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When I say to people I'm going on a holiday with a week of rollercoasters, they ask what do I like about rides. At first I said it was the rollercoasters and all the different rides but as I've grown up it is completely all about the immersion and escapism. And nowhere is escapism more true in the Netherlands which has seen massive park expansions in the last ten years. Theme parks are fully upping their games and as I've wanted to revisit Efteling and take my first trip to Toverland, 2019 seemed like the right time to take a visit.. so... Walibi Holland We had a game plan here, to hit Lost Gravity first and all the other rollercoasters before trying out Untamed. This plan fell completely apart when both Untamed and Lost Gravity delayed opening. So instead we tried Goliath first Goliath . For those that know me, I'm not a massive fan of the earlier Intamin rides. I don't have a high opinion of Expedition Ge Force and as much as I like Millennium Force it isn't a ride with much content. Goliath was a pretty pleasant surprise. It's got a lot going on but weirdly has a lukewarm reception in coaster circles. Lots of air time, two big helixes, a pretty amazing turn around after the large hill where the train turns to its side to corner. I was pretty impressed with the ride staff too who ran a very efficient ride. For those that have been on EGF, the loading takes a long time. Here, the staff were fast and the trains never stacked. This gained a 61 minute queue through the day but luckily we only queued 10 minutes for both of our rides. 7/10 El Condor The true highlight of Walibi Holland is the stunning El Condor, the worlds first Vekoma SLC. Now we only queued 10 minutes luckily for this but later on in the day this had a 90 minute queue. It was as rough as expected and if you have done an SLC, you know exactly what to expect. 4/10 We took a walk round the park as the parks Rock and rollercoaster clone now had an hour queue as did the Vekoma boomerang. Lost Gravity and Untamed still weren't open so we took a ride on the kiddy coaster and the Vekoma Madhouse which was very cheesy with its early 2000's sound effects. The ride was good though, the same as Hex really just a bit less themed. I enjoyed this surprisingly. It was after having a little look around that we saw that Lost Gravity was open. We queued 97 minutes for this.. This is a more extreme Mack then most with thrilling inversions, good air time and a very different layout. Think of a Gerstlauer eurofighter but with even more aggressive drops. Later on in the day we took advantage of the single rider queue (majority of Walibi Hollands rides have them) and got on in about ten minutes. The outer seats on this are slightly rougher then your average Mack ride but it is very good. The main queuing cattlepen. 8/10 And wallah, straight after it was over to the now open Untamed. This ride reminds me of the entirety of Margate with large love letters all around the queuing area and on the rides main lift hill. One issue with the queue is because it's mainly a dirt pathway, in the rain everyone just gets a bit muddy on their trousers. It also has no cover so we just end up soaked by the time we got to get on. In the sun I can imagine it might be a bit much. The ride is absolutely fantastic. I genuinely find it incredible that this company just installs hit after hit. When people hype things up to a degree, I normally try to keep myself controlled and not read into the praise. It makes me glad that I can come to each ride with a completely open mind and just enjoy the ride for what it is. And Untamed was outstanding. Everything I value about rides sits in this attraction such as the great drops and air time, the insane pacing which particularly at the end of this ride is non-stop and breathtaking. For me it just lacks the length of Steel Vengeance but is worlds above Goliath at SFGA. 10/10 and easily a top five rollercoaster. Rest of the day was just trying to lap up the other rides and get some credits such as the Vekoma Boomerang which was far above others of its type. And so, Walibi Holland is an interesting park. I'm not sure if I'm particularly bothered about getting back as to be honest its not so much a theme park as it is an amusement park. It's clearly going from strength to strength and its future is fully secure with Untamed being one of the best rides in Europe. Toverland With no exaggeration, Toverland is one of my favourite parks in Europe. Considering the park only opened in 2001, it has gone from strength to strength to have one of the best rollercoaster line ups and themed areas I could possibly want. This is what a theme park is to me, beautiful areas and rides that look beautiful, ride well and a place where you can just relax, sit back and just immerse yourself. Fenix Fenix represents the last of the B&M's in Europe for me to ride. I initially completed this on Flug Der Demon last year but then this and Valkyria opened. Fenix is quite unlike all the other B&M wing riders I've done. The others are pretty... slow is a fair assessment. But this one absolutely zooms through its layout and is by far the fastest and most intense wing rider I've done. We managed front row on both sides and also near the back of both. The main drawbacks is the initial start of the ride is just a bit empty box. They've attempted theming with an ice dragon head breathing smoke at you but this start is 'lacklustre'. Once you finally get going though, what follows is an intense start with great air time, massive helixes and an enjoyable ride. 7/10 I love a list so.. 1. Gatekeeper 2. Flug Der Demon 3. Fenix 4. Raptor 5. The Swarm 6. X-Flight Troy Excellent GCI. When people criticise Wicker Man for being too short I sort of understand it, especially from people who have ridden Troy. It is an action packed thriller of a woodie that has a long length and great air time moments. Dwivelwind 8/10 Wow. What a ride this is. We managed eight rides during our day and each one was better than the last. This thing spins like absolute crazy and is so re-rideable. Very much a big surprise and a highlight of the trip. And the final main ride of the trip is the Booster Bike which is okay but pales into significance to the other rollercoasters. To get an idea of how beautiful this place is though, here's a few photos fro Avalon which I adored and could have spent hours in. What an enchanting and magical place. So yeah, Please go. We also went to Efteling and Disneyland Paris which were both excellent days out. I love Efteling so much, its a real gem of a theme park and Baron 1898 just makes me squeal. Love it. Many thanks.?

I can picture it now Walk through this abandoned log flume, sat derelict for 100 years, come face to face with the lost souls of loggers leap. Will just be an actor with a torch. Basically the loggers version of platform

That picture is this year's "key visual" for FN I believe. Note the different 'characters', including: -Zombies -Monster -Ghosts -Chainsaw man Maybe they've learnt after last year that having 100* mazes with the same scary thing (zombies) is a bad idea? *possible understatement

Cant even change the font type from previous years, just adds to the constant reminder of the better fright nights:

After a gruelling 5-hour drive from Six Flags Great Adventure the night before, the third day of our USA trip was spent at Kennywood. The park has appealed to me since seeing Phantom’s Revenge on an “extreme rides” TV program and with the promise of historic rides and coasters, plus an old-style hyper coaster I was already very excited for this park. But would it deliver? I am pleased to say that Kennywood is one of the most amazing parks I have ever visited. The place is full of historic rides such as a Turtle Chase, a working Noah’s Ark as well as three wooden coasters, plus lots of historic flat rides. The atmosphere was incredible with everything painted in vibrant colours, and it was so lovely to see how proud the park is of their history. As we were dispatched on the Whip (yes, a functioning whip!) a pre-recorded announcement proudly told us the ride was over 90 years old and had been in three locations during its time at Kennywood; every historic ride was the same with signage and announcements proudly telling us that it was the last of its type, this many years old etc. Racer even had a reference to the National at Blackpool for being another Mobius loop. As a long-standing fan of BPB who is not happy with the way the park has changed, the pride that Kennywood takes in their history resonated very well with me. Despite building a huge new coaster they haven’t forgotten (or tried to hide) their heritage, in fact they’re very happy to acknowledge that it’s what makes the park special. The way the park is landscaped is brilliant with it making the most of the hillside and rides intertwining making for such a unique charm that you just don’t find anywhere else. The wooden coasters all had strip lights on them, I would have loved to stay at the park after dark but it unfortunately wasn’t possible. The staff at Kennywood were all fantastic however I didn’t feel that operations (in terms of through-puts) were anything to write home about. They weren’t terrible, but when you have Phantom’s Revenge and Thunderbolt running one train until the afternoon with fairly long queues, as well as Racer loading both trains with one member of staff (?!) it got a bit tedious. Things did pick up in the afternoon, but dispatches on Phantom’s Revenge were still very slow when it was running two trains. On balance however, Jack Rabbit ran very efficiently with two trains and a queue that we expected to take an hour only took us 15 minutes! As a result of the operations plus limited time we sadly missed the Bayern Curve, my biggest regret of the trip is waiting 20 minutes for the awful Garfield ride but missing this! I would like to emphasise that the operations in no way put me off returning, but had they been better (and if there hadn’t been a few ride closures) Kennywood would now be my number 2 park. Everything else was so good it outweighed this and the place left us all on such a happy note, I would definitely return and look forward to hopefully getting on Steel Curtain one day. Onto the ride reviews; Phantom’s Revenge This ride is INCREDIBLE. After the classic lift-hill you go down a much smoother (and IMO less impressive) version of PMBO’s first drop, but the second drop is when this coaster really gets going. You crest the hill at moderate speed, but are then launched out of the seat and don’t land until you reach the dip at the bottom. Bearing in mind you’re going down the side of a hill and also encounter a near-miss with the wooden coaster whilst being out of your seat, it made for one of the best moments I’ve ever experienced on a coaster. Following this, you go into a very forceful (and smooth) turnaround before hitting absolutely insane bunny hills. The ride’s restraint system is very unrestricted which really works to its advantage here, as you’re launched up into the restraint without any hint of discomfort and the force of the turns work well to pin you back down before the next bout of airtime. Phantom’s Revenge is just an incredible all-round coaster, it’s exactly how a smooth coaster should be; it throws you around and has variety in its elements, but never slows down or feels like it’s dragging on. 10/10. Thunderbolt A very good wooden coaster with a unique layout; you start with a drop down the side of the hill (again making very good use of the terrain) before starting the main lift-hill. The ground-level turns combined with the fact that there are no seat dividers make for an interesting ride experience if you’re sat on the left, it’s worth bearing in mind that they do not allow single riders (meaning that we saw people waiting on the platform for an odd-numbered group before they could ride) due to this. It’s just a proper classic wooden coaster and feels as though it’s been very well maintained. Racer Racer is a very good racing wooden coaster, but not a patch on the Grand National IMO. It runs much smoother and the ride feels like it’s in much better condition, the trains and restraints are also much better. The layout however doesn’t produce much airtime aside from one drop, but it’s still a very enjoyable heritage wooden coaster and I’m appreciative of the fact that Kennywood have kept it in near-perfect condition. The ride’s station has a plaque proudly displaying that it was restored to its original 1927 appearance; it’s just amazing that they care about details like this. Jack Rabbit This ride made very good use of the terrain like Thunderbolt and contained an insane moment of airtime. The ride doesn’t have lap-bars as such, but instead has a seat-belt and a static bar which partially covers the seats. Operations on this were very quick and the staff were fantastic at interacting with guests etc. Exterminator Exterminator is a standard spinning mouse but with it being inside and having some decent effects, it’s by far the best of the ride type that I’ve been on. A good example of taking a standard layout and turning it into something special. Whip Just incredible. Having never got the chance to ride Pleasure Beach’s, it baffles me that they decided to rip it out and replace it with the world’s worst set of Dodgems?! It’s a disgrace to be honest, what were they thinking? Anyway, onto the ride itself, we were dispatched with the spiel telling us about the ride’s history and on we went, the force generated on the turns was substantial and it was just a huge amount of fun. So, so good. Kangaroo Another classic flat ride and once again they were proud to tell us it was the only ride of its type left, it basically consisted of hydraulic arms going around with a “jump” part-way round the circle. A very simple but effective ride, and again just bags of fun. Rapids I think we got soaked on these but can’t remember 100%. I’m sure they were good though, because Kennywood. Noah’s Ark Incredible, amazing, a piece of history that’s been kept up-to-date whilst not losing its charm. So many cool effects and UV scenes in there, it was lovely. *Insert standard dig at PB boarding theirs up and using it as an entrance here* Turtle As above, a very fun piece of history and the only one left in the world. Going around on this with Thunderbolt and Phantom’s Revenge flying past around us, you could just feel the history of the place and I had a “moment” of appreciation for just how amazing the park is. Also, the announcement is brilliant, “Turtle! Turtle!” Garfield’s Nightmare is a disgrace. From my understanding, it used to be a historic River Caves style ride but they’ve turned it into a terrible 3D Garfield thing with the weirdest scenes and nonsensical audio ever. Horrendous. Ghostwood Estate was a decent enough shooter-style dark ride, but had probably the most terrifying dinner table in the world. Swing Shot (like Rush at Thorpe) was decent, unfortunately the Black Widow was closed as was Sky Rocket. As mentioned above I’m gutted we didn’t do the Bayern Curve, but all the more reason to go back, I guess! Overall Kennywood is absolutely incredible and I would 100% recommend visiting, particularly if you have an appreciation for historic rides. Everything from the atmosphere and vibrancy to the sound of the rides, the pride they take in the park and the hillside location, it’s just such a special place.

It’s possible or possibly they will do their own take on something with chainsaws - looking forward to this year!

A great read! Am very much looking forward to getting to these parks in the future starting with Toverland in a few weeks.

It would be nice too see a change, always used to have a good variety! Just noticed the church and grave yard in the bottom right!

Big Top is not coming back... but whether they try and shoe-horn the legacy of it into proceedings this year remains to be seen.

Sounds like an American version of Blackpool Pleasure Beach from the report, albeit with better maintained wooden coasters, more classics and a crappy version of River Caves. Should try and get out to this place one day, but probably as a road trip thing.

Let's talk Untamed then. It's really bloody good fun. It's glass smooth, has loads of really good airtime, some quite floaty, some really aggressive, and the inversions are great. The second half in particular is full on and relentless. It's truly fantastic and I reckon anyone who goes on it will enjoy it, even if that type of ride isn't your thing. What it did leave me wondering though, is: what is all the fuss about RMC? Yes, Untamed is fantastic, but this didn't feel like anything particularly groundbreaking? If you'd commissioned, say, Mack or Intamin to do this exactly same layout on a steel coaster, it'd feel exactly the same. There's nothing I saw our felt that made me think "wow, RMC are special" like half the enthusiast community seems to think. Obviously it's great they convert rubbish woodies to amazing rides, but that's it. So yeah, Untamed is fab. I love it. And I'm looking forward to trying similar rides. But it hasn't made me think 'RMC are gods' or anything crazy.