|
Call me crazy, but I liked this thing (just figured that I would start this off in the traditional boomerang fashion). Sidewinder is an interesting ride to me. I have memories of this thing being a ride of "awe". I know what you are thinking: A Vekoma Boomerang having an "awe" factor? Yes that is right. It may have been installed back in 1991, but even in the early 90s a ride with multiple inversions (3) was something that had a lot of allure to it. Throw in going backwards and people were drawn to this thing. With it, at the time, being only the fourth operating coaster installation (Comet, SooperDooperLooper, Trailblazer), only added to what it brought to the table. These days, not so much going for it. With so many coasters in the park and with Storm Runner being its new neighbor, Sidewinder has drifted into the Land of the Forgotten, although on a very busy day the ride can still hold its own with about a 45 minute wait (which with a one train operation still isnt that many people in line anyway). Most of the time however, it is a relative walk-on eventhough it is in one of the now most populated areas of the park. However those people are preoccupied with the new "awe" of a coaster... Storm Runner. As for the ride itself -for some reason Sidewinder does not seem like the tallest or fastest boomerang out there (eventhough most of them are the same size), but it still delivers a decent ride. The ride is not a good going forwards as the other boomerangs that I have been on (I guess that could be attributed to the speed of the ride) but going backwards is fun and there are some heavy forces that goes along with it. I dont find these coasters to be overly painful or anything like that. I only find this coaster to have one part of headbanging and that is while entering the cobra roll going backwards, and even that isnt that bad. Not a big deal at all. Yet, one place that I do have to look down on the ride these days is the horrible jerk when the train is getting set up to take the ride backwards. The stop and jerk is just jarring. I dont know if that is some age showing, but it is not plesant. Other than that, I like it. It might be the lost soul in a land of coaster manufacturer giants, but the ride still gets my respect.
|