Is Vekoma really that bad?

[silver2005]

^Actually, I could see KD getting it.  CF wasn't underneath sending one to Carowinds after all. 

[KIBeast]

I wouldn't be surprised to see it wind up at Michigan's Adventure. Perfect fit for that park. 

[SonofBaconator]

I wouldn't have as much of a problem with Vekoma if a huge chunk of their rides weren't cloned. I'm really not a fan of mass cloned rides from any company to be honest. I know it's the park's choice on what type of ride they want and getting one that's cloned is less expensive but I like originality. Too much of the same thing ends up bland. 

[Diamondback96]

Well, a boomerang is functionally a flat due to the inability to have multiple trains going at once. I'd give them a pass.

And let's not pretend B&M has never cloned rides. Batman?

[silver2005]

^While that is true, Vekoma's resume is much more stacked with copied designs than B&M.   Now that most of the parks that they're more geared toward has their products, its kind of a question of where they go from there.  Yes, they have newer designs in the works, but whether they gain traction is another thing altogether.  

[Kenban]

On 4/24/2017 at 10:16 PM, fyrfyter said:

 

I suspect the Vekoma design is actually less wear and tear than the B&M design. The B&M loads you and then swings you up 90 degrees. There are huge stresses there, picking up the weight of everyone along with the seats themselves.

 

 

You are ignoring the fact that when the trains get back to the station the reverse has to occur.  On a Vekoma the weight of the people and the seats must be lifted while on the B&M they are just being lowered.  From a wear perspective, I doubt either one is worse than the other.  I also prefer hanging in the restraint instead of laying on my back in the brakes.

[King Ding Dong]

Either way on a flyer you are going to have time for a quick nap so it depends if you are a stomach sleeper or a back sleeper.

[jcgoble3]

4 hours ago, King Ding Dong said:

Either way on a flyer you are going to have time for a quick nap so it depends if you are a stomach sleeper or a back sleeper.

I'm a stomach sleeper, which may explain why I prefer Manta over Firehawk....

[Italian Job 2005]

Manta was my first B&M flyer, but I think at the moment it's close to my favorite coaster period. I just often can't stand the roughness of Firehawk now that I've ridden Manta. I especially love the first element (pretzel loop?...not sure)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[SonofBaconator]

I have always preferred B&M flyers to Vekoma's model. B&M flyers are a lot higher in the air where as Vekoma's are closer to the ground. I love Firehawk, but if a B&M alternative came out I'd be overjoyed.

[Arrow]

I've never been too fond of Vekoma coasters.  I never really enjoyed boomerangs and there's only a few coasters I would say I genuinely liked. 

[Rivertown Rider]

I really like Firehawk and the Disney Vekomas I have been on but Flight Deck at Canada's Wonderland was the worst coaster I've ever been on so I'm on the fence.

[Creed Bratton]

Flight Deck at Canada's Wonderland is one of the worst coasters lol. 

 

[silver2005]

I had some bits of headbanging on Thunderhawk, but the restraints have some padding to ease things.  It wasn't as bad in the middle of the train.  Invertigo is much like that as well.

My problem with it was the pacing.  The long trains really slacken the pacing in the taller elements, particularly the roll over and the sidewinder.  It was very funky in the front seat as you really fly up into those inversions, and as soon as you crest over the top, it really, really let up the speed, strong and sudden enough where you get forced into the restraints.  In the back, it would pull you over very quickly and slammed you to the back of the seat.  It was quite an intense ride aside from those elements and it was comfortable, though, I also hear that T-hawk is one of the better of the SLC's. 

In contrast, B&M's may have 8-9 cars per train, but with the 4 across arrangement allowing for each car being a row, the weight is much more centered thus they can keep their pacing even though elements are still massive (sans the v-seating on Behemoth, Diamondback and Intimidator).  They also do this thing called heartlining where the transitions are centered around the riders' hearts resulting in far less head movement side to side.

[TheRickster]

Vekomas are a bit more breakdown friendly. Since you're on your back on the lift and brake runs. This probably would also be a big better in an evac scenario.

It's a small thing that a lot of people will never experience. But I'd much rather be on my back if I was stuck on a ride for 30 minutes than on the restraint side.

[kirbias1]

Rode Firehawk for the first time in awhile last week. When I got off of it, I noticed my head was hurting slightly. As the day continued, my headache got worse. When we went to Carowinds last summer, we rode nighthawk. After getting off, my GF had a headache and almost fainted. Just haven't had great experiences with Vekoma. Don't like how passengers are lying down up lift hill too. It's awkward and uncomfortable. KI should've gone with a B&M flyer.

[McSalsa]

^

Maybe, but that would have been a lot more expensive since KI got Firehawk used off Geauga Lake and pretty much just had to pay the installation fees versus a B&M Flyer would have been a full brand-new install, and would have cost $20M+, and they were probably already planning Diamondback. And if I am thinking correctly, Cedar Fair has not yet built a single flying coaster from any company, the ones they do have were put there by other chains they acquired parks from. KI getting a B&M Flyer, even before Firehawk, was unlikely under Cedar Fair.

As for Vekoma's themselves, I think they are OK but at the same time of the small # of roller coasters I have been on so far, Firehawk and Invertigo both rank near the bottom. Firehawk is good fun, but it can be rough in spots, and it has terrible capacity so the wait time is often more than I'd like to wait for it. I also have yet to ride a B&M Flying Coaster for comparison though. Invertigo is decent, but several times when I go and do ride it (usually when it has little to no wait) it has the worst un-avoidable headbanging of any ride I have ever been on (So Far- have only been to 3 parks). I have gotten more headaches from Invertigo than any other coaster. Thankfully, painkillers are one of the things we bring along when we visit Kings Island. I much perfer Banshee to get my inverted coaster fix at KI.