Jump to content
  TPR Home | Parks | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram 

Best American B&M Inverted coaster


Best American B&M Inverted coaster  

642 members have voted

  1. 1. Best American B&M Inverted coaster

    • Batman (any)
      66
    • Top Gun (PGA)
      30
    • Raptor
      102
    • Montu
      149
    • Alpengeist
      108
    • Great Bear
      24
    • Top Gun (Carowinds)
      46
    • Talon
      31
    • Dueling Dragons (Fire or Ice)
      59
    • Silver Bullet
      21
    • Patriot
      6


Recommended Posts

I've ridden Batman (SFGam, SFGAdv, SFOG, SFStl), Raptor, Montu, Dueling Dragons, Alpengeist, Talon, and Patriot.

 

All are fun, no doubt. The only one that I thought was clearly better than the rest was Batman (pick any one, they were all outstanding). The only other two on my list that I've ridden frequently are Montu and Raptor. I've had blissful rides on Montu and I've had "what happened?" rides as well, while Raptor seemed fairly consistent each time. Having only visited IOA, BGW, Dorney, and WOF once, I don't think I've ridden those inverts enough to get a good feel for them.

 

That's funny you say you have had consistant rides on Raptor, but I haven't! Some times I feel like it's not aging too well, then other visits the ride hauls ass and moves into my top 10! I'll ride it all different times of the day, full train or 1/4 full...ranging from amazing to meh. But I have felt this is FOR SURE a front seat ride (as with most B&M inverts) and that's where I get the most consistancy. It's been great the past few seasons, but '06-'08...I forget it existed!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 237
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

I've been on the majority on the list, with the exception of patriot and top gun (carowinds). I can say that for me, Montu was heads and shoulders above everything else. The first time I rode it, it blew me away. When I returned to Florida this past November, I confirmed my previous opinions.....I just love that ride (in the back row especially). Honorable mention to Dueling Dragons and Raptor.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

I've been on about half of the listed B&M inverts, which happen to be one of my favorite types of coasters! I rate all of them very highly, but my rankings for the ones I've ridden would be:

 

1. Afterburn (Top Gun) - Carowinds

2. Talon - Dorney

3. Raptor - CP

4. Alpengeist - Busch Gardens Europe

5. Batman - SF Great America

6. Great Bear - Hershey

7. Batman - SF Great Adventure

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

It's hard for me to rank inverts, but I sure don't mind trying! All of them rate between a 7 and a 9 out of 10 for me.

 

1. Batman: The Ride (SFOT)

2. Flight Deck

3. Silver Bullet

4. Goliath

5. Patriot

6. Great White

7. Batman: The Ride (SFGAm)

8. Batman: The Ride (SFStL)

9. Batman: The Ride (SFMM)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Top 3 would be Afterburn, Alpengeist, and Raptor. It's been almost 10 years since I have been on Alpengeist so I can't really decide where to place it. After those I would put BTR (SFOG)/Great White, Dueling Dragons/Challenge.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Out of the ones I've been on (which is 13/20 that have existed in North america, notwithstanding relocations), amazingly they're all fairly forceful Beemers except for Silver Bullet:

 

1. Montu - Busch Gardens Tampa

2. Afterburn - Carowinds

3. Dragon Challenge - Islands of Adventure

4. Raptor - Cedar Point

5. Alpengeist - Busch Gardens Williamsburg

6. Great Bear - Hersheypark

7. Talon - Dorney Park

8. 4 Batmans & a french Canadian Vampire - Various

9. Silver Bullet - Knott's Berry Farm

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1. Dueling Dragons Fire

2. Montu

3. Dueling Dragons Ice

4. Raptor

5. Batman the Ride Clones

6. Top Gun

7. Silver Bullet

8. Talon

9. Patriot

10. Great Bear

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My favorite is still Flight Deck, even though Ice Dragon is higher on my list of favorites. I just adore everything that makes Flight Deck, well, Flight Deck, and as such I still enjoy it the most as an experience.

 

As for a list:

Flight Deck

Dueling Dragons (Ice)

Batman: The Ride (SFMM)

Silver Bullet (Not in last place, I know I know, the blasphemy)

Dueling Dragons (Fire)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've only ridden four of these, but of those, here's how I rank them

 

1. Montu (by FAR)

2. Raptor

3. Silver bullet (very weak, but at least more interesting/unique than Patriot)

4. Patriot. Maybe with more speed this ride would have been good, but I'm not sure...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1. Alpengeist

2. Talon

3. Raptor

4. Batman (SFMM, SFGAm, SFGAdv, SFStL)

5. Flight Deck (CGA)

6. Great Bear

 

Alpengeist I absolutely love at night plus I think it has the best first drop for an invert.

 

Raptor is excellent but even better when the mid-course lightly taps the train like when I rode it a few year's ago.

 

Batman at SFStL seemed a bit more intense than the others, not sure if its because its mirrored, but it was the first time I felt blood rushing to my feet on some of the turns. SFMM's seemed faster than the others.

 

Great Bear is unique due to its location but there's a lot of straight track after the zero-G.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

01. Batman: The Ride

02. Montu

03. Flight Deck

04. Alpengeist

05. Talon

06. Raptor

07. Silver Bullet

08. Afterburn

09. Patriot

10. Great Bear

11. Dragon Challenge: Fireball

12. Dragon Challenge: Hornball

 

I don't rank Batmans individually anymore, and the honor for the best one goes to SFOT. Most of my other favorite Batmans are ones not named Batman, and several of the rest would be at the low end of my list.

 

Although they're not near the top of my rankings anymore, I did enjoy Silver Bullet and Patriot more than most people. Great Bear may not deserve quite such a low ranking, but then again, it does have some pretty stiff competition.

 

Dragon Challenge definitely felt lacking in comparison to what it once must have been.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've only been on 5 of these (adding Montu and Dragons in a few days) but this is how my ranking would go.

 

1. Raptor

2. Flight Deck (CGA)

3. Batman (Been on SFMM and SFGAm with the latter being better)

4. Alpengeist

5. Silver Bullet

 

I have always liked Raptor the most, even with the rough ending with that turn into the brakes. Flight Deck is short but awesome. Alpengeist was cool, but the Block Breaks just killed the ending that it made it pretty disappointing in the end.

 

I have a feeling from what I've heard that this will all change soon when I get on Montu and the Dragons (Which I think should be separate in the poll since they are such different layouts).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

0. B:TR* - Seemed to be running blazingly fast with increadible forces and was very disorienting

1. Afterburn - great forces, pacing, and just the perfect length

2. B:TR - Still one of B & Ms better designs, a blitzkreig of force and intensity, only problem is it lacked a little floater

3. Silver Bullet - While it gets a lot of flak I found it really fun and re-rideable the only problem I had was the slope of the drop was ridiculous

4. Raptor - I don't really remeber riding it that well but I wasn't that impressed

5. Alpengeist - Rattled a bit too much for a B & M and the second half was pretty lame

6. Great Bear - I loved the pre-drop helix but the rest of the ride wasn't overly impressive

 

*At night during Fright Fest when it was shrouded in fog with strobes and other lighting

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1. Raptor

2. Dueling Dragons Fire

3. Montu

4. Flight Deck

5. Dueling Dragons Ice

6. Great Bear

7. Talon

8. Batman: The Ride

9. Silver Bullet

 

Glad to see Raptor getting some love around here. It usually gets overlooked in favor of some of B&M's later creations, but I still contend it was the zenith of invert design from a pacing/intensity perspective (though Nemesis is probably an individual exception). Raptor is one of the few standard B&Ms that finishes as strong as it starts, has a set of non-inversion elements uniquely its own, is still untamed by trim brakes, and isn't so big and drawn out that you lose that lightning-quick pacing started with B:TR. I understand why some people don't like it, but I can look past two spots of brief headbanging for everything else it does well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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 account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use https://themeparkreview.com/forum/topic/116-terms-of-service-please-read/