Mystery Construction

The Vekoma flyers, like all other Vekoma products, do in fact suck. But Tatsu is an amazing ride. It's smooth and comfortable, the pretzel loop is incredible, and it actually feels like flying. It's not a gimmick like stand up coasters. It's a surprisingly unique experience, something CP could really use. Hell, they could even make it the "tallest and fastest and steepest" just to keep with their tradition. :)

Truely I like the B&M Flyers less compared to the Vekoma Flyers. To me the Vekomas are nice and very comfortable.

tedfuzz said:
The Vekoma flyers, like all other Vekoma products, do in fact suck.

Have you ridden Everest?

No, but I have ridden Firehawk and didn't care for it. The B&M flyers are a lot better in my opinion.

As far as Everest, it seems like a waste of $100 million. Then again, I'm not into themed rides, and it doesn't appear to be that thrilling.

So your completely unqualified opinion about a ride you've never been on means Vekoma sucks? Do you realize that $100 million price tag when largely to the theme around it? Ride it and get back to us. I dig it.

Chalk up R-n-R as another very solid Vekoma ride.

tedfuzz said:

As far as Everest, it seems like a waste of $100 million. Then again, I'm not into themed rides, and it doesn't appear to be that thrilling.

As for your thoughts on Everest -- keep in mind where its home park is -- they DO theming and are masters at it.
A big part of what makes that ride thrilling for many is the crazyextensive theming (and the dark) -- and it is a coaster that a lot ofdemographics want to try.

I agree very much with Jeff and suggest you actually ride it if you haven't or re-ride it again.

If you're looking at just the coaster andits elements by itself yeah I'll agree with you, it would not carrymuch thrill -- aka "suck" -- on its own without the all the theming and if itwere totally out in the daylight (after all it has a cargo net in frontof your seat for your loose items). Keep in mind they didn't want to totally scare the crap of everyone or give anyone a heart attack (even though I believe that did happen with a guest).

Actually there is a very thrilling element on that coaster when youthink about it -- did you ever notice how the main lift hill has stepsall the way up it with no hand rails -- a ride evac on that lift hillwould be quite thrilling. :)

Chuck Wagon said:
I haven't ridden either Tatsu or Air which are generally considered the best of the flyers. I'm working off the assumption that like stand-ups, flyers all generally feel the same, even though some are definitely better than others.

If all flyers generally feel the same then they must all be completely awesome. Tatsu is the only flyer I have ever ridden and there is no way to describe the 124' pretzel loop. It is so unlike any other roller coaster element I have ever experienced and that is coming from a person loathes inversions. My 3 favorite roller coaster elements in order are 1) the 540 degree helix of The Beast, 2) the pretzel loop of Tatsu, 3) the first drop of Millennium Force.

Anybody been on Manta yet? It looks just as good as Tatsu.

Everest didn't exist last time I went to Disney World.

I did ride Rock in Roller Coaster and while it didn't bang my head as bad as other Vekomas, it's certainly not a ride I'm going back for. I can understand how people can like the theming around Disney rides, they are great at that. But as far as the Vekoma rides underneath the theming, I don't think they're anything special.

But, I do have a bias of finding theming "boring". In fact, I'd rather a ride not be themed because I find the coaster itself to be a work of art. Probably why I like Cedar Point so much. :)

Bucki,

Unfortunately, not all the B&M flyers are as great as Tatsu. The 78' loop on the Supes is noticably less intense than the 124' monster. I'm with you on about that ride, Tatsu is my third favorite coaster, with all other flyers nowhere to be found. I would love to get something like it at the Point. The only thing I like more about the Vekomas is that they take you up the hill on your back, then bam, there is the ground far below you. I have a feeling though that 2010 will be a water ride/coaster of some sort, but then again, I never saw a launching Intamin coming for 2007.

Intamin and B&M team up to bring you the worlds first launching flying coaster. Sounds fun to me. :)

If we're not going to see a coaster next year, maybe we'll get a Sky Swatter. The one at Astroworld, before it closed down, was one of the most intense rides ever. I'm surprised more parks don't have them. :)

I hope to se see more clues soon tosee what is happening!

Are you kidding? The Sky Swatter was a maintenance nightmare and it barely ever worked.

I'd put Everest in the category of thrilling with a good theme. It is a good coaster even if the mountain isn't surrounding it. Disaster was a bad coaster and the themeing didn't help it.

Sitnam said:
The only thing I like more about the Vekomas is that they take you up the hill on your back, then bam, there is the ground far below you.

I don't know, climbing the first hill of Tatsu looking straight down at the ground 100+ feet below was pretty cool. We rode it twice in the front row and I thought the second best part of the ride was hanging over the edge of the first drop waiting for the rest of the train to clear the chain lift with your feet above your head while you are facing the ground. I'll get to experience the other this summer when I ride Firehawk at KI.

tedfuzz said:

JuggaLotus said:

Write it off because flyers just plain suck.

Have you ridden Tatsu?

Chuck Wagon said:
I haven't ridden either Tatsu or Air which are generally considered the best of the flyers. I'm working off the assumption that like stand-ups, flyers all generally feel the same, even though some are definitely better than others.

My experience is that all flyers do not feel the same.

I did not find Superman: Ultimate Flight at Six Flags Great America to be very exciting. I also did not find Firehawk to be very exciting. However, I thought that Tatsu was very exciting and an overall good ride, certainly better than my best ride on Mantis. Of course I have only been on each of those flyers once, so I don't have much of a pool of experience to draw from. I think that a custom layout B&M flyer would be a great installment at CP. Tatsu seemed to have a reasonable wait time and fast loading times (it has a dual station, so that helped). I would certainly re-ride Tatsu if given the chance.

Sky swatter still does not work. At least it was not last weekend.

^ Which one? SWAT at AstroWorld was usually open when I visited.

^I think there was only one ever built. The one from Astroworld was moved to Six Flags New England.