The Evolution of B&M's Dive Coaster

Liseberg’s upcoming dive coaster “Valkyria” will open in 2018… 20 years after the B&M prototype first debuted at Alton Towers.

Promotional artwork for Liseberg's Valkyria.

Liseberg

B&M’s Diving Coasters have ...come a long way. I’ll explain why I say that so hesitantly in a moment, but now that they come with floorless trains, with rows ranging from 6-10 persons across and capable of inversions, they’re barely recognisable from the single drop prototype that is Oblivion. We haven’t seen this kind of evolution with B&M’s other products, not even close.

Back when I first rode Alton’s Oblivion - the world’s first vertical drop “dive machine” or “dive coaster” - I was so certain it needed more to it. I thought, this… This is awesome, but imagine just how much more awesome it could be if it were like other roller coasters - with a longer circuit, inversions, etc. Years later and I couldn’t disagree with my younger self more. Oblivion is special - and good - precisely because it isn’t like other coasters.

Nemesis at Alton Towers - Review

Last year, I had planned to write a piece for Nemesis’ 21^st birthday. I never got round to it, but decided that this ride was worth writing about regardless. So, happy 22^nd season to Nemesis!

Isn’t it sort of crazy how legendary Alton’s B&M invert is? Few coasters get the kind unanimous praise and fascination amongst enthusiasts as Nemesis. But is Nemesis really as good as people say?

This way...
Photo by author.

The Swarm at Thorpe Park... One Year On

One year ago, I posted my review of Swarm. Despite being 4500 words or so, there was a lot I didn’t cover and, more importantly, an awful lot has changed in a year….

Photo by author.

…Which is a point worth noting in itself. A lot has changed. Literally, in a physical sense. Throughout 2012, theming elements were added to Swarm. Effort was made to improve the already better-than-average presentation, some of which are solutions to previous criticism. The open plaza is now home to an ambulance perched precariously on its rear and telephone box turned on its head, pummeled into the ground. Together, those elements help to combat the open blandness of that area, but they also added audio to Swarm’s already impressively chaotic soundtrack.

The Swarm at Thorpe Park - Review

Introduction

“LC12” quickly became one of, if not thee, most anticipated roller coaster ever to planned for the UK. “Looping Coaster 2012” was initially all we had to go on, and then early marketing imagery suggested a theme of the apocalypse. A character, named Les Coogan - a  crazy conspiracy theorist, homeless and shunned by no one who’ll believe him that “the end is coming”, began wondering around the park. When Raptor was announced at Merlin’s Italian park, Gardaland, we expected to see the same ride type at Thorpe, a B&M Wing Coaster. And then it happened; the plans were put up on the local council site… And we were presented with the confirmation of a 130ft tall B&M monster, with a unique first drop and thematic elements including a full size passenger aircraft.

Whilst B&M coasters are more often than not tame and can even be considered dull, they are of highest build quality and they never fall into the category of bad rides. It’s kind of the best guarantee you can get as an enthusiast that the new ride is going to be good. It’s exciting to see Thorpe go back to them after going for cheaper hardware last time, when they went to Gerstlaurer for the Eurofighter Saw: The Ride. Saw, above all else, is an uncomfortable ride experience, and so to know that this next coaster wasn’t going to hurt brought a huge sigh of relief.

It’s hard to overstate the importance of Swarm. It’s been almost a decade since a B&M was opened in the UK, and… Well, it’s huge by UK standards. Not just in height, but the sheer amount of space it takes up. We just don’t have rides of this size in the UK. As coaster enthusiasm has grown with the internet, the anticipation for a new ride of this importance was long overdue.