I recall reading somewhere that B&M Dive Coasters are not technically vertical but something around 88º so as to make sure that the road wheels are touching the rails at all times during the drop. Well, I don't know how they are going to pull that off with a 95º drop.
Wasn’t this in the earliest iterations before B&M had come up with spring-loaded bogies to keep the wheels against the track? I’m sure someone more knowledgeable can correct but I thought it was only the first couple of DMs that couldn’t be completely vertical. EDIT:
@Crazycoaster got there first!
It’s nice to see B&M pushing the tiniest toe out of their comfort zone, but I agree with
@TheCoasterCruiser,
@Fluorineer and others that this is hardly innovative. This is coming 18 years after the first Eurofighter with a 97° drop, and who knows how many years after Intamin and others started building ight-radius negative G airtime hills. This is no different to them building Thunderbird decades after the first launched coaster was created.
Great to see them add a little variation to their offering, but I still really want to see them create something actually new and innovative and interesting. This is the same company that created the invert and the flying coaster (well at least turned made them into genuinely viable, comfortable and thrilling intense rides). Bring on the surf coaster I guess!
I think the coaster will be completely fine and a good addition to the park and has a pretty good layout. Big shame about the momentum-killing MCBR although at this kind of park throughput is king so makes sense - I just think that Valkyria has such a nice flowing layout that’s a joy to ride, I would have liked similar here.
A minor thing I really like (beyond the obviously great airtime hill) is the downward helix at the end, it should be a great, forceful finale. Whenever B&M do one of their upward helices into a brake run, slowing down before you get to the brakes, it kind of ends the rides a little before it needs to. The downward high speed turns that pin you back into your seat right at the end really round out the experience nicely (Raptor at CP has a great one), especially when coupled with a pop of airtime before hitting the brakes.