It’s going to be another Nemesis vs Nemesis Inferno type of debate, right? A question which is or will be on everyone’s lips is the title of this blog for sure! I’ll confess the fact it was also the question I had when before riding too. So, here is my verdict & please know this is based on my experience & opinions on both.
Off-Ride, Theming & Station:
I find the two of them to be elegant off-ride both for many reasons. SIK feels somewhat compact to the area and the colour scheme is one I find visually attractive. Whereas Colossus feels more spread out & uses the landscape to its advantage with the airtime hills into the tunnels etc. Therefore, I don’t think either of them is better than the other in this thing.
Theming isn’t a thing for SIK it is more or less style. That being said I enjoy the upbeat & positive vibes that SIK gives off. It just feels so good to be in that station I guess it comes down to the brightly coloured flags, the fact the walls aren’t vanilla & the music is bouncy, of course not themed but that’s alright.
Colossus has beautifully themed the attention to detail station. It has its own themed audio which adds to the surrounding area too. I don’t necessarily prefer one over the other on the station & theming points either because they both offer worlds apart experiences.
Restraints & Carriage:
The leg room continues to be an issue it is better on the front of the individual carriages but that goes for both of these coasters. A fundamental difference is the restraints. Colossus has broad and bulky overhead restraints which do influence the ride a lot but also formulate issues for those who are tall & have long legs. Whereas SIK is a lap bar which opens up the ride layout a lot more & we found it to be a lot more forgiving too. Of course, I prefer SIKs but would love to see Colossus receive moderately identical restraints in the future.
Throughputs:
Colossus on the busier days runs two trains and as much as the throughputs don’t quite correlate to the other coasters at Thorpe Park it is a massive advancement on SIK. You may have gathered already but SIK does operate on a one-train service. Which is never outstanding in my opinion. However, it doesn’t feel too much of a slog to queue for it and during the opening day, the throughputs did begin to speed up. But Colossus will always be chosen on this factor.
The Ride Experience:
They are not identical to one another. There are some slight alterations such as the first drop & lift hill mechanisms. Colossus bends around to the side before going down the first drop & has a chain lift hill. The chain lift hill means the carriages go up at the basic lift hill speed and the first drop is heightened up with that bend. Whereas SIK speeds up the lift hill & by the time you know it your head is straight down and drops into the loop.
The rest of the coaster layout is somewhat similar if not comparable. To me, the first thing I discovered was the speed difference. SIK felt 20x faster than Colossus I’m not completely sure on the body facts of this or whether it’s that speedy lift hill but it zooms around its track. Colossus is not slow as such but it takes a poodle around the track in comparison.
Of course, SIK is a lot more comfortable given the difference in restraints. Although those heartline rolls are quite honestly terrifying you do not touch your seat until they are over. Not to forget the fact you do come of SIK pretty wet from the mist as well which I find quite entertaining & it just adds that extra bit of character to it.
Overall:
Both coasters are great & of course, there are things that I would love to see improved for both of them. Colossus has been the restraints to offer as good as SIK overall ride experience. Whereas SIKs changes come down to the operations & quantity of trains on the track. In all honesty, SIK opening has demonstrated how good of a coaster Colossus could well be with a better restraint system. SIK is one of the strongest thrill rides we have in the UK IMO and Colossus could be as well if those trivial changes were made. To me, the better coaster is SIK it offers so much freedom, hang time, airtime & intensity. But I am not at all that Colossus is rubbish because it is not it’s missing out on an opportunity to be the best version of itself.
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Have you rode the two yet? If so, what are your thoughts? How do you expect the two to compare to one another?
Thank you so much for reading & I can’t wait to hear your opinions in the comments!
