Vaughan, Ontario – Saturday, September 15th & Sunday, September 16th, 2012
Oh, it must be Leviathan.
At 306 feet tall, Leviathan is kinda hard to miss.
It just towers over everything.
The problem with Leviathan is it makes everything else in the Medieval Faire section of the park look sort of lame by comparison, especially when the second best coaster is a fairly generic Arrow headbanger.
Leviathan was pretty popular in its debut year, 2012.
Fortunately, efficient three train operations kept the lines between 15 to 60 minutes all weekend.
I have a general rule that I try to ride every coaster for my first time in the front row. That way the first impression it gives is likely going to be its best, and I can better control for variables when comparing coaster experiences side-by-side.
A bonus in the front row is this awesome stylized nosecone. I always like it when a coaster train can focus on style rather than just plastering the ride and park name over it, as if you didn't already know where you were.
Leviathan creeps around a 180 degree curve and cautiously approaches the lift.
Ascending to the royal blue heavens.
Leviathan on its way to 306 feet up.
While I still prefer the look of Millennium Force's iconic support structure and profile, there's something to be admired in the bold minimalism of Leviathan's structure. The way the blue just melts into the sky like a ghostly apparition...
Cresting the first drop, we plunge 80 degrees straight down. The tighter crest at the top reduces the sense of "tilting forward" and steepness as on Millennium Force, but as a result you spend more time in weightless freefall all the way down. (Clearly I am talking about Dragon Fire in this photo.)
After a quick tunnel at 92 mph, Leviathan rockets around this fast overbank turn. Again, using Millennium Force as my familiar gigacoaster benchmark, the positive G's aren't as strong or sustained, but the tight rotation and shorter arc really enhances the sensation of speed.
Unfortunately I failed to get a direct photo of my favorite element of Leviathan, the super-fast speed hill following the first overbank turn that provides a sudden boost of airtime before whipping to the left while shredding past trees and supports in the bottom left. The sense of speed and power through this element feels almost dangerous, and was unlike anything I had ever experienced on a coaster before.
After doing everything in its power to take my breath away, Leviathan comes up for air with this massive 183 foot tall parabolic hill providing several seconds of sustained floater airtime, just around -0.5 G.
Leviathan coming back down after rocketing to the moon.
After the camelback hill, Leviathan reaches the furthest end of its layout near the main gate with this sharp overbanked turn.
This is the moment when the ride notably starts to lose some of its fury, indulging in a gentle, graceful near-inversion, inviting us to momentarily look around at the world from a curious new perspective, rather than remain deathly fixated ahead as on the first few manuevers.
Leviathan's 147 foot tall overbank turn, the fourth maneuver in its layout, is still taller than all but one other coaster in Canada's Wonderland, and by a pretty considerable margin.
Leviathan begins its return home.
After the overbank turn, Leviathan goes through this broad speed turn. Compared to everything that came before, this element feels neutered, like it was designed for much higher speeds.
This turn is banked high and still has lots of speed, but it's overextended and, if you close your eyes, doesn't feel like anything is happening.
This camelback hill, despite having the trim brake on the way up, still gives a solid kick of floater air. Unfortunately since it copies the same parabolic shape at a reduced speed, it's relatively unspectacular compared to Leviathan's first camelback, or even the first four of Behemoth's cameback hills.
Taken from the station, Leviathan's smaller camelback still looks so far away, yet it's the second-to-the-last element before the ride is over.
A small overbanked turn, then it comes into the *very* long, flat brake run. (Again, I'm clearly talking about about Dragon Fire in this photo.)
Gliding back into the station at the end of Leviathan's 5486 foot long layout.
Although seriously, that's a metric crap ton of brakes. Does anyone know why they needed so many brakes on this ride?
At the end of Leviathan, and ready to do it again!
Leviathan. So, overall, what did I think?
Jeremy,
Good to see you update the website; I enjoyed reading your work long before meeting your at GCI’s FREDx all those years ago.
As for the random owl sculpture in the roof of Behemoth’s station, I think that it is intended to scare away wildlife from trying to roost in the building; I have seen these non-lethal deterrents for sale at outdoor stores. If you must quote me on this, please include my uncertainty.
Hope things are well with you.
Respectfully,
Ethan T. Benedict, BSME, EIT
P.S: Do you know if Thinkwell is looking to hire engineers in a plausible future?
Hey Ethan, good to hear from you again! Your theory about the owl makes perfect sense, though I have to wonder why it was only in use at Behemoth.
Things are going as well as can be expected for me, I hope you’re making it through these times okay.
Unfortunately Thinkwell had to reduce its staff not so long ago, and as you can imagine I can’t expect many new job opportunities coming along in the foreseeable future. However, I’m optimistic it will soon be a good time to be on the lookout for less traditional or start-up companies especially as the industry starts to return and there’s lots of new stuff forming to re-fill the voids created.