Episode 276 - Bring on the Coaster Clash (Nitro vs Candymodium)

Our members deserve some exclusive videos and we launched the 2026 season with this video for them.  Now the script was just to good to not share on the podcast so let us know in the comments if you are team Nitro or team Candymodium.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:17

Hello, hello, hello. Welcome to the 125 Roller Coaster Challenge Trims and Staple Podcast. I'm Paul, and today we are doing an episode. We did these last year, uh, season seven. We did a few where we basically uh read some of the scripts that we did for some of our uh videos. Now, this was before we actually had our podcast on um YouTube and stuff like that. But uh here I figured you know what? It's it's a small little episode, it's an interesting episode. Uh this one's for the Coaster Nerds here, and it's uh Coaster Clash. Now, this is only the video is only available to our members over at YouTube, and uh that is something that we are I'm not gonna say pushing, but we are moving more and more content under the paywall, I guess. Um, especially if you are a fan of shorts or exclusive stuff. Uh as you might have noticed, we just had our first ever day that we did not drop something on the YouTube channel. It hurt my soul, guys. It hurt my soul that I was not able because I was able. I just like I need to cut down on the shorts. Um, in the past, uh, when we first started the channel to get monetized, we did a lot of shorts, and uh shorts was getting new subscribers while the um full-length videos was getting us to watch ours. But over time it would got overwhelming. I I know people did not subscribe to the channel because it was just too much stuff every day. They were getting alerts and stuff like that. So we made the executive decision to uh cut back on the shorts on the channel, the main part of the channel. But there's people who really love shorts, so we are moving exclusive shorts on YouTube over to uh the members section, stuff like that. Uh, and then we also want to do one or two exclusive full-length videos a month for our members. So if you're interested, you know, hit that membership thing over on uh our YouTube channel, 125 Roller Coaster Challenge. But this was a good episode. Uh, this was something that I think that most people would enjoy this video, uh, but I made a commitment that this was going to be a members only. But I thought, you know what? I would love to get the debate started. So we are doing a coaster clash between Nitro at Six Fly's Great Adventure, uh, Great Adventure and Candymonium over at Hershey Park. Now, both of these are BM um hyper coasters over 200 feet tall. Uh, one of them is one of the originals, Nitro, has been around for years. Meanwhile, Candymonium is one of the newer ones coming in 2020. So, what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna read the script to you guys so you guys could actually uh join in the debate. Uh, but if you like to see all the visuals, some people are very visual-oriented. Uh, make definitely make sure you check out our channel and check out our uh membership program there. So, without further ado, let's talk about um the coaster clash of candemonium versus um nitro. And this is how it starts off. Time to give our members some exclusive love. Welcome to the Coaster Clash. Hey everybody, it's been a while since we did Coaster Clash, and what better way to celebrate bringing back this video series than giving our members this exclusive video? Yep, if you're watching this, you are a member of our YouTube channel, and we thank you for the support. So, what is a coaster clash, you may ask? Today we are going to be comparing Nitro S6 Live's Great Adventure in New Jersey against one of the newest BM hyper coasters, Candymonium, at our home park, Hershey Park. We will be comparing them on numerous different categories, which include layout, ride experience, themes, fun factor, and more. Both these rides and are a top are a part of our top 50 coasters in 2025, with Nitro coming in at 25th spot, while candymonium coming in at a solid 40th place. So sit back and relax as we get ready for the clash. Now, let's discuss the coaster stats first. Nitro is one of the first hypercoasters created by BM and it launched on April 7th, 2001. This coaster is a solid 230 feet in height with a 215-foot drop. It flies over 5,394 feet of track at close to 80 miles an hour. This coaster flies into the woods and enters some of the amazing bunny hills that give you some great airtime. Candymonium is on the opposite side of things. Opening as a highlight attraction in the new Hershey Park entrance on July 3rd, 2020. This coaster is all about the floater airtime. Slightly shorter at 210 feet in both height and drop, it is also shorter on track at 4,636 feet. It gives you seven airtime moments and cruises at 76 miles an hour. This coaster ends with a turn around the iconic Kiss Fountain and is the first thing you see when you enter the park. So for our first category, which is stats, the winner has to be Nitro. Now let's talk about location, and this has to do with where it is in the park overall. Nitro is on the far right side of the park, which is why it's able to fly through the woods and gives you great views of the lake. While it is isolated compared to the rest of the park and rides, with the New Jersey Devil coming in a few years ago, there's a little bit more life back in that area than before. While this is always great, you simply can't beat Candemonium being the first thing that you see. There is a bit of isolation when the ride shoots out to the currently empty area of the park. Check out our hot topic video where we dropped yesterday. The fact that this ride is a feature gives it the win in this category. Theming is up next, and both parks went totally different directions on this front. Candemonium is kicking off the newest trend that Hershey Park has been doing with naming their attractions after Chocolate and their candy IP brands. In the past decade, you have the Hershey's Triple Tower, Theme to Kisses, Reese, and Hershey Bars, and of course their newest attraction, Twizzler's Twisted Gravity. Candemonium is a horrible name, but theming with the signage and themed trains, second to none. Nitro's theming is simple, a sign and fading and paint, but you do have that fun music, which made this a closer vote than it should be. But at this point, when it comes to theming, candemonium wins. When we talked about ride experience, we're talking about the entrance, the line, and the station. Candemonium experience is unique. When you enter the queue, you go under the station, and while in a large queue line, till you go up the stairs into the station. This queue is shaded, but there's really no theming, believe it or not. Nitro puts you right into the sun the entire time and is a standard cattle shoot queue. When it comes to the station, Nitro has that high energy music going, while candemonium is basic. All in all, this ride experience has to be a tie. Next off is the dispatches, and both are pretty good. They are quick and they fill up the trains fast. Nitro will get the edge for one main reason. There's no seatbelt. Yep, when you ride Nitro, you pull down the clamshell restraint, and that's it, just like most BM hypercoasters. Candemonium has a seatbelt that they check before you're even able to bring down the lap bar. It is not needed and takes time on the dispatch. So for this reason, Nitro is simply better. Now we are tied with three more categories to go, but before we go on, we want to thank you once again for being a member and let us know in the comment section what are a few more things you'd like to see from our membership tier and the channel in general. We answer every comment, so always let us know your thoughts. Now, back to the clash. And our next category is well, the actual ride. Candymonium is a standard up and back layout with a large hills that go towards the giant center, then a quick turnaround, bunny hills coming back, then some twists going around the Kiffs Fountain, and then you're back in the station. This ride is all about floater airtime, and believe it or not, the best seats on this train are in the middle. Nitro starts out with a big drop, then a hard turn to the left, then it heads out to the lake with some large hills, then a turnaround, back with some more mid-size hills, then a helix that sometimes makes us gray out, and then bunny hills back in the station. Nitro gives you more ejector air, and even though we love floater air more, the layout is just simply better with nitro. Next is the condition of the ride, and all we have to say is candy ammonium is newer and it doesn't have faded paint, so this is an easy point for them. On a quick sight note, even though nitro is 25 years old, it does not have the BM rattle, which is pretty impressive. Throw some paint on this baby, and this category would be a much closer battle. Tied going into the last category, which is the fun factor, and this is completely subjective. Candemonium is a new shiny at our home park, and we jump on it a lot during the summer. We enjoy this ride a lot and have never had a bad ride on it. That being said, there's no freedom with the seatbelt there. So because there are no seatbelts and the sharp turns in a helix, we gotta give this the nitro. So there you have it. Nitro wins the coaster clash 5 to 4. But let us know if you agree with our comment in the comment section. And thanks again for being a member of our little channel. So there you go. That is the Coaster Clash. Do you agree that Nitro should have won? Or do you think Candemonium is a better ride? Let us know in the comment section. We read every comment, we answer every comment. And once again, guys, we can't wait to see you in the queue in 2026.