Flight of Fear at PKD

[ThemeParkCommando]

Hello all! My first post!

 

As an introduction, I stumbled across this site and have since viewed a LOT of the trip reports. It helps to tide me over. I haven't ridden a huge number of coasters in the past several years, and just as I got a big interest in them again last year, the season was over in my neck of the woods.

 

I'm posting because I've read a few mentions of "The Outer Limits: Flight of Fear" at PKD, and the mentions are positive. The last time I went to PKD was in 1998 as a "last hurrah" before going away to college. We rode all of the coasters save for the kiddie coaster, the Scooby Doo coaster, and Volcano (the latter had just opened, the line was huge, and it kept breaking down). Anaconda was a bit rough, but that was NOTHING compared to Flight of Fear. Flight of Fear was the WORST coaster that I had ever ridden (and keep in mind that two years earlier, I rode the Mind Eraser at what was then "Adventure World" and is now "Six Flags America"...and LIKED it). My clearest memory of Flight of Fear is of my head banging violently back and forth against the restraints. My friends and I staggered off dazed, with headaches, wondering what the hell just happened to us.

 

So when I read positive impressions of it, I ask myself "Are we riding the same coaster?". I have heard that Flight of Fear was shut down for a time and is now open again (?), though I'm unsure of the time frame. Did they retool this? Improve this? Did we ride the same coaster?! I'm perplexed. Insights?

 

Great site, by the way! Keep it up!

[Chris the Coaster Freak]

A few years ago the OTSR's were replaced with lap bars.

[Skyfly]

They got rid of the over the shoulder restraints and added simple lapbars. This makes a much much much better ride, no more headbanging. I rode it back in the day too, and it was horrible. With the new restraints, it's very rerideable.

[coastrfreak2000]

Flight of Fear has lap bars now. The lap bars themselves aren't the greatest considering they're the bulky Premier restraints, but they are much better than the OTSR that FoF used to have and it's a much better and more enjoyable ride now.

 

EDIT: Damn, two people posted before me as I typed this....oh well.

[cfc]

Yep--the consensus is . . .

 

FoF with lapbars good!

FoF with OTSRs bad!

 

The ride was closed for much of last summer, but did reopen sporadically late in the season. I used to hate it in the OTSR days, too. It's still kind of rough, but quite bearable.

[ThemeParkCommando]

Thanks for the responses. Lapbars sound SO much better. Maybe the park got a lot of complaints about the violent headbanging?

 

Given this info, I'll give it another whirl when I return to PKD, whenever that is. I think I'm over the trauma of my first ride by now.