Kings Dominion – First Rides on Rapterra

We made our way to Rapterra first thing. If anything, we wanted to make sure we secured our first new credit of the year. I was eager to see how it rode and had been hearing great things about the back left seat. Was it as good as people claimed? Hell yeah!

When it comes to B&M Wing coasters I have experienced most of them in the United States with GateKeeper, Wild Eagle, and Thunderbird. One day I hope to add X-Flight to that list, but Rapterra would come first.

One thing I do love about these coasters are the near miss elements. I like those in general regardless. With Rapterra, however, this wing coaster features none. I thought the columns during the launch would be the near miss elements, but they don’t feel close enough to suffice. Even without those near misses, this coaster does deliver in other ways that surprised me.

First off all, that tilted hill after the launch is wild, especially if you sit in that back left row. You get pulled through the element going up and right when you’re at the floaty peak, you get yanked down by the train dropping back down in front of you. That row is a must for any coaster enthusiast.

I also enjoyed the slow inverting moments that provide some hangtime. As much as I enjoy airtime, I’ve come to treasure coasters with hangtime in recent years. It seems like more coaster manufacturers are including this in their rides too. Rides like Pantheon, Copperhead Strike, Jersey Devil, and Wildcat’s Revenge all have hangtime that I love. I hope to see even more of it moving forward.

As for the reported rattle, I will say I noticed it only slightly on our first two rides of the day. When we came back for a third ride later on, it was more pronounced. I’m not sure if it was just the row we were in, or if it was because the train had warmed up. I won’t say it’s bad, but it is noticeable. I’ll need more rides to have a better feel, though.