The worst of the worst: The Battle of the Vekomas

You won't die, but if you want the credit, wait until you're ready to leave, get it over with, and recover on the ride home.

I say that the credit is not worth the pain. This is why I have not ridden Viper yet.

I've been on six of these (though not the specific one at SFA), and while they aren't the worst coasters ever they are typically something you ride just once for the credit. Unlike Boomerangs, which can sometimes be decent, I haven't noticed much variation in the SLC model. You're not going to die, but you probably will get roughed up a bit and depending on your resistance to headaches you may need 45-60 minutes to recover before your next big coaster. My advice would be to sit in the middle of the train (cars 4-6 are ideal), brace yourself by pushing your head and upper body against the back of the seat during the ride, and know the layout so you can anticipate the jerks. Fortunately, the ride is a short one.

Oh, good heavens, these are the theme park FANS writing here. Why don't parks just tear down these awful coasters and put a few clean benches and a shade tree or two in their place? Definite upgrade there.

I went on the Mind Eraser in Elitch Gardens years ago and it gave me such a thrashing that I wasn't able to drive my car home. (James is totally right, wait until the end of the day) Flash forward a few years I found myself in SFA and thought OMG there is more than one of these terrible things! Of course I rode it, because I am an idiot, but I knew to keep my head back and brace myself. Flash forward a few more years and I found myself in SFNE and to my surprise another one! I had to ride because I have now dedicated myself to riding all 4 of these. Next stop Darien Lake! Ha ha! Long story short, they are painful! I do promise you will not die. It is worth the credit. Have fun!

As Coaster Boys and Coaster Girls, we're gonna ride - we have to - it is who we are. So, against my better judgement I would advise you to ride early and get this beast crossed off your list so you can enjoy the rest of your day. However, only ride once and brace yourself - it is your head that will take the worst beating (the inline twists are the worst). If you ride early and manage to escape seemingly unscathed, don't kid yourself. Your brain will invariably be scuttled no matter what you do to protect yourself. So if you get the foolish idea of re-riding a Vekoma SLC do NOT do it. No good can come of such a choice. Just get your credit and move on to the rest of the park.

Man these things are crap. They weren't good when they were new. God only knows what they are like now. Theres no merit as a fan in riding it. Riding it because you are a fan is kind of similar to going to see Paul Blart, Mall Cop 2 because you are a movie fan. It's technically a movie...but....

I am a coaster fan, therefore I don't ride these. Better to ride a good one in the park for the second or 50th time. Get out the wrecking ball for them all.

I really don't get why so many themeparks got Vekoma rides even though they didn't have a good reputation (they must have been a whole lot cheaper I guess?). What about newer Vekoma rides? I have noticed they changed the track and bogie type, instead of having wheels between the tracks, newer Vekoma rides now have wheels outside the track just like most other coaster brands have it. A themepark in my country is just builing two new rollercoasters, one multilaunch Intamin (Taron) and one Vekoma Family Boomerang (Raik), and Disney is building a Tron themed rollercoaster (not sure in which of their parks), based on a Vekoma Boosterbike. Does anyone have experience with the newer Vekoma rollercoasters? Did they finally catch up a little bit to their competitors in terms of smoothness and "not giving you a headache"?