Dem Deutsche Days - 3/3
Entry posted by Tom
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Germany trip - Part 3/3
From 19th May to 25th May 2016
With Loose Steele Bluth
Parks visited: Hansa Park, Heide Park, Phantasialand
**Photos to be added at a later date**
See parts 1 and 2 for Hansa Park and Heide Park
Days 4, 5, and beginning of 6 were spent at Phantasialand
General points
⁃ Park open 9-6 (Rides open either 9:30 or 10, and queues close at 17:45)
⁃ All rides were walk-on during the visit, so I won’t review rides in any particular order
⁃ Stayed in Hotel Ling Bao which was beautiful, although because it was quiet there was little dining choice (unless you love expensive buffets!) in either hotel after park close
⁃ The park was smaller than I expected, and incredibly themed to Disney standards (Better than DLRP probably ha!)
⁃ Good ride reliability! Saw Chiapas down once and the Mine Train was closed in the afternoon due to wet weather on the first day, but otherwise I don't think I saw a ride down
Kulgheim
As I’ve stated in the Phantasialand topic, this area is beautiful and looks so incredibly ready to open, but there are many buildings hidden away that are in the process of being built. The fact is the area is incomplete and having built two attractions which interplay with theming and landscaping so much, Phantasialand have been extremely clever to test that the actual rides work before completely closing up the area with restaurants etc. Nothing worse than building an entire land and a rollercoaster needing to be ripped out of it to be repaired before opening.
Didn't take pictures of the area as a load of higher quality ones have been posted on the forums before.
Anyway onto the other rides - I will do a short review of rides as it seems to be a well-visited park
Black Mamba
It's like Phantasialand saw Nemesis and were like 'we want a terrain-y inverted B&M too'. First ride on it, I was incredibly impressed by the theming and winding queue line through Africa, with plenty of views of the coaster itself. The ride itself underwhelmed me a little, I think I expected something more from it, as I had heard such good things before riding. A second ride later in the day on the back row showed that it maybe just needed some warm up time; being dragged round the first drop/turn and into the loop was incredible. Whilst the helixes towards the end of the ride bored me on my first run, I was disorientated and felt a lot of force on them the second time.
Overall incredibly well themed, and a lovely B&M invert!
Wing's Fear and Force
So even after RCDBing these maurer spinning coasters a long time ago, I had luckily forgotten any of their surprises before riding them. First ride was on fear facing backwards
SPOILERS
Fear - Facing backwards was just incredible; the surprise of the elevator lift hill tilting before being released straight into an airtime hill just had me laughing from the get-go. The visually stunning aspect of the ride is an interacting segment of wild-mouse sharp turns and circles around a ride in the middle of a central hall; this leaves you disorientated (spinning coaster eyyyyy) and too distracted to think what's coming next. Brake-run into immelman and then onto a trick-track section. Even when you think the ride is over there is a hinge-drop track. It is just a ride that is full of elements which make it a truly interesting and disorientating experience without being overly gimmicky (because these are all hidden). I am a massive fan of spinning coasters, so that probably makes me rate them a lot.
Force - Disappointing compared to its sister coaster, force does not seem as forceful or long, although I preferred the trick-track element on this side. Once again it's a ride full of surprises during the first ride, and
Not ashamed to say these were the most re-rided of any ride on our visit, I just fell in love
Temple of the Nighthawk
Having read about the past of this ride, it's just so difficult to see why it was ever turned into a jungle-themed ride which just meant the stripping of theming throughout. The ride is just dull and long, but I'm sure for the younger among us is pretty terrifying flying through the dark.
Hollywood Boat Ride
Guilty pleasure of the trip - The first drop and Frankenstein scenes were particular highlights
Maus Au Chocolate
Having been on Toy Story Mania, I was interested to see how this would compare. One thing which is welcome change was the amount of physical sets in between the 3D shooting show scenes, as TSM is mostly black space, although I understand they are stylised differently, it was nice that the ride had a backstory as to the need to shoot the mice who have run amuck in a bakery! The guns were a little temperamental at times, but I did really enjoy this ride, and the chocolate smell which is pumped into it.
River Quest
Oh my god what is this ride, you literally get so wet and almost fall out of the boat. I understand the need for the 1.4m height restriction...
Mystery Castle
Even though the park was dead, there were 2 actors roaming the queue line at most times and scared me always. First time I thought they were animatronics as they repeated a small sequence of movements, then they would lunge at the un-expecting!
The ride was just hilarious, I was shocked at the sheer force of the ascent to the top, and the two cycles which were used almost at random were just as confusing. It's kind of easy to see why there aren't any more Intamin Bungee drops in the world, but I did really enjoy it, and the first bounce is always quite forceful.
Talocan
Prime example of what theming a ride can accomplish. Talocan is a top-spin, and yet the most incredible ride in the park. Fire, water, music, and timing creates a visually stunning but also intense ride experience. Loading soundtrack also got stuck in my head, another IMAScore success.
Chiapas!
Phantasialand was first on my radar since the construction of this beast of a log flume. Intamin has basically redesigned the classic log flume with faster lift hills, quick forwards-backwards transitions, and steep coaster-like drops. Not much I want to say except that the music was catchy and got stuck in my head as early as the second ride. It is well-paced flume ride with good theming, music, drops, and a disco room. Only negative would have to be the boats, as I managed to get some incredible leg cramp which made the ride hard to enjoy. I also suffer problems getting in and out of the boats on Dudley-Do-Right's RipSaw Falls, so this may be a personal problem rather than anything else.
It was all the hype.
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Went to the Ice Show, but as with Europa Park's entertainment I don't really 'get it'. It wasn't even in german, but the whole story was about a girl who was hated in high school until she got a make-over from the popular kids - Are we not past this kind of awful storyline by now?
Mine train was great, Feng Ju Palace (Vekoma Madhouse) was terrible, The chinese-themed ghost train was hilarious, and I'm sure there's more to talk about...
The park was just incredibly well themed, the attractions were very re-ridable, and I hope Taron and Raik follow on from the park's other attractions.
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