Stunt
Fall, Movie World Madrid
In
simple terms, Movie World elaborately captures the glitz and glamour of
Hollywood – Stunt Fall does not.
You
would never give a staring role in a West End musical to a pantomime
horse. Our costumed stallion offers his own brand of entertainment, but
should be the star of a pantomime, not of a West End Musical.
Movie
World is the West End musical. Stunt Fall is the pantomime horse.
The
entrance to Stunt Fall can be found down a dead-end side street of the
Hollywood Boulevard and through a small door in the wall. Standing upon
a sea of gravel, Stunt Fall is a 195ft clash of colours. The queue is to
the left of the ride and zig-zags mindlessly up to the covered station.
The
trains look like they’ve been designed by a work experience student,
and show no regard what-so-ever for common sense. As soon as the gates
open (two per car), people generally sit in the centre seats which are
forward from the side seats. This basically shuts off the far side of
the train leaving nearly a quarter of riders unable to get to their
seats. People in the middle of the train unbuckle their seatbelts, move
to the side, let these people take their seat before repeating the
rigmarole of sitting down again.
The
restraints are a palaver. There is a lap belt to put on first, then the
main over-head restraint before securing the usual safety belt between
the legs. Most people seem to pull down the over-head restraint first,
meaning they have to struggle putting on the lap belt underneath.
Admittedly,
staff try and make the best of a bad situation and explain the seating
and seat-belts to waiting riders, but loading is still a mess.
Once
seated you’ll note Vekoma has made at least some headway in restraint
design. Whilst they lack the vice-like mannerisms of the SLC over-heads,
an annoying bar beneath your chin seems to offer little purpose other
than being an obstacle for shorter riders.
I’m
surprised with the limited legroom available, riders don’t develop
deep-vein thrombosis during the short time they’re on the train. Also,
due entirely to the poor design of the trains, a metal sheet has been
put on the back of cars to stop riders getting legs caught when the
train twists around the boomerang.
As a
shrill airhorn sounds, a frantic announcement in Spanish warns you to
keep your legs off the metal sheet on the car in front, something
that’s inherently difficult to do as you’re holding your legs up and
not letting them fall where gravity intends.
The
sensation of the train curling up into a vertical climb is quite
remarkable as the ground gets smaller and smaller. With every foot you
climb, your heart beats faster and faster. It is way beyond the point
you think you should stop when on a sharp clunk, the train drops,
accelerating quickly and dropping vertically into the station.
Passing
through the station is like plunging through a tunnel, before you climb
into the boomerang, starting off like a vertical loop. As the train goes
upside-down it feels as if you are almost... going... to... stop...
before you are pushed upside-down again and drop out regaining most of
the lost speed.
A
medium-sized vertical loop takes you over the station before you curve
up into a vertical climb, the train scooping you up into a skyward
climb. A small jolt is felt as the train engages on the cable lift and
another as you drop down backwards.
The
backwards drop offers a refreshingly different sensation, before the
vertical loop which passes by without any sensation what-so-ever and
then the boomerang which has a similar effect to a mid-course brake-run
before dropping through the station and into the first climb again.
Once
the train runs out of speed, you are lowered back into the station where
you exit on the opposite side to which you boarded.
Stunt
Fall almost exhibits symptoms of teenage angst, simply going through the
motions, just without any form of enthusiasm. To its credit, all the
elements are really well placed and the ride has a good unrelenting
rhythm to it, but none of the elements really stand out and feel rather
carefree.
It
never seems to use any of the speed garnered from the vertical drop and
upon entering the boomerang seems to be like bungee jumping with a
parachute. The boomerang just feels like a slightly-too-large vertical
loop with a little bit of track in between. Where the swoop in and out
of the two halves on most cobra rolls/boomerangs makes up a third of the
inversion, on Stunt Fall it just seems to be means of getting you from
one half of the inversion to the other.
The
vertical loop is good, but somewhere in between the high-G loops of
Schwarzkopf and the sweeping 150ft (and beyond) loops of B&M. It’s
a nice peppy moment in the ride though, and leads well into the second
climb.
Whilst
the majority of the ride is intensely non-descript, the only part that
isn’t (the first vertical climb) makes up for it by being utterly
incredible.
When
the klaxon sounds, from the moment the train smoothly accelerates
backwards and tips you onto your front, you realise the first 30-seconds
are going to be completely unlike anything else you’ve ever
experienced.
This
sensation is genuinely scary, and offers a level of intimidation that
effortlessly makes a mockery of Oblivion at the very least.
Climbing
as you do on Stunt Fall is clearly sadistic in the same way that Alex De
Large was forced to watch scenes of torture in A Clockwork Orange. You
simply cannot look anywhere but down. Curiosity is never satisfied by
having no opportunity to look up, and with no pause before you drop, the
moment you drop is not only breathtaking, but surprising too.
Climbing
backwards is hardly tiresome, but doesn’t come close to offering the
thrill of the first lift. It is a novel concept heading skywards on your
back so it captures your attention and once again the drop with no
warning is like falling backwards off a skyscraper.
Like
all shuttle loop coasters, the backwards stretch is more intense than
forwards but only marginally. Blackpool’s Revolution offers a far
better mixture of high and negative G-forces, pushing both ends of the
scale. Stunt Fall never feels like it is taking you for a ride, it never
feels unexpected. It is all too monotonous.
I’m
going to complain a bit more about the trains. The actual ride
experience is completely destroyed by the poor design of the trains.
Outside riders are orphaned and completely alone which I think is one of
the worst feelings to have on a coaster.
Meanwhile,
in the middle of the train you can see nothing. There is the crescent of
seats bending back towards you meaning not only is it difficult to see
forwards through the forest of seatbacks, but also to the sides where
the seats are cantilevered back towards you.
Stunt
Fall is like riding a bike around Silverstone. The first few seconds are
genuinely hair-raising, but although the chicanes and hairpin bends look
menacing, by peddle-power they are limp and forceless. Riding around
Silverstone is certainly a nice experience from the saddle of a Raleigh
racing bike, but you couldn’t help but think the sweeping S-turns and
sharp corners would be far more effective from the seat of a 140mph F1
car.
Stunt
Fall is a distinctly average treat iced thinly with fleeting moments of
daunting intimidation. Frankly, the vertical climbs are superb but only
envelope what is only a mediocre inverter at best.
Parks
like Alton Towers can get away with cheap filler rides, but like a stunt
man performing in an animated film, Stunt Fall is completely out of
place.
MS Undated
Good points:
▪ The vertical climbs
and drops are phenomenal
▪ Very tall ride
▪ Very smooth
Bad points:
▪ An operational
nightmare with slow loading and slow queue
▪ The trains are
terrible for visuals and legroom
▪ The ride is far...
too... slow...
▪ Unacceptable amounts
of downtime
▪ No theming in an
otherwise well-themed park
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