Mark9

It's exactly the same with one big difference. I've seen fan outrage about this as is always the way with these things. But the way I see it, it's in a space that wasn't used before, its bringing people down to that area of the park and it's an incredibly enjoyable show.

Whilst the American Disney parks are cutting things left right and centre and increasing prices, Disneyland Paris just seems to be adding more and more. I was impressed by my visit at just how alive the place seems compared to my first visit in 2013. The new Halloween parade is a slightly retooled version of the one that last appeared in 2016 but it feels more dynamic with the calvacade stopping in the Hub for a small dance off. The new Mickeys Illusion Mansion float is amazing with three different Mickeys appearing through doors. Philarmagic was also an excellent addition to Discoveryland and sure it doesn't fit the Jules Verne theme, neither does Star wars.

Not sure if that post is aimed at me but I'll be more clearer. When we were there, Raptor, Rougarou and Gatekeeper were on three trains. Each time, one train was stacked outside the station whilst one loaded. It doesn't make a ride have a higher throughput if a train is stationary, doing nothing and it doesn't improve dispatches. America in general (outside of Disney) has far more stringent and harsher checks on it rides which means there is no point running three trains if the safety procedures take longer than a ride cycle. Maverick was running six trains but it could have run four and would have still had the same people per hour. The main reason I felt it necessary to praise Towers and Blackpool is because their dispatches were near perfect. Minimal stacking on full capacity is hard work but they did it near flawlessly.

What competitors? STOP TALKING BRITAIN DOWN CREEK

So here we go... enough people have ridden both to vote now so which do you prefer? Is it Mack's finest at Blackpool, an airtime filled machine that dives in and out of other rides at Blackpool or the intimate, well themed, atmospheric Wicker Man which sees a return to form for an Alton Towers rollercoaster. Which is your favourite?

Oh god thanks for that Steve. That takes me back to a time when each new track at Thorpe was a hit after hit after hit.

I pretty much agree with all your viewpoints here, Helix in particular is a good ride but I've never found it to be the amazing ride that others do. I too prefer Icon. I think stacking is just an inherent trait of dive machines, I'm yet to ride one that doesn't stack in some way. I find Balder incredibly repetitive and I don't find the air time that interesting. I think I prefer the out of control woodies like Wodan and Wicker Man too the more controlled way Balder rides.

What do you mean by seasoned?

In my personal viewpoint, Leviathan is the worst of the six hyper/giga B&M's I've done. It just lacks that extra something that the others do.. 1. Behemoth 2. Mako 3. Shambhala 4. Raging Bull 5. Silver Star 6. Leviathan Operations were similar to CP but the staff, they were miserable as anything. The odd employee was happy but you could tell the majority didn't care. If you're doing the trip we did, yes you would need a Canadian visa. We crossed the border on a coach at Buffalo, New York state. Canadas Wonderland is a one day park though, as the vast majority of rides were off the shelf models.

You'll still go right?!

The final park of the trip is a short skip and a jump from Toronto, Canadas Wonderland is a park boasting 16 rollercoasters and masses of flat rides. Whilst only two of the rollercoasters are really noteworthy, the park is well known for hosting the only Huss Jump 2 in the world as well as owning a Mondial Super Nova and top scan. So.. first the elephant in the room. The humongous and previously biggest B&M ever is an intimidating beast. Surrounding the park entrance with its massive hills, Leviathan is one impressive ride. It's easily the parks busiest attraction and the Canadians love it. What about me though? Having done Millennium Force two days previously, what would doing my second giga coaster in two days do? The problem when you build something to be a country's biggest or most impressive is that you have to do very little with the ride to get the attention. Leviathan has a crippling problem that really bothers me but really what it is a very fast rollercoaster with very little air time. It darts around corners and through tunnels very quickly, the snappy turns being particularly fun. But then it ends. Mako, Silver Star and Raging Bull all have ride content after an MCBR to make the ride feel like it has two parts. The first full of giant hills, the second more smaller hills and helixes. Leviathan enters a break run. It's a massive anti climax after a ride with that much speed just ends with little fanfare. The argument could be made that the ride has done all it has needed and anything else would just be window dressing and just lengthening the ride. Well Fury 325 does exactly that and is well loved because of it. Leviathan feels like a waste of a massive opportunity. We had three rides including a night ride and although the night ride was more like it, it still felt underwhelming. Luckily there is another ride for a second chance and that is Behemoth. The main difference between this and Leviathan is the height, the train configuration and ride length. Everything that isn't great about Leviathan features on Behemoth and more. It's a fantastic, air time filled ride. Whilst Levy is all about the speed, this is all about being chucked out of your seat and each hill provides that little burst of it. Of all the hypers I've done, this does the most with its post MCBR section featuring several air time hills and a nice forceful helix. I loved Behemoth because its what a B&M hyper should be all about. It has a great river side setting and does justice to its right length and height. This is without a doubt my favourite hyper coaster from B&M. It had maybe a maximum of a ten minute wait so re-rides were easy and it really delivered. Vortex is the second arrow suspended on the trip. It doesn't feature two lift hills and its all the better for it as it has a great layout, big swings and properly follows the terrain. The lift hill takes it atop the rocky mountain, the icon of the park, before dropping down the hill into some big helixes that make the car swing pretty violently to the right. It then drives down towards Yukon Striker lake. Whilst a short ride, it delivers a powerful punch. This had the second longest wait of the park for some reason. It has a pretty broad appeal to a lot of people and delivers an interesting and good ride. What doesn't deliver a good ride is a Volare. This is my first of these horror shows and whilst I don't think they are anywhere near as bad as is made out, they really aren't great attractions. From the torture device restraints to the way the thing just cannot corner properly, instead rattling and jerking left and right, it seems crazy that the have kept this. Right next door is an SLC, this was one of the better ones. I maintain that give these things a good restraint system and they would be fine because I take no issue with the layout. Hello SLC bunny. Whilst this park has 16 rollercoasters, a majority are pretty much off the shelf models like SLC's, Boomerangs, Mack wild mouse/powered coasters and the odd one is original. The Mighty Canadian Mine Blaster made sure that even if I wanted children, that would be impossible now. It started off fine but one of its hills just sent the restraint down another click and ouch. Every hill then become a battle not to cry out in horror.. No, what this park really does is flat rides and it is here that makes Canada Wonderland that little bit more well rounded then Cedar Point #controversy The torture device. The Submission experience The blast from the past. The parks impressive selection has one big downfall in that each ride has a might short cycle. The Mondial supernova for example lasted less then a minute and it barely built up any speed or sensation. I'd actually ridden it in Germany 12 years ago when it was called Air Wolf and there, it was a mightily impressive, intense ride. Here its only okay. The Zamperla ride didn't need to last much longer then a minute as it was weirdly forceless despite holding you upside down for longer then other similar rides. And finally, the Jump2 was just one of the most bizarre ride experiences I've ever done. If I had to describe it, it would be like what would happen if you're moving along merrily in a car and are then shunted suddenly 50/60 feet into the air in a second. It was jerky yet smooth, fast yet slow, short yet tall. I'm not really surprised that Huss only sold one because it's not a solid ride experience. I didn't come off whooping at this amazing ride but I didn't feel disappointed. It is distinctly average and yet none the less I am glad to have ridden it. We managed to get on all the rollercoasters here and a majority of the unique flat rides so at 9pm, we decided to leave our first Canadian theme park. I recommend a trip here for those that like their theme parks a little bit weird. This is a theme park of variety, where each member of the family gets a lot of ride choice and things to do. Its like the polar opposite of Cedar Point which almost deliberately targets thrill seekers only. With another 16 coasters under my belt, the day was good and our next week was going to be a completely different kettle of fish and one of the most breathtaking and life altering weeks of my life..

Difficult by public transport.

Canada Wonderland is worth it for Behemoth and Vortex alone (and I'm sure Yukon Striker). You don't really need fast lane really as they tend to run full capacity on all their coasters and Behemoth/Leviathan have very high throughputs. The only thing really is you can't get to the park that easily from Toronto which is the nearest city. You only need one day there as they have long opening hours such as 10am-10pm most days. Both parks have very short seasons so keep that in mind. Cedar Point for example is only open for three full months before going weekends only in September and October.

No one posted about this? Gosh, thats a shame. Not even Benin? Looks great, so great that Mack has kind of cracked America what with Time Traveller this year and now this.

BRITISH ENGINEERING. Ah magical memories.

Black Bucanneer was 1988 Current Vampire was 2002 Tomb Blaster was 2002 (albeit not the current form) Rattlesnake was 1998 Rameses in Stargate form was 2000 Toadies 2001 There's very little of original Chessington left now.

Ironic that Hocus Pocus Hall opened to quite a muted response in 2003 and no one cared for it, but is now one of the last of *cough* un-corportate fun.

Explain this please.

It's not throughputs, its efficiency that I'm more about. No point running your ride on three trains if they are always stacked in the break run. A lot of the Cedar Fair rides just have you sitting waiting for the other train to finish loading. Thats one thing that only Oblivion is truly guilty off at Alton and Blackpool. The other rides, its just great to see the Nemesis team in perfect sync, the train heading straight into the station. The queue was up the hill but it never stopped moving. Same with Wickerman, Smiler and Thirteen ?

Agree totally!! An RMC would be an awesome choice!! We saw what happened at Towers when they got a more traditional woodie!!

Wanted to make a comment about Towers really as its the first time I've really seen the place busy since 2015. Operationally they were spot on. Full capacity on everything (aside from Galatica which we didn't go near, stupid VR) and near perfect operations. Nemesis dispatching before the second train hits the break run, Oblivion using both stations, Wicker Man dispatching quickly with minimal stacking. Blackpool was much the same on Saturday. UK operations blow American operations out the water. I was really impressed with Towers and its fantastic to see them back on form. Wicker Man has really done so much more for Towers then people realise. ?

(As if you havent had enough of Cedar Point already) Blue Streak So this woody has a problem in that there's a part of the ride that travels past the bins and it absolutely stinks. Other then that this is a surprisingly fast and brutal wooden coaster and it took us a little bit by surprise. It had two trains running and never had a queue. I like. Corkscrew This was pretty standard actually and apart from doing its thing over the pathway and has sentimental value, it's just another rollercoaster at the park and hasn't too much going for it these days. Look at my photo skills. Gemini I don't really understand this ride. It didn't seem to be very reliable on my visit and for a ride that makes a point of it being a racing coaster, it must be the worst racing coaster out there. The thing doesn't are as the right hand side will always have the advantage. It's also a hybrid coaster but it was pretty unmemorable. Magnum XL This ride is brilliant. My only experience with Arrow hypers is The Big One which is in my opinion, an absolutely atrocious attraction. No air time, painful, shuddery and rides terribly. But Magnum, my god is absolutely fantastic. I can imagine riding this thing in 1989 and being blown away by just how much air time features throughout the ride. Oddly, the majority of the ride is outside the park and can barely be seen as you stroll around the midway. The ride is strangely themed to almost like a space ship (but obviously not) and features a huge drop and a journey towards the adventure park. But on the ride as you come back towards the station the ride throws air time hill after air time at you and it just feels insane. My first ride I was kind of in pain from just how much ejector you get. The second time I was fully aware and I adored it. So yeah I loved it, my fiancé loved it and I wished I'd ridden more. Alas, too much to do. The next big ride is ages away in Old Town (or whatever its called) and too start off with... WARNING, A LENGTHIER REVIEW When it comes to Intamin, they are either brilliant (Taron, Juvelen, iSpeed) or monstrous (Cheetah Hunt, Tornado). With Maverick, back in its opening year and it had an inversion removed due to being too forceful, I had my reservations with how rideable this thing was going to be. Since opening its had some restraint modifications to make it more comfortable to ride and with its mini look but explosive layout, this ride has developed a somewhat cult following among enthusiasts. And I'm happy to say I am a fan. The queue line is quite scenic for Cedar Point, going around a small lake and into a small shedded area before going into the station. I like how each train has a different colour and a different name. In the station, two trains are loaded at a time. We always chose the second train and I think it has a slight drawkback. When the trains are dispatched, the first will go straight into the launch lift hill but the second waits at the bottom. Problem is you have nothing to look at so you just sit (like in the picture) waiting for the ride to do something. But once it gets going this ride doesn't disappoint. From snappy inversions, huge air time hills with bucket loads of air time and a great little speed run through the lake with water blasters going off, this has something for everyone and is a real crowd pleaser. What I like about rides like Maverick, Icon, Taron, Juvelen is that the launch is only part of the experience, a faster lift hill if you will. You're not supposed to get off these rides beaming about how fast you accelerated but how the whole things come together. Maverick is a winner because it brings together everything that is good about Intamin. They don't always get it right but when they do, they really nail it. My only hope is that more open across Europe as they are such great, enjoyable rides. And finally... Ah RMC. Back in your earlier days whilst Theme Park Review were raving and singing your praises, I think a lot weren't too sure about the odd blocky track, the strange stall turns, the way the ride seems to throw riders around with all the grace of a bucking bronco. But over time, as more and more opened, whether completely new like Wildfire at Kolmarden or refurbishments of older rides, each has opened to massive praise. Steel Vengeance is without a doubt their biggest project. Not only did they change the universally hated Mean Streak but the created one of their longest and craziest rides. How does it really compare to other rollercoasters when to be honest there's very few like it. From the moment the train is dispatched, even before the lift hill there's air time which bodes well. What follows the lift hill is what feels like the most out of control experience felt on a rollercoaster. From the banked air time hills, the zero g rolls that felt like they come from nowhere in the layout, the way the train dives through the structure feels incredible. The zero-g stall, the small air time hills into the break run. When it comes to B&M's and you ride, you can remember the layout quite easily, it's simple to describe the feelings through each hill or inversion. When it comes to Steel Vengeance, that feels impossible. Especially on the ride when you're flying past wooden beams or over the top of hills, trying to process the experience feels like a trivial exercise in over-analysing. It's just damn good. My only complaint is the restraints, particularly around the legs aren't great. I don't know if its a height thing because it only seems to effect a few people. But its a minor complaint in what I think is one of the best rides built in the last ten years. Sure, I prefer Gatekeeper as I personally enjoy that ride more. But I don't underestimate the technical skills and know how that went into modifying, building and designing Steel Vengeance. Go and ride, simple as. And so with all that, the Cedar Point experience was over. And was it worth it. Without a doubt yes. Maverick, Still Vengeance, Gatekeeper, Millennium Force and Raptor make the visit more then worthwhile. This is such a strong line up and it's only part of the offering. I know there is a load of people who like to pit CP against Magic Mountain and knowing I have been to two of the sought after US parks feels pretty awesome. I personally prefer CP but Magic Mountain is still a top theme park; I'd go there for Tatsu. JOY! The next stop is Canadas Wonderland so see you then. And thanks for reading.

I've done four of the suspended in their original trains (including Vampire) and Ive only the Kings Island one left to do. Iron Dragon is the worst of the four IMO. See TTD and Stealth can be in that category and thats fine, I just personally find them a waste of time for such a short ride experience. I don't even find the launch that impactful; Once you've done one you've done them all and there feels like no difference from Stealth to TTD, to Rita, Desert Race, Kanonen or Xcelerator. Ironically I love the launches on Maverick, Taron and iSpeed because you can feel that speed building as opposed to just being at full speed almost right away. What I mean by no atmosphere is that majority of the rides are quite literally in silence. If Raptor had sand in its tracks and there was no roar from the trains then that area would feel completely silent, eerie and dead. It hasn't really got much to do with quirky European theme parks but more even Six Flag parks have music in the station, but majority of Cedar is silent. But anywho

Halloween is without a doubt, my least favourite time of year at theme parks. Nothing could interest me less then a bunch of dressed up students ignoring me too make some girls scream in a maze, or the park over run with people in the dark looking to make trouble.

I came up with a list of rides that are worse then Thirteen and I only came up with Spinball Whizzer, Galatica and Rita. Thats not a detriment to Thirteen, I think its a perfectly serviceable ride and one of Towers more fun offerings.