I find dominator a much more pleasent ride than rapterra lol It has a slight rattle near the interlocking corkscrews but it's not that big of a deal
Project 2025/Caldera: Rapterra (Launched B&M Wing Coaster)
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Isint their track being manufactured by someone else differently than who it used to be?
I remember riding Mean Streak before trims, Shockwave at Great America, and a bunch of other janky Arrow loopers. Those were rough. Calling Rapterra rough is coming from a very narrow worldview that has no recollection of how rough the typical coaster used to be.
Just because there is way worse out there doesn't mean it should be acceptable. Were in modern times.
If a movie came out with shit acting but not as bad as older movies were, should it be acceptable? Not to me. Both are shit. Are they equally as shit? No. Weird comparison but gets the same conceot across. Least to me
If a movie came out with shit acting but not as bad as older movies were, should it be acceptable? Not to me. Both are shit. Are they equally as shit? No. Weird comparison but gets the same conceot across. Least to me
Nope, the track still comes out of Clermont in Ohio.
The most common answer you'll get to "what changed with B&M?" is the tolerances of the trains. Whether that's true or not, or even the main cause, who knows.
I don't think I've seen anyone pitch the idea- but I would raise the possibility that the supplier of the rails changed in the last few years. It blew my mind when I learned this, but in this interview here from Clermont, the worker says the RAILS are "European-grade German steel, that are rolled (bent into shape) in Italy", THEN shipped over to Clermont and welded to the rest of track at assembly.
If they were looking for costs to cut in the whole manufacturing process, that seems like a pretty large one. I don't have evidence to support that, but seems like a reasonable possibility.
The plainly visible bump in the very end of the launch track would seem to support that theory. That’s the only “rough” part of the ride to me, but it’s obvious the track wasn’t supposed to be like that.
Re: the rough argument.
The issue with Rapterra (IMO) isn’t that it isn’t as rough compared to the rides brought up. It’s that it’s rough compared to the quality expected from B&M.
Of course Anaconda’s last few years is going to be much rougher than a brand new coaster, so I feel like it’s a tad disingenuous to compare it to that. Compare it to rides like SC at CP, anything at EU, heck even BBWWR and it’s easily one of the roughest new rides in a few years.
I didn’t expect glass smooth, but if I didn’t know it was brand new I could have easily confused its roughness for a 5-10 year old coaster easily. So I think having to say it’s not as rough as [insert woodie] or [insert 80’s Arrow looper] is proof that it’s rough out of what we expect for modern new coasters.
The issue with Rapterra (IMO) isn’t that it isn’t as rough compared to the rides brought up. It’s that it’s rough compared to the quality expected from B&M.
Of course Anaconda’s last few years is going to be much rougher than a brand new coaster, so I feel like it’s a tad disingenuous to compare it to that. Compare it to rides like SC at CP, anything at EU, heck even BBWWR and it’s easily one of the roughest new rides in a few years.
I didn’t expect glass smooth, but if I didn’t know it was brand new I could have easily confused its roughness for a 5-10 year old coaster easily. So I think having to say it’s not as rough as [insert woodie] or [insert 80’s Arrow looper] is proof that it’s rough out of what we expect for modern new coasters.
It's getting worked up over what is largely a non issue, since all these rides are basically 99% smooth already. The difference between 98% smooth and 99% smooth is nitpicking the experience, and the average guest absolutely will not notice. However everyone notices something like Anaconda, or Grizzly before the rehab, where half the ride is rough.
Third to last row, right side. Rode during the day when it was about 75 degrees. It was smoother than older coasters but compared to other coasters that are newer is wasn’t as smooth. I don’t think that there should be a qualifier of having to ride a certain seat to have a certain opinion.
Interestingly to me the most bumpy parts were the ‘flat’ parts, not the elements going through the ride. So the “s turn” element actually hurt a little bit since I had a hard sideways shift (best way I could describe the feeling).
Disagree that it’s a non-issue because everyone experiences this different. I feel like using coasters that old to tell someone it’s not rough “puts down” a personal experience.
Like I personally went on expecting one thing based on what people on here said, and I came off feeling it’s rough like it’s been around a little while. I had the same takeaway from Iron Menace last year that I felt like I was on a coaster that had been around a few years as opposed to just opened.
To me a 1% or 50% difference isn’t nitpicking. It’s just being honest about experiences. I think this thread is proof that many people have sat in the same seat and same people have sat in different seats and experience different things.
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Again my post was less about “Rapterra is super rough” and more that using Anaconda/Grizzly to say Rapterra is rough vs new coasters is an apples to oranges comparison.
Grizzly is a woodie. Abandons is a defunct 30 year old coaster. They aren’t good comp points to speak to roughness. Other coasters built in 2023/2024 would be stronger comp points to me.
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Outside vs inside is the real kicker. Generally doesn’t matter which row you sit, if you sit in on the inside you will have a much smoother ride.
Just to add to the conversation here, I’m a huge fan of Rapterra and its pacing. Nowadays it’s the only thing I ride at the park if I only visit for an hour or two. It keeps growing on me with every ride. But I gotta say my ride on Friday night was noticeably the shakiest ride I’ve gotten on it. Not sure what happened there.
I was inside seat. I got the same feeling as I did after I get with Alpie. Which is one ride and take a break. It’s hard to explain, it’s not nausea like sick sick; it’s a lightheaded feeling that if I were to ride again I would pass out.
And I don’t get that on “intense coasters”, I only get it from rough coasters that impact my balance. When the inner ear crystals get too loose it’s like getting vertigo.
I get that. I actually kinda experienced that on my ride Friday. It was a one and done, too much jostling. I’ll be back later in the week to see if it was a fluke.
You should give it a chance on a front inside seat, hopefully you’ll have better luck.
I moved out of the area so it’s unlikely I’ll get another ride. But I rode Gatekeeper and Wild Eagle when they were new and didn’t experience the same thing in almost the same seat (give or take a row).
Does anyone else remember hearing that they were gonna have mist coming out of the caldera at some point? The last time I walked by it, I was pretty sure I could see the nozzles that the mist would be coming out from if they turned it on. I feel like it would look really cool and enhance that section of the queue. Anyone know what happened to this?
I guess maybe they need cooler weather in order to do it. Not an expert on the physics of these things.
Maybe they couldn't get fog to work or it didn't look worth it. Or those are just drains.
Been looking to me more people prefer the outer seat, more exciting, from watching single riders and a couple comments. Works for me! Even on Thunderbird outer seat was one try and why do that to yourself when inner is so much smoother? Found them comparable except Rapterra is trying to be more graceful.
Been looking to me more people prefer the outer seat, more exciting, from watching single riders and a couple comments. Works for me! Even on Thunderbird outer seat was one try and why do that to yourself when inner is so much smoother? Found them comparable except Rapterra is trying to be more graceful.
They should have speakers in the station that broadcast the bird call when the ride starts. You can just barely hear it when you’re on the ride. It’s only audible outside of the station.
Today I definitely noticed the more bouncy spots sitting in an outside seat in row 3 on the left side. I love Rapterra, I definitely don’t care for whomever the suit out there is that wanted B&M to lower the price of their rides knowing what the ride could have been in terms of smoothness.
Rapterra is basically inside seat or you will eat those rough spots at the bottom of the wing over off the launch and coming off the S turn. Maybe not as much in the front rows. I admit it’s somewhat strange to go ride the relocated Floorless across the park and notice how much smoother it is than Rapterra or go ride the 3 large B&Ms at BGW that have always been smooth as glass. (Big Bad Wolf is smooth it just doesn’t hit speeds greater than 40 mph which I think is a factor here). Regardless, you still hear guests commenting that Rapterra is smooth on the brake run. Which may be more of their interpretation the ride is “very graceful with limited crazy transitions.” I wish we had a launched wing as smooth as Thunderbird but alas we don’t live in the age of new large smooth B&Ms anymore. It’s wild to imagine spending $30M+ on a new coaster like this and have it be anything but glass smooth I hope the market responds but I think the market is ok with the rides being bumpier if their bottom line is impacted less when they buy one.
All that said I still love Rapterra and I can tell guests at KD do as well.
Rapterra is basically inside seat or you will eat those rough spots at the bottom of the wing over off the launch and coming off the S turn. Maybe not as much in the front rows. I admit it’s somewhat strange to go ride the relocated Floorless across the park and notice how much smoother it is than Rapterra or go ride the 3 large B&Ms at BGW that have always been smooth as glass. (Big Bad Wolf is smooth it just doesn’t hit speeds greater than 40 mph which I think is a factor here). Regardless, you still hear guests commenting that Rapterra is smooth on the brake run. Which may be more of their interpretation the ride is “very graceful with limited crazy transitions.” I wish we had a launched wing as smooth as Thunderbird but alas we don’t live in the age of new large smooth B&Ms anymore. It’s wild to imagine spending $30M+ on a new coaster like this and have it be anything but glass smooth I hope the market responds but I think the market is ok with the rides being bumpier if their bottom line is impacted less when they buy one.
All that said I still love Rapterra and I can tell guests at KD do as well.
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