Falcons Flight POV

be curious to hear people's thoughts once they LEAVE the Kingdom.

Sucks.

Honestly, when they announced this I never thought it would actually come to fruition. So congrats to......somebody? The engineers? Let's go with them.

CreditWh0re:

be curious to hear people's thoughts once they LEAVE the Kingdom.

The Saudis are betting on tourism to lift their economy once oil money dries up. They didn’t invite influencers to visit their new theme park to hold them hostage for positive feedback.

This video looks a lot faster than the one I saw elsewhere. That one was a daytime POV, and in a lot of parts it just seemed to kinda meander around at a leisurely pace. The guy filming in the front seat was very casually narrating the whole ride till the LSM boost up on top of the cliff. I guess it makes sense this video looks a lot faster, coasters always seem faster at night.

I agree with Bariman. I never thought this was going to happen. How many times did we hear about a Six Flags or Universal or SeaWorld park coming to The Kingdom? And then they were adding this monstrosity too? Never thought I'd see the day. But here we are. The rest of the park looks like a giant sandbox from every other POV I've seen of Falcon's Flight.

Was that another Intamin high speed launch up a hill into a trim brake I saw on the big camelback?

It's nice to see that I'm not missing much. I do think it's really cool to have a launch at the bottom of the largest drop off the cliff. But most of the low-to-the-ground segments are bare of any trees or buildings or scenery. Seems like you won't feel the speed.

It has been said in another thread here that that it's going to be difficult to keep it open, and it was just built for bragging rights.

LostKause:

Seems like you won't feel the speed.

Literal LOL. Scenery or not, I'm pretty sure 155mph is enough to "feel the speed."

LostKause:

It's nice to see that I'm not missing much.

There’s no accounting taste I guess, but I can’t really fathom thinking this. I’m not the sort of person who would travel to Saudi Arabia to ride it, for any number of reasons, but come on.

Vater:

Literal LOL. Scenery or not, I'm pretty sure 155mph is enough to "feel the speed."

I will say I agree with Travis here *shrug*

One thing, on top of the lack of "stuff" around to give a better sense of speed (yeah, I know going 150mph is still going to be fast), the perception of speed also is lost by the windscreens to an extent.

I guess I'm just an old man yelling at the clouds when I say I want the FEEL the air around me. There is nothing better than riding Dragster or Ka in the front seat and feeling the wind at 120-128mph. I get they had to at those speeds with sand and all that, but I'd rather have to wear goggles honestly than the windscreen.

It also bugs me they did another "Maverick" and launched right into a ton of trims immediately after just to get the record. Also, the main drop is just weird to me off the cliff. I'd rather have a proper profile than the weird partial big drop to a big runway/launch type deal. It's just quirky. I focus on and appreciate well done, thoughtful engineering approach to the layouts, the flow of the ride, decisions that elevate the experience, etc... So launching right into brakes, weird profiling or other flaws (in my mind at least) all factor into my enjoyment of a ride experience.

That being said it looks fun and all that obviously, but not really a ride I care to go out of my way for... Not to mention the wonderful 6ft 5in rider height limit Intamin has for this ride and most others these days (note, the Vekoma's in the park have 205cm/6ft 9in rider limits).

I will be curious how the ride holds up long term... I was told by someone who had worked closely with this project that they expect to replace every road wheel daily on those trains due to the stress/heat. I am curious if they found a way to not require that by now or if that is still the case.

Unless they radically improve their human rights situation, I'm not going to visit there anyway.

When showed the video to my kids they both said, "you aren't really thinking of going there, are you?" No, I won't be going either.

Jeff, there are certainly days when I feel that one country is radically improving and the other is radically regressing. Wonder how many of those European visitors we've lost are replacing with visits to the Middle East.

Just because they recently decided to give women the most basic of rights doesn't mean they should be coddled and celebrated.

It's the drawn out, wide, low-to-the-ground curves at a very high speed that I'm talking about. Seems like it's missing elements. There are only a few drops or major elements. Even at that speed, it doesn't do much.

The largest drop off the cliff seems like a cheat. I wonder how long the steep part of the drop is before it reaches the tunnel and gets less steep? That, to me anyway, is the true height of the drop. YMMV

Yeah, and the human rights stuff, and the fact that the ride is on the other side of the world, prevents me from riding it even if I wanted to. I'm not one to travel outside the U.S. anyway. (I'm only going out of the country for the very first time in my life in a few months.) The POV gave me some relief that there's not going to be any FOMO.

I have a few contacts who are working at the park and on the overall project and they have sent me progress photos throughout the past year or so.

The theming and level of detail in the overall design elements are on par with any Disney or Universal park. It's very impressive. But I'll be honest...as impressive as the theming and detail are, I'm not impressed at all with the overall "beauty" of the park.

Everything is just a shade of brown or tan...which is typical for that region. There isn't a ton of greenery or natural landscaping. Just an observation. I get it, it's the desert. Perhaps I am just spoiled with the lush landscaping and greenery of Central Florida (and many areas of the US), which I would simply describe in one word as "pretty".

Even in Dubai, where there is more of a (imported) landscaping presence, most everything is just brown or tan. That isn't visually appealing to me.

OMG. Leave it to enthusiasts to think a 150+mph, 600+foot, full circuit, 13,000+ foot long coaster is boring without even riding it.

But yeah, Magnum should definitely still be in your top 10.

kpjb:

But yeah, Magnum should definitely still be in your top 10.

I'm convinced people like Magnum because their concussion prevents them from remembering how bad their ride was.

Fight me.

Let people enjoy things.