New B&M invert in France - pretty daring for B&M

The more stretched out the elements, the more time to enjoy the flying sensation. Opinions are all over the board; some like back to back intense elements, and some like a bit of meandering. I love Great Bear and it's easily my favorite B&M invert. It is what is is, something for everyone.

I love the Batman clones, but their major drawback is only being able to run 2 trains. Of course, how Six Flags operates them on a daily basis doesn't help either.

I think Montu and Raptor hit the invert sweet spot. I can't remember a single "Oh s**t" moment on Alpengiest after the drop.

I really agree with the comments about Montu and Talon. Talon has always offered a great ride experience for me. even it's on the smaller end.. Love the batwing on Montu and I wish I saw that element more on the inverts.

Vampire at La Ronde is def the fastest B&M invert I have ever been on. But probably because it only has 7 instead of the usual 8 rows. Packed a huge punch =) But I can see why parks don't necessarily want to sacrifice ride capacity for speed....

Are we sure this new thing is an invert and not a flyer? Some of those clearances look really small for an invert.

Pagoda Gift Shop said:
I love the Batman clones, but their major drawback is only being able to run 2 trains.

What does that matter? B:TR can dispatch a train about every 60 seconds...which is just about how often something like Raptor can dispatch. More trains does not necessarily mean higher capacity.

-Nate

There once was an invert in France
That made all the kids pee their pants
The drop was much shorter
than many transporters
But it still made the coaster fans dance

^^^Yes, it's an invert.

Keep in mind when looking at those pictures that, apart from the usual "camera angles can be deceiving" thing, there's still a good bit of construction-related stuff in the ride path. Also, a majority of the first half of the ride features high-G inversions (dive loop, high-G turn, loop, immelman respectively) that would have the rider in the flying position if it were a flyer. For a number of reasons (primarily a desire to subject a rider to a minimum amount of physical discomfort), high-G 'flying position' elements like that are not going to happen on a flyer.

Also, looking at some more of the photos the station kind of gives it away. There's a lowering floor and no lifting bar for the seat flip.

I still think this ride is going to have some wicked small clearances. Should be a foot-chopping exciting time!

What about Patriot? It's a somewhat unique B&M design, isn't it?

coasterdude318 said:

Pagoda Gift Shop said:
I love the Batman clones, but their major drawback is only being able to run 2 trains.

What does that matter? B:TR can dispatch a train about every 60 seconds...which is just about how often something like Raptor can dispatch. More trains does not necessarily mean higher capacity.

-Nate

Your statement is correct, and you are right, IF they operated the rides up to their capacity, it would make little difference. I guess I have just never seen this in practice. I was making more of an assumption that less trains = lazier crews. When you are not concerned about hitting interval, you rarely will.

True, but a lazy crew is a lazy crew, and more trains doesn't change that. Put a poor crew on Raptor or Montu, for instance, and they'll just stack two trains on the brake run. I don't think there's any reason that more trains would result in a crew being more concerned about intervals.

For what it's worth, I've definitely seen SFGAm operate their Batman with little to no stacking, but that was a couple of years ago. I haven't been to the park in awhile, but that park in particular has always been pretty good capacity-wise.

-Nate

SVLFever said:
What about Patriot? It's a somewhat unique B&M design, isn't it?

The first half is almost identical to Talon.

Batmen (plus Talon and Patriot) aren't long enough to benefit from a third train.

^Honestly, on those I think a third train would be more a detriment than a benefit - capacity would be more or less the same, and off-loading riders would have lost all of their excitement from riding (meaning less entthusiasm in the station). Save the three-train operations for those rides that CAN benefit from them...

Montu is a mix of lackluster operations plus the guests who cannot decide how/when to take off their shoes...that ride should push people through like CRAZY!

Here's an odd question, when's the last time B&M even built a 3 train invert? 2000?

SVLFever said:
What about Patriot? It's a somewhat unique B&M design, isn't it?

Most of the B&M inverted coasters seem to have many of the same inversions, transitions and drops. The most unique one, I have found, would be Great Bear at Hersheypark:
http://www.rcdb.com/468.htm?p=4846

^^^When I was at BGT a few weeks ago Montu was killing it with 3 trains. The barely ever had the next train waiting in the final brake. That said, I have seen it with bad operations and it's miserable.

^My one and only experience on Montu was in 2007, and I think it was one of the slow days. Very slow. The queue was just in the station, and it seemed it was over a 20 minute wait.

I figure with the floorless coasters, it may be more difficult to load, than a conventional coaster. The ride op has so much in front of them, and people are always taking off shoes, etc. I'm sure some crews have it down, though.

coasterdude318 said:

What does that matter? B:TR can dispatch a train about every 60 seconds...which is just about how often something like Raptor can dispatch. More trains does not necessarily mean higher capacity.

But... But.. Six Flasg sux at teh capasities!