The incidents related to X2 are terrible and heartbreaking and we ought to view them as horrific for the friends and families affected by them. The question of "what does this mean for the coaster industry" should always come second when severe incidents like these occur. I do believe it's worth bringing some reason into the conversation in order to combat some of the unnecessary sensationalism, which exists on all sides of any discussion. "They should've known about their conditions and ridden it correctly like all other riders" is ridiculous, but a basic review of amusement park incidents does exhibit that many rides have had individual (or even a handful) of outlying incidents that have led to injury or death.

X2 needs to be investigated thoroughly, alongside the maintenance history and OSHA documentation. A financially struggling company is statistically more likely to cut corners, which simply is not acceptable when it comes to basic safety. However, it's worth noting that these are a small handful of outlying incidents among roughly 150,000 riders between June 1st to July 12th of this season. One life-changing incident on a coaster is one too many, but labeling the coaster as a deadly experience and calling the company some nasty names is simply disproportionate and not the appropriate way to move forward with next steps for the attraction and the park as a whole.

Just my thoughts. There are extreme and disproportionate views in all discussions, and this is just meant to combat one of those sides. To the other side who criticizes the riders who have endured extreme hardship or death due to this struggling coaster, there are much harsher critiques to be made.

Wicker Man doesn't quite compare to The Beast as a ride experience utterly transformed by doing it at night, but it is certainly one of the best rollercoasters in the world to spectate at night. Video from Scarefest 2022.

Full video. This happens at 14 minutes, but the entire video is worth watching.

Glad I got to check it out last year. I'm getting married at the end of September and already burnt my vacation for the year so we were planning a weekend trip in lieu of a honeymoon, with matching "JUST BURIED" shirts. Looks like Kennywood or Cedar Point will be the plan now for that.

Definitely deserves a spot in my top 5. So re-rideable as well.

According to local news sources Las Noticias en GDL and Jalisco Noticias, Selva Mágica has announced its permanent closure. The translated statement from the park reads:

“Shared Entertainment Services, S.A. de C.V. (SECOEN), the operating company of Selva Mágica, announces the park's closure, a decision that is part of a global restructuring of the group to which it belongs.

We do so with enormous gratitude. For decades, we had the privilege of accompanying several generations of families from Guadalajara: we were the place of their first ride on the roller coaster, where shared laughter was captured in the photo that still hangs in the living rooms of many homes. Being part of those memories has been Selva Mágica's greatest achievement.

It is important to clarify that Selva Mágica belongs to an independent company and is separate from the Guadalajara Zoo, to which we are deeply grateful for the support it gave the park from its beginnings and the assistance provided throughout our history.

We thank our employees for their dedication and affection for this place. We are closing having fully honored each and every one of them. They were, without a doubt, the most valuable asset of Selva Mágica

We say goodbye with pride for having been, for so many years, a place of joy for the children of this city and an iconic tourist attraction in Mexico.

Thank you to every visitor, every family, and every employee who made Selva Mágica possible.

Thank you, Guadalajara!

Thank you, Jalisco!

Thank you, Mexico!

Selva”

The park is home to Bullet, a one-of-a-kind Schwarzkopf shuttle looping coaster that began its life as Weiner Looping in Prater, Vienna. As well as the unique Sansei coaster Titán which began its life in Boblo Island in Canada.

I rode it for the first time two weeks ago and my dad warned me about the first turn, making it feel like you’re gonna fall off and told me to hang on when I went over the bunny hops. He wasn’t wrong about that because how on earth can you handle those especially the last four but he didn’t warn me about the last turnaround before the final stretch of hills.

I’m fairly sure that turnaround is underbaked because that is an insane amount lateral is pushing me into the seat divider and had that been a bench seat instead I’m fairly sure I would’ve been on the far side of the car. Everyone praise twister for being the laterals king and I understand why, but everyone forgets that Phoenix also a moment of that.

Mine is Python at Busch Gardens (gone since 2006)

Honorable mention for Indiana Beach’s Superstition Mountain dark ride that was removed in 2001 and had coaster-like elements.

Maybe this is my favorite coaster type ever! Also a big plus, it got a nice little airtime hill. Last photo shows probably my least favorite ride ever. Insane, a big Zac spin from Intamin. We were completely unbalanced and I spent most of the ride upside down and had way too much negative G‘s on my head. Had to take a little break afterwards. 0/10 would never do again 😂😂

Went to Silver Dollar City yesterday and nearly walked on all coasters multiple times. I’m curious: are trains rougher with less riders in them? It seemed like when the trains were nearly empty they beat us up way more (Outlaw run, Wildfire) despite not sitting on a wheel seat. Time Traveler is really smooth, but one ride when we were the only 2 on it, it had quite the rattle to it as well.
Can anyone share if science backs this up? I’m intrigued!

On my recent trip to Japan I managed to do my 100th coaster. I was extremely lucky with crowds and managed to do 6 rides (front middle and rear) And what an incredible ride this is! The way it dives into the pretzel loop is absolutely mental and made it my no. 1 with great margin. This was my first B&M flyer and I must say as a taller person, I think these are significantly more comfortable than the new gen Vekoma seats. On F.L.Y. I slide down and have to keep pushing myself back in the seat the whole ride which is super uncomfortable.
USJ is also an amazing park featuring a personal bucket list ride “Jaws”. Never would I have ever dreamed of experiencing this classic. I was even able to get a night ride which was the perfect ending for this amazing trip.

It never disappoints.

I mean seriously, it’s literally one of the best camelback hills B&M has ever built, more airtime on that hill than any other B&M hyper, it blows Goliath out of proportion and that’s my number 2 hyper, I will say Mako isn’t my number 1, it’s my number 3, with Shambhala as my number 1. But Mako is genuinely one of the best I’ve ever ridden. My top 3 roller coasters are:

1 - Iron Gwazi
2 - Shambhala
3 - VelociCoaster

And I’ve ridden exactly 854 roller coasters across the world. But Mako is just such a good ride, it might be me being biased with it being in my home park but it’s always the ride I head to first whenever I’m at SeaWorld.

My top 3 B&M Hypers:

1 - Shambhala
2 - Goliath
3 - Mako

Do ya’ll agree?

I was in the station about to get dispatched. Ppl are evacuated now and police, ambulances and the fire brigade is here.
I dunno if there where any serious injuries but shouldn’t the block system have prevented this? Has any one worked on a Maurer wild mouse and knows if that can happen if you dispatch to quickly?

Edit:Ubdate: police left, everything is closed up no one is to be seen. Cars remain on the track as shown on the picture. there where 3 Ambulances in total all left with sirens. I didn’t get my money back (not important only 5€), I guess I now can keep the plastic coin as a souvenir. I’m leaving tomorrow so I cannot give any further updates but mby we have some thoosies from Vienna who can keep us updated

30th was baron 1898 and kondaa was 40th

I was just thinking about them and how almost every coaster has a different manufacturer

3 months ago, I just happened to be randomly perusing flights from my home airports. By some miracle, there was a $119 round trip from Atlanta to Cincinnati on Delta listed as an option. I’ve yet to go to KI, so… it was a must

Overall, park was decently crowded on Sat, decently empty on Sun

—— coasters are ordered by personal ranking

Beast (2x, night ride!) - tbh there’s a lot of takes where I disagree with thoosies, but man, this night ride was crazy. There’s also a lot of rides that I feel like are too short, so having somethings that’s “too long” is great

Mystic Timbers (2x, 150th credit!) - whoosh this stole my breath, it’s a pretty good ride after dusk. I was surprised by just how fast this was running

Banshee (2x) - I might be crazy for putting this as the highest B&M, but it’s now my favorite invert. The drop is great, the snap to the last in-line twist is great, and the views are great. Even with a slightly rougher seat the second time, that’s not something that I minded too much

Orion (2x) - as someone whose only giga credit is Fury, I came away a bit disappointed. There are a few solid elements though

Diamondback (2x) - both started and ended my trip with this, and back row on both. Definitely has the better layout of the B&M hyper (models!), I’m only putting Orion above for the drop. The splashdown is cool, and I’d put it above some hypers.

Bat (2x) - wow! It was my time on an arrow suspended, it’s really such a gem of a model, and the swinging on the final brake is great. Why is the station a whole 4 minutes away from the entrance though? My feet hurt at the end of the trip and I solely blame this ride.

Racer (both sides 1x) - blue side is great, didn’t expect to have that much airtime. On both days, blue wasn’t running until lunchtime, but it’s understandable as it essentially becomes a walk-on.

Invertigo (1x) - definitely the biggest time waste this trip, posted 25 min wait but took 50. The seat layout is cool, and not that janky compared to other vekomas, but it’s not a type of ride I’m a huge fan of anyway

FoF (1x) - significant downtime on Sat. I was really surprised by the beginning, as it took me a while to figure out where the ground is, but once I did it lost a lot of its appeal

Adventure express (1x) - I know it’s for families, but felt like I was being edged the entire time. Couldn’t have that final drop have just 5 more seconds of track afterwards?

Snoopy’s Soap Box Racers (1x) - great family ride actually. Maybe not the best choice capacity wise, but it’s nice to see one of these in the states

QCSC (1x) - the only prop that was working was the propeller on the helicopter…

Woodstock express (1x) - it’s cute, and I appreciate a kid-oriented coaster that I can also enjoy well

Woodstock air rail (1x) - kiddy hawk is much worse than this, but I won’t desire to reride this

Great pumpkin coaster (1x) - well, this is a kid-oriented coaster I don’t enjoy well, but it’s not meant for me

—— flat rides

Phantom theater (1x) - I understand why this ride is popular, because of the theme and it being family oriented, but no good shooting ride should have me max out a whole 6 scenes before the end. I’m not even that good at shooting rides, I’m top 20% on Justice League (SFOG) and haven’t even hit Galaxy Defender in MIB. Or, at least let me still register that I’m hitting the music notes after?

Delirium (1x) - technically my first giant frisbee, since it was down for most of the day when I was at FujiQ. it’s a bit harder to fall asleep on these compared to the zamperla discoveries, and yes, that means I enjoyed it slightly better

Also got on Eiffel Tower, photos attached

—— food

Skyline chili (2x) - one in park, one at the airport. Three-way both times. Park has the better spaghetti, airport (Terminal B) has the better chili flavor, but I’m dying to have that chili again!! Might have to visit the Orlando location

Blue ice cream (1x) - it’s okay, but fortunately (for my wallet) it wasn’t my favorite. I did end up preferring ice cream from Graeter’s.

Coney Bar-B-Que (1x) - caution if you get the pulled pork sandwich, because that’s just a slightly stale hamburger bun put on the side of the pulled pork. It’s not a bad option, but Best of the West (SFGadv) still clears in this department

Loaded pulled pork fries (1x) - taste exactly how it’s advertised, neither good nor a bad thing

—— Additional details

VIP Lounge: bonus points for actually having a lounge, but it’s all outdoors, and only 1/3 is genuinely covered, so that section ends up being much more crowded. If I wanted to sit under an umbrella I can go anywhere in the park for that. Staff were great here.

Public Transit: There is actually a bus that does run to kings island [71X] from downtown Cincy, which does have odd hours, but the timing lined up so I could take it back to the airport (in combination with the 2X bus). Although I did take an uber when I arrived at KI, I also stayed at a nearby hotel with a shuttle, so this did end up being cheaper than renting a car. One note, the bus stop is at its own park and ride (not the KI drop off location), which is to the left of Soak City Parking. Rather than doing what I did and trek from the main entrance, I would take the train to Soak City and walk from there. At least I was able to see the lining up of the hyper model hills.

Hotel: Stayed at quality inn 4 minutes away. Shuttle to the park leaves at the top of the hour and leaves the park on the quarter of the hour, which is pretty convenient. However, last shuttle is 10:30, which isn’t that great for a night ride on the Beast. Shoutout to the incredibly kind people in line who gave me a ride back to my hotel! It also will make it 10 min after passholder rope drop, but the walk wasn’t that bad in daylight.

The one major negative: I had an issue with their locker system. I had already rented an all day locker for my backpack as I was staying overnight, and while I was able to go back to the hotel to drop off my bag, kept my water bottle and left it in the lockers to ride on MT / The Beast (yes, I have the paper cup plan, but I get dehydrated quicker than most due to a medical condition). After getting back from the Beast, access to my locker wasn’t working, nor was the kiosk. I figured it was past closing and the items had already been sent to lost and found, but no, those lockers hadn’t been checked yet (although the other lockers throughout the park had already been cleared). Because people were driving me home, I had to give up and go back the next day to get it (luckily I have a backup water bottle just in case), but this could have been a health hazard, and I find it really weird to have this limbo period where I can’t get to an item while it’s still actually in the locker…

Other than that, I really did enjoy my time at Kings Island. I got on everything I needed to, and nothing was left to be desired except seeing the park coming alive during WinterFest. It’s also definitely my favorite in the chain when it comes to ambiance, out of the ones I’ve been to so far (other parks are SFGadv, SFOG, LR, Carowinds, SFNE); in general my second favorite regional park in terms of theming after SWO.

I implore you guys to check out the Side Friction podcast with RTRM (Ryan the Ride Mechanic), Bob, Rob, and Steph.

In episode 076, RTRM and Bob go into Lightning Rod’s launch issues. While Bob argues the widely‑rumored “wood structure” theory, Ryan says the real culprit was the manufacturer.

Velocity Magnetics, a fairly new company with limited experience designed and installed the launch. The result was an underpowered system that couldn’t reliably get trains up the lift hill.

According to Ryan, the super capacitors weren’t recharging properly from the regenerative braking, so the system couldn’t deliver enough power to the launch. That’s why trains so often stalled or lost momentum halfway up the lift.

He also explains why it wasn’t the wood structure: the lift hill was reinforced and wouldn’t have flexed enough to trigger a fault. If the structure were the issue, it would’ve failed every launch, not intermittently.

I’m inclined to believe RTRM over the common thoosie theory.

Here’s the clip where they break it down in detail and honestly, Ryan’s explanation makes complete sense *(as usual).*

Canadas Wonderland:

How is this place so crowded? Alpenfury posted around 45 min wait from 10-11ish on somewhat rainy monday. On a sunny Tuesday from 8-10pm it was PACKED. 2 hours even for yukon striker. This park is pretty great. i love how many coasters make use of the centerpiece mountain. I wish there were more coasters with a 48 inch height requirement. My older child couldn’t ride any of the headliners. Of all the six flags/cedar fair parks ive been to, this is the only one where the posted wait time is even remotely reliable (it’s still not THAT reliable).

Alpenfury: got lucky with 2 rides within 20 minutes or so early in the day using the single rider line. 1 in the front row. it’s amazing how fast you’re going through all the inversions. It was definitely behind leviathan for me until I got a night ride on it, where for whatever reason is felt extremely forceful and whippy. Now I can’t decide which i prefer.

Leviathan: I love traditional hypers and gigas, my favorite of which was superman at SFNE up until I rode this. The first drop is killer. The way its profiled it really throws you out of the seat, and the height makes you stay out. The first shorter airtime hill has a strong pop then you suddenly turn so you get jerked while up in the air. there’s a couple more extremely long floater airtime hills after. i dont get why the brake run is both high and long. it could have easily been 1 more hill?

Behemoth: I haven’t done lots of B&M hypers but this one does seem very similar to nitro. floater airtime hill after floater airtime hill. Very fun, but only could do 1 ride since this single rider line is extremely slow and the wait is kinda rough. I do notice that mako is rated quite a big higher than nitro and behemoth on captain coaster. I havent done it but it’s hard for me to imagine there would be a huge gap?

Yukon Striker: The first drop is fun, but the rest of the layout isn’t that great IMO. The loop isn’t as forceful as I expected, and the roll inversion didn’t do much for me. I especially don’t like the part after the mid course, not much there.

Minebuster: had a moment or 2 of standing airtime, pretty nice ride.

Wilde beast: also one moment of standing airtime, but not a nice ride.

Dragon fyre: its shaky but pretty fun.

Vortex: this ride is one of the few thrilling ones 48 or lower. Swings like crazy at the end.

Cedar Point:

wow is this park big. it takes forever just to walk to the middle of the park from the main entrance. I visited on a thursday and friday. just walking around it looked quite busy but the lines were not remotely bad. near walk on for everything for big chunks of the day except sirens curse, top thrill 2, maverick, and one of the kiddy coasters. the posted wait for steel vengeance was 45 minutes for parts of the day but i swear i never saw that. 15 minutes max. i stayed past closing on friday and it was funny how all the seagulls also left the park with the people.

Steel Vengeance: RMC hybrids are just the most beautiful coasters IMO. This is second only to Hakugei for me in terms of visual appeal. The airtime can be painful and I never could ride it more than twice in a row without a good long break. On other RMCs i never paid much attention to how I sat, but I think my least painful rides here were when i kept my shins perpendicular to the ground. the first contact would be my shins and there would be more room between my thighs and the restraint. Steve is kinda like a bigger, flowy RMC like hakugei was smashed together with a smaller violent RMC like wicked cyclone, but more psychotic than either. After the first drop, the little bucking airtime pop notifies you of the pain you will be feeling in a bit, then 2 insanely sustained airtime hills follow. the first is slightly outwardly banked maybe? you’re up in the air for a long time, and it snaps you back. the 2nd is very outwardly banked, and it stays outwardly banked for what feels like forever. this is the craziest moment i have ever felt on a roller coaster. it really felt like i was going to get yeeted off in some diagonal direction. The other outerbanks ive experienced on RMCs generally just give you a quick pop of that diagonal airtime, but steel vengeance just leaves you hanging out there. there are shin guards yet i still felt like i was somehow getting standing airtime. The first inversion kinda overshoots, then you snap back a bit. i think i bruised my elbow here from the laterals. the second inversion is like a stall but you don’t get any hangtime. it’s just insanely whippy as it’s also going downhill. this is probably my favorite inversion on any coaster that i’ve done so far. a lot of the little pops of airtime are so painfully aggressive.

Maverick: I love the pace of this ride. The first drop is such a sudden pop of violent airtime and that really sets the tone. I’m not the biggest fan of the rest of the first half. The banking direction switches are kind of uncomfortable and not that thrilling to me. the inversions are also just very smooth and gentle since it’s not really zero G and not that aggressive in terms of whip. The 2nd half is really awesome. I love the stall thing. you think you’re in for one of those same gentle inversions but it just flings you back the opposite direction very forcefully. I hate these seats. They have a spike between your legs but its angle really makes it push up against a bad spot for me.

TT2: I love the spike. It really does make the pantheon spike feel tiny. The size of the spike really makes the transition from positive to negative Gs much more drawn out and easy to appreciate. on smaller spikes it feels like the positive gs end so quickly. The top hat is probably the 2nd craziest moment ive experienced on a coaster. As you’re going up, you get violently whipped out of your seat to the right, and you just stay out of your seat through the top hat, then as you’re still hanging there, you get violently whipped around again as you fall.

Sirens curse: hanging out there at a 90 degree angle is pretty freaky. for a gimmick, i think it’s much, much better than the dive coaster. the music and SFX add a lot to the ride, and the layout is so fun. there is a cool S maneuver that kinda reminds me of the weirdest element ln fujiyama, but way smoother. This is probably my 3rd favorite ride, even though its pretty short.

Gatekeeper: the only other wing coaster i have done is rapterra and this is way more forceful and whippy.

Millenium force: i saw spots on the first pull up on one ride, but it wasnt consistent. the only other ride that made me see spots was pantherians 1st turn, but that was every ride. of the gigas ive done, this is probably the least interesting, but still a very fun ride. they didnt assign seats on one of the days and the station was like a zoo and operations were pretty slow. I think even on less busy days, the thing keeping the lines short are the procedures. theres still tons of people walking around the park so if it operated like any other regional park, everything would start backing up.

magnum: i hate this. it really bruised my thighs and made Steve rides hurt even more. its too fast to be this janky. every moment is janky, and the hills are just pain. the feeling of those hills is pretty novel and funny at least. but i just cant do this one. someone said they should have been paid to ride this since they thought they were in a pro wrestling match.

Valravn: Not the biggest fan of dive coasters, but i like that there is a notable element after the midcourse.

Talon and rougarou: I generally cant enjoy coasters with these restraints since im focusing a lot on how not to bang my head. talon is really whippy and forceful, much more than the batman ride at SFGA. rougarou has a pretty weird layout for a floorless.

corkscrew: janky but inoffensive and fun.

gemini: this was surprisingly good. decent airtime. didnt get a race which was sad.

bluestreak: not as rough as i thought it would be, but no really good moments either.

wild mouse: the sound effects are fun and made my youngest child love this ride. some rides spun like crazy and others were way more tame.

iron dragon: the first half is pretty tame, and the 2nd half gets lower and more intense. i think this is paced better for kids than vortex.

mine ride: the setting over the water and theming are fun. its not that notable overall though.

Waldameer:

This park is so squished and packed. its like the kowloon walled city of amusement parks. the rides are so close to each other.

Ravine flyer 2: I really like the twisting drop in the back but its not that interesting in the front. the hill over the road both ways has some standing airtime. the 2nd big drop is also pretty nice in the back.

Six flags darien lake:

The laser show is such a randomly well produced event for a smaller park. Im pretty sure the vast majority of guests were locals, as the buffalo sabers tribute got huge cheers. they also cheered real hard for canada and tim hortons, but it was much more muted when the tribute to america and 250 played. maybe the locals feel some type of way…which is understandable.

ride of steel: everything on 1 train on a saturday was kinda sad, only really had time for this 1 coaster. they dont seem to check the fast passes? not sure how that works. a really fun hyper. one of the hills is angled weirdly. i dont mind the straight track over the water but 2 spaghettis was maybe too much.