|
Every few years, coaster geniuses Bolliger and Mabillard come
out with a new, incredible design. In 1990, they brought us the world's
first inverted coaster, Batman: The Ride. Within a few years, they had
mastered the stand-up, and by the end of the 90's, they were producing
some of the best hyper-coasters the world has ever seen.
In 1999, B&M introduced the Floorless Coaster. Unlike
traditional sit-down loopers, a Floorless Coaster has no floor (hence the
name). Riders ride above the track, with their feet free to
dangle.
The first park to receive one of these promising rides was Six
Flags Great Adventure. The ride was called Medusa, and was a
huge success.
In 2000, many new Floorless coasters were built, including SFO's
Batman: Knight Flight, Sea World Orlando's Kraken, SFFT's Superman:
Krypton Coaster, and SFMW's Medusa - a near clone of the Medusa at
SFGAdv.
.............
With strong competition from Paramount's Great America, Six
Flags Marine World had to do something big for the 2000 season. And
they succeeded, with their largest coaster to date - Medusa.
Standing 150ft tall and featuring seven inversions - including
the world's first Sea Serpent - Medusa reaches a top speed of 65mph.
The 3,927ft coaster stands its ground against PGA's Stealth - the world's
first flying coaster.
.............
 Once
you board the train and your OTSR's are checked, the floor beneath you
drops, and your feet are left to dangle. Medusa starts off with a
small dip into a left hand turn-around, which leads into the 150ft lift.
Once at the top, you make your way down a small dip and soon are heading
down a steep 150ft first drop.
 B&M
coasters generally have two types of drops - straight and twisting.
Medusa features a straight, steep drop. Personally, I prefer twisting
drops, but Medusa's drop is great nonetheless.
From the bottom of the first drop, you fly into the first
inversion, a 128ft loop. This features some great floating at the top,
and some nice positive g's pulling out of it.
 From
here, you make your way into the second inversion, a Dive Loop. This
also features some airtime at the top, and leads directly into my favorite
inversion of the ride - the Zero-G Roll.
After the intense Zero-G Roll, you head into the world's
first Sea Serpent. A Sea Serpent is similar to the Cobra Roll, except
that you exit the same way that you entered. This is a very fun and
disorienting inversion, and I hope to see more of these in the future.
 Next,
you head into the mid-course brake run. After slightly being slowed
down, you make your way down a twisting drop into the first of two
corkscrews. Next, you fly through some turns, and into the final
corkscrew. Finally, you make your way through a high-speed spiral, up
into the brake-run, and back into the station.
.............
Medusa is a fun and smooth ride that proves once again that B&M
are among the best in their league. This ride is a great addition to
the park, and I hope to see more Floorless Coasters in the future.
Rating: 8/10
Pros:
-
Very Fun
-
Wide Array of Elements
-
Smooth
|
