Last Cred Review

[Sticky_T_Wicky]

Another day, another Six Flags park (Over Georgia this time) and another 13 creds to collect.
Actually make that 12, Dare Devil Dive was down all day.
Actually make that 11, Batman: The Ride was down all day too. Boooo! I like the Batman clones and I like collecting B&M's, getting spited by one is always a downer.
But still, this park has 3 more of 'em, not to mention a cheeky lil RMC, should still be a good day.
And it was, we enjoyed our time here at SFOG. There are no stand-out, world beating, mega-creds here, but it has a solid, well rounded line up in reasonably clean, green and pleasant surroundings. Not the best Six Flags park I've been to, but certainly in the upper half and a world away from that dump in Maryland we visited a few days ago.

Twisted Cyclone.
Fourth RMC of the trip and my 14th overall and it's... pretty good. As always with RMC, it's amazing what they've managed to achieve here. It's a fun, action packed coaster that doesn't waste an inch of track and leaves you with a big smile on your face. We had some rerides. But let's face it, it's pretty small, isn't it? Yeah it's a great coaster for the park, turning what was a crappy old white woodie into a modern, airtime filled thrill ride, but when comparing it to other RMC's it just hasn't got the speed and the power to compete with the big boys.
8.5/10

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Goliath.
Yet another B&M hyper. What's that, five now? Well... six if you count Fury. Six! There's only two in the whole of Europe ffs but here in Murica you can rack up six in one trip. Love this country! You'd think you'd get bored of 'em by now but nope, Goliath is another good one. What's interesting to me is how different it was to Intimidator which we had ridden the day before at Carowinds. While Intimidator is glassy smooth, refined and filled with lots of lovely floater, Goliath felt more aggressive, a bit rough around the edges, more 'primal'. The result being a more intense ride with powerful positives and stronger, borderline ejector airtime (airtime that was strong enough to remove both crocs off some guy's feet a couple of rows in front of us and send them sailing over our heads and into a lake ).
Very good coaster. We had rerides. 8.5/10

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The other B&M in those pictures is the parks stand-up coaster, Georgia Scorcher. S'alright. We rode one of these at Carowinds yesterday too. This one is much better - Vortex was really quite bad - but Georgia Scorcher is... well, let's call it 'tolerable'. That's all I have to say about that.

Superman: Ultimate Flight was a surprise hit on the day though. Didn't see that coming. Have ridden the other two examples of this coaster so wasn't expecting great things. I mean, they're clones, right? Yeah but the difference is, the ones at Great Adventure and Great America are just kinda plonked on a flat, featureless field whereas here, the ride is kinda built on the side of a hill, it has terrain, it has trees and due to the hillside sloping away from you at one end of the layout it gives you a much greater sensation of height - it really feels as though you're soaring up into the sky and back down towards the ground again, much more so than its siblings. Some great near misses too. Might be my favourite coaster at the park to be honest with you. Really enjoyed it. 9/10

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Blue Hawk is alright. Looks quite impressive looming over the water like that and for the most part it rides ok too. Couple of minor jolts here and there but nothing to get in a tizz about. All in all, not bad for an old Arrow looper. 6.5/10

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There's another old white woodie too, The Great American Scream Machine. Crap name, but it's an ok coaster. Not particularly good, not particularly bad, just... there. It's quite big, so would have made for a far more spectacular RMC conversion than Cyclone, but it still rides quite smoothly so I'm guessing that Cyclone was just in more desperate need of an upgrade. Still, mustn't grumble. +1.

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Let's see, what else was there? Oh yes, there was an old Schwarzkopf which was alright, mine train, couple of family creds, nothing much of note really.

Howeverrrr... this park does have it's own standout, must-do attraction. It's not a cred, but it does deserve a mention: Monster Mansion, the park's old, indoor boaty dark ride. It's brilliant! We all loved it, and went straight round for another go. Apparently it's a relic from the days before this was a Six Flags park and any attempts to remove or change it have been met with fierce resistance from fans and locals alike, and rightly so. Funny, charming, scary in places and an absolute joy. All of us agreed- it's on a par with a Disney ride. If you come here, don't miss it.

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Tom and Harry liked it so much, they even bought matching T-shirts.
Dicks!

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So that about wraps things up at Six Flags Over Georgia. Shame about the spites, but it was still an enjoyable day.

But the day wasn't over yet.
20 minutes down the road from Six Flags Over Georgia is a little place called Fun Spot Atlanta... you may have heard of it.

To be continued...

Whisky drunk thinking about coasters and your comparison of ArieForce One to Wildcat's Revenge and Twisted Timbers... Not me!

They're all great but am curious what tops your list.

 

[Howie]

Arieforce One.
So good it deserves it's own post.
It is, for want of a better description, a perfect rollercoaster. A flawless sequence of maneuvers, every single element hits, and hits hard. The pacing of this ride is simply breathtaking. And when I say pacing, I don't just mean that it runs faster than anything else - I can think of a few rides where the sheer speed and aggression is more intense than Arie (Iron Gwazi and Zadra, for example) - what I'm talking about here is the exquisite timing and duration of each moment, the variety of forces and how each element is designed to perfectly compliment the one before it and the one that comes next, like a finely crafted piece of music or a Michelin starred dining experience. There is no dead space whatsoever, no wasted track, no awkward transitions, the whole ride just flows so beautifully from one killer element to the next.
We'll talk about theming, aesthetics, presentation etc.. in a moment but from a purely mechanical perspective, as in the delivery of exhilarating forces and sensations upon the human body, ArieForce One is... perfect.





Howeverrrrr.... there's a problem. And it's a very weird problem to have. As Noel Gallagher once said: "True perfection has to be imperfect.
I know that that sounds foolish but it's true".
And it's true here. In achieving perfection, ArieForce One brings with it a certain degree of... what's the word? Not predictability but something similar. Perhaps familiarity is a better word. There are no surprises here. It rides exactly as you would expect it to. You've seen the elements, you've read the reviews and you know the layout. Even if you've been avoiding POV's and stuff, you can still see the entire coaster from pretty much anywhere in the park, every element neatly layed out in a very linear, logical, natural fashion, like a greatest hits of RMC's signature moves - Drop, truss dive, stall, outerbank, double up, arcade roll and so on, and so forth. It's all a wee bit 'methodical'.
Compare that to, say, the jumbled mass of track and timber on Wildcat's Revenge, twisting it's way through, under and over it's own structure. Or the balls-to-the-wall insanity of Steel Vengeance' final lap.
My point is, where's the chaos? Where's the random unpredictability? Where's the wild, unhinged recklessness that we've come to know and love from RMC?
Alan Schilke himself said something similar in an interview once: when you're designing a ride from scratch, you tend to stick to the rules, you follow a formula, you just string a series of elements together in an order that you know works. However, when retro-fitting an old ride, one that has pre-existing structure, footprint, height and space limitations etc... it kinda forces you to be more creative, to maybe take a few more risks, to try something new. That's what ArieForce One lacks in my opinion - something new, some wacky new maneuver that we've never seen before, that out-of-control sensation that delivers unexpected shots of airtime in places that shouldn't have airtime, random direction changes that catch you completely off guard - all that good stuff. ArieForce One has none of that. It might be 'perfect', but it's altogether too 'polished' to be my favourite, or even second favourite RMC. SteVe and Wildcat's Revenge just edge it out in my opinion. It is, however, battling it out with Iron Gwazi for the number 3 spot.



It's a 10/10 ride for sure, 3rd best of whole trip and will very probably nab an overall Top 10 placement come the end of the season, but for me it narrowly misses out on 'God-tier' status due to its somewhat textbook layout design.

Now then, let's talk about location and presentation: ArieForce One is in... excuse me... Fun Spot Atlanta?
Just saying that sentence out loud feels wrong. What a bonkers place to have a state of the art, multi million pound RMC. It's a pokey little place that barely qualifies as a carnival. Couple of go-kart tracks, one or two flat rides, a hook-a-duck stand and that's about your lot. Oh, and there's a monster truck with arms.



The other two creds here are  Hurricane, which might just be the worst coaster in the history of the world;



And Sea Serpent, a kiddy cred of shame that seems to be propped up on pallets;





Like... what is ArieForce One even doing here? How is it possible? This is, like, the equivalent of Brean Leisure Park buying a B&M giga. Or Knightley's buying an Xtreme spinner. It just doesn't stack up somehow.
Now then, this bizarre location affects Arie's ride experience in two very noticeable ways, one bad, one good. The bad one is that there are no theatrics to this coaster, there's no atmosphere, little to no theming, no station music, no build up whatsoever. You literally just park your car, buy a wristband, walk up to Arie and get on it. An immersive, captivating thematic experience this is not.
The flip side to this, of course, is that you can marathon the sh*t out of this thing for hours on end. It was pretty much a walk-on for the entire time we were there and from what I hear, it's like this most days. That meant lap, after lap, after lap, basically just swapping and comparing seats. At the end of every evening you can almost guarantee that the only people left in the park will be an assortment of goons from all over the world just lapping ArieForce over and over again, having a laugh, arguing over which RMC is bestest, making new friends. On this occasion there was a ride op from Iowa who we'd seen earlier that day on Twisted Cyclone. There was a French enthusiast with a Youtube channel. There were also 2 ride ops from Kings Island and a couple of representatives of Coaster Queens and everyone was throwing around some great banter. It's an ERT session in all but name.
I'm not sure how many rides I had but it was well into double figures, other members of the group had a lot more. There was one guy there who notched up an incredible 58 laps in one afternoon!

Seriously, marathoning this fabulous ride for 2 hours straight as a beautiful sky went from sunset to twilight to dusk to full blown night rides was one of the finest and most memorable experiences of my goonhood. Nights like this are what this hobby was invented for.
Exquisite.



Love these guys!



Sorry for waffling on for so long, but thanks for reading.

 

[TPoseOnTantrum]

Uhhh in the last five days I’ve picked up a solid handful of nobody coasters in New York State, let’s just boil it down to… Zyklons

Galaxi @ Sylvan Beach - #125
This thing runs well enough but is very very loud, park was a ghost town but we brought enough people to fill the train for dispatch. I was also suffering an upset stomach and hangover after some bad food and too much wine the previous night, and of course they stuck me on the Roll O Plane and Rock O Plane right after the coaster. Lord knows how I got through that one…


Super Cyclone (Red) @ Wade Shows, NY State Fair (#128)
This thing was tracking well and cranking out trains, ate crowds as a result. Very good by American fair coaster standards. Think I caught it right on time because it was apparently down for a couple days right after my visit. NY State Fair was huge btw, we committed a crime not scheduling a full day to explore.


Serpent @ Niagara Amusement Park (#130)
Ok so Serpent has been set up for two years now but only just opened finally on Tuesday with one car in commission. The park closes for the season in just four days, I rode today as of the day of writing. Had a free voucher, swung across the border after work for 90 min. Station has no working mechanics and car must be pushed from unload to load, very far apart. Brakes on the other hand work too well and stop the car a metre away from the sole somewhat functional drive tire. Ride ops get a workout moving everything. Coaster however runs butter smooth and is extremely quiet; Silver Comet (woodie) also runs really well. Park is the definition of having no resources and operating on a maintenance budget of $2, this was made possible through pure willpower alone.

 

[Ollie]

#208 - Antelope - Gulliver's World Warrington
Will only do a quick review for this coaster as the other two in the park are just smaller cloned coasters (Big Apple etc).
Opened in 1995, Antelope is a wooden coaster designed by Allott and Lomax and designed in house. It's a classic out and back layout with several drops and little pops of airtime. It has a reputation for being quite rough and horrible to ride, even compared to other wooden coasters in the UK that are a lot older. I agree that its in desperate need of a retrack as the whole ride is quite rattly. It wasn't as rough or as painful as I expected but it definitely is very jolty with the trains forwards and back motion as it navigates the hills. Although the seats are nice and padded and quite comfy the back of the seat repeatedly slaps you in the back and the position of the grab bars makes it difficult to brace against the rides motion.
That being said, despite its roughness it does have a fun layout with some nice bits of airtime despite the coaster not being that tall. The stretch of track at the back of the layout looks lovely as it passes between rows of trees. The operations are awful (as are all the other rides at the park) with just a single train that seats 16 riders with 4 of those dedicated to the Access queue, meaning you're only getting 12 riders from the main queue every few minutes. Change over in the station is painfully slow as well as they wait for all the previous riders to exit the station before allowing the next group on. No airgates means everyone's fighting for seats once they open the gate and the double up on seatbelts and lap bars means it takes a while before they finally dispatch the train.

Link to full trip report of the whole park.

 

[Matt N]

As I’m currently waiting to set off on my next theme park adventure, I think now might be a good time to post reviews from my trip to Drayton Manor on Thursday!

New coasters
Gold Rush (#124)
I had quite low expectations for Gold Rush, but I was very pleasantly surprised; I thought it was an excellent family coaster! The ride is very dynamic and has some fun twists and turns, and it is surprisingly vigorous in places, particularly during the backwards sections! It’s also very smooth and quite long, and overall, I just found it very enjoyable! In terms of the multi-cycle feature, I found it a fun novelty, but I’m unsure which cycle I preferred; the backwards section after dropping down the lift was quite good on Cycle 2, but I thought launching out of the effects shed was better when done backwards on Cycle 1.
8/10, #29/124

Existing coasters
The Wave
Perhaps controversially, I’ve long felt that Shockwave would be improved by putting sit-down trains on it. Having now ridden The Wave, I think sit-down trains have improved it somewhat, but they aren’t the game changer I’d perhaps hoped they might be. On the positive side, the trains are generally comfortable, and the sit-down trains do help you better appreciate some of the ride’s better moments; some of the inversions pack decent forces. However, I think the ride still has its notable flaws. Although you feel it less without OTSRs, the ride is still a bit rough in places, and it doesn’t have the most interesting of layouts. I also occasionally found the restraints to tighten quite noticeably during the ride at times. Nonetheless, I think it’s still an improvement, and it fits the park’s new demographic a lot better.
6/10, #58/124

Jormungandr
Jormungandr is an OK powered coaster, with some fun moments of mild speed. However, it’s definitely showing its age. The ride seems to really struggle up any kind of incline, and it is also quite rough when it speeds up. It also made some rather concerning creaking noises as it re-entered the station…
3/10, #94/124

 

[Howie]

As I’m currently waiting to set off on my next theme park adventure

Is this the much-touted PortAventura trip? Exciting times, I hope everything goes well for you. Be interesting to see how Shambhala compares to Mako and Silver Star. Fingers crossed it's running at it's best.

 

[Matt N]

Is this the much-touted PortAventura trip? Exciting times, I hope everything goes well for you. Be interesting to see how Shambhala compares to Mako and Silver Star. Fingers crossed it's running at it's best.

Yes; we’re currently in Barcelona Airport waiting for our transfer to PortAventura itself!

 

[vaugc002]

I got some of the newer creds at Energylandia last week and I'll spare you my thoughts except for the weird experience of:

Abyssus
Got a front row. It was walk-on, mid-week in early September. Scorching hot.

The first launch was more powerful than I expected and actually banged my head into the headrest. The first section was really quite fun, swoopy and some nice airtime moments. The second half was long and drawn-out, with graceful inversions but nothing too exciting. It just didn't really hit.

The weird bit came after... I felt very sick after this one. I do get affected by coasters if there are short queues and I do a lot but this was the second ride of the day!
It actually ruined me for the rest of the day, so I had to pace myself and do filler rides between the coasters lmao. Thankfully I'd been before.
So quite fun but weirdly nauseating. 6/10

 

[thepoweroften]

Returned from a holiday in Amsterdam with my best pals last week. Finally time to review my creds from the day trip to our first park outside the UK…Efteling I was in you. Only had time to ride every coaster once (there were huge parts of the park we didn’t even touch, we were on a tight schedule) but these are my reviews right now.

Vogel Rok
Our first coaster of the day since we felt like it would be a good warm up. More or less what I expected coaster wise but had a couple of surprisingly intense moments (possibly just because it was my first coaster in a few months lol) and I loved the theming, the atmosphere in the darkness was class, nice trippy visuals with the stars in the pitch dark. Felt retro in a way I like. Nothing insanely special but just what I want from a dark coaster really. 7/10.

Joris en Draak
We came here next. Really exceptional theming yet again - the dragon wasn’t working or moving but it hardly mattered because the dragon even being there was impressive enough. Love the flags dropping for victory at the end of the ‘race’ as well. We only got to ride once so only experienced the Fire track but it was great, so fast and fun. Felt like it was over a second too quickly but I could say that about most of the coasters here honestly - short but incredibly sweet. Also our train won and I was definitely more excited about it than the 13ish year old kid sat behind me, who looked at me like there was something really wrong with me. A humbling end to a fun ride. 8/10

The Flying Dutchman (forgot the Dutch name)
This one surprised me the most - I wasn’t expecting that much but the indoor section of the ride absolutely blew me away, so atmospheric and fun and well-paced (and cooled us down nicely, the weather was sweltering). Even the queue was genuinely entertaining, albeit a bit claustrophobic towards the end (which is a personal issue, not a flaw of the ride). Outdoor bit was fun enough too (I actually felt the drop more than I expected, and the splashdown is the perfect balance of being visually impressive and fun to glide through without getting you unbearably drenched) but the indoor section was definitely the real draw. Loved it, and both my friends said it was probably their favourite of the day when we got back to our hotel. 8.5/10.

Python
Obviously not on the theming level of the rest of the park but my friend (who isn’t usually into coasters but rode every single one like a trooper) pointed out that the track “looks like a snake skeleton” so we’ll give them points for that. Honestly aside from the inexplicably painstakingly slow lift hill (why? why in the world?) I actually really enjoyed this one, it was surprisingly really smooth so the retrack has obviously worked (assuming it ran like a normal Vekoma looper before, I can’t attest either way). I’m easily pleased by loops in general though. Nothing special or exceptional but still plenty of fun. 7.5/10

Baron 1898
My first ever dive coaster and it was fun! Definitely (and unsurprisingly) the most intense ride of the day - really fast and punchy and smooth and again, I know I sound like a stuck record but the theming really has to be experienced to be believed, just phenomenal stuff throughout the indoor section and the drop into the mine is breathtaking. My only complaint - as, again, with every coaster here - is that I wish the actual coaster part was maybe just 10-20 seconds longer. An amazing thing though, still buzzing about having experienced it. 9/10.

Other Efteling highlights: really efficient throughput on everything, laughed our heads off on the monorail snails, great pancakes, whimsical vibes, bought some horrible socks with the long-necked fella on, wearing them right now. I had a wonderful time. I’d love to go back if I ever went to the Netherlands again (although I want to go to Walibi Holland badly too).

Oh, and we missed Max & Moritz because it was closed the day we were there, but I don’t feel like we were missing out much there.

 

[Dan Nguyen]

358: Penguin Trek - the ride starts out pretty fun with a neat dark ride segment and a launch with a nice punch, but after that, it kinda just meanders everywhere. No forces, no nothing. Yeah I get it's a family coaster, but family coasters can be punchy and fun. I did love the queue theming but the load process can be a bit slow. I wish I was able to get a second ride in, but the ride closed for severe weather before I got on.

359: Tron - a neat little coaster. The ride does feel a little on the short side, but it makes up for it in the dark segment. I do wish the queue had more visuals than just boring hallway with blue lighting. The ride definitely didn't need to take 5 years to build. For a family coaster, it's much more intense than Penguin Trek is. I wish I got another ride in, but lines during the party were consistently long.

360: Phoenix Rising - it's a shame the best of the 3 new family coasters in Orlando happens to have 1 train and a slow crew. The ride isn't as snappy as the Vekoma inverts but it follows a more interesting layout than Penguin and it does pack a nice punch for its size. The queue setup is awful though. I'm glad I went on a cloudy day because that queue in sunny weather would be brutal.

 

[James F]

#242: Hyperia
Finally got to ride this thing. The inversions are the highlight for me, particularly the stall which I think might just be the best one I have done. The airtime is potent and sustained but delivers more towards the floater area. Out of the rides I have had I feel like it rides better in the front. The first drop is fun, but overrated. Great to finally see a more airtime focused coaster in the UK. 9/10

 

[Burniel]

New-to-me coasters from a recent Florida visit:

Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure (#123)
The intention here was very clearly to create a family coaster to top Expedition Everest. Mission accomplished. It's bang on the money for its target thrill level (the launches had slightly more punch to them than I'd expected) and the physical and audio presentation is a masterclass. I knew what to expect in terms of elements but had deliberately avoided a full POV, so experiencing how it all fits together for the first time was awesome. Like seemingly everyone else, my only criticism is the difference in experience between the bike and sidecar seats. Once each seat has been done once, it's hard to stand in the invariably hour+ queue having promised your companion the bike.

Pipeline The Surf Coaster (#124)
My second standup, having made a point of riding Shockwave at Drayton Manor just before it closed for conversion. Though I enjoyed that more than expected, Pipeline is unsurprisingly in a completely different class. Standing airtime is a completely unique sensation and being able to "boost" your own experience by jumping into the hills adds a lot to the experience. The layout is nothing special - very much a concept, showing the different types of element and force that could be offered by future installations of the model (of which I hope there'll be many). But until these become common enough for me to think about anything besides how cool the seats are, an average layout is all it needs to stand out. Oh, and there's a very noticeable rattle towards the back, but this came as no surprise... there's a 2023 B&M back home, after all.



Penguin Trek (#125)
Feels a bit unnecessary. I get that SeaWorld needed something to fill the thrill gap between Super Grover's and Ice Breaker/Pipeline, but they need indoor rides even more urgently, and while the Penguin dark ride that used to be here wasn't exactly prize-worthy, I can't help but feel this new coaster would have been better placed elsewhere like in the scrap yard and the dark ride salvaged. It's launched, because that seems to be an unspoken rule about new coasters in Orlando, has some pretty-good-for-SeaWorld-but-not-competing-with-Disney-or-Universal level theming, and just kind of meanders about around two LSM launches (which are great as always). There's nothing wrong with it, I'd just rather have seen something with more thought behind it, even if that meant (god forbid) the park went a year without a new coaster.

Ice Breaker (#126)
I remember this getting some negative comments on opening, I think because of the whole comfort collar debacle and attempt to appeal to families with a not very family-friendly coaster. But rating it as a supporting lineup adult coaster without the collars, I really liked it. The airtime is thigh-destroyingly powerful, the layout is quirky, and much like the vast majority of guests, I haven't done enough swing launches to get bored of them yet. It's a bit weird and feels quite isolated in the park, but I'm glad it exists.



Phoenix Rising (#127)
It feels wrong to come off a B&M and say they should have gone with Vekoma instead, but equally... why not? Don't get me wrong, I thought this was very pleasant, but not noticeably better than the near-identical coaster Vekoma would presumably be happy to produce for a fraction of the cost. I suppose when your park has such well-enduring installations as Kumba and Montu you build a lot of brand loyalty. It is a good family coaster, though it feels a bit like it's just been "plonked down" to me - the single train, short queueline and somewhat confused surrounding area are ways in which a park like this could easily do better. See Cobra's Curse for how it should be done.



Tigris (#128)
My first Sky Rocket II. I can see how these get unexciting when you've done several before, but I enjoyed it. It's quite impressive to fit a powerful launch, some pretty forceful moments, and that slow roll at the top all in such a compact footprint. The "comfort" collars only bothered me very slightly, though I'm fairly average height so maybe it bothers some more than others. It was also a quiet day so I didn't get to witness what a pain they must be for operations.



Iron Gwazi (#129)
In a case of "Thorpe Park syndrome", BGT's best coaster is so much better than everything else in the park that I lost interest in re-riding anything else as soon as I'd tried it. To achieve this in a park that already boasts a hugely stacked lineup is testament to the brilliance of this ride. Having done my first large-scale RMC earlier this year, I've still not got over how their sharp outerbank airtime moments feel; it's like the ride's "showing off" in a way, as though casually threatening to throw you out only to laugh it off as a joke. Don't even get me started on the "death roll" in the back row. I can really only separate it from Zadra on that inversion and strength of airtime, where this has it beat. Move over Energylandia, we have a new #1 here.



VelociCoaster (#130)
Fumbled the bag by getting rained off on our first Universal day before getting to this, but still managed a couple of laps later in the trip. Personal biases aside, I think this is probably what I'd use to describe the perfect coaster to someone. It's equal parts graceful and aggressive, lengthy and consistently very enjoyable while leaving room for individual moments to pop just when they need to. Don't even get me started on the "mosasaurus roll" in the front row. The theming is remarkable, as is how it's been integrated into the park, fitting in so well the skyline would look wrong without it. Operationally it's superb and the double-sided lockers are a great improvement over Universal Orlando's other large coasters, though I didn't like how a) the videos in the queue say to use your park ticket for the locker but when I got there I was told - as though it were the most obvious thing in the world - that you have to obtain a locker ticket and b) single rider was not available for my full visit, presumably because they'd have to staff a second locker room (and tbf I seem to remember reading it's not much quicker anyway). Overall it's slotted in at #3, ahead of Taron, but behind both Iron Gwazi and Zadra.

 

[Flash Shift]

I finally got some new creds this weekend, particularly of a certain Live variety. First time I've had chance to sit down and write about them!

First stop on Saturday was Chessington, but despite the park being slammed, I got all 4 creds and a few rerides. Means I don't have to revisit for ages I suppose, don't regret the extra stop one bit despite how busy it was.

Dragon's Fury
My last credit before this was Salama, another Maurer spinner, but I know how bad the capacity on these things is, making it my first stop. The queue line is one of the most miserable experiences ever as it's set in such a tiny plot of land and moves at a glacial pace. Also weird was that you don't get grouped so both of my rides were solo. The first was markedly more aggressive than the second, oddly enough. Some of the hills and that mid-course helix are insane for a coaster of this calibre and I'm sure some families probably heard me going "****ing hell!" at some points. Good fun.

Rattlesnake
I could have made something notable the number 69 funny meme number milestone, but no. Merlin Magic kicked in and the supposed 5 minute wait was actually 30 or so. It was very much a ride that exists and I didn't really enjoy it or hate it.

Vampire
Took me ages to find the entrance to this, it's really tucked away if you go around clockwise like I did. 2 goes, both hour waits, even with 2 trains. Pretty slow. However it's really scenic and has that old campy gothic horror feel and goes all in on it. I loved the swinging, wish it did it more. You can definitely see it influenced Nemesis with it's interaction with the surrounding areas and sections where you turn very low to the ground. Nothing mind blowing, but I appreciate it.

Mandrill Mayhem
I knew about the single rider queue so I saved this for last. Man I am lucky I did as the capacity on this thing is terrible. It's like it should belong at a different park or something. Anyway, I couldn't help but enjoy it in a sort of ironic way. Like a film that is so bad it's good like Troll 2. Except no, because it also has a couple of actually good moments, like the spike (if you're near the back), the surprisingly fast launches, the inline twist in both directions, even the end point where you hang to the side was so weird I had to appreciate it. It's definitely bumpy in places though, and that's quite weird for a new B&M. Then again, this entire ride is an enigma. Worth noting that it felt smoother towards the back for some reason on my second ride, which was the second to back - i.e. the last forward facing row.

Then, of course, was the live.

Hyperia
After waiting well over an hour, standing infront of noisy vents, hearing the squeaks as the train hits the bottom of the lift and having breakdowns, we goons all filled an entire train. On row 2 I sat. "The time has come and so have I", was said as we started to round the first corner.

Anyway as for the actual coaster, it was predictably very good, best in the UK. I did expect it to be more insane somehow, but on our second ride (of two, of which I was on row 3 this time), it had warmed up significantly and went way faster. The first turn seems dumb but is actually genius as it interacts with the queueline very well and sets you up for what's to come. You get up the lift fast, but it's extremely high. The first drop is awesome but it almost happens too fast to feel more insane. You barely get chance to appreciate it before going at insane speeds up into the non-inverting immelman. You get some floater airtime going down the drop. The third element is the famous cursed element, and again somehow felt exactly as expected. On the second run it was faster and even better. Then the dive loop stall is positively epic, especially as you look down from so high up at the queueline. Again, superb.

The splashdown element was off, and the trims hit pretty hard, making it easily the weakest aspect of the ride. That said, the outer bank after is still extremely good despite this, and the last hill is pretty decent. I don't feel like the ride is so short it hinders the entire experience, but as others have said, a proper traditional airtime hill would have been a good addition here, like the one on Helix or something. I only wish I'd got to ride this towards the back. It's strange to have finally experienced it as it pretty much felt like what I expected. I do want to return and get more rides on it though, next year when the weather is better and I can go mid week in order to get more of a proper gauge.

After all that waffling it's one of the best coasters I've done so far but is definitely below Taiga and Helix.

Oh and I got a bonus cred as well:

Walking Dead - The Ride
Imagine Hyperia not being the latest cred at Thorpe Park. I managed to forget this exists or have no time for it on my previous visits, so when it had a 5 minute queue and I suggested it on a whim I was surprised that the group actually went with it. It was a plus one I guess. Theming is pretty good (best bit is the video asking how many people you've killed), but the ride itself was pretty jolty and stop-start in a few places. I was asked to to review it in depth, and basically said that it sure was a ride that happened, and now it's done.


Quick existing creds round:

Saw - skipped this
Colossus - also skipped this
Flying Fish - also also skipped this
Nemesis Inferno - still very smooth compared to Reborn, also ran insanely fast and I was near the back - very powerful. Always feels underrated
Stealth - I forgot how good this launch was as well. I barely remember the ride from my one go on my last visit, but man I really appreciate this now. The build to the launch still gets me
Swarm - Very smooth compared to the other B&M Wing coaster I'd done the day before, so it was strange to go on. Was on the back - felt pretty whippy there. Generally a solid coaster, but it's definitely dropped - not because it has got any worse, but because my credit count has some really good rides now.

 

[Hyde]

To keep to the spirit of Last Cred Review, in the singular.

Joker at Six Flags Great America. A friendly reminder that you can both laugh, scream, cry, experience existential dread, question the reason of "Why Life?", and give up religion all within one ride!

 

[Hutch]

Boulder Dash

Few rides we had first thing in the morning honestly sucked. Running slow, lacked airtime, rough as tits in every valley (titan track was sexy though). Immediately gave me a headache and eventually had to tap out.

Came back later for my first ever night ride on the thing… holy f***. That was my best ride on it in almost a decade.

Titan track the whole goddamn thing. Or at least all the valleys. The night ride showed that it can still be one of the best wooden coasters ever. Just take care of the damn thing. Also put a second train on it… please.


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[ScottLann]

I had a few days over at Thorpe Park the past week and finally managed to get my first ever rides on Hyperia! It wasn't looking hopeful at the start due to the train valleying on the day I was driving up. However, I managed to get quite lucky and was able to attend the Fright Nights Press Event meaning my first rides on it were going to be in the dark

First off, the negatives (all of which I was well aware of before checking this coaster out).

- The area is un-themed. I've heard some people saying it is, but it's not. It's exactly like Icon, where it's more of a "style" than a theme (albeit with more of a storyline behind the ride). I would have loved to have seen the area have a bit more theming and scenery around it, with stuff like waterfalls and rockwork. But, it's in a Merlin park! So we were never going to get anymore than the coaster itself with some small decorations

- The coaster is short for a hyper coaster. Most coasters in the UK are short however, so this has never really been a major complaint of mine. I would have loved to have had some more elements added onto this layout of course, but I'm grateful for what we have.

Now....after riding Hyperia, none of the above actually mattered anymore. This thing is an absolute beast of a coaster! I was honestly really surprised by just how much I actually enjoyed this thing. That first drop is 100% the craziest first drop I've ever experienced (especially on the back row!). The airtime is so so strong on every element besides the stall (of course, that's where the hangtime hits). It's so fast and so smooth. The trim brake on the "splash down" section did of course kill the speed slightly, but I still was absolutely flying out of my seat on the outer bank hill after that.

Overall, Hyperia is just one amazing rush of adrenaline with some absolutely insane elements thrown into the mix! And it feels so good to finally have a UK coaster land into my Top 10 Coasters!

 

[Mushroom]

Hyperia... s'alright, needs to a bit longer

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[Howie]

Hyperia.
S'alright. Needs to be a bit longer.

Joking aside, it's actually a lot better than 'alright'... but it definitely does need to be a bit longer.
Had 3 rides on it yesterday, first was in the middle somewhere, second managed to swing a front row ride via the single rider line - result! - and then ended the day with a back row ride.
Don't mind the lack of theming really, quite like the 'styling' and once the landscaping matures I think it will be fine. It bugs me that the trains don't have lights. It annoys me that they didn't finish the blended gold to white paint job as originally planned. It bothers me that the splashdown effect is now nothing more than a rusty trough. And it infuriates me that it hasn't got another 700 - 800ft of track. I'm not greedy, it didn't need to be much longer, I don't want Steel Dragon 2024 here, but I feel as though a hyper coaster needs to have a good 4000ft of track to be worthwhile. With all that height and speed available, killing the ride with a trim brake after only 4 elements seems almost criminal to me. How awesome would it have been to pull up out of that stall/dive thingy into a lovely big, straight line ejector hill? Down towards the far end of the site for another cool turnaround, I dunno, a step-up underflip or sumat, giving you a longer run back towards the station with enough room for a couple more ejector airtime moments as a finale. How cool would that have been?

However... let's be grateful here, those first 4 big maneuvers - drop, immelman, outerbank and stall... wow! Gotta be one of the the finest sequences of elements in the world, surely? The first drop in the back row may have given me a semi. The transition from positive to negative G's as you pull up into the immelman is absolutely delicious. Loved the outerbank roll, what weird-ass sorcery is that? And as for the stall, well, that's just gotta be the craziest moment of floaty hangtime on the planet. And it's good hangtime too, it's weightless hangtime, not the horrible hangtime like you get on Premier Skyrockets or Maurer Skyloops - your weight isn't  hanging on the lap bar, it's high speed, perfectly profiled, upside down weightlessness and it's glorious!
And then you hit the rusty trough and, like the rozzers turning up to a noisy party, the fun's over. Booo!
I mean, the 2 smaller elements after the rusty trough are pretty decent, but it's too late by that point, the atmosphere has already been neutered by the dirty, dirty trim brake.
For the UK, sure, those first 4 elements alone make it one of the best coasters in the country, but for me it's not as clear cut as it seems to be for so many others. But yes, it's definitely in the conversation.
But the sad thing is, it could so easily have been a true contender on the world stage if only they'd gone that little extra mile to 'finish it off', as it were.
I guess adding extra track to the layout is pretty much out of the question now, but at least it's not too late to add the lights and finish the paint job.

 

[Mushroom]

Looking for a nice family thrill coaster? Then Studio Tour at Movie Park Germany hits that target. Lots of unique sets. Some intresting elements, and a nice queue line with a model of Area 51 and Van Helsings Factory in there. Just quite a bit of fun

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[Mushroom]

Gonna be kinda lazy here and link to photos

Batuki-racer, Serengeti Park is decent little coaster with some force. Slow lift hill and brake run makes it tedious.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1846154727790158244

Oh hey an sbf spinner! Does what it says on the tin

https://twitter.com/x/status/1846157967969657001

Unfortunately Gozimba is not quite ready yet.

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