Phantasialand | F. L. Y. | Vekoma Launched Flying Coaster | 2020
- Thread starter roomraider
- Start date
Yes, I think it is worth it compared to the other offerings. I would echo that the price difference is not substantial when factoring in park tickets and evening food. I stayed there two weeks ago and would willingly stay at HCL again.
CSLKennyNI
Giga Poster
Stefan Holtman of Vekoma made a nice post on LinkedIn with a couple new pictures from the ride's development to mark it winning "best new product" at IAAPA.
Only seeing him stand in the bottom of the pit makes you realise the insane scale of the digging they spent years doing for this project. This is today the maintenance bay of F.L.Y. with the hotel on top. The deeper trench on the left is the final tunnel under one of the hotel towers after the 2nd inversion/before the final turn.
Only seeing him stand in the bottom of the pit makes you realise the insane scale of the digging they spent years doing for this project. This is today the maintenance bay of F.L.Y. with the hotel on top. The deeper trench on the left is the final tunnel under one of the hotel towers after the 2nd inversion/before the final turn.
davidm
Strata Poster
Having ridden it the other week (LOVED IT), I have a question;
What's all that with "Goggles"?
"Advert" for goggles on one of those fan things in the dark-ride bit, one big sign saying wear your goggles at the start of the ride and another at the end of the ride extolling the virtues of goggles. Was wearing goggles meant to be part of the whole experience and covid has put paid to that or is there something else I'm missing?
Confused.
What's all that with "Goggles"?
"Advert" for goggles on one of those fan things in the dark-ride bit, one big sign saying wear your goggles at the start of the ride and another at the end of the ride extolling the virtues of goggles. Was wearing goggles meant to be part of the whole experience and covid has put paid to that or is there something else I'm missing?
Confused.
Nicky Borrill
Strata Poster
On my first review of this ride, I specifically stated that it 'won't break anyone's top ten!'
I was wrong, it broke into mine! I found that on my most recent visit this week the thing was, excuse my pun, flying!!! Forceful and lots of moments of airtime, a truly incredible coaster that was loads better than during the initial soft opening weeks.
Just goes to show, they do soft openings for a reason, and all those rollbacks that week were happening for a reason, they were still calibrating!!!
I was wrong, it broke into mine! I found that on my most recent visit this week the thing was, excuse my pun, flying!!! Forceful and lots of moments of airtime, a truly incredible coaster that was loads better than during the initial soft opening weeks.
Just goes to show, they do soft openings for a reason, and all those rollbacks that week were happening for a reason, they were still calibrating!!!
Peter Immelmann
Mega Poster
They do not have too many knobs they could tune, just the speed of two launches, I suppose. So, are you saying it runs faster in both halves or just in one of them or what did they do exactly?
When I rode it last year, it felt a bit like it was not forceful enough to really wow me but at the same time a bit too forceful to feel comfortable in that flying position, in particular, given the length of the ride and when reriding it. So, I'm wondering what would do the job here.
When I rode it last year, it felt a bit like it was not forceful enough to really wow me but at the same time a bit too forceful to feel comfortable in that flying position, in particular, given the length of the ride and when reriding it. So, I'm wondering what would do the job here.
Nicky Borrill
Strata Poster
Not entirely sure what they’ve done, but both halves are more forceful, especially the first. The airtime at the top of the SECOND launch is insane on the front row.
During the opening week, it rolled back several times (you can look back in this thread to see evidence of that from people there who witnessed it) It doesn’t feel like there’s any risk of it rolling back now based on my runs this week!!!
Each banked turn had me questioning the strength of the shoulder straps!!!
Edited: To correct which launch I was referring to!
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Peter Immelmann
Mega Poster
Ok, let me ask: how did you ride this thing? Did you actually try to keep your upper body and head up, so you can properly look forward or did you rather relax your body fully sinking into the shoulder straps (and basically looking "down")? When I was riding it last year I was mostly trying the former for the better views but found it pretty exhausting and uncomfortable.
Nicky Borrill
Strata Poster
I relax on every coaster... At my age I wouldn't be able to marathon coasters without relaxing
I'm a bit of a kid, so I just slump into the harness and extend my arms out in front, sometimes just letting them hang... Never had any issue with it being comfortable, the train design is perfect. I just didn't find it nearly as intense during opening week as I did this week. Like I said, every banked turn I could feel a crazy amount of force being put onto the restraint from the positive Gs, and at the top of the launch (front of the train only) my back was pushed into the back of the seat very firmly by the crazy airtime. There was airtime here last year, but not like this!
Peter Immelmann
Mega Poster
Yeah, I was suspecting this is what I did wrong. Next time I'll slump into the vest restrains and just let it go
I was there last week and noticed the same change. First row is really heavy now. So I made a few videos and compared them to some I recorded in October 2020. I see no speed difference... Strange...Not entirely sure what they’ve done, but both halves are more forceful, especially the first. The airtime at the top of the SECOND launch is insane on the front row.
During the opening week, it rolled back several times (you can look back in this thread to see evidence of that from people there who witnessed it) It doesn’t feel like there’s any risk of it rolling back now based on my runs this week!!!
Each banked turn had me questioning the strength of the shoulder straps!!!
Edited: To correct which launch I was referring to!
F.L.Y. Comparison
Nicky Borrill
Strata Poster
Interesting idea, and thanks for this… But the difference in such short clips could be just a few video frames and not visible to the naked eye… Shame we can’t have full ride POVs :/
But it’s good to hear you noted the same!
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Peter Immelmann
Mega Poster
Hi Mario, thanks for doing this. However, I'm not sure I understand what you did to reach this conclusion. Did you just consider each sequence separately or actually the time between the two? For the former, I fully agree with Nicky. But if you actually did consider the time in between these two sequences (in case they came from the same video or you somehow did a careful synchronization of timestamps of several videos you took into account) it would be a meaningful comparison.
...I mean, there should be plenty of videos from 2020 and 2021 that show the full cycle or large parts of it. If you find good anchor points for reading of timestamps, it should not be a big issue to figure it out (even without an onride).
...I mean, there should be plenty of videos from 2020 and 2021 that show the full cycle or large parts of it. If you find good anchor points for reading of timestamps, it should not be a big issue to figure it out (even without an onride).
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Nicky Borrill
Strata Poster
Sadly I can't find any suitable videos, there isn't 2 POVs as far as I can see, and I cannot find 2 unedited full circuit videos.
Curse that incredibly well thought out locker and scanner safety system!!!
Flying Pilot
Mega Poster
Open asked them. Ill go the 28th.