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Flight Of Fear


BeastForever
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I've been wondering about this for years. Flight of Fear is a STEEL coaster and doesn't have the hanger shaped track like Vortex does yet it's still in my opinion the roughest ride in the park. Yes, even rougher than SOB was. I sometimes feel like like I'll bang my head on the side of the car. Thank GOD it has lap bars I wonder how bad it would've been If I rode FOF when it had OTSR's. Luckily in those days I was 3.smile.gif FOF is still one of my favorite coasters in the park. Having lap bars is what saved this ride. On topic: Why is FOF so rough?...

EDIT: This is just out of curiousity. I actually love how FOF whips me around like that.smile.gif

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I've been wondering about this for years. Flight of Fear is a STEEL coaster and doesn't have the hanger shaped track like Vortex does yet it's still in my opinion the roughest ride in the park. Yes, even rougher than SOB was. I sometimes feel like like I'll bang my head on the side of the car. Thank GOD it has lap bars I wonder how bad it would've been If I rode FOF when it had OTSR's. Luckily in those days I was 3.smile.gif FOF is still one of my favorite coasters in the park. Having lap bars is what saved this ride. On topic: Why is FOF so rough?...

I don't find Flight of Fear rough in the least, but I often do ride in the front... Like any roller coaster, I'm sure there are some rough seats, and some days are rougher than others. In particular, though, Flight of Fear does suffer from what I refer to as (and if this starts getting widely used, I'd like to today proclaim myself the originator!) Premier vibration (alternatively, Premier rumble). You can feel it on Backlot Stunt Coaster, too (particularly in that ride's over-banked turn) and even on Revenge of the Mummy and Sky Rocket. There are just moments, particularly in sharp turns and rapid acceleration (the exit of the cobra roll comes to mind) that you can almost feel a rapid hammering or vibration that goes through the whole train, likely because the top wheel disconnects the tiniest fraction of a centimeter and is bouncing back down throughout the maneuver, like when your shoe makes a fart noise against a tile floor.

It certainly is different because of the darkness and speed. Even when you can see what's going on thanks to the spotlights, it took me five or six rides on Flight of Fear to understand the layout of the first fifteen seconds or so. It really is hard to tell if you're upside down or not, and even harder to brace yourself to prepare for those quick transitions. And plus, cobra rolls are very rarely the "smooth" part of any ride, whether it be inverted, sitting, floorless, etc. They're just sort of create a jerky motion.

I wouldn't call it rough. But I definitely feel that Premier vibration (name-droppin'!) throughout, especially in the right (or wrong) seats. Try the front row of each car, and for the best ride that I've found, the front row of the whole train. It's a world of difference, especially when you first enter the showbuilding, blinded by the camera flash, and emerge surrounded in color and supports. Just imagining it gets me hot and bothered! (TMI?)

GYK, whose favorite roller coaster at Kings Island is undoubtedly Flight of Fear & who has never heard anything but praise from his friends and others on the train with him, and who laments the fact that, while the rides will get taller and faster, they will never have the spirit of adventure that Flight of Fear has so long as Cedar Fair owns the park.

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I can only imagine if beastforever389 had ridden Batman and Robin: The Chiller with the over the shoulder restraints. The first year, many, many people came off that thing with bleeding ears...and that didn't even include the ones who somehow ignored the signs "NO EARRINGS" and got past the ride ops...

I miss it so...

The Messrs Freeze were nearly as violent...Think Invertigo with what seemed to be (but was not) about 20 times the lateral force...right into those restraints...

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I wouldn't consider Flight of Fear to be rough. It's more violent than anything. The track after the launch that leads into the "bowl" is smooth as can be, and this is a sign of a smooth ride. The reason it's violent is just because of how much stuff it does. Inversion after inversion will shake you around, especially when you don't know where you're going next.

And I agree, lap bars are much better than ostrs unless the ride is built by B&M, which in that case it doesn't make a difference either way.

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I rode FOF in 2000, with the OSHR and yeah it was a head beater. I don't ride FOF from it being rough, only smooth part was the launch everything after that was rough.

I think BLST is the smoothest coaster there, along with Invertigo. Think I'll stick to the Intamin launch coasters.

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I rode Flight of Fear twice. The first time, in 2009,it was quite smooth. The second time, I was in back pain THE ENTIRE DAY AFTERWORDS. Read my 5/16/2010 trip report to see more details. I still loved the ride, it's amazing, but I would like to know where I was sitting...so I can avoid that seat and never ride FOF from it again!

It made Beast, Vortex, and Blue Racer (3 of the other "rough" rides in the park) look...super silky smooth. Not sure how the "Super Rough" Wooden Monster compares since it's always closed when I attempt to ride it...

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Back Lot Stunt Coaster and Flight of Fear are both Premier rides. Invertigo is a Vekoma Boomerang.

Intamin built both Top Thrill Dragster, and Kinda Ka. From what I've heard, one is much smoother and more enjoyable than the other.

I am talking about Wicked Twister along with Top Thrill Dragster, haven't been on Kingda Ka. The OSHR would leave marks on my neck going throw the 270 degree spiral.

Diamondback also give me a headache, you can't feel it in the front car but the rest of the cars you can. All three wheels are touching the track so can't figure out why are there little bumps?

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I'll stand with people when they say that the bumpiness at the bottom of the hills on Diamondback is strong. I've ridden on both the inside and the outside many times, and the roughness at the bottom of the hills is there. I don't get where that "rattle" comes from, but I think it's getting stronger.

Flight of Fear isn't bumpy at all. It's violent, but it isn't bumpy by any means. The "roughness" you feel comes from the lateral forces that throw you from side to side. I understand that the intensity of some rides can give people a headache, but I love it.

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I don't ride Flight of Fear very often, but I've noticed that in the MCBR (WHEN YOU COME TO A STUPID COMPLETE STOP) the whole structure seems to shake/rock back and forth. I agree, it's not necessarily rough, but yes it is violent. For example, your body jolts from side to side very quickly in some parts. I consider rough rattling your body.

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And really, Flight of Fear is only "violent" for the very very beginning, and very ending. After the sidewinder, the ride is really quite tame all the way through to the MCBR. It leaves that quite slowly and doesn't really pick up again until the car slams to the right and begins its final helix around at ground-level just before the faux-corkscrew and the corkscrew.

ALSO (here's some news I have to offer!): Kings Dominion's Flight of Fear did not stop on the MCBR on my trip last week. It slows about as much as Diamondback's, lightly skidding and slowing, before diving right into the finale. Really. Hand to God.

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And really, Flight of Fear is only "violent" for the very very beginning, and very ending. After the sidewinder, the ride is really quite tame all the way through to the MCBR. It leaves that quite slowly and doesn't really pick up again until the car slams to the right and begins its final helix around at ground-level just before the faux-corkscrew and the corkscrew.

ALSO (here's some news I have to offer!): Kings Dominion's Flight of Fear did not stop on the MCBR on my trip last week. It slows about as much as Diamondback's, lightly skidding and slowing, before diving right into the finale. Really. Hand to God.

And Joker's Jinx at Six Flags America has no MCBR at all.....

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And really, Flight of Fear is only "violent" for the very very beginning, and very ending. After the sidewinder, the ride is really quite tame all the way through to the MCBR. It leaves that quite slowly and doesn't really pick up again until the car slams to the right and begins its final helix around at ground-level just before the faux-corkscrew and the corkscrew.

ALSO (here's some news I have to offer!): Kings Dominion's Flight of Fear did not stop on the MCBR on my trip last week. It slows about as much as Diamondback's, lightly skidding and slowing, before diving right into the finale. Really. Hand to God.

And Joker's Jinx at Six Flags America has no MCBR at all.....

I know. I'm simply pointing out some information that some here might find useful. Starting broadly and narrowing it down, we can quickly discover who is mandating the near-complete-stop on the MCBR.

Premier does not, since they have clones of the ride that do not even feature a break there.

Cedar Fair does not, since they own two clones of the ride, and one of them is not stopping the train.

Kings Island, on the other hand...?

Or perhaps (random thought, not a hint towards some secret knowledge I have) the state of Ohio has something to do with it? But then again, that would be the case since, in Ohio, parks must follow manufacturer's "recommendations." But certainly, Premier doesn't even "recommend" using the break like that, seeing as how the last three of their five clones weren't even built with a break there, right?

What I'm saying is, if Kings Dominion's doesn't stop, and ours is literally an exact copy, and it's pretty far-fetched that Premier would recommend a complete-stop (since the ride did not stop until Paramount's was removed from the park's name), one can reasonably deduce that the one instituting the near-complete-stop is within Kings Island's operation alone, and not all of Cedar Fair's, as we once thought.

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When Outer Limits: Flight of Fear opened, it nearly stopped on the brake run. It was only in later Paramount years that it did not. Even then, it sometimes did.

And, Premier did not recommend using breaks on coasters. Unless you mean a pause...as in the midcourse break...

Terp, who sometimes borders on saying too much

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I just assumed that stopping was part of the ride since the spot light "searches" the train. Part of the theme stuff everyone cares so much about.

That does not happen anymore. In fact, I never knew that it did. A neat idea, though.

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I do think the upper half of your body tends to swing side to side at times (obviously the bottom half won't because of the nature of the seats). My biggest issue is with the front seat of each car. I'm so tall that I have to sit in the back or my feet will not fit under the lap bar. Does anyone else know what I'm talking about here? The wheel well protrudes from the floor and your foot has to wedge between it and the lap bar rod. I've seen bigger guys have to get up because they can't get their feet in there.

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