Iowa's Lost Island Theme park under construction, targeting 2022 opening

The only one I've ever been on was Serial Thriller/Thunderhawk at Geauga Lake. It actually was always one of my favorite coasters there, especially in the early years when the water misters still worked and the western theming was fresh and new. If they all were like that, my guess is they wouldn't have the bad reputation.

That one didn't seem that bad, but the second one I ever did, maybe at Darien Lake? That one was brutal.

IIRC, the ones at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom and Morey's weren't too bad. They weren't necessarily good, but they didn't cause pain.

Vekoma and Kumbak offer a retrofit for Vekoma SLC's, where they keep the original chassis and wheels. From there, they remove the original seating unit and replace it with a new "hanger", which has a more rigid connection than the originals. They also change the seats, replacing the hard shoulder restraints with overhead lap bars with additional seatbelts (Kumbak, seen at Kentucky Kingdom) or shoulder straps (Vekoma, seen at Morey's Pier and Six Flags New England.)

Kumbak:

Vekoma:

The lap bar shape on the Kumbak version is more restrictive and tend to tightens, while the Vekoma one is more comfortable: picture the lap bar on Freedom Flyer at Fun Spot Orlando with additional shoulder straps and that's what Vekoma use. On the topic of the T2/Condor in Europe, which have the original prototype layouts, Walibi Holland replaced its hangers this year with the Vekoma ones, but that required modifications to the supports due to tight clearances.

Whereas all other parks kept the original train chassis, the SLC + Helix at Lost Island will get full new trains. The original train used in South Africa has been on sale separately, seen here: https://www.amusement-rides.com/en/product/slc-train-vekoma

Darien Lake's SLC is rough and is down to one frankenstein train. Pre pandemic the plan was to get new train for the 2021 season, who knows now. When I stopped at SFNE last I made it a point to ride the SLC to try the new vest trains. Such a great addition and if they ever upgrade at Darien I will ride it more often ( my son just hit 48" I'm going to have to ride it more)

I have a friend (yes, an enthusiast) who swears up and down that the SLC at Morreys Pier is great.

And if there was a card, I'm pretty sure we'd have all had it whipped out at us by this point, right?

(heh heh... "whipped out.")

Tommytheduck said:

No, I meant "Is it worth noting?" As in "Can anything at all be done to an SLC to make it worth noting?"

I guess that comes down to individual opinion.

Personally I'm of the view that a ride that is unique in North America is at least worth noting, even if it might not be very good.

(Semi-related, there's a SLC in Iraq – I'd have thought those people had suffered enough...)

I thought the SLC at Morey’s was really good and the way they built the slides around it is amazing. Definitely very high on the list. I did not think much of SFDK’s.