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Firehawk vs B&M flyers


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What makes the Zamperla ones so bad? Are they rough?

The following:

You literally have to climb up into the "seats" once situated during the continuous load, the staff then brings the back down to lock you in. When they lock you in, your feet (from what I remember) are pretty much set on whatever bar you place them on. Now imagine flipping upside down even for a few short seconds to have your back thrust upon the back of the cars.

Canadas-Wonderland-2012-Time-Warp-5.jpg

Time Warp picture from Negative-g.com

you pretty much have to keep your hands on the vertical bars for best "comfort" unless you've got space on either side of you. It's incredible uncomfortable to be in a car with all 4 seats filled to put your arms out and/or folded in front of you, or even on the vertical bars as the person next to you puts force on your arms through transitions. No imagine the slowing down abruptly at the midcourse and at the end of the circuit....where will your shoulders go? Forward into the semi-restraint like bars. OWW!!!

198703d1373325239-2013-neuheit-flying-sp

From http://centralpark-fr.com/

As talked about a little before, imaging going through transitions in those cars....the transitions on these I feel are very uneven, not drawn out length wise and should be. The quick transitions thrusts riders into the restraints unlike any other coasters with quick transitions. Most roller coasters allow for free upper body movement (to a certain extent) whereas these flyers do not. The transitions are too quick and put awful forces on the body.

SuperFlight05.jpg

Superflight from coastergallery.com

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I'm not ecstatic about the flying coaster concept, but Firehawk is eons better than both the Supermen I've ridden combined. I've been on Firehawk and the Supermen - Ultimate Flights in Chicago and Jackson. Could've ridden the one in Atlanta in October (it would have been my third S-UF), but it wasn't even worth the one-hour Gold The Flash Pass wait I would have had at the end of the day after riding everything else. I was tired, the park was filling up, and I just did not want to bother with making the walk from Batman and Mindbender to S-UF way at the back of the park, sitting around, bored, and then sitting on the ride, bored. Maybe I'll bother with it the next time I visit SFOG, but I can honestly say I can live without riding another one of those things.

Firehawk is a fun experience that combines semi-interesting flying visuals with some disorienting lay-down moments that have some real forces. The Supermen both just kind of squeeze the breath out of you in the pretzel loop, then... meander. That's the most cliched word in the world to use to describe those rides, but I can't think of anything more accurate to describe them. They just sort of swoop over the grass and queue beneath them without ever really banking enough to see anything, so you just basically wait for the ride to end. And of all the anticlimatic endings of any ride I've been on, the in-line twist thing before the brakes on those rides are second only to Adventure Express. And then there's the dead hang on the brake runs.

I wonder what I'll think of flying coasters after this summer. I've got a pass voucher for Six Flags America and may visit Canada's Wonderland, so we'll see how things compare once I've ridden Batwing and Time Warp.

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A green coaster wouldn't be bad but I like our color on it a bit better. A bit brighter red at least would be nice. It needs repainted soon too. If you wait long enough we might get that green color, you can already see it in many spots along the track with the current paint is fading away or worn off.

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^ Seeing that makes me wish they would've kept its original colors. Kings Island really could use a green coaster.

Honestly, I agree. I am very tired of "red" at amusement parks. I must thank Mr. Kinzel for that. Even a blue at that point of time would have been nice. The one thing that I can't stand about Firehawk's look as it is now, is that one of the trains is a lighter shade of the track....They could have kept the blue train. I believe that one is used for parts.

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I know this may come as a shock to a lot of you, but I actually voted for the other category. Considering Manta apart of that.

Manta is my favorite coaster I have ever rode, in some ways it was my first "big" coaster, it was a major transition for me too some bigger rides like Top Thrill Dragster and Diamondback, and even The Kraken that resided with in the same park. I remember vividly the first time I gazed upon the beautiful blue masterpiece. My friends and I were staying at the Sea World renaissance hotel so just over the way we could see the fantastic park awaiting us.

To be perfectly honest, I was quite nervous about riding it. But I ended up climbing into the front seat with my friends, all in a row. With in minutes we were brought to horizontal position and ascending the lift. I let my head hang as I looked down upon the netting over the midway. We began to crest the top of the hill and we picked up speed flying so incredibly smooth. I just found the entire experience awesome. It proved to me that even I was scared to ride something that I would still enjoy it in the end(well... Mean Streak...).

Some things that make Manta so awesome aren't something you'd might expect. For one the queue is outstanding. Incorporating an aquarium is very good, considering you are in Sea World. The feel of is really cool and entertaining while you wait in lines. The landscaping is also an important part to it. The foliage and way it is maintain and was designed is very nice and welcoming. The pond you dive over actually makes for a convincing pond (I'm looking at your Diamondback :P). And it is just an all around great ride.

DISCLAIMER: That is probably the only exception to my precious Firehawk...

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"TGE" is an abbreviation of The Great Escape, a Six Flags property and trademark. As such, it is always capitalized. ;)

(I'm just messing with you, Terp! If corporations care as much about that as you say, then thanks for taking time to keep us out of trouble.)

About Racer: yeah, it had some rough rows last year. They're not quite as good as 1-3, but either of the first two rows of the last car are very good also.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I have ridden 4 Superman Fliers, Manta, and Firehawk. The B&M's are so much better than the Vekomas.

The last row on any B&M flyer is the place to be.

For me a coaster doesn't have to be very forceful or extremely tall to make it better than the rest. The overall experience is what I look for. Manta had a posted wait time of 90 minutes. Before I knew it, I was climbing the stairs to the loading station.

Cheetah Hunt for example, is more enjoyable than Maverick.

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I've ridden all of the Vekoma and B&M flyers in the states, and Tatsu and Manta are orders of magnitude better than all of the other flyers. Firehawk is probably the best of the rest IMO, but if I'm at any park that has a flyer I would only be truly disappointed if I didn't get a ride in on Tatsu or Manta.

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I'll prefer B&M flyers in terms of the ride, however Vekoma Flying Dutchmans aren't bad. The loop and final inversions are amazing. Plus again, memories. First coaster I rode the last year it was open at Geauga Lake. Got dared to ride it, I was afraid of the restraint, got a kiss if I went on it.

Still remember it, good times.

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