TheOriginalTiki
Well-Known Member
Got in seven rides on The Joker at Discovery Kingdom yesterday. The Autistic side of my personality was DEFINITELY showing on my first ride as I was WAAAY too outwardly excited (basically jumping up and down giddy with excitement at the station, yelling and fist pumping all the way up the lifthill, etc.) The ride is AMAZING. It's my third favorite coaster I've been on currently right behind YoloCoaster and Tatsu at Magic Mountain. I really need to ride Twisted Colossus to compare the two as that was a big point of debate for all the people in line yesterday.
Some of my favorite elements...
-The first drop in the back seat is utterly TERRIFYING as you go flying out of your seat. Didn't really experience that sensation anywhere but the back, but my god is it worth it!
-There's a camelback hump that goes under the stall which provides an INSANE amount of air.
-The zero G roll is honestly my favorite of the three inversions on the ride as it takes place in the middle of two big pops of air time and it's well hidden so you don't really see it coming even if you know the course fairly well.
-There's a small bunny hill RIGHT before the brake run that I swear gives you the biggest pop of air time I've ever experienced.
So in case you can't tell, the name of the game with this thing is AIR! That's something you really can't get a feel for until you ride it. Basically even the small bumps out of the station before the lifthill get you out of your seat. By the time you're midway through the course you're FLYING out of your seat after every little hill. The ride has a relentless pace to it and one of the best and most unpredictable layouts I've ever experienced. It probably is the single best layout I've been on for a coaster. Only reason Yolo and Tatsu rank higher is for the sheer unique experiences those two provide (and yea, Tatsu's pretzel roll is still the most face melting intense thing I've ever experienced on a coaster!)
The ride doesn't have a ton of theme to it but they make good with what they've got. As you wrap around the outside of hte queue waiting to get into the station you can watch the Joker face character doing meet n greets out front which is really fun (assuming he's positioned out front when you're in line, of course!) He caught me starring at him once as I was about to enter the station and walked up to me and starred right back in my face. I don't know the actor they hired for this guy but he's REALLY good at staying in character. I also really love the look of the station. There's also speakers throughout the cue pumping out maniacal laughter which made me really happy, as well as demented carnival music playing in the station. Some people hate the music but I think it's the perfect touch. Granted if you had to be in that station working a shift I'm SURE it would get on your nerves.
One cast member even hinted that they've got big things planned for the ride during fright fest. If they run this thing backwards it might just be the most terrifying coaster I'll ever experience, but at the same time I'm SO down for that.
So yea overall this more than met my expectations. It's fantastic having a beast mode air time machine at my home park after almost two decades of visiting the park and going on coasters with zero air. This thing is absolutely top of the line and is going to make a huge impact on the park!
Also they rethemed Tsunami Soaker to the Penguin, so they're definitely slowing taking steps to convert the whole area to DC. Now all they need to do is bring in a Batman coaster and retheme V2 to the Flash and they'll be set!
Some of my favorite elements...
-The first drop in the back seat is utterly TERRIFYING as you go flying out of your seat. Didn't really experience that sensation anywhere but the back, but my god is it worth it!
-There's a camelback hump that goes under the stall which provides an INSANE amount of air.
-The zero G roll is honestly my favorite of the three inversions on the ride as it takes place in the middle of two big pops of air time and it's well hidden so you don't really see it coming even if you know the course fairly well.
-There's a small bunny hill RIGHT before the brake run that I swear gives you the biggest pop of air time I've ever experienced.
So in case you can't tell, the name of the game with this thing is AIR! That's something you really can't get a feel for until you ride it. Basically even the small bumps out of the station before the lifthill get you out of your seat. By the time you're midway through the course you're FLYING out of your seat after every little hill. The ride has a relentless pace to it and one of the best and most unpredictable layouts I've ever experienced. It probably is the single best layout I've been on for a coaster. Only reason Yolo and Tatsu rank higher is for the sheer unique experiences those two provide (and yea, Tatsu's pretzel roll is still the most face melting intense thing I've ever experienced on a coaster!)
The ride doesn't have a ton of theme to it but they make good with what they've got. As you wrap around the outside of hte queue waiting to get into the station you can watch the Joker face character doing meet n greets out front which is really fun (assuming he's positioned out front when you're in line, of course!) He caught me starring at him once as I was about to enter the station and walked up to me and starred right back in my face. I don't know the actor they hired for this guy but he's REALLY good at staying in character. I also really love the look of the station. There's also speakers throughout the cue pumping out maniacal laughter which made me really happy, as well as demented carnival music playing in the station. Some people hate the music but I think it's the perfect touch. Granted if you had to be in that station working a shift I'm SURE it would get on your nerves.
One cast member even hinted that they've got big things planned for the ride during fright fest. If they run this thing backwards it might just be the most terrifying coaster I'll ever experience, but at the same time I'm SO down for that.
So yea overall this more than met my expectations. It's fantastic having a beast mode air time machine at my home park after almost two decades of visiting the park and going on coasters with zero air. This thing is absolutely top of the line and is going to make a huge impact on the park!
Also they rethemed Tsunami Soaker to the Penguin, so they're definitely slowing taking steps to convert the whole area to DC. Now all they need to do is bring in a Batman coaster and retheme V2 to the Flash and they'll be set!
