Rollercoaster Ranking – B&M Wing Coasters

The Wing Coaster is one of the newer line of products from manufacturer B&M, relatively speaking. They first hit the scene in 2011 by way of Merlin Entertainments, who were going through a phase of theming things to doom and destruction. The shaping of the trains allowed for an elaborate creature shaped design on the front, with it’s wings sticking out for riders to be swept away on. Then the coaster experience itself was largely characterised by swooping moments, a multitude of inversions and its interaction with scenery elements, as the seating position allows for both head- and foot-choppers.

In the following year, three more opened, with the US seeing their own debut at Dollywood. And then by 2017, 10 had already been built globally, though one constructed in China seems doomed to never open. Progress hasn’t slowed much elsewhere, with a steady flow of at least one wing coaster constructed every other year since. By the time Energylandia in Poland opens theirs in 2027, we will be up to 20 worldwide and, particularly pleasantly for me at least, almost all of them have been unique builds.

I’ve managed to ride 17 of the 18 available so far, with just one more in China forever haunting the back of my mind. With no direct plans to round out that collection just yet, sadly, let’s put the rest of them in a numbered list as always and see what’s what:

#17 Maximus – Der Flug des Wächters – Legoland Deutschland (Germany)

Merlin returned to wing coasters in a different way in 2023, with a couple of smaller ‘family’ style builds. At only 55ft in height and with a max speed of 33Mph, you can really feel the difference on this one. I don’t have an inherent issue with smaller coasters at all, in fact I enjoy many, but the way this ride type translates simply leads to it feeling rather lumbering and unremarkable, especially as they didn’t really play on the signature interaction. On a step up coaster for the younger riders I’d rather see a bit of healthy dynamism than a potter around with a couple of inversions.

#16 Mandrill Mayhem – Chessington World of Adventures (UK)

Chessington received the other aforementioned and it does a better job overall. Though it tanks capacity, the shuttle and launching elements add a little more spice to the sequence. Unfortunately it seems plagued with ‘new B&M bounce’ which made it a bit uncomfortable when I experienced it and though the end of the track wrapping round the giant statue is a cool visual addition, the reality of the train coming to a stall while you just lean sideways for an age feels more than a little silly. The second ‘launch’ is also the most muted thing ever, one of my more recent bugbears in coaster design. If you’re gonna do multi-launch, don’t have one that only adds like 5Mph, it feels suboptimal.

#15 Rapterra – Kings Dominion (USA)

Speaking of ‘new B&M bounce’, this one had it by the bucket load. While a much larger launched model seems cool and exciting, in reality I just found this one poorly executed. It’s uncomfortable even just accelerating in a straight line, then no elements really stood out to me, then it ends on a signature slow roll which, with the vest restraints on these, is often just not a good time for many body shapes when the lead up feels unearned. We’ll be seeing a trend of these.

#14 Raptor – Gardaland (Italy)

The original and one I’ve covered a few times on here now, not least because it was underwhelming milestone for me. While starting out with good intentions, I only ever found Raptor to suffer from an inverse terrain effect. Where most terrain coasters, which I usually love, play off of elevation to create an un-dwindling sense of speed over time, this one seems to be fighting an uphill battle after the first drop and runs out of steam pretty quickly. There was also an issue with the queue design which allowed for rampant queue-jumping – not ideal.

#13 Forest Predator – Happy Valley Nanjing (China)

I massively hyped myself up for this one, as it is a clone of a ride we’ll see further down the list. Usually this would be a pure negative for me, but it was offering an experience the other one couldn’t – a backwards facing row. Already being a fan of the original, and having greatly enjoyed the glorious era of Swarm having a backwards facing row (bring it back), it seemed like Forest Predator would offer me something special. Sadly reality didn’t meet expectations and I’m not exactly sure why. My best guess is something similar to the above, though in theory it’s the same layout, I don’t think it matched the terrain of the original and therefore lacked the same feel of a measured build in speed and intensity.

#12 X-Flight – Six Flags Great America (USA)

This feels like the beginning of the middle tier of the list. A solid, unremarkable entry that does its thing and doesn’t particularly excite or offend me in any way. It was also another milestone for me, so that’s something.

#11 Thunderbird – Holiday World (USA)

I expected a little more out of Thunderbird, though maybe it was a victim of early hype for simply having a launch on a B&M – really rare at the time. Sure, it was a great start, although I feel it could have used a little more showmanship, Furius Baco style. From there it has some decent moments, I like the flow of how it heads out into the woods for a scenic romp and they chuck in a shed near the finale after almost forgetting the near-miss elements. Sadly it ends on one of those uncomfortable rolls that dampens the overall a bit.

#10 Gatekeeper – Cedar Point (USA)

These three were all on the same trip and I liked the Gatekeeper ride experience the most, though not by much. It’s pretty big, pretty powerful, has its signature moments and is a pretty cool concept with the whole park entrance visual. I can’t mention Cedar Point without having a quick moan any more, so this is marred somewhat by the park being stupidly big, therefore as an ‘entrance’ coaster it’s still a solid mile of concrete from the entrance, and anything else of note.

#9 Swarm – Thorpe Park (UK)

As my old faithful local, Swarm has been decent to me over the years. With many more opportunities to either impress or disappoint than any of the others, it generally gives me a good time, even for just walking under it and seeing teenagers playing with playing cards mid-inversion, in mock fashion. There are some significantly strong forces at play however, particularly in the turn round the water and over the years it has retained a couple of unique elements that the others never saw, while also being another victim of the slow uncomfortable end. Bonus points for the time you could ride it backwards, and then dock a few for removing it.

#8 Wild Eagle – Dollywood (USA)

My favourite stateside for a few reasons. Straight first drop – these can actually hit quite hard on this model. Best natural scenery of any on this list. It also just feels like clever design. It doesn’t have any theming to provide the signature head or foot-choppers, but somehow manages a very similar effect with just terrain and support structures, more noticeably than any other for me at least. And the song.

#7 Heaven’s Wing – HB World (China)

Back to China with their equivalent of the ‘solid entry’. This is in theory a clone of the one that never opened, thus the world is not actually missing out on that layout – a huge relief I’m sure. The main thing that impressed me was the flow of the layout, it didn’t feel sluggish at any point like most of these can, just moved swiftly from inversion to inversion with a sense of urgency and was surprisingly forceful for it. I feel like theming could have elevated this even more, a rare miss from China.

#6 Wing Coaster – Colourful Yunnan Paradise (China)

Definitely not a miss here. As you can see, this one has many things going for it. Firstly I loved the soundtrack, coupled with the overall theming and sheer scale of the build as it’s presented to you from the entrance, an ominous chorus of monks either greeting or warding you off. On board it was a decent layout. Airtime could have been better on that first hill but otherwise an interesting mix. The highlight for me was the signature slow roll at the end, which I’ve been treating as a negative all this time, but somehow this one was so ridiculously large and exaggerated that it felt good again. Don’t ask me how. Night rides also added greatly to the experience.

#5 Flug der Dämonen – Heide Park (Germany)

Back to Europe, it’s been 10 long years since I experienced this one so the memories are more than a little hazy at this point. What I do recall – great soundtrack and atmosphere just being in and around the ride area again. Strong start with the speed hill under the bridge being a particularly elegant execution of the near miss. A solidly forceful and tangled mess of track and inversions follows, resulting in an overall dynamic ride that had me coming back for more. Good stuff.

#4 Fēnix – Toverland (Netherlands)

I fell in love with this one on a rainy day, with it mostly to myself. On paper not the best layout, but the queue and theming are an adventure on their own. The weird corner into wing-over drop start rides much better than it looks and that first hill launching you over the water, feet first was an absolute highlight for me, one of the best singular moments on any of these. The rest can’t live up to it, but is still fun and this bird doesn’t end weakly.

#3 Flying Wing Coaster – Happy Valley Chongqing (China)

Finally we reach that clone that got me so excited to ride it backwards in Nanjing. Something about this one just hit, and then keeps on hitting. I hadn’t experienced such intensity on a wing coaster before this, from that vertical loop compressing your restraint into oblivion and then just bouncing, rolling and swerving down the hillside into a grey-out inducing corner at the bottom. I remember seeing stars on the slow roll at the end, so that distracted me from the usual grievance. If anything it felt like it ended too soon, but in a good way, and unfailingly to raucous reaction from the local crowds, which isn’t the most common thing out here and usually says a lot.

#2 Parrot Coaster – Chimelong Ocean Kingdom (China)

My favourite of these for a long time, a time when it felt there weren’t that many competitors around. It’s also damn near 10 years since I’ve been here, but I vividly remember loving that first drop – a huge and powerful straight-forward plummet that hits surprisingly hard in the compromised restraint system. The following massive inversion gave some wonderful floaty stall vibes, particularly in the more potent rows and then it continues to dive and float through sky and scenery in a fun way from there. There’s a misty bit of interaction, and even a mid course brake run with a kick out of the exit which you’ll barely see on one of these. And of course a slow roll to finish. Maybe I’m reaching, or was more immune to it back then, but here it felt more earned after such a long journey.

#1 Falcon – Wuxi Sunac Land (China)

Finally the big one. Dethroning the parrot was a long time coming, but this beast of a bird did it in every way. The scale of Falcon is rather hard to comprehend when you’re under it, but at basically hyper coaster status it feels like a completely different ride type out of the gate. A massive drop into a massive sense of speed and power that defines the first portion of the layout, then the hill over the mountain towards the water is like my favourite Fēnix moment pro-max, enhanced by theme park scenery we only dreamed of as children.
For all its size and strength it has uncharacteristically sharp and snappy moments as well, through the later interactions with the rockwork, providing a bit of old school B&M intensity that never seemed to find its feet on this particular model. Yes it ends on a slow roll, but yet again it feels entirely earned after such an incredible journey.
And then I rode it at night.

If biggest is best, bring on Poland.