ibluv
Posts: 2354
Registered: 7/15/2004
Rank: Platinum Critic
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 5/29/2005 6:24:11 PM
So after Superheroes World opened I headed straight for Superman:La Atraccion de Acero which translates directly into "the ride of steel", only this one isnLt an Intamin hyper like those found in the US: itLs a 164 ft tall B&M floorless. I rushed through the rather lengthy queue building (for a second I thought I was in the wrong place as the first part of the queue is made up to look like the offices of the Daily Planet, where Superman works for his day job.It was so real looking I thought I had somehow found my way into the actual park offices ) When I finally got to the end I snatched a seat in the front row of Superman for the first ride of the day.
The train rushed out of the station with surprising speed, made a sharp left turn, and then climbed the lift hill. At the top of the drop there is a small hump, then the train plunges down at a satisfying angle and speed into a vertical loop, followed by an Immelman. I was a little surprised that the train really dragged through these two inversions, nearly stopping midway throught the Immelman, but by the time it hit the next set of inversions, (cobra roll) which are closer to the ground, it was back up to speed, and didnLt let up til the ride was over.
When the train re-entered the station, no one else was in line yet, so I got to reride. There was definitely an improvement over the first time. Still a little slow at first, but it was warming up to the challenge. After the second ride there were people in line so I had to get off, but I rode it a third time later that day in the very back, and man what a difference. It was a completely different ride that didn't let up for a second, and ILd be surprised if it didnLt exceed its recorded speed of 62mph.
After my first two rides on Superman I hit Batman:La Fuga (The Escape) right next door. This coaster is a B&M inverted, and has the same layout as Batman:The Ride coasters in the US. The theming for this ride is absolutely outstanding, just as spectacular as the coaster itself (the theming throughout the park is outstanding for the most part). The queue building with its concrete walls and wire mesh cells is the very likeness of Arkham Asylum for the criminally insane, and the Riddler has just escaped. There are very real looking corpses, blood, and graffiti ("Riddle Me This...") all over the place, and almost no lighting, giving it the dim and drab ambience of a real mental hospital, so yeah, the queue is an attraction in itself, but there were very few people in line and the wait was only about a minute.
Batman, although smaller and supposedly slower than its superhero counterpart, is even more intense, with constant airtime, abundant negative-GLs, and more than enough speed to spare.I only wish it was longer. The duration is little more than a minute, but from the time the train speeds down the sweeping drop into the first loop til it hits the brake run, it feels as if no more than 3 seconds have gone by. Time flies at warp speed when youLre having this much fun, I tell ya
After Batman came the Lex Luthor Invertatron, a well-themed Huss Topspin run on one of the best programs. It was fun and made me miss my home-park Topspin even more than I already do.
At this point I left Superheroes World in favor of Old West Territory, the third of the 5 themed areas, made up to resemble a town in the Old American West, where Coaster Express (formerly called Wild Wild West), waited, The longest and second tallest and fastest wooden coaster in Europe (after Heide ParkLs Colossus in Germany), this was the coaster I was most looking forward to riding at WBMWM.
This ride also turned out to be the biggest disappointment of the day. From the moment the train hit the lift hill I knew this ride wasnLt going to be as fun as it looked. Instead of that pleasant clackety-clackety sound that the lift chains of most woodies make, this oneLs sounds like a foghorn caught in a garbage disposal. The coaster itself is
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