Attraction Review: Why Leviathan Sucks

*sigh* oh Leviathan, why do you suck so hard? Maybe I'm to blame? I built you up so much in my head that maybe the standards and expectations I'd set were too much for any coaster to compete with but urgh, you were so disappointing! It's been 9 months and I am still not over the disappointment, so I thought maybe putting my thoughts into a blog post might be therapeutic in some kind of way so here's goes nothing - why the hell did Leviathan suck so bad and where did it all go wrong?

Firstly as I've already mentioned, my expectations set me off on the wrong foot. Now I'm not a B&M fangirl by any stretch but I'm definitely of the opinion that they serve up a damn fine coaster around 90% of the time so when they create something that missteps a little it's a LOT more noticeable than when a manufacturer like, for example, Gerstlauer (no shade) deliver a steamer I'm a little more forgiving. But B&M have this reputation for almost unmatchable quality - they know what they do well and they do it WELL over and over. They don't really take too many risks and as such have honed their craft into a select few perfected designs that they roll out to buyers across the world. And because of that frankly intimidating reputation I think I should be forgiven for blindly assuming Leviathan was going to be epic considering it has all the ingredients for an epic B&M coaster. But that false sense of B&M security lulled me into the trap of unmeetable expectations and the result was a complete WOMP of a ride on my first ever B&M giga coaster. And that's mostly on me, I guess.

But then, expectations aside I wanted to dig a little deeper into why Leviathan really didn't do it for me. After all I've gone on things like Helix and Taron expecting the best in the world and came off of those coasters feeling more than satisfied so what about this B&M beast rubbed me up the wrong way?

So there's the height of it. This thing is a giga coaster and when something is billed as such you expect it to do something with that height. Positioning, layout, the way it builds anticipation. Leviathan is a good 50ft taller than the likes of Shambhala and almost 100ft taller than the Big One yet somehow those two coasters seem to really harness that feeling of oh FUCK this thing is tall! The lift-hills feel like they're a neverending ascension into the clouds and with that comes a feeling of unnervingness as your adrenaline starts to pump, whether you're acrophobic or not. Something about Leviathan's height just didn't translate for me - whether it a psychological factor like the colour of the track or the fact that the brake run you go past on your way up is pretty much 100ft itself, this giga coaster somehow manages to feel dwarfed despite being the biggest thing in the park by a long way. Anybody care to explain to me how this happens?

And then you have the speed. When complaining about this coaster I'm told time and time again "but B&M gigas are all about the speed, they're meant to feel fast and relentless!" Well, that would be great except once again Leviathan somehow manages to mute itself in that department too despite breaking the 90mph barrier. In terms of a sense of speed I'd honestly argue something like Rock 'n' Rollercoaster feel ten times faster than this solely due to the way it's designed to zoom past theming accompanied with a fast paced rock 'n' roll soundtrack - everything around the coaster is designed to amplify the sense of speed whereas everything around Leviathan (eg NOTHING) does the opposite. Hurtling through...nothing, high above the ground gives your brain no context to do the math and deliver the OH GOD WE'RE GOING REAL FAST RIGHT NOW feeling and so once again the sensation is diluted. I KNOW I was going fast because I lost my bandana but my brain did not register it therefore I got not hit of dopamine or adrenaline and it made me sad.

And then there's the 'airtime' hills (or remain in your seat as you pleasantly traverse the track hills as they should more correctly be referred to as). Having big ol' humps of track that look exactly like the airtime hills we know and love from the B&M hyper coasters that deliver precisely zero airtime should be a criminal offence. It's simply cruel to dangle something so tantalisingly to have it not deliver precisely what your similar coaster types are famous for delivering so expertly. For shame. I remember audibly yelling at the coaster to DO SOMETHING when we reached the third hill and still no airtime came. What the heck.

And finally the layout. Look, I get it, the park didn't have that much room and apparently they wanted something huge, so fine, but this thing feels like it ends so prematurely I felt like storming to the guest service desk and demanding a refund for B&M blue balls. It just feels like one half of a coaster that never really got the chance to warm up properly, and just as soon as you feel like you might be starting to feel something you're flying into the (stupidly high up) brake run and it's all over. I don't think I've ever felt as short-changed on a coaster as I did riding Leviathan.

So yes, Leviathan sucks pretty bad and I would LOVE to be privy to what Canada's Wonderland were looking to deliver when they installed this coaster. If they were looking to add something cool and new to their skyline that had a nice 'tallest' claim to fame, then sure, they succeeded - but honestly at almost $30million it seems a pretty steep budget to spend on achieving such a goal. Gladly I'm told Fury325 rides a ton better than Leviathan so I am looking forward to getting on that when I finally get myself back to Carowinds, whenever that may be, and no it hasn't put me off of B&M giga coasters by any means but it definitely left a mark on me in terms of being one of the most disappointing coasters I've ever ridden.

Am I wrong? Am I simply missing something? Do you love Leviathan? Let me know in the comments, let's have a chat!