Mantis--Look who's talking

After posting how I didn't like this ride, and after riding it 29 times since that post, how can Acer's not find it luring? Personally, this ride has everything I look for in a good coaster. Wonderful positive g forces only matched by my all time favorite coaster (R.I.P. Steel Phantom) a great layout, a strong beginning-middle-end, and good decent fun. This brings me to the question on why do so many people seem unsatisfied on the ride? Personally I love riding it 5 times straight to close my visits each time, but a lot of people just ride it once and leave. It sort of has a Wicked Twister syndrome, and I am a little puzzled as to why this is the case.

Were the trims on when you rode it? I LOVE it without the trims, but with the trims it is just missing that intensity that makes it so good, IMHO.

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Break the scream barrier NOW!
Wicked twists: 4
Danger: Hgih Voltage!

I rode Mantis today and decided that's my last ride. I hate that ride with a passion. No, I don't know what it is. I dislike it more than I do Mean Streak, and that's bad.

If the ride was just more comfortable it would be great. Me and my friends have a better name for the Mantis: "The Nutcracker".

Mantis isn't too bad. 6-8-02 I rode it right at the end of the night after the laser show... barely a wait the first time. Then we noticed that no one else was waiting...except for the first seat...so we ran up and got second row. Best time to ride Mantis is right at closing... barely a wait! However; my second ride made me sorta nauseaus(sp). I should have stuck with one ride... oh well!!!

the trims on the first drop don't make the ride THAT bad to kill it off that much IMO

great ride

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Millennium is spelled with TWO N's PEOPLE!!!!!

I have always loved Mantis, trims on or not. Last season, my last ride was front car Mantis, on the very last train of the year.

Multiple consecutive rides on Raptor leave me extremely disoriented, but I could ride the "Big Purple Bug" all day long, with pleasure. My friends do nothing but complain about it, and will only ride it once, so I give them something to complain about, and put them in the back car, where they get "Rocked".

I love this time of the year on weekdays, when the line for it will sometimes be nonexistent. I re-ride as much as possible knowing how huge the wait will be later in the season. That's my only complaint, the line is usually pretty slow and quite hot in the middle of the season.

I am typing this while drinking out of my "Mantis Freezy Mug", by the way! Mantis kicks butt!

IMHO I really do not like Mantis as hard as I try to enjoy it I just can't besides last time I rode it it kind of shook something loose.

"Mantis:The Metal Ex-Lax."

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Pugsly,The Coaster Jester Of Cedar Point.

I'm sorry gang... I don't understand how people do not like this ride. I hear what you're saying, but have never experienced any of it. I find it comfortable and thrilling. I find the Corkscrew much more painful and hardly ever ride it. Just my opinion.

I loved the Mantis the first year it opened. It was intense, and very smooth, and the top of the lift turn was one of my favorite parts. But the last time I rode it, it almost made me sick, and gave me a roller-coaster headache. It just seemed to have lost the smoothness needed to negotiate the tight elements after the diving turn. Very loose and extremely jerky.

Same here, Deanne. I used to love Mantis. It's a shame such an awesome design brings such terrible pain. :-)

Weird, I rode it 29 times this season and my head never hit the restraint once. I think it's a ride you just have to be prepared to go on and know what you are doing to truely enjoy it. And btw, 11 of those rides were with the trims off and I like both experiences equally. I love the hang-time with the brake on, but the intensity with it off. My one and only complaint about it is that the mid-course trims can be on heavy in the afternoon, but at night it FLIES through the corkscrew and final few turns. Never has my head banged, my mid-section get *crunched*, or found the intensity unbearable. I love it!

I don't like Mantis this year either. The headbanging is really bad this year, plus it is a tad uncomfortable in a few other regions of the body.

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Let's Go Pens!

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Wonderful positive g forces only matched by my all time favorite coaster (R.I.P. Steel Phantom)

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Brave man...

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Back from lurking
New account, same name
KW 2002

That makes sense NOFXtremeStreak - I can see why you like it, seeing as you mentioned Steel Phantom you enjoy rides that hurt its passengers.

Once you get over the "Standing-up" excitement it is nothing more than a ball buster ride. It wouldn't be near as bad if the seats weren't so freaking wide! If it were more like a bike seat I think at the very best it would at least be tolerable. I end up coming off that ride walking bow-legged. If you have to stand bow-legged, how the hell are your legs supposed to absorb the forces correctly anyway?

I ride this ride occasionally, each time reminding myself why I don't care much for it.

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cyberdman

I guess everybody here rides this sucker wrong because it DOESN'T hurt your groin. Stand straight up, feet back, lean forward into the harness, put about half of your weight on the seat and the other half on the seat and it doesn't hurt your groin or your legs.

Interesting topic. For many people, it seems Mantis has decreased in popularity since it's debut. For me, it's exactly the opposite. I've grown to really enjoy Mantis. If you're in the front, you get plenty of air changing directions around the curves, and I'm probably the only person who actually likes the brake on the first drop. I was releived the first time I rode it with the brake. Prior to it, I found myself fighting the G-forces throughout the ride, not making the ride fun. Now, I can actually feel the airtime and wonderful transitions. And I can't forget the hangtime in the back!

I still like Mantis a lot. I just don't like waiting in its line which is why I usually hit it either early or late. It's definitely not as "painful" as most make it out to be and it is certainly one of the most intense coasters at CP!

-Matt
2001 Magnum Crew

I think that the trims actually make the ride a little slower and a bit more comfortable. Without them it is a REAL headbanger.

I would have to agree...it seems that the headbanging on the "bug" this year is starting to make "Corkscrew" feel like a B&M......1 ride is enough for my cranium...And btw...I love Mean Streak....anyone up for a Mean Streak 100?....haha

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~ Josh M. ~
3 footers + Fence = 400' Ride? (Even Ms. Cleo couldnt call that one!)
"I will never doubt the forces of physics again"~Passenger leaving MF

Ripcord Crew '02
'02 MF Rides: 00
'02 Wicked Twists: 00