1 minute ago, Theme Park Joseph said:

I actually don't mind storm surge 

 

Same

1) I really like chessington 

2) I love to ride tidal wave even in the cold.

3) I don't mind storm surge 

4) I like Rita

5) I prefer Thorpe to alton towers

6) Over the Hill is my favourite dark ride in the uk.

 

 

• I like Storm Surge
• Adventure Island is in my top 3 favourite theme parks
• I despise Frog Hoppers, Freak Outs, those weird overrated Miami things and Flying Carpets
• The beginning 'slide' in Dragon Falls is the best part of the ride
• I hate OTSR's without handlebars (e.g Dragon's Claw, Vortex, Freak Outs)

I'm not a massive fan of the Disney parks. I think quite a lot of the theming is pretty similar and the parks too. I prefer the UK way of doing themed areas but obviously the Disney theming is better.

On Wednesday, April 05, 2017 at 2:11 PM, Pinecone33 said:

I hate OTSR's without handlebars (e.g Dragon's Claw, Vortex, Freak Outs)

Sorry for the double post but that's what really annoys me on Vampire. 

Vampire is an awful coaster that deserves to be shut down

The new GOTG facade is gorgeous and better than the original.

I prefer vampire to dragons fury

Saw is just as rough as inferno/ swarm at the back of the train

1. For the amount of money spent on Fright Nights and the hype it receives, I find it a complete waste of time. Dreary mazes and only the really low chance of actually being scared. Not even the rides in the dark is enough as queues are normally ridiculously long or rides are unreliable.

 

2. Disneyland, for all its heritage and significant importance is really not an enjoyable theme park, all its star rides have better iterations in other theme parks. California Adventure, across the plaza is a far better and fun theme park.

 

3. The Incredible Hulk and the Dueling Dragons are the most over-rated B&M's out there. Complete dross.

 

4. Car-park coasters don't deserve the hate they receive. Silver-Star, Scream, Medusa are great rides. Come to think of it, neither does Six Flags. The two parks I've done were great and whilst not representative of the entire chain, Discovery Kingdom was just like a better run Chessington. And better rides.

You can tell that Disneyland was designed for a much lower figure of guests... Sure, it basically created theme parks as we know them today, but the narrow pathways are utter death in places...

Chessington is my favourite UK Park 

This thread has lacked controversy so I’m here to give it an overdue boost!

 

1/ Gruffalo is the best thing that’s happened to Chessington this millennium 

 

2/ I actually like Furious Baco

 

3/ I didn’t enjoy Dragon Khan

 

4/ Port Aventura does the worst theme park food, ever! 

 

5/ I have a very strong soft spot for Rumba Rapids

 

6/ The Haunting is better than Jenja Palace 

 

7/ I’m slightly disappointed Phantasialand’s next development will be another coaster, because I think they are more in need of some modern dark rides. Especially when two are potentially being removed in the future. Still excited for Fly though. 

 

Merry Christmas.

Totally agree with your PA comments. Anyway, here is more of my controversial opinions.

 

1. Furius Baco is my favourite launch coaster, beating Red Force, Rita and Stealth.

2. Shambhala is good, but nothing too spectacular, like a certain worldwide Youtuber makes it out to be.

3. PA world as a resort (including parks) I would rate lower than Thorpe Park and Gardaland.

4. Dragon Khan is unbearably rough.

5. Log flumes are just very samey and get you too wet.

6. Temple de Fuego is quite disappointing and lacks any major wow factor.

7. Huraken Condor is quite rough, but like every other drop tower, it simply doesn't scare me.

45 minutes ago, TPC said:

 

6. Temple de Fuego is quite disappointing and lacks any major wow factor.

 

 

The amount of wrong in this...

I do have to say I adore De Fuego at PA- though I guess each to their own.

Anyway here's a few more controversial opinions that I hold:

 

1: I prefer Legoland, Alton Towers and Blackpool over Thorpe

2: I believe if Thorpe continue these senseless IP additions, Chessington will become a superior park as at least they know who their target market is

3: I like Grand National and I prefer it over Stampida

4: I like Ice Blast

5: I really dislike Revolution, I just found it really uncomfortable

-Movie Park Germany is a decent park

 

-Walibi Holland is a decent park

 

-Currently, Vekoma is a more exciting manufacturer than B&M, and I'd rather see one of their products over a B&M in the UK

 

-I don't get the fuss over RMC.  In particular, their single track coasters look so meh

 

-Dreamflight (Efteling) is average, and my least favourite dark ride at the park

 

 

Here I go again:

- Cheetah Hunt is better than Taron.

- Nemesis is overrated and I think Smiler is more exiting.

- Abismo is a good ride.

I think what it came down to with temple del Fuego was a number of factors. Firstly, language barrier certainly didn't help and with all the hype, it's definitely overrated. Also, it didn't help that we were near the very end of the theatre. The queuing system was awful and simply caused everyone in the queue to be angry. All my family were really disappointed, really annoyed we wasted our time on it. This contrasts deeply with flying dreams which we all loved.

I actually like Temple Del Fuego, the fire and effects are decent and I’d be more than happy if a UK park could get such a show ever.

 

I think Mack are my favourite manufacturer and are now the most innovative of manufacturers, closely followed by Vekoma and Intamin. B&M are still very good, but haven’t really created anything groundbreaking since Thunderbird.

 

Given I haven't ridden an RMC (yet) my opinions for RMC remain irrelevan. That ‘could’ change next year.

 

 

Here we go;

- RMC single rail coasters look like the biggest waste of time.

- Wodan Timber Coaster is worse than euromir, Silver Star and Blue Fire. Not enjoyable. 

-Chessington is better than Thorpe, and always has been.

-Geisterschloss at EP is an awful  dark ride, christ, bench is better than it!

-The gruffalo is a better attraction than Hex, or Derren Brown’s Ghost Pain.

- The UK’s theme park selection looks worse than Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, France and Sweden’s collection of parks. Soon to be Poland and Turkey.

12 hours ago, Terry Terry said:

Here I go again:

- Cheetah Hunt is better than Taron.

- Nemesis is overrated and I think Smiler is more exiting.

- Abismo is a good ride.

 

Nemesis isn't over-rated, you just don't like it as much as others do. Nothing in this world is actually over-rated, after all Nemesis is just a rollercoaster in a pit doing its thing. Anyone that likes it isn't doing it because of hype, it's because they genuinely enjoy it. It's the same with Expedition Ge Force (which I don't really like), PortAventura (which is the absolute pits as a theme park IMO), Cheetah Hunt (launch, slow to a crawl, launch, slow to a crawl, drop into empty, concrete ravines at slow speeds, yawn).

 

Some controversial opinions from me to you this christmas time.

 

Seaworld Orlando's B&M collection is far superior to Altons B&M collection.

Animal Kingdom is the best Disney park in America.

The only top tier ride that has been introduced to the UK in the last fifteen years has been The Smiler. Thank god for Icon frankly.

Intamin are now for me the worst of the big five coaster manufacturers. Whether its rough rides or ones that are too short and don't reach their full potential. Things like Taron and iSpeed are the exception, not the rule.

 

7 minutes ago, Mark9 said:

Intamin are now for me the worst of the big five coaster manufacturers. Whether its rough rides or ones that are too short and don't reach their full potential. Things like Taron and iSpeed are the exception, not the rule.

 

What are you classing as the Big 5?  B&M, Intamin, Mack, Gerstlauer and Vekoma?

 

If so, I'd argue Intamin are better than Gerstlauer.  I could list many more major appealing Intamin rides than Gerst ones (the two you mention above, Flying Aces, Skyrush, some of their Chinese coasters such as Soaring with Dragon, hopefully Hyperion..).  Gerst have a couple (their infinity models are doing well, as are their bobsled), but I still think they have a lot of generally disappointing or rough rides.  At the very least, I'd rather see a large Intamin than a large Gerstlauer come to the UK.

 

Maybe that's another unpopular opinion on my behalf though, that deep down I do like Intamin...when they do things right...

The Important word here is 'for me'. Gerstlauer has this poor reputation in coaster circles which I think is undeserved whilst Intamin have always received a lot of praise which I don't think they justify through their ride designs. For every Taron there's three short rough rides out there. 

Just for fun, heres the Intamins I've ridden and how I feel about them.

 

Colossus - People say this is rough. I don't necessarily agree but lets face it, that reputation is out there.

Shockwave - Short and rough

Rita - Short and some would say rough

Stealth - Short

Expedition Ge Force - Long however painful for some on the legs

Tornado (Madrid) - Been too long since I've ridden.

Thirteen - This is a good ride

iSpeed - Good ride, albeit, slightly jerky.

Furius Baco - Rough, short, in essence, The worst rollercoaster I've ever ridden.

Cheetah Hunt - Dull as ditchwater. It is long though and isn't rough so there's that.

Tornado (Bakken) - Rough. The second worst rollercoaster I've ever ridden

Mine Train Ulven - This is fine.

Piraten - Very good once it gets warmed up.

Juvelen - One of the best family rollercoasters in Europe.

Indianna Jones - Rough and jerky

RC Racer - Short, absolutely pointless.

V2 - Short, unreliable, absolutely pointless

Superman Escape from Krypton - Short, absolutely pointless

Green Lantern - Short, rough and jerky.

California Screamin' - I really like this. Its basically a Vekoma at this point though.

Xcelerator - Short. It's not bad but its not great either.

Kanonen - I actually liked this short and rough coaster. Sad its gone.

Balder - It's long, it's not rough. But I don't love it because it's kind of repetitive. 

Taron - I love it. Long and smooth.

 

It's boxing day, I'm bored.

I do think Gerstlauer's dodgy reputation is undeserved (especially with UK enthusiasts, which has some of the rougher examples).  But, Van Helsing aside, every Gerstlauer I've done is either rough in its own right, rough in certain rows, or inconsistent with the rides they give.  So even if I enjoy some of their rides (like Saw and Anubis), you can't be guaranteed a good ride.  Some of the more well received Gerstlauers don't seem to have these problem though.  

 

At least with Intamin, if it's right, it's always right.  And they do seem to be getting things right more (especially now they've seemed to get lap bar restraints sorted and their OTSRs are a thing of the past).  Going forward, I'd much prefer to see an Intamin which has a good chance of always being good than a Gerstlauer that's got a better chance of only being good half the time.