs and such confirmed that this is true. If you’re batched into the right hand side of the station, you’re not even allowed to enter the stairs crossing the station until the train has been unloaded.

It’s a similar scenario to the Monorail at Alton Towers, from what I gather, although it’s admittedly improved compared to that one because they do batch you beforehand rather than when they release you onto the platform.
 
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That’s pretty rediculous.

Why not just put in some air gates like on RC Racer at DLP? Would solve any safety concerns?

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