For me, no amount of new trains or modifications will ever solve Anaconda’s biggest problem: its layout blows. The first half of the ride, before the MCBR, is great — and frankly doesn’t get talked about enough. The first drop really whips you off the lift hill, and those first two inversions are snappy, well paced, and forceful.
But it’s game over when you hit the MCBR. It’s followed by some of the most ill-conceived, pointless maneuvers imaginable on a coaster. As you creep off the MCBR, you’re thrust into a janky heap of jagged circles that you slowly careen, seemingly designed to accomplish nothing except slam you against the sides of the train. It doesn’t even seem like there was an attempt to make this portion of the ride make sense. It’s not forceful. It’s not interesting. It’s not fun. And even when you, like me, have spent over a decade riding the coaster and know exactly how to brace yourself to avoid the head banging, it’s not comfortable. It’s like Arrow decided to take a mine train and put it on a looper and strip away all the fun of it.
Admittedly, the coaster’s finale — the two slow corkscrews over the water — is also great. But it’s the hefty middle part of the ride that, for me, prevents Anaconda from ever being a truly good ride in my book, no matter how comfy the trains are.
That doesn’t mean I think it needs to be removed, though, at least not yet. I doubt KD will want to invest into another coaster in that area given Tumbili, Volcano’s replacement, and all the other rethemes and improvements in Jungle X. Anaconda is inoffensive in my eyes — not a great coaster, but not so bad that it actively detracts from the park’s lineup (compared to its siblings Shockwave and Hurler). I’m content to see it decked out with Jungle X theming, gobble up capacity, and remain an anchor in the area while the park eventually turns its focus to the eastern side of the park and balances out the park’s layout a little more.
