Furious Baco, PortAventura, Spain

Copyright: Rhonda Carrier

Speed 5/5

Surprise factor 4/5

Fear factor 3/5

Vertigo factor 2/5

Overall 2/5

MY VERDICT

I don’t rate this ride very highly because it is like Rita at Alton Towers – it goes too fast and is over too quickly (about 30 seconds once the pre-show is over). It is a bit better than Rita, though, because it goes upside-down. Furious Baco goes very fast – from 0–84mph in 3.5 seconds! – so it’s definitely an eat-my-dust kind of rollercoaster.

WARNING: If you are just over 1.4 metres tall, like me, you will probably get a headache from being bashed around!

STATS

Launched 5 June 2007

Cost €15 million

Duration 55 secs

Maximum speed 84mph (135kph)

Maximum height 14 metres

Maximum drop n/a

G force 4.7

Inversions 1

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Nemesis Inferno, Thorpe Park, UK

copyright: Thorpe Park

Speed 3/5

Surprise factor 3/5

Fear factor 4/5

Vertigo factor 2/5

Overall 4/5

MY VERDICT

I think this ride was actually a bit better than the original Nemesis at Alton Towers because you know what’s coming – that makes you feel more excited. If you can’t see what’s coming, what’s the point? I also like this ride because they make it seem like you’re in a rainforest by growing tropical-looking plants. The fake fire is quite good too.

STATS

Launched 5 April 2003

Cost £6–10 million

Duration 1 min 43 secs

Maximum speed 50mph (80kph)

Maximum height 29 metres

Maximum drop 35 metres

G force 4.5

Inversions 4

The Swarm and The Swarm Backwards, Thorpe Park, UK

Copyright: Merlin Entertainments Group

RATINGS

Speed 3/5

Surprise factor 2/5 (4/5 Backwards)

Fear factor 4/5

Vertigo factor 4/5

Overall 5/5

MY VERDICT

The Swarm is really cool because the first drop is an inverted drop – that means it twists round at the top to go upside-down and plummet at the same time. It felt really strange. The ride is famous for its ‘near misses’ (sometimes it’s supposed to look as if you’re going to crash into a plane wing, a billboard saying ‘Don’t Lose Your Head’, etc) but I didn’t think they felt very close – but that might have been because I was riding it at night-time (and because it was hailing as well!).

Riding it backwards was very weird because you didn’t know when it was going to drop or even where you were at all. I think I liked it forwards the best because you could tell what the ride was really like, but you should absolutely try both for different kinds of thrills.

STATS

Launched 15 March 2012; Backwards 16 March 2013

Cost £20 million

Duration 1 min 25 secs

Maximum speed 59mph (95kph)

Maximum height 39 metres

Maximum drop 39 metres

G force 4.5

Inversions 5