Shockwave. Poor old Shockwave. It lives in a park that has gone through a lot of trouble in the past, had troubles of its own and was even over shadowed (until recently) by another roller coaster in the same area, that being G-Force.
The problems Shockwave has faced didn’t start here though, they started right when the attraction was built!
The beginning
Drayton Manor bought this Intamin Stand Up roller coaster from a booth at the 1992 Internation Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions show (IAAPA) and proceeded to build the coaster over the next year. Issues were found when testing started though as the test car couldn’t navigate the zero G roll so another price of track was needed.
Once the ride finally opened in March 1994, it was another uphill struggle as it was competing against Nemesis at Alton Towers.
So we’ve finally gotten the ride installed and opened and all is well, there’s a bit of competition from Nemesis but Shockwave can still shine though. Until Blackpool Pleasure Beach opens the world tallest and fastest roller coaster in May 1994, 2 months after Shockwave opens!
I don’t know at the time what ride attendance was but it can be assumed that Shockwave will have had a smaller number than it was entitled to because of the record breaking Pepsi Max Big One.
Nemesis didn’t really have too many issues as the ride was in a well respected park, had had plenty of investment and advertising done and the ride itself was unique to Europe with it being the first inverted roller coaster outside of North America.
Yeah sure Shockwave was a stand-up coaster and featured a unique zero G roll, a feat it still retains to this day, but would Joe public be as interested in a stand up coaster over an inverted coaster and the world’s tallest? I’m not so sure!
Shockwave today
If I could go back and look at all 3 on paper and decide which I’d prefer to give the most attention to, it would certainly be The Big One, then probably Nemesis, leaving Shockwave last to go and see.
Knowing what I know now though, I rate Nemesis the best of the 3, then Shockwave and finally Big One. A lot has changed since 1994, Big One isn’t the tallest or fastest in the world, Nemesis has got direct competition from Nemesis Inferno, as well as a plethora of other great European inverted coasters. Which just leaves Shockwave.
Things have gotten better for the old Intamin as stand up coasters have fallen out of favour, with many being converted to a much more appealing floorless coaster, a sentiment I’m not sure I mirror! As more and more stand-up coasters are converted, Shockwave gets rarer and rarer and hopefully, more sought after as a ride!
Shockwave still remains today as a stand up coaster and the only one in the UK, one of 2 in Europe and one of roughly 10 still operating worldwide. They are a rare breed of coaster, but Shockwave is the single last remaining to be built by Intamin. It might not look like much to most, but it is actually unique!
So what do I think of Shockwave?
I adore this coaster. Though it’s quite short and has some weird design choices such as the straight piece of track out of the station and dip before the lift hill, the rest is thoroughly enjoyable. It’s not without its faults though as you can get a bit of head banging from the restraints and the final brake run into the station is very harsh.
The very first time I rode it, I found the restrains a little confusing despite watching the videos that play in the queue line, but 1 ride was all it took to understand how they work. There is a saddle that you can ‘sit’ on so when the restraints are locked, make sure your legs are straight and your feet flat so you don’t get any discomfort from this bumping into you.
The first drop is pleasant and smooth, heading into the vertical loop that feels very unusual when navigated whilst standing. You can sometimes get a bit of a knock here as well as the zero G roll following the loop. Next is a small flat piece of track before two corkscrews that also feel really unusual but have great force and are very thrilling before the train turns around and heads into the final brake run. Once again be prepared for this as it is very abrupt and it will remove glasses and other loose articles if not strapped down!
No one ever seems to talk about Shockwave. Nemesis is always lauded, and rightly so, and Big One still gets attention as the UKs tallest but I’d rather ride Shockwave over Big One if I had to choose between the two. Big One has gotten a lot of retracking but is still quite rough, both Nemesis and Shockwave are still running on their original rails and I’d personally say they ride as well as each other in terms of roughness.
Since writing that, Nemesis has now been taken apart ready for its retrack which might make it ride differently, but I don’t think it’ll change enough to make it a bad ride or anything. Big One has had retracking done, and if I’m being brutally honest, it hasn’t made the slightest difference in ride quality.
Nemesis is still better themed, has better operations and is superior a ride to the other two, but Shockwave comfortable takes second for me. It’s shorter layout means its single train still gets sent out as fast as they can, and Big One runs multiple trains but their operations are dreadful in my opinion!
Call it my own ignorance of how the ride works, but there are plenty of block sections on Big One. Surely they can run 3 trains, load one, have one on the layout and another approaching the final brakes, if not waiting there already! I should stand and watch both rides for a bit and see which one is actually faster for dispatches as it would be interesting to see!
I don’t think there is anything they could do to make Shockwave better than Nemesis and if I’m being honest, I don’t think I’d want them to. It could do with a second train for capacity sake and if they could smooth it out to be like Icon then it would make the decision even harder.
So Shockwave then, a ride overshadowed by two bigger rides that I think deserves its time in the sun, at least a little! Not the UKs tallest, not the UKs fastest, but a unique ride that will certainly divide its ridership, some love it, some hate it but for me, I love it!
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