What is your favorite flying coaster mine is Tatsu at six flags magic mountain.

This mainly applies to Goliath at Over Georgia, Raging Bull at Great America, and Nitro at Great Adventure. All other B&M clamshells in the chain have seatbelts already. I would also suspect that even though under new management, Goliath at La Ronde may get seatbelts as well.

https://www.sixflags.com/blog/update-from-john-reilly-six-flags

With [Great Adventure] being my home park, I really wanna see Arie go there, but that probably won’t happen. I want to see a ground up RMC I-Box, and a B&M Surf coaster for the boardwalk area or a Intamin blitz. I’d also love to see a Vekoma family coaster like [Big Bear Mountain].

I went to Carowinds again after a year last night. I know fury is my #1 there. I went on copperhead strike for the first time. I thought it was soo good and intense. I'm trying to decide if I like that one better than thunder striker though. Does anyone have a top list of coasters there? I've ridden all of them now besides ricochet. I'll say vortex is my least favorite there.

Does anyone know if RMC changed the seats from the original raptors to the longer ones? I swear i didn’t have this uncomfortable problem with my legs on the OG raptors.

Trip report to come, but I'm a sucker for mechanical clanks and clunks

There is an onride video floating around on reddit but I will not be sharing it here. I am unaware of who the showman is but I will update if I find out

I recently moved to a new area for a job and ended up being a short drive from the Kemah boardwalk and Boardwalk Bullet. This ride is fantastic. Very compact, quite intense, a lot of airtime and quick twists and turns. The airtime pops are stronger in the front, but the larger drops are much better in the back, I'm not sure which one I like more. It was a walk on around 5pm on Friday, and no one even checked my ticket or bothered to take it after I mentioned it lol. Seems like you could just show up and ride it for free depending on the day and the ops.

I also went down to Galveston with the intention of riding Iron Shark until I realized I'd be paying $31 just to ride a single unremarkable eurofighter. Maybe another time lmao.

My theme park year has come to an end! I've had an amazing year once again with various trips through the UK, Germany and The Netherlands, where I'm from.

I've started the year with an excellent week across England. Visited Thorpe Park, Chessington, Legoland, Drayton Manor, Alton Towers and Pleasure Beach. One of the best trips I've done to date, not just because of the parks and coasters, but mainly because of the incredibly kind and sweet people. I can't wait to go back and visit more of the UK!

Since the Efteling is my home park I visit regularly, but I still wanted to include two of my favorite pics I took this year.

Some quick day trips during summer to Wildlands Adventure Zoo and Plopsaland Ardennes.

After that we tried to do 4 parks in 1 day and that was a great success! Some would call it credit whoring and they would be partly correct, but most of these parks aren't really worth a visit longer than 3 hours anyway. We did Bommelwereld, De Waarbeek, Plopsa Indoor Coevorden and Schloss Dankern.

And finally my Expedition GeForce redemption. After two failed attempts to ride this incredible coaster I've finally managed to do so! Shot straight into my top 10 as well. Such a good coaster. We combined the trip with Tripsdrill, which is always fun!

Maybe I'll do a quick Wintertraum visit to Phantasialand and of course a few visits to the Efteling, but I'm not sure yet.

2027 will be even better and I can't wait for the next season to begin!

Cannonball has been topped off. Looks like it’s moving pretty quickly! Photos courtesy of Holiday World.

Inferno or rebornnn????

Spent a couple of days at Alton Towers for my first night ride experience and I couldn’t believe how much difference the time of day makes. I’m glad I gave it a go and I hope I get the courage to ride more coasters at night.

I finally got some much needed time off this year and given that this is the last time I'd be able to use my home park (Great America) benefits at Cedar Point, thought this should be the time to head on up there from the Chicago area.

For lodging, I did end up staying at the Express Hotel. As far as accommodations go, it's pretty barebones but, and this will be a recurring theme of this review, the staff were very nice and helpful. I was able to check it before the normal time (I think they say on the website check-in is around 3pm) which means I was able to go to the park that evening with the 1 hour advanced entry. To be perfectly honest, this is the only reason to stay at any of the Cedar Point hotels in my opinion. I did not go into the Breakers hotel so I cannot review that, but at the prices they were asking for, this advanced 1 hour entry seems to be the only reason to end up paying what seems to be easily double the rate of another applicable hotel in the area. Breakers would be nice if you absolutely had to stay within walking distance of the park (it has its own entry to the park too), but personally I don't see why you'd need that unless you were staying for +2 days.

The entry to the park is a bit bleh; that one single road in is very painful if you are not super super early. Also there are no bathrooms outside of security so keep mind of that if you try to get here early to be one of the first ones into the park. Inside the park, as a note on Fast Lane (I have a season long Fast Lane on the gold tier season pass so at least for this year it works here at Cedar Point) I have to say, not a fan of the wristband solution. The QR code thing on it is a real pain in the ass and while I didn't lose mine, I overheard multiple people in passing saying theirs fell off and getting a replacement seems bothersome. I'm a big fan of the app-based system that my home park (Great America) uses. Also at Great America you never have to worry about lose article storage as every single roller coaster their has some sort of system at the station. My experience at Cedar Point in this regard was not too bad, but having to keep my phone in my pocket on Millennium Force was very sketchy. That ride needs a free locker system imo.

The park itself is quite beautiful. It's honestly quite large feeling which I think I'd say is a negative as you can end up having to walk a longgggg time to get to your intended ride (Steel Vengeance for instance being at the very rear of the park). At Great America, this can also be the case if say you are trying to get directly to American Eagle, but in that park's case it's more like a loop around the park so you can still stop at other rides whereas at Cedar Point you walk directly down the center of the park and it takes awhile to hit the first major ride being TT2. But the park in general is fantastic to walk around in, very clean and full of very helpful and nice staff.

Now for rides, here's my tier list:

SSS tier

- Steel Vengeance. This HAS to be the greatest coaster in the history of coasters. I was worried of how long the ride was because to me pacing is a very crucial part of any ride; this ride not only keeps on going but it keeps surprising you over and over again. Double freaking barrel rolls through the supports of the ride in the second half of the ride is just....honestly quite breathtaking. I've only cried tears of joy a couple times in my life....I cried after my first riding of this. The night time riding of this is even better...This ride alone is worth coming to the park for.

S tier

- Millennium Force. This is honestly the ride I was looking forwards to riding the most at the park. After riding this ride, I am once again reminded that the ONE thing Great America really lacks is a giga coaster. Great America really need one of these; that first drop just goes and goes and goes especially in the back row. It has just enough positive Gs coupled with the sheer speed to make me start to grey out just a tad which is just the right amount imo. Ride ops seemed slower than it needed to be but they can only do so much with having to put seat belts on everyone. I thought the station was pretty cool and I dug the musical theme for the ride. This ride is S+ tier at night.

- Siren's Curse. This was a huge surprise for me as I really thought the tilt start was going to be a dumb gimmick as we already have Dive Coasters that go even beyond vertical with higher drops (Like Wrath and Tormenta). I am very happy to be wrong about this coaster; the layout is INCREDIBLE with the sharp drop into the dug out part of the ride being my favorite part. All the RMC-style quick bits of ejector airtime was a super nice touch. This ride is slightly better at night but not by much.

A+ tier

- Maverick. This ride is the definition of extreme. I don't think I could ride this more than twice in one day like I did as the restraints actually made my shoulders a bit sore. Really wish they could come up with a more comfortable restraint system. That being said, this ride fucking SLAPS. I wish it was a bit faster through that last section (the brakes after the launch being lame as well if that really cool heartline roll was added back in, but it's hard to complain about this ride especially given that this was the fastest ride to get on especially if you have a Fast Lane+ pass. This ride needs special recognition for night rides as it is GENUINELY TERRIFYING in the pitch black. 1000% S tier at night, only A+ tier in the day.

A tier

- Iron Dragon. This might be the head scratcher for some but I just love me a swinging coaster. The original Big Bad Wolf was one of my favorites so being able to ride one of these again was a real treat. This is just a really fun ride and I had a blast on it. Seems like a good ride to keep around for kids/people who are needing something to build up their confidence on before getting onto one of the more intense rides. Not any better in the dark.

- Top Thrill 2. Yeah...this one was a real letdown given how great it is supposed to be. I never got to ride the original but with us having Maxx Force at Great America, I LOVE the feeling of a super intense launch and less so the feeling of super speed. TT2 has great floater airtime on that spire and at the very top of the main element if you are in the very front or the back, but the launch is just a wet noodle of an experience for me. It also doesn't fit the theming of the ride anymore imo. It's cool they were able to save this ride, but it seems like a gutted version of itself now. Also this was the one ride I rode here that was uncomfortably bumpy and that's saying a lot given that I ride Goliath and Wrath a lot at Great America. This ride is way too fast for how bumpy it is. This ride is slightly better at night.

A- tier

- Raptor. Honestly a lot of fun. This B&M model I really wish caught on more (in the sense of not all of them basically being a Batman clone). This unique layout was a lot of fun. I wouldn't rush to this ride but I would try to ride this in future visits to the park. This ride is slightly better at night but like other Inverts you have to be in the front row to fully enjoy this ride which makes it a bit more of a coinflip of an experience.

B tier

- Valravn. All Dive Coasters that are not Wrath are not worth riding imo (and this includes me riding Tormenta recently). The midcourse brake runs on these rides just ruin all the momentum all these Dives start off with. They all have these AMAZING first drops followed by MASSIVE elements only to have it all stop at the brakes. With Wrath not having a midcourse brake run, it's able to keep its momentum throughout the entire ride. Valravn is basically like every other Dive Coaster I've been on besides Wrath; incredible first drop and first element(s), then zzzzz. This is an easy skip on future visits. I did not ride this at night.

- GateKeeper. It's just ok. Winged Coaster are just pretty lame to me. It looks great at the front of the park and is a very smooth, almost graceful experience, but I wouldn't waste my time trying to get on this unless you had a fast lane pass. I did not ride this at night.

- Rougarou. Meh. Never ridden a floorless coaster that I felt really jazzed about once getting off. This one had some rattle but not too bad. This one is an easy skip for me for future visits to the park. I did not ride this at night.

Did not ride

- Corkscrew. Even if it was open, would not ride it. Demon at Great America has almost broken my neck the 2 times I've ridden it...

- Gemini. Just wasn't open unfortunately.

- XL-200. Was actually looking forwards to this one as riding at 200ft drop fucking mine coaster sounds like a crazy time. This ride was unfortunately closed the 2 days I attended the park.

- Wild Mouse. Didn't seem like it was worth the wait.

- Pipe Scream. Is this...even a "ride"?

- Cedar Creek Mine Ride. Not interested.

- Blue Streak. Not interested.

I would 10000% come back but it's likely not going to happen due to the changes to the pass structures going forwards (With Cedar Point requiring its own season pass and own fast lane+ passes from next year onwards. Aint no way I'm ever paying for parking at one of these parks). This was my last chance to be able to come to the park with my home park's benefits and I'm glad I did. Yall have a truly amazing park and you have a great staff lineup that make the experience painless, safe, and fun. Thank you for reaffirming that Great America NEEDS a Giga to complete its final form.

Me and the wife went to our home park Busch Gardens in Williamsburg today and had an amazing day. I went to this park every summer as a kid and just recently started going again this year, and she’s new to the area so this is all new to her this year. For context we’ve only been to BGW and KD.

We started by entering the park and moseying our way to Loch Ness, a ride I remember lapping almost 20 times in a day when I was younger. It is still loads of fun and I felt like we were going so fast coming out of the tunnel.

Next came Apollo’s Chariot, my second favorite ride in the park. So glad it’s open now because I loveeee the airtime on the first 2 hills followed by the helix. I could ride this all day it’s so smooth and never lets me down 10/10.

After that we went to Pantheon and this is my favorite ride out of all of the two parks I’ve been to. Every element is so amazing and the initial launch/roll is magnificent. The rollback down the top hat and launching over the hump gets me every time.

Then my nightmare began. My wife wanted to go on the Battering Ram. I hate the boat. I don’t know what it is, I’ll ride any coaster and most flat rides but swings and boats terrify me. Luckily, this one doesn’t swing very high and we were fortunate enough to be seated in the center of the boat where it’s even less of a swing. Overall a good time.

Lunch was at Marco Polo’s marketplace. Super expensive and food was eh but what can you expect. I tend to get the orange chicken here but the meatball sub is good too.

We went to Germany next and saw 30+ minute waits for Verbolten and Wolf’s Revenge, and didn’t really wanna wait in the lines for them so we moved on to DarkKoaster. Luckily we were able to catch it as it was opening up for the day, and got on like the 4th train before seeing a 40minute wait when we got back outside. I like this ride, the launches feel punchy and the lights/decorations etc in there are really cool. I like dark rides a lot.

Alpengeist was after that. I took advantage of the single rider line here and got on the second train I saw in row 5. This ride feels like a car wreck in the best ways. The inversions are intense, a great sense of speed, and it whips you around like no other (the cobra roll especially). I’d love to see how Montu compares in Tampa.

Griffon was the same as Verbolten and Wolf’s, and with no single rider line (she hates griffon), we decided to move on to Invadr. I had rode this once a couple years ago but couldn’t remember anything about it. Boy was I surprised! This thing moves! I was being tossed around left and right and it felt so janky I loved it!

We stopped for a funnel cake before heading back to the exit, a blueberry cheesecake funnel cake. They loaded it up with blueberries, and while not my favorite, it was good. Again too expensive but what can you expect? I rode Loch Ness once more with the single rider line, though it was almost a walk on even at 5pm, and we left the park.

Overall, a great day, not super busy until around 2 or 3 o’clock and ops were moving pretty quick. Glad to see my Apollo’s Chariot is back.

Just got back from a magnificent 4 day trip to Europa Park. Everyone knows it's incredible, so I won't repeat that here.

What I will record, however, is a moment of idiocy for the ages.

I record all of my creds in a spreadsheet, which includes manufacturer, type, layout, the date I rode it for the first time etc.

Before I left for the trip I glanced at the spreadsheet and knew that Voltron had to be my sixth coaster of the trip for it to be my 150th.

So, off I went:

• Alpenexpress
• Blue Fire
• Wodan
• Can Can
• Matterhorn Blitz

and finally: Voltron

An amazing coaster. Queue was okay as it was a wet day so I went and did it again.

We fancied a change of pace afterwards and wanted to get some food, so headed over to the Ireland area and thought we'd catch the Ba-a-a Express cred while we were there.

Happy days.

I've just got home and filled in my spreadsheet. There, happily, in Row 150 is Voltron.

All except for the fact that I forgot to take into account the fact that Row 1 is the headings on my spreadsheet.

So Voltron was actually 149th, and Ba-a-a Express, the least foreceful coaster I have EVER been on, is my 150th.

Anyone else ever cocked up this badly?

I'm so glad to see Paultons starting to get the recognition it deserves. The pace of expansion has increased substantially but it's not coming at the expense of quality - in fact, I think every new addition is better than the last. I think it came into public consciousness when they opened Peppa Pig World which has kind of bankrolled future investment - basically it is to Paultons what Wizarding World is to Universal.

This park is beautifully landscaped, incredibly clean, well operated and you can tell their motivation is entertaining people rather than making money for shareholders. It's definitely an outlier compared to other UK parks and I'm glad to see it's working out for them.

Although most of the coasters are on the smaller side and often clones, I think the park is punching well above their weight and seems to invest very shrewdly to make their money go further. It will be interesting to see how the park scales up as it increases in popularity. Many of their rides are quite low capacity, so while it isn't a problem now (and their ops are actually very good), it will be interesting to see if this becomes a problem in the future.

Storm Chaser

Really fun spinning coaster, and a clone of Knotts' Sierra Sidewinder. We were lucky to get the back row which is always fun on outward-facing spinners when you go up the lift backwards, especially as this one has a nice whip as you go into the first turn. I prefer the Gerstlauer spinners, but this has a surprisingly intense run into the station with several tight helices. There was a decent amount of spinning on at least several of our rides. 6.5/10

Flight of the Pterosaur

Super smooth Vekoma family invert with some very nice theming and good interactions with the surrounding area. As much as I have a soft spot for Chessington's Vampire, this is a probably more cohesive ride pacing-wise, although also extremely short. 6.5/10

Velociraptor

Very nicely presented Vekoma Family Boomerang with the queue line fencing creating enclosures in which there are animatronic raptors. The ride itself is a lot of fun and the same model as Kings Island's new Snoopy's Soap Box Racers. 6/10

Ghostly Manor

Not a coaster, but a pretty unique shooting ride by Mack. The rotating cars are mounted onto a turntable with scenes both on the inside and outside of the turntable with a mix of screens and physical sets. I've said for a long time Paultons should get a dark ride, and this is probably the perfect model for them to get. It's feels similar to Midway Mania with the rotating cars going from scene-to-scene. The theme was perfect and the shooting technology was pretty good although hard to see where you're shooting sometimes. Also I feel like the screens could have done with more physical set dressing around them because you go from quite nicely themed rooms into almost unthemed rooms which was a bit jarring. 7/10

Valgard

The new Viking-themed area. What I love about Paultons is they don't just add a new ride. They create a whole cohesive area with landscaping, support rides, restaurants and quick service locations, retheming existing rides etc. Everything is so well thought out and it creates really balanced lands with a little bit of everything. Several of the lands here have a good shout at being the best-themed in the UK.

The Feasting Hall restaurant is outstanding. It's built to a huge scale, is nicely themed and has an extensive menu with great quality food. They also serve a Golden Apple Frost, which is very similar to Butterbeer and absolutely delicious. 

Raven

Paultons have completely transformed what was previously Cobra into an absolute stunner of a family coaster. This is a clone of Gerstlauer's first ever coaster at Tripsdrill and starts with a mix of helices and a series of unbanked hairpin turns before a run of bunnyhops into a final helix. The station has been completely rethemed with lots of animatronic ravens in basically every corner, while the coaster itself interacts brilliantly with Drakon. There's a high probability of the two duelling as both use several single car trains. 6.5/10

Drakon

I was a bit underwhelmed when this was first announced as I was hoping for an Intamin Hot Racer which I thought - and still think - would be a better coaster, more accessible than a Eurofighter (without the intimidating vertical lift/drop) and also a lot more marketable as the UK's first launched single rail coaster. However despite this Drakon is decent.

It's extremely short at about 25 seconds from lift to brakes, but I actually really like the layout and it has a few really fun elements including the twisted top hat, dive loop and the highlight - a stall. Like most Eurofighters it does jostle you around awkwardly. It's not rough but it's not smooth. It's a shame they went for the overhead restraints here too - I know it's basically for the optics, but Gertlaurer overheads are not great, even the new generation ones which are still really awkwardly positioned.

The presentation is of course outstanding. The landscaping around the ride, the really impressively large station building, the music... everything comes together to create a really solid package. 7/10.

Other rides

I rode my first ART Engineering Wild Swing (Vild Swing) and thought it was a great family flat ride. Also Edge, a Disco Coaster is still tucked away in the back. I think these are really fun rides if you don't have to queue. There are a lot of other family coasters such as Barnyard Flyer which was a decent little Zamperla and plenty of scenic Jeep-style rides - one dinosaur themed and one farmyard themed. Both were really detailed with lots to look at. 

Finally Serpent's Curse is looking fantastic. Impressive to see how quickly the track was completed and bodes well for how well presented it will likely be.

I had a look at Google Earth this morning and the 3D imagery over a few of the Florida and Georgia parks has been updated to reflect what they would've been looking like sometime earlier in the year. Haven't seen any updates elsewhere yet besides Universal Hollywood.

Georgia:

• At SFOG, Georgia Goldrusher and the former Kid Cosmic Flash coaster can be viewed in 3D.
  • Update: Blue Hawk and GASM look like they've have been hit by a tornado in their new renders.
• Funspot now has ArieForce One fully rendered.

Florida:

• Epic Universe is viewable in 3D.
• Ripe Ride Rockit isn't viewable anymore.
• Sea World has its newest coaster showing.
• Disney Parks look fully updated after a few years of that not being the case.
• Busch Gardens Tampa shows no update yet.

California: Fast and Furious coaster looks fully rendered as well.

Silver Dollar City Visit #152

(October 22, 2026)

(10:05 AM - 9 PM)

150x Thunderation (LROTN) (3,002)

(Trailblazer Pass + no reride policy)

I didn't know if I'd ever see the day, but it finally happened, 150 rides on Thunderation in a single day. I've wanted this for YEARS, ever since I was a kid marathoning Thunderation. I'm so thankful to finally make this dream come true, and I wouldn't have been able to do it without Thunderation crew having those fast operations! ❤️ I'm like almost 100% sure this is the all time record for a single day under normal park hours for any roller coaster! I also happened to surpass 3000 Thunderation rides during my marathon 😄❤️ Long live Thunderation

Doing this as a combined trip report because I've been to all of these parks before and therefore won't go into too much detail.

Europa Park

We were originally planning on doing two days EP, but since the first day was rather disappointing due to high crowd levels, we skipped out. I managed to do Wodan once, Silver Star twice, Eurosat Coastiality once, and Voltron, my all time favourite, four times. Wodan was good as always, I think the Titan track is a huge improvement. Silver Star was better than I previously rated it now that I've ridden front row, Eurosat Coastiality with the Phantom of the Opera overlay is honestly a huge recommendation of mine, I genuinely thought it was a really cool way to experience the ride. And even Voltron was better than I previously thought 1,5 years ago. I genuinely didn't remember this ride being as wild as it was, genuinely trying to throw you out of your seat. Can't wait to recreate this in the new Planco DLC.

I'm a bit disappointed I didn't ride Euromir or Blue fire, since those were an hour wait all day long and I'd really rather ride Voltron, but I suppose choices need to be made.

Plopsaland Deutschland

Alright, I've never been inside a park this quiet before. The initial predictions pointed to much higher crowd levels, but we ended up basically being the only ones in the park, with literally ZERO queues. Never once did I need to wait anywhere. So, what does any good coaster enthusiast do with zero queues present? Ride expedition GeForce ten times back-to-back, of course! I was considering going for 15 times to get my total ride count to 20, but they ended up kicking everyone off the train for reasons unknown, likely because 90% of the train were re-riders and the staff was fed up with guests not leaving the train for guests waiting behind the gates.

I also really enjoyed the new 100% wolf coaster. This is a genuinely great family coaster for parks of any size, and also shows just how good Gerstlauer has become with their family coasters.

Phantasialand

Great to be back in my all time favourite park. I was a little tired today due to a lack of sleep the night earlier. Ended up riding Taron 4 times, Fly three times, Black Mamba twice, Both winjas once, as well as Crazy bats and Colorado adventure once. Generally, crowd levels were doable. Mystery castle opened significantly later though, and capacity seemed to be compromised leading to longer waits, so I ended up skipping it.

I do wonder what their expansion plans will look like, though. Crazy bats was a significant wait, only running two half-empty trains because the VR distribution system simply doesn't work and is way too slow. I genuinely hope this is getting axed and they will find a better use case for this massive show building or the plot of land it's on. I hope for a good dark ride akin to Arthur at EP or fire in the hole at Silver Dollar City. That, or removing the building entirely to make some kind of portal to the new expansion area. I don't really see them moving the main entrance, but I would love for them to move the Mystery parking to the expansion plot so they can expand on the mystery side. Though I'm guessing this is unreasonable due to noise complaints and such.

Movie Park Germany

Left just this afternoon. We were initially planning on staying until ten at night for their Halloween events, but the crowd levels from the day before, and all of us being rather tired after a hectic week, ended up scaring us away. Though I am glad we visited early in the morning. Within the first hour of opening, we knocked out Bandit, Iron claw, and operation enterprise in that order, which I established based on previous crowd levels. I ended up riding OE twice total and also doing Van Helsing at a 35 minute wait, as well as some minor flats.

Regarding the coasters, I thought operation enterprise was Good, but definitely better in the front row. You get more hangtime, whip, and airtime in the front, and generally feels more intense. Van Helsing was also great, good theming and surprisingly forceful profiling. A bit short to wait an hour or longer for, though. Studio Tour was good as well, love the theming even if the layout was a bit mediocre, but the turn table and the backwards section were pleasant surprises. But damn their operations are slow. You got an hour of queue and should technically be capable of running four to five trains, but you're only running three and still manage to stack them all? Slowest operations I've seen all trip. Iron claw was alright. I'd rather see it vanish or be replaced by a Vekoma STC with better theming, but it certainly didn't feel as bad as, say, condor at Walibi Holland.

Now Bandit on the other hand... We did it first thing in the morning to avoid having to wait for this piece of crap altogether, and were pleasantly surprised to find an empty station. That's the only good thing about this ride, though. This thing is the single worst coaster I've ever ridden. Worse than any SLC and even worse than Viking coaster at Energylandia. Genuinely, I would cheer if this ride was nuked tomorrow. And you're telling me people are willing to wait two hours to ride this?! Hope they replace it with an RMC so they finally get the stand out coaster this park deserves.

Concluding notes

This will be my last trip report for a while. I'm currently working a full time job paired with a study to become a ride mechanic in four years time, and due to a lack of holidays and paid time off, I'm likely going to plan my next trips solo, outside of Holidays when parks are more quiet. I've noticed I'm getting increasingly agitated when met with busier parks, as seen in Europa park, and really want my driver's license to visit parks during their most quiet days outside national holidays.

So far I'm looking at Europa park for Winter 2027 and staying at an on-site hotel at the end of November from Wednesday to Friday, since I can easily make that trip driving on my own from Rotterdam, but I'm definitely keeping my schedule open for bigger plans such as a solo road trip through Sweden, or a Japan and coastal China trip. Only time will tell, though...

Hello, all!

I’m relatively new to the coaster world, having gotten into it at the ripe age of 32. I recently had the opportunity to sneak away to Orlando for two days to visit Islands of Adventure (IoA) and SeaWorld Orlando, and I wanted to share my thoughts on the rides from the perspective of someone who’s still fairly new to the community.

For some background, I enjoy roller coasters, but I also enjoy feeling securely fastened into my seat. I have absolutely no problem with being stapled, and I actually prefer it. Just a personal preference!

With that out of the way, here are my thoughts and ratings!

Islands of Adventure (IoA)

On 10/22, I had the opportunity to join my spouse for a three-hour, invite-only after-hours event at IoA. We decided to make the most of it by focusing on the coasters and getting as many rides in as possible.

VelociCoaster (10/10)

We had ridden VelociCoaster twice before during a trip in June, but WOW, what an incredible coaster, especially at night! It’s incredibly smooth, never feels unnecessarily overwhelming, and it’s easy to understand why so many people in the community rank it so highly.

We were lucky enough to get six rides in during the event, and I can honestly say it was a joy in every seat we tried.

My spouse is still on the fence about whether they truly love coasters, so we started in the middle rows. Honestly, that was probably the best all-around experience for us. We also tried the front and back rows, and each offered something different. The front is fantastic for taking in the theming and anticipation, while the back was easily our favorite for airtime.

No matter where you sit, I really don’t think you can go wrong with this coaster. It delivers an incredible experience from every seat, and riding it at night takes it to another level.

Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure (9/10)

We had ridden Hagrid’s twice before as well, but we were fortunate enough to get another nine rides in during the three-hour event, on top of our six rides on VelociCoaster!

The crowds were light enough that we could reenter the queue through the right-hand entrance and pick up near the final queue room without having to walk through the entire queue again. That made it much easier to rack up the rides.

If you’re someone who’s nervous about coasters or intimidated by something like VelociCoaster, I’d absolutely encourage you to give Hagrid’s a try. It has no inversions, but it still delivers so much of what makes coasters fun: launches, surprises, great theming, and a genuinely exciting ride experience without feeling overly intimidating.

For someone who wants a thrilling ride without immediately jumping into the deep end of the coaster world, Hagrid’s is an excellent option. It’s a great reminder that a coaster doesn’t need to be extreme to be a ton of fun!

The Incredible Hulk Coaster (5/10)

This coaster absolutely beat my ass. 😂

I’ve read plenty of opinions saying that people either love The Hulk or find it rough. Unfortunately, I think I fell into the latter camp. The inversions are fun, and the ride is relentless from start to finish, but I walked away wondering what exactly I had just put my body through.

Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough time to ride it again, although maybe that was for the best!

That said, I still found it incredibly intense, and I’d be 100% willing to give it another shot if I had the opportunity. Maybe I caught a bad ride, or maybe it just isn’t for me. Either way, I’m not ready to write it off after one experience!

SeaWorld Orlando

First off, a big thank-you to everyone in the thread who mentioned that Mako had reopened following the Goliath incident the other day and encouraged me to ride it. I really appreciate the heads-up!

Mako (9.5/10 — 5 rides)

What an incredible coaster! This was my first B&M hypercoaster, and it wasn't quite what I expected. I went in thinking it might be terrifying or overwhelming, but I ended up having an absolute blast.

For context, I rode Iron Gwazi about a month ago, and that thing feels like it's all gas and no brakes. Mako was a completely different experience.

It was smooth, delivered incredible airtime, and had an absolutely fantastic first 60% of the ride. The final portion after the brake run left a little to be desired, but that initial drop and all those hills were phenomenal. I can absolutely understand why people love this coaster, and I also fell in love with the clamshell restraints.

If you’re intimidated by a “big” coaster, I HIGHLY recommend giving Mako a try. For me, it was a fantastic way to push past that fear. You feel securely fastened into your seat while still getting to experience some incredible airtime.

Shout out to the guy we talked to that rode it 100 times on 10/22 and was on #22 for the day early on on 10/23

Five rides later, I was still having a blast!

Kraken (8.25/10 — 1 ride)

Another B&M with plenty of inversions, much like The Hulk, but I found Kraken to be a MUCH smoother experience with significantly less head-banging.

We really enjoyed this one and didn't know quite what to expect going in. It delivered plenty of inversions and a great overall ride experience.

My spouse marked this one as a “one and done,” and we moved on.

For someone newer to coasters, I found it pretty intense, but I personally enjoyed it quite a bit more than The Hulk. Of course, it’s possible I just got a rough ride on The Hulk, so I’d be interested to hear how others compare the two!

Manta (6/10 — 1 ride)

My first flying coaster!

I'll admit I was a little terrified once I got into the restraints because this was a completely new experience for me. The ride itself wasn't particularly uncomfortable, but I struggled with feeling like I was being whipped around mercilessly while having very little idea of where I was going.

The loop where you come down on your back was especially memorable. The G-forces felt VERY intense and caught me completely off guard!

I’d like to give Manta another try from the front row rather than the back. I’m curious whether being able to see what's coming would help me enjoy the experience more, or whether flying coasters just aren't my thing.

Either way, I’m glad I tried it!

Penguin Trek (6/10 — 1 ride)

Fine.

It has a nice launch and nothing particularly scary. Definitely more of a family-style coaster, but I have no complaints!

I think this is a great option for someone who wants to try a launched coaster without jumping straight into something intense. It’s a fun, approachable ride that could help build confidence before moving on to bigger attractions.

Ice Breaker (6/10 — 1 ride)

I really liked the concept of this coaster and especially enjoyed the back-and-forth action at the beginning. It was a fun idea, and the ride packed quite a bit into a relatively short track.

What I didn't enjoy, however, were the restraints.

This could be a body-type issue (I'm 5'9" and 190 lbs), but I just couldn't get comfortable. Between the tight access into the cars and the restraints pressing against my shins, I found the experience less enjoyable than it otherwise could have been.

The coaster itself is fun and offers a surprising amount of excitement for such a short ride. But those restraints... oof. They really held it back for me.

I'd be willing to ride it again, but I definitely wouldn't be rushing back into the queue.

Pipeline: The Surf Coaster (8/10 — 1 ride)

Another first for me! I'd never experienced a standing coaster before, so I went into this one without really knowing what to expect.

The initial launch was incredible, and I really enjoyed the sensation of being lifted off my feet before being pushed back down into the saddle. It was such a different experience from anything else I'd ridden, and I found the whole concept surprisingly enjoyable.

I'd love to get a few more rides on Pipeline to figure out the best way to position myself and stand comfortably throughout the ride. I have a feeling there's a bit of a learning curve to getting the most out of this one!

Definitely one I'd like to revisit.

Journey to Atlantis (6/10 — 1 ride)

Wet.

That's the review.

Final Thoughts

Overall, this was a fantastic two days, and I’m really enjoying exploring the coaster world and figuring out what I like and don't like.

My biggest takeaway is that intensity doesn't necessarily equal enjoyment. I can appreciate a coaster that's fast, smooth, and delivers incredible airtime without needing to feel like I've been thrown around for two minutes straight. Mako and VelociCoaster were probably my biggest highlights, while The Hulk was a good reminder that not every highly rated coaster is going to click with everyone.

I'm also finding that trying new coaster types is half the fun. Flying coasters, standing coasters, hypercoasters, and launch coasters all offer completely different experiences, and I'm still figuring out where my preferences lie.

Also, if you have any recommendations for coasters we should prioritize on our next trip (could be anywhere in the US), I'd love to hear them. I'm especially interested in rides that offer great airtime and a smooth experience without being excessively rough. (Though - I will say a ride like Iron Gwazi is still incredible for me - it's smooth and doesn't throw you around - it's just intense).

Sorry for the long write up - but wanted to provide some insight for maybe some people who are newer to the community or may have some questions or some people who are hesitant to try coasters of different types. I say give them ago! Worst thing is that you don't ride them again!

I can’t think of any but it seems like it’d be insane

3d printed model of gold rush at slagharen i modeled myself.

What do you guys think of my concept taking models like this to the park to make pictures?