Well, seeing as this coaster is now being dismantled and removed from Geauga Lake, I figured I had better get my review in on it before it’s too late! It is sad to see it leaving, but it is understandable considering the direction the park is heading towards. I will always have a fondness for this coaster, as it was the first flying coaster I had experienced. May you find a great new home, X-Flight, one that sees you being appreciated and taken care of (hopefully with more efficient ride crews as well). You served Geauga Lake well, and any true fans of the park will miss you. Now then, on to my review!
When coaster experts and enthusiasts talk of coasters and their manufacturers, one company that occasionally gets drudged through the mud is Vekoma. Many complain that their offerings to the coaster landscape are boring and rough. I will grant you the fact that some of their coasters are not the smoothest to grace the land, and I do realize that the clones of some of their coasters have infiltrated so many parks that sometimes it’s like a virus you cannot escape – another boomerang?? Nooooooooo!! However, I must contend that their offerings are far from boring. In fact, I happen to think that some of their ideas, albeit overused, were at the time quite revolutionary. There’s of course the boomerang, which was pretty landmark and then expanded upon to give us inverted boomerangs and the rare (and stubbornly unreliable) giant inverted boomerangs (the Déjà Vu’s, if you will, which to this day I would love to climb aboard). They’ve also introduced the "poor man’s inverted coaster" (the SLC), and more recently introduced the motorbike coaster, which has yet to grace us here in the states. But one of their most revolutionary ideas, one which B&M ran with and attempted afterwards, was the flying coaster. How would you like to fly through the air like a bird? Well, on coasters like this you get the chance! I’ve ridden both companies’ flyer models, and although B&M has that one unbeatable element in the pretzel loop, overall I give the nod to Vekoma. X-Flight, their flyer installation in Ohio, was unique, comfortable, and extremely enjoyable. I would love to combine the two flyer types into one massively awesome coaster, but until then, if I see the 2 choices side by side, I will head towards the Vekomas, like X-Flight.
X-Flight, sitting outside the park right along the parking lot, looks visually stunning with its twisted track and vibrant color scheme. The neon green against black supports looks very good! Probably one of the biggest weaknesses this coaster has is the wait time that is associated due to the unique (and strange) restraining system, which makes load times long and wait times even longer. Geauga never seemed apt to run both of the trains, which hurt capacity on this beast. My point being that if you’re going to pony up the dough for a revolutionary ride concept, then you should be staffed well enough to run it at optimum capacity. This could have been one of the issues that led to X-Flight’s eventual demise at the Lake. Once you are strapped in and secured, the train’s seats recline backwards, placing all riders on their backs. Then, off you go towards the lift hill.
Going up the lift hill on your back is really disorienting and builds the anticipation. Cresting over, the track inverts and suddenly you’re staring straight down at the ground below! Awesome!! To heighten the effect (or just because I’m a big dork), I stretched out my arms and really felt like I was flying as the train plummeted down the first drop and then flew into the excellent horseshoe element, which is incredible when navigated in this coaster riding position! At this point you invert onto your back again to hit the highlight of the ride for me – the vertical loop taken while on your back! This element is incredible and very forceful, although just a shade less intense than B&M’s pretzel loop. Upon exiting the loop, you flip back over
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