I don’t know if you’re planning on doing a trip report from Florida
@Rob Coasters, but I’m very intrigued by a couple of your placements and was wondering about them. So if you don’t mind me asking:
- How come there are three spots between the green and yellow sides of Stardust Racers? Aren’t they effectively the same layout, for all intents and purposes?
- How come Kumba ranks so highly, and all the way above Iron Gwazi? I remember it being a great classic B&M for sure, and probably my favourite of the 4 sit-down/floorless B&M loopers of that style I’ve done (with the order going Kumba, Kraken, Hulk, Dragon Khan, with Kumba/Kraken sitting at the higher end of an 8/10, Hulk sitting around a 7/10 and Khan sitting at around a 6/10), but certainly not at the level of some of Florida’s finest for me.
- How come Mine Blower enters the fold of your top 25? I remember it being very good as well, but I last did it almost 7 years ago when it was very, very new and its general reception seems to have plummeted in recent years.
It is always interesting to hear the perspectives of a new visitor to Florida, though, as someone who’s been my fair share of times. I’m glad to hear you loved VelociCoaster (that thing is immense, and I think it’s probably still my #1!), and I’m also glad to see Mako and Iron Gwazi enter the top 25 (two other awesome rides that I absolutely loved)! Not that it wouldn’t be fine if you didn’t of course (we all have different tastes), but I love that you liked them as much as I do!
0. That's the intention, I've been playing catch-up after taking a year off from writing stuff. Going in order and have a long ways to go, but eventually.
1. My rides on green had no audio, and to me the audio affected the ride A LOT to me. Yellow was fully functional. Other than that they're essentially the same ride. Green, without a doubt, would have taken the #2 spot had audio been working.
2. For me, Iron Gwazi has no idea what it's doing for most of the layout. A fairly important factor in a layout for me is flow (does it die halfway through the layout, does every element have purpose, do the elements progress smoothly into each other, does the ride have defined moments etc.); Iron Gwazi felt very all over the place, not really knowing what to do next or what it's done already. Gwazi is great, but I don't think it's fully deserving of its "best in the world" status. It has a few standout moments (the death roll, while not too whippy, has you floating out of your seat for the entire time), the first drop and also the outerbank thingy after it, shoutout to the *entry* into the wave turn over the station too, but that's really it. The stall is fun if a little brief, and everything after and in between is a little more than "there". The ending is floppy, sudden, and out of place.
At the very least, it's what Zadra should've been. it's what people who haven't ridden Zadra imagine how Zadra rides.
Kumba is looping coaster layout *perfection*, where every single moment of the ride has a defining purpose to it, and a solid reason to be there. B&M perfected the multi-looper layout on their first try, then never did that ever again (though I imagine they must've gotten pretty close with Dragon Khan but who knows I haven't been on that). It's loud, you can hit grass, every single element hits without a single dud moment to be seen everywhere. It's a ride that invokes far more emotion in me than Gwazi ever did. Gwazi is just "really good". Kumba has that extra special charm to it.
I hope this makes sense.
3. The main things are the roughness not bothering me in the slightest (in fact, one of my Orlando resident friends said that was the best ride they'd ever had on it) and the breakneck-fast pacing.
