Favourite Australian Coaster

[Bailz]

@reanimated35 I feel just like its just funny and makes you laugh the whole way around. Good to ride on with friends.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

^Ha...OW...Ha...OW...Ha...OW...Ha...OW...Ha...OW...Ha...OW...Ha...OW...Ha...OW...

[TAPR]

Thanks for asking, @reanimated35 

I think it comes down to a whole experience for me, because that whole area is one of my favourite parts of the park and I think that just makes me enjoy the rollercoaster even more (who doesn't enjoy a desolate siren playing asylum area, I can sit on a bench there for literal hours). I am also a bit biased in the fact I've had the opportunity to wear some of that fun loving orange, and it can be a lot of fun.

The rollercoaster itself, I'm a person that is completely more than happy to be tossed around a barrel roll and some loops at approx 85km/hour, and for me that's what I feel a perfect rollercoaster for myself is. In comparison to Super Dork   Superman Escape, SE for me is literally hills. Slower than the motorway/highway and hills. Still a really, really good rollercoaster, and I know the public absolutely love it to bits and rightly so, but I think after the who-knows-how-many times I've been on it, just going fast for me personally doesn't cut it anymore, but I'm still up for a ride every now and then to get that nice endorphin rush feeling though.  

[aaronm]

So after Superman, would have to be Jet Rescue or Green Lantern for me.

Jet Rescue is just a great family ride, reminds me a scaled-down Maverick. It feels fast and forceful without being too extreme for kids to ride, which is perfect for a park like Sea World. Also wins some points for being relatively unique, there's nothing really similar out there - Juvelen might be close but it's a much less intense ride.

On paper Green Lantern shouldn't work - too slow, too short, too gentle. But when you actually ride it, from the dive-coaster-like first drop to the slow inversions, there are some great "woooaaahh" moments throughout, especially on the outside seats. And it's even better when you luck out and get a car with working audio.

I like that there's plenty of love for Arkham here. It might be a lowly SLC, but it's probably the best one there is. It's certainly much better themed than any of the others that I've been on, has a bonus helix, and is also far less likely to give you a concussion. I'm pretty sure it's the only SLC I've bothered to ride more than once!

[Reanimated35]

1 hour ago, TAPR said:

Thanks for asking, @reanimated35 

I think it comes down to a whole experience for me, because that whole area is one of my favourite parts of the park and I think that just makes me enjoy the rollercoaster even more (who doesn't enjoy a desolate siren playing asylum area, I can sit on a bench there for literal hours). I am also a bit biased in the fact I've had the opportunity to wear some of that fun loving orange, and it can be a lot of fun.

The rollercoaster itself, I'm a person that is completely more than happy to be tossed around a barrel roll and some loops at approx 85km/hour, and for me that's what I feel a perfect rollercoaster for myself is. In comparison to Super Dork   Superman Escape, SE for me is literally hills. Slower than the motorway/highway and hills. Still a really, really good rollercoaster, and I know the public absolutely love it to bits and rightly so, but I think after the who-knows-how-many times I've been on it, just going fast for me personally doesn't cut it anymore, but I'm still up for a ride every now and then to get that nice endorphin rush feeling though.  

Ah yes, I think it might have been you I saw there the other day. I'd have to say I would completely agree and almost, put AA a close second behind SE if it wasn't for the fact the harness crushes my legs in the brake run. I seem to be one of the unlucky ones that happens to and it sucks because at only 70kg I'm not exactly a big guy. I honestly preferred the mild concussion of LW before the refit.  

 

[Santa07]

This site is great.

You say a SLC is your favourite coaster, and is in your top few coasters, and we see it as something perfectly normal.

You say it somewhere else, say TPR, and they think you've gone crazy (possibly from being knocked around too much).

They just don't realise that a sucky coaster can make a good coaster if some effort is put into making it (ie comfy trains and good theming).

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

There are around 41 SLCs in the world. 7 of them have the helix (inc. 2xShenlin). Out of the 5 traditional extended (w/helix) versions out there, two have received new trains - Arkham, and Jaguar at Isla Magica. Calling ours 'the best one there is' is reaching, IMO.

Lets not beat around the bush. the SLC is a horrible bastard that kicks the shit out of you... especially with original trains and restraints. Our Arkham has new trains and harnesses that provide less head banging, and slightly more leg (and for some, groin) pain instead - which is far more tolerable than a headache. Theres a nice ambience in the area, but I feel this is mostly because the original ride was installed 20 years ago, and was their flagship ride at the time, so it had buckets of money thrown at it to make it look good.

I've comfortably re-ridden Arkham for an hour straight with the new restraints, and I find it much better than the previous 'classic' restraints - but the track is still rough as guts, especially the transitions between elements, and the increasing leg pressure throughout the ride, culminated in a crushing force in the brake run mean i'll happily skip it on any visit unless its a walk-on... TBH I really like the look of the restraints on Jaguar ( here ) far better than Arkham's current design.

But I really struggle to take "its the best one there is" seriously.

[Santa07]

Jaguar's are just the standard new Vekoma vest harness right? If HWSW's anything to base it off I feel I'd like Arkham's harnesses better (if it wasn't for the leg-crushing), they're a tiny bit less bulky.

[aaronm]

59 minutes ago, AlexB said:

But I really struggle to take "its the best one there is" seriously.

Of the dozen or so SLCs I've tried, Arkham is the only one that's had much in the way of theming or onboard audio. It also has the most comfortable ride (by a really, really long shot). It's still an SLC and has all the flaws associated with being that, for sure. But I don't understand why it's such a fanciful proposal to suggest it's the best one. Because Jaguar might have better restraints? 

Edited July 20, 2016 by aaronm

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Fair point. I'll take that on board.

I was doing a little SLC research earlier, and the most recent Mitch Hawker poll I was able to find was for 2013 (has he done it since then?) - where I found 'favourite Vekoma SLC located anywhere' ranked one spot above Dreamworld's Cyclone, and TWENTY spots below MDMC. That is an outrage. A travesty. this must be rectified.

[Richard]

On 7/19/2016 at 0:49 PM, AlexB said:

when I click 'add review' the page refreshes, but nothing else. Am I missing something?

Sometimes the authentication bridge between the forums and main site doesn't work correctly and you need to click Login in the site menu -- it'll redirect you back to the page you were on. It's actually meant to prompt you if you try and add a review when you're not recognised as logged in. I'll fix that in the next round of updates.