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Photo creds to theme park worldwide. Here are some teasers for the new loggers leap maze.

New for 2019: The Chip Shop. Completely original idea where you enter what appears to be an innocent looking potato farm in Old Town but all is not what it seems, and the workers there are not happy about you interfering with their Maris Pipers

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.?

The Legoland Express train held up quite a lot of visitors yesterday as it stopped just metres from the station, meaning the automatic barriers (which it had cleared) were still down. People trying to get to other parts of the park were held up and advised to go under the bridge and around Lego city, which is quite a detour. The train, after much visible confusion from the staff, had to reverse back into the station, which I’ve never seen happen before! I left that part of the park shortly after, but it could have been something to do with the part of the tracks which intersect the laser raiders queue. I’m not sure. Either way, an interesting thing to have witnessed!

Sticking this anywhere because it needs attention. This video had me howling, watch until the end ???

I was making a reply to your post but I don't think you're going to move beyond the 'RMC are overhyped' angle. We can just agree to disagree without calling me 'mate' right? (Although I do look forward to when you ride your next RMC)

I ain’t apologising for anything I have said about RMC previously my acquaintance, as I retain the view that as a company, they create designs which are questionable in execution in a few areas, even after riding Untamed yesterday and here’s why. Untamed as a coaster layout-wise is fantastic. There’s no question about that. It’s a lot of fun from start to end with lots of surprisingly forceful elements, the least of which are those bunny hills at the end just before the final inversion. They were fantastic on the back row! I also love the fact that this ride is perfect proof that height and speed are not what makes an amazing ride either, as whilst it’s not the tallest or fastest on the market, it certainly packs one heck of a punch still despite it’s limitations. Kinda similar to Wicker Man which is also proof that height and speed are not everything. However, I am going to say this again, but after enjoying Untamed hugely, I still believe RMC as a whole are once again in an enormous hype bubble at the moment (aka - newcomer DBGT hype) where people say there’s no faults with them and anyone who dares to criticise RMC should be witch-hunted for it, hence the reference. And there are still areas where I question their design an awful lot which some people overlook, just purely and simply because it’s an RMC coaster to them. For example, I’ve been reading reviews for Untamed and heard from others the seats on them are more giving and spacious compared to older RMC’s such as Wildfire, where there’s more legroom, more accommodation, thinner shin restraints etc. That is all complete and utter b*llocks. They feel no different to Wildfire, the legroom was identical and the shin brackets still caused me a great deal of discomfort on the ride, probably more than Wildfire due to the more extreme airtime on it in all honesty. But being my 2nd RMC, I was far more impressed by Untamed than I was for Wildfire this time and despite having bruised shins after, the ride itself made up for that. This RMC actually delivered, unlike “Mildfire” which was supposedly what many claimed the “2nd best RMC in the world” which, in my view, I can’t believe one jolt anymore. RMC to me as a company are still in a lot of hype right now and in my experience after trying Untamed, I do concede what I said a little by now saying that whilst some of their products do deliver, others do not, which is why I’m still not looking at them as a whole thinking they are gods at coaster design. They make great rides, but also make overhyped rides.

Hahaha, the forum was playing up so it must have cached - let me go back and delete them

ARE YOU HAVING A LAUGH THAT'S EIGHT POSTS IN A ROW, NOT EVEN DOUBLE POSTING MUCH WORSE. ADMINS PLEASE BAN THIS MAN!

Wow, you posted that a vitelotte, must be a good idea.. (this joke would work a lot better if Old Town was a French area I know. sad times </3)

Ooh, that's good. So will you now concede that basing a company on one ride like you did earlier was a bit silly and actually RMC aren't the Derren Brown of rollercoaster manufacturers. An apology would also be nice. ?

It wouldn't be Fright Nights without a chainsaw man chasing you out of at least one of the mazes!

(PLEASE use punctuation:)

Stick Slammer onto the boat. Now the boat has an up-cycled, giant paddle ??

See here's the thing with hype. We all get to rides at different ages, different levels of coaster counts and different likes and dislikes. I personally think Expedition Ge Force is garbage but I see I'm the minority and don't declare the thing over-hyped anymore. It's just not my thing. This works in other ways too, I enjoy Goudurix but the coaster community thinks it's one of the worst rollercoasters ever built. Over the years, coaster fans seem to imply that they are the enlightened ones when they don't enjoy a ride as much as others do. I see it with Nemesis all the time. I'd love it if we could just accept that we don't like a ride as much as others do and keep the overhyped word to a minimum as hype is a very subjective term. We won't though because it's also a very emotive word.

I find this review fascinating. It's almost like the company was hyped up to such a degree for you that no matter what Untamed did, you were never going to get the praise or where the love comes from. It's even more intriguing that you love the ride but don't see why RMC are so universally loved. From where I stand, I admire their ingenuity. I don't even want to think about the challenges of turning old woodies into brand new rides and I think they've done an excellent job worldwide. Changing a boring, meandering wooden coaster like Mean Streak into one of the most loved rollercoasters is no small feat. The skill involved is beyond just building a new ride. I look forward to your Zadra and Wildfire reviews.