Weird how Vekoma used to be the company who made rougher and lower quality rides and B&M were the premium manufacturers, and now it seems they’ve switched places
Vekoma's business acumen has always been elite. They were known for their rough coasters because those were the ones(SLCs/Boomerangs)that sold. Despite the poor ride quality parks still bought them, likely in part because they had great customer service due to their ability to easily and cheaply replace parts in their standardized designs. Those type of rides initially boost attendance regardless of how comfortable they are. They've actually been designing very smooth, heartlined coasters for quite some time though...Millennium and the Rock and Roller Coasters are great examples and they were built in the 90s
Parks bought them because they were cheap and available. Six Flags didn’t really care what they were putting in during the 90s and 2000s. That’s why there are so many off the shelf clones at Six Flags parks. They just needed something new every year. B&M used to be very limited how many coasters they could build in a season. But Vekoma has really stepped up their design and manufacturing. With B&M, who knows what happened?
The family coasters always where one of the best in the world. Now you might not know it because the family inverts from vekoma in the US ussualally suck to high heaven, almost none do in europe where i'm from. And thats also true for al vekoma's not so thrill rides. (yeah the SLC can suck in europe to, we probable have the two worst ones that are still operating).
Vecoma who?I hope you know this is the table only for Premier ride fans!!! Imagine there was battles in between fans of manufactures sort of like how magic mountain fanboy, and Seater point fanboy had arguments
I’ve actually heard that the problem with modern B&Ms isn’t the company themselves and instead the subcontractors that manufacture the wheel bogeys. B&M does not build their own wheel assemblies, and the theory goes that they expanded their tolerances. Engineering tolerances are a big part of why older B&Ms are so smooth, but they’re also why B&Ms are traditionally super expensive additions. And post-pandemic, parks are looking for the cheapest investments, and so to compete, the subcontractor increased their tolerances. This keeps costs down but also introduces more variables into the motion of the bogeys, hence the rattle.
@@CoasterStudios Ryan the Ridemechanic goes into detail about this theory on his youtube channel and it is very deep into how ride parts and coaches work in general as well. So if you are interested, look it up. His videos are great as a former ride mechanic, building ride parts out of cardboard.
Maybe on to something there. I notice the roughness is way worse on Penguin Trek, but it's not the whole ride. It seems like some of the tighter turns are very rough and rattly which makes me wonder if it is a wheel assembly problem that is only noticeable in the tighter sections of track.
That may be a part of it, however while observing testing footage of Rapterra it also looks like the track is quite literally crooked. While there are no super recent high thrill additions which were made by B&M in Europe or Asia (for comparison) I think that the B&M track manufacturing plant in the US may have something to do with the ride quality.
Nah I thought so too but he starts moving before it cuts away lol. Sometimes you just gotta experience it with your eyes closed - it's an entirely different experience.
My biggest complaint is 1 train. I was worried about the rattle because some people kept bringing it up, but I honestly thought it was pretty smooth. I think it's a great addition for the family.
Good review. I was also disappointed in the roughness (although Penguin Trek was far worse). I had no idea it was suppose to have audio. It annoys me when a park does things half-baked - I feel like they could have put a little more though into it and made a stupendous family ride but they rushed it out and cut corners, which isn’t in line with the rest of the park’s amazing rides.
Old B&Ms typically ran in the $20-$30 million dollar range. Hell, Orion, a smaller giga than Fury, was MORE expensive despite being smaller. And in a post-pandemic economy, no regional park wants to spend that much money. So the theory is that one of B&M’s subcontractors lessened their tolerances to lower costs, but this change ended up introducing extra variables that contribute to the vibration.
Yuuuup. Such is the life of our cursed park. But on the other hand... all of Valleyfair's other coasters are old and janky as well, so we probably won't notice lmao.
It truly is unfortunate what’s happening with B&M. While I like iron menace, I cannot deny that the ride is extremely shaky. I haven’t ridden penguin trek or Phoenix rising yet, but if all the new B&M products have been shaky, it worries me about the future of their products. Truly upsetting. I really hope they can fix the issues their rides are having.
As a passholder to both BGT and SW Orl im stunned (respectfully) that you gave this a lower score than Penguin Trek. Perhaps if they had more space they couldve stretched the elements and made them a little smoother but all in all i thought this is a great family ride. Personally I could care less if the audio works. PT on the other hand, yea that ride cray! I notice the shake more on P Trek than PR. Hopefully whatever replaces Scorpion will be smoother
This was my 7yr old daughters first coaster and we're lucky she loves it. Only having 1 train is ridiculous, I'm not even sure there's a good excuse for this
The first problem I found on the passholder preview day was the time it spent in the station. I counted about 3 - 5 minutes each time within the station, and no, that wasn't just because it was a brand new ride with "unknown technology" or whatever. That overhead lap-bar restraint doesn't take 5 minutes for everybody to get situated properly. It spends more time in the station then it actually does in its exactly 1 minute long layout. Although this is a great addition and somewhat improvement of this area of the park, I do see a future issue where there's only 1 train with these slow operations. I actually went back not to long ago and the operations were slightly increased in efficiency, but it was still long.
Weird how that works, isn't it? How easily our brains are duped/fooled. Our brains are so adapt at picking out patterns, that sometimes, they pick out patterns that don't even exist.
If this is the future of B&M then Six Flags Great Adventure might as well have just kept Green Lantern and ordered a sit-down conversion with a new theme and some renovation. Who would've even known the difference? Rather just get a dive too if it's going to be a rough wing launch (we'll see about Rapterra).
So what was the last actually smooth B&M? I freaking loved my rides on Emperor over in San Diego. And for what it’s worth, Pipeline’s not horrible in this department. But there’s literally no excuse for rides like Phoenix Rising, Penguin Trek or Iron Menace to be as rattly as they are.
ONE TRAIN?! What were they thinking?! B&M shouldn't have let that happen. B&M has really fallen from excellence. Nobody knows what happened?! When Mako came out they were still on point. Make is super smooth, or was in 2016-2017.
Great video. Totally agree about the queue and lack of a second train. I skipped it on a weekend visit since the ride was always a minimum 45 minute wait. That can’t be good on a busy, hot day. Weekday visit had no wait so tried it a few times. I thought it was a solid ride, super fun, looks great, has a cool lighting package and the ride experience with custom possibilities to me make it almost a replacement for Arrow suspendeds so looking forward to what they do in Williamsburg. I didn’t notice any vibrations or roughness last month-Certainly nothing that took away from the ride experience. Maybe because I’m used to shaky B&Ms, this was not really noticeable (all hypers with the staggered seating, Batman at Six Flags New England and the OG loopers like Kumba and Dragon Khan). There was nothing on the screens and no music on the trains-I really had no idea those were supposed to be part of the ride so maybe they don’t use the effects on slow days or turned them off completely already? A bummer either way. Hopefully kinks are worked out for Williamsburg. It was a fun ride but agree that the new Vekomas seem more fun and the new Intamin suspended family coasters, like DrageKongen, are much more fun in comparison.
This doesn't bode well for BBW: wolfs revenge I hope they can iron out the issues with Phoenix Rising and learn from it operations wise although BBW 2 should have multiple trains with the multiple block zones. Nice review Taylor. Rough brand new B&M go figure 🤦🏻♂️
Vekoma figured it out two decades ago. Even Walibi Holland can keep the onboard audio mostly running on their boomerang. Mind you, that's a boomerang with stupidly much shake and stupidly high random force spikes.
I wonder if they've changed their tolerances in certain areas of engineering. Almost every new b&m I've ridden has a little bit of a shimmy/shake/ rattle
I haven’t been on Phoenix Rising, but I did go on Sand Serpent. This looks like a great successor to the old wild mouse, and I’m excited to go in a few months.
The breakdowns are a result of riders walking behind the last car and forces an estop. Ride attendants have complained that people get off the ride and get on their phone and walk behind the last car and set off the estop.
Pheonix is shakey but it doesn't ruin the ride for me, I love it. On the other hand, the shake on Penguin Trek does indeed ruin that ride for me, so I hear ya! Unfortunately, I can't be excited about any new B&M's for now...
Is it possible it’s not so much a B&M design issue but a Clermont Steel build quality issue? Funny how that facility has always kinda flown under the radar.
in my opinion i think its great for the space that they had to work with and i like it more than penguin trek despite it being way shorter. there really is some nice whip in some spots and i think its really fun. its worth noting that this ride i believe has different trains than the ones in china like i think those don't have a lapbar and also don't have onboard audio so that could be why this ride has a rattle and i'm assuming those don't
Gotta be honest I rode Scorpion my last trip to BGT and outside of Cheetah Hunt is was by far the longest wait I had in the park. So this is not a problem that is unique to Phoenix Rising.
Im hoping that WoRev is great. I am one of those people that loved BBW. I am worried after hearing about this ride and especially after seeing Rapterra bounce down the launch track.
For how busy Busch gardens is they should have added 2 trains, even now they could change that break run at the end to an actual block section to hold a second train, and add multi move so the train dispatching the block zone into the station is off that block zone before the front train makes it to the top of the lift. But with how lazy Busch gardens ride operators are even with 2 trains we would still be waiting forever.
I agree, I’ve been on pheonix rising about 6-7 times at this point & it’s pretty discouraging how shaky it is. It’d be a lot better had it been buttery smooth. I feel like the plastic at the top has a lot to do with that annoying rattle as well.
Honestly, I always forget this coaster exists it kind of reminds me of that alien species from Doctor Who called the silence. If you look directly at the coaster, it is beautiful and fun to watch, but as soon as you look away, you immediately forget about it
Hey Taylor, I will be looking forward for a review of the new Big Bad Wolf next year. By the way, I remember you saying in an old video that you rode the original Wolf before it closed. Will you review that coaster?
great question. I only actually rode Big Bad Wolf once, and I was pretty young so I don't remember as many details as I do with other coasters. That, along with the fact that I have no footage to show of it means there will not be a review for the original Big Bad Wolf
Personally when I rode it I enjoyed it and didn't really notice any shake or rattle. The on board audio was also working fine when I was there. I enjoyed it a lot but still definitely wouldn't wait longer than like 20 minutes for it lol.
we live in an era where b&ms are the rough ones and you wish a park would've gotten a vekoma instead... what's happened in the last 20 years to make THAT happen 😂
The new owners of Busch gardens just isn’t doing it. While I love Iron Gwazi, it has a very low ride dispatch…then they build things like Cobras Curse, Tigris, and now Phoenix Rising and all of them have lower capacity. Oh yeah…and then they close Scorpion. I’ve also got to talk about these new B&Ms….dont love the rattle…don’t love the seats. The seats in Phoenix Rising are very tight and uncomfortable. I felt like I was riding in a Premier train. Penguin Trek isn’t much better.
Jump over to Williamsburg and they got the most average wooden coaster after not being able too forever. Replaced an excellent dark ride with an indoor coaster with awful capacity that barely does anything. But at least they are protective of their Arrow classic? Hope they never do that idiotic "drachen spire" thing either.
@@oneandonlysound99I wasn’t thrilled with Invadr or the new Darkoaster. I preferred the old Curse of Darkastle dark ride. Really wish they’d sell these parks off to someone who truly cares.
@D4stroyedNope. Iron menace was a mess. Nemesis Reborn. It was literally their perfect model and most built and it was just a retrack. Still rattley as hell, and keep in mind the original nemesis had no rattle. Rapterra can literally be seen to be bouncy on the STRAIGHT launch track. As far as im aware both iron menace, nemesis and rapterra are high thrill.
People complain about the 1 train, sure it sucks but in total from each dispatch, it is about 3 minutes which is equivalent to 1 dispatch on Iron Gwazi.
The single train might have been a conscious decision so that the train doesn't stop anywhere other than the station under normal operation. Younger kids might get scared if the train stops anywhere else, so being able to say "we'll be coming right back here" allays some of those fears.
Having ridden Penguin Trek several times now, it’s got a rattle also that’s very noticeable. Almost sounds like something hasn’t been tightened. But it’s on every train on that one. You can feel it on the ride also. I dunno what’s going on with B&M. I dunno if they changed something to cut on costs or a new design/style but something has changed and not for the better. They know how to make world class rides and I hope they do make more in the future
I feel like what happened is B&M is trying to cut costs, they likely removed the vibration dampeners for some reason, I wouldn't make that move personally, but I feel like that's gotta be the reason. I've heard multiple people say the same thing, it's gotta be that and other factors too.
It’s because no park would ever buy an older B&M today: not in a post-pandemic economy where cheaper investments are a must for regional parks. And the going theory is that a subcontractor for the company adjusted their engineering tolerances to save costs, but ultimately is introducing additional variables that cause vibration.
I cannot imagine that B&M does not know what's wrong. Phoenix Rising is by far not the first coaster to lack the legendary B&M smoothness. Or maybe they don't care.
The reason older b&ms are smoothe is because the original founders where with the company and after they left a new group of people took over which then changed the way the company operates and builds coaster
I think the roughness might come from the extended headroom - I think the high-intensity inverts sit closer to the track and so wouldn't sway as much, leading to less roughness
B&M hires subcontractors to do the construction. Clermont Steel Fabricator’s is their most well known partner. They do the track fabrication in Batavia, Ohio
Here's a big issue as well.. If Busch Gardens was thinking about building a Giga using B&M, I'm sure that this made them reconsider... hopefully. I'd love an Intamin, Mack, or Vekoma.
The going theory is a part that B&M source from an external manufacturer might have changed a tolerance slightly. Unfortunately even just a millimeter difference can amplify shake. I hope they figure it out.
Most normal weekdays lines are no more than 30 minutes and most of them are near walk on but during major holidays such as right now in between Christmas and New Year’s I have seen wait times become 10 times longer than even the Disney and Universal parks. Today the wait times on half of the park’s at attractions at BGT were reported at over 3 hours while Disney and Universal had insanely long lines, but most of them were about 90 minutes-2.5 hours at most mainly because of their amazing capacity and operations, despite those parks getting 4 times busier than BGT. Obviously the rides at BGT that had over a 3 hour wait were Chetah Hunt because it is always been the most popular attraction there, Iron Gwazi because the operations on that are horrendous, this and Tigris because they can only run one train.
Something feels majorly off with these new B&M's. The fact that Phoenix Rising and Penguin Trek shake the way they do makes me REALLY concerned about the actual record-breaking rides like Rapterra and Rakshasa next year...
I think BG/SW (and pretty much everyone) fails to understand that you kinda have to rely on building rides that are better with your eyes closed. Disney could afford to create an alternate dimension for a ride space if you hand us some outdoor screens and a soundtrack as an incredible experience I just can't bite.
Just FYI the onboard audio didn't work in the back row during the Passport to Thrills preview which was on the first day the ride operated with guests I was saddened by that
I’ve noticed with Phoenix it does have a rattle but not as bad as Penguin Trek. That one was horrible But that’s like comparing apples to oranges for what has a vibration I did hear Vekoma was originally rumored to have taken over the spot but I guess they have a deal with B&M for making some coasters
1 train is still criminal haha. Just insane to me they even considered that. I can't cope with sitting in a station waiting for a train to finish the course. Add in now the chairlift is a $5 upcharge attraction, not giving more than 2 weeks for Scorpion's close and just.... what is happening to Busch/Seaworld? And yeah, I really, really wish coastter manufacturers would figure out how/why trains shimmy in high G sections.
We go to BGT most years, in fact we are visiting next week. We went in August and were going to ride but it broke down and didnt have enough interest to circle back to it. We will try to ride it when we go again, and this review was helpful. BGT as a year around park should not have an attraction that can only run one train, it makes no sense. In the slower months running one train can make sense, but not summer, fall, holidays, etc. Saying that, its an improvement over a cloned wild mouse that looked out of place at a park like BGT. I also continue to wonder why B & M aren't smooth the past several years. Are they cutting corners to compete with Vekoma and others in the family market? Are they too busy? BGT should have put in a Gravity Group woodie for a smooth family friendly attaction. They do need family rides, and a big bear mountain ride would be a nice fit here too. Good idea, not executed well though from the looks and sounds of it.
on the gravity group part - that would have actually been worse since the florida climate would have wiped out the track (looking at Gwazi and how that went down)
@@dracherongames9528 fair point. But sea world did put a GCI in San Antonio recently, not a cold climate. A steel coaster probably would be a better match.
I think you’re being a little harsh on this review. For a park that has nothing but thrill rides this is a perfect fit. Does it have a small rattle yes but it’s not nearly as bad as penguin trek could it be a little faster sure but that’s not the intent of this ride. My biggest complaint is no 2 train operations but as a pass holder who doesn’t go on the weekends it’s not a dealbreaker for me. This is closer to a 7/10 than a 5/10
Old Raptera at Kd is going to be as rough as Anaconda used to be?😂. As a standard, what do you consider smooth at KD? Have seen a lot of comments, so we shall see. Phoenix rising does look like a fun layout.
@ there’s some videos of the testing and the launch and you can see rough track areas. I don’t know how much this will transfer into the ride vehicles, hopefully this will be nice and smooth. I can’t wait to ride it.
Weird how Vekoma used to be the company who made rougher and lower quality rides and B&M were the premium manufacturers, and now it seems they’ve switched places
indeed
oh, how the tables have turned
Vekoma's business acumen has always been elite. They were known for their rough coasters because those were the ones(SLCs/Boomerangs)that sold. Despite the poor ride quality parks still bought them, likely in part because they had great customer service due to their ability to easily and cheaply replace parts in their standardized designs. Those type of rides initially boost attendance regardless of how comfortable they are. They've actually been designing very smooth, heartlined coasters for quite some time though...Millennium and the Rock and Roller Coasters are great examples and they were built in the 90s
Parks bought them because they were cheap and available. Six Flags didn’t really care what they were putting in during the 90s and 2000s. That’s why there are so many off the shelf clones at Six Flags parks. They just needed something new every year. B&M used to be very limited how many coasters they could build in a season. But Vekoma has really stepped up their design and manufacturing. With B&M, who knows what happened?
The family coasters always where one of the best in the world. Now you might not know it because the family inverts from vekoma in the US ussualally suck to high heaven, almost none do in europe where i'm from. And thats also true for al vekoma's not so thrill rides. (yeah the SLC can suck in europe to, we probable have the two worst ones that are still operating).
Should've gotten a Vekoma.
Mr. Vekoma has entered the chat
Never thought we’d be talking about how a park should’ve gotten a vekoma and not a b&m
🤣🤣🤣
Vecoma who?I hope you know this is the table only for Premier ride fans!!! Imagine there was battles in between fans of manufactures sort of like how magic mountain fanboy, and Seater point fanboy had arguments
I’ve actually heard that the problem with modern B&Ms isn’t the company themselves and instead the subcontractors that manufacture the wheel bogeys. B&M does not build their own wheel assemblies, and the theory goes that they expanded their tolerances. Engineering tolerances are a big part of why older B&Ms are so smooth, but they’re also why B&Ms are traditionally super expensive additions. And post-pandemic, parks are looking for the cheapest investments, and so to compete, the subcontractor increased their tolerances. This keeps costs down but also introduces more variables into the motion of the bogeys, hence the rattle.
a solid theory!
That still makes it B&M's fault if they started using crappier suppliers.
@@CoasterStudios Ryan the Ridemechanic goes into detail about this theory on his youtube channel and it is very deep into how ride parts and coaches work in general as well. So if you are interested, look it up. His videos are great as a former ride mechanic, building ride parts out of cardboard.
Maybe on to something there. I notice the roughness is way worse on Penguin Trek, but it's not the whole ride. It seems like some of the tighter turns are very rough and rattly which makes me wonder if it is a wheel assembly problem that is only noticeable in the tighter sections of track.
That may be a part of it, however while observing testing footage of Rapterra it also looks like the track is quite literally crooked. While there are no super recent high thrill additions which were made by B&M in Europe or Asia (for comparison) I think that the B&M track manufacturing plant in the US may have something to do with the ride quality.
my how the mighty have fallen. when did we EVER think that we would be preferring a Vekoma over a B&M?
B&M needs to watch this review and take a hard look at themselves
I’ll always take an SLC over this 😂
The guy at 7:37 was passed out! 😭
The ride is not that bad! 😮😅😂
Nah I thought so too but he starts moving before it cuts away lol. Sometimes you just gotta experience it with your eyes closed - it's an entirely different experience.
I thought bored at first 😂
@@crayder1100 that was him regaining consciousness just before the clip cuts. He was 100% passed out 🤣🤣
He was definitely trolling
"Should've built a Vekoma" - Coaster Parody has gon full circle lol
My biggest complaint is 1 train. I was worried about the rattle because some people kept bringing it up, but I honestly thought it was pretty smooth. I think it's a great addition for the family.
dear coaster manufacturers, end the single train and swing launch era soon pleaseeeeeee
Outside of Intamin I don't care too much for them. Top Thrill 2 is so awkward.
Imagine you 10 years ago reacting to this video, specifically the quote “I really just got off this thing wishing it was a Vekoma…”.
crazy how times have changed
LOL that's so true
@@CoasterStudiosWe need another coaster parody with Mr. Vekoma’s redemption arc
Good review. I was also disappointed in the roughness (although Penguin Trek was far worse). I had no idea it was suppose to have audio. It annoys me when a park does things half-baked - I feel like they could have put a little more though into it and made a stupendous family ride but they rushed it out and cut corners, which isn’t in line with the rest of the park’s amazing rides.
Can confirm that the prototypes in China are VERY smooth. Something must’ve been happening at B&M with all their new rides having smoothness issues.
Old B&Ms typically ran in the $20-$30 million dollar range. Hell, Orion, a smaller giga than Fury, was MORE expensive despite being smaller. And in a post-pandemic economy, no regional park wants to spend that much money. So the theory is that one of B&M’s subcontractors lessened their tolerances to lower costs, but this change ended up introducing extra variables that contribute to the vibration.
I think it's funny how an almost 30 year old coaster at the same park is smoother.
Valleyfair fans: We want an B&M invert!
Six Flags, probably: Here you go!
-_-
Yeah . . . with how newer B&Ms have been lately, I’d much rather have a Vekoma STC like Na Fienna Force at Valleyfair. -__-
Yuuuup. Such is the life of our cursed park.
But on the other hand... all of Valleyfair's other coasters are old and janky as well, so we probably won't notice lmao.
It truly is unfortunate what’s happening with B&M. While I like iron menace, I cannot deny that the ride is extremely shaky. I haven’t ridden penguin trek or Phoenix rising yet, but if all the new B&M products have been shaky, it worries me about the future of their products. Truly upsetting. I really hope they can fix the issues their rides are having.
Penguin trek is shaky took especially in the back rows after the second launch
As a passholder to both BGT and SW Orl im stunned (respectfully) that you gave this a lower score than Penguin Trek. Perhaps if they had more space they couldve stretched the elements and made them a little smoother but all in all i thought this is a great family ride. Personally I could care less if the audio works. PT on the other hand, yea that ride cray! I notice the shake more on P Trek than PR. Hopefully whatever replaces Scorpion will be smoother
I can see the static scrim hanging over those malfunctioning LED screens like it already happened
This was my 7yr old daughters first coaster and we're lucky she loves it.
Only having 1 train is ridiculous, I'm not even sure there's a good excuse for this
I’ve done two of them in China and they rode 100% smooth
dang, that just makes me more sad lol.
7:36 kid is dead 😂
B and m and Vekoma have switched in quality
The first problem I found on the passholder preview day was the time it spent in the station. I counted about 3 - 5 minutes each time within the station, and no, that wasn't just because it was a brand new ride with "unknown technology" or whatever. That overhead lap-bar restraint doesn't take 5 minutes for everybody to get situated properly. It spends more time in the station then it actually does in its exactly 1 minute long layout. Although this is a great addition and somewhat improvement of this area of the park, I do see a future issue where there's only 1 train with these slow operations. I actually went back not to long ago and the operations were slightly increased in efficiency, but it was still long.
I definitely read "Best B&M Invert" for the title instead of the actual title😂😂😂😂
Weird how that works, isn't it? How easily our brains are duped/fooled. Our brains are so adapt at picking out patterns, that sometimes, they pick out patterns that don't even exist.
Taylor! Do you think Kumba will open up soon? Any insider info? Planning a trip end of January.
how long has it been closed?
we haven't heard anything regarding its reopening, sorry :(
Hopefully it reopens soon because they had just gotten it a whole new logo and everything which was not there when I went in July
If this is the future of B&M then Six Flags Great Adventure might as well have just kept Green Lantern and ordered a sit-down conversion with a new theme and some renovation. Who would've even known the difference? Rather just get a dive too if it's going to be a rough wing launch (we'll see about Rapterra).
One if your best reviews in a while. Shame b&m is making less quality rides.
Visually, this ride looks STUNNING! Busch Gardens have really dressed it up perfectly!
So what was the last actually smooth B&M? I freaking loved my rides on Emperor over in San Diego. And for what it’s worth, Pipeline’s not horrible in this department. But there’s literally no excuse for rides like Phoenix Rising, Penguin Trek or Iron Menace to be as rattly as they are.
I'd argue Candymonium was the last glass smooth B&M built
Somehow, the 2-seater Giovanola Inverted Coaster returned.
ONE TRAIN?! What were they thinking?! B&M shouldn't have let that happen. B&M has really fallen from excellence. Nobody knows what happened?! When Mako came out they were still on point. Make is super smooth, or was in 2016-2017.
It’s still incredibly smooth I rode it in July
Great video. Totally agree about the queue and lack of a second train. I skipped it on a weekend visit since the ride was always a minimum 45 minute wait. That can’t be good on a busy, hot day. Weekday visit had no wait so tried it a few times. I thought it was a solid ride, super fun, looks great, has a cool lighting package and the ride experience with custom possibilities to me make it almost a replacement for Arrow suspendeds so looking forward to what they do in Williamsburg. I didn’t notice any vibrations or roughness last month-Certainly nothing that took away from the ride experience. Maybe because I’m used to shaky B&Ms, this was not really noticeable (all hypers with the staggered seating, Batman at Six Flags New England and the OG loopers like Kumba and Dragon Khan).
There was nothing on the screens and no music on the trains-I really had no idea those were supposed to be part of the ride so maybe they don’t use the effects on slow days or turned them off completely already? A bummer either way.
Hopefully kinks are worked out for Williamsburg. It was a fun ride but agree that the new Vekomas seem more fun and the new Intamin suspended family coasters, like DrageKongen, are much more fun in comparison.
Vekoma is the new B&M, and B&M is the old Vekoma.
Exactly what I'd say, would love a new age Vekoma Suspended Thrill coaster to replace Kong at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom.
We’ve gone from should’ve gotten a B&M to we should’ve gotten a Vekoma. B&M needs to stop cheapening out and get it together
Kumba..kicks ass. Am I the only 1 that likes it better than M to?
My thoughts exactly on The Wolf’s revenge!😮 edited to say I hope wolfs revenge will have at least 2 trains hope 3.
This doesn't bode well for BBW: wolfs revenge I hope they can iron out the issues with Phoenix Rising and learn from it operations wise although BBW 2 should have multiple trains with the multiple block zones. Nice review Taylor. Rough brand new B&M go figure 🤦🏻♂️
Big bad wolf 2 will have 2 trains.
I also can’t believe we still don’t have the tech to have on board audio be reliable.
Vekoma figured it out two decades ago. Even Walibi Holland can keep the onboard audio mostly running on their boomerang. Mind you, that's a boomerang with stupidly much shake and stupidly high random force spikes.
I wonder if they've changed their tolerances in certain areas of engineering. Almost every new b&m I've ridden has a little bit of a shimmy/shake/ rattle
I haven’t been on Phoenix Rising, but I did go on Sand Serpent. This looks like a great successor to the old wild mouse, and I’m excited to go in a few months.
Be cool if B&M could make these lapbar trains for the adult Inverted coasters
The breakdowns are a result of riders walking behind the last car and forces an estop. Ride attendants have complained that people get off the ride and get on their phone and walk behind the last car and set off the estop.
The old Wild Mouse was not ugly and it was an interesting ride experience. Take that back! 😡
Pheonix is shakey but it doesn't ruin the ride for me, I love it. On the other hand, the shake on Penguin Trek does indeed ruin that ride for me, so I hear ya! Unfortunately, I can't be excited about any new B&M's for now...
Is it possible it’s not so much a B&M design issue but a Clermont Steel build quality issue? Funny how that facility has always kinda flown under the radar.
Thanks for covering this! Pumped for the one at BG Williamsburg to open (our home park)
in my opinion i think its great for the space that they had to work with and i like it more than penguin trek despite it being way shorter. there really is some nice whip in some spots and i think its really fun. its worth noting that this ride i believe has different trains than the ones in china like i think those don't have a lapbar and also don't have onboard audio so that could be why this ride has a rattle and i'm assuming those don't
Gotta be honest I rode Scorpion my last trip to BGT and outside of Cheetah Hunt is was by far the longest wait I had in the park. So this is not a problem that is unique to Phoenix Rising.
When I first rode Phoenix Rising around a week after opening, I found the ride to run very smoothly, but my recent rides on it were not smooth at all.
Im hoping that WoRev is great. I am one of those people that loved BBW. I am worried after hearing about this ride and especially after seeing Rapterra bounce down the launch track.
For how busy Busch gardens is they should have added 2 trains, even now they could change that break run at the end to an actual block section to hold a second train, and add multi move so the train dispatching the block zone into the station is off that block zone before the front train makes it to the top of the lift. But with how lazy Busch gardens ride operators are even with 2 trains we would still be waiting forever.
So they should've got a Vekoma instead of "shoulda got a B&M"
I agree, I’ve been on pheonix rising about 6-7 times at this point & it’s pretty discouraging how shaky it is. It’d be a lot better had it been buttery smooth. I feel like the plastic at the top has a lot to do with that annoying rattle as well.
Honestly, I always forget this coaster exists it kind of reminds me of that alien species from Doctor Who called the silence. If you look directly at the coaster, it is beautiful and fun to watch, but as soon as you look away, you immediately forget about it
Hey Taylor, I will be looking forward for a review of the new Big Bad Wolf next year.
By the way, I remember you saying in an old video that you rode the original Wolf before it closed. Will you review that coaster?
great question. I only actually rode Big Bad Wolf once, and I was pretty young so I don't remember as many details as I do with other coasters. That, along with the fact that I have no footage to show of it means there will not be a review for the original Big Bad Wolf
@ No worries. Thank you for the explanation.
Personally when I rode it I enjoyed it and didn't really notice any shake or rattle. The on board audio was also working fine when I was there. I enjoyed it a lot but still definitely wouldn't wait longer than like 20 minutes for it lol.
Why didn’t they just go with Vekoma????? It’s just so annoying that b&m keeps getting these jobs when their rides are so bad…
we live in an era where b&ms are the rough ones and you wish a park would've gotten a vekoma instead... what's happened in the last 20 years to make THAT happen 😂
Yea idk why they didn’t add another train. That park gets very crowded on weekends especially summer & Christmas time
The new owners of Busch gardens just isn’t doing it. While I love Iron Gwazi, it has a very low ride dispatch…then they build things like Cobras Curse, Tigris, and now Phoenix Rising and all of them have lower capacity.
Oh yeah…and then they close Scorpion.
I’ve also got to talk about these new B&Ms….dont love the rattle…don’t love the seats. The seats in Phoenix Rising are very tight and uncomfortable. I felt like I was riding in a Premier train. Penguin Trek isn’t much better.
Jump over to Williamsburg and they got the most average wooden coaster after not being able too forever. Replaced an excellent dark ride with an indoor coaster with awful capacity that barely does anything. But at least they are protective of their Arrow classic? Hope they never do that idiotic "drachen spire" thing either.
@@oneandonlysound99I wasn’t thrilled with Invadr or the new Darkoaster. I preferred the old Curse of Darkastle dark ride.
Really wish they’d sell these parks off to someone who truly cares.
If y'all are wondering why new B&M's are rough, it's because of the bearings holding the wheels together making the wheels jult a lot more
B&M rattle is the new new lmao. Good rating, very fair. I think people need to speak poorly about B&M, they just don't seem to care.
B&M has officially fallen off, unreliable and rough. I wouldn’t be shocked if we see a bunch of less of less of them in the future.
B&M definitely isn't unreliable, but that new rattle is despicable.
“A bunch of less” I’m gonna start using that
We said that about Vekoma…
Also this is new for B&M they know what they’re doing with high thrill rides
@D4stroyedNope. Iron menace was a mess. Nemesis Reborn. It was literally their perfect model and most built and it was just a retrack. Still rattley as hell, and keep in mind the original nemesis had no rattle. Rapterra can literally be seen to be bouncy on the STRAIGHT launch track. As far as im aware both iron menace, nemesis and rapterra are high thrill.
People complain about the 1 train, sure it sucks but in total from each dispatch, it is about 3 minutes which is equivalent to 1 dispatch on Iron Gwazi.
What lens do you guys use for these videos btw?
all our gear can be found in the description!
The single train might have been a conscious decision so that the train doesn't stop anywhere other than the station under normal operation. Younger kids might get scared if the train stops anywhere else, so being able to say "we'll be coming right back here" allays some of those fears.
Having ridden Penguin Trek several times now, it’s got a rattle also that’s very noticeable. Almost sounds like something hasn’t been tightened. But it’s on every train on that one. You can feel it on the ride also.
I dunno what’s going on with B&M. I dunno if they changed something to cut on costs or a new design/style but something has changed and not for the better. They know how to make world class rides and I hope they do make more in the future
I feel like what happened is B&M is trying to cut costs, they likely removed the vibration dampeners for some reason, I wouldn't make that move personally, but I feel like that's gotta be the reason. I've heard multiple people say the same thing, it's gotta be that and other factors too.
It’s because no park would ever buy an older B&M today: not in a post-pandemic economy where cheaper investments are a must for regional parks. And the going theory is that a subcontractor for the company adjusted their engineering tolerances to save costs, but ultimately is introducing additional variables that cause vibration.
Rapterra looks glass smooth besides the launch.
I cannot imagine that B&M does not know what's wrong. Phoenix Rising is by far not the first coaster to lack the legendary B&M smoothness. Or maybe they don't care.
The reason older b&ms are smoothe is because the original founders where with the company and after they left a new group of people took over which then changed the way the company operates and builds coaster
I think the roughness might come from the extended headroom - I think the high-intensity inverts sit closer to the track and so wouldn't sway as much, leading to less roughness
7:37, was the rider on the left asleep?!
Also was very disappointed with the rattle on Penguin Trek at SeaWorld.
Good I’m heading there this summer!
It’s ironic how old Vekoma made some of the roughest coasters while old B&M made glass smooth coasters. Now today it’s just the opposite
I don't understand what B&M has been doing lately. Are they riding their own rides?
B&M hires subcontractors to do the construction. Clermont Steel Fabricator’s is their most well known partner. They do the track fabrication in Batavia, Ohio
Penguin trek at seaworld orlando also broke down a ton while I was there - wondering what's happening with B&M
Here's a big issue as well.. If Busch Gardens was thinking about building a Giga using B&M, I'm sure that this made them reconsider... hopefully. I'd love an Intamin, Mack, or Vekoma.
The going theory is a part that B&M source from an external manufacturer might have changed a tolerance slightly. Unfortunately even just a millimeter difference can amplify shake. I hope they figure it out.
When I pull up to a park and see a B&M track my mind translates it to “smooth ride ahead”. Maybe not so on their newer coasters sadly.
Most normal weekdays lines are no more than 30 minutes and most of them are near walk on but during major holidays such as right now in between Christmas and New Year’s I have seen wait times become 10 times longer than even the Disney and Universal parks. Today the wait times on half of the park’s at attractions at BGT were reported at over 3 hours while Disney and Universal had insanely long lines, but most of them were about 90 minutes-2.5 hours at most mainly because of their amazing capacity and operations, despite those parks getting 4 times busier than BGT. Obviously the rides at BGT that had over a 3 hour wait were Chetah Hunt because it is always been the most popular attraction there, Iron Gwazi because the operations on that are horrendous, this and Tigris because they can only run one train.
Something feels majorly off with these new B&M's. The fact that Phoenix Rising and Penguin Trek shake the way they do makes me REALLY concerned about the actual record-breaking rides like Rapterra and Rakshasa next year...
Rapterra looks fine besides the launch so.
couldn't agree more. If their family rides are having this issue then the much larger ones likely will too.
Road this pass September dueing hollow scream It's way better then the wild Moses that was their so it's a good add for the park
The trains are so B&M: big boxes of metal pillars for the seat suspension.
I think BG/SW (and pretty much everyone) fails to understand that you kinda have to rely on building rides that are better with your eyes closed. Disney could afford to create an alternate dimension for a ride space if you hand us some outdoor screens and a soundtrack as an incredible experience I just can't bite.
Just FYI the onboard audio didn't work in the back row during the Passport to Thrills preview which was on the first day the ride operated with guests I was saddened by that
Rapterra looks SUPER shaky in testing footage. This has to be B&M cutting costs at this point
Lol no it doesn’t. It looks like every other wing coaster. Can we stop judging rides before they open please?
2 inverts at one park!
I’ve noticed with Phoenix it does have a rattle but not as bad as Penguin Trek. That one was horrible
But that’s like comparing apples to oranges for what has a vibration
I did hear Vekoma was originally rumored to have taken over the spot but I guess they have a deal with B&M for making some coasters
Did I see Josh from Kings Dominion?
Dude man passed out at 7:37 🤣
The back row’s speaker on the right side is busted I think too. Wasn’t working
Hopefully, they get this stuff worked out in the US for Big Bad Wolf.
1 train is still criminal haha. Just insane to me they even considered that. I can't cope with sitting in a station waiting for a train to finish the course. Add in now the chairlift is a $5 upcharge attraction, not giving more than 2 weeks for Scorpion's close and just.... what is happening to Busch/Seaworld? And yeah, I really, really wish coastter manufacturers would figure out how/why trains shimmy in high G sections.
We go to BGT most years, in fact we are visiting next week. We went in August and were going to ride but it broke down and didnt have enough interest to circle back to it. We will try to ride it when we go again, and this review was helpful. BGT as a year around park should not have an attraction that can only run one train, it makes no sense. In the slower months running one train can make sense, but not summer, fall, holidays, etc. Saying that, its an improvement over a cloned wild mouse that looked out of place at a park like BGT. I also continue to wonder why B & M aren't smooth the past several years. Are they cutting corners to compete with Vekoma and others in the family market? Are they too busy? BGT should have put in a Gravity Group woodie for a smooth family friendly attaction. They do need family rides, and a big bear mountain ride would be a nice fit here too. Good idea, not executed well though from the looks and sounds of it.
on the gravity group part - that would have actually been worse since the florida climate would have wiped out the track (looking at Gwazi and how that went down)
@@dracherongames9528 fair point. But sea world did put a GCI in San Antonio recently, not a cold climate. A steel coaster probably would be a better match.
@@alex33952 yeah, though San Antonio is much drier than florida
Hope B&M fixes the rough ride on Phoenix Rising and Penguin Trek because they are rough
They seem to be rushing with their new builds
it was fun for a family ride
I think you’re being a little harsh on this review. For a park that has nothing but thrill rides this is a perfect fit. Does it have a small rattle yes but it’s not nearly as bad as penguin trek could it be a little faster sure but that’s not the intent of this ride. My biggest complaint is no 2 train operations but as a pass holder who doesn’t go on the weekends it’s not a dealbreaker for me. This is closer to a 7/10 than a 5/10
Old Raptera at Kd is going to be as rough as Anaconda used to be?😂. As a standard, what do you consider smooth at KD? Have seen a lot of comments, so we shall see.
Phoenix rising does look like a fun layout.
Rapterra doesn’t look “ rough” but okay
@ there’s some videos of the testing and the launch and you can see rough track areas. I don’t know how much this will transfer into the ride vehicles, hopefully this will be nice and smooth. I can’t wait to ride it.
2024 is mr vekoma year of revenge
In 2015-17 we wanted b&m’s instead of vekomas. Now we want vekomas instead of b&m’s. Talk about a comeback.