There isn't much to Rivals backwards that I know of. Obviously they can only accommodate one row because of the reduced clearances to the row in front, so it sounds like a single backwards row on a train would be cheaper than two forwards rows. (Although then you need two sets of ride cameras to capture the backwards row so it probably comes out in the wash overall.

The tech on the spinning seat obviously costs more, and requires more maintenance, so the costs for spinning seat are more or less justified.

I'm sure i've said before that Leviathan's backwards seat is a waste. The true woodie experience is rushing through headchoppers and the like and facing backwards is not a fun ride, whereas on rivals it's insanely fun.

27 minutes ago, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

I'm sure i've said before that Leviathan's backwards seat is a waste. The true woodie experience is rushing through headchoppers and the like and facing backwards is not a fun ride, whereas on rivals it's insanely fun.

I don't think I've seen a single person, on these forums or not, that doesn't dislike Levi's backwards seat for one reason or another. Haven't been on it myself just 'cause I'd rather save the money for a DCR or ST gimmick seat instead, but I can envision why it'd be really not worth the purchase.

They have reduced leviathan backwards seat to $25 but as far as I know DCR is still $30.  $25 still feels a bit rich but the year pass is decently priced so it’s not to bad I guess

19 hours ago, REGIE said:

They have reduced leviathan backwards seat to $25 but as far as I know DCR is still $30.  $25 still feels a bit rich but the year pass is decently priced so it’s not to bad I guess

Yeah, that's still way too much. Tonnerre 2 Zeus @ Parc Asterix has the gimmick seat from Levi (though it technically opened earlier, thanks Sea World mismanagement), and that opened with an upcharge of ~$18, but quickly changed it to ~$12 in just over a week due to poor guest feedback (and as far as I can tell, it operated smoothly on opening and didn't have any 'purchase on the barely functioning app' tomfoolery either). I know they're different markets and all, but with how universally disliked the experience is, anywhere under $15 is a ripoff IMO (and I'd only personally consider riding it if it was $10).

Edited February 10, 20232 yr by Tricoart

$20ea, 2 for $30. Keep that back row filled and village pockets full.

If I had a $20 note kicking around in my pocket I would definitely do it then. At $10 I would do it every time I visited the park but at 20 I would do it a few times a year. . The extra $5 it is now make it a one and done for me. 

Idk, anything under $15 and I’d just prefer to wait in the queue for a normal seat & spend the money on a different experience (Glass Bottom Boat, or save it for a back-of-house tour).

Edited February 11, 20232 yr by Tricoart

On 8/2/2023 at 7:44 PM, Baconjack said:

Getting a little nervous tbh, I’m driving up from Sydney on Friday and planning to visit SW for leviathan on Monday.

Fucks sake lol. Guess I’m having a crack in winter

Edited February 13, 20232 yr by Baconjack

1 minute ago, Baconjack said:

Fucks sake lol. Guess I’m having a crack when I’m back up north for jungle rush/wizard of oz

Oof. Were you not able to get a ride in? 

1 minute ago, Guest 239 said:

Oof. Were you not able to get a ride in? 

Down, but sporadically testing. Staff seem to have be told leviathan is not running today

Don't lose heart yet. Many days it's been down but not on the official closures list it does come up before the end of the day.

Ok so sea world clutched up and opened leviathan at quarter past 2, which surprised me considering staff said it would be closed all day and it didn’t test for about 3 hours beforehand. Managed to get a few rides in and will grab a few more before close.

The AV presentation is pretty cool and looks great. It looks a lot better in person than in photos or videos. It’s certainly not the best implementation (the timing was pretty wonky), but it’s a really good step nonetheless for what is essentially village’s 2nd go and makes me look forward to the next couple of years. The station and pre show stairs is where the theming really stands out. The detail is very impressive. I do think the station lighting needs to be a bit brighter to make the screens fit in a bit more, but I’m being a little bit nitpicky. Queue rockwork and vegetation looks cool but will get very hot in peak summer, maybe some mist machines or fans would be nice.

I was initially pretty disappointed with my first ride as it ran quite slow but definitely warmed up to it with a few more laps in different parts of the train. It’s one of those rides that will run slow in the morning and speed up later on in the day. Lots of little airtime pops and the first half had some solid pace to it, feeling very out of control. The roughness caught me off guard at first but given I’ve never been on a wooden coaster before is something I can’t really judge. Leviathan is definitely not going to knock off rivals or taipan as the best coaster in the country, but a really really solid big thrill ride for sea world that’s been needed for nearly a decade. No doubt it will be popular once the teething problems are fixed up and it’s back to peak season.

Edited February 13, 20232 yr by Baconjack

16 minutes ago, Baconjack said:

The roughness caught me off guard

Me too as I never got to ride a woodie before it but I ended up kinda loving the raw feeling. There’s 2 really good airtime moments in the back not including the drop.

 

17 minutes ago, Baconjack said:

disappointed with my first ride as it ran quite slow

That’s too bad. I remember my first ride it was running pretty fast I absolutely loved it. It definitely sped up the most around lunch. I think they swapped trains after that because it felt slower again for awhile. Did you get a chance to do all front/back/middle?

17 minutes ago, REGIE said:

Me too as I never got to ride a woodie before it but I ended up kinda loving the raw feeling. There’s 2 really good airtime moments in the back not including the drop.

That’s too bad. I remember my first ride it was running pretty fast I absolutely loved it. It definitely sped up the most around lunch. I think they swapped trains after that because it felt slower again for awhile. Did you get a chance to do all front/back/middle?

Yep. One in each section. Wish I could have got more. It ran faster on the later rides for sure.

Funnily enough it closed again at quarter past 3. So it was really only open for an hour or so.

Wow you got pretty lucky to get on at all then

what was your favourite seat on the train? I personally think it’s a back row ride but I can understand people who don’t like the roughness to go at the front 

Edited February 13, 20232 yr by REGIE

53 minutes ago, REGIE said:

Wow you got pretty lucky to get on at all then

what was your favourite seat on the train? I personally think it’s a back row ride but I can understand people who don’t like the roughness to go at the front 

Back row has better airtime so guess that’s where it’s best haha

Good on the park for opening it for you rather than just giving up and not bothering that day. 

44 minutes ago, Gobbledok said:

Good on the park for opening it for you rather than just giving up and not bothering that day. 

Lol who hurt you?

Unfortunately not everyone has the luxury of having the parks close by to them.

Yeah with these raising fuel prices it’s going to be harder to get to the “parks” from where I live. I think a few mini parks could use this to their advantage. Mini parks could open in busy places that are a decent drive from the Major parks

 

4 minutes ago, REGIE said:

It’s going to be harder to get to the “parks” from where I live

Why the inverted commas?

16 hours ago, Baconjack said:

The roughness caught me off guard at first but given I’ve never been on a wooden coaster before is something I can’t really judge.

Yeah this is pretty stereotypical for a woodie and is the reason why those who haven't ridden one don't understand what a woodie can give that a steel coaster can't. 

Glad you got to ride it - I was hopeful i'd be right about them opening it late.

17 hours ago, Baconjack said:

Leviathan is definitely not going to knock off rivals or taipan as the best coaster in the country, but a really really solid big thrill ride for sea world that’s been needed for nearly a decade.

See I think it depends on your criteria. I think everyone is going to judge things slightly differently and there is a dimension where leviathan will rank number 1. I still consistently rank Space Mountain as my number 1 in the world, despite it not being the tallest, fastest, longest or most iconic. 

Right now my 7 year old thinks Leviathan is the absolute shit (though, that's going to last a little more than a month before we take him to LA)... 

Everything is subjective I guess.

I know one of my friends who is a bit scared of roller coasters enjoys leviathan more then superman. (They haven’t done ST or rivals yet)

 

15 hours ago, Gobbledok said:

Good on the park for opening it for you rather than just giving up and not bothering that day. 

 

14 hours ago, Baconjack said:

Lol who hurt you?

Unfortunately not everyone has the luxury of having the parks close by to them.

Though it could be taken otherwise - I didn't read comment as a dig at you - but more so giving Seaworld the credit for getting the ride open even though it was just for an hour and they could have just kept it closed and wrote the day off - which seems fair in this case. Certainly a better experience for guests that are there for the day - especially if they aren't regulars such as yourself.

An official POV of Leviathan has been published:

 

Good to see! I gotta say though in general I am really not a fan of the low mounted POV’s it’s a lot harder to tell what’s happening and get a sense of how big / steep the drops are. I find this with steel vengeance’s pov’s as well. When the camera is attached to the top of the train it is much better and you can almost feel the airtime by watching it. 

Edited February 22, 20232 yr by REGIE