ninevolt

We were at the park today -- came thru gate at 1050, my 14yr old son and I bolted to grab Orion passes while my wife and 11yr old son went to wait for Mystic. Got my 11-12pm window pass for Orion, and thought we'd go ride Mystic first with the others before coming back to make our window -- and we managed two rides on Mystic, two rides on Diamondback, *and* got back to Orion at 1145 for a walkon to row 2. ( Also, FWIW: the 11 yr old has decided he has 'graduated' from Flying Ace Aerial Chase, and is now Team Banshee. He plans to write a farewell letter to the Flying Ace ride ops. )

It's already good. I think a full train's mass will be really noticeable in the wave turn/turn around --- but I also think it'll allow them to dial that trim in a bit more precisely for best effect. I think the biggest improvement you'll see with full trains, though? The ability for a group of 3 or 4 to ride in a single row, share 52-ish glorious seconds drop-to-brakes of quality air time, hit the final brakes, and then turn and look at each other with the shared realization of what just happened, followed shortly thereafter by wondering how long it'd be before they can ride again or if they should just proceed Directly To Funnelcakes.

My GP-centric Orion review summary: Very nice, would reride, but probably not this season due to wait times/traffic/world-at-large. Disclaimer: I'm a one park person, but I've got a physics degree and therefore view coasters as giant steel tributes to differential equations -- I love both the ride experience, and the math involved in making the coasters feel that way. Once upon a time I worked in a centrifuge where I had to spin pilots and trainees at high Gs. I've wound up appreciating exactly how G force affects the body. We got to ride it once yesterday ( row 4 ) -- going into the ride, I wasn't terribly thrilled about the idea, but my 14 yr old has been obsessing about it since the original announcement and the CGI-rendered POV. Lift hill: Probably the best moment for me was as soon as we're out of the station and going up, my 14 year old old starts mumbling "what have i done why did i think this was a good idea". I admit, I laughed more than I probably should have as a parent. Drop: Wow, that was a heck of a thing. Definitely a great sensation of falling, and it's angled just enough that you have, for a brief glorious moment, that bit of sensory disassociation where you forget you're strapped into a chair until the drop starts bottoming out and you settle back in ever so slight and realize "oh hey, there's the train, forgot about it for a millisecond, and I'm not actually falling 300 feet into landscaping where the grass hasn't filled in." Great feeling, A+, amazing view as you have the momentary sensation of impending gravitationally induced doom. First hill/'wave turn' : Nice mix of forces, should be really fun when they get back to running full trains. Looking to my left to watch my kid's face go from anguish to OH YEAH THIS IS WHY WE DO THIS was also good. The Turnaround: The banked turn, nice mix of forces, and exiting low to the ground with that slight left bank as you head into the next small airtime hill? Perfection. Airtime hill coming out of the turnaround: Oh, yeahhhhhhhhhh. That was awesome. Airtime hill with the trim: I'm going to be a contrarian here and say that I think the trim hits perfectly, and scrubs enough velocity from the train to really throw riders forward/up just slightly enough to *ensure* maximum airtime while maintaining a GP-reasonable speed as you head into 'Orion's Belt'. People are already commenting that they were on the borderline of greying out during the helix, and I think that's just about where they'd want to keep the ride. ( My kid's assessment of the trim: "The trim is Orion's way of getting your attention -- it's the ride telling you that you will FLOAT AND PAY RESPECTS" ) Coming out of the helix under the headchopper-ish element? Nice. Last full hill before the popup into the brakes? Felt great, and transitioned nicely into the final popup into the brakes, at which point my son's assessment of "Well, *that* just happened" was never more apt. We'll re-ride it when we can -- we have reservations this coming Monday, but don't plan to return to the park till late August this season, if at all. Wife wants to get a few rides on Mystic Timbers, and I'd like a ride on Banshee -- so we have to play swap-the-kid-that-only-rides-flat-rides.

Favorite ride so far at the park: Two way tie between Banshee and Orion. Least Favorite: Racer Ride I was surprised to like: The Bat