PCW Tomb Raider Flying Coaster ?

Hey All,

I was looking through pics of this coaster and I came across the restraint system seen here http://www.rcdb.com/ig2516.htm?picture=5. It looks brutal!! Has anyone ridden this and is the only thing that holds you in the steel door behind you? It reminds me of something you see at a carnival. What do you guys think?

It's the same type of flying coaster that SFEG has. I actually didn't have any problems with the restraint system - it wasn't uncomfortable.

What was bad though was the ride itself - very rough...and it looks like the TR:FC is an identical version.

I thought it was horrible.

Its essentially the same restraint that the Kiteflyer has... and thats not a good thing on a coaster that has high banked turns and rollovers... Ouch!

The restraints aren't the problem at all... in fact you never really notice they're there at all. It's the fixture you put your head into when you climb in. All you do is slam you head back and forth against it for the entire ride. It's not a good coaster at all.

Isn´t it ironic?! Its the worst flying coaster around and at the same time the best selling of them all.

I didn't enjoy the one at SFEG at all. It was more shoulder banging than head banging though. I don't know if it may have had to do with how tall I am or what. There was a little kid riding with us that seemed to be having no problems at all and loving the ride.

Because its small, cheap and can run many PPH

The "locking restraint" didn't bug me as much as feeling secure did. The molding (which I consider part of the "restraint system") caused me to be tossed around too much which made it a bad ride.

I think that the Zamperla Volare coasters could be better if the banking weren't so extreme and so sudden at certain parts of the ride. The one I rode at Playland was like a cartoon ride- too exaggerrated for its own good.

Others have talked about the extreme banking and fast maneouvering being a major factor, and I agree. However, there's another factor that is a major drawback to this coaster -- it's just plain uncomfortable to lay down in that thing for more than 2 minutes.

Other flying coaster designs have riders going through aggresive maneuvers as well as the lift hill and break run on their backs. These coaster variants flip riders face down over more gentle fly-by track. The time actually spent face-down is much less than 90 seconds.

On TR:TR, riders are strapped in face-down to endure loading, the lift hill, the frog-in-a-blender ride, the brake run and finally unloading. This is assuming there are no breakdowns. This variant takes a very long time to reset if there's a sensor problem. I saw riders were limping after spending 15 minutes strapped in at the loading area. (They were released manually before the ride was restarted.)

There is definitely better ride technology on the market.

[spelling]*** Edited 2/9/2005 5:34:50 PM UTC by greatwhitenorth*** *** Edited 2/9/2005 5:36:25 PM UTC by greatwhitenorth***

While the layouts of the three Volare coasters in North America are the same, they do operate differently. I really want to love this ride but I just can't. I would really have to consider getting on another one as the three I have ridden were very unpleasant.

I thought the restraints to be pretty nasty. During the inline twists, my body was constantly being thrown around all over the place. At one park, guests that had just ridden the ride were getting off in tears.

I forget who mentioned it, but someone thought of the the Volare coasters as the new Vekoma SLC. I am not sure I would totally agree with that as I have had pleasant rides on SLCs before. At least the lift on the Volare is fun.

-Sean (Hang-N-Bang? What about Prone-N-Groan?)

I've not ridden any of the american models yet, but I can say with conviction that the one at Wiener Prater is positively brutal - worse than a SLC on a bad day.

Prone-N-Groan is right...

I'd put Playland's Volare in a category with Vekoma SLCs... but then again, I have had many downright enjoyable rides on some SLCs before!

Am I the only one who finds absolutely no connection between Tomb Raider and a flying coaster? Paramount needs to stop forcing bad movie names onto their rides.

UBRhino - Facing down in a sitting position on a Vekoma flyer is perfectly comfortable if you put your full body weight on the OTSR. I rode X-Flight (a Vekoma Flying Dutchman model according to rcdb.com) at Geuaga Lake last summer, and the only time it was uncomfortable was when I tried to hold myself back in the seat using my legs. When I relaxed and allowed my butt to slide out of the seat a bit, I put my entire weight on the flexible OTSR and it was perfectly comfortable, which is surprising since I'm not small (+200 pounds). The Vekoma OTSR feels like one of those lead vests dentists put on you when taking X-rays -- it's heavy, but it covers so much of your torso that there are no pressure-points when you're 'flying' upside down.

I rode Tomb Raider: The Ride just a few weeks before trying X-Flight. TR:TR was a painful learning experience. On the other hand, X-Flight was sweet. I rode it three times and highly recommend it.

You would have THOUGHT that the Kite Flyer itself woulda taught Zamperla that those restraints are downright unacceptable...if restraints are THAT uncomfortable going around in a predictable circle, whaddya FIGURE is gonna happen when you increase the speed and introduce twists, turns, and even INVERSIONS...score one for Vekoma there, LOL...

Lucky me, I haven't had the (unfortunate) experience of flying a Volare yet. Being me,though, I won't have *the smarts* to turn it down when I see one on the midway regardless...;)

Good thing you don't have the smarts ;) They're not great but I think you could tolerate at least ride... if for no other reason than to have something new to talk about!

at least the loading/unoading mechanics is pretty neat...

... that's about as good as the ride gets, stepping on... and more importantly, off...

-- alan "my ears hurt" jacyszyn

Rob, don't tell me you're tired of hearing about Cypress ALREADY.... ;)

They've already GOT the Kite Flyer (prone riding only), so I doubt Kent B. will buy a Volare...of course, if he DOES buy one, he'll probably just get a package deal to put one in each park, LOL...

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Intamin Fan said:
Am I the only one who finds absolutely no connection between Tomb Raider and a flying coaster? Paramount needs to stop forcing bad movie names onto their rides.

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How about them stop forcing bad games into bad movies into bad rides....

Sick of Cypress? Hardly! I can't wait to get down there in a few weeks so feel free to talk about the park all you want ;)

But don't you think that a Volare ride experience would make you that much more interesting in coaster discussions? I know I'm so much more well-versed thanks to rides on SFMM's horrendous steel coaster collection.