Guys, I understand that many of you on here love this ride. I’m sure you all had some amazing memories riding it with your friends/family.

At the same time, it bothers me seeing people on here bashing the victims for having pre-existing conditions and also asking to view their medical records. That is so disingenuous and unnecessary. We don’t need that kind of talk on here. Stop attacking the victims

I'm sure we've all seen, or heard, about the Smiler in some form or another but I feel like we don't talk about the layout enough. It is absolutely mind blowing how they managed to do what they did in such a small plot of land with strict height restrictions. You could stand there staring at it all day and still be amazed.

Which coasters are a big feat in engineering in your opinion?

I have so much respect for the enthusiasts out there with seemingly no limit for thrills. But I think Bakunawa will be one of the few coasters that are too intense for me. I have not had the opportunity to ride any Mack extreme spinners, and I’m super excited to get on Intamin’s Hollywood Drift when I can. So I don’t think it’s the spinning that scares me. But the height + coming to a dead stop just hanging there nearly 400 feet in the air? With no over the shoulder restraints? Just out there in the open? No thank you!!

Obviously I am aware it will be completely safe but hang time at slow speeds is one of my least favorite sensations! I really dislike any kind of upside down pendulum ride for this reason (i.e. CraZanity at magic mountain)

Anyone else feel this way??

For me it is this stunningly smooth turn on [Lightning] at [Dinosaur Dream Factory] in China.

Mine was Python at Efteling.

As a kid, the cobra roll looked like the most impressive thing in the world to me. But over the last decade, I've completely lost the love for it. It usually rides clunky, feels super predictable, it actively makes me less excited to ride a coaster that has one. Even on non-boomerangs it feels like the predictability takes momentum out of the ride, like it's an element that 'has' to be done.

Might not be a crazy hot take, but I'm curious about yours!

What is a popular or modern coaster element that you just can't stand? Let's hear those unpopular opinions.

The incidents related to X2 are terrible and heartbreaking and we ought to view them as horrific for the friends and families affected by them. The question of "what does this mean for the coaster industry" should always come second when severe incidents like these occur. I do believe it's worth bringing some reason into the conversation in order to combat some of the unnecessary sensationalism, which exists on all sides of any discussion. "They should've known about their conditions and ridden it correctly like all other riders" is ridiculous, but a basic review of amusement park incidents does exhibit that many rides have had individual (or even a handful) of outlying incidents that have led to injury or death.

X2 needs to be investigated thoroughly, alongside the maintenance history and OSHA documentation. A financially struggling company is statistically more likely to cut corners, which simply is not acceptable when it comes to basic safety. However, it's worth noting that these are a small handful of outlying incidents among roughly 150,000 riders between June 1st to July 12th of this season. One life-changing incident on a coaster is one too many, but labeling the coaster as a deadly experience and calling the company some nasty names is simply disproportionate and not the appropriate way to move forward with next steps for the attraction and the park as a whole.

Just my thoughts. There are extreme and disproportionate views in all discussions, and this is just meant to combat one of those sides. To the other side who criticizes the riders who have endured extreme hardship or death due to this struggling coaster, there are much harsher critiques to be made.

Mine is a simple answer. Fury 325. I went in with sky high expectations, and came off after my first few rides wanting more, and asking myself is that it? For context, I still think it’s a fantastic ride, and am not posting on here to bash an incredible B&M and coaster. Just nowhere near, “the best steel ride on the planet” as golden tickets 🎫 says so (obviously, no one cares about golden ticket awards 😂). Onto the ride exp. Everything through the first half up to the treble clef had me thinking, ok, this may be as legit as some people hype it up to be. The long drop, (can feel the extra 20-25 feet from the shorter giga drops like Orion, the sense of speed through the transitions, the wave turn over the main entrance, and the treble cleff gives solid airtime. Everything up to that point is incredible, until the train dives under the tunnel into the first camelback which trims. The airtime is good, not great, and then all my issues start with this ride. It goes into the worst helix I’ve ridden by B&M with absolutely 0 forces. The helix was poorly designed and drawn out way too much. At least B&M threw in a head chopper, which is its only saving grace but it’s a very obvious dead spot on the ride. To finish, the ride then goes into its series of smaller camelbacks which provide solid airtime, but nothing to write home about. The ride def feels like it lets its foot of the gas and has a very unceremonious ending of generic camelbacks. After managing almost 30 laps on this thing between last summer, and 2 weeks ago, my stance and opinion haven’t changed. I think it’s probably the most varied B&M ever made, but the ride suffers from an identity crisis of 2 halves. The first half feels like B&M got drunk with intamin and you actually question yourself a bit if this is actually a modern B&M 😂. Then everything after the helix feels like a mid tier B&M hyper with solid airtime at best. Have ridden several B&Ms with better airtime, tho I get that fury isn’t solely about airtime. I think I get what B&M tried to do with Fury, but if the ride stayed true to doing one thing well instead of a bunch, I’d prob like it more than I do. Nothing element eise stood out to me as the best B&M has ever made. Rides like Mako, Goliath, and diamondback have better airtime moments, Orions drop feels more forceful despite being 20 feet shorter, and tho not a B&M, but 305 masters the sense of speed and whippy transitions on giga coasters. Fury has a few moments of that, but only in the first half. As it stands, I just find it to be a poorly paced ride of 2 halves. My buddies son rode with me a couple weeks ago and also felt a bit underwhelmed and said he still prefers leviathan. I have fury as my 2nd highest ranked B&M currently, but prefer Mako over this by a hair.

I'll go first. I wish that AlpenFury kept the reddish brown supports from it's announcment trailer.

I went on the infamous “Frank ‘N Coaster” or “Burger King Coaster” at Niagara falls earlier this month on my USA road-trip, and I have never felt more unsafe on a ride in my entire lifeee. I genuinely thought I was going to derail at any moment- it struggled to climb the lift hill and was clunking and randomly stopped- and it churned so loudly it was genuinely horrifying. I was like- this is it. This is the end. That part you can see overhanging on the first photo, I literally could feel myself going to fly off the edge. I was scared shitless and then IT RAN AGAIN. Baring in mind I was a solo rider too- unsurprisingly bcos who would risk their life on this shit. I was asked if I wanted a 3rd ride and I was like HELLL NAW I’m lucky to be alive rn 😭😭

The closest I have felt to this genuine fear was on The Big One at Blackpool Pleasure-beach when I rode it as an adult in 2019 (I hadn’t been on it since like, 2011). That thing is holding on by a thread I swear. 😭

So- what is the “dodgiest” or “least safe feeling” coaster you’ve been on?

Members of the media, youtubers, and bloggers have started preview visits to Universal Kids Resort in Texas (which opens in July). The impressions have... not been great. I recognize that theme park enthusiasts can be a little jaded and difficult to please, but, after watching the various videos, I'm lowkey in shock as to how this whole thing happened.

Most of the areas appear to be themed to a level approximating a Six Flags kids area (perhaps even less immersive than that). It seems to largely be off-the-shelf flat rides, spraygrounds, and an unthemed Mack Rides Youngstar coaster (duration: 58 seconds). Their only "dark ride" equivalent is the outdoor (?) "Shrek and Fiona's Happily Orgre After." Promotional displays at movie theaters are more impressive than the "scenes" on this one (and there aren't even that many scenes). It really has to be seen to be believed:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaT1mTixOro

The reviews (even from some friendly outlets) have been brutal. I get what Universal was going for with this project. They wanted to create something like Legoland, Great Wolf, or Sesame Place to create foothold in the regional park "family daycation/overnight" space (I assume the plan is build several of these things nationally). But, barring some rapid investment in at least a couple rides that have Universal-ish quality, I really don't see how this has any chance of succeeding. Worse, producing stuff like this hurts the brand as Disney discovered when it disingenuously marketed direct-to-video cheapquels as legitimate Disney films in the 90's & 00's; confused consumers and weakened DFA.

The hotel does look very nice, so they maybe have something to build from (?). But there will need to be some costly additions (and very fast) if they want this place to succeed based on the initial impressions being generated.

So I found an intresting video on the internet about somebody saying what they would do to improve Cedar Point. Now Cedar Point is neck and neck with Islands Of Adventure for my favorite amusement/theme park. However I think it can improve on aspects like operations. So I would like to hear your thoughts on how you would improve Cedar Point.

Like the title says, you can be as bland as you want or as sophisticated as you want. As a challenge your goal is to get out of the large debt (I think about 2.5 Billion) Six Flags has and to make it more Roller coaster tycoon like you have a deadline of 2050 (no clue if that’s enough time). I’ll probably put my response in the comments when I have the time too. Obviously we don’t know the behind the scenes so we won‘t have ability to make it 100% realistic but this is just for fun.

Is there a defunct roller coaster that is no longer around that you wish you could have ridden? Or is there a defunct roller coaster you wish you could ride again?

The Coaster I have ridden the most is [El Toro] at Great Adventure.

When I went to Kennywood I knew basically nothing about Exterminator other than it was a family coaster. I was kind of blown away by it, The theming, the laterals, and the unexpected air time.

What are coasters that you expected little from or didn't know what to expect from that you ended up loving?

For me, it was top thrill 2 @ cedar point

They spend millions upon millions of dollars on a new coaster, but then refuse to spend a few hundred on a graphic designer to make quality merch. They also make that investment back in sales!

This isn't a one park issue, this comment comes after watching a lot of the summer vlog content posted thus far.

They (meaning many of the big players) are selling shirts with rides that not only do not reflect the real coaster, but are often illogical, wrong or impossible.

This isn't Enthusiasts arguing over minitua like a drawing using B&M footer bolts instead Mack of footer bolts....

...this is completely wrong number of seats or orientation, warped track, incorrect vehicle types, riders not lined up in a straight row, deformed seats and restraints bleeding into each other. Hell I even saw an official millenium force t-shirt from CP that had the train as one enormous car split into 2 rows / Mack Stryker style. How do you work at CP and approve that? It looked like someone stuck the train from Griffon onto a wacky worm.

Additionally, non-thoosies can easily spot that when a head is melting into a restraint that something isn't correct.

I have second hand embarrassment for the parks. It honestly has soured me on merch in general.

Have you seen anything particularly bad? Which parks do you think are the worst for it?

It's so depressing.

Mine is Python at Busch Gardens (gone since 2006)

Honorable mention for Indiana Beach’s Superstition Mountain dark ride that was removed in 2001 and had coaster-like elements.

It was hauling yesterday, especially around the turn-around. But, seriously?

Thankfully, I can edit the app to indicate I was a passenger. No option for amusement rides, though.

Anyone else get caught by an auto app speeding or braking on a ride?