Forgot to post a trip report, but I went a week ago and rode Emperor twice. I liked it. Didn't have terribly high expectations but it's a fun ride. The only big complain I have....well, two actually which I'll address shortly: the vest restraints. Ugh those vest restraints really suck. The first ride I had, the ride op stapled me and I could barely breathe. I had to tell him to let up the restraint a little so I can have some breathing room. Both rides I got the front row, far right side. Best seat in the house for a B&M dive.
Now the second complaint: lack of shade or roofing over the station. Like, c'mon. I get you have only so much money to spend on a brand new coaster, but you couldn't at least put a little shade on top? Even metal sheeting would be cheap and fit the theme. Hopefully they address that sooner than later like SFMM did with Full Throttle's station.
So I've only been on three B&M dive coasters: Valravyn (My first one), Oblivion (My first one without the bloody vest restraints), and then this. Of the three I've been on I'm really debating if Oblivion or Emperor is the weakest of the three B&M dives I've been on. Now, a fully fleshed-out coaster such as this vs. the one-trick pony that is Oblivion may seem like a no-brainer to you, but on Oblivion, at least on my first ride, I got some great airtime over that drop. Plus, that drop is deceptively long. Oblivion may be a one-trick pony, but it's a good one-trick pony. But one really good pop of airtime vs a more fleshed out ride probably wins....just slightly. I will say this is the middle of the three, but if the ride didn't have those stupid vest restraints, this would win easily. Hopefully I will get to go on a real B&M dive coaster this fall at Busch Gardens Tampa.
While Emperor is a good ride, I still think Manta is the best coaster in the park. I'm still impressed to this day how good that ride is despite all of the restrictions it had going against it. I sadly only got to ride it once as I waited 45 min for it and didn't feel like waiting an hour for it, but it still holds up! Great forces, fairly powerful launch, and really good pops of airtime! It's definitely the rest coaster I've been on that's under 50 ft in height.
All in all, I'm glad to see SoCal get a B&M dive machine. For anyone who's been on a fair amount of coasters, it's probably not going to make anyone's top 20 list, it's probably the weakest coaster in the park IMO but it's a very fun ride. It will sure to be a crowd-pleaser. If anything it will suck up people from Electric Eel and Manta so that's a win.