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Last Cred Review

Flight of Cheer at Kings Island. Winterfest is genuinely the only time I've ridden that Spaghetti Bowl over the last five years straight. 😅
 
Sounds a bit too close to 'gasm to me, which sends an entirely different message and at 7 quid a 'pop' is frankly a bargain.
 
Enso - While it kinda ruined a good portion of our trip due to having to wait 55 minutes for a truly catastrophic 'hygiene incident' after scanning my ticket (given the opening hours, that + a 30 minute wait for an avalanche breakdown only for them to close it anyway meant we missed a load of rides), then I got on only for the seat to be locked the whole way round! Thankfully they kust kept me on so I got a free ride in!

The ride itself with the seat unlocked (just me on the right side) was about as insane as a ride could get. The spinning had absolutely no moderation to it so every turn had me flung in a different direction. I spent over half of the ride holding on for dear life and laughing maniacally at the madness of it all. Even the first launch had a lot of punch to it when taking it sideways!

I wouldn't say its worth £15 on top of admission, as frankly no rollercoaster is worth such a crazy upcharge, especially with how long we waited for it. But it was still absolutely amazing & I would recommend it for at least a one-time experience to anyone with half an interest in rollercoasters. Nothing in the UK can match the unhinged madness of it!
 
I....rode Bolt on the Carnival Mardi Gras.
It was...fun? But doesn't feel like a coaster, even with the throttle at max the entire time, it still slows down automatically while going up the hills....and the 15 second power boost didn't seem to have any effect. $15 gets you 2 laps though.

For what it's worth, the free Ropes Course with 'walk the plank' and ZipRail feature was far more interesting!
 
My last new cred(s) were from my recent trip to Orlando. Here are some of the highlights.

Mako - Mako was a fantastic ride, great floater airtime, super smooth, and some decent moments of force. I really have no complaints for this ride.

Manta - Manta is a fantastic flyer. Lots of fun moments whether that moment be forceful or graceful. Both of the ride's halves are very different but fun

Velocicoaster - This was easily the most disappointing ride of the trip. The only element that really stood out to me was the final inversion. The forces were minimal in both airtime and positives aside from the top hat and aforementioned final inversion. The theming was good but that doesn't make up for what the ride was lacking.

Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit - This was easily the biggest surprise of the trip. It's almost the complete opposite of Velocicoaster with it's strong forces in both airtime and positives. The layout has some great moments and the vertical lift is a fun experience.

Incredible Hulk - This ride is great! it's incredibly intense, has great inversions, a fun launch, and some great theming. There's really nothing to dislike about this ride.
 
Velocicoaster - This was easily the most disappointing ride of the trip. The only element that really stood out to me was the final inversion. The forces were minimal in both airtime and positives aside from the top hat and aforementioned final inversion. The theming was good but that doesn't make up for what the ride was lacking.

Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit - This was easily the biggest surprise of the trip. It's almost the complete opposite of Velocicoaster with it's strong forces in both airtime and positives. The layout has some great moments and the vertical lift is a fun experience.
What are you taking??? VC is miles better than HRRR. Its got great airtime, theming and the roll is great
 
What are you taking??? VC is miles better than HRRR. Its got great airtime, theming and the roll is great
Eh, it just didn't do it for me. The airtime was pretty weak in both duration and strength aside from the top hat and final roll, which to be fair were good elements, and the ride really lacked in positive Gs all around. Furthermore the ride never really made me feel anything if that makes sense. A ride can be weak in forces and have no airtime as long as I'm having fun. That's not to say I wasn't having fun on VC but most of the ride just had me going meh. I can totally see why someone might like Velocicoaster, it just isn't for me.
 
The Ride to Happiness

We approached RTH compromised; it was hours of ‘anti-fun’ on the road speculating whether it was going to open. The agony meant that it was initially more important ‘to just get the damn thing done’ than whether the ride was actually good or not.

Other factors didn’t help. It opened late due to high winds and then re-closed for that reason at least once. One train ops meant that it was consistent 40 minute queue; a maddening wait for such a quiet day. For reasons unknown, all the off-ride queue music / dialogue was completely off, including in the station (I assume that giant mech lady is supposed to be saying something audible?). Plus, Mrs. Nitefly - who had RTH as her most anticipated ride globally (!) - was feeling quite poorly. Bah, what a terrible combo of things! Despite these elements, we had four rides in total.

After one ride, there was no doubt: RTH was clearly elite (which in Nitefly-speak means A+ rank, in the top 19). It then kept growing on us…

I had heard two key things about RTH. First, that the spinning isn’t that intense. I agree. I’m very sensitive to feeling ill from an aggressive spin and I’m pleased to say that the motion involved was more a sense of being slowly turned in different orientations that anything more stomach churning. However, it did make the inversions unique, disorientating and altogether ‘extreme’, particularly when you inverted during a ‘faster spin’. I think the sensations you can get are not wildly dissimilar to the inversions you can get on a flat ride like, say, Samurai at Thorpe Park.

The second thing I’d heard is that it has shocking airtime. I agree. Wow, no kidding, this thing is wild. The ‘top-hat’ immediately after the first launch has genuinely aggressive ejector in the front car and you we be similarly launched in the back car off of the ‘first drop’ (after said ‘top hat’). Several other moments really cranked that dial too - including the finale hills.

What I hadn’t heard much about were the occasionally strong positive forces, which caught me off guard. Combined with the negative Gs and spinning, this ride is unsurprisingly fatiguing for those that lack a strong stomach. Ride smoothness is decent, but it’s not ‘glass’ and this combined with the positive forces made it occasionally testing. We endured, but the poorly Mrs. Nitefly had a stabbing headache by her second ride. We ended up taking shelter in a restaurant for about an hour to guard against creeping nausea (in a manner not dissimilar to our time at Holiday World). Of course, the stressful morning probably didn’t help us feel rosy. Pack ibuprofen and paracetamol and stay hydrated to be on the safe side.

As others have mentioned, your rides will vary in quality. Our lesser two rides, which happened to be our first, put the ride in the realms of VelociCoaster. Great stuff, but not god-like. It was the latter two rides that put it closer to Mt. Olympus, as it then became clear that the ‘pure roller coaster’ aspects of RTH are ****ing outstanding, far exceeding my expectations. This really is one of the best layouts of any coaster I’ve been on; a sprawling mess with a set elements that’s surely sent all other manufacturers back to the drawing board. The aforementioned ‘first drop’ is exhilarating (particularly in the back car) and the airtime hill during the second launch (again particularly in the back car) probably beats the likes of Pantheon for absurd unforeseeable airtime, if you’re going backwards. Even without added spinning ‘oomph’, the inversions when taken at an angle are totally surreal. Doing a vertical loop facing sideways will have you grinning from ear to ear. Even the usual worst-sex-ever Mack launches have been replaced by two that have decent kick.

A key question though… does a roller coaster that mixes it up with ‘flat ride’-like sensations (like those found on Samurai) make a good coaster? Hmm. It’s definitely awesome in its own way and super fresh, but I don’t necessary ‘want’ those sort of motions on a coaster all the time, as neat as they are. Similarly, as much as the possibility of getting an astonishing ride adds to RTH’s appeal, the possibility of getting a lesser ride takes away from it slightly too.

All of this has made RTH really difficult to fit into my rankings, but I’ve settled on it belonging to my ‘S-Class’ of rides, sitting just outside of my top 10.

All coasters in a ‘higher category’ are considered by me to be superior to all coasters in a relatively ‘lower category’, but the order of the ranking within each category is more marginal and loose.

S+ Rank

1 - Steel Vengeance

2 - Iron Gwazi

3 - Lightning Rod

4 - Maverick

5 - Zadra

6 - Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure

S Rank

7 - Mystic Timbers

8 - The Phantom’s Revenge

9 - Millenium Force

10 - Intimidator 305

11 - The Beast

12 - **The Ride to Happiness**

A+ Rank

Everything A+ rank and higher is what I consider ‘Elite’.

13 - VelociCoaster

14 - Hyperion

15 - Lech Coaster

16 - Nemesis

17 - Pantheon

18 - Expedition GeForce

19 - Twisted Timbers

A Rank

20 - Fury 325

21 - The Voyage

22 - Space Mountain (Orlando)

23 - Shambhala

24 - Storm Runner

25 - The Legend

26 - Orion

27 - El Toro

28 - Gatekeeper

29 - Montu

30 - Taron

Other ‘A Rank rides’: Storm Chaser (Kentucky Kingdom), Mako, Nitro, Kingda Ka, Gemini, Revenge of the Mummy and Wodan.

Notable rides that don’t make ‘A Rank’: Skyrush and F.L.Y.

In conclusion, RTH is a killer ride that’s easily one of the very best coasters I’ve been on. Until this point I’ve considered Mack to be one of the lesser manufacturers, but I’m now very keen to see what they can pull off at Europa and Thorpe next year.

Bravo, Ride to Happiness, bravo *claps*
 
Last edited:
The Ride to Happiness

We approached RTH compromised; it was hours of ‘anti-fun’ on the road speculating whether it was going to open. The agony meant that it was initially more important ‘to just get the damn thing done’ than whether the ride was actually good or not.

Other factors didn’t help. It opened late due to high winds and then re-closed for that reason at least once. One train ops meant that it was consistent 40 minute queue; a maddening wait for such a quiet day. For reasons unknown, all the off-ride queue music / dialogue was completely off, including in the station (I assume that giant mech lady is supposed to be saying something audible?). Plus, Mrs. Nitefly - who had RTH as her most anticipated ride globally (!) - was feeling quite poorly. Bah, what a terrible combo of things! Despite these elements, we had four rides in total.

After one ride, there was no doubt: RTH was clearly elite (which in Nitefly-speak means A+ rank, in the top 19). It then kept growing on us…

I had heard two key things about RTH. First, that the spinning isn’t that intense. I agree. I’m very sensitive to feeling ill from an aggressive spin and I’m pleased to say that the motion involved was more a sense of being slowly turned in different orientations that anything more stomach churning. However, it did make the inversions unique, disorientating and altogether ‘extreme’, particularly when you inverted during a ‘faster spin’. I think the sensations you can get are not wildly dissimilar to the inversions you can get on a flat ride like, say, Samurai at Thorpe Park.

The second thing I’d heard is that it has shocking airtime. I agree. Wow, no kidding, this thing is wild. The ‘top-hat’ immediately after the first launch has genuinely aggressive ejector in the front car and you we be similarly launched in the back car off of the ‘first drop’ (after said ‘top hat’). Several other moments really cranked that dial too - including the finale hills.

What I hadn’t heard much about were the occasionally strong positive forces, which caught me off guard. Combined with the negative Gs and spinning, this ride is unsurprisingly fatiguing for those that lack a strong stomach. Ride smoothness is decent, but it’s not ‘glass’ and this combined with the positive forces made it occasionally testing. We endured, but the poorly Mrs. Nitefly had a stabbing headache by her second ride. We ended up taking shelter in a restaurant for about an hour to guard against creeping nausea (in a manner not dissimilar to our time at Holiday World). Of course, the stressful morning probably didn’t help us feel rosy. Pack ibuprofen and paracetamol and stay hydrated to be on the safe side.

As others have mentioned, your rides will vary in quality. Our lesser two rides, which happened to be our first, put the ride in the realms of VelociCoaster. Great stuff, but not god-like. It was the latter two rides that put it closer to Mt. Olympus, as it then became clear that the ‘pure roller coaster’ aspects of RTH are ****ing outstanding, far exceeding my expectations. This really is one of the best layouts of any coaster I’ve been on; a sprawling mess with a set elements that’s surely sent all other manufacturers back to the drawing board. The aforementioned ‘first drop’ is exhilarating (particularly in the back car) and the airtime hill during the second launch (again particularly in the back car) probably beats the likes of Pantheon for absurd unforeseeable airtime, if you’re going backwards. Even without added spinning ‘oomph’, the inversions when taken at an angle are totally surreal. Doing a vertical loop facing sideways will have you grinning from ear to ear. Even the usual worst-sex-ever Mack launches have been replaced by two that have decent kick.

A key question though… does a roller coaster that mixes it up with ‘flat ride’-like sensations (like those found on Samurai) make a good coaster? Hmm. It’s definitely awesome in its own way and super fresh, but I don’t necessary ‘want’ those sort of motions on a coaster all the time, as neat as they are. Similarly, as much as the possibility of getting an astonishing ride adds to RTH’s appeal, the possibility of getting a lesser ride takes away from it slightly too.

All of this has made RTH really difficult to fit into my rankings, but I’ve settled on it belonging to my ‘S-Class’ of rides, sitting just outside of my top 10.

All coasters in a ‘higher category’ are considered by me to be superior to all coasters in a relatively ‘lower category’, but the order of the ranking within each category is more marginal and loose.

S+ Rank

1 - Steel Vengeance

2 - Iron Gwazi

3 - Lightning Rod

4 - Maverick

5 - Zadra

6 - Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure

S Rank

7 - Mystic Timbers

8 - The Phantom’s Revenge

9 - Millenium Force

10 - Intimidator 305

11 - The Beast

12 - **The Ride to Happiness**

A+ Rank


Everything A+ rank and higher is what I consider ‘Elite’.

13 - VelociCoaster

14 - Hyperion

15 - Lech Coaster

16 - Nemesis

17 - Pantheon

18 - Expedition GeForce

19 - Twisted Timbers

A Rank

20 - Fury 325

21 - The Voyage

22 - Space Mountain (Orlando)

23 - Shambhala

24 - Storm Runner

25 - The Legend

26 - Orion

27 - El Toro

28 - Gatekeeper

29 - Montu

30 - Taron

Other ‘A Rank rides’: Storm Chaser (Kentucky Kingdom), Mako, Nitro, Kingda Ka, Gemini, Revenge of the Mummy and Wodan.

Notable rides that don’t make ‘A Rank’: Skyrush and F.L.Y.

In conclusion, RTH is a killer ride that’s easily one of the very best coasters I’ve been on. Until this point I’ve considered Mack to be one of the lesser manufacturers, but I’m now very keen to see what they can pull off at Europa and Thorpe next year.

Bravo, Ride to Happiness, bravo *claps*

Given the adverse conditions going in, that's a pretty impressive outcome for RTH. The absence of the station soundtrack and sexy robot lady's soothing, honeyed tones is a real shame, I'm confident that that has cost it a few notches in the final ranking. She's wonderful ❤️.
Was the onboard audio working though? Please tell me the onboard audio was working??
 
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