2012Jarrett said:
Had it done more dipping around and been more of a combination of what it is now and Starry Sky Ripper I might have ranked it a lot higher. :?
Totally agreed with you there Jarrett; having ridden Air and Manta, I found they were both rather dull, with quite uninspiring layouts. Until Starry Sky Ripper (or whatever you want to call it), debuted, I just felt the existing models failed to reach their potentials to be some of the most intense coasters on the planet. Air, frankly, is just a meander round a park - whilst it's great as a family ride, it's just too sedate to be classed as one of Alton's 'bigger' rides. Manta, just like Tatsu, gets off to a 'flying start' :wink: with the positives on the drop and the insane pretzel loop, before entering a higher section with a few inversions, where it just does frankly nothing. It's a beautiful coaster, but I rate Smiler above it for a more consistent ride experience.
My problem with those B&Ms is that they've attempted to stray too far from their other model lines. For instance, if they just put flying trains on an inverted layout bar a pretzel loop, I'd have few complaints. Unlike flying dutchmans and Starry Sky Ripper, which feature vertical loops, Flyers have few 'conventional' B&M elements, like immelmans for instance. That's where Starry Sky Ripper excels.
In terms of the Kumba debate, I'd like to commit a deadly sin and say that I thought Montu to be quite average. The tunnel and immelman were fantastic, and the batwing was unique, but the rest of the layout, whilst it was big, felt a bit mediocre. However, that said, I was only 14 and rode it only a few times in the middle rows. Am I missing something there? On a similar note, I was expecting huge forces on Sheikra's pullout, but got almost none.
Kumba on the other hand, was rough, yes, but it was a small sacrifice for the intensity and forces in the layout. It just seemed to fly through the layout, especially the corkscrews. I suppose that's natural variation for you.