Sunday is a week day in Saudi
FORUMS - COASTERFORCE
This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!
Six Flags Qiddiya | Saudi Arabia | Theme Park
- Thread starter Matt N
- Start date
I thought this too. I actually ended up wishing there were more people in the park to give it a better atmosphere. I'm sure there were more staff than guests.
It was still mostly getting full trains!
Yeah, it's pretty funny.
VonRolland
Giga Poster
not sure if i missed this or not but what's the operational season like over there?
uwurawrus
Mega Poster
I do wonder what their hours will look like after this up into Ramadan. I've been to the UAE during Ramadan, but I imagine Saudi is a whole different ballgame. From my research I believe they run the metro later (up until 2am last year /3am on fridays)... top tip y'all
Yeah, it's pretty funny.
It must be a Middle East thing now i think about it because the parks on Yas Island in UAE are the same. Even after being open for 8 years they only show opening dates and times one month in advance.
Yes, queue times were visible on the app from within the park when I was there last Friday and Saturday.
They've added 3 more dates of availability now (basically going up to Ramadan) and Fast Pass is available on all 3.
The other day they were also sharing posts on their account from an influencer pointing out how long the Falcon Flight queue was and how glad they were they had bought Fast Pass (it was 90 minutes).
Such a weird park.
The other day they were also sharing posts on their account from an influencer pointing out how long the Falcon Flight queue was and how glad they were they had bought Fast Pass (it was 90 minutes).
Such a weird park.
JoshC.
Strata Poster
I'm going on Sunday 15th. Booked ticket yesterday and I've decided to get FastPass.
Only the second time I've ever pre-bought Fastrack (Port Aventura gets the honour of being first). I'd budgeted to include it anyways, and it's giving me a huge layer of comfort knowing that of it's busy, or Falcons has an unreliable day, I won't get major cred anxiety. I'm sure sod's law will dictate that the park will be dead quiet and I wouldn't have needed it, but I can live with that.
Only the second time I've ever pre-bought Fastrack (Port Aventura gets the honour of being first). I'd budgeted to include it anyways, and it's giving me a huge layer of comfort knowing that of it's busy, or Falcons has an unreliable day, I won't get major cred anxiety. I'm sure sod's law will dictate that the park will be dead quiet and I wouldn't have needed it, but I can live with that.
Niles
Giga Poster
Just seen that the parks coasters are now ranked on Captain Coaster. Steel Vengeance has currently been dethroned as the No1 by falcons and the other big three rank well. Only a few people have done it and its brand new but its interesting to see how Falcons and the others roughly rank up for people.
World ranking:
1st - Falcons Flight
37th - Iron Rattler
113th - Colossus
127th - Spitfire
World ranking:
1st - Falcons Flight
37th - Iron Rattler
113th - Colossus
127th - Spitfire
My ranking of the main coasters:
1. Falcons Flight. Just a spectacular feat of engineering. You can't help but marvel at it and want to re-ride again and again. Perhaps controversially, I don't think I'd put it in my top 5 coasters overall, but it'd probably make my top 10. The trims on the upwards portion of the arch killed it's chances of being higher up the rankings for me.
2. Colossus. Absolutely brilliant woodie with some of the best pacing of any coaster anywhere. The trains weren't half as bad as some have been saying.
3. Iron Rattler. My first tilt coaster. Genuinely made me nervous. Great first drop, but the rest of the layout didn't do much for me. I found the inversions repetitive.
4. Spitfire. OK, but I'm not really a fan of reverse-spike-multi-launches (or whatever you call them)...I hope they aren't becoming a fad in the industry.
1. Falcons Flight. Just a spectacular feat of engineering. You can't help but marvel at it and want to re-ride again and again. Perhaps controversially, I don't think I'd put it in my top 5 coasters overall, but it'd probably make my top 10. The trims on the upwards portion of the arch killed it's chances of being higher up the rankings for me.
2. Colossus. Absolutely brilliant woodie with some of the best pacing of any coaster anywhere. The trains weren't half as bad as some have been saying.
3. Iron Rattler. My first tilt coaster. Genuinely made me nervous. Great first drop, but the rest of the layout didn't do much for me. I found the inversions repetitive.
4. Spitfire. OK, but I'm not really a fan of reverse-spike-multi-launches (or whatever you call them)...I hope they aren't becoming a fad in the industry.
For me, Falcon's Flight was by far and away the best coaster I've ever been on and nothing else even comes close.
I've got Iron Gwazi, Velocicoaster and Zadra as my #2, #3 and #4 but I'd happily never ride any of them again to be able to go on Falcon's again.
The other 3 good coasters all settle somewhere between #10 and #40 for me (Iron Rattler, Colossus, Spitfire). But oh my word... the Falcon was special
Colossus: I initially didn't like as the intensity and uncomfortable trains took me a little by surprise. But once I learned what to expect I really enjoyed. It's absolutely bonkers.
Iron Rattler: for now I have this above Colossus but it didn't blow me away. The drop is fantastic and the elements are great (if a little repetitive). The modern Vekoma super-smooth transitions and super-smooth ride do make it feel less wild overall - the opposite of Colossus.
I've got Iron Gwazi, Velocicoaster and Zadra as my #2, #3 and #4 but I'd happily never ride any of them again to be able to go on Falcon's again.
The other 3 good coasters all settle somewhere between #10 and #40 for me (Iron Rattler, Colossus, Spitfire). But oh my word... the Falcon was special
Colossus: I initially didn't like as the intensity and uncomfortable trains took me a little by surprise. But once I learned what to expect I really enjoyed. It's absolutely bonkers.
Iron Rattler: for now I have this above Colossus but it didn't blow me away. The drop is fantastic and the elements are great (if a little repetitive). The modern Vekoma super-smooth transitions and super-smooth ride do make it feel less wild overall - the opposite of Colossus.
Last edited:
I'll be honest, having seen the reviews for Falcons and people's reactions, I thought it had a real chance of being my new number one.
However, the coaster itself is an absolute marvel and approaching the park and seeing the scale or the thing and getting on to ride, it really felt I was experiencing something historical and ground-breaking, which was a real positive to my experience. This next part is going to probably make me sound ridiculous... but for my taste the ride was too sedate... as someone who lives for prolonged airtime and gut punch launches, I just didn't feel it delivered (which is perhaps understandable given the scale or the thing, if those trains were to exert this kind of force on the track it would not last very long!). I was really hoping the drop off the cliff would provide the kind of ejector you get on the likes of Steel vengeance or Gwazi, that being said, the holding brake really gives you time to appreciate the setting of the ride which, for me, was the biggest positive. As someone who loves Wildfire at Kolmarden for this exact reason, the views are what brought the coaster back into my top 10. The downward launch from the cliff me was amazing for the raw speed, but again, I didn't feel it hit me in the gut like I want out of a launch, both the LSM launches on TT2 and Red Force felt better for me. So I guess what I'm saying, if you are going to ride it for 'pure forces' you may be a tad underwhelmed, but if you are there to enjoy the 'pure experience' of it, it will be right up there for you. I found myself somewhere in the middle... maybe a victim of building it up too much in my head!
Now, the rest of the rides in the park are all elite. Iron Rattler is now my new favourite new gen Vekoma (overtaking Lech Coaster). Having not experienced a tilt before, the feeling of a back row drop is unbelievable, sustained floater all the way down and the feeling of being suspended from your seat is unmatched by any other coaster (it holds you a very long time). Each element hits like a truck and the smoothness and pacing are elite.
Spitfire, is a one trick pony, but as someone who happens to love that one trick, I loved it. The launches are punchy and the airtime over the speed hills is great. Combine that with the weightlessness of the spike and the excellent hangtime on the world's tallest inversion and you have a winner.
Having seen the reviews of Colossus and it's trains I was slightly concerned how it would ride. However, I am pleased to report that I didn't find them that bad, my restraint didn't really come down and I experienced plenty of airtime. The layout itself is excellent, pacing is elite and you fly through the layout with countless pops of airtime, I also found it pretty smooth, but as with all woodies I think this is always fairly subjective.
The park itself is great, the attention to detail and the theming means it's a very pleasant park to spend a day at and in my experience was friendly staff and good operations (but this may be down to how quiet it was...)
Now the two big negatives for me were the crowd level (which isn't the park's fault) which at points made it feel like I was walking round an abandoned park, with more staff members than guests. Secondly, the transit experience is fairly frustrating, although the shuttle buses to and from the park are regular, well organised and well appointed; having to spend 2 hours getting too and from the park is slightly painful (especially navigating Riyadh traffic) I will hopefully return when there are on site hotels which will make that whole experience a lot easier!
However, the coaster itself is an absolute marvel and approaching the park and seeing the scale or the thing and getting on to ride, it really felt I was experiencing something historical and ground-breaking, which was a real positive to my experience. This next part is going to probably make me sound ridiculous... but for my taste the ride was too sedate... as someone who lives for prolonged airtime and gut punch launches, I just didn't feel it delivered (which is perhaps understandable given the scale or the thing, if those trains were to exert this kind of force on the track it would not last very long!). I was really hoping the drop off the cliff would provide the kind of ejector you get on the likes of Steel vengeance or Gwazi, that being said, the holding brake really gives you time to appreciate the setting of the ride which, for me, was the biggest positive. As someone who loves Wildfire at Kolmarden for this exact reason, the views are what brought the coaster back into my top 10. The downward launch from the cliff me was amazing for the raw speed, but again, I didn't feel it hit me in the gut like I want out of a launch, both the LSM launches on TT2 and Red Force felt better for me. So I guess what I'm saying, if you are going to ride it for 'pure forces' you may be a tad underwhelmed, but if you are there to enjoy the 'pure experience' of it, it will be right up there for you. I found myself somewhere in the middle... maybe a victim of building it up too much in my head!
Now, the rest of the rides in the park are all elite. Iron Rattler is now my new favourite new gen Vekoma (overtaking Lech Coaster). Having not experienced a tilt before, the feeling of a back row drop is unbelievable, sustained floater all the way down and the feeling of being suspended from your seat is unmatched by any other coaster (it holds you a very long time). Each element hits like a truck and the smoothness and pacing are elite.
Spitfire, is a one trick pony, but as someone who happens to love that one trick, I loved it. The launches are punchy and the airtime over the speed hills is great. Combine that with the weightlessness of the spike and the excellent hangtime on the world's tallest inversion and you have a winner.
Having seen the reviews of Colossus and it's trains I was slightly concerned how it would ride. However, I am pleased to report that I didn't find them that bad, my restraint didn't really come down and I experienced plenty of airtime. The layout itself is excellent, pacing is elite and you fly through the layout with countless pops of airtime, I also found it pretty smooth, but as with all woodies I think this is always fairly subjective.
The park itself is great, the attention to detail and the theming means it's a very pleasant park to spend a day at and in my experience was friendly staff and good operations (but this may be down to how quiet it was...)
Now the two big negatives for me were the crowd level (which isn't the park's fault) which at points made it feel like I was walking round an abandoned park, with more staff members than guests. Secondly, the transit experience is fairly frustrating, although the shuttle buses to and from the park are regular, well organised and well appointed; having to spend 2 hours getting too and from the park is slightly painful (especially navigating Riyadh traffic) I will hopefully return when there are on site hotels which will make that whole experience a lot easier!
Will
Strata Poster
What we have here is probably the best collection of coasters outside the US (and possibly Japan)
Falcon's Flight is a masterpiece - didn't really kick in for me until the second half, but once you reach that precipice, everything that follows is Gwazi levels of euphoria. Wipes the floor with Formula Rossa and then spits on the floor.
Not keen on Colossus. It has a good layout, marred by bloody awful Gravity Group type trains.
Spitfire is a surprise package - it looks like it doesn't do very much, but what it does, it does extremely well.
The park is very quiet this evening, hence I've just sat down for a few minutes to write this.
Falcon's Flight is a masterpiece - didn't really kick in for me until the second half, but once you reach that precipice, everything that follows is Gwazi levels of euphoria. Wipes the floor with Formula Rossa and then spits on the floor.
Not keen on Colossus. It has a good layout, marred by bloody awful Gravity Group type trains.
Spitfire is a surprise package - it looks like it doesn't do very much, but what it does, it does extremely well.
The park is very quiet this evening, hence I've just sat down for a few minutes to write this.
And luckily it was all refundable/rebookable since the park isn't open on the dates I'll be there. I was waiting for them to open up dates in February, but with not much over a week before I fly out, and still no ticket availablity, I thought I'd better get in touch with them. Nope. Closed.
I'm waiting on getting confirmation of date changes for the flights, so I'll be going at Easter now, and just booked a fairly last minute week in Dubai/Abu Dhabi instead.
Fuxake.