Review the last roller coaster you rode

[Archie]

Today one will be conducting an evaluation of a very well known rolling coaster. Oblivion, an undisputed classic of the renown Alton Towers Resort. Oblivion was erected and conceived in the rather bland and mundane year of 1998 and was the following attraction to the famous Nemesis built in the much more vibrant and exciting 1994. Oblivion was summoned by two gentlemen by the names of Walter Bolliger and Claude Mabillard, and Imagined by John Wardley, all three who had also created Nemesis.

Oblivion today stands at a rather uninspiring 65ft tall but features a much more intriguing 180ft drop into a tunnel. We were initially impressed with its visual statement unfortunately upon closer inspection, we noticed a few discrepancies and issues.
Today Oblivion is in a bit of a state of disrepair, we discovered many occasions of rust, peeling paint, rotten wood and broken lighting, although the public has indeed made efforts to improve the experience by decorating the queue line with some educational images of the male and female anatomy, as well as some personalised messages much like how cavemen engraved images on cliff sides.
Unfortunately this very much does affect the experience, once an intimidating, sleek and fresh experience, now a tired, neglected shadow of its former glory lightly sprinkled with images of reproductive organs and messages roughly translated reading "Call for free porn''.

The ride experience is rather good with some good views of the disgruntled local population and a large sign on the floor reading ''Do 't Ook Dow'' unfortunately we were unable to read the full text as members of the public had been standing on them at the time.

Today I will be giving Oblivion a 5/10, Whilst the ride experience remains smooth and enjoyable, the state of its surroundings and theming hampers its ability to provide an immersive experience.

 

[Shaggy_Dog_]

Today I will be giving Oblivion a 5/10, Whilst the ride experience remains smooth and enjoyable, the state of its surroundings and theming hampers its ability to provide an immersive experience.

The question I’d ask though is does Oblivion really need to provide an immersive experience by its theming and surroundings? I’m of the feeling that being dropped vertically in to a massive deep black hole you’ve just been held on the precipice of is the immersive experience in itself.

 

[Archie]

The question I’d ask though is does Oblivion really need to provide an immersive experience by its theming and surroundings? I’m of the feeling that being dropped vertically in to a massive deep black hole you’ve just been held on the precipice of is the immersive experience in itself.

what I meant is the concept is good, but its in dire need of a refurbishment or at least a decent clean.

 

[Matt N]

I went for my first ever visit to Brean Theme Park in Somerset, my closest semi-major theme park, today and finally got on their 3 non-kiddie coasters!

Astro Storm (#108)
This actually wasn’t a bad little ride for what it is! It’s not going to blow any minds on the world stage, but it was a fun enough coaster, with some fun twists and turns! The theming was also surprisingly quite good, with some nice effects and some air cannons that made me jump!
5/10 (#65/110)

Bulldog Coaster (#109)
This is admittedly quite an impressive headliner for a park of Brean’s calibre, but I’m afraid to say I wasn’t really a fan of it. I found the restraint very uncomfortable, and although the ride’s signature loop was admittedly quite forceful, the ride was pretty rough in numerous spots and definitely required quite a bit of bracing!
2/10 (#98/110)

Magic Mouse (#110)
I’ve done quite a few of these Reverchon spinning coasters now, and I don’t rate them at all, I’m afraid. I’m not a fan of the strong laterals provided by the hairpin turns that are associated with the wild mouse ride style, personally. It must be said that this one was probably one of the smoother Reverchon spinning coasters I’ve done, though. It also span quite a lot, and I was a little bit light-headed getting off!
2/10 (#100/110)

 

[Poisson]

The Scenic Railway, Dreamland Margate

An enjoyable ride, not the greatest in the world but I'd hope we have moved on a bit in the 103 years since it was first built. I'd recommend it if you're in the area but the scenic at GYPB is superior

 

[Shaggy_Dog_]

Sik

Finally got to ride this (after being spited a few weeks ago) and it is a very good coaster indeed. It’s a blast from start to finish and is a really nice fun ride. Sitting in the back you get absolutely yanked down the first drop and whilst it’s not a particularly forceful ride there are a couple of nice little airtime moments in the mist filled tunnels. It was actually very refreshing getting spritzed in the face as you dip through them on a nice summer’s day. The lap bars add so much to this ride and the hang time on the rolls at the end is absolutely insane. I had ridden Colossus earlier this week (and it was running nicely) so I was interested to see just how improved Sik was over it and tthe difference is night and day, they feel like completely different rides. I think the more open sight lines of Sik add quite a lot to the ride experience as it seems to feel more satisfying seeing all the elements to come ahead as you traverse them (and free from the feeling of being cramped in by the OTSRs). I had six rides on Sik (one front row, one back, and four in the middle) and it rode a treat on all of them. It’s definitely one of the best coasters in the country, and certainly one of the most rerideable. I’d easily put it in the UK top 5, behind Nemesis and Swarm for me but above Icon and the short but sweet Storm Chaser (and my daughter had it go straight in as her overall #1).

A very solid 8 out of 10.

 

[Matt N]

I went to Chessington World of Adventures yesterday for the first time in 9 years, and I managed to get on a new coaster as well as two previously ridden ones for the first time in quite some time!

New coasters
Mandrill Mayhem (#111)
I was interested to ride Mandrill Mayhem, as I was very interested to see how a B&M family launched shuttle wing coaster rode; it's certainly a unique ride, and it's been getting fairly positive reviews so far! However, I'm afraid to say that I was somewhat disappointed overall. In fairness, it starts off really well; the swing launch sequence provides two nice, reasonably potent launches that are great fun, and the pops of airtime provided by the dip and Junior Scorpion Tail in the back are also quite good fun, with the Junior Scorpion Tail towards the back of the train providing some nice floater airtime. I was less enamoured after that, though, and for multiple reasons. Firstly, for lack of a better term, I just found the bulk of the layout after the initial swing launch sequence a little bit... bland. I'm a firm believer that a ride does not have to be intense to be great fun, and I've ridden plenty of similarly-targeted family thrill coasters that really pop and are great fun, but Mandrill's layout wasn't really popping for me in quite the same way, if I'm being honest. Secondly, I wasn't a fan at all of the stall at the top of the main helix; the helix itself was perfectly fine, but I found the stall at the top pretty uncomfortable to experience. Finally, I found there to be quite a noticeable rattle, and I found some of the elements to awkwardly exacerbate this. For instance, the train seemed to almost shudder up and down during some of the more dynamic moments, such as the s-bend heading towards the principal helix, and the whole backwards lap felt a bit awkward from a rattle perspective. I came off with a bit of a headache on all three laps. Overall, I found Mandrill Mayhem to be OK, but not something I overly rated; while the ride has its definite good points, I was somewhat disappointed with the experience overall. Perhaps I'm just a bit out of touch, though; I'm hardly the target demographic, and the kids seemed to be enjoying it, which is the important thing after all!
5/10, #61/111

Existing coasters
Vampire
I didn't remember overly rating this at all back in 2014, as I remember it being rough and slow, but I have to say that it was a fair amount better than I'd remembered! Swinging through the trees is good fun, and the ride definitely has some surprising moments of speed and thrill for a family coaster; I particularly liked some of the low-to-the-ground turns, where you really picked up some speed! It was also a lot less rough than I'd remembered, and overall, it was a perfectly fun family coaster and I enjoyed my lap! My critiques from 2014 do still stand to a degree, though. The ride does have odd pacing, with a few pretty slow moments, and while it was not nearly as rough as I'd remembered, there are still a couple of moments of mild headbanging and some bits where the train seems to shunt forward a bit awkwardly. Overall, though, I definitely enjoyed Vampire; it was a good, fun family coaster with some surprising moments of speed and thrill!
6/10, #50/111

Dragon's Fury
I remembered this being my favourite coaster at Chessington back in 2014, but weirdly, I didn't remember an awful lot beyond that other than that it was good and I liked it more than Spinball Whizzer. I did like it a fair amount less than I'd remembered, unfortunately, but that wasn't necessarily unexpected for me as spinning coasters, particularly the Maurer variety, aren't really my favourite ride style these days. To Dragon's Fury's credit, I did think that the layout was very strong; I really liked how long and winding it was, and there were also some surprising moments of airtime! It was also quite rough, however, with a fair few moments that threw me around quite uncomfortably in a similar fashion to Spinball Whizzer (albeit not to quite the same extent), and overall, these Maurer spinning coasters aren't something I'm absolutely huge on these days, I'm afraid, as I do not have the strongest stomach for spinning and don't find really intense spinning the most enjoyable sensation.
4/10, #76/111

 

[MattyH]

Wickerman.

Got a front row at the end of the day. Fun but short.