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Your Least Common Opinion?

I think that's fair, I love it myself but sometimes getting absolutely soaked can ruin the experience. My last ride on River Quest was in October so the wetness wasn't really appreciated, and we were wearing jeans. In Summer it's not an issue.
 
RMCs are good but the fact that they're so predictably excellent makes them a bit boring.
Dollywood doesn't have any stand-out coasters that I'd be gagging to get back to ride and overall I think SDC is better.
Millennium Force is extremely dull.
Port Aventura is terrible.
Energylandia is awful save for Hyperion, Zadra and maybe Formula. If it were here in the UK it would be torn to shreds.
 
Tonkso said:
I think that's fair, I love it myself but sometimes getting absolutely soaked can ruin the experience. My last ride on River Quest was in October so the wetness wasn't really appreciated, and we were wearing jeans. In Summer it's not an issue.
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For me, it’s the fact that it is just so obscenely wet that ruins it for me, along with things like the massive pool of water at the bottom of the boats that you have to step into. I’m not someone who doesn’t like water rides by any means; I absolutely love a ride on the likes of Popeye or Jurassic Park at IOA, and even here in the UK, I’m often up for a nice ride on a log flume or rapids, but Valhalla, on the one occasion I rode it, was just way beyond the level of wetness I personally enjoy. The only time I ever rode it was on a blisteringly hot summer’s day in August 2019, when the temperature was approaching 30 degrees, and I still came off drenched to my core, shivering profusely and feeling like a block of ice, desperate to warm up... although I do feel the cold pretty easily, which probably doesn’t help. I genuinely admire the cold tolerance of anyone who rides Valhalla in the colder months, especially those who marathon it for hours on end on WOW Weekends!

Also, even though I’ll admit that there’s quite a bit of impressive theming and a couple of nice effects within Valhalla, I don’t think the ride quite wowed me like I was hoping for in this regard. With that being said, I thought that the fire that goes up the wall just after the final drop was a nice effect, as well as things like the logs that roll over your head, and even though I didn’t find it a particularly enjoyable effect to experience, the water vortex is quite a spectacle! I don’t know, maybe I just had my expectations set way too high, but I was hoping for a little bit more on the theming and effects side of things given the hype the ride receives, personally. Although from having done some research, I think a lot of effects were broken the day I rode Valhalla; maybe I just rode it on a bad day, and need to give it another chance? I also only ever rode the ride in its final season in its original form (2019), so never got to experience it in its “prime” so to speak.

Don’t get me wrong, I still admire Valhalla for its ambition and uniqueness, I think there’s a lot to like about it, and I can certainly see the appeal, but ultimately, when I rate a ride from my own personal perspective, I ask myself “was that an experience I would be keen to repeat?”, and sadly, with Valhalla, the answer was “not particularly” for me.
 
Remind me never to visit Blackpool with @Matt N - you just need to remember a poncho if the weather's being its usual British self :D
I've done a fair amount of travelling and never found another water ride quite like it!

Agreed that Port Aventura has a **** atmosphere but to my mind, it's saved by having two or three of Europe's stand-out rides. Last time I visited, it was kind of how I imagine the US chain parks to be.
 
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Will said:
Remind me never to visit Blackpool with @Matt N - you just need to remember a poncho if the weather's being its usual British self :D
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As I say, I do appreciate Valhalla in many ways, not least for its ambition and raw uniqueness, and there’s definitely things I like about it; I just found that the sheer wetness ruined it for me, and I was a bit underwhelmed from an effects/theming standpoint, what with the hype the ride gets. As I say, though, I could just have gotten Valhalla on a bad day from an effects standpoint.

I’d always be more than happy to wait or go and ride something else if someone in my group wanted to ride Valhalla, or quite possibly even go on it with them! I just can’t say I’d particularly enjoy it, and it’s not what I’d personally choose to do if at Blackpool.
 
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Will said:
Agreed that Port Aventura has a **** atmosphere but to my mind, it's saved by having two or three of Europe's stand-out rides. Last time I visited, it was kind of how I imagine the US chain parks to be.
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My hatred of the place cannot be rescued by neither Shambhala nor Red Force alike. HORRENDOUS non-sensical operations, everywhere stinks (particularly in summer), rude staff, ruder clientele, graffiti and gum everywhere. And they gave me food poisoning :mad: (as if I didn't already hate the place enough).
 
That’s a real shame to hear, I’ll admit.

PortAventura is always a park that’s been on my radar, due to a combination of Shambhala (my current number 1 coaster is Mako, another B&M hyper, so this one seems like a promising coaster, in my eyes!), the amazing-looking theming and areas and the fact that it’s an ex-Universal park; even though it was Tussauds who designed the original park, Universal’s influence did seem to quite strongly rub off on PortAventura in many ways, and because of this, I’ve always thought that it looks almost like the European equivalent of my all-time favourite theme park, Islands of Adventure in Florida, so I’ve always been excited to go for that reason alone!

I’ve always thought that I would love a place a little closer to home than the USA where I was able to recreate the magic I’ve always felt stepping into Islands of Adventure, and I’ve always kind of imagined that PortAventura might end up being that place whenever I eventually end up visiting.
 
I never found the ops to be bad, and found the food to be fantastic. Then again I've only ever been when it's very quiet and they've even done phased opening (quiet enough to work well).
 
nadroJ said:
HORRENDOUS non-sensical operations, everywhere stinks (particularly in summer), rude clientele, graffiti and gum everywhere
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I can think of a UK park like that ;)

In all seriousness though, I'd pay to avoid Port Aventura in the Summer, it was bad enough in October. The hotel staff are fairly adept at getting you back to your room when you can no longer remain vertical though :D
 
I have only been to Port Adventura with a fast pass wrist band. Watching the queues move at a snails pace as I breeze past makes me realise that the few are having a far superior day to the many. I gather paying extra to skips lines isn't all that popular but if there is any park to do so its this one, and its a bargain in price too.

As for Ops, I saw someone get forced to take the front row on Shambhala when they didn't want it (and I did). The commotion took up so much time it was a detriment to the intended efficiency of assigned seating. Oh the humanity.
 
Time to make enemy’s I guess 😁

Kentucky Kingdom has no world class coasters, Lightning run and storm chaser are to similar and just gave pops of air and not much else.

Twisted Colossus is not in the top 3 at Magic mountain, that second lift and that it did not duel for me knock it down.

Flight Of Fear > Mystic Timbers, both have great themes but FOF is more intense and fun.

Batman The Ride > Nitro, whippy and powerful over dull and rattly.

Flamingo land is great

I prefer Chessington to Thorpe

Furius Baco is a great coaster.
 
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On the last three:
Flamingoland isn't bad at all, I wouldn't go as far as saying it was great, maybe if they themed the **** out of the new 10 Inversion coaster? But I do think it gets a lot of unwarranted hate on here,

Part of me wants to agree with Chessington. Chessington feels more like it used to when I was a kid. I miss the theming on the Runaway Train, really wish they would get the Rattlesnake animatronics working again, and really miss the monorail, but I genuinely like the park.

Furious Baco IS a great coaster. It's short but sweet, and way more forceful than Red Force. My partner's park favourite.
 
People should not be allowed to use linear + horizon Levelling and orientation lock on onride video's.
If you share the video, leave it off. It got old, after the first time you've seen it.
 
Tonkso said:
On the last three:
Flamingoland isn't bad at all, I wouldn't go as far as saying it was great, maybe if they themed the **** out of the new 10 Inversion coaster? But I do think it gets a lot of unwarranted hate on here,

Part of me wants to agree with Chessington. Chessington feels more like it used to when I was a kid. I miss the theming on the Runaway Train, really wish they would get the Rattlesnake animatronics working again, and really miss the monorail, but I genuinely like the park.

Furious Baco IS a great coaster. It's short but sweet, and way more forceful than Red Force. My partner's park favourite.
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I have only been once to flamingo land but I had a great time, no long queues, some good coasters, nice staff, good ops and a great zoo, I guess I’m the minority but I found nothing to complain about, while they might not have the best coaster line up but only hero was bad I liked all the other ones and they have a great selection for kids. That 10 inversion coaster will be there best and a great ride for them, they could theme up there coasters more but as a non chain park in the uk I don’t think I expected much.

Im not sure but over time I have started to have better days at chessington and would prefer to go there over Thorpe, while it has the better coasters I think I’ve been spoiled as I have a ridden better coasters of each type while my favourite spinner and suspended are at chessington, I prefer the atmosphere, public, crowds, staff, food and how the park has been treated with its new offerings. Thorpe has not added anything I care for since 2012, while on the outher hand I’m interested to go to chessington and try there new attractions, also i like they have a zoo, aquarium and a nice hotel which really add to the park.

Baco beats Red Force easy for me, while rough I’ll take a powerful launch and layout over a week launch and ok layout.
 
I've only done 'mingo once myself too, and I'd agree that Hero is the only bad ride. Running three boats only on the shoot the chutes was a weird decision (by FAR our longest queue... only queue... all day), but otherwise the ops were fine. I will return once the 10 inversion coaster opens, I'm in the camp of people who still loves Colossus, and am desperate to ride it 'smooth' with lapbars.

Chessington has arguably the best Maurer Spinner on earth, so consistently topping peoples lists for the model, plus Vampire. Rattlesnake may be off the shelf, but it's really well themed (though desperate for the same treatment Vampire got a couple of years back), the zoo elements are great and it's refreshing to see a park try and do something with their old Mack flume instead of letting it rot SBNO, even if I did prefer the old theme. It also has a proper selection of flats and tracked rides to give the day some variation.

Red Force is fun, but lacks the punch that a proper hydraulic launch packs. The layout isn't the most inspiring out there, but it does what it needs to do and the vineyard is certainly unique.
 
Actual controversial opinion. Gruffalo is a worthy successor to Professor Burp's Bubbleworks.

The Bubbleworks was spoiled years ago when a lot of Wardley's original work was stripped out. I'd rather have OG Bubbleworks than Gruffalo, but Gruffalo over the nerfed Bubbleworks. It's also a solid draw to the park, which is what it needed.
 
If I visit either of those two parks this year, it'll be Chessington - nicer atmosphere, some new stuff to check out, I prefer Dragon's Fury to all Thorpe's non-B&M coasters - and there's a zoo :)

Hey Jude is among my least favourite Beatles songs.
 
I don't think it's outrageous to consider Dragons Fury the best standard spinner of any make in the world. It takes bells, whistles and inversions to out do it. If you want constant raw spinning go on a waltzter and keep the queue shorter.
 
Just judging by my one-time experiences, the Scandia Screamer and Superman: El Último Escape both seem to me wildly overrated by most enthusiasts.
 
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