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Second row on Swamp Fox at Family Kingdom

 

A truly critically underrated ride that I wrote a huge review for a while ago that I figure I'll share with you guys here:

 

Upon boarding the wonderful buzz bar PTC trains, one takes notice as to how much room one has for airtime on this ride (especially when you purposefully loosen your seatbelt, or sit with a massive human being). Following a slightly downward angled 180 degree right hand turn out of the classic station, one traverses the prelift section of this incredibly underrated coaster which consists of flatness and a slight left turn to prepare its riders for the lift hill. During this section one already begins to notice the roughness of this coaster on wheel seats. Having ridden about half the time on a middle row in each car and the other half on a wheel seat, after 25 rides I am certain that non-wheel seats are the place to sit on this ride.

The lift hill that awaits is as uneventful as any other; though the view one receives is relatively nice of the Myrtle Beach boardwalk and other attractions. Once one reaches the top of the moderately sized hill, the train slows down a bit as it begins to crest into the small predrop. Once the butt of the train passes the prelift, the train is already traveling at a moderate speed which makes for an excellent ejector airtime moment in the back rows, which, like every moment on this ride, is elevated due to the very open restraints. Every row on this ride will produce a bunch of positive Gs at the bottom of this drop. Towards the back rows I found my hands (which are always rightfully up as I ride) pushed down into the poor riders in front of me.

The hill that immediately follows the drop finds its front row riders propelled out their seats - and if you're a twig like me, you'll be standing. Back row riders will also be propelled out of their seats during the latter half of this hill - where the on-ride photo is taken. How cool is it that one can purchase an on-ride photo of themselves experiencing insane standing airtime? The next hill is just like the first - insane standing air, especially towards the front. Smell a theme? It's about to get even crazier... after we traverse this hill turnaround, which does have another excellent pop of standing airtime in the front rows. The turnaround produces minimal laterals, and does ruin a bit of the great pacing this ride began to have. But the way I mostly see this turnaround: A breather before the second best section of any coaster I've been on (the first being Maverick's back-to-back stengel dives followed by the airtime hill).

The drop out of the turnaround produces outSTANDING airtime in the back rows (very punny indeed). The next segment: Two double ups, back to back. The first "up" in the first double up produced not only outstanding airtime, but also a "holy shit" from me in my POV. It is at this moment I usually gave a "rock on dude" sign to the bros out there in the station, as I am standing and happy as ever. Around this point in the ride, if one sits on a wheel seat, especially towards the back, you'll get a good bit of roughness. It's completely tolerable, but it's something that would keep me away from riding multiple times in those rows. The end of that double up produces another excellent moment in every row, followed by some strong positive Gs in the valley before the second double up. This next double up isn't as great as the first, but it still produces excellent standing air in the front. The final airtime hill on the ride didn't even throw me out of my seat in the front, but it sure will in the back on the way down.

The final rise up on Swamp Fox leads into a high speed turn which provides an excellent slam of strong laterals, which is sustained for several seconds. When one sits on the left side of the train, you might as well be leaning on the person on the right because golly - these are some awesome laterals. I was totally leaning on this blondie around my age on one ride. She and her friends were discussing how they rode "the Fury" and how this was a piece of cake. I disagree, as Swamp Fox is a whole lot more scary than Millennium Force and Diamondback combined, with all of Swamp Fox's standing airtime, one just wants to hold onto their restraint for the whole ride out of intimidation - but not me. When one sits on the right side, and their hands are up like me, one finds themselves afraid that their hands will hit the wood supports to their right as they are exceptionally close to the track at this point in the ride. Following that excellent turn, Swamp Fox's riders do a little squiggly turn that doubles as a classic brake run as they enter the station.

 

Swamp Fox is my number one wooden coaster, beating out rides such as Mystic Timbers, Shivering Timbers, and of course, Beast.

Edited by AJK
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The RC-48 coaster provided by Wade Shows for the NY State Fair at the end of August.

 

Although it had a few notable rough spots, particularly at the base of the first drop, it was nice to ride a portable coaster that wasn't a Zyklon or Crazy Mouse variant.

 

I'm hoping to check out the new Park at OWA in Alabama within a few weeks though...

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