walibi owner Posted September 17, 2010 Share Posted September 17, 2010 Limit at heide park, is so smooth i think it's a better ride than black mamba.. but MP-Xpress in MPG (the same ride) is pain... big loop is also very smooth.. i think the maintenance of the park is really important of how smooth a ride is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy_Behemoth_Lady_Jess Posted September 17, 2010 Share Posted September 17, 2010 I can't say I'm a fan of Vekoma but seeing their newer designs has made me change my opinion (although I have yet to ride one with the new trains). If anything, it's a step in the right direction for them and hopefully it does improve their reputation. About the Tilt Coaster, it may look really cool but I can imagine it being a mechanical nightmare (like Deja Vu). Perhaps that is why only one has ever been built? I don't think Six Flags would want to deal with anything like that again after all the problems they had with all the Deja Vu coasters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KDCOASTERFAN Posted September 18, 2010 Share Posted September 18, 2010 I don't think Vekomas are that bad, in fact I actually like them. They may not be B&M quality rides but for some of the smaller parks they are the closest they will get to having one. Plus some of their layouts are pretty cool. Imagine a B&M invert with the Vekoma SLC layout - you just might have a ride as intense as Batman. The layout of their Flying Dutchman clones are better than the B&M Superman clones. You can thank Premier Parks/the old Six Flags for putting majority of the clones out there. It seemed every new property they bought back in the 90's the first thing they would do is add the Boomerang and SLC clones. Though I have never ridden it I find the layout of Kumali at Flamingoland to be interesting and I would like to see a clone of that here in the States. One of the major problems vekoma has had has been operational reliability in their new designs,namely the GIB's & flying dutchman models so that's primarily what scared SF out of buying them.The flying dutchman for instance has up to 84 sensors on each train just to monitor the restraint system alone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tmcdllr Posted September 18, 2010 Share Posted September 18, 2010 I think a very good point was made earlier about the roughness of the SLC being related to the sear design and not really the wheel gap and although the Invertigo has better padding is has a more rigid chassis which makes it a bit smoother. It totally makes sense, the more the seats are allowed to move the more you are going to get thrown into the restraint. I'm not saying this alone is the cause as the layout seems bad as far as transitions, but it certainly does not help. I wonder how much of an improvement a new SLC train design would make, its got to improve it at least a little. Hmmm, what would a B&M version of Deja Vu be like, or Intamin? I realize the impulse coasters are similar but not the same layout. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QueerRudie Posted September 18, 2010 Share Posted September 18, 2010 I think that's a loaded question overall; I've found a few good Vekomas... and a whole lotta BAD vekomas. We're talking the kind which make you want to melt the thing down and start all over again. I really enjoy riding the Invertigo Class of coasters, as they tend to be quite nice a ride, and are generally smooth (TwoFace at SFA was a good example) but if there's a Hang and Bang SLC, I'll ride it once for the credit, and move on. R.D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vacoaster09 Posted September 18, 2010 Share Posted September 18, 2010 I also find Vekoma to be on the front end of pushing new ideas. Their flying dutchman may have 84 sensors but just think, before Vekoma, no one had heard of such a ride. Flying coasters were unheard of before the millennium. Along comes Vekoma and it was such a hit, just happens that B&M took their hand to it and created a ride that kept up with their reputation of quality and smooth rides. Inverted Shuttle Coasters took off with Vekoma as well. Their Inveritgo's were a hit, I know Two Face was a hit (although plagued with downtime). They pushed the limits further with Dejavu. Vekoma even has the motor bike coasters which from the reviews seem to be quite fun. I really would love their Tilt Coasters to catch on. I just know it would be very marketable and bring a lot of attention. Vekoma has their first sting ray installed and from a review I read of the ride it seems like the improved flyer trains and overall ride works much better than the flying dutchman installations here in the U.S. Has anyone heard more or can anyone elaborate more on the ride experience that has ridden? Also Vekomas first Big Air installation is slated to open if it hasn't already. Here's some video I found of the ride testing. Seems very Interesting... I don't think that it will out do Intamin's Half Pipe coasters which spin. Only thing Big Air has is that it's much larger. I like how the cars rotate at the very top. I bet this creates a lot of suspense and has riders tensing up. Check it out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tmcdllr Posted September 18, 2010 Share Posted September 18, 2010 Speaking of one to be melted down, I nominate Kong at SFDK, very painful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angry_Gumball Posted September 18, 2010 Share Posted September 18, 2010 I know that people were bashing Vekoma for "Cloned" coasters and it is true that there are what seems to be 'cookie-cutter' coasters. Vekoma is not the only one who has cloned coasters though. It's already been pointed out that Batmans are pretty wide-spread. Not to bash B&M or anything, I love their coasters, but looking at a good handful of their rides can be seen as somewhat cloned. Take Scream, Medusa, Kraken, and even Kumba. With the exclusion of the Medusa's Sea Serpent element, all of these elements are the same, following the same order: Loop, Dive, Zero-G, Cobra/Serpent, brake-run, and 2 corks. While the overall layout is different, the rides can technically be considered the same...and don't get me started on the Cy-"Clones," the heavily cloned woodie coasters. And yes, Kong was pretty rough when I rode it back in '06...which was the last time I rode it. It has some competition sitting in the South Bay which happens to be a B&M. You know which coaster I'm referring to. My whole "Vekoma Bashing" is taken more as coaster humor than really not liking their rides...I actually enjoy what I have ridden of their rides, much like I enjoy what I've ridden on Arrows (Like Demon). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mechanic Posted September 18, 2010 Share Posted September 18, 2010 No Vekoma has ever punched me in the side of the head as hard as Revolution does every time I ride it. Granted, I've only ridden a handful of Vekomas, but all of them were at least tolerable. A couple of them, like Space Mountain and Big Thunder Railroad, are among my favorite rides. Even the seemingly hated SLC, Kong, has always given me a decent ride. The only time it's ever punched me in the head is on the final extremely low speed turn back into the station. That can easily be accomodated by bracing yourself for the turn as you enter it. I have otherwise never found it to be anything other than very fun and exciting during the course of the actual high-speed portion of the ride. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fire2box Posted September 18, 2010 Share Posted September 18, 2010 Speaking of one to be melted down, I nominate Kong at SFDK, very painful. Last time was at SKDK just over a month ago I guess my friend wanted to hit up all the rollercoasters asides from boomerang (boring, and always breaking down, and recently got stuck on the 2nd lift hill.) So we waited in line for Kong for maybe 45 mins. The ride operator was even joking about how bad this ride is on the speaker system and sadly barely anyone took his advice. There was also very slow load times despite 2 trains in operation. Every time the 2nd train had to wait at the breaking station at the end. Horrible ride that hurts you hear and/or ears no matter how tense up you get. Do yourself a favor skip Kong and ride mudusa twice.. once in front, once in back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tmcdllr Posted September 18, 2010 Share Posted September 18, 2010 Medusa front, back, and the zero G is awesome in the middle of the train. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted September 18, 2010 Share Posted September 18, 2010 The question here is not "Is cloning rides a bad thing?" It's "Is a ride worth cloning in the first place?" The Batman rides were; the SLCs were not. That being said, Vekoma does make a good mine train that lends itself well to theming. Their work with Disney has yielded some good rides, too, with the big exception of the Paris Disneyland's version of Space Mountain, which is one of the worst rides anywhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walibi owner Posted September 18, 2010 Share Posted September 18, 2010 If all SLC's where like limit, super smooth ride a lot better than the B&M's I did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cal1br3tto Posted September 18, 2010 Share Posted September 18, 2010 Like: GIBs and Invertigos Dislike: Boomerangs and SLCs I know not all Vekomas are rough, but that's not my issue with them. I simply find most to be slightly above average at best, decidedly boring at worst. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KDCOASTERFAN Posted September 19, 2010 Share Posted September 19, 2010 How have vekoma's woodies held out so far? I know there are only two or at the most three of them right now but was just wondering what everyone's experiences & take is on these particular models? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reon Posted September 19, 2010 Share Posted September 19, 2010 I think the best way to put it is Vekoma has awesome ideas, but needs to...smooth out the details a bit. Seriously though, some of the notorious coasters (SLC, the SF Ninja Duo) have pretty cool layouts that are kind of fun. Its just the whole OMGWTF pain that distracts you from the interesting twisty layouts. On the other hand, I love Flying Dutchman. Havent been on any of the custom B&M flyers yet, but after riding all of the SUF and Flying Dutchmans, Vekoma definately wins it for me as far as flyers go... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoCalCoasters Posted September 19, 2010 Share Posted September 19, 2010 One thing Vekoma has hit the mark with is kiddie coasters, no one can deny that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted September 19, 2010 Share Posted September 19, 2010 How have vekoma's woodies held out so far? I know there are only two or at the most three of them right now but was just wondering what everyone's experiences & take is on these particular models? Thunder Coaster at Tusenfryd was good last year. It's held up well since my first visit to that park with TPR in 2006. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walibi owner Posted September 19, 2010 Share Posted September 19, 2010 How have vekoma's woodies held out so far? I know there are only two or at the most three of them right now but was just wondering what everyone's experiences & take is on these particular models? Thunder Coaster at Tusenfryd was good last year. It's held up well since my first visit to that park with TPR in 2006. robin hood was funny,(2000-2009) but the new restraints of kumbak are verry verry bad...(2010) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragon Khan Posted September 19, 2010 Share Posted September 19, 2010 Werewolf at Walibi Belgium has held very well. I would even say it has improved and become "good kind of rough" and is GREAT fun ! I rode Robin Hood some years ago, it was excellent, but I heard it hasn't aged very well. Can anyone confirm ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted September 19, 2010 Share Posted September 19, 2010 ^I found Robin Hood kind of boring, actually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CorkscrewFoley Posted September 19, 2010 Share Posted September 19, 2010 Quite honestly it seems to be the in fashion thing for the community to sh!t on Vekoma, when yes despite some minor roughness, Vekoma actually has some good products. I believe it has to be how the park takes care of it, because the smoothest Vekoma I was on was RnRC at Hollywood Studios. The only'rough' spot was the transition into the corkscrew, but that's it. As for the SLC's, I thoroughly enjoy them, and would love to see B&M use the layout with their trains. But my favourite product from them are the Mine Trains. It really doesn't get any better than that, IMHO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walibi owner Posted September 19, 2010 Share Posted September 19, 2010 Werewolf at Walibi Belgium has held very well. I would even say it has improved and become "good kind of rough" and is GREAT fun ! I rode Robin Hood some years ago, it was excellent, but I heard it hasn't aged very well. Can anyone confirm ? look at the post above you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scoutn757 Posted September 20, 2010 Share Posted September 20, 2010 Ahh as my first post I fell I shall weight my opinion in on this topic. I have ridden very few Vekomas first off. The main two that I ride multiple times a year are Everest and Rock 'n' Roller. I love both of those and have never experienced any overly bone jerking moments as I have on others. The statement that Disney had their hand on it I will agree with. Everest due to its unique nature and the mountain that it i contained within would point toward more Disney designed input. The layout is fairly intricate and the way it is laid within the mountain is too uniformed for Vekoma to have provided a design and Disney go around it. I think the track layout was more Disney and contracted the building itself out to Vekoma with their fine tuning. Rock'n on the other hand, I think Disney told them what they wanted and Disney oversaw the designing to ensure it's quality. These again are my naked eye observations and no facts backing them up at all Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoasterEricHP Posted September 20, 2010 Share Posted September 20, 2010 The only piece of information that I need to hear about Vekoma to judge their quality is the fact that a seat FLEW off of BG! No thank you! However like you all said.. Everest and RNR show that they can make some great rides, they just need to be supervised! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now