Do you prefer narrow or wide B&M Dive Coasters?

[Matt N]

Hi guys. In recent years, it does seem as though the Dive Coaster has maintained surprising longevity; despite having existed since 1998, it’s arguably one of B&M’s more popular models at present. With Dr Diabolical’s Cliffhanger and Emperor having opened in 2022 and Iron Menace opening at Dorney Park in 2024, the model is certainly still being sold at a fair rate by B&M.

But over the years, the model seems to have diverged into two sub-types, if you like.

Some of the earliest Dive Coasters were wide Dive Coasters. These have 8 or 10-across trains and are often built on a huge scale, with huge drops of 200ft+; even Oblivion and Diving Machine G5, the smallest wide Dive Coasters, have drops that are the best part of 200ft tall. The wide iteration of the model is more common in North America and Asia, having never really taken off in Europe beyond the Alton Towers original. While wide Dive Coasters are often older than narrow ones, that isn’t necessarily a hard, fast rule; the most recent wide Dive Coaster, Yukon Striker, only opened in 2019.

But from the early 2010s onwards, the narrow Dive Coaster started to appear. These have 6-across trains (or more recently, 7-across trains in some cases), and are built on a smaller, more compact scale, often not exceeding 100ft by a huge amount; the smallest narrow Dive Coaster, Baron 1898, has a drop height of only 123ft. Even the largest narrow Dive Coaster has not yet matched the drop height of the smallest wide Dive Coaster, so I think there is a distinct difference in scale. The narrow iteration of the model is more common in Europe, although it is now starting to take off in North America as well.

With the Dive Coaster having diverged into these two distinct sub-types that have numerous differences, I’d be really interested to know; do you prefer narrow or wide B&M Dive Coasters? Are you a fan of the scale of the wide B&M Dive Coasters, or do you prefer the compactness of the narrow B&M Dive Coasters?

I haven’t yet done a narrow Dive Coaster, so I can’t comment. However, I would say that SheiKra and Oblivion both have an awesome sense of power about them that I can’t imagine the smaller Dive Coasters quite matching, without having ridden one. I’ll reserve judgement until I’ve ridden a narrow Dive Coaster, but that’s just my current view.

But I’d be interested to know; do you prefer the narrow B&M Dive Coaster or the wide B&M Dive Coaster?

 

[Howie]

Hi Matt!
Over the years I've ridden 7 different Dive Coasters, 3 narrow gauge ones (Baron, Krake and Valkyria) and 4 wideboys (Oblivion, Sheikra, Griffon and Valravn) and overall I have to say that I prefer the wide ones. Simply put, they're bigger. And when it comes to B&M Dive Coasters, bigger is better. Heck, that's the main reason people ride them - because they're big, impressive, intimidating structures. If you take away the sheer scale of the thing then they just become short, underwhelming, normal-ish coasters with a vertical drop and a short, boring layout. Even with excellent theming (Baron), the actual ride experience can be a little bit 'meh'.
Rode Sheikra again a couple of weeks ago and it was awesome, I'd almost forgotten how good the big'uns are.
Wide boys for me, every time.

 

[Graeme]

I haven't been on a narrow one, but that's what I'd buy if I had a park and I wanted a Dive Machine. The narrow ones are fuller coasters, smaller and more efficient, which is what appeals to me more. Emperor and Valkyria get three inversions from approximately a 155ft height. Iron Menace will have four. They're just much, much more my idea of what a coaster should be.

 

[Esther7]

I think I've ridden 7 dive coasters in total, and I definitely prefer the wide ones.
They aren't my favorite roller coasters but they're quite different from the rest of the models and give me good sensations.

 

[Sandman]

Wide. And let's bring back the term Dive Machines.

Perfect name for it - don't think of it as a coaster as such, but a machine. A power house. And it realistically is all centred on the drop, the rest is simply 'there'.

That's why I think wide is better - it knows what it is and is playing into it. The smaller versions don't have that sense of power, they're basically taking the best part of the Dive Machine and executing it less effectively whilst adding some generic coaster layout as filler. I'd rather lose the filler and focus on the USP.

 

[Benenen]

I’ve been on 7 and my top two are Griffon and Sheikra so my vote goes for the wideys. Along with Intamin accelerators these are the only things that still make me nervous and give me that tentative feeling going up the lift hill. While there’s something a little bland about the layouts they’re such solid coasters and the initial dive feels beautiful.

That said the thin ones that use the layout as a vehicle for theming are equally stunning. Something like Krake and Baron couldn’t be done with the bigger track and larger trains. Stuff like squeezing through the Krakens mouth and how cosy and intimate the on ride Baron pre show feels. These rides create unique moments that can’t be replicated by other ride types.

 

[Indy]

Narrow.

Sure, the wide trains tend to be much taller, but that only provides for a slightly more exciting drop. The rest of the wide train layouts tend to be pretty mundane. The narrow trains allow for more dynamic layouts, and therefore a more interesting and exciting ride.

 

[The_bullgod]

I've done 6 different Dive Coasters in total. 4 narrow models and 2 wide models.
I prefer the wide models over the narrow ones
Sheikra and the original Oblivion have a much better drop as those narrow models, except Valkyria
And Sheikra even has a much better layout as all the narrow ones (Baron, Krake, Valkyria and Oblivion The Black Hole)

 

[Flash Shift]

Wide. And let's bring back the term Dive Machines.

Perfect name for it - don't think of it as a coaster as such, but a machine. A power house. And it realistically is all centred on the drop, the rest is simply 'there'.

That's why I think wide is better - it knows what it is and is playing into it. The smaller versions don't have that sense of power, they're basically taking the best part of the Dive Machine and executing it less effectively whilst adding some generic coaster layout as filler. I'd rather lose the filler and focus on the USP.

This is pretty much my opinions on Oblivion vs Valkyria. Yeah it's nice that Valkyria has inversions, but the drop is worse and the inversions also take focus away from that. Oblivion has that fear factor missing in the latter coaster. For Liseberg, if you want inversions, Helix is right there and features some of basically the same inversions done better.