Superman: The Ultimate Flight is one of the most disappointing rides I've ever been on. It isn't a bad ride, but what can I say, 70% of the ride was absolutely lackluster and boring!
Well, I've heard from some people that Tatsu, on the other hand, is one of the best steel coasters ever built. Alright, this way, I can understand that Bolliger and Mabillard learned from their mistakes and improved the initial ride to something much more spectacular.
But that still can't excuse what they've done with S:UF! What we have here is a failed experimentation: this roller coaster absolutely fell on its face! Well, let's break this mess into all it has to offer. I'm gonna show you why I hate it so much.
You've first got that lift hill, and the first time you're on it, it's just great. You simply WERE NOT expecting this lift hill to feel so vertiginous. Of course, when you're on your 3rd-4th ride, it loses its appeal, but it's still always a cool effect.
Next is the first drop, where the ride starts to feel busted. It had so much potential! But instead of getting something that makes you feel like flying, you just slowly get off the lift and slowly take a weak turn to the right and slowly pass above the ground and go up again. The potential this first drop had is 100% wasted here. It just doesn't feel exhilirating, impressive, innovative or great... just a bit fun.
BUT, right after the lame first drop, get ready to dive into the ABSOLUTE highlight of this whole thing. And I mean DIVE into it. This inverted loop provides an unparralelled sense of diving straight down into HELL. At the bottom of this excellently executed inversion, you litterally get crushed by the G-forces. Just crushed. And the moment where you exit the invertion over a mild crest with half your weight as opposed to the probable 4 Gs you just experienced is the only moment where you feel like flying. And I mean it.
Now, the next part takes probably 50% of the ride and is also the main reason why it fails so much. YOU CAN'T FEEL IT. I consists of a turnaround after the masterpiece I just talked about, 2 overbanked turns and a helix, but none of those elements feels engaging or demonstrates any sign of significant G-forces. You don't feel thrilled by a certain flying-like-Superman sensation B-M has been attempting so hard to pull off this whole time, you're just bored! It's slow, it's weak, and it just doesn't feel right!
Lucky Superman, he still has got one more trick up his sleeve: a little out of place barrel roll just to end the ride in a better way than what has just been experienced. And guess what?
This barrel roll works! I thought the spin felt great! Oh, but if this little excuse to leave the passengers with a better taste in their mouths when the ride is over made you expect something better awaiting you ahead, don't set your bar too high, you're slamming into the brakes within' the second. Now, prepare for 3 minutes of uncomfortable waiting hanged face down waiting for these sloths to dispatch the other train!
Well, all in all, Superman: Ultimate Flight just doesn't nail it. Sure, the pretzel loop is a blast and a classic, but it just doesn't have much going for itself! It's just weak, lackluster and overall NOT AT ALL worth the 2 1/2 hour wait you're likely to face if you want to give it a try.
FAIL.
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