Busch Gardens Williamsburg

[LordOfDarkness]

Today Poler-X Plorer opened I still cannot find a POV yet. I wonder what the force of the drops like,or if they use the same slow docking after the freefall on Verbolten.

Poler-X Plorer has the worst freefall drop I have ever seen, its like an elevator. I'm actually really glad we got intamin.

[Bote]

Let's put it this way. Polar X Plorer doesn't even look to freefall! It crawls onto the drop track painfully slowly, spends a good few seconds lining itself up, then waits. The 'drop' looks to be the equivalent if Th13teens bounce, before the thing slows right down suddenly and lowers the other half of the way manually on a slow pully!

Hopefully, this is going to be a bit more special than that thanks to all the effects, but I guess even if the drop is useless this still has a decent coaster attached to it, which is where most people consider Th13teen to fail.

But in conclusion based off Polar X Plorer, be glad we got an Intamin version! (I never thought I'd hear myself say that!) :P We got the decent drop system if that is anything to go by!

[Chris W]

It's been apparent for a while now that in terms of the actual ride system, Intamin wins.

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[Rob L]

The Intamin drop system was always going to be better than Zierer's. As John Wardley said at the Thirteen evening Intamin have mastered the drop tower, they are the industry experts, so they were always going to be the best when it comes to making a coaster drop.

The drop on Polar X-Plorer does look poor and Verbolten's will probably be very similar. Thankfully though Verbolten is about a lot more than just the drop.

Anyway, here are a few more photos from BGWFans.com:

[Benzin]

Looks good really...

Of course, regarding the drop, it's good that we're able to deduce how forceful it is from a POV video... I doubt few people can give a complete comparison between the two company systems from experiencing both rides...

It'd be interesting to see also what kind of downtime Zierer's experiences in the first few weeks (for both rides), and all this talk of them being a cheaper option is just daft, why can't we enjoy both? I'm sure the Zierer system is just as exciting/fun to experience as Intamin's overall...

[Sam]

Yeah it looks great... but I can't help but get that nagging feeling that Big Bad Wolf looked twice as great.

[BigAl]

Big Bad Wolf did look a lot better and + points for it being a suspended swinger. Such a shame they decided to get rid of it. This new ride doesn't look too bad though.

[Benzin]

Big Bad Wolf DID look utterly brilliant, and rode brilliantly too... It's a shame it went but I was lucky enough to ride it before it closed...



I do like how they've homaged BBW though...

[AstroDan]

BBW did look awesome. However, THAT awesome? The way some people discuss it, it's as though it was the worlds greatest coaster. But may I remind than in its final years, it was # 111 (2008) # 90 (2009) on the worlds most renowned coaster poll - clickhere to view the poll. Now, I know it's not all about that poll, but if it was as sensational as some people suggest, why was it only at #111 (2008) #90 (2009), when that poll is very well respected.

I don't think I would pick between them, really. Verbolten looks like a great experience, and I adore the theming style!

[Sam]

I've been on an Arrow suspended with "traditional" trains (Ninja at Magic Mountain).

They're great rides in every way (and BBW looked like the best one outside Korea) but what lets them down is the incredibly painful OTSRs they don't need. With lapbars, those things would be rated a lot higher!

[evil cod]

Usually "because TPR said so." is the number one reason for rides doing well or badly on that poll.

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[Benzin]

So the drop doesn't look forceful eh?

[Islander]

It kinda does, but at the same time I'm not convinced that you can get an accurate view from an off-ride video.

[Dormiens-Dave]

So the drop doesn't look forceful eh?

No it doesn't, the top of the mounting arch barely reaches the level of the entry track before it slows to a crawl.

[Benedique]

Did anybody hear that? That was my sigh of relief.

I still believe that Intamin's freefall drop seems much better, but at least Verbolten's drop isn't looking as dire as Xplorer (which was my worry) so I'm happy. I can't wait to get on this now

[Rob L]

Thankfully that drop looks a lot better than Polar X-Plorer's! I really can't wait to eventually ride this one day, I think as an experience coaster it is going to be great fun!

[Sam]

How can you tell, when they've weirdly edited that part of the video so it suddenly goes all jittery?

[Dormiens-Dave]

Yeah i don't really get the relief, the drop on Polar x-plorer looks to be about as powerful, you certainly drop about the same...

Is gravity different in the USA?

[Rob L]

Maybe it looks better because it is a bigger drop, 8 meters as opposed to 5? I don't really know, it just seems more forceful.

It's hard to tell what any drop is like until you ride it. The 300 foot drop tower at Kings Dominion looks awesome, the drop on it is complete and utter rubbish! And I personally don't think Thirteen's drop looks that good when you see the offride video of it testing shown at the Thirteen video, but it rides far better than it looks. Hopefully we should get some thoughts on what it is like very soon as employees have started riding it today.

EDIT: Employee riding has been postponed, fail!

[Benzin]

How can you tell, when they've weirdly edited that part of the video so it suddenly goes all jittery?

How can everyone tell that Polar Xplorer's is forceless when they haven't been on it?