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Rank the B&M Wing Coasters

Edward M

Strata Poster
1. Wild Eagle- thought it was bad in 2012, but I had some amazing rides in 2016. I'm a sucker for a traditional B&M layout.
2. Thunderbird- great ride that is very forceful. Don't like it as much as everyone else seems to though. It gave me a headache and seemed to be almost too forceful for no real reason.
3. Swarm- This is actually a great coaster, just not quite as memorable as these other two. It relies too much on the "cars tight fit" gimmick, but it's very good fun overall.
 

Will

Strata Poster
I've only done 2 - but The Swarm outdoes Flug der Damonen by a fair margain as one is smooth and does interesting things, while the same cannot be said of the other.
Swarm looks better too; arguably the only good thing Thorpe have done since the rot set in.
 

nadroJ

CF Legend
Raptor by a country mile. The first drop is fab and the near misses genuinely feel like near misses.
 

Ben

CF Legend
Update time!

1. Thunderbird
2. Gatekeeper
3. Wild Eagle
4. Flug Der Damonen
5. Swarm
6. Raptor
7. X-Flight

X-Flight was ****ing ****.
 

HeartlineCoaster

Theme Park Superhero
crocodile_news01h.jpg
 

Ian

From CoasterForce
Staff member
Administrator
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I've done, what, four? And in order of fave to least fave...

1. Raptor
2. Swarm
3. GateKeeper
4. X-Flight

Although the topic title clearly states it's B&M Wing Coasters only, just in case I'm accused of being Intaminist by a snowflake, my Wing Coaster list would look like this:
1. Skyrush
2. Swarm
3. GateKeeper
4. Baco
5. X Flight
 

Hixee

Flojector
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Savage that X-Flight is below Baco. Haha.

Maybe @Jarrett would like Baco, as it's so violent. ;)
 

gavin

Moderator
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Moderator
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Update:

1. Parrot Coaster

2. Raptor
3. Flug
4. Swarm


5. X Flight
 

Jarrett

Most Obnoxious Member 2016
Savage that X-Flight is below Baco. Haha.

Maybe @Jarrett would like Baco, as it's so violent. ;)
I don't know if Baco's the kind of "violence" I like but it's definitely on my to do list. As long as it doesn't do that jackhammer thing X-Flight does in the back it looks phenomenal.
 

sKrATcher

Roller Poster
I really enjoyed Swarm (it was my first ever winged coaster)
Gatekeeper is also awesome. It's almost a hard choice between the two, but I kinda like Gatekeeper better. It's sooooo smooth. I love riding Gatekeeper
 

BBH

Giga Poster
X-Flight is slowly becoming awful. Awful rattle/jackhammer and the vests suffocate you on the brake run.
 

gavin

Moderator
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^ It was already like that a year ago. Piece of crap.
 

Mysterious Sue

Strata Poster
I actually find it really hard to choose. None of those that I've ridden particularly rocked my world but I find each of them to have a very different set of qualities.

Raptor is perhaps the best at what wing riders should excel at - near misses and interaction with scenery.
But I really enjoy the size of Swarm and the anticipation of the first drop. It feels so much more substantial because of the height (even if it is short lengthwise). Also it's butter-smooth.

Flug is more of a complete package. Some near misses and more forces but overall a bit limp and boring and with some judderiness.

It's definitely between Raptor and Swarm then. Controversially, I think I'm going to give it to Swarm because it's a great ride at night with a cracking view.
 

Jordanovichy

Credit Whore 2016
I really like the B&M wing coasters <3 my order would be

1. Swarm
2. Thunderbird
3. Gatekeeper
4. Raptor
5. Flug der Damonen
6. X-Flight

I can see where people are coming from on X-Flight, for me it is the tamest of the wing coasters, but has excellent near misses. After my first ride on Gatekeeper, that would happily have gone bottom, but my rides after were so gooood.
 

Hixee

Flojector
Staff member
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There's no way Swarm is better than Thunderbird, that's just nonsense. ;)
 

MestnyiGeroi

Giga Poster
There's no way Swarm is better than Thunderbird, that's just nonsense. ;)
Yeah, I read through this thread just to see if there was anyone who's ridden Thunderbird who didn't put it first in the list. Turns out, there are three of you. Surprised me.
 

SaiyanHajime

CF Legend
Weird! X-flight is by faaaar my favourite from the pile of turds I've ridden... I've done Swarm, Eagle and Damonen with X-flight as my most recent acquisition in 2016 and by the time I got to it I was absolutely not looking forward to it as I hadn't enjoyed any of the others.

I think Eagle was the smoothest experience for me, but I've only ridden that during their Christmas event when it'll be running slower, but next in line was definitely X-Flight for smoothness. Weird. Having only ridden it once, maybe one train is worse than the other, or maybe I sat in the perfect place, or who knows! This was like, June 2016, evening. I cannot recall if I sat inside or outside, but the other two enjoyed it also, so I can only assume it wasn't running bad when we did it, for whatever reason.

Now, Damonen was rough. Rough and irrelevant. Rode it once in two days, just had zero interest in going back on it because it wasn't worth my time. It was as bad as Baco, but without being stupid fun (nuts? ridiculous?) like Baco is. It's weirdly small, too. It's like taking Swarm and removing anything good about it, replacing it with extreme roughness.

X-Flight progresses the layout best, imo. It flows between elements naturally. Wild Eagle is boring and does nothing with the ride type and Swarm is pretty good, and ultimately more interesting when you consider the theming, but none of them are actually that great.

I want to ride Raptor because I imagine I'll probably like that one.

It's worth noting that I like Baco, but I fully appreciate that it is way, waaaay too rough. It's abhorrently rough, but I think it was fun enough to tolerate that. I'm wondering if I would hate it today though because my tolerance has gone down, a lot. Getting old.
 

Hutch

Strata Poster
Yeah, I read through this thread just to see if there was anyone who's ridden Thunderbird who didn't put it first in the list. Turns out, there are three of you. Surprised me.
I only had one ride on Thunderbird, compared to several on Gatekeeper, making it a little tricky to form an opinion on Thunderbird. That being said, Gatekeeper really impressed me on my first ride. Both rides flow nicely through the inversions, but I think Gatekeeper's length and forces at the bottom of the drop give it the edge.
 

TilenB

Strata Poster
I've done, what, four? And in order of fave to least fave...

1. Raptor
2. Swarm
3. GateKeeper
4. X-Flight

Although the topic title clearly states it's B&M Wing Coasters only, just in case I'm accused of being Intaminist by a snowflake, my Wing Coaster list would look like this:
1. Skyrush
2. Swarm
3. GateKeeper
4. Baco
5. X Flight
So Raptor ceases to be a wing coaster, once you compare it to the Intamins?

As for me, I've only done 2 and I'd rank Raptor a bit higher than Swarm, although I do remember enjoying both.
Absolute wing-coaster list would look like this:
1. Flying Aces
2. X2
3. Raptor
4. Swarm
5. Baco (blegh)
 

BBH

Giga Poster
^ It was already like that a year ago. Piece of crap.
Just rode it in the front shortly after writing that. It's better, but not fantastic. It's a ride that requires a strategy to be comfortable. So it's not a comfortable ride.
 
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