The Official: The Joker Review Topic. Post your ride review!

[CoasterDave316]

Here's my Joker Review from yesterday at Media Day. When you ride please post your review in this topic!

It's a very fun ride, a lot better then I was expecting. You get at least 2 full flips every ride, a lot of swinging upside and hanging upside down though which is really fun. It's more fun on the ride, then it looks to watch. Which is why the ride surprised me. Watching the ride it looks slow and it looks like the ride is just rocking, but it really throws you around when you are on the ride.

The vests on the Joker are a bit different from Superman and X-Flight. They don't lock or tighten up on you. They are very loose. You end up falling forward and backward in your seat a lot if you don't hold on. I probably rode it about 15-20 times yesterday, some with people on it others by myself and the ride seemed to consistently flip in the same 2 spots.

You will do a backflip if you are in the seats facing toward batman right off the lift. If you are in the seats facing towards Roaring Rapids you will do a front flip off the lift. The Backflip off the lift in the seats facing Batman is pretty awesome, it really throws you around. The front flip is a bit more comfortable if you are riding the ride a bunch of times in a row. You then rock back and forth, almost flipping as you go into the 1st Raven Turn. I never flipped on the first Raven turn but I am guessing it's possible.

On the first return run you get a little airtime when you flip over the little hills, as you head into the second raven turn. The second Raven turn was where you would flip the second time. If you are facing towards Roaring Rapids you do a pretty awesome front flip down, which was one of my favorite flips. When you are facing towards Batman you see the car in front of you just disappear in front of you as they dive down, then you are sent doing backwards as you do a backflip while going down to the next level. You then rock a few times, but that is pretty much the end of the ride as you go up into the brakes and slowly down the final Raven turn.

It's very fun, I suppose the flips can vary but for me they were very consistent. I was told if you kick your feet up after the first flip you can flip twice. I didn't have any success at that but I did hang upside down longer.

I only had 1 ride on the purple side since that is where the camera's were, mostly rode on the green side. Due to the weight of the camera rigging, we didn't do the flip off the lift but came close.

The ride apparently has a 300lb. weight limit for those of you that are larger, a few people told me they saw that on the sign. I'm not sure where that sign was though, I didn't see it. I am not sure how they would enforce that though. The seats on the ride seemed pretty big and very spacious and the seat belts seemed longer then most coasters. So besides the posted weight limit I am not sure if people would have problems. Then again I am not a big guy so somebody bigger might disagree with me. There is also a height limit of 76" so be sure to measure yourself if you are taller.

I will be posting some photos from media day on the website and facebook soon. It was pretty overcast though so a lot of photos didn't turn out as well as I would have liked. Also there weren't many rider's on the ride during media day so a lot of my photos there are no rider's on the ride. So I will have to go back soon to get more photos.

Hope everyone goes out soon and get's a ride. You should probably start your day there, the queue for the ride is huge and I can't imagine how long the line will be when it fills up.

Please post your review of the ride here as well!

[Guy_With_A_Stick]

Alright, time for my overly-detailed review/analysis!

Entrance/Ride area
The entrance of the ride is comprised of numerous green pylon-like structures. Most of them have some sort of sign. The ones around the entrance are ones that indicate that it is the entrance, whereas the ones further away show posters of 'The Carnival of Criminals' featuring various Batman villains. The pathway around the ride entrance is completely new asphalt. Going down towards the bridge, the area between the path and the queue has some grass, as well as some more of those Pylons. The other side of the path is the back of Capone's, as well as a view of Yankee Clipper. In Mardi Gras, the old JWR spot is half asphalt and half grass. There were a few trees and shrubs planted closer towards the ride. In my opinion, it's very nice and 'fresh'. Much better than plain old concrete.

Queue
The queue line is comprised of 3 main sections, the covered block, the exposed block, and the two 'side' queues. The covered queue is about 10-12 switchbacks underneath a large roof with a circus tent design. In front of the first 5 switchbacks, there are a set of monitors dubbed the 'Joker Cam' that shows the Animated Joker saying some 'intimidating'(or funny) comments. The exposed block is a very long set of switchbacks without any sort of cover or fan(as of yet). Something interesting to note is that the furthest part of the queue is actually the old Ragin Cajun concrete pad. After both of these, you get to a point where an employee splits the main queue into two, one for purple, and one for green. The purple queue immediately turns right, which leads directly to the loading platform. The green queue goes behind the operator 'booth', around the lift, and then goes towards the loading platform. By the way, you get a really nice view of Batman from the Green queue.
*NOTE* The SRQ/ADA/Flash Pass lines are to the left of the main queue. ADA and FP are grouped together, whereas SRQ is its own line.

Station/Exit area
The station is really just a concrete platform with a roof over it. You essentially enter and exit in the same spot. It is 2-train loading, so that's nice. There are shelves for you to put your things. There really is no theming, but there are a few speakers in the station. The space directly under the ride is mostly gravel. The exit is a long path leading down towards the Mardi Gras Bridge. I don't think they're done yet, since there's a lot of temporary fencing and unused pathways.

Ride Experience
You board one of the two trains, each of which have 4 seats per side- 2 forward and 2 backward. The seats are plastic-ey, with a bit of padding on them. The restraints are very similar to X-Flight's, but as Dave said, they don't lock, allowing you to 'fall' forward a bit. There's also a seatbelt, which is slightly different from your typical seatbelt found on most OTSRs in that the actual buckle is smaller. Once you dispatch, both trains advance forward. One of them moves into the 'lift area' where the Chain Dog engages with the lift. Once the first train goes up the lift, the second train advances to this space, and waits for the other chain dog to get to the station(if you watch the lift you'll know what I mean). The lift hill is rather uninteresting in that you are really just waiting for the train to reach the top. There's no fins on the lift like Great Adventure, unfortunately. But the view of the park from the Backwards seat is nice. Once you crest the lift hill, you are immediately thrown into a flip. You then rock back and forth a bit before getting to the Raven Turn. Like Dave said, I've yet to get it to flip over the Turn, but I think it's doable. Most of the time, it feels almost like a freefall. You then come up into another hill(which you sometimes get airtime from) before dipping down, flipping again, then going into the second(and in my opinion, more intense) Raven Turn. After that, you kinda 'cool off' for a bit, and come up into the brakes without flipping too much. You then go into the final Raven Turn, which can give some negative Gs. Overall, it's a very fun and disorienting ride. Although me and Dave's posts make it seem very predictable, you really can't ever guess what'll happen. Some rides give no flips, others give 3 or more. Sometimes you'll even be upside down for a few seconds before flipping upright again. Green Side does flip more, but it's not any more intense than Purple. The actual flipping doesn't add to the intensity or anything. If you can do one side, you can do both. You aren't going to get sick. I've had people who are scared of heights and can't do spinning rides all love it. It's very manageable; you won't get sick from it. Joker is very reridable because of this.

Lighting
This ride does actually have LED(colored) lights! They're not chaser lights, but rather spotlights on the ground shining up at the ride. I've yet to see them in complete darkness, but I'm sure it'll look really cool in the summer.

Personal Thoughts
I really enjoyed this ride! It really is unlike anything else here, which is great. It's very reridable, always different, and just plain fun! I'm very glad the park chose to add this, and I'm sure the other guests are going to think the same! For me, it places at #5 at the park(above Bull and behind Batman), and #20 overall.

Can't wait to hear everyone's reviews about this!

[RollingCoasting]

Just got off a few minutes ago

Wow. A lot better than I expected. I used SRL and got the outside seat of forward green (Facing Roaring Rapids). Riding at night added to the experience, the LED lighting is really cool. I got maybe 2 or 3 full flips, but even the "half flips" are pretty fun

My ranking - #6 out of our 15 coasters.

[Muck Finnesota]

Rode Joker today. This is essentially King Chaos on wheels. Not a fan at all. It looks like a pretty temporary (cheap) installation, and I really hope it is. Once is enough forever, for me. Honestly, people really think this shit is better than Raging Bull? Top 5? I'd rather ride Superman Ultimate Fluff...

[Dan The Coaster Man]

Alright so I rode it on Preview day once. Me (and my friend) got to the park at 9am and then were probably within the first 30 people to ride it that morning. Later on in the day we waited in the line and we were 2-3 trains away from riding it when the people got stuck at the top for give or take 15 minutes and then the ride closed due to weather. We waited 30 minutes and it never reopened so we just decided to go home.

So for the one time I've ridden it so far: I like the sign for the ride and all. The queue is new and it was fine waiting in it. The second time we tried to ride it, it was drizzling the whole time, and the roof did its job keeping the water out (nice to know it works haha). So we rode on the green side facing batman. To be completely honest, I'm not sure of what I think of this ride still yet. My friend enjoyed it and screamed into my ear until it turned deaf. Me though... I think what happened here is that I set my expectations up too high and that the joker did not meet them. I love 4D coasters, X2 is my number one all time and I enjoyed Green Lantern even though it was rough, so I had high hopes for the joker. Probably too high. I felt the Joker was good length knowing prior that it's a short ride. I didn't feel it was short. Right off the bat though with the backflip, I hit my head and while it didn't give me a migraine or headache it somewhat bothered me. I guess I wasn't expecting it to be that forceful. The rest of the ride we didn't really flip a whole lot.

Don't get me wrong, I had fun but I think I set the bar way too high for it. Right now I have it #6 in the park, in front of X-Flight and behind Batman. I know my review probably sounded really negative but I guess off my one ride so far it just wasn't what I wanted it to be. Like I said I wanted it to be a top 5 in the park, but deep down I probably wanted it to be top 3 you know. But then again it was only one ride and no two rides are the same. I will definitely ride it again and again and hopefully my thoughts on it will become more clear. It's a great addition to the park and I'm sure for everyone that it's a good ride. It's just right now me and the joker are in the first awkward stage in a relationship I guess. It didn't steal my heart right away so I have to get to know it

Edit: Love the restraints. X-Flight restraints but perfected. If you barely cant fit on X-Flight, you should be able to ride The Joker. I barely squeeze into X-Flight and I had (what seemed like) tons of room to spare on The Joker. I know some people were asking about that.

[RollingCoasting]

^ See if you can do forwards next time. I haven't done backwards yet but I didn't hit my head/feel uncomfortable at all facing forwards

People really think this shit is better than Raging Bull? Top 5? I'd rather ride Superman Ultimate Fluff...

I do think it is very absurd to rank The Joker above Bull, however, I disagree with the "King Chaos on wheels" statement. Like Guy_With_A_Stick said in the other Joker thread, the flow of this ride is a lot more natural than KC, and it has some of the park's most comfortable restraints. I wasn't expecting much but as soon as the train descended the lift hill and did the first flip my opinion changed completely. It is a very short ride, for sure, which is why it didn't crack my top 5. If it was maybe 2 or 3 more tiers taller and had more elements, it might even be a top 3 coaster at the park for me.

[CoasterRiderSC]

I wasn't expecting much either. As I wrote in the other Joker thread, this ride is better than I thought it would be and wasn't as bad as it looks in terms of the flipping (no nausea, vertigo, etc). I was a bit disoriented (not in a bad way) on my 2nd and 3rd rides. The raven turns are my favorite parts of this ride! Like Dave said, I think I too need to get more acquainted with this ride. And I really want to ride it without holding on!

As for where it ranks on my list at our park, it's not top 6. It's going to take something pretty amazing to make my top 6 :
1 & 2 X-Flight and Raging Bull (tie)
3 - Goliath
4 - Batman
5 - Superman
6 - Whizzer

Also, someone's Top 5 is very subjective in my opinion. It's a matter of preference and opinion. It's very hard to quantify what makes a ride "better" than another one.

[Whizzer Whiz Kid]

Let me just start this by saying that when I went to the park today, I wasn't really expecting to ride Joker, but low and behold, it did open about halfway through the day. It must not have been nearly as big of a deal as they thought. Anyway, my family and I waited about an hour and ten minutes. I really like the whole circus tent part of the queue, but the long lines toward rapids are awful in the sun. It would be nice to see a canopy, but that probably won't happen. When we got to the merge point, we picked green because it had a noticeably shorter wait. After boarding, I quickly realized that I much prefer B&M's vests over S&S's, but it is nice that they don't lock like X Flight. The ride itself is a ton of fun. I love the spinning as it feels very natural, unlike King Chaos. I got 2 full spins and almost got a third, but didn't get all the way around. Something I was really worried about was the length, but it feels complete, and I don't know how much more spinning people can take. Joker is a very welcome addition to the park, even if I don't rank it quite as high as other people. I don't have a spot for it yet, but I can tell you it is probably number 6 or 7 in the park. Joker is an awesome ride and I really hope to get some more laps on it Thursday.
EDIT: Rankings as of 6/6/17...
American Eagle
Raging Bull
Viper
Goliath
X-Flight
Batman
Joker
Whizzer
Demon
Superman
V2
Dark Knight
Little Dipper
Sprocket Rocket

[CoasterCale]

You can find mine in the Official ride Topic. I don't have much else to say about it. The queue is average, theming is alright. The ride itself is great. Yeah.

[RollingCoasting]

So finally got to try this thing facing backwards yesterday. (6/23) I did green side again (I kind of wanted to try purple this time but my party was told to go to green side. This was my first time waiting in the regular queue and I was under the impression that I would be able to choose which side I wanted to ride on, especially since there's a sign that says "Are you #TeamGreen or #TeamPurple" or something like that, but I guess not). It seemed like it gave the same ride as forwards, the only notable differences were, obviously, facing backwards up the lift and flipping backward upon descending the crest of the lift hill. I prefer forwards because like Dan, I smacked my head against the headrest on the first backflip, whereas I had no discomfort whatsoever riding forwards.

[CoasterRiderSC]

The more I think about Joker, the more I'm thinking it's just "OK" . I don't believe it belongs in a top 5 list at all

It has none of the following
1. Big first drop
2. Steep first drop
3. Airtime hills
4. Fast speed or launching system
5. Intense inversions like the pretzel loop
6. Fun inversions like the Inline twist on X-Flight
7. Banked curves / sharp turns
8. Surprise drops like those in a dark ride

Plus the ride is super short. It really has just 2 tiers. The last tier doesn't really do anything. I've ridden it 8 times, with rides on both sides and facing both directions, and daytime and night rides. I put it in the same category as V2 - ride it to pad my stats and if the line is short. I can see the arguments in favor of calling it a "gimmick" ride.

I believe the ride's best elements are the 2 raven turns/drops and the lift hill.
Don't get me wrong, I'll go on it, but it's not a "must have". Thinking about the ride objectively it really doesn't "feel" much like a roller coaster. But ranking rides is subjective and depends on the person's likes and dislikes. Thinking about Superman vs. Batman led me to take a more objective, critical look at Joker.

[TwistedSTEEL666]

Well, I rode it for the first time last Sunday.
I got a ride on the purple side and the green side.

The single rider line got me on it really quickly both times I rode it too. 15 to 20 minutes is pretty good.
The purple side was good, had a decent amount of spins on it, and it was tame. A good beginner side for those new to the Joker, but it still provides a good ride.
I got single spins mostly on this side, and they weren't too bad.

Now, here is where things are different, the GREEN side.
This side was completely different from the purple side.
Not only did I spin much faster than the purple side, but I got on a constant basis double flips (I don't recall a single flip - one rotation - on the green side at all) on the various hills and turns (the raven turn included), but that wasn't all, I also got one or two triple flips along the way!
Those were big surprises!

I'd have to say I really enjoyed The Joker, especially the Green side.
This has to be one of my top favorite coasters at the park now (Raging Bull & X-Flight are #1, Goliath & Joker are #2, Viper #3) ,so much so, that I got a Joker snap wristband from Heroes. Oh, and I'll get more from the Joker on my next visit next Sunday.

I look forward to it again.

[CoasterRiderSC]

FYI - I was asking very many people around the park, while in a line, their thoughts on the Joker. The overwhelming response was that the ride is just "ok" (or "meh" ). I got this response from people like me in their 40's, as well as teenagers too. NOBODY said "oh that ride is AWESOME" (or anything similar). One girl said she rode it 7x the prior day ONLY because the SRL was short and she didn't really like the ride at all!

Many folks said they rode it 1x just out of curiosity but that was enough. I've been on it 8x personally and my desire to go on it has actually decreased since ride #1. I actually don't find that I ENJOY the ride. It's not painful; it's just not exciting or thrilling either. I don't get any type of adrenaline rush (like on Goliath) or enjoyment from it like from X-Flight.

I'm not trying to trash the ride, but I am really thinking the novelty of this ride is going to wear off at some point. I went there yesterday and didn't go on it at all. The SRL was maybe 10-12 people when I passed by each time and I thought that was too long to wait. I went on the Whizzer instead!

Hopefully the "joke" is not on Six Flags and they weren't "clowned" out of $5M
Has anyone else done an informal "survey" like this? I'm curious to know.

[SFGAM_Hog]

I really enjoy Joker. I can definitely see it losing popularity pretty quickly,but I really like it. I get nervous every time in line and the dispatch time isn't terrible.

[CoasterRiderSC]

I've officially moved Joker into my "Take it or leave it" category. V2 is also in that category as well.

Joker is just NOT enjoyable for me. I've been on it 10x now and I've given it enough chances to "win me over"!
I shouldn't have to convince myself that the ride is good. By contrast, I have actually ridden King Chaos a couple of times this year and I really LIKE It! I wish it was not leaving. The flips on King Chaos are more natural and comfortable.

The thing I've realized about Joker (and other riders confirmed they feel it too) is that the flips are actually NOT natural but almost artificial: the ride starts flipping one way and then almost violently the ride stops that rotation and FORCES it to flip the other way. I just don't enjoy the ride at all. It's like "OK let's get this over with".

I really wish they would have just given us NO ride this year and saved the $$ for a major, awesome ride next year!

I realize I'm probably in a minority group here with my opinion.

[American Eagle 1981]

The first time I rode Joker I did not like it at all. I was thrown into the restraint on the flips and it was pretty uncomfortable. That was Green side facing backwards. Recently I rode Purple facing forward and though it was really fun! Even if it's not awesome to a majority, it's still a great addition. I still don't agree with it being called a coaster, it seems more like a flat to me. However with that I believe it's the best flat ride in the park. Not an adrenaline rush, but just fun if you keep your head back. As a coaster I have it ranked 9th in the park but if I get a couple more good rides it should move up one or two spots. Could potentially end up better than V2 and Superman but not yet.

[CoasterRiderSC]

^ Maybe I should not consider it as a coaster and think of it as a flat?? I just wish I enjoyed it. I don't like that you basically have to hold on or you get thrown around like a rag doll.
My kid got thrown around pretty bad on her 1st ride on it.
I don't like that it's totally unpredictable. Plus the flips are artificial, forced and almost violent to me.

It really does NOT feel/seem like a roller coaster to me at all.....

Maybe I'm riding it "wrong"
But I'll stop beating a dead horse with this subject!

I'm gonna actually miss King Chaos!

[Guy_With_A_Stick]

^I'd say it's definitely a coaster. There's a track, lift hill, and is powered by gravity. Yeah, it's not traditional by any stretch of the imagination, but it's still a coaster regardless.

Sent from my VS820 using Tapatalk

[CoasterRiderSC]

^ Cam - So why am I like the only person on here that just doesn't enjoy the ride ? Am I "riding it wrong" ?
After 10 rides, this thing should have won me over by now! I'll take one ride on Superman vs. 5 on the Joker.

I'll try to make this my last post on this subject! Thanks for everyone's patience

[Whizzer Whiz Kid]

CoasterRiderSC, I think I have right around the same view that you do, except for the fact that I believe it is a roller coaster. I'm not a huge fan of it at all anymore. It was cool the first time or so, but no it is pretty bland. I would much rather ride Demon or Eagle.

[American Eagle 1981]

^ Cam - So why am I like the only person on here that just doesn't enjoy the ride ? Am I "riding it wrong" ?
After 10 rides, this thing should have won me over by now! I'll take one ride on Superman vs. 5 on the Joker.

I'll try to make this my last post on this subject! Thanks for everyone's patience

The second time I rode it I tried to keep my head back and rest into the seat like how I would ride Demon. That seemed to help however there flips sometimes force you to fly forward no matter how hard you try to stay back.

[CoasterRiderSC]

CoasterRiderSC, I think I have right around the same view that you do, except for the fact that I believe it is a roller coaster. I'm not a huge fan of it at all anymore. It was cool the first time or so, but no it is pretty bland. I would much rather ride Demon or Eagle.

\
Whiz, I do believe it's a roller coaster since it's on a track and powered by gravity. It just doesn't FEEL like a roller coaster if that makes any sense.....

[LordMagnus101]

I noticed cracks in my restraint harness after the ride down by the buckle and spreading diagonally. Maybe I am freaking out about nothing, but I didn't see any on the restraints of other riders. It was concerning to me considering how violently it throws you against the restraints that this thing is going to snap off completely.

[Guy_With_A_Stick]

^I noticed that too the other day. I notified the ride ops, but they seemed to be aware of it and told me not to worry.

I will say that restraint cracks happen very often, though. Go on any major coaster, and chances are that there's either a piece missing or a crack in at least one of the restraints. It's quite insignificant, especially if there's another metal bar under the foam.

[LordMagnus101]

That's why I was concerned because with the Joker I didn't notice any other metal restraint or anything to hold you in place other than the soft restraint if that one fails.