2022 finally saw Flamingo Land open its new coaster, Sik, an Intamin multi inversion coaster and within a couple weeks of the ride opening I headed to the park to finally experience this coaster and in todays blog we decide if it’s Sik or just plain sick……. And yes pun is very intended.
First thing you notice when you arrive at the park is Sik. It’s literally right there in front of the of the car park. You can’t miss the bright grey structure of this 10 inversion coaster. What the car park does provide is some really great views that you can’t get with Colossus. It feels a lot bigger than Colossus but I think that’s because Sik is more open and flat whereas Colossus is more entwined in its environment. It’s nice to be able to really appreciate this coaster from a distance. Upon entering the park you can clearly see and hear the new coaster. There’s an under pass that allows for some great views of the cobra roll as well as the rest of the ride at this end.
The queue entrance and exit is via the shop. There’s a few bits of merchandise in it but I will admit I wasn’t paying that much attention to detail at what the shop contained. The queue line itself is very open and very wide which is great but also feels like it encourages queue jumping and with my visit happening the day of school trips this did happen. Despite its failure to stop queue jumpers, the queue does provide some fantastic views of both Sik and Velocity, the parks booster bike roller coaster which has also recently (within the last few years) undergone a paint job and is looking very fresh. When the queue enters the station area it has a bit of a party vibe to it with music playing. There’s a real sense of celebration and it just kind of provides a positive vibe. I didn’t like the print on the walls. The design of it makes it look like it’s undergone a load of vandalism already with scuff marks in the actual design. The station itself is full of flags and feels bright and energetic (and yes we saw the pride flag).
Let’s talk about the ride. I hate the design on the train. It has the same vandalised print that the walls have and the Union Jack design doesn’t work with the rest of the coaster for me. The train itself is very comfortable and spacious and it process a lot more freedom than Colossus’ restraints. The only problem with that is that on the barrel rolls my thighs were taking a beating. The ride experience itself is great fun and ever so free. It was stupid, it was wet, I felt like I could die, I loved it. I have never been in shock and come off laughing that much from a new coaster in a while. It really is surprising how much a different style of restraint can change the way you see and experience a coaster.
There is a lot of doubters out there who have been ready and waiting to just strike Flamingo Land off with Sik. Yes, it has really bad operations (staff like to chat which doesn’t help either) but when you get the enjoyable and ridiculously fun ride experience that you get on Sik, it’s easy to perhaps forgive it’s short comings.
PS. The lift hill is not quiet