Ferrari World's newest coaster Flying Aces debuted a few weeks ago. I live in Abu Dhabi but haven't been to FW in a while as it's always been a one ride park for me, that being Formula Rossa, the world's fastest coaster. So I was excited that there was something new to experience at the park. Some background on the reason a World War I biplane themed roller coaster was built in a racing car themed amusement park; there was an Italian WWI ace who painted a prancing pony on his biplane. The pilot's mother knew Enzo Ferrari and told him he should put that symbol on his cars for good luck. Since he liked the logo and engine power is measured in horsepower, voila. (Sorry, I don't know the Italian equivalent of 'voila').
Flying Aces is an Intamin coaster and since it was built here in the UAE there has to be some superlatives involved. FA claims to have the steepest roller coaster (not sure what that even means) with a 51 degree lift hill and the world's tallest loop of 170 ft. I guess this would be described as a wing coaster as there are four seats across and the two outer seats have no floor, but the two middle seats do. The restraints are the pull down type but only cover your lap which gives you lots of freedom to move around, much like Millennium Force at Cedar Point. The lift cable mechanism is very much like the one used on the aforementioned Millennium Force except this one's on steroids. It's almost LIM launch fast.The first drop is straight down and sends you towards the world's tallest loop, which has a "non-inverting loop heartline roll". Which I believe in non-scientific terms means "you will soil your pants". After the initial loop there are 9 more zero gravity moments to look forward to.
This is one of the most intense coasters I've ever been on. The stats say it gets up to 5Gs at points along the way and reaches speeds of 74 MPH. Next time I think I will heed the signs and keep my head back and hands on the restraints. I had my hands up and felt like I was going to fall out at several points along the way, as the twists and turns were so sharp. I rode twice in a span of ten minutes and am still feeling it hours later.
Overall, this is truly a world class coaster, and not just the ride itself. The WWI theming is truly Disney/Universal quality which is not the norm at Ferrari World. But things have really improved at the park in the past couple of years, and two more rides are currently being constructed. Would I travel from the US to Abu Dhabi just for Ferrari World? Maybe if they were passing out keys to Ferrari 458s at the turnstiles, but not as things stand. If you just happened to be in the UAE, then yes it's definitely worth a visit.
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Nice review. It's apparently very similar to Skyrush and i305 here in the States. Also, I was going to make a horrible joke about the deaths on intamins because of the restrains failing but that would be horrible taste.