Matt 236

Over the last year, my theme park adventures have taken me to some  weird and wonderful places away from the U.K. This is all started with Disneyland Paris last april [with a return visit in September] followed by Efteling in November. But from here on, where would my next theme park adventure take me?
It would take me to Europa Park, the crème de la creme of European parks amongst being one of the best in the world [if not the best]. After a doable 1 hr 20 minute flight to Basel from Gatwick followed by a 75 minute car journey we had all arrived at our accomodation in Rust. Located 15 minutes away from the park with at least 6 beds per room, this accommodation was perfect for the large [but nicely sized] group of us going. 

The perfect crash pad and HQ for TPM and ideal for the usual and many meet shenanigans. 


After an evening exploring the culinary  delights and limited sleep, it was time to enter the golden arches into this beautiful park . The entrance area is absolutely beutiful and is another example of a theme park entrance done right, with the grandiose entrance and fountains outside leading into a beautifully layed out main street leading through to the main park. 


With over 60 rides and attractions [not including shows], Europa Park houses the highest volume of attractions in one park [including Disney] making it even more impressive. Aside from it's stunning cohesive park areas it's a place where you only have to turn a corner to find a random show or enter a small marked façade and find one of many dark rides. The above picture is a disclaimer that I have visited [something that seems to be becoming a standard these days]

Europa currently houses 12 coasters [with another on the way soon] making it the park with the most coasters in Europe amongst the world. One of these is Wodan, a GCI coaster which opened back in 2012.









At over 130 ft tall, it is a mighty beast of a coaster and rides as beautiful as it looks [if not better]. After the descent into the drop, the coaster races through it's circuit in a crazily out of control yet impressive style as it's flies through turns and helixes around the area whilst diving in and out of tunnels. Wodan is a spectacular coaster and does everything I currently want from a coaster. From an impressive queue to an even more amazing layout. It is with the combination of both these elements that now make this my new number 1 coaster, knocking off Nemesis from it's top spot after nearly 4 years in the running.

Firing off in the nearby surroundings, stands yet another impressive master piece.















Blue Fire is such a photo friendly coaster and rides as well as she looks. After passing through the mandatory but impressive dark ride section, the ride thrusts into a smooth but impressive launch which isn't as intense as Stealth and Rita but considerably more comfortable. The coaster flows through it's circuit providing intensity and elegance at the same time, from it's flying through twists and turns to injector airtime inversions whilst proving to be glass smooth.
Blue Fire is yet another amazing coaster the park have created and everything from the comftable lap bar trains, to the greatly paced layout make for a fantastic ride, which is now my second favourite coaster overall, only just beaten by Wodan [for it's queue line alone]. This coaster makes me even more excited to be experiencing Helix soon and hopeful that if Blackpool are getting one of these, it will put them back on the map as a must do park. 

Then there is Silver Star, Europa's giant which until 2012 was the tallest coaster in Europe, taking the height title from the inferior Big One.






Despite hearing people saying it was rather mundane before visiting, I actually enjoyed this one alot. From it's steep drop, to it's airtime hills which did give quite a floaty feeling. The ride's position does make it feel you're outside the park though almost which is a strange feeling,but probably helps make it stand out I guess. The ride is one of the first to be spotted when approaching the park and can be seen for miles. It was astounding watching a train go up the lift less than two minutes apart each time too as a result of the park's outstanding operations.

But Europa isn't just home to fantastic thrill coasters, but some equally impressive family ones too like Arthur.



This is such a gem of a ride which features many dark ride scenes indoors [mixing screens and traditional scenery amongst animatronics] with great bursts of outdoor coaster sections throughout making for a great paced coaster which would be perfect for a number of family parks. Another amusing fact is this has to be only family attraction in existence to feature swearing on the ride, due to the rap song in the alley scene using the n-word .

And if those weren't enough to handle, I also managed to take a brief visit to Epcot as well. Of course not, this is Euro Sat, one of the park's indoor dark ride coasters which is located in this giant ball [which mostly resembles Space Ship earth].



But once inside, the similarities between the two become vastly different with the attraction's 80's space theme and german rave music included. Whilst this may be one of the park's older coasters it certainly doesn't hold back as it really packs a punch in it's layout amongst it's long spiral like lift hill. After a couple of go's this attraction was a hit with most people, myself included [which may even be in my top 5 park favourites]. The ride is so much fun and could be described as a superior version of X with some space mountain effects.

Euro Mir has to be one of the most bizarre coasters I've ever ridden. From it's long spiral lift [also like Eurosat] to it's long twisty turns amongst mirrored buildings before going through numerous twists and turns. As much as I liked this one, I definitely prefer Eurosat to Euro Mir.

Then there's Poseiden, an amazing water coaster.




This is yet another enjoyable ride in the park, which I think is nicely paced out with lift, coaster section, splash, lift, coaster and a final splash before returning back to the station. The throughputs on this again are amazing as boats were literally flying out the station to the degree there were even two on the lift at the same time as well.


Then there's Atlantica Super Splash, which as perhaps the weakest coaster at the park. However with the decent theming and settings surrounding this can be mostly forgiven. I'd swap Storm Surge for one of these anyday.


Then there's Pegasus,which for a family coaster features a decent amount of theming amongst a fun and remarkably thrilling layout for a family coaster.


And lets not forget about the park's veteran coaster Alpen Express, which features a fantastic layout for a powered coaster and really speeds through that cave and last ride section at a fantastic pace too. I'm yet to try the VR on both coasters, but if I visit again soon will definitely be doing so. 

Nestled within the Swiss area is the matterhorn blitz, a wild mouse with a difference. From it's amusing elevator lift to it's steep drop and tight corners, I found this version considerably more enjoyable than many others out there which  reminds me a little of the old Jungle Coaster [despite this being superior].

Last but not least is the Schweizer Bobbhan, the park's bobsled coaster and by definition the prototype, due to Europa being a showcase of many of Mack rides [being owned by the Mack family]. The ride layout is highly enjoyable but not quite as good as Blackpool's but probably wins due to it's loverly location.

A loverly location indeed. It also has one of the longest break-run-station transitions in existence which takes up nearly half the ride alone. 

However, there is more to Europa than a dozen coasters.

It's all about the park's random dark rides. Many of which are cleverly hidden away some of which are little more than a ride sign and a door in the wall.

Like this random christmas themed ride in the Russian section.

Or this PIrates Of The Caribbean style knock off.

Which was actually remarkably good and well done. Even the ceilings were themed up as well.


And there's no waiting for this Ghost Train either. It was actually really well themed and reminded me quite alot of the sadly long gone Wicked Witches Haunt ride amongst some tongue and cheek references to the Haunted Mansion with it's singing heads and stretching room.


The food at Europa is absolutely fantastic [even the quick service places]. The restaurant that naturally stands out the most however is Food Loop, the originally Roller Coaster Restaurant. 



The food wasn't bad either. I absolutely loved this place, from the clever way of ordering food on the screens and then watching them race down along the track to your table. Whilst I don't think it beats Polle's as my favourite theme park eatery I really did enjoy this and look forward to trying the Towers version in the near future hopefully. 

The park also has many shows, so many you could almost spend a whole park day watching them. One of these was a show about celebrating the park's history featuring rotating sections like the Caroulsel of progress I believe.

There was an Elvis tribute act in the Globe Theatre in the England area, no I am not lying. Was still amusing though.

However the ice show in the greek area was considerably better and more entertaining. The projection mapping and performances in this one were impressive to say the least.

There was also a park parade too which even had a soundtrack [quite reminiscent of Magic Everywhere].





Whilst the Paris parade was most likely the better of the two, what makes this one nicer is it feels a lot more close and intimate. There's a noticeable reduction of crowd hogging and finding a place to watch seems an easier task without waiting an hour find a good spot. 

Some of the other weird and wonderful attractions in Europa include this set of football themed Dodgems, with an actual over sized football in play too.

The 'infamous' London Taxi ride, which is a lot more fun than getting a real taxi.

The Queen's Diamond, a laser maze which is a fun little filler.

This amazingly well themed splash battle attraction.

This quirky inverted monorail ride [the attention to detail is ridiculously good].

This 4D show about Euro Mouse. It was sort of like Angry Birds 4D but slightly better.


There is also the astoundingly themed Columbus Dinghy. This features projection mapping, fountains, rider control of directions and thematic centre piece all just for a sea storm ride. It's absolutely amazing.



And not forgetting this Jungle Cruise style ride. This was again lots of fun and a worthwhile filler attaction.

This picture alone perhaps describes the difference between Merlin and Europa. RIP Skyway


There's even a Fairy tale forest-esque area at the park which is very reminiscent to Eftelling's, except for being much smaller. 






But even then, Europa Park is very beautiful and picturesque place to visit. 

And the on-site hotels are just as beutfiul

 Even the underground  walkway is themed.











And it was a fantastic place to visit.
Europa is an amazing park. It features pretty much everything you'd wish in a theme park. A wide range of rides, coasters and dark rides, plenty of shows and green spaces, decent upkeep and great selection of food as well. The park definitely had a lot of tongue and check influences from places such as Disney & Efteling amongst some elements bringing back the days when our parks used to put care and effort into their rides. 
Comparing this park to what have in the U.K is like comparing a tesco microwave meal to a michelin star restaurant [which the park apparently has actually] and they just can't be compared at all. Europa certainly has to be my favourite theme park now, probably just scraping past DLRP in greatness. It's not a park you would go to experience the rides more-so [bar Blue Fire & Wodan], but one just for the amazing surroundings and showcases in how everything there compliments one another and isn't just plonked down.
To appreciate the park, it's definitely a place where you need several days to visit, in which the longer you stay, the more you will appreciate the park. I spent three days at the park, which is probably the minimum amount of time of getting the core park elements done, but could could have easily done another day or two, just to experience all the shows, re-ride the coasters, do the VR and adore the park even more. 

Bucky approves of Europa Park.

Over the last year, my theme park adventures have taken me to some  weird and wonderful places away from the U.K. This is all started with Disneyland Paris last april [with a return visit in September] followed by Efteling in November. But from here on, where would my next theme park adventure take me?
It would take me to Europa Park, the crème de la creme of European parks amongst being one of the best in the world [if not the best]. After a doable 1 hr 20 minute flight to Basel from Gatwick followed by a 75 minute car journey we had all arrived at our accomodation in Rust. Located 15 minutes away from the park with at least 6 beds per room, this accommodation was perfect for the large [but nicely sized] group of us going. 

The perfect crash pad and HQ for TPM and ideal for the usual and many meet shenanigans. 


After an evening exploring the culinary  delights and limited sleep, it was time to enter the golden arches into this beautiful park . The entrance area is absolutely beutiful and is another example of a theme park entrance done right, with the grandiose entrance and fountains outside leading into a beautifully layed out main street leading through to the main park. 


With over 60 rides and attractions [not including shows], Europa Park houses the highest volume of attractions in one park [including Disney] making it even more impressive. Aside from it's stunning cohesive park areas it's a place where you only have to turn a corner to find a random show or enter a small marked façade and find one of many dark rides. The above picture is a disclaimer that I have visited [something that seems to be becoming a standard these days]

Europa currently houses 12 coasters [with another on the way soon] making it the park with the most coasters in Europe amongst the world. One of these is Wodan, a GCI coaster which opened back in 2012.









At over 130 ft tall, it is a mighty beast of a coaster and rides as beautiful as it looks [if not better]. After the descent into the drop, the coaster races through it's circuit in a crazily out of control yet impressive style as it's flies through turns and helixes around the area whilst diving in and out of tunnels. Wodan is a spectacular coaster and does everything I currently want from a coaster. From an impressive queue to an even more amazing layout. It is with the combination of both these elements that now make this my new number 1 coaster, knocking off Nemesis from it's top spot after nearly 4 years in the running.

Firing off in the nearby surroundings, stands yet another impressive master piece.















Blue Fire is such a photo friendly coaster and rides as well as she looks. After passing through the mandatory but impressive dark ride section, the ride thrusts into a smooth but impressive launch which isn't as intense as Stealth and Rita but considerably more comfortable. The coaster flows through it's circuit providing intensity and elegance at the same time, from it's flying through twists and turns to injector airtime inversions whilst proving to be glass smooth.
Blue Fire is yet another amazing coaster the park have created and everything from the comftable lap bar trains, to the greatly paced layout make for a fantastic ride, which is now my second favourite coaster overall, only just beaten by Wodan [for it's queue line alone]. This coaster makes me even more excited to be experiencing Helix soon and hopeful that if Blackpool are getting one of these, it will put them back on the map as a must do park. 

Then there is Silver Star, Europa's giant which until 2012 was the tallest coaster in Europe, taking the height title from the inferior Big One.






Despite hearing people saying it was rather mundane before visiting, I actually enjoyed this one alot. From it's steep drop, to it's airtime hills which did give quite a floaty feeling. The ride's position does make it feel you're outside the park though almost which is a strange feeling,but probably helps make it stand out I guess. The ride is one of the first to be spotted when approaching the park and can be seen for miles. It was astounding watching a train go up the lift less than two minutes apart each time too as a result of the park's outstanding operations.

But Europa isn't just home to fantastic thrill coasters, but some equally impressive family ones too like Arthur.



This is such a gem of a ride which features many dark ride scenes indoors [mixing screens and traditional scenery amongst animatronics] with great bursts of outdoor coaster sections throughout making for a great paced coaster which would be perfect for a number of family parks. Another amusing fact is this has to be only family attraction in existence to feature swearing on the ride, due to the rap song in the alley scene using the n-word .

And if those weren't enough to handle, I also managed to take a brief visit to Epcot as well. Of course not, this is Euro Sat, one of the park's indoor dark ride coasters which is located in this giant ball [which mostly resembles Space Ship earth].



But once inside, the similarities between the two become vastly different with the attraction's 80's space theme and german rave music included. Whilst this may be one of the park's older coasters it certainly doesn't hold back as it really packs a punch in it's layout amongst it's long spiral like lift hill. After a couple of go's this attraction was a hit with most people, myself included [which may even be in my top 5 park favourites]. The ride is so much fun and could be described as a superior version of X with some space mountain effects.

Euro Mir has to be one of the most bizarre coasters I've ever ridden. From it's long spiral lift [also like Eurosat] to it's long twisty turns amongst mirrored buildings before going through numerous twists and turns. As much as I liked this one, I definitely prefer Eurosat to Euro Mir.

Then there's Poseiden, an amazing water coaster.




This is yet another enjoyable ride in the park, which I think is nicely paced out with lift, coaster section, splash, lift, coaster and a final splash before returning back to the station. The throughputs on this again are amazing as boats were literally flying out the station to the degree there were even two on the lift at the same time as well.


Then there's Atlantica Super Splash, which as perhaps the weakest coaster at the park. However with the decent theming and settings surrounding this can be mostly forgiven. I'd swap Storm Surge for one of these anyday.


Then there's Pegasus,which for a family coaster features a decent amount of theming amongst a fun and remarkably thrilling layout for a family coaster.


And lets not forget about the park's veteran coaster Alpen Express, which features a fantastic layout for a powered coaster and really speeds through that cave and last ride section at a fantastic pace too. I'm yet to try the VR on both coasters, but if I visit again soon will definitely be doing so. 

Nestled within the Swiss area is the matterhorn blitz, a wild mouse with a difference. From it's amusing elevator lift to it's steep drop and tight corners, I found this version considerably more enjoyable than many others out there which  reminds me a little of the old Jungle Coaster [despite this being superior].

Last but not least is the Schweizer Bobbhan, the park's bobsled coaster and by definition the prototype, due to Europa being a showcase of many of Mack rides [being owned by the Mack family]. The ride layout is highly enjoyable but not quite as good as Blackpool's but probably wins due to it's loverly location.

A loverly location indeed. It also has one of the longest break-run-station transitions in existence which takes up nearly half the ride alone. 

However, there is more to Europa than a dozen coasters.

It's all about the park's random dark rides. Many of which are cleverly hidden away some of which are little more than a ride sign and a door in the wall.

Like this random christmas themed ride in the Russian section.

Or this PIrates Of The Caribbean style knock off.

Which was actually remarkably good and well done. Even the ceilings were themed up as well.


And there's no waiting for this Ghost Train either. It was actually really well themed and reminded me quite alot of the sadly long gone Wicked Witches Haunt ride amongst some tongue and cheek references to the Haunted Mansion with it's singing heads and stretching room.


The food at Europa is absolutely fantastic [even the quick service places]. The restaurant that naturally stands out the most however is Food Loop, the originally Roller Coaster Restaurant. 



The food wasn't bad either. I absolutely loved this place, from the clever way of ordering food on the screens and then watching them race down along the track to your table. Whilst I don't think it beats Polle's as my favourite theme park eatery I really did enjoy this and look forward to trying the Towers version in the near future hopefully. 

The park also has many shows, so many you could almost spend a whole park day watching them. One of these was a show about celebrating the park's history featuring rotating sections like the Caroulsel of progress I believe.

There was an Elvis tribute act in the Globe Theatre in the England area, no I am not lying. Was still amusing though.

However the ice show in the greek area was considerably better and more entertaining. The projection mapping and performances in this one were impressive to say the least.

There was also a park parade too which even had a soundtrack [quite reminiscent of Magic Everywhere].





Whilst the Paris parade was most likely the better of the two, what makes this one nicer is it feels a lot more close and intimate. There's a noticeable reduction of crowd hogging and finding a place to watch seems an easier task without waiting an hour find a good spot. 

Some of the other weird and wonderful attractions in Europa include this set of football themed Dodgems, with an actual over sized football in play too.

The 'infamous' London Taxi ride, which is a lot more fun than getting a real taxi.

The Queen's Diamond, a laser maze which is a fun little filler.

This amazingly well themed splash battle attraction.

This quirky inverted monorail ride [the attention to detail is ridiculously good].

This 4D show about Euro Mouse. It was sort of like Angry Birds 4D but slightly better.


There is also the astoundingly themed Columbus Dinghy. This features projection mapping, fountains, rider control of directions and thematic centre piece all just for a sea storm ride. It's absolutely amazing.



And not forgetting this Jungle Cruise style ride. This was again lots of fun and a worthwhile filler attaction.

This picture alone perhaps describes the difference between Merlin and Europa. RIP Skyway


There's even a Fairy tale forest-esque area at the park which is very reminiscent to Eftelling's, except for being much smaller. 






But even then, Europa Park is very beautiful and picturesque place to visit. 

And the on-site hotels are just as beutfiul

 Even the underground  walkway is themed.











And it was a fantastic place to visit.
Europa is an amazing park. It features pretty much everything you'd wish in a theme park. A wide range of rides, coasters and dark rides, plenty of shows and green spaces, decent upkeep and great selection of food as well. The park definitely had a lot of tongue and check influences from places such as Disney & Efteling amongst some elements bringing back the days when our parks used to put care and effort into their rides. 
Comparing this park to what have in the U.K is like comparing a tesco microwave meal to a michelin star restaurant [which the park apparently has actually] and they just can't be compared at all. Europa certainly has to be my favourite theme park now, probably just scraping past DLRP in greatness. It's not a park you would go to experience the rides more-so [bar Blue Fire & Wodan], but one just for the amazing surroundings and showcases in how everything there compliments one another and isn't just plonked down.
To appreciate the park, it's definitely a place where you need several days to visit, in which the longer you stay, the more you will appreciate the park. I spent three days at the park, which is probably the minimum amount of time of getting the core park elements done, but could could have easily done another day or two, just to experience all the shows, re-ride the coasters, do the VR and adore the park even more. 

Bucky approves of Europa Park.

Been a long time! But a busy few months lie ahead for me and theme parks so time to revive this blog! 
Europa Park is one me and Jack had talked about for a few years, the place of dreams almost. Finally, it happened! This is one of those trips worthy of a realistic report, not some sarcastic attack at the park like I usually do.

We arrived in Basel to get a 100+mph train into Freiburg, followed by a double decker train to Ringsheim and a short "bus" (was a coach) ride to the park.

What a lovely sight to walk in on!

Just looming in the distance

Ed and Jack were ready!

Water fountains were ready!

Let's go!

First up Silver Star. I like the Mercedes F1 tie in, it's intimidating, trims aren't as bad as I was expecting but the airtime just got repetitive, twists were great though!

This twist though 



Meanwhile over at Epcot, I mean the silver ball at EuropaPark... Eurosat sits around. This thing is bonkers, so glad it's hidden inside. Caught me by surprise each time we rode! Totally get why people wish X was like it.

It's also huge!

Cheeky bit of lunch in Greece. Food on park is great, so much choice and it's not hugely expensive for a theme park!

I don't know why, but this is now such a guilty pleasure ride of mine

Looks great!


Theming!!!!

Really nice station too!

Meanwhile, in Portugal there is this. A ride that is newer than Poseidon, yet does less and does nothing for me. 

It photos well

But that's about it
Annoyingly I didn't take any photos of Spain, other than the jousting show with added drama

Bad guy drama


It's okay, it had a happy ending!
Whilst we're talking about shows. They have so many! Lots of 30-40 minute shows, this in itself takes over a day to complete. Plus, on the larger shows they have mimes entertaining the audience as you enter! 

You had Bombay Nights in Holland with the Pirate's of Batavia ride going around the stage!

A live action Italian film set stunt magic show thing

An electronic bird show

In the same room as a bubble magician guy who smokes as part of the show.

A musical show in the Globe Theatre, because Shakespeare was known for his musicals.

A dome screen show where you lie in sleeping bags! Plus, an ice show, flamenco, open and closing show, 2 4D films, a little French dance/magic show and a parade



Ed being boss.

Just this. Quality.

What's this?

A mine train that even with VR has a higher throughput than any Mack mine train over here!

Bears for bare banter.

Okay, I'll move on from that one.

Anyone still needing a lift to any meets this year, there are two options. This. 

Or Jack in his purple sportscar! Can seat another 2 people, it's speedy and laps Silverstone regularly so must be good! Feel free to get in touch with Jack for more details

Then there was this thing. Odd is one word I suppose. 

Next please.

Yup, this guy looks like a trusty op. We'll do this then.

I want them everywhere. This is ideal for family parks!

Great coaster section! Fab dark ride.

And great visual in the plaza of the kingdom. Lots of these please thanks.

So many photos it's hard to fit them all in. So let's look at the hotels.

Bell Rock is gorgeous.

Colosseo really cool!

The other 3 really cool!

And not bad views from the bars

Back on park this guy thought he'd set fire to his house. As you do, red fire and that.
So that's it! Europa Park! Stunning park with great rides, operations, atmosphere, just everything! I have loads of photos so if you do want anymore just request in the comments and I'll post more  
 
Oh, guess you want to see something else first though.

Me and Jack with ED  that's why you're all here.

Or maybe for what this is...


Lots of artsy fartsy photos thanks to a back path that I think used to be an extension but is now open to public for photos, round the back of Wodan village.





This inline is crazy. The little pops of airtime, fast changes of direction, it's all just great. LOTS more of these in the world please, I bow to our new Mack overlords.

Wodan for me though was the best ride on the trip. The indoor queue has some great effects, and is just a really nice place to queue.

It just looks intimidating.

Has a spectacular entrance


Just loved it!
Bye bye Europa, it was fab. Should be back for Horror Nights!

 
 

It had been almost two years since my previous visit to Alton Towers, due to numerous reasons and terrible planning in 2015 [see my Alton Towerless weekend entry]. Whilst 2016 is set to Thorpe's year on the new ride development front, a new attraction managed to pull me in to the orbit of Alton Towers.

That new experience was Galactica, the park's former flyer Air, now turned VR coaster for 2016.Would this ret-heme reach new heights or lack atmosphere without Air.
Now I know what some of you are thinking, where is the proof that I actually visited the park recently following my non trip to Disneyland Resort?

Here it is.
Anyway, back on topic.

The Entrance



The entrance plaza is definitely alot more striking and eye catching from the old one. The new logo is a nice touch with the ride's name below which gives the attraction a modern and sleek personality. Most of the rocks have been repainted space grey except the one that used be between the old air sign. The Galactica floor paving is also a very attractive feature in the plaza area.

The Music Soundtrack
the ride has also gained a new soundtrack. Created by IMA Score [arguably the B&M of park music], the new theme is very tranquil, airy and ambient whilst entailing a sense of excitment and wonder.



Amongst it's similarities with other IMA work , the music features similarities to a number of film soundtracks & Composers. These include Vangelis, The Matrix, American Beauty and Interstellar. Since most of these are Space/ Sci-Fi related, the music is definitely coherent.



The Queue line/build up


Aside from some improved fences and painted areas, the queue line remains almost identical to when it was Air [which was expected]. However it does look a lot more neat and tidier and builds the ride up more.
The photo opportunity unit is where the old merge point was which involves placing your head in a bowl like thing and automatic photos taken moments later. Once finished, the queue continues where the ride splits in to the two stations like before.

The ride's stations are considerably different whilst retaining similarities to the original. The main change that both are now fully enclosed [whilst previously being semi-enclosed].
This helps add some atmosphere prior to boarding alongside the new instructional videos through the attraction's fictional computer Eve explaining how to prepare prior to riding.

One of the things I love and hate are the air gate signs. I love how they say Galactica Gate [a sort of reference/element from one of Air's old features]. However I don't like that there are no numbers on the signs, which feels like a very simple flaw [making boarding harder for guests].

The experience


Once seated a ride host helps you strap on your VR goggles located in boxes/pouches connected to the restraint. The goggles can be adjusted at the back for comfort and element, whilst the focus can also be adjusted for blurriness.
One thing that should be noted is that dispatch times are considerably slower than when it was Air and the gap between putting on the headset and dispatch feels uncomfortably long and under whelming.

When the VR starts, it literally does start. no introduction, no build up it just begins as if someone's pressed play on a device.
The VR experience starts off well to begin with [bar the sudden jump], where a narration and the ride theme accompany some interesting graphics depicting being in a launch tunnel with lots of working machinery and devices. This is visually impressive to witness and reminds me somewhat of films like The Matrix, Inception and Interstellar to name a few.

Once you get to the top, a launch sequence begins where you then enter the space travel part of the attraction. Whilst it's interesting to witness on the ride, it's just as exciting off ride with the Portal element [more on that later].

Unfortunately like the ride's drop, it is here where the VR experience goes downhill.
Whilst the graphics are interesting to witness, a lot happens in the VR, too much. One minute you enter this hot fiery galaxy then the next your in this cold snowy planet less than 20 seconds later. This is before entering at least 2 more different worlds and then suddenly re-entering the portal element. It is here you are told you are safe and back at HQ before the VR ends a bit suddenly. You are then told to remove the goggles before heading back in the station.


Once back on foot, you follow the exit path where you soon enter the Galactica shop, which occupies 1/3 of Air's former shop.

Some nice space-esque lighting.


It may not be on the grand scale of the Derren Brown shop but it's still nicely themed and reminds me a little bit of Space Mountain in a way. There's some fairly decent merch in here too [though the shot glass looked a little tacky].

One of the other significant changes and additions is the portal. Located at the bottom of the drop, trains fly through this massive thematic element where a number of different light, smoke and mist effects go off in the process. This is a fantastic addition to the ride and gives Galactica that much more interaction and excitement to off riders amongst improving the themed experience as a whole.

The Critical Review



The Good


The portal is a stunning piece of theming and has got to be the most exciting feature built at Towers since the Marmaliser.
The sound track retains the fantastic quality IMA Score are renowned for
The entrance plaza is much more distinctive, striking and eye pleasing prior to when it was Air
The station area builds up to the ride much more than Airs used to
The pre-show videos fit in remarkably well
The new shop is decently themed


The Bad


The wait between dispatch and VR kicking in is quite painstaking
Dispatch times are much slower to how Airs were
The headset can feel a bit uncomftable at times
The pace of the VR is off putting, it's too fast and begins and ends too suddenly
Headset tries to fall off during ride
VR may not be optional now


Conclusion



I have always thought Air has lacked style and personality compared to the other coasters [minus Rita]. It's felt rather bare, empty and a little unfished.



However the retheme to Galactica has definitely given the ride a much stronger image and personality as a stand out ride which feels more like an experience as . As Galactica the ride has gained a fantastic thematic centrepiece, loose storyline of space travelling and holes of it's empty past filled in.



However, it can't be helped that the VR feels like a gimmick just to make the ride's update feel more marketable. Whilst it still has some good points, the flaws including throughput, comfortability and pacing do outweigh the plus points. Unless something gives, I can't see the VR lasting by 2018 time as it causes too much hassle.



The perfect ride would be Galactica's theme/landscaping with Air's original flying concept.



Creeky Rating 6/10


But Lets Face It! Towers isn't about VR

It's about experiencing this beuaty!

As she's had a marvelous makeover this year

And I don't know about you. But at 22 she still runs very fine

And one the park's turds has been washed in glitter. It was running quite well that day too.
However this alone can't help the fact

The Uk's best experience is currently closed

A much needed flat has been sweeped out of the lineup

Alongside a much less popular one

Alongside a family staple [even it wasn't a patch on the also closed Loggers]

Not forgetting the selected shops

And food outlets that have also closed up for 2016

And these massive B&Q fences only add insult to injury

However I can happily cope with this closure, nothing lost here.

This place is nice though and Nemesis beer? what's not to like

But this needs to be great whenever it happens. Wood that be possible?

However with an entrance like this, how much is there not to like

So Smile always!

And I'll be back in June

To hopefully check out this exciting looking experience
One Creeky Criticism
One last thing I will however say, the park does now really lack rides. In an 8 hour day [thanks to ERT], I completed everything except Congo & Mine Train due to queues [and others not wishing to ride]. I even managed to do all coasters except Rita & Smiler at least twice alongside Duel and Skyride.
Considering it's the UK's biggest park, Towers no longer feels like a multiday park. At the moment it's very easy to nail the park in one day [even with a trip through the gardens].
Lets hope the park can get off it's knees and return to greatness now.

Stuttgart Sojourn
 
Welcome to Part 2 of the Stuttgart Sojourn; an April weekend exploring the regional Parks of south Germany (if you haven't read it, Part 1 is here). Following an overcast, but very enjoyable, day at Tripsdrill, a good night's sleep in one of their cosy Schäferwagen, and a hearty continental breakfast in a log cabin in the middle of the WildParadies (a second gate Wildlife Park next to the Theme Park), it was time to make the hour-long drive north to Haßloch's Holiday Park!
 
And what a difference a day made to the weather; out was the blanket grey cloud, and in were bright blue skies with warm sunshine. Theme Parks generally look great in any weather, but they look especially great when the sun has his hat on .
 

 
Holiday Park
 

 
Holiday Park is based 12 miles out of Neustadt in Haßloch, and much like Tripsdrill before it, is set in the middle of vast areas of German countryside. Rather more "corporate" and polished than Tripsdrill, the Park was owned and run by the Schneider family from its opening in 1971, and was sold on to Studio 100 (who own the Plopsa brand) in November 2010.
 
Since then, Studio 100 have made significant efforts to "Plopsa-ify" the Park, importing into Germany the characters so prominent in their other Parks (and if you haven't heard of Plop the Gnome, Wickie the Viking, and Maya the Bee... well, you're not missing much). And there are now lofty ambitions for Holiday Park, which had suffered in the years prior to the Studio 100 takeover, with the stated aim to drive gate figures up to 1.2m through a phased €25m investment (to match visitor numbers at the flagship Park, Plopsaland De Panne).
 
It's easy to spot the new owner's influence from the moment you enter the car park - Holiday Park now sports a jazzy new themed archway at the entrance, much like the one at its sister Park.
 

 
The eagle eyed amongst you will have already spotted the Park's signature attraction in the above photo, and it was indeed the first ride we made a Maya-the-Beeline for as we entered the Park.
 
Expedition Ge Force's reputation precedes it; winner of the (revered?) Mitch Hawker Best Steel Coaster Poll 5 times in the last 10 surveys, and never dropping below third place over that time. With three of my personal favourite coasters coming in at 8th (Shambhala), 9th (Nemesis), and 11th (Katun) respectively, it would be fair to say that I was hyped to get to ride the so-called "King" of the leaderboard.
 
The ride is loosely themed around an expedition, with jeeps / backpacking gear / kettle drums scattered around the queueline, but the station is essentially an unglamorous tin shack, and the unthemed trains are of the standard Intamin lap-bar variety, commonly seen on their megalite rides (although these had tedious seat belts around the waist as well as the lap bar).
 

 
So far, so average. Also average were the operations - one train op, with the 2 ride attendants checking and re-checking both bar and seat belt twice each before the train was dispatched. We were lucky that despite the glorious weather, the Park wasn't overly busy - but had these ops been on a busier day, the resulting queues would have been pretty intolerable.
 
What isn't in any way average though, is this ride's scale. In a small-ish Park, it looks absolutely huge (at 171ft tall), with a monstrous sweeping layout that takes up a pretty large amount of Holiday Park's available space.
 
The cable lift hill is speedy, and affords some magnificent views of the surrounding countryside, along with the large twisty mess of track that riders are about to navigate. And as with Shambhala, the anticipation (and feeling of vulnerability) on the ascent is tangible.
 

 
There are many standout moments on this ride.
 
The 75mph first drop is an absolute winner; steep and sharply twisted down to the ground - in the back row particularly it's a killer. The numerous airtime hills, like the one below, deliver a sustained shot of ejector airtime. And the head choppers towards the end of the ride, where the track doubles back on itself underneath the supports of the first airtime hill, are some of the best I've experienced for maintaining the illusion of collision.
 
CoasterForce have a video of the ride that's well worth a look. GeForce is really, really good fun.
 

 
And yet, despite all this, it is hard to recommend it as the best coaster in the world.
 
The ride was built in 2001, around the same sort of time as Thorpe's Colossus. Aside from the lack of OTSRs, the train and track construction is pretty similar. The trains sound the same as Colossus as they roar around the track. And the comparisons with Colossus unfortunately extend to comfort: Expedition GeForce has exactly the same level of constant vibration / roughness that Colossus has.
 
For some people, this may add to the ride - no-one can claim that GeForce isn't exhilarating, or that it doesn't "give you a good ride". It's quite the thrill. But it does, especially in the back rows, mean that rides can come off GeForce feeling a bit beaten up.
 
And alas our old friends - the Intamin lap bars of doom - also don't help this feeling. Granted, they're far preferable to Colossus' restrictive OTSRs, but they do crush your thighs, especially over those ejector airtime hills, making re-riding more of a difficult choice than it should be. How Richard Rodriguez spent 104 days on the thing I've no idea.
 
So, Expedition GeForce: brilliant in many ways, but not, in my opinion, the best coaster in the world.
 

 
The Park's other big attraction is 2014's Sky Scream, a Premier LSM launched coaster with a small footprint; identical to Superman Ultimate Flight (the 2012 original) at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. Part of Studio 100's €25m investment plan, the ride replaced the ageing Vekoma Corkscrew Super Wirbel, and a la Towers' entrance, corkscrew track from retired ride has been installed over the pathway towards Sky Scream as a nostalgic decoration.
 
And as you can see, the old overgrown Wirbel area has been completely transformed by the new ride. Anyone for a quick trip in the Sky Scream Limo of Horror?
 

 
I was not expecting to come away with a hugely positive review of the ride, thinking that the experience would be similar to Parque de Atracciones' Abismo, Linnanmäki's Ukko and the like (in short: fun Maurer rides, but too short, and with stomach-hugging, oppressive restraints).
 
I was surprised.
 
Sky Scream is smooth, intense, and well engineered. The train shuttles out of the blocks into a half-powered set of LSMs, pushing it halfway up the incline. Then it shuttles (backwards) into the station, where the LSMs (now with reversed magnetism) push it nearly all the way up the incline on the opposite side. Gravity does its bit to take the train back down (forwards) into the station, where the LSMs (at 100%) boost the train right up the incline and over the top of the 150ft structure.
 
A slow inline twist follows at the top (as with the Maurer SkyLoops), and then a short holding brake (seen below) creates suspense, before the train bombs down again at a very steep angle into the non-inverting loop, and then down again back into the station. The train overshoots the station once, before being comfortably braked coming backwards in to stop.
 
Sky Scream is a lot of fun, with decent Gs felt across all of the elements, and the (comfortable) lap bar restraints meaning the rider can properly enjoy being thrown around the circuit. It's worth saying that the trains come complete with a leg bar as well as a lap bar - which could be an irritation for taller people - but (at 6'1'') this didn't materially affect my enjoyment of the ride.
 

 
Holiday Park chose to open the ride without any of the associated themeing in place (see an early photo here), but a mention must be given to the final product, which is now of a very high quality. The queueline acts as a walk-through Haunted House, with jumpy TV-screen effects, detailed set scenes, and loud noises (chains, dogs barking) startling prospective riders throughout. The Park actually has banners outside the entrance advising under 14s to stay away! I particularly enjoyed the lenticular portraits that changed from "normal" to "spooky" as you walked on past; done before, but nonetheless effective.
 
Overall, Sky Scream gets a thumbs up. Yes, it's short, but for the size of its footprint I think Premier are on to a winner, besting Maurer's ride by having intense launches, and being less clunky and more comfortable. And with two of these rides having opened last year, and two more opening this year, I'm clearly not the only person to think so.
 
Given its limitations, Sky Scream clearly can't compete with the very best coasters out there, but I'd ride again without hesitation. Couple that with an impressive themeing package, and Studio 100 have done a great job here - no bad thing if this is indicative of future quality from Holiday Park.
 

 
The Park's final coaster comes in the form of Holly's Wilde Autofahrt ("Holly's Crazy Car Journey"), a brightly-themed 2010 Maurer Wild Mouse from the now defunct Loudoun Castle, not dissimilar to Rattlesnake at Chessington. There's not a lot to be said about these rides, other than this one was running well, with barely a brake in sight... other than at the very end! The cars screech around the corners with gusto, throwing all riders uncontrollably into the side of the vehicles.
 
Brutal, but fun!
 

 
It's easy as a coaster geek to undervalue common ride types, such as the wild mouse, the boomerang, even the wacky worm... but for 99% of a Park's guests, particularly the younger ones, these rides are as fresh and exciting as anything else out there.
 
I was reminded of this when watching riders on Holly's Wild Fart (yes, a fart gag) - almost every car was filled with guests screaming their heads off and having a thoroughly good time. These ride types are successful for a reason, and although we goons might have ridden many identikit versions of a type ourselves, this doesn't make their existence any less worthwhile.
 

 
Onto the Park's supporting attractions, and first up was Sky Fly, a new-for-2015 Gerstlauer, um, Sky Fly. Whilst not winning any awards for naming innovation, the Park have presented the ride well in a colourful new area surrounded by stalls, cafes and a toilet block. I am a huge fan of this ride type, which involves riders tilting the wings on their individual aircraft left and right in order to induce rotation, all whilst being whirled around a central support via a giant arm (much like a Mondial Top Scan).
 
Holding the left wing down / right wing up will rock you in one direction, holding left wing up / right wing down will rock you in the other. Get enough momentum up and you can make it over the top and complete a 360. Keep your wings "fixed" in the wing position (up / down) that pushes you over the top, and you'll continue to rotate in that direction like a madman. Of the 12 guests per ride, usually 2-3 will grasp the concept and make it over the top.
 
What is brilliant is that the rider can set the intensity of their ride by how much they want to rotate their aircraft. What is also brilliant is that if you get the rotation momentum right, the resulting spinning is downright insane - and easily one of the most intense flat ride experiences out there. If you have read my mini Trip Report from Nigloland in 2014, you'll know that their Air Meeting gave me a subconjunctival haemorrhage, as well as an uncontrollable fit of the giggles. Whilst the eye problems were thankfully not repeated in Holiday Park, the giggles certainly were, and I came away with a big grin on my face, along with lots of strange looks from the waiting crowd.
 

 
The Park also has a Star Flyer, the 260ft Lighthouse Tower, from Funtime. I like these rides mainly for the fab views (yes, more German countryside), but with only a few chains holding your chair onto the central spinning structure, I can see why some otherwise-confident guests chicken out of riding...!
 

 
Burg Falkenstein ("Falkenstein Castle") is a German hill castle in the Harz mountain range, located between Aschersleben and Harzgerode, dating back to the High Middle Ages. It's also the name of Holiday Park's only dark ride!
 
Built in 1987, the ride certainly looks the part from the outside, complete with wooden stocks and well-established plants growing up around the aging brickwork...
 

 
...and long-time visitors to Thorpe will recognise the inside - it's Phantom Fantasia!
 
Sort of. Mack provided Holiday Park with this version of the omnimover-style ride 4 years after they furnished Thorpe with theirs, and 5 years after they gave Europa Geisterschloss.
 
Alas time has not been kind to the Burg on the inside. Burg Falkenstein has to be one of the most badly-aged dark rides in Europe, with only a tedious journey around supposed "animatronics" that are either falling apart, squeaky, or stationery, to offer. The attraction is very dark, and there is the impression that scenes have been removed over the years; there are some entirely blank spots during the ride. Altogether very dull.
 
It's a well above average dark ride building, and a well below average dark ride. A shame.
 

 
Much more impressive is Donnerfluss ("Thunder River"), an Intamin rapids ride that also happens to be Holiday Park's oldest ride; built in 1983, Donnerfluss was also Germany's first ever rapids.
 
Sporting the same boats as Thorpe's Thunder River (also an Intamin creation), this rapids has all the components of a great water ride: good rockwork, thunderous waterfalls, surprise geyser bombs, and most importantly, some pretty hairy rapids sections! 3 out of 4 of our boat got very wet; only one of us came off unscathed, and thankfully that was me .
 

 
And on the subject of good water rides, Wickie Splash is another solid addition to the Park's lineup. The Mack flume was opened as Teufelsfässer in 1992 ("Barrels of Hell"; darkly-themed with the devil, skeletons, and fire effects), but received a family-friendly Plopsa re-brand in 2014.
 
The re-theme is fantastic, brightening up the whole area with shiny, colourful buildings and characters from the Wickie the Viking series (if you still aren't familiar, you can enjoy / waste 3 minutes introducing yourself here). And the log flume itself is excellent; 3 fun drops including one backwards, with the inside turntable sections allowing for some storytelling with Wickie and friends. The final drop is an airtime-filled double-down, much like Logger's Leap's (now sadly missed), but a smidgen higher at 65ft.
 
Good length, multiple drops, a backwards section, well themed, wet but not too wet. You can't ask for much more from a Park flume!
 

 
The final ride of note in the Park is Anubis Free Fall Tower; the first free fall drop in Europe, standing tall at 230ft. I love Intamin drops, common though they are, and this delivered as consistently as any other. That said, having opened in 1997, its age does show - the fall itself was pretty unrefined and clunky, and there was definitely a greater than average amount of shaking on the way down!
 
It's also worth saying that the link to Anubis, Studio 100's successful kids drama, was tenuous at best - there were a few posters of the show displayed in the queueing area... and that was it.
 
Previously the ride was simply called Free Fall Tower. Nothing like shoehorning in an IP when it's not required...!
 

 
And last, but by no means least, we come to the Park's all-season Wasserski Stunt Show, staged at least once a day in the Park's 1,300 capacity Aquastadion.
 
Replacing the incumbent show of the last 2 years, "Hollywood's Talking Dead" (um, OK ), for their 45th birthday Holiday Park debuted a brand new spectacle: "Die Jubilaumsshow Holiday Park - 45 Jahre" ("The Anniversary Show of Holiday Park - 45 Years"). There was even a giant celebratory cake floating in the middle of show lake.
 

 
The Holiday Park waterski show remains Europe's first and only waterski stunt show in Europe, and against any metric, it's an absolute winner. A team of c.10 stunt performers showed off some serious skills on the water, involving waterskis, waterboards, high speed boats, jetskis, and jetpacks. There was also some abseiling and high-wire work across the audience.
 
And the whole show was set to a pumping up-tempo soundtrack, with gunfire, cannon-fire, pyrotechnics and party streamers thrown into the mix!
 

 
Perhaps the best thing about the show though was its bonkers storyline. My German's not exactly great, but from what I could gather...
 
Holly (the Park's original mascot; not a Plopsa character) wants to throw a party to celebrate Holiday Park's 45th birthday Holly has made a giant birthday cake, and needs help lighting the candles Comedy French bad guy (in a comedy cape, sporting comedy mustache) turns up with his comedy French henchman, having arrived all the way from Disneyland Paris (in a Mickey-Mouse themed old banger) Disneyland Paris bad guy claims that Disneyland is the best Park in Europe, and therefore must ruin Holiday Park's 45th birthday celebrations Holly attempts to eliminate the Disneyland bad guy, via many high-speed chases and stunts on the water Having had no success, Holly rings up good friend Roland Mack (!), who provides Holly with a Europa Park stunt boat (!!) Holly saves the day by arriving in the nick of time on the Europa Park stunt boat Both comedy French bad guy and henchman are blown up in a big fireball via a cannon The cannon is then filled with fireworks and directed towards the cake The cake explodes with colourful fireworks, streamers erupt into the audience, Holly does a dance, much jubilation, etc...  
Utterly hilarious, and great to see such tongue-in-cheek rivalry between Parks on the continent...!
 
Holiday Park flatters itself by making the comparison to Disneyland and Europa, but still... top stuff .
 

 
So if it wasn't clear already, I had a great day at Holiday Park, with GeForce, Sky Scream, and the Wasserski Stunt Show being reason alone to make the journey over to Haßloch. It's in a period of transition, with the new owners investing in both new areas (Sky Scream) and redevelopment of old areas (Entrance Plaza, Wickie Splash) - and long may this investment continue.
 
There is certainly more to do; the Park's layout is strange, and the quality is inconsistent; generally, things that have been Plopsa-ified are of a far higher standard than the legacy areas from the old ownership (I'm looking at you, Burg Falkenstein...). So there's a way to go before the whole thing feels coherent. But I am confident - seeing the improvements to date, and having the backing of the chain behind it - that this upward trajectory will continue.
 
And any Park that invests heavily in entertainment gets my vote. In addition to the Wasserski Stunt Show, Holiday Park puts on an energetic daily parade involving all the Plopsa characters, as well as regular shows for little ones in the main plaza area.
 
Thanks for all the smiles, Maya the Bee!
 

 
And thanks to you for reading; comments welcome as always.

Stuttgart Sojourn
 
The 2016 Theme Park season is upon us, and what better way to kick off than a weekend hop over to visit our deutsche Freunde in Baden Württemberg. The reason for the trip was to explore two of the more regional, and less-well-travelled parks, in Germany: Tripsdrill and Holiday Park.
 
Planning was a cinch, involving a Eurowings flight out to Stuttgart (£50) and overnight stay at the Wyndham hotel on airport (£30) on the Friday evening, 2-day car hire from Avis (£30) picked up on the Saturday morning, entry to Tripsdrill on the Saturday (£17), overnight stay in the Tripsdrill Schäferwagen on the Saturday evening (£40), entry to Holiday Park on the Sunday (£24), petrol for the weekend (£8.50), and BA flights home on Avios (£17.50); all prices per person, based on 2 travelling. At £217 each, it's great value - and I'd encourage anyone thinking about planning a similar European trip to jump straight in - there's a huge variety of Theme Parks on the continent, not all that far from us, at relatively accessible prices.
 

 
As you can see, both Tripsdrill and Holiday Park are easily driven to from Stuttgart airport, although flying into Frankfurt could also work. And for a three day trip, Europa Park is also just under 100 miles away...
 
First up, on the Saturday, was Tripsdrill; a Park marketed as "featuring over 100 original attractions depicting Swabian life in the late 1800s... remarkable attention to detail, dedication to authenticity and respect for nature truly set Tripsdrill apart". And I'm happy to report that there's no marketing hooey here: the above sums up Tripsdrill really rather well.
 
Tripsdrill
 

 
This here is a Swabian man - let's call him Günther - from the late 1800s. Goodness knows what he is doing, or what he has on his back, but Tripsdrill is stuffed full of animatronics such as Günther - the Park really is a mecca for rural German history, if that's the sort of thing you're into. There are whole areas of the Park filled with both static tableaux and moving scenes, and you can easily spend an hour wandering around the place exploring all the exhibits.
 
This, along with its gorgeous rural location (in a valley, surrounded by vast rolling fields), gives Tripsdrill a very "homely" feel: it would come as no surprise to anybody that it remains family owned (the Fischers have run Tripsdrill since 1929; it's easily Germany's oldest Theme Park). It's clearly important to the owners that the Park integrates as much with nature as possible; wood is used for most buildings, and there are trees and flowers everywhere. And being family owned, there is a more "relaxed" approach to H&S (although I never once felt unsafe), operations were excellent, and there wasn't a queue-jumping scheme to be seen.
 

 
First up for us was the 2013 Gerstlauer Infinity Coaster, Karacho (no literal translation, other than "a lot of power"). The Park's newest and most intense ride, Karacho still manages to nestle in very comfortably with its countryside surroundings. The ride features Infinity trains with similar assemblies to Alton's The Smiler, but with only 2 rows rather than 4, and lap bars instead of OTSRs.
 
Themeing on the ride, as with all of Tripsdrill, is excellent, with scenes around the queueline telling a story about a madcap inventor designing his perfect roller coaster, surrounded by plans, prototypes and the like. Karacho is the result of his work, but as riders disembark, they are treated to one final animatronic of the inventor throwing up (water) into an oil drum. Not so perfect for him, then.
 
The ride itself involves a 180 degree turn out of the station into darkness, a "surprise" indoors heartline roll in the same vein as The Smiler, a peppy 55mph LSM launch out into the light, and an outside layout that involves a 98ft top hat, 2 dive loops and a corkscrew.
Operations were excellent, with fast, regular dispatching of trains - the operator would give each lap bar one push down and one pull up, and that was it; away we went. Top marks.
 

 
I was expecting Karacho to be a solid Gerstlauer installation, in the same vein as Lynet at Fårup, or Anubis at Plopsa. Solid launch, decent layout, OK trains. So I was really surprised to find that Karacho was actually bloody fantastic.
 
The trains are a large reason as to why - the Gerstlauer clamshell lap bar is a triumph; allowing maximum freedom whilst not exerting too much pressure on any one part of your thighs (I'm looking at you, solid Intamin bar of doom; see my Italy TR for more musings on this). For me, Karacho's are the closest coaster seats in terms of comfort to those found on Mack's megacoaster product - high praise indeed.
 
This elevates an enjoyable experience to a brilliant one, as the rider has complete freedom to be thrown about the remarkably well-tracked layout - which, in contrast to certain other rides, features absolutely no jolting or shuddering whatsoever. It's super smooth, and super fun.
 

 
By far the highlight of the ride is the 2nd dive loop, shown below. Not only does the ride tunnel underground, but the transition from the banked curve (seen at the back) and the dive loop (at the front) is very tight, meaning that riders get sharply "pulled around" into the dive (in a similar way to blue fire's final inline twist). It's an example of where OTSRs would have caused all sorts of painful head bashing, but with clamshell restraints, the ride remains intense but comfortable.
 

 
A final nod to the ride's lighting package. The well-themed trains look even better when they connect to the power supply in the station, as the two rear "engines" start to glow a vibrant red. It's a simple LED effect but really showcases Tripsdrill's attention to detail, fostering a nice anticipatory atmosphere in the dimly-lit station.
 
Overall, Karacho came very close for me to being the perfect mid-sized coaster. Although it probably wouldn't trouble my top 10, it would get fairly close - and it's by far the best Gerstlauer I've ever ridden. It actually prompted me to consider a trip to Finland to ride its brightly-coloured brother at PowerLand, and seems to me to be the perfect investment for parks with mid-sized budgets; I can imagine Blackpool and Drayton would be good candidates in the UK for this sort of ride.
 
And finally - why, oh why, could Merlin not have opted for lap bars on Smiler's Infinity trains...?!
 

 
Next up was 2008's Mammut ("Mammoth"), a pre-fab wooden coaster from Holzbau Cordes (similar to Intamin's pre-fab efforts with Balder and Colossos), themed around German saw mills. Cue more tableaux in the queue line of workers, saws, wood, etc... you get the idea. Strangely, no mammoths to be seen. And again, Gerstlauer were involved - this time producing the trains.
 
It's an imposing ride for a smaller park like Tripsdrill (98-foot tall, 2,822ft long), and I had to set my camera to "panorama mode" to fit it all in...
 

 
We were lucky enough to get 4 back-to-back rides in the morning (it turns out the Park doesn't get so busy during dreary Saturdays in April...!), and I'm happy to report Mammut is a good 'un.
 
An entertaining pre-show before the lift hill (with a "saw mill goes wrong" theme), a killer first drop (especially in the back row), and a varied layout including a tunnel, all add up to a solid ride. Operations were good, albeit one train only.
 
It isn't hugely intense - although I suspect that's not the market Tripsdrill's after - and there is a little bit of roughness during some parts of the ride - although there's a good argument that this is part and parcel of a wooden coaster - but these are minor quibbles of an otherwise decent coaster.
 

 
You also get the advantage of some superb views of the rolling green countryside as you ascend the lift hill.
 
It's no Wodan or Troy, but just look at the curve on that drop. Phwoar.
 

 
Moving on, and this is G'sengte Sau - the Park's first "big" coaster, from - you guessed it - Gerstlauer. Indeed, Tripsdrill's involvement with Gerstlauer goes back a long way, as G'sengte Sau was Gerst's first ever coaster, back in 1998. And what is remarkable is how smooth and accomplished the ride is, given that it was Gerstlauer's very first effort.
 
The ride is built around a schwäbisch castle, featuring the wild-mouse bends and tight helices typical of these bobsled coasters, with some good near misses around the building structure. More than most rides at Tripsdrill, this one felt truly integrated with its environment; the bunny hops towards the end of the layout felt more like they were following the terrain than having been artificially created.
 

 
It most reminded me of Thor's Hammer at Djurs, which was no bad thing - and no surprise either given that Thor was Gerst's 2nd ever bobsled ride in 2002. A little rough in places, but capable of pulling some great forces around its tight layout.
 
Note how close the ride track is to the public pathway; no netting obscuring the view, no fencing or bars erected in the name of H&S. It makes a big difference to the organic feel to the ride, and was great to see - the Germans are clearly more trusted than we are to not do anything stupid...
 

 
The other side to the castle hosts the wonderful Badewannen-Fahrt zum Jungbrunnen (translation: "Bathtub Journey to the Fountain of Youth"). This is an above-average Mack flume ride, where riders sit in comedy bathtubs meandering around various animatronic bath time scenes - some featuring a fair bit more nudity than you'd see in other countries! I have photos, but we must remember that TPM is a family website...
 
There were three drops, including a backwards one, and some nice interaction with the aforementioned G'sengte Sau. The drop was visually impressive, but didn't get you all that wet - which is the perfect combination for a cloudy April afternoon in my eyes.
 

 
By far the best bit of Badewannen-Fahrt zum Jungbrunnen however is the figure - let's call her Maike - that greets you when you disembark your bathtub.
 
She surely has to be one of the most gross characters to be found at a Theme Park, ever.
 
Some things cannot be unseen...
 

 
Onto some of the Park's supporting attractions, and we come first to Doppelter Donnerbalken (literally, "Double Thunder Beam"). This is a quirky set of two 50ft drop towers from Premier, facing each other, both themed to large trees. "Forest Brother" Huzelin lives in these trees, apparently, and the only way to visit him is to ride the tower. You know it makes sense.
 
What was quirky about the ride, apart from the fab Tripsdrill themeing, was what happened for the finale. For most of the ride the towers acted like oversized frog-hoppers, bouncing around whilst catching the expressions of those on the tower opposite (made all the more thrilling by only having a small lap bar to hold you in). The finale though involved both towers being raised to the highest point, and then a pretty fast, aggressive lurch forwards towards the riders on the opposite side.
 
This maneuver was genuinely surprising, and only a touch away from being "too rough" - with only a thin lap bar to hold you in, the experience could be compared to having a minor car crash.
 
A nice idea, but I have no doubt that the same effect could be achieved in a more refined way. It's telling that I didn't rush around to ride it again, and I'm a big fan of drop towers (for the record, Thorpe's Detonator still stands as #1 drop tower for me, even up against other towers three times its height...).
 

 
The Park also has a decent kiddie coaster in Rasender Tausendfüßler (translation: "Raging Centipede" ), a Zierer Tivoli with a high-capacity train that snakes around a lake with a fountain.
 
Some decent landscaping - and two laps around the track rather than one - elevate this coaster above the majority of similar kiddie rides.
 

 
Tripsdrill also has an excellent rapids ride in Waschzuber-Rafting ("Washtub Rafting"), a Hafema installation themed around an old washhouse from 1808. The queueline was, as ever, excellently themed, although old mangles and first-gen Miele washing machines aren't the most exciting of things to view whilst queueing...
 
I've always been a fan of Hafema rapids (their best creation surely being Phantasialand's River Quest) due to their innovative 3-piece boats that allow water to slosh around everywhere. This rapids was great fun as expected, with some seriously choppy bits, a thundering waterfall section, and a mock whirlpool, seemingly a Hafema hallmark.
 
Note again how close the Park's public areas are to the trough of the rapids. There's only a small wire fence between the pathway and the ride, meaning that an idiotic guest could easily jump right on in...
 

 
...and the same applies for Mühlbach-Fahrt ("Mill Stream Ride"), the Park's kiddie flume with a teensy 11ft drop - the cobbled area shown on the bottom right of this photo is a public area, but with absolutely nothing to stop a guest falling / jumping in to the water. I wonder how many kids in the summer have attempted to jump in!
 
In today's age of hyper-sensitivity to H&S and litigation, Tripsdrill's approach is unusual, but refreshing - let's just hope their more trusting attitude doesn't spell trouble for the Park down the line.
 

 
And finally a quick look at some oddities that make Tripsdrill, well, Tripsdrill. This ride, Weinkübelfahrt ("Wine Barrel Ride"), looks like your typical cars-on-a-track affair (R.I.P. Miss Hippo), but when various sensors are tripped around the course, the barrels spin like a lively teacup. Fun!
 

 
Fittingly, just behind the Weinkübelfahrt is the Vinarium, a free museum dedicated to German viticulture that offers all those who enter a free Tripsdrill glass ( ) and a walk around (yet more) exhibits of Swabian culture.
 
More of note was the cellar of this Vinarium, which turned out to be a fully operational bar. Manned by a local guy with absolutely no understanding of English whatsoever (A Level German suddenly became very useful to me), locally-produced wines from the region were the order of the day. I went for a glass of red (€1.50), which proved very palatable.
 
Tripsdrill are onto a winner here: if only more Theme Parks would give out free merch and sell cheap local wine in pleasant surroundings....
 

 
Laughs were had on the Park's Wackelräder ("Shaky Wheels") bikes, which had asymmetrical spokes on the front wheels, making them pretty hard to cycle around. I crashed into a wall once, and very nearly crashed into another guest barely a minute later. Good fun, with up-charging conspicuous by its absence.
 

 
In all, Tripsdrill is a really lovely place, filled with good quality, well themed mid-sized attractions.
 
Karacho is a stand-out ride. The fact the Park is family owned and run is evident throughout, and although it was pretty when I went, it must look really gorgeous in the summer. The flowerbed : guest ratio, even in peak season, must be approaching something like 3 : 1 .
 
It's also a place filled with German heritage oddness, which can range from educational and interesting to just plain strange.
 
To finish, I'll leave you with the latter; yet another Tripsdrill character - let's call this one Stefanie - who was found towards the end of the Tripsdriller Eheinstitut (translation: "Tripsdrill Institution of Marriage"; itself an odd attraction).
 
You saucepot, Stefanie.
 

 
N.B. We stayed overnight in one of Tripsdrill's Schäferwagen ("Shepherd's Carts"); essentially a classier, all wooden Thorpe Shark Hotel, set in gorgeous woodland surroundings. Theoretically you can fit 5 in these 13 sq.m.carts, although it would be a squeeze even with 4: two bunk beds hang over a central double bed, with a couch doubling up as a potential fifth bed. Toilets and showers are situated in a (well maintained) central block, but for those with a bit more cash to spare, full blown 6-person 35 sq.m. treehouses (with integrated bathrooms) are also up for grabs.
 
It was more than comfortable, and didn't just provide €7 pizzas delivered to our door and a great night's sleep, but a hearty free breakfast the next morning. At €100 (£80) a night all-in, including free entry to the Tripsdrill Wildparadies Nature Park next door and discounted Tripsdrill Theme Park entry, it comes recommended to those looking for an overnight option.
 

 
Thanks for reading; comments welcome as always.
 
Next up: Holiday Park!

It had been almost two years since my previous visit to Alton Towers, due to numerous reasons and terrible planning in 2015 [see my Alton Towerless weekend entry]. Whilst 2016 is set to Thorpe's year on the new ride development front, a new attraction managed to pull me in to the orbit of Alton Towers.

That new experience was Galactica, the park's former flyer Air, now turned VR coaster for 2016.Would this ret-heme reach new heights or lack atmosphere without Air.
Now I know what some of you are thinking, where is the proof that I actually visited the park recently following my non trip to Disneyland Resort?

Here it is.
Anyway, back on topic.

The Entrance



The entrance plaza is definitely alot more striking and eye catching from the old one. The new logo is a nice touch with the ride's name below which gives the attraction a modern and sleek personality. Most of the rocks have been repainted space grey except the one that used be between the old air sign. The Galactica floor paving is also a very attractive feature in the plaza area.

The Music Soundtrack
the ride has also gained a new soundtrack. Created by IMA Score [arguably the B&M of park music], the new theme is very tranquil, airy and ambient whilst entailing a sense of excitment and wonder.



Amongst it's similarities with other IMA work , the music features similarities to a number of film soundtracks & Composers. These include Vangelis, The Matrix, American Beauty and Interstellar. Since most of these are Space/ Sci-Fi related, the music is definitely coherent.



The Queue line/build up


Aside from some improved fences and painted areas, the queue line remains almost identical to when it was Air [which was expected]. However it does look a lot more neat and tidier and builds the ride up more.
The photo opportunity unit is where the old merge point was which involves placing your head in a bowl like thing and automatic photos taken moments later. Once finished, the queue continues where the ride splits in to the two stations like before.

The ride's stations are considerably different whilst retaining similarities to the original. The main change that both are now fully enclosed [whilst previously being semi-enclosed].
This helps add some atmosphere prior to boarding alongside the new instructional videos through the attraction's fictional computer Eve explaining how to prepare prior to riding.

One of the things I love and hate are the air gate signs. I love how they say Galactica Gate [a sort of reference/element from one of Air's old features]. However I don't like that there are no numbers on the signs, which feels like a very simple flaw [making boarding harder for guests].

The experience


Once seated a ride host helps you strap on your VR goggles located in boxes/pouches connected to the restraint. The goggles can be adjusted at the back for comfort and element, whilst the focus can also be adjusted for blurriness.
One thing that should be noted is that dispatch times are considerably slower than when it was Air and the gap between putting on the headset and dispatch feels uncomfortably long and under whelming.

When the VR starts, it literally does start. no introduction, no build up it just begins as if someone's pressed play on a device.
The VR experience starts off well to begin with [bar the sudden jump], where a narration and the ride theme accompany some interesting graphics depicting being in a launch tunnel with lots of working machinery and devices. This is visually impressive to witness and reminds me somewhat of films like The Matrix, Inception and Interstellar to name a few.

Once you get to the top, a launch sequence begins where you then enter the space travel part of the attraction. Whilst it's interesting to witness on the ride, it's just as exciting off ride with the Portal element [more on that later].

Unfortunately like the ride's drop, it is here where the VR experience goes downhill.
Whilst the graphics are interesting to witness, a lot happens in the VR, too much. One minute you enter this hot fiery galaxy then the next your in this cold snowy planet less than 20 seconds later. This is before entering at least 2 more different worlds and then suddenly re-entering the portal element. It is here you are told you are safe and back at HQ before the VR ends a bit suddenly. You are then told to remove the goggles before heading back in the station.


Once back on foot, you follow the exit path where you soon enter the Galactica shop, which occupies 1/3 of Air's former shop.

Some nice space-esque lighting.


It may not be on the grand scale of the Derren Brown shop but it's still nicely themed and reminds me a little bit of Space Mountain in a way. There's some fairly decent merch in here too [though the shot glass looked a little tacky].

One of the other significant changes and additions is the portal. Located at the bottom of the drop, trains fly through this massive thematic element where a number of different light, smoke and mist effects go off in the process. This is a fantastic addition to the ride and gives Galactica that much more interaction and excitement to off riders amongst improving the themed experience as a whole.

The Critical Review



The Good


The portal is a stunning piece of theming and has got to be the most exciting feature built at Towers since the Marmaliser.
The sound track retains the fantastic quality IMA Score are renowned for
The entrance plaza is much more distinctive, striking and eye pleasing prior to when it was Air
The station area builds up to the ride much more than Airs used to
The pre-show videos fit in remarkably well
The new shop is decently themed


The Bad


The wait between dispatch and VR kicking in is quite painstaking
Dispatch times are much slower to how Airs were
The headset can feel a bit uncomftable at times
The pace of the VR is off putting, it's too fast and begins and ends too suddenly
Headset tries to fall off during ride
VR may not be optional now


Conclusion



I have always thought Air has lacked style and personality compared to the other coasters [minus Rita]. It's felt rather bare, empty and a little unfished.



However the retheme to Galactica has definitely given the ride a much stronger image and personality as a stand out ride which feels more like an experience as . As Galactica the ride has gained a fantastic thematic centrepiece, loose storyline of space travelling and holes of it's empty past filled in.



However, it can't be helped that the VR feels like a gimmick just to make the ride's update feel more marketable. Whilst it still has some good points, the flaws including throughput, comfortability and pacing do outweigh the plus points. Unless something gives, I can't see the VR lasting by 2018 time as it causes too much hassle.



The perfect ride would be Galactica's theme/landscaping with Air's original flying concept.



Creeky Rating 6/10


But Lets Face It! Towers isn't about VR

It's about experiencing this beuaty!

As she's had a marvelous makeover this year

And I don't know about you. But at 22 she still runs very fine

And one the park's turds has been washed in glitter. It was running quite well that day too.
However this alone can't help the fact

The Uk's best experience is currently closed

A much needed flat has been sweeped out of the lineup

Alongside a much less popular one

Alongside a family staple [even it wasn't a patch on the also closed Loggers]

Not forgetting the selected shops

And food outlets that have also closed up for 2016

And these massive B&Q fences only add insult to injury

However I can happily cope with this closure, nothing lost here.

This place is nice though and Nemesis beer? what's not to like

But this needs to be great whenever it happens. Wood that be possible?

However with an entrance like this, how much is there not to like

So Smile always!

And I'll be back in June

To hopefully check out this exciting looking experience
One Creeky Criticism
One last thing I will however say, the park does now really lack rides. In an 8 hour day [thanks to ERT], I completed everything except Congo & Mine Train due to queues [and others not wishing to ride]. I even managed to do all coasters except Rita & Smiler at least twice alongside Duel and Skyride.
Considering it's the UK's biggest park, Towers no longer feels like a multiday park. At the moment it's very easy to nail the park in one day [even with a trip through the gardens].
Lets hope the park can get off it's knees and return to greatness now.

It had been almost two years since my previous visit to Alton Towers, due to numerous reasons and terrible planning in 2015 [see my Alton Towerless weekend entry]. Whilst 2016 is set to Thorpe's year on the new ride development front, a new attraction managed to pull me in to the orbit of Alton Towers.

That new experience was Galactica, the park's former flyer Air, now turned VR coaster for 2016.Would this ret-heme reach new heights or lack atmosphere without Air.
Now I know what some of you are thinking, where is the proof that I actually visited the park recently following my non trip to Disneyland Resort?

Here it is.
Anyway, back on topic.

The Entrance



The entrance plaza is definitely alot more striking and eye catching from the old one. The new logo is a nice touch with the ride's name below which gives the attraction a modern and sleek personality. Most of the rocks have been repainted space grey except the one that used be between the old air sign. The Galactica floor paving is also a very attractive feature in the plaza area.

The Music Soundtrack
the ride has also gained a new soundtrack. Created by IMA Score [arguably the B&M of park music], the new theme is very tranquil, airy and ambient whilst entailing a sense of excitment and wonder.



Amongst it's similarities with other IMA work , the music features similarities to a number of film soundtracks & Composers. These include Vangelis, The Matrix, American Beauty and Interstellar. Since most of these are Space/ Sci-Fi related, the music is definitely coherent.



The Queue line/build up


Aside from some improved fences and painted areas, the queue line remains almost identical to when it was Air [which was expected]. However it does look a lot more neat and tidier and builds the ride up more.
The photo opportunity unit is where the old merge point was which involves placing your head in a bowl like thing and automatic photos taken moments later. Once finished, the queue continues where the ride splits in to the two stations like before.

The ride's stations are considerably different whilst retaining similarities to the original. The main change that both are now fully enclosed [whilst previously being semi-enclosed].
This helps add some atmosphere prior to boarding alongside the new instructional videos through the attraction's fictional computer Eve explaining how to prepare prior to riding.

One of the things I love and hate are the air gate signs. I love how they say Galactica Gate [a sort of reference/element from one of Air's old features]. However I don't like that there are no numbers on the signs, which feels like a very simple flaw [making boarding harder for guests].

The experience


Once seated a ride host helps you strap on your VR goggles located in boxes/pouches connected to the restraint. The goggles can be adjusted at the back for comfort and element, whilst the focus can also be adjusted for blurriness.
One thing that should be noted is that dispatch times are considerably slower than when it was Air and the gap between putting on the headset and dispatch feels uncomfortably long and under whelming.

When the VR starts, it literally does start. no introduction, no build up it just begins as if someone's pressed play on a device.
The VR experience starts off well to begin with [bar the sudden jump], where a narration and the ride theme accompany some interesting graphics depicting being in a launch tunnel with lots of working machinery and devices. This is visually impressive to witness and reminds me somewhat of films like The Matrix, Inception and Interstellar to name a few.

Once you get to the top, a launch sequence begins where you then enter the space travel part of the attraction. Whilst it's interesting to witness on the ride, it's just as exciting off ride with the Portal element [more on that later].

Unfortunately like the ride's drop, it is here where the VR experience goes downhill.
Whilst the graphics are interesting to witness, a lot happens in the VR, too much. One minute you enter this hot fiery galaxy then the next your in this cold snowy planet less than 20 seconds later. This is before entering at least 2 more different worlds and then suddenly re-entering the portal element. It is here you are told you are safe and back at HQ before the VR ends a bit suddenly. You are then told to remove the goggles before heading back in the station.


Once back on foot, you follow the exit path where you soon enter the Galactica shop, which occupies 1/3 of Air's former shop.

Some nice space-esque lighting.


It may not be on the grand scale of the Derren Brown shop but it's still nicely themed and reminds me a little bit of Space Mountain in a way. There's some fairly decent merch in here too [though the shot glass looked a little tacky].

One of the other significant changes and additions is the portal. Located at the bottom of the drop, trains fly through this massive thematic element where a number of different light, smoke and mist effects go off in the process. This is a fantastic addition to the ride and gives Galactica that much more interaction and excitement to off riders amongst improving the themed experience as a whole.

The Critical Review



The Good


The portal is a stunning piece of theming and has got to be the most exciting feature built at Towers since the Marmaliser.
The sound track retains the fantastic quality IMA Score are renowned for
The entrance plaza is much more distinctive, striking and eye pleasing prior to when it was Air
The station area builds up to the ride much more than Airs used to
The pre-show videos fit in remarkably well
The new shop is decently themed


The Bad


The wait between dispatch and VR kicking in is quite painstaking
Dispatch times are much slower to how Airs were
The headset can feel a bit uncomftable at times
The pace of the VR is off putting, it's too fast and begins and ends too suddenly
Headset tries to fall off during ride
VR may not be optional now


Conclusion



I have always thought Air has lacked style and personality compared to the other coasters [minus Rita]. It's felt rather bare, empty and a little unfished.



However the retheme to Galactica has definitely given the ride a much stronger image and personality as a stand out ride which feels more like an experience as . As Galactica the ride has gained a fantastic thematic centrepiece, loose storyline of space travelling and holes of it's empty past filled in.



However, it can't be helped that the VR feels like a gimmick just to make the ride's update feel more marketable. Whilst it still has some good points, the flaws including throughput, comfortability and pacing do outweigh the plus points. Unless something gives, I can't see the VR lasting by 2018 time as it causes too much hassle.



The perfect ride would be Galactica's theme/landscaping with Air's original flying concept.



Creeky Rating 6/10


But Lets Face It! Towers isn't about VR

It's about experiencing this beuaty!

As she's had a marvelous makeover this year

And I don't know about you. But at 22 she still runs very fine

And one the park's turds has been washed in glitter. It was running quite well that day too.
However this alone can't help the fact

The Uk's best experience is currently closed

A much needed flat has been sweeped out of the lineup

Alongside a much less popular one

Alongside a family staple [even it wasn't a patch on the also closed Loggers]

Not forgetting the selected shops

And food outlets that have also closed up for 2016

And these massive B&Q fences only add insult to injury

However I can happily cope with this closure, nothing lost here.

This place is nice though and Nemesis beer? what's not to like

But this needs to be great whenever it happens. Wood that be possible?

However with an entrance like this, how much is there not to like

So Smile always!

And I'll be back in June

To hopefully check out this exciting looking experience
One Creeky Criticism
One last thing I will however say, the park does now really lack rides. In an 8 hour day [thanks to ERT], I completed everything except Congo & Mine Train due to queues [and others not wishing to ride]. I even managed to do all coasters except Rita & Smiler at least twice alongside Duel and Skyride.
Considering it's the UK's biggest park, Towers no longer feels like a multiday park. At the moment it's very easy to nail the park in one day [even with a trip through the gardens].
Lets hope the park can get off it's knees and return to greatness now.

It had been almost two years since my previous visit to Alton Towers, due to numerous reasons and terrible planning in 2015 [see my Alton Towerless weekend entry]. Whilst 2016 is set to Thorpe's year on the new ride development front, a new attraction managed to pull me in to the orbit of Alton Towers.

That new experience was Galactica, the park's former flyer Air, now turned VR coaster for 2016.Would this ret-heme reach new heights or lack atmosphere without Air.
Now I know what some of you are thinking, where is the proof that I actually visited the park recently following my non trip to Disneyland Resort?

Here it is.
Anyway, back on topic.

The Entrance



The entrance plaza is definitely alot more striking and eye catching from the old one. The new logo is a nice touch with the ride's name below which gives the attraction a modern and sleek personality. Most of the rocks have been repainted space grey except the one that used be between the old air sign. The Galactica floor paving is also a very attractive feature in the plaza area.

The Music Soundtrack
the ride has also gained a new soundtrack. Created by IMA Score [arguably the B&M of park music], the new theme is very tranquil, airy and ambient whilst entailing a sense of excitment and wonder.



Amongst it's similarities with other IMA work , the music features similarities to a number of film soundtracks & Composers. These include Vangelis, The Matrix, American Beauty and Interstellar. Since most of these are Space/ Sci-Fi related, the music is definitely coherent.



The Queue line/build up


Aside from some improved fences and painted areas, the queue line remains almost identical to when it was Air [which was expected]. However it does look a lot more neat and tidier and builds the ride up more.
The photo opportunity unit is where the old merge point was which involves placing your head in a bowl like thing and automatic photos taken moments later. Once finished, the queue continues where the ride splits in to the two stations like before.

The ride's stations are considerably different whilst retaining similarities to the original. The main change that both are now fully enclosed [whilst previously being semi-enclosed].
This helps add some atmosphere prior to boarding alongside the new instructional videos through the attraction's fictional computer Eve explaining how to prepare prior to riding.

One of the things I love and hate are the air gate signs. I love how they say Galactica Gate [a sort of reference/element from one of Air's old features]. However I don't like that there are no numbers on the signs, which feels like a very simple flaw [making boarding harder for guests].

The experience


Once seated a ride host helps you strap on your VR goggles located in boxes/pouches connected to the restraint. The goggles can be adjusted at the back for comfort and element, whilst the focus can also be adjusted for blurriness.
One thing that should be noted is that dispatch times are considerably slower than when it was Air and the gap between putting on the headset and dispatch feels uncomfortably long and under whelming.

When the VR starts, it literally does start. no introduction, no build up it just begins as if someone's pressed play on a device.
The VR experience starts off well to begin with [bar the sudden jump], where a narration and the ride theme accompany some interesting graphics depicting being in a launch tunnel with lots of working machinery and devices. This is visually impressive to witness and reminds me somewhat of films like The Matrix, Inception and Interstellar to name a few.

Once you get to the top, a launch sequence begins where you then enter the space travel part of the attraction. Whilst it's interesting to witness on the ride, it's just as exciting off ride with the Portal element [more on that later].

Unfortunately like the ride's drop, it is here where the VR experience goes downhill.
Whilst the graphics are interesting to witness, a lot happens in the VR, too much. One minute you enter this hot fiery galaxy then the next your in this cold snowy planet less than 20 seconds later. This is before entering at least 2 more different worlds and then suddenly re-entering the portal element. It is here you are told you are safe and back at HQ before the VR ends a bit suddenly. You are then told to remove the goggles before heading back in the station.


Once back on foot, you follow the exit path where you soon enter the Galactica shop, which occupies 1/3 of Air's former shop.

Some nice space-esque lighting.


It may not be on the grand scale of the Derren Brown shop but it's still nicely themed and reminds me a little bit of Space Mountain in a way. There's some fairly decent merch in here too [though the shot glass looked a little tacky].

One of the other significant changes and additions is the portal. Located at the bottom of the drop, trains fly through this massive thematic element where a number of different light, smoke and mist effects go off in the process. This is a fantastic addition to the ride and gives Galactica that much more interaction and excitement to off riders amongst improving the themed experience as a whole.

The Critical Review



The Good


The portal is a stunning piece of theming and has got to be the most exciting feature built at Towers since the Marmaliser.
The sound track retains the fantastic quality IMA Score are renowned for
The entrance plaza is much more distinctive, striking and eye pleasing prior to when it was Air
The station area builds up to the ride much more than Airs used to
The pre-show videos fit in remarkably well
The new shop is decently themed


The Bad


The wait between dispatch and VR kicking in is quite painstaking
Dispatch times are much slower to how Airs were
The headset can feel a bit uncomftable at times
The pace of the VR is off putting, it's too fast and begins and ends too suddenly
Headset tries to fall off during ride
VR may not be optional now


Conclusion



I have always thought Air has lacked style and personality compared to the other coasters [minus Rita]. It's felt rather bare, empty and a little unfished.



However the retheme to Galactica has definitely given the ride a much stronger image and personality as a stand out ride which feels more like an experience as . As Galactica the ride has gained a fantastic thematic centrepiece, loose storyline of space travelling and holes of it's empty past filled in.



However, it can't be helped that the VR feels like a gimmick just to make the ride's update feel more marketable. Whilst it still has some good points, the flaws including throughput, comfortability and pacing do outweigh the plus points. Unless something gives, I can't see the VR lasting by 2018 time as it causes too much hassle.



The perfect ride would be Galactica's theme/landscaping with Air's original flying concept.



Creeky Rating 6/10


But Lets Face It! Towers isn't about VR

It's about experiencing this beuaty!

As she's had a marvelous makeover this year

And I don't know about you. But at 22 she still runs very fine

And one the park's turds has been washed in glitter. It was running quite well that day too.
However this alone can't help the fact

The Uk's best experience is currently closed

A much needed flat has been sweeped out of the lineup

Alongside a much less popular one

Alongside a family staple [even it wasn't a patch on the also closed Loggers]

Not forgetting the selected shops

And food outlets that have also closed up for 2016

And these massive B&Q fences only add insult to injury

However I can happily cope with this closure, nothing lost here.

This place is nice though and Nemesis beer? what's not to like

But this needs to be great whenever it happens. Wood that be possible?

However with an entrance like this, how much is there not to like

So Smile always!

And I'll be back in June

To hopefully check out this exciting looking experience
One Creeky Criticism
One last thing I will however say, the park does now really lack rides. In an 8 hour day [thanks to ERT], I completed everything except Congo & Mine Train due to queues [and others not wishing to ride]. I even managed to do all coasters except Rita & Smiler at least twice alongside Duel and Skyride.
Considering it's the UK's biggest park, Towers no longer feels like a multiday park. At the moment it's very easy to nail the park in one day [even with a trip through the gardens].
Lets hope the park can get off it's knees and return to greatness now.

Every so often through the years theme park enthusiasts get to experience something which changes their scope of theme parks forever. This can push the boundaries on what the best parks and attractions in the world currently are, amongst notching up figure counts too.
Considering prior to 2015 I hadn't been to any large parks outside the UK, my progress steamed ahead in 2015 with a few trips (and more to come in 2016). However there was one trip I definitely didn't foresee to happen. At least this quickly anyway.

That was California. Ive literally only been here a couple days now as part of a 12 day trip which is related mostly to a rare opportunity relating to my work.

So far, I have been able to visit the Disneyland Resort & California Adventure. Whilst I've not been able to try all the rides out there, I can safely say they're both amazing parks which are very different from each other and better than anything else I've seen (even Paris).
So far, here's the things that have stricken out for me.

Disneyland Park
The charm and atmosphere in here is unbelievable despite its smaller size than Paris. The original Main Street looks so amazing as does the Castle (despite its smaller size).
Matter Horn bobs is such as fun ride and has to be one of the most enjoyable coasters I've ever been on. Haunted Mansion is so so much better than the Paris one along with Pirates even with the jack animatronic. I even love the It's A Small World here unlike the Paris one, which may be as Walt built it.

Jungle Cruise is a fun ride though, with so much humour nestled in to it so much. I didn't find Space Mountain & BTM as good as the Paris ones, but the finale on the one here is immense and I can't wait until Paris gets it.
I'm still yet to experience most of the other rides, but found the Alice ride very good and certainly miles better than the Blackpool version too. The only thing I didn't really like here was the tommorow land as it felt rather lacking somewhat.

California Adventure
Where do I start?
Beuna Vista street is amazing! So is the Carthay theatre at the end.

Cars land was by far the best ride here, just so amazing and richly themed, never seen any immersion near this scale before at a theme park. California Screamin is such a fun ride. What it lacks in inversions, it makes up for in length, amazing ride.

Midway Mania was a fun ride, sort of reminded me of Laser Raiders but much much better. The Little Mermaid ride was a charming attraction too, some well themed scenes here. I look forward to doing the Magic Kingdom version one day.
Tower Of Terror, think I preferred the Paris one again, but the location to say the least felt better here, maybe being near Hollywood helped. The fun wheel was a crazy but really fun concept too.

The shows at both parks were really good too, Disneyland Forever was stunning, the parades were highly enjoyable and so much more entertainment than the Paris one too. World of colour reminded me a lot of Aquanura at Efteling but was just as spectacular in its own way.
Well, that's all so far. I'll probably spend another day here on my stay, but it's unlikely I'll get chance to visit any other parks like Magic Mountain & Universal as I have so much to do and doubt I will get time. The lack of pictures and video is due to not having time to get anything done.

Until next time, adidas
It started with a little mouse

Every so often through the years theme park enthusiasts get to experience something which changes their scope of theme parks forever. This can push the boundaries on what the best parks and attractions in the world currently are, amongst notching up figure counts too.
Considering prior to 2015 I hadn't been to any large parks outside the UK, my progress steamed ahead in 2015 with a few trips (and more to come in 2016). However there was one trip I definitely didn't foresee to happen. At least this quickly anyway.

That was California. Ive literally only been here a couple days now as part of a 12 day trip which is related mostly to a rare opportunity relating to my work.

So far, I have been able to visit the Disneyland Resort & California Adventure. Whilst I've not been able to try all the rides out there, I can safely say they're both amazing parks which are very different from each other and better than anything else I've seen (even Paris).
So far, here's the things that have stricken out for me.

Disneyland Park
The charm and atmosphere in here is unbelievable despite its smaller size than Paris. The original Main Street looks so amazing as does the Castle (despite its smaller size).
Matter Horn bobs is such as fun ride and has to be one of the most enjoyable coasters I've ever been on. Haunted Mansion is so so much better than the Paris one along with Pirates even with the jack animatronic. I even love the It's A Small World here unlike the Paris one, which may be as Walt built it.

Jungle Cruise is a fun ride though, with so much humour nestled in to it so much. I didn't find Space Mountain & BTM as good as the Paris ones, but the finale on the one here is immense and I can't wait until Paris gets it.
I'm still yet to experience most of the other rides, but found the Alice ride very good and certainly miles better than the Blackpool version too. The only thing I didn't really like here was the tommorow land as it felt rather lacking somewhat.

California Adventure
Where do I start?
Beuna Vista street is amazing! So is the Carthay theatre at the end.

Cars land was by far the best ride here, just so amazing and richly themed, never seen any immersion near this scale before at a theme park. California Screamin is such a fun ride. What it lacks in inversions, it makes up for in length, amazing ride.

Midway Mania was a fun ride, sort of reminded me of Laser Raiders but much much better. The Little Mermaid ride was a charming attraction too, some well themed scenes here. I look forward to doing the Magic Kingdom version one day.
Tower Of Terror, think I preferred the Paris one again, but the location to say the least felt better here, maybe being near Hollywood helped. The fun wheel was a crazy but really fun concept too.

The shows at both parks were really good too, Disneyland Forever was stunning, the parades were highly enjoyable and so much more entertainment than the Paris one too. World of colour reminded me a lot of Aquanura at Efteling but was just as spectacular in its own way.
Well, that's all so far. I'll probably spend another day here on my stay, but it's unlikely I'll get chance to visit any other parks like Magic Mountain & Universal as I have so much to do and doubt I will get time. The lack of pictures and video is due to not having time to get anything done.

Until next time, adidas
It started with a little mouse

So it was the first day of our holiday, and waking up stupidly early due to jet lag we arrived at Universal after eating an IHOP. Yum.
We got our tickets, and we waited for IOA to open (even though studios opened at 8) not having a clue how busy it was going to be.
It opened a bit before 9, and after scanning our fingers we were in. We went straight to the back of the park for the Wizarding World.

Seeing the whole area, and Hogwarts for the first time is amazing. Photos, like of most places won't do it justice.

So much bigger than I thought it was going to be, looks so much better in person.
Not really knowing what to expect for my first proper dark ride (previous favourite being Dual) I was very exited to say the least.
Forbidden Journey
Was seriously amazing, and in my opinion better than Gringotts. Gringotts may be more thrilling, but as an overall experience Forbidden Journey was my favourite dark. Perfect combination of screens and proper theming, and the ride system is soo cool! Amazed as I came off, I went straight round the single rider queue for another go.
Whole area has lots of shops to go in and experiences like live performances. Even if you're not a fan of Harry potter the area is amazing, yes I've seen the movies but I'm really not a fan of harry potter myself, and Forbidden Journey is still my favourite dark ride. The area also has a small Vekoma coaster called Flight of the Hippogriff with insane operations, and then obviously dragon challenge.
Dragon Challenge
This ride literally never had a queue, the only queue was annoyingly for the metal detectors. If you didn't know, you have to go through metal detectors for both Dragon Challenge and Hollywood rip ride rocket, and I'm assuming Hulk as well which wasn't open at the time. This is so that no personal belongings such as phones can be taken in the queue line.
After a really long indoor queue, you then get to the point where you choose Chinese Fireball or Hungarian Horntail (easier to just say Fire and ice still )
They are both really good coasters actually, a lot better than I thought they were going to be! I do wish I rode them when they dueled. The entrance looked amazing back when it was dueling dragon! I personally preferred the Fireball however they were very similar!
Re-ride queue takes you straight to the front of the building again, so you don't have to queue to get through the metal detectors again. Great idea.
Jurassic park
So Jurassic park was next, a really really good experience, especially the inside section and drop. So well themed, and the animatronics are amazing. It was however a really short experience and only had the 1 drop, a lot shorter than I was expecting it to be, especially the inside section. It was more outside than inside.
Ripsaw falls
Getting all the water rides done at once, ripsaw falls was next, the best looking log flume I've ever seen by far

It didn't disappoint. Theming was great, and had quite a few good drops. Lap bars did make it uncomfortable, and I believe it didn't have them when it first opened? Guess they're there for a reason.
Theming in this whole toon area is really nice, and the music is cool.
Popeye
By far the best rapids I've ever done. The theming is amazing, has a themed troff the whole way round. All the water effects make it so so good because of the randomness, lots high speed points and some good drops. I've heard so many times its the worlds wettest rapids, and after 4 re-rides, enough was enough. Still took a few hours to dry off in the heat.
Spiderman
That facade

Spiderman is an awesome ride, mainly screens but lots of scenery which adds to it. Lots of effects including fire, the music is perfect, one of my favourites. The ride system is really cool as well, and theres one point where it spins round loads which is fun. Defiantly my 2nd favourite dark ride I've ever done.
Say this about every area but he whole area is really nice, but it was such a shame hulk was closed and the ride was boarded off. Most of hulk was still there when I was there, but as I was there it was getting taken down.
Dr doom fearfall
2 S&S towers next to each other. Was really looking forward to this as I love drop towers and had never done a launching one before. I really enjoyed it, and the airtime once you get to the top is amazing. Single rider worked really well on this with it being up the exit, so no one really knows about it
Seaus Landing
A really really nice kids area, defiantly the the nicest I've ever seen. Did a few of the rides including the cat in the hat dark ride which was nice.
It then of course had the Hogwarts express which takes you to Studios, such a fantastic idea and is really handy. Not once did we spend the whole day in one of the parks, so this is great to take you from each one, when it doesn't have a queue.

Overall I loved IOA, its seriously such a beautiful park with such a good atmosphere. The whole park is superbly themed and has some great soundtracks just walking around the park. It's home to my 2 favourite dark rides, 3 great water rides and good coasters. The only downside in my opinion was the lack of rides, it really doesn't take long to get it all done especially during quiet days like when we visited. Was such a shame to see Hulk closed but I'm looking forward to visiting again to ride that and Kong
The journey continues at Studios... http://forum.maniahub.com/blog/76/entry-750-universal-studios-orlando-october-2015/

Causing a bit of a gap to the long speculated trip reports of certain members visiting several new major parks [surprisingly not Benin in this case], you may be wondering what the Creek will be able to provide to contend with this. If you were hoping for reports of new visited parks and the like, you may leave feeling rather disappointed [there are big plans in the works for the near'ish future though], however what I will offer instead will be in the shape and form of unique and different theme park activity.

Having been a big fan/enthusiast of parks and coasters for a long time, there is something I had always wanted to do at a park for a long time in my life; that was walking up to the top of roller coaster lift hill. Following the foreseeable cancellation of my Towers lift hill walk [due to the unfortunate accident of a certain ride], I instantly booked myself a coaster climb on one the coasters at Thorpe [whether it's a good idea to this the day after a heavy night clubbing and drinking is another story however]

Judging from the [poorly quality] picture above you can tell right away which ride I went for; Colossus
After having experienced my chosen ride at the end of the day before closing, I waited patiently outside the ride's exit [as instructed by the details on the email I'd received when I booked it], where I was soon approached by a member of Thorpe's stuff and when clarifying my name, I knew my experience was about to begin.

Being directed in to the Swarm's control booth with others taking the walk [a dad and his son], we were given an informative talk about the ride's generally statistics from basic things such as opening in 2012, being built by Bolliger & Mabillard and costing 20 million to more complex and interesting facts.
When it comes to dispatching the ride, the operator in the control booth must press both green buttons with his hands in-addion to the platform staff pressing the other four buttons. If one of these buttons isn't pressed the ride will not dispatch. Interestingly, there are four positions staff can be allocated to on this ride, control operator, baggage room, front and back of station, where are total number of seven staff are required on two trains operation and six on one train operation.
The ride's console is a lot smaller and advanced from the park's older consoles [inferno's apparently strikes similarities but is noticeably bigger]. Not only can individual rows of restraints be released individually [no need for the recheck all bars here] but the computer system can also calculate how many trains have been running on the system and give a general count of throughput. Speaking on throughputs, one train operation on Swarm allows for about 600 people per hour [pph] whilst two trains allows up to 1200 PPH.
As you can witness from the photo [and the giveaway on the booth] the ride was on just one train at the end of the day, however this was to ensure final checks on the ride's others train which would be checked up through the evening/night and then run on the circuit the next day whilst the existing train would then receive it's inspection. Interestingly whilst the work shop is located on the right to the station building, there is a giant cold fridge in there too [ I forget why though].
Other interesting things the console allows [pictured above] is to open/close gates, stop and start the ride and also stop and start on the lift hill too. The ride was naturally locked down when we were there which only the engineering crew would be able to open to stop any possibility of the ride operating whilst we were there. One of the other proceedures of loading aside from the buttons and thumbs up is all seats must be closed and locked for dispatched regardelss of them being with or without riders.

The second part of the console, this allows the operator to speak to through the tannoy systems, and press automated announcments such as weather closing and reopening. There's naturally a phone too for the operator to contact platform staff.

like all ride's alike, the ride uses CCTV throughout the surrounding area which is to used to ensure the ride is working correctly and that no one has trespassed in the surrounding area [which would result in an e-stop].

Before doing the actual part of the lift walk, everyone was instructed to put on safety harness vests, which involved putting the main part on your chest whilst adjusting and tightening the giant clip and then getting your legs through the holes then adjusting them. This was finalised by the ball hold which would connect to the coaster wire itself.

Then it was time for the walk itself to begin. This gaint bit of machinery operates the lift hill of the ride.
The harness I was wearing was connected to the chainwire at the side, which involved in the positioning of the clip. Every so often, you would need to push the clip through a check point area so to ensure maximum safety. If you folded the clip in, then it would stick you to position. The design of this safety figure has been designed to prevent slip backs, so if you accidentally trip up on the way up or down, the clip safely locks you in place preventing any major accidents from happening.

One of things talked about was the actual meaning of the ride's project name LC12. I naturally put it down as Lez Cougan, however the actual meaning of the acronym was infact Lost Cause. Mentions of other project names such as Project Odyssey [Colossus] and Project Dylan [saw] were also mentioned briefly there too.
And many steps later, we finally reached the top. It was a very nice day so I was able to get some pretty good views of the park and surrounding area whilst I was up there [including Heathrow].


Who Thought Thorpe was so beautiful


I learn't many interesting new facts on my climb which was great to hear whilst taking in the stunning views below. These included,
1/ Stealth & Rita were originally supposed to be one big coaster however due to some difficulties in planning it, this was split in half. So Thorpe got one half [the better half IMO] whilst Towers got Rita.
2/ The reason why Nemesis Inferno was themed like a volcano was because of the fire that took place on the site the ride replaced [Tropical Travels].
3/ If Thorpe were to build something massive on the empty island next to Swarm, they would need to remove something equivalent in size [my tour guide described the park's landscape as being like a Lilo.

I naturally had to ask/enquire about WC16 [Thorpe's new dark ride] during the climb. However unsurprisingly he wasn't able to provide much information except that it would be the first kind of ride to ever exist in the world and that it would be a top class ride. Even facts down to when it would open [spring or summer] could not be provided.
He did mention there would be more interesting in vestments on the way within the park and that Thorpe's target was now all age groups.


When it came to Fright Nights, he said that this years one would be bigger and better, however couldn't confirm completely if there would be any new attractions or face it alone returned [but hinted the former was likely].

On the operational front, the ride cannot operate below 5 degrees or in winds over 35 MPH, there's a wind tracking device at the top of the hill which is sort of in the form of a micro wind turbine.


The main Thorpe hotel is expected to open around 2018/2019. It was mentioned how a spruce up of the entrance would be liked [depecting a very RCT style appearance] and hinted that a redesign in the future would probably happen however the dome would remain for the foreseeable long term due to it's complex structure and helpful functions within the park.


One of the most eager questions I asked I did manage to get an answer for though was the future of the now closed Chief Rangers Caroulsel? When dismantled the ride was stored temporarily in the staff car park for a while, however unfortunately the ride will never be able to return to the park.
This is because it's going to a different park. Which though wasn't said however apparently it isn't close to any major European parks and the country of location is unknown [so tracking of the ride will likely be extremely difficult]. I am happy to confirm though that many prominent items from the old ride have been salvaged including the old ride centrepieces which are apparently now located in the education centre. The other horses on the ride are believed to have been kept to use on the ride's new home.


I asked on what the forseeable future for Mr Monkey might be and he reckons the ride is here to stay as a tribute and lone survivor of the Ranger area that once dominated the park.

When it came to potential rides going, the answer was generally that Thorpe like to keep their rides and that Samurai was closed so that they could give it out the attention it needed to work again as it was still a popular ride at the park.






When it came to Colossus's 'potential' repaint he was unsure on whether it would get fully done and did agree that ride presentations are an important aspect of rides. He did however hint towards the possible return of the railway in the future and the re-theme of Rumba though.

Proof this is real



A pic of me and my guide



I'm a long way up!

After this unique,interesting and insightful experience, I gradually made it down from this giant coaster back to the ground where I thanked my host before grabbing my belongings and making my way.
The Big Question
Was The Walk Worth £50?
Just about,
in this experience, not only do you get to go up and down your coaster of choice, but you are presented with stunning and amazing views of the surrounding area not just in the park but on for many miles throughout the landscape. You also learn a lot of new facts and information on different things in the park from the operational and management side to how the park works as a whole. Seeing the control cabin of one of my favourite coasters was another interesting sight and I enjoyed my time doing this experience where all the VIP team were extremely friendly and helpful and this was no rush or pushing ahead on the experience at any time.
I will probably do another lift walk here at somepoint in the future [not sure when though] on Colossus to see how it compares and look how different the ride works from an operational view, B&M were described as the creme de la creme of coasters when I was there. If you're in to different theme park experiences and wish to experience a lift hill walk, I would definitely recommend experiencing one on The Swarm!

If 2014 was a year with new rollercoasters left, right and centre, then 2015 was like returning to old friends and sharing a big hug. This was a first for me. Not a single new park in 2015 and only two rollercoasters to my name. Why was this? I wish I knew but my priorities seemed to be tried and tested parks rather then venturing out into the unknown in a quest too boost a coaster count.
To start the year, it took till May to visit my first theme park of the year; the amazing Europa Park. We all know the draw with this, the important thing is that this theme park blows my mind overtime and if you haven't been yet, go. The best collection of rides, shows, hotels, entertainment, bars, environments and theming in the world. We took a detour via Disneyland Paris which just seems to go from strength to strength.

A month later, came Florida for my birthday (Although my partner will always maintain it was just for Star Wars weekend). Despite all the criticism Florida gets, I always have a wonderful time at Disney World and always shed a tear when I leave. Was good to see Dan9 on his first trip there too.

October time and back to Disneyland Paris before the big refurbishment years hit which includes massive closures to Disneyland Parc. No Thunder Mountain, no Star Tours and other rides down for several months. We were there to take my partners mum on her first Disney trip. She had an amazing time is already pushing us to visit for Christmas in 2016.

The final foreign trip of the year was a free trip that I won to Europa Park. I could complain that we were only there for a day and a half and spent most of the time tired, but thats petty when everything about the trip was paid for buy the Stuttgart government. Every ride had some kind of Christmasy vibe such as the Spacemen on Euro-Sat dressed as Santa or entire rafts on the Indian river raft ride taken over by Snowmen. It was wonderful.

And now.. the depressing part of the trip report.
I've taken a massive break from Merlin, even before the Smiler incident. My trips to Alton, Thorpe and Chessington in 2014 had been pretty depressing. The parks were getting run down, lots of ride closures and things broken and a general feeling that the parks were not where they should be and with no hope in sight I'd just gone cold turkey and wouldn't be talked round to visiting. Once the Smiler crashed in June, I felt compelled, despite my feeling that Merlin don't deserve defending, to defend the park against the public and particularly the media calling our parks unsafe, deserving of closure and other negative comments that really put a shiver down my coaster enthusiast spine. Despite all the bad things that I know of the Merlin parks, safety has never been something I've questioned or even thought of when riding an attraction at their parks.
I even felt a need to visit and it wasn't until August that I stepped back into Thorpe Park. The same old issues arose. Loggers, Saw, Slammer, Colossus, Fish, Storm Surge and the Swarm all closed at the same time. The terrible Angry Birds Land and the not even worth looking at I'm a Celebrity Maze hardly inspire confidence that Merlin can get these parks back on track. There are some nice shiny parts of Thorpe but Nemesis Inferno, Stealth, The Swarm and Detonator cannot save Thorpe. A worthy, insightful, interesting, entertaining, fun attraction is needed desperately IMO.

October saw me visit Alton. Christ what a ghost town. The Smiler incident has truly ripped the heart out of Alton Towers. I've never seen Nemesis, Air and Rita running one train and struggling to fill all the rows and I've certainly never seen Oblivion on a two carriage operation. Whilst all the outrage at Alton about rumoured ride closures and massively cut hours is justified, theres only so much money that can be made from the few people that visit. It's very easy to sit in a room and declare Alton a disgrace for whats happening there. All we can say is that Alton is ever to get back to its feet, it needs to remember what its sole purpose is and hopefully in two/three years time, Alton would be the popular place it was ten years ago.

And with that, happy new year everybody!

For the best part of at least three years, I have been looking at spiralling out of the UK circle of Theme Parks. Though doing Tivoli World many times [part of annual family holidays], it wasn't really to count as at the end of the day it was little more than a glorified fair ground [though the shows & fountains were half decent].
It was not until this year where I managed my first large non UK park in the form of DLP which was achieved in April this year, however this was to only mark the beginning of a brand new era. It is here where MC16 is set to begin [MC16 meaning Matt Creek, Mega Creds, or Mighty Coasters 2016].
The next steps of which park to do after DLP was an interesting one, with Europa Park & Liseberg initially projected as the next parks to do. However in the end Efteling was decided as the next park to do, with the great incentive to experience the impressive looking Baron 1898 coaster amongst those lucky enough to do this park amongst others on a long trip this summer. I will not name any names see [C] here. It was also Benin's loverly TR from a few years ago that gave me the incentive to visit here as until then I didn't really know of this place.
Part 1 of this report will focus on the rides.
Part 2 will mostly look at the shows and anything else worth noting about the park
Moving On to the report then! After a loverly cheeky night ride on the eye, we stayed over night at the Stansted Premier Inn with a train journey, sleep and bus shuttle that left very little to be desired. However after munching down a slightly overpriced Weatherspoons Eggs Benedict & taking the train to our gate [not a cred surely] we were on our plane and made it to Eindhoven in a remarkably quick 35 minutes. Ryanair aren't as bad as they are geared up to be.
A short'ish sight seeing tour and a generally easy commute [despite train problems] followed before we reached our port of call.


EFTELING! Don't think I had been so excited seeing this since spotting those spotlights of Tower Of Terror at Disney.
Since we weren't visiting the park until the next day, we walked to our hotel, checked in before finding a Steak House for tea [which was quite good actually] before hitting the sack for the next day ahead. One thing to note is, how the area is quite rural and very much in the middle of nowhere where aside from the roaring motorway, a couple of restaurants and a petrol garage [though not quite to the level of Towers perhaps].

Walking from our hotel to the guests of the park [NH Waalwijk [which is a very good hotel and decent for the price]], we arrived at Efteling. One of the first things to spot upon entering the mighty impressive curved building which stands out from quite a distance away. Accompanied by some appropriate yet subtle music brought out excitement levels on a similar level yet different feel to that of walking in to a Disney park.

Impressive is an understatement. Much of the rest of the park architecture upkeeps this fantastic standard.

Upon entering we swapped in our printed e-tickets for actual tickets [which didn't work], however we were given a signed note from turnstile staff to enter for ERT, which we technically missed due to a mixture of poor/confused organisation [from us] and one of the entrances being closed due to the new Pinocchio element in the Fairy Tale Forest.

No Strings holding down this one then.

First stop is what could be called the chase. Baron 1898.



Amazing architecture again, very much near Disney standards here and superier to much of what the Uk currently offers.

That animatronic though



Saw Alive, eat your heart out!




So Photo friendly.

Efteling have created half a masterpiece here; why half I hear you ask?
Well, two things struck out for me on Baron; the experience and the ride. Baron as an exprience is absolutely fantastic, from the moment you approach the surrounding area and landscape, you can tell lots of effort and dedication went in to not just building up the impressive steampunk style building/life structure but the small details such as the lights at the top, the turning wheels and even the smaller details all over the building.
The preshows too are also of very high quality. The first in where the Baron introduces us to his mine, where we briefly meet the white women is superb and the descrete touch of a more tinny recording of the soundtrack in order to give the attraction a nostalgic feel only helps it better and better. The second pre-show keeps up this with a high quality of the Baron himself where after setting in your rows, doors open shortly taking you directly to the station [with a smaller bag drop for smaller things] in a fashion of entering a ride station never ever seen before.
The third and final pre-show occurs on the ride itself, which is where the white women sing and curse riders before the main cut of the ride begins.
The layout though, left seeking for more. The drop at the top is impressive in the that the rest of the park is surrounding you before you enter the mine, but then it's it's goes through a few inversions, airtime hill, helix and then the ride is pretty much over. For me, it was sort of like the ride finished as I had just got in to it really. Though it surpassed Blivvy [though the drop was better], I would rate Inferno better at least on the layout.
The ride however as I rode later in the trip though did grow on me quite a lot more though as I re-did the ride in different rows [once at night] and have since rated it better, to the degree it has just made it in to my Top 10 [however that's not hard so far].
Baron is a stunning ride at the park and everything about it has been polished to a remarkable standard that has rarely been seen outside of the giants of Disney & Universal and once again proves that the difference between small details can make the difference between a ride that is average to something which is great. The park should be proud of their baby right now [if only we had seen this details on the Smiler station].

Efteling of course has many other coasters, most of which comprise the park's coaster corner where all the coasters except Bob can be found.

One of those is the Flying Dutchman [ or De Vilegende Hollander if you prefer], which is a water coaster at the park [and my first such cred too].

Opening in 2007 by Intamin, this ride was supposed to open a year before hand, but numerous problems occurred with the ride's original manufacturer Kumbak [who make Intamin look like B&M in many ways] had problems and Intamin stepped in.



Fantastic indoor queue line theming. Wouldn't see that at Merlin, you'd be waiting outside in a hideous cattle pen before hand.

Or station for that matter.
Flying Dutchman was a ride I really enjoyed and passed my expectations. The theming and effects featured in the ride again are superb and of high quality. The dark ride parts actually reminded me of Valhalla a little acutally. After going through the fantastic theming parts, the ride cascades in to a roller coaster section with twists and turns with drops before splashing in to the lake below.
One of my favourites at the park for certain [and has made it in to my top 10 water rides]. Incidentally got stuck on this ride when it broke down just as our boat reached the station. Not sure what happened but a bright halogen light was on when we reached the brake run. Fixing took a while at this time, so candy crush was the only way to pass the time.

Two down and town to go. There are two more coasters to knucle in this area of the park, so which we we do next.
Hint- It's not the one with all the loops

Joris of course, the park's duel racing woodie. Built in 2010 by GCI, this beast replaced the ageing Pegasus coaster [which I hear was boring & rough]. Though this wouldn't be my first racing woodie, it would be my first GCI [aside from the first outside the UK too].





First ride over, this ride didn't impress me, IT BLEW ME AWAY!
This coaster is superb, the way everything has been knotted is so creative from it's swampy queueline building up the ride to the touches so small yet effective. There is far more fanfare on this ride when a train wins [than on the likes of National] as not only does a sign notify which train won, but the winners come back to flags and cheers whilst the losing trains arrives to booes and jeers, and that's before I start talking about the nicely themed station, impressive soundtrack or that this is a coaster smooth as silk yet is so forceful when it rides though the corners. It may well be my favourite woodie now on the basis alone of it's use of simple theatrical effects and smoothness.
It is also possible this was the ride to heavilly influence Wodan as well.

Last & least of the coaster corner is Pyphon, the park's original coaster which opened in 1981 & made by Vekoma.




Well it was no surprise that this was my least favourite coaster at the park [and that's before we review the other two].
Aside from the lacking the overall theatre,theming & atmosphere due to being an older addition, the ride just feels rather short and a little dull, however the helix at the end was pretty good, least the ride was very smooth thanks to it's decent train designs.
Speaking on trains, I think this is the third or even fourth carnation of trains they have here two as the original trains were replaced at somepoint in the early 2000's by some form of vile Kumbak ones then may have been re-replaced by Vekoma ones before the current ones replaced them I think.
Whilst it's noticeably weaker than it's other coaster counterparts, I am sort of glad they've still got a ride like this in the park. Not just is it showing how much the park have progressed since it's early days amongst it's original coaster, but also a type of generic ride that seems to be sort of in a position of being endangered seeing how both Uk corkscrews removed [though one may have been spared], Walibi's Tornado & Holiday Land's corky coasters torn down. It's makes me question how long Heide's & even Garda's have left. I can see Efteling happily keeping theirs though for a while, especilly with the trains which were probably one of the best things about the ride.

The park's second classic coaster was Bob, built by Intamin a few years after Pyphon. This seems to Efteling's equivalent to Spinball, Crush or Boating School. Not so much in style but more so it suffers from having a high popularity but a low throughput. Fortunately a few years ago, the trains were replaced by newer ones which can take 6 instead of 4 people marking the throughput to a slightly better 850 PPH aprox. It's still the lowest throughput coaster though.


The ride still entails some fairly nice theming [though not a patch on the other coasters]. Bob was a fun ride, it really pulled some force when it went round it's corners and helixes. Slightly prefer this to Avalanche, whether that's due to one being in a picturesque forest & the other in the middle a grotty seaside town who knows, but I found this one to retain a better pace and the 'semi' night ride only helped add brownie points to this.

The final coaster at the park to do was Vogel Rok, a Vekoma indoor coaster which opened in 2001. This would by my fourth indoor coaster [and indoor Vekoma too for that matter as I'm yet to do an indoor coaster that isn't a Vekoma].

Didn't take many pics of this one for some reason, probably either due to my phone running out of storage or rushing the ERTs on day two.
A really great coaster here, packs a punch for it's short but sweet cycle and the music throughout the ride like most others at the park is superb, especially the fanfare'ish bit at the end. Reminds me a bit of a family/ non looping Space Mountain in a few ways here, no idea why.
It's probably my join second favourite indoor coaster right now after DLP's Space Mountain with RNR on the same place and X at Thorpe taking last place, the 2 people blanket rule probably hasn't helped it for me either [sorry X].

Moving from coasters now to dark rides [Vogel transitions this quite well really] where the park has a great selection. First off the highly impressive Fate Morgana, an Intamin tow boat ride which opened in 1986.


Essentially an Arabian equivalent of Pirates Of The Caribbean, the ride is pure perfection. The intimate yet high quality scenes and story of the landscape is so perfectly paced throughout the whole ride, starting in a jungle, heading in to town, jungle & palace landscapes before ending in jungle again which makes you wonder almost 'was what I experienced real'? Another sublime attraction, one of my favourite dark rides I have done. It obviously doesn't top tower but is definitely in my dark ride top 10's.

The next dark ride takes us away from the east to somewhere a lot more dreamy. It's Dream Flight [Droomvlucht]. This one opened in 1993.

Cattle Pens! least they're not like Saws. I think they were added after the ride opened due to it's popularity I believe.




I have never seen so much charm built in to a dark on such a large scale.
Whilst it doesn't top Fate Morgana, I adored Dream Flight, from it's astounding soundtrack, large, high quality set pieces and lighting affects alongside the coaster section at the end [which is a lot faster in person the POV's suggest]. Was unsure on this ride on my first go what to think of it, but grew on me a lot more on the second go to become one of my park favourites and at nearly 25 years old [scary the fact the ride is the same age as me ], in no way does the attraction appear dated in anyway.
Liseberg's Fairy Tale ride is surely a patronising insult in comparison.

after the charming forests of Dream Flight, we move on to the comical world of Festival Carnival which is one of the park's most famous rides.








Definitely one of the park's more comical attractions, and unPC to say the least. Apparently a critic slated this ride for it's subtle racism a few years ago [despite praising the rest of the park] and as a result received lots of backslash and even death threats.
Carnival Festival is such a fun ride, from it's bright colours, catchy soundtrack to amusing depications of the world. It feels like an It's A Small World style ride done in a Bubbleworks [pre 2006] format. Though it's not making the top list, it's a dark ride I strongly enjoy. This was Daniel Sheldrake's favourite ride of the trip too [who as a result bought the ride's music at the end].

The park's final dark ride is nestled in the forest on this cold autumn day. [note the failed Hex reference].

It's Villa Volta, the park's mad house which opened in 1996. Although it preceeded it by four years, the ride's biggest problem is it's frequently compared to Hex at Alton Towers which unfortunately affects the ride's experience, at least to begin with.



Unfortunately, I too was in that camp of comparing, however before hand, here's what I thought.
Villa Volta is definitely a beautifully detailed attraction, the facade fits in perfectly with the nearby Ravelijan & Dream Flight, not to mention the animatronic figure in the second pre-show is of high quality. Unfortunately, this was potentially my lesser favourite of the dark rides, not so much that this was a bad ride [far from it], but I struggled getting the storyline really, however reading up after my trip I believe the basic story is of some gang robbing a town or something [ with Villa Volta being the leader's home] and a woman cursing them with that the leader will never have peace or something like that].
Looking back at the pre-shows which I vaguely remember, this seems accurate especially with the animatronic being the gang leader himself. I probably should've done a re-ride to be fair as you can't really judge a ride on just one go. Soundtrack though was impressive as was the decor in the ride itself. However unfortunately on these grounds mentioned earlier, Hex still wins the battle by a long shot. Hex features some amazing theatrical build up's aside from it's also just as impressive soundtrack and even the subtle things like the evil face when the room turns upside down. But enough review of Hex now.

The last notable ride yet to be ventured at the park is the Pirana Rapids, a massive wild water set of rapids which is the park's main water ride.





Safe to say is now my favourite Rapids rides, and probably the roughest too. Quite often our boat was get stuck in different pockets throughout the ride and may sometimes take a while to get out too. Wetness levels were mild-moderate soaking [ around Dragon Falls soaking level] which was refreshing to say the least. a slightly better Congo or themed Viking River Splash essentially.

Amongst other rides at the park include, this impressive Pirate Ship [second after Buccaneer].

The strangest carnation of a sea storm ride, it doesn't go too fast nor does it turn backwards [the theming is decent though].

These very very stiff tea cups which for that alone make it my least favourite ride on park. The theming & soundtrack were still good though.

Too many caroulsels to count.


This Get Set Go style ride

This boating ride [one of the few attractions I didn't do at the park].
There was a sky view ride called Pagoda, but sadly this one was closed for refurbishment during the visit.
Efteling has some really good rides there amongst some which are just ok. You can definitely see which rides are the more recent ones with all the intricate details and elements included and those that are park veterans and stick out more than others and not so much in a good way.
However, the rides at Efteling are only half the experience as there's lots more to experience than just rides. And that's what we will look in to in Part 2 where we look in to what flipping forests of fairytale fountains can be discovered at Efteling apart from it's decent selection of rides.

For several years now, there's been something on my theme park bucket I've always been wanting to tick off now for a long time. No, not Baron 1898 [although soon hopefully], not Europa Park either I'm afraid, however keep an eye out for MC16 which is happening soon, some hints to what this may even appear in this very blog entry.

This something is of course on home soil and relatively simplistic in all honesty. It's Chessington's Howl O ween event. It's been something I've planned for over two years but until had not worked out, due to not getting chance in 2013 and absolute rotten luck in 2014, very narrowly missing out on going [big emphasis on the very narrowly].
However due to numerous reasons [cough cough budget cuts], the two former fantastic mazes from the last few years were gone despite receiving strong reviews in their time and in were two new mazes [although in different locations to those], which begged the question. Would they remain as strong? Wait & see.

One thing to note about Chessington is how much theming and decoration there was set-up, which made it feel a-lot more in swing, certainly more than Thorpe too.

Pumpkins, lots of lots of pumpkins.



Not bad theming for Chessington.
BTW, I would recommend the Chicken Shack for food at the park as I'd say it's the best eatery there by a large'ish margin, especially if your fed up with Pizza, Pasta buffets or don't want miniscule fish & Chips either.


But this was definitely the most impressive Halloween thematic element though, and looked even better at night.
Review Of The Mazes [why the heck didn't I take more pictures]
Curse Of The Lost Tomb
The Main new maze for this year, with the absence of Haunting & Mystery [as mentioned earlier], this was the maze I was looking forward to the most and it had a lot to make up for. The maze was located in Wild Asia where the conference centre was [there might have been a stage there once too]. From the outside, there wasn't much to see really, just a standard temporary cattle pen like in to a building [bit like Thorpe really], not to mention was taking a bit of time for the queue to move. But the question was, did the maze itself prove to be worth it?
Overall rating 9/10.
Really enjoyed this maze, which featured an original storyline and features [game show like in a way] but unlike Thorpe's mazes were your just straight in to the action and are scraed silly, this had not just more of a backstory and not to mention a general reason why you were here in the first place.
Trick Or Tweet Woods
Located on the grassy area near Hocus Pocus where the log cabins continue to still exist. Being out in the open, not the best setting for a maze [though Blair Witch copes well] not to mention the cabin and trees were some cause for concern. Due to these reasons, we avoided the maze during the day and only did it once it was starting to get dark, hoping it would turn out better. But were we in for a trick; or a treat?
Overall rating 2/10 [I'm feeling generous]
That's 5 minutes I won't be getting back, makes Blair Witch MK1 look amazing, bring back Haunting In The Hollows!
Though feeling hugely let down by that second maze, there was one good thing now, it was completely dark and meant it was time for some night rides. With the park closing at 8pm this year [something that will hopefully remain for next year], this gave us over 2 hours to experience rides fully in the dark [over 3 hours once the clocks change].







Night rides we managed were Scorpion Express which looked quite impressive at night especially the orange fire effect.
We queued for Vampire next, which the dimly lit queue in the darkness really added to the experience even more than it does in the day. Unfortunately the ride broke for a while when we queued but was well worth it in the end, as the ride at night is superb. The way the ride interacts with the trees as it helix's through the shrubbery, it was absolutely amazing, shame there is only 10 days in the whole season you can really experience this ride at night.
We did Fury after which turned out to be our final ride of the trip, which proved to be just as good at night, the darkness made the ride more fun and disorienting, not to mention the view from the lift was highly impressive [why I don't see that in the day is astounding].
Howl'O-Ween Summary
The event as a whole was very good. Absolutely loved the Curse Of The Lost Tomb maze and the night rides, where the park as a whole looks amazing, even more so than Thorpe [except Stealth], as there was different coloured lighting and effects park wide which greatly added to the atmosphere. The park's soundtrack helped set the scene but was a little repetitive in all honesty.
Whilst in some ways this event was better than Thorpes [There I Said It!], like the park's current state, there were a lot of flaws. Firstly ride operations were hit and miss. Some rides were OK such as Scorpion and Falls, but others left little to be desired. Rattlesnake especially which was going very very slowly and took 45 minutes to queue for from the cave, plus Vampire didn't seem to operating as fluently as normal, whether this was because of possible ride issues remains another story.
Aside from Trick Or Treat being disappointing, this years event was described as not being as good as previous years [gutted 2014 never happened], but the overall absence of two fantastic mazes replaced by one that was very good and one that was poor, amongst there being a severe lack of live entertainment and roaming actors, which made Thorpe look like it was flooded with in comparison. The factor that Ramesis once had lasers and did not continue to this year, only added insult to injury. There was even slightly less theming this year too [so I've been told].
If the park had kept Haunting In The Hollows, at least one live stage show and live roaming actors, the event would've been amazing to the degree it's better than Fright Nights. However, unfortunately due to the line up being a little on the small side, I would say Fright Nights at least maze and entertainment wise is better.
Chessington need to get their act together and pick up the disco ball they once held, I've heard some amazing things about their Halloween events in the park and though this years was ok, it didn't seem to quite up to it's previous amazing standard. With much investment, TLC & efforts Chessington could once again become the creme de la creme of UK parks but has since become very stale.
Scarefest is definitely at the top of next years Halloween list.

For several years now, there's been something on my theme park bucket I've always been wanting to tick off now for a long time. No, not Baron 1898 [although soon hopefully], not Europa Park either I'm afraid, however keep an eye out for MC16 which is happening soon, some hints to what this may even appear in this very blog entry.

This something is of course on home soil and relatively simplistic in all honesty. It's Chessington's Howl O ween event. It's been something I've planned for over two years but until had not worked out, due to not getting chance in 2013 and absolute rotten luck in 2014, very narrowly missing out on going [big emphasis on the very narrowly].
However due to numerous reasons [cough cough budget cuts], the two former fantastic mazes from the last few years were gone despite receiving strong reviews in their time and in were two new mazes [although in different locations to those], which begged the question. Would they remain as strong? Wait & see.

One thing to note about Chessington is how much theming and decoration there was set-up, which made it feel a-lot more in swing, certainly more than Thorpe too.

Pumpkins, lots of lots of pumpkins.



Not bad theming for Chessington.
BTW, I would recommend the Chicken Shack for food at the park as I'd say it's the best eatery there by a large'ish margin, especially if your fed up with Pizza, Pasta buffets or don't want miniscule fish & Chips either.


But this was definitely the most impressive Halloween thematic element though, and looked even better at night.
Review Of The Mazes [why the heck didn't I take more pictures]
Curse Of The Lost Tomb
The Main new maze for this year, with the absence of Haunting & Mystery [as mentioned earlier], this was the maze I was looking forward to the most and it had a lot to make up for. The maze was located in Wild Asia where the conference centre was [there might have been a stage there once too]. From the outside, there wasn't much to see really, just a standard temporary cattle pen like in to a building [bit like Thorpe really], not to mention was taking a bit of time for the queue to move. But the question was, did the maze itself prove to be worth it?
Overall rating 9/10.
Really enjoyed this maze, which featured an original storyline and features [game show like in a way] but unlike Thorpe's mazes were your just straight in to the action and are scraed silly, this had not just more of a backstory and not to mention a general reason why you were here in the first place.
Trick Or Tweet Woods
Located on the grassy area near Hocus Pocus where the log cabins continue to still exist. Being out in the open, not the best setting for a maze [though Blair Witch copes well] not to mention the cabin and trees were some cause for concern. Due to these reasons, we avoided the maze during the day and only did it once it was starting to get dark, hoping it would turn out better. But were we in for a trick; or a treat?
Overall rating 2/10 [I'm feeling generous]
That's 5 minutes I won't be getting back, makes Blair Witch MK1 look amazing, bring back Haunting In The Hollows!
Though feeling hugely let down by that second maze, there was one good thing now, it was completely dark and meant it was time for some night rides. With the park closing at 8pm this year [something that will hopefully remain for next year], this gave us over 2 hours to experience rides fully in the dark [over 3 hours once the clocks change].







Night rides we managed were Scorpion Express which looked quite impressive at night especially the orange fire effect.
We queued for Vampire next, which the dimly lit queue in the darkness really added to the experience even more than it does in the day. Unfortunately the ride broke for a while when we queued but was well worth it in the end, as the ride at night is superb. The way the ride interacts with the trees as it helix's through the shrubbery, it was absolutely amazing, shame there is only 10 days in the whole season you can really experience this ride at night.
We did Fury after which turned out to be our final ride of the trip, which proved to be just as good at night, the darkness made the ride more fun and disorienting, not to mention the view from the lift was highly impressive [why I don't see that in the day is astounding].
Howl'O-Ween Summary
The event as a whole was very good. Absolutely loved the Curse Of The Lost Tomb maze and the night rides, where the park as a whole looks amazing, even more so than Thorpe [except Stealth], as there was different coloured lighting and effects park wide which greatly added to the atmosphere. The park's soundtrack helped set the scene but was a little repetitive in all honesty.
Whilst in some ways this event was better than Thorpes [There I Said It!], like the park's current state, there were a lot of flaws. Firstly ride operations were hit and miss. Some rides were OK such as Scorpion and Falls, but others left little to be desired. Rattlesnake especially which was going very very slowly and took 45 minutes to queue for from the cave, plus Vampire didn't seem to operating as fluently as normal, whether this was because of possible ride issues remains another story.
Aside from Trick Or Treat being disappointing, this years event was described as not being as good as previous years [gutted 2014 never happened], but the overall absence of two fantastic mazes replaced by one that was very good and one that was poor, amongst there being a severe lack of live entertainment and roaming actors, which made Thorpe look like it was flooded with in comparison. The factor that Ramesis once had lasers and did not continue to this year, only added insult to injury. There was even slightly less theming this year too [so I've been told].
If the park had kept Haunting In The Hollows, at least one live stage show and live roaming actors, the event would've been amazing to the degree it's better than Fright Nights. However, unfortunately due to the line up being a little on the small side, I would say Fright Nights at least maze and entertainment wise is better.
Chessington need to get their act together and pick up the disco ball they once held, I've heard some amazing things about their Halloween events in the park and though this years was ok, it didn't seem to quite up to it's previous amazing standard. With much investment, TLC & efforts Chessington could once again become the creme de la creme of UK parks but has since become very stale.
Scarefest is definitely at the top of next years Halloween list.

Good Afternoon TPM!
I'm starting a new series called 'Trolley Dollies Guide to...' which will be my take on reviewing/trip reports.
To start, lets begin with the UK's most premium Halloween event;
ALTON TOWERS SCAREFEST 2015
The Park
This year saw new theming added to Towers Street, including the new 'Scarefest' sign which saw as the back drop too many families photos this year, it felt very refreshing and exciting to walk down with the new audio & new decorations.
The lighting through-out the park felt improved since my last visit in 2013, but the giant LED lights in the Th13teen queue was a little let down in what should be a very atmospheric queue at night time, but with the added Scare-zones, Dark Forest & Forbidden Valley felt alive... I'll get to those later though.
One thing about the park which upset me was the lack of people, walking out of Haunted Hollow and into what I could only describe as a 'ghost town' with closed food stalls & rides, wasn't a pleasant experience. Zero queues & closed rides cause me and my group to ask each other 'what next?' as we struggled to fill time while waiting for our scare maze time slots.
But apart from that, the park felt solid in terms of ride reliability & theming/lighting.
Scare Zones
Dark Apocalypse (Forbidden Valley) & Nox: Infernus (Dark Forest)
The new Scare Zone are paths in the above areas, one being an open pathway from Sub Terra to Nemesis or in Dark Forest case, Rita's tunnel. At 5pm a warning plays across Forbidden Valley, informing guest that the infected are in the area with smoke covering the area, it made the area feel very alive and caused families unaware of the safe zone to run with their children through them.
In Dark Forest, it was great to see the return of the Wraiths in Dark Forest, one of them was hiding behind Rita's wheel, another in this poor ladies face at the Th13teen shop exit, very scary with the actors in both areas playing with their surroundings.
Alton may have shot themselves in the foot by having 'mini mazes' and marketing them as zones causing people to be disappointed with this years addition when in reality, this is what a scare zone should be so hopefully next year, they add some more theming & lights to them just to add that little bit more.
Scare Mazes
Right so this is the bit you've all been waiting for, I'll put any details inside the maze in the spoilers so please don't click them if you don't want to find out.
Terror Of The Towers
The true classic from Scarefest history, this maze is re-routed this year so lets see how it compares to my last visit in 2013 (and what I can remember from it)
A solid maze, didn't really enjoy being in a conga line but alot of jump scares & hilarious moments!
Scare Rating - 8/10
Theming Rating - 7/10
Overall Experience - 8/10
The Haunting Of Molly Crowe
This new maze involves behind blind folded, to lets see how it goes...
Interesting maze which uses your senses to scare you rather than jump scares & an incredible ending scene.
Scare Rating - 7/10
Theming Rating - 7/10
Overall Experience - 7/10
Sub Species - The End Games
'What do you mean no holding onto the person infront of you?!'
An experience which will haunt my dreams till next Scarefest, fantastic audio/theming/actors... just wow.
Scare Rating - 100/10
Theming Rating - 9/10
Overall Experience - Never Again.
Over-all, the experience was much improved from 2013, though the lack of people made the park feel sad... The solid mazes, theming and audio makes it a must visit, so go, go now, GO, JUST GO TO SCAREFEST.
The End
(till Next Time...)

Roman Roaming: Highlights from Italy, Part 2
 
Ciao! You've found Part 2 of my Roman Roaming Trip Report - if you've not yet seen Part 1, it's worth checking that out first. Part 2 continues with the tour around the land of pizza, pasta and Mario Balotelli, and includes the following Parks:
 
Part 2
Mirabilandia, Ravenna Ai Pioppi, Treviso Etnaland, Sicily  

 
Bellissimo. Let's dive straight in!
 
Mirabilandia
 

 
Mirabilandia is Italy's #2 Theme Park, yet can hardly be called "conveniently located"; its closest major city is Ravenna (nope, me neither), and the closest airports are Bologna (90 mins drive), Florence (150 mins drive), and Venice (150 mins drive). You can see the Park skyline for miles in advance of actually getting there, due to the vast area of flat fields and low vegetation that surround it. And yet that doesn't prevent Mirabilandia from being rammed most days of the weekend / holidays, largely by Italians.
 
For this reason, Mirabilandia was the only Park in which I chose to invest in a Flass Pass, which afforded unlimited riding on all rides all day. It operated via a wristband system, and dedicated ride entrances - flash the wristband, and you're let straight on. Very similar to Thorpe's Ultimate Fastrack (£80), but with less need to re-mortgage your house, at just €39 (approx. £28).
 
Few of the locals had opted for the Flash Pass, so it turned out to be a highly worthwhile purchase - namely for the numerous laps I managed on Katun, unarguably one of the best B&M inverts in the world.
 

 
No doubt many of you on here will have ridden Katun, but for those that haven't, there is a very good reason that it has placed in and around the top 10 in Mitch Hawker's annual Best Steel Coaster Poll for the last 10 years. Only Alton's own Nemesis can boast a similar record as an Invert.
 
And why? Katun's sense of speed is hard to beat. The steep first drop is a genuinely thrilling, high-octane rush of a start (which consistently gave me an shot of adrenaline that few rides do), and from there the ride never lets up, with a layout including a very floaty zero-G, and a very speedily-taken cobra roll. The final helix, again taken at some speed, with riders' feet nearly brushing the dense vegetation that has grown up around it, is another highlight, and an excellent end to the ride.
 

 
It's very hard to make the call as to which is the better inverted coaster vs. Nemesis, but Katun wins points for a simply stunning first drop, and for the sheer relentless-ness of the ride. Nemesis benefits from its greater number of near-misses, given its location in the pit, arguably a better theme, and an excellent final corkscrew inversion that - as an ending - just edges out Katun's. It's interesting to note that both Nemesis and Katun are "old school" B&Ms, having been built in 1994 and 2000 respectively, and there's a pretty solid argument that the Swiss manufacturer have edged away from these more intense inverted layouts in recent years (although Asterix's excellent OzIris can perhaps make a counter argument here).
 
At the end of the day, one ride Katun alone is worth the flight out to Mirabilandia. Book it now.
 

 
Mirabilandia also offers an attractive set of supporting rides, including the visually impressive Intamin Water Coaster, DiVertical. Opened in 2012 (and initially mired with technical problems), DiVertical remains the tallest Water Coaster in the world, with its 197ft elevator lift structure towering over the skyline.
 
Boats meander along a concrete trough towards the bottom of the lift, where they are loaded individually onto a platform - connected to one side of the dual-pronged structure - that raises the boat up to the top. The bulbous middle of the elevator lift is to allow for another platform with an empty boat - connected to the other side - to descend alongside the ascending platform containing riders. It's a very speedy process, and hats must be tipped to Intamin for making it so efficient.
 
The drop itself is a fun one - not overly steep, but longer to compensate, and the minimal lap-bar restraints ensure riders feel vulnerable during the descent.
 

 
The initial splashdown is mild, with the track barely skimming the water - the proper dose of H2O is to come. The boat careers over a well-profiled airtime hill, a couple of turns, and downward helix, before making a proper splash back down into the trough. As you can see, riders should not expect to come away dry from the experience - but in the scorching Italian summer, I didn't see one person who cared.
 
I was expecting to enjoy DiVertical, but I really enjoyed DiVertical - Intamin may well have a ride that betters Mack's well-received Water Coaster. Intamin's track is smoother (), and there is real tension built by the lift structure. Colour me surprised, but I wouldn't mind seeing more of these pop up in the warmer Parks of the world.
 

 
Continuing the Intamin theme, Mirabilandia also hosts one of the better layouts of the Intamin Accelerator in iSpeed. Opened in 2009, iSpeed accelerates from 0 - 60mph in 2.2 seconds (not dissimilar to Rita), up a 180ft top hat (not dissimilar to Stealth). What follows thereafter though is dissimilar to both UK Accelerators - a further 2,500ft of twisty, airtime-filled track, including a corkscrew and inline twist.
 
The layout is great fun, fairly intense, and taken at some speed - indeed, the ride actually hits its top speed (74mph) well after the LSM launch. What prevented it becoming a brilliant ride for me was alas the restraints - the same as those featured on Stealth and Rita.
 
As you will know, these restraints have a thin over the shoulder design, with weighty bars that sit over riders' thighs. And actually this design is pretty bearable (but wouldn't go as far to say comfy) on the UK Accelerators. But on iSpeed, where there are numerous quick direction changes, and multiple pops of ejector airtime, the restraints just became painful, making re-riding a not-too-attractive prospect.
 
I managed 5 goes (with the Flash Pass), and found towards the end that the best way to ride was to use my hands to push up against the shoulder bracing on the OSTRs, to stabilise me and alleviate the pressure from the lap bar on my thighs. In this position, the air time didn't crush my legs against the solid, straight bar as much, and the direction changes didn't slice my neck with the shoulder bracing as much. But I shouldn't have to do this to enjoy the ride - rides should be comfortable and afford the rider as much freedom as possible.
 
In sum: great layout, hampered by poor trains, 7/10. If Mack could build iSpeed but with their Mega Coaster trains, that would be amazing, thankyouverymuch.
 

 
Mirabilandia is also host to Niagara, a very wet 100ft Shoot the Chutes flume, Reset, an excellent post-apocalyptic New York-themed laser shooter Dark Ride, and Eurowheel, Europe's largest ferris wheel, which stands tallest in the Park's skyline at 300ft.
 
It's also well known for its expensive-looking stunt show, which gets refreshed yearly. After many seasons running with a "Police Academy" theme, this year Mirabilandia debuted a new Grosso Guaio a Stunt City Show ("Big Trouble in Stunt City"), in collaboration with Hot Wheels - which meant the Park could generate extra cash through placing Hot Wheels kits for sale in every retail outlet on Park.
 
The arena set looked great, and after a pretty slow start (15 mins of talking, "comedy", more talking, and some audience participation), the eventual stunts were pretty impressive. It was the usual fare: car chases, motorbike jumps, dumper trucks doing wheelies; but the stand out moment came in the finale, where "Europe's first" real-life loop-the-loop stunt was unveiled. The green Hot Wheels-branded car attacks it with some speed and the chassis actually connects with a trough in the loop to keep it on course through the manoeuvre, but it's nonetheless an impressive visual spectacle, especially in combination with the trigger-happy pyrotechnics used throughout the show!
 
Great fun, and a nice way to end the day at one of the more impressive Italian Parks.
 

 
Ai Pioppi
 
From the sublime to the ridiculous... this next Park couldn't be more different to Miribilandia if it tried.
 
Presenting Ai Pioppi. Ai Pioppi ("the poplars") is an "osteria" - literally translated as a "bar" or "tavern". It's actually more of a restaurant, and is nestled in the woodland 30 minutes drive north of Treviso (an hour north of Venice).
 
All very good, but why did a family-run restaurant feature in my roam around Italy?
 
Because, of course, this particular restaurant has roller coasters...
 

 
The restaurant itself is pretty rustic - the menu most comprising steak, fish, and polenta slices all being cooked on large hot plates together. Chips were also available. The outdoor seating area has been built to cater for crowds, with large numbers of benches and tables scattered around the expansive undercover area next to the kitchen.
 
Pricing was highly reasonable, and the food was tasty enough. There was even a nicer indoor section for the more formal meal out.
 
But you didn't come here for a food review...
 

 
Ai Pioppi is a restaurant with a difference, as the back of it features an entirely hand-built playground filled with rides ranging from swings, slides, seesaws, gyroscopes, flat rides and even roller coasters!
 
Some history: on June 15th 1969, a man named Bruno bought himself a few jugs of wine, some sausages and a few other items, and set up a tiny food stand underneath a tree in northern Italy to see if anyone would show up. By the end of the day - to his surprise - he had sold almost everything and the family restaurant, Ai Pioppi, was born.
 
The next month he had an encounter with a blacksmith who didn’t have time to make a few hooks for some chains. Bruno decided instead he would learn to weld to make the hooks, and enjoyed it so much he began to dream up small rides he could build to entice new customers to Ai Pioppi.
 
40 years later, and Bruno is still building rides by hand. And admission for these rides remains free for all patrons of his restaurant.
 

 
This is the workshop from which Bruno dreams up, and subsequently builds, new rides.
 

 
And this is the man himself - in his element as architect and manufacturer of his restaurant's attractions... and seemingly laughing in the face of retirement!
 

 
So what's on offer? There's too much to show, so here I'll offer some highlights, starting with this "ferris wheel with a difference".
 
Like many of the rides at Ai Pioppi, this attraction uses people-power to operate. Riders (max of 2) climb up the ladder to get to the central platform, where there are walkways to each opposite end. The way to make the wheel turn is for the riders to distribute their weight by walking (either forwards or backwards - different direction by each) in the smaller wheels situated at each end. With each rider moving around their respective mini-wheels, the central wheel turns, and it's entirely possible to complete a full 360 turn (and for riders to remain fairly upright) if both participants get the hang of it.
 
Fascinating to watch, and fairly daunting to ride - there are no restraints to speak of, only a handlebar to hold, so it's quite easy to see this going wrong with a mis-step or two...
 

 
Onto another hand-built kinetic wonder. In this ride, guests sit in cages and pedal what most closely resembles a bicycle, in order to drive their carriage around the large loop. There are heavy counterweights at the other ends of the pendulums, which enables a decent momentum to be built up - hard work to start with, but it's not too difficult to get into a rhythm and build up enough power to get close to inverting.
 
The best I managed was to get my cage to the 1-o-clock position on the "clock"; not quite enough to get to "12-o-clock" and beyond to make the full inversion. There were three reasons for this:
 
1) Momentum runs out very quickly when your cage (the heavier part) reaches any height, meaning a huge effort is required on the pedals to continue to push it over the top;
2) The "restraints" consisted of two curved shoulder bars, not unlike the ones featured on Thorpe's Slammer, but with zero padding, so they hurt really quite a lot when your entire body weight starts to rest on them, and;
3) By the time I'd pedalled all the way to "1-o-clock", I was fairly terrified of the entire contraption.
 

 
Moving on, to the 4 roller coasters that exist at Ai Pioppi.
 
Two were unfortunately not operating during my visit; the oldest, Bob, had a large twig over the tracks and the gate to access it was padlocked. Unfortunately, my Italian wasn't good enough to ask Bruno what was wrong. The second, Catapulta, has been "Under Construction" for 5+ years now, although given that it looked like it was attempting a petrifying Stealth-like launch using a counterweight system, this wasn't a huge issue for me...
 
The Carrello della Gobba ("Cart with a Hump") was open, and is a fairly sizable butterfly / shuttle ride with a c.30 degree incline, a bunny hop after the initial drop, and a steep (nearly vertical) ramp at the other end. Being similarly "people-powered", riders have to push the single-person cart to the top of the incline (on the left) until it locks into place at the top, get into the thing, lower and lock the "restraint", and release the brake on the floor of the cart to start the descent...
 

 
Given my previous experience with the flat rides, and the appearance of the cart (below), I was needless to say rather apprehensive about releasing the brake (had Bruno ever heard of ADIPS?!). However, my fears were (mostly) unfounded, as Carrello della Gobba gave a pleasantly smooth ride, marred only by the extreme ejector airtime over the bunny hop, which would have certainly thrown me (to some considerable height) out of the cart, had the painful metal thigh-restraint not prevented me from doing so. Ow.
 
The ride also takes a fair time to finish, because there is nothing to stop the cart once its been released at the top; it just continues to shuttle forwards, and backwards, and forwards, until friction alone brings it to a slow enough speed to get out of it unharmed.
Most riders came off with grins on their faces, and bruises on their thighs!
 

 
But the emotions stirred by Carrello della Gobba were nothing in comparison to Ai Pioppi's headline attraction, the Pendolo ("Pendulum").
 
Pendolo, like Carrello, is a butterfly / shuttle ride, but on a much grander scale, and without the bunny hop. Built 15 years after the original Bob coaster, Pendolo towers well above every other construction in the woodland, including the trees.
 
When we approached the ride, it was considered a write-off; the cart was covered up, and the railings sported signs saying "Closed" and "Under Maintenance". Given the sheer size of the thing, and the disconcerting yellow sign that advertised "maximum speeds of 100 km/hour", I would be lying if I said that a tiny part of me wasn't a tiny part relieved that I wouldn't be riding today...
 

 
But as we were eating our steak and polenta for lunch, Bruno had other ideas... and set to work fixing up the Pendolo to get it into operation!
 
When the first test car ascended the incline - shunning people-power this time, being driven by a pulley system with motor - we all held our breath as to whether the car would complete the run successfully, given the rampant foliage growing up through the track...
 

 
...but complete successfully it did, making a huge clattering racket as it thundered through the bottom of the half-pipe and up the towering steep ramp the other side. Much like Carrello, there was no braking mechanism, so the ride took around 3 minutes of coasting up and down each side of the track to slow down enough to (manually) pull the car to a halt for the oncoming riders.
 
And then it was my turn. Getting into the 3-across car, featuring seats still covered in leaves and head rests that had clearly been "borrowed" from a Fiat 500, I had rarely been more nervous for a ride. Not even the Vietnamese coaster with the non-locking OTSRs last year had me as worried as this one did, and I'm unashamed to say that at the point the car was released at the top of the slow incline, I shrieked like a little girl.
 
Whether we hit 100 km/hour or not, I will never know, but it could well have been; thankfully the near-vertical ramp that greeted us at the other side was quick to take the speed out of the car, and back down we went. The adrenaline rush was massive; 80% due to pure fear, 20% due to the thrill of the (impressively smooth) ride.
 
I have no doubt that the first time I rode Colossus, way back when, I experienced a similar level of nerves and excitement (10 loops! OMG!). But having grown older and more travelled, it's become harder and harder to re-create that pure adrenaline rush. Ferarri World's Formula Rossa did it for me last year, but then it had to launch me to 149mph across the Arabian desert to do so.
 
All the more kudos then, to Bruno, for giving me such intense "fear and thrills" feelings all over again on his Pendolo . Bravo!
 

 
In sum, Ai Pioppi is an absolutely bonkers place; as likely to make you soil your underwear in fear as it is to make you drop your jaw in wonder. It's probably a place that I'll never frequent again. But boy, am I glad to have been. Bruno - thank you for the memories, and don't ever stop inventing.
 
For more, there's a mini-documentary about Ai Pioppi available on Vimeo that's well worth 11 minutes of your time, here.
 

 
Etnaland
 

 
And finally, a little note on Etnaland. Etnaland is not an easy place to get to; situated on the isle of Sicily, around 30 minutes drive from the town of Catania on the east coast. Even a weekend trip over is not the easiest; only Ryanair fly direct from the UK (Stansted), only once a day during peak season, and even then it's a 3 hour+ drive to the Park from Sicily's Palermo airport...
 
This is a shame, because Etnaland is a gem of a Park. It features both a Water Park and a Theme Park, and in the summer season opens the former 9am - 6pm, and the latter 7:30pm - 1am. The only overlapping attractions to the Parks are the Jungle Splash (Shoot the Chutes with a vertical lift, below), and the Crocodile Rapids (Hafema Rapids) rides - and in the daytime, both rides add huge volumes of water to the experience (e.g. Crocodile Rapids has a massive waterfall directly over the rapids trough; in the evening, this is switched off... in the daytime, it is not...).
 
Ride either of these "Theme Park" rides in the daytime without wearing "Water Park" attire (e.g. swimming costume) at your peril...!
 

 
As for the Theme Park, it boasts a (surprisingly) excellent S&S Mine Train, Eldorado, which offers a wonderfully drawn-out first drop, detailed mountain rock work, and impressive forces on the downward helices. More mine trains from S&S, please! Other supporting rides include the novel The School dark ride, featuring desks and multi-choice questions rather than the usual laser guns, Quasar, a Zamperla Disk'O coaster, and the imaginatively-titled Etnaland Tower, a standard 200ft S&S Double Shot (elevated above others by offering excellent views of a certain Mount Etna...).
 
The real reason to make the effort to get to Etnaland, however, is The Storm, one of the first Mack MegaCoasters built after the debut of Blue Fire in Europa Park in 2009. I love the comfort of the Mack MegaCoaster trains, and was intrigued as to how this one would ride, especially compared to my experiences on Helix (review), and Alpina Blitz (review).
 
Happily, I can report that The Storm is an excellent ride; smooth, with a few pop of airtime, and an absolute killer Mack-trademark inline twist at the end of the course (akin to Blue Fire), but with the added bonus of a loud thunder crack being played by a nearby speaker when the train travels through it. It's infinitely re-ridable and has a great "rock and roll" theme, with heavy metal being blasted out through the queue line every time a train ascends the lift hill! Catch a POV of it here.
 
So how does it compare? It's certainly a brilliant ride... but lacks the insane airtime of Alpina Blitz, the length and terrain of Helix, and the theming and near misses of Blue Fire... so unfortunately doesn't compare quite as well to these similar Mack rides. It also could have done with being a little more forceful. But given the overall quality of the Mack product, there is absolutely nothing for Etnaland to be ashamed of - The Storm easily outstrips a large majority of the other coasters I've ridden. Top notch work from Mack, again.
 
And at 1am, with its LED lighting package shining bold in the moonlight, it looks bloody good too.
 

 
~
 
In short, I'd thoroughly recommend checking Italy out - both as a "normal" tourist and a "coaster" tourist; the country is packed with variety, and this trip report has barely scratched the surface of what's on offer.
 
And worth re-iterating again: whilst many of the Parks showcased here are relatively easy to get to for your average coaster enthusiast, touring the whole country and hitting everything is rather more tricky - which is why unlike my previous Trip Reports, for Italy I was with a large group from the European Coaster Club. If you've not heard of the ECC, membership is £25.50 a year, and that buys you 6 issues of the excellent First Drop magazine, a bunch of discounts for Parks across Europe, and of course access to trips such as the one I've described here
 
Thanks for reading!

Roman Roaming: Highlights from Italy, Part 1
 
Ciao! You may well consider that writing up a two-week, 3,500km road trip around the coasters of Italy, covering 16 parks, 6 fairs and thousands of photos, would be quite the drawn out process - and you'd be right. So please forgive me for opting to showcase the highlights here instead; the stand-out, the fun, and the unusual.
 
Italy is a fantastic place to be a tourist - from the 2,000 year old ruins of Pompeii, to the narrow backwaters of pretty Venice, to the imposing Dolomites and other mountainous regions across the country - there's no shortage of things to see and do. Add to the list the ancient sites in Rome, Pisa's Leaning Tower, and the stunning islands in the South to enjoy, and I can think of few other European countries with so much variety to offer a traveller. It's also a country that's rapidly growing its coaster count, with an array of high-budget new Theme Parks opening their doors in the very recent past (Miragica; 2009, Etnaland; 2010, Rainbow Magicland; 2011, and Cinecittà World; 2014, to name a few).
 
I've chosen a select few of the Parks I visited over the Italy tour to highlight here:
 
Part 1
Cinecittà World, Rome Gardaland, Lake Garda Cavallino Matto, Livorno  
Part 2
Mirabilandia, Ravenna Ai Pioppi, Treviso Etnaland, Sicily  

 
Bellissimo. So, in no particular order, on with the Trip Reports!
 
Cinecittà World
 

 
Cinecittà World, the newest Park in Italy having opened only in July last year, is situated a 45 minute drive south of Rome. There is a once-daily shuttle bus that runs from Rome to the Park (departing 09:30, returning 18:15) for the sum of £10, but alas no clear other public transport options - so if you've not got a vehicle, it's the shuttle bus or bust! This is a shame, given that the Park opens until 23:00 in the Summer as standard...
 
The €250m Park is something of a Universal Studios of Italy - Cinecittà is the largest film studio in Europe, and counts Martin Scorsese among its regulars. For the studio, which has fallen from over 350 productions a year in their heyday, to just 50 in the last six years, Cinecittà World represents an entry into an adjacent market to grow again and bring freshness to the brand.
 
And it's an absolutely gorgeous Park. Brand spanking new, and gobsmackingly pretty. Below is the entrance, where naturally there is a red carpet for guests to walk down. Every day, the Park stages a 15 minute "welcome" show upon opening, where a large cast of singers and dancers perform whilst slowly retreating backwards down "Cinecittà Street" (1920s New York), which connects the entrance to the main Park plaza. Visitors walk down Cinecittà Street with the cast, and upon reaching the central plaza, the show finishes with a flourish and the rides all officially open. Nice touch!
 

 
Wisened readers will probably have already guessed why I've included Cinecittà in this report - it is of course home to a near-clone of our very own beloved(?) 10-looper Colossus. Inexplicably named Altair CCW-0204 (no, I didn't really get the theme...), the ride is identical to Thorpe's own but for a few differences: a re-profiled first drop, a faster cable lift hill, and lapbar trains.
 
And in the clear blue skies of the hot Italian summer, it looked great
 

 
The cobra roll and final inline twist that we are all so used to seeing in Staines. Note that Intamin have gone for their newer "box" supports, rather than the cylindrical columns of Colossus.
 

 
And these are the lapbar trains, affording the rider a huge deal more upper-body freedom, if not that much more lower-body freedom (there was still not exactly an abundance of space for legs and feet to be positioned...).
 

 
So how did the train compare? The short answer is that the new trains are a vast, vast improvement on Colossus' own, and Thorpe should invest in a new set immediately. They improve the ride experience dramatically, especially during the final 5 inlines, where the train almost throws riders out of their seats with only a single bar holding them in - superb.
 

 
The more nuanced answer is that the ride still isn't perfect. Whilst the new trains are a vast improvement, they are still rattly - Altair does not provide the glass-smooth experience that you might expect from e.g. a Mack Mega Coaster. And true to form, the seats towards the back were rougher than those at the front (the same, constantly vibrating roughness that Colossus exhibits - just less so).
 
Intamin's version of the lap bar also proves sub-optimal; the lap bar on these trains are exactly that: just a solid, straight bar. They don't mould around your thighs (Mack), or pin your hips (S&S), or hug your stomach (Maurer). They are just a solid, straight bar - and as such were a little uncomfortable, especially through the inlines: your thighs just slam into them (and full body weight rest on them) on every inversion.
 
It's by no means a deal breaker, and Altair remains a substantially improved experience over Colossus, but there's still work to do for Intamin to perfect the 10-looper model. That said, it's hard not to like the ride, with its futuristic theming, faster lift hill, and steeper, more thrilling first drop. I still enjoy Colossus, and Altair betters it.
 

 
A quick shoutout to the other headline rides at Cinecittà - Darkmare is a rightly well-received Intamin Family Drop Coaster, that has a much better "coaster" section than Thirteen at Alton, and a much worse "drop" sequence than Thirteen at Alton. Housed entirely inside (the building is ginormous), the first 2/3rds of the ride features some thrilling (and super smooth) transitions through drops and swoops around Darkmare's impressive "Hell" themeing.
 
The final 1/3 of the ride - the drop sequence - has none of the drama of Alton's effort: the train approaches a giant screen showing a winged Roman "Satan" figure surrounded by flames and oozing blood. With no warning, the train performs the 5m drop (unlike Thirteen: no bouncing, no bangs), and winds back to the station.
 
Nonetheless, a good attraction - and infinitely re-rideable.
 

 
More impressive themeing is showcased on Mack's longest Supersplash ride: Aktium. Inspired by Ben Hur, the ride has two drops and a splash zone for watchers, which proved popular in the midday heat.
 

 
And with Cinecittà clearly having done a 3-attraction deal with Intamin, the final headline ride is the most impressively themed (bar Disney's Tower of Terror) Drop Tower that I've seen. The actual elephant itself ("Erawan") is a third of the height of the 180ft tower, which features Sit Down, Tilt Sit Down, and Tilt Stand Up Floorless sides. I tried them all, and as with Apocalpyse at Drayton Manor, the Tilt Stand Up ride was by far the most thrilling.
 
Guests enter the ride under the trunk...
 

 
...and exit through the feet. Unbelievably detailed theming work on show here, backed up by a trademark punchy Intamin drop. I loved it!
 

 
Cinecittà World deserves success - the place looks shiny and spotless, and there is immersive themeing everywhere you look. The Park also offers a kiddie area, 4 backlot sets for guests to wander around, and a blockbuster show, Enigma, which is staged twice a day.
 
However, on the day I visited (a hot Saturday in August), the Park can barely have been breaking even: visitor numbers were low to the point where some Altair trains were not being fully filled before being dispatched. I saw no advertising for Cinecittà in and around Rome (in stark contrast to the ubiquitous adverts for Rainbow Magicland - a Park further away!). Some of the Park's supporting attractions aren't great (the 4D Immersive Tunnel is really tedious). And Cinecittà still needs investment to bolster its ride count: there's just not enough there yet to warrant a full day out, especially when crowds are as low as they were.
 
Cinecittà is only a baby - it's just turned one year old - so these complaints are perhaps excusable. Fingers crossed the Park grows and continues to invest in high quality, highly themed experiences.
 
Oh - and it's cheap too; adult tickets start from €23 / £16.75 (compare to Thorpe's £59.99...). Don't miss it if you're visiting Rome!
 
Gardaland
 

 
No doubt you are familiar with Gardaland - one of the larger Parks in Merlin's Resorts portfolio, and set against the stunning backdrop of Italy's Lake Garda.
 
As it's well covered elsewhere, I will spare you a full Trip Report of the place, but needless to say I was impressed. The Park has an extensive ride lineup, all of which are well themed, and the Park itself is pretty vast - it can easily lay claim to being a "Resort" as you'd want at least 2 days to properly do it all in the Summer. Pleasingly, the Park also had a daily opening ceremony featuring Park mascots and confetti cannons, and their suite of bespoke Park-wide music was playing everywhere, which was available to buy on CD for €8 - bargain!
 
The Park has somewhat "grown up" a bit in the last 4 years, with the arrival of two new B&Ms - the second of which debuted this year. Oblivion: The Black Hole wins no awards for creativity (I mean, come on Merlin...), but does deserve recognition for ride experience.
 
I'm an unashamed fan of Krake over at sister Heide Park, so was intrigued as to how Garda's Oblivion would compare. Thankfully it too is a great ride, with bags of floaty airtime (especially in the back row), a great drop, and an interesting (if short) layout in the second half. The airtime hill after the Immelman is some of the best track that B&M have produced in recent years; forceful ejector airtime, great stuff.
 

 
And the ride experience is complemented by the almost universally excellent theming. Case in point is the "black hole" that the train dives into, which appears to suck all manner of objects into it, including a TV outside broadcast van. The queueline is also an interesting one, snaking indoors around high-res floor-to-ceiling screens filled with bespoke-filmed Oblivion content, and other theming set pieces (see the white tent above). The station is filled with an array of mock-security cameras all pointing at the trains (a cynical person would say Merlin over-bought on cameras for the Smiler... ).
 

 
Gardaland's Dive Machine also benefits from a fantastic location, right on the edge of Lake Garda itself. Ascending the lift hill with that view over to your right adds an element that Alton and Heide can't begin to compete with.
 
So which is the preferred Merlin Diver? It's genuinely hard to say, so I'm going to do a lot of fence sitting. Alton's Oblivion is the groundbreaking original, and with the best theme. The trains are bigger, heavier, and the track actually dives into a hole, with very little curvature / bottoming out noticeable as a spectator - hugely worrying for the first time rider! Both the Heide and Garda Dive Machines appear less intimidating, in part due to the fact that they are smaller, and you can see the track bottoming out at the bottom of the dive. But I absolutely love Krake's dive into the creature's mouth and subsequent splashdown for visual impact, and Garda's Oblivion has the better, longer layout of all three rides.
 
Let's just say that they're all enjoyable, hugely re-ridable coasters, and leave it at that. Not going to trouble my Top 10, but I'd ride any of them any day
 

 
Onto the second of the Park's B&Ms: Raptor, opened in 2011, was the original B&M prototype Wing Rider coaster, beating Thorpe's The Swarm by a year. It's another great-looking ride, and I especially enjoyed the "guns" pointing at the train in the station - very atmospheric. The trains look great, and if you think they look remarkably similar to Swarm's, you'd be right: Merlin took a near-replica of the Raptor train design and heavily borrowed from it for Swarm's alien race train shells (saving both $$ and time).
 

 
The ride is really quite different to Swarm's. The Swarm is dominated by that Dive Loop first drop, inversions and helices. Raptor feels far less twisty in comparison - the first drop is a traditional straight one, and there's far more linear track generally, meaning the ride is far more about swooping around the near-miss scenery and generating pops of airtime than Swarm's is. Raptor is also helped by the lush landscaping present at Gardaland - it's built on a hill - so the ride feels faster and more exciting due to the close proximity of the foliage and trees.
 

 
I've yet to ride a Wing Rider that's particularly forceful or intense, but Raptor for me shows off the hardware at its best. Don't get me wrong, being at my local Park, I love the Swarm - particularly the themeing effort and ride storyline. But as a roller coaster, Raptor gives the superior ride. There's more airtime, more near-misses, and it's really bedded in well in its location at Gardaland. For me, there's no fence sitting here:
 
Raptor > The Swarm > Flug der Dämonen (poor pacing, and those vibrations...). Sorry Heide .
 

 
Gardaland easily rivals Alton as Merlin's best Theme Park property, but it's a shame its ride lineup is so inconsistent. As good as Raptor and Oblivion are, they can't excuse the existence of the extended SLC Blue Tornado (one of the most painful SLCs I've ridden; Vekoma should hang their head in shame), or the prototype Screaming Squirrel, Sequoia Adventure (ride it once and no more: why, S&S, why?!). And when the world's longest Wacky Worm, Ortobruco Tour (well over 2 minutes of ride time!), emerges as one of the better coasters in the Park, you know there's some room for improvement...
 
Nonetheless, Gardaland overall's a great Park, and deservedly #8 in Europe. Visit for Oblivion and Raptor, and their superbly themed Intamin Water Coaster, Fuga da Atlantide. If the ride lineup continues to expand along the same trajectory of the last few years, Gardaland has a bright future ahead.
 
Cavallino Matto
 

 
I'll finish off Part 1 with a short note on Cavallino Matto. Cavallino is a regional Park in Tuscany, and a very pretty one at that. The name "Cavallino Matto" literally means "The Crazy Little Horse" in Italian, which goes some way to explaining the Park's strange mascot.
 
With a small selection of flat rides, travelling coasters and a dodgy 4D cinema, it has been relatively unheard of on these shores - until this year, when the Park stepped up and installed their first large-scale 'coaster, Freestyle.
 
Freestyle is a relocated Togo Stand Up coaster from Canada's Wonderland, where it operated for nearly 30 years as SkyRider. Now moved across the Atlantic and given a striking paint job, the ride finds itself with a new lease of life as the star attraction in this smaller Park. And there's no doubt that it looks fantastic.
 
It also means that a certain Park in Tamworth can no longer claim to have "Europe's only Stand Up roller coaster". Sorry, Drayton
 

 
Unfortunately it rides terribly, like most Stand Ups, and all Togo rides (Togo are now not in business, having been bankrupted by a Knott's Berry Farm lawsuit in 2001 over manufacturing defects in their new Windjammer Surf Racers coaster). The ride is fine if the train is going straight, with no horizontal or vertical directional changes... but alas this is the exception rather than the norm, and rib-bruising, head-banging, and manhood-punishing all takes place along the course of the track.
 
Against intuition, the worst parts of the ride are actually the small bunny hops towards the end of the layout; although small, these are taken so quickly that there's a pronounced whiplash effect on those riding. Check out the facial expressions of the riders below and see for yourself...
 
Screams of pain, or delight?
 

 
That said, you can't deny it looks good, and it's certain to do wonders for this fledgling regional Park. I'd ride it any day over Gardaland's Blue Tornado. And one would imagine that after 30 years of operation, Canada's Wonderland sold it off fairly cheaply, so I'd say it was a sound investment for Cavallino.
 
It also gave rise to one of my favourite photos from the trip - Freestyle poking out from above the mass of Tuscany Pine trees that fill the Park's landscape, with the deep blue Mediterranean in the distance. Lovely
 

 
~
 
That ends Part 1 of my Roman Roaming Trip Report - well done for making it this far! If you're keen for more, Part 2 will showcase the thrills of Miribilandia, the terror of Ai Pioppi, and the charm of Etnaland - Sicily's first major Theme Park.
 
A final point: whilst many of the Parks showcased here are relatively easy to get to for your average coaster enthusiast, touring the whole country and hitting everything in 2 weeks is rather more tricky - which is why unlike my previous Trip Reports, for Italy I was with a large group from the European Coaster Club. If you've not heard of the ECC, membership is £25.50 a year, and that buys you 6 issues of the excellent First Drop magazine, a bunch of discounts for Parks across Europe, and of course access to trips such as the one I've described here
 
Thanks for reading!

For a park to stand out to me it has to be really special. Not many parks do that successfully, give such a great balance of fun, imersiveness, magic etc. But Phantasialand is right up there for me with the great parks of Florida (probably my 2nd or 3rd favourite park I've been too). My only tiny complaint, there didn't seem to be a like big impact entrance. But that might just be they only have one and it's at the Berlin park entrance, not the mystery one (so many entrances and car parks).

Not a bad thing to have at the entrance though (this was the only thing we saw over the trees driving to the park)

Crazy rapids!

It's just such a lovely park! Nothing opened at 9 that we saw so we did a bit of wandering and it's so beautiful. This is a madhouse. Yep.

The Berlin street (with a brilliant funhouse in it!)

Was now 9:30 so we went to our first ride, Maus Au Chocolat! And it's amazing!!!! Same system as Midway Mania and just so much fun!!! Highlight of the trip by far!

Not knowing how busy it was going to be on park (8pm close and lovely weather) we did Chiapas.

You don't get soaking wet, or really that wet at all but it's a sublime ride!

Boat travelling the station.

Hidden away in this area is Talocan. A really forceful topspin with brilliant effects, music. It was like a show to watch

So much fire!!!

We headed back through Berlin past this really cool looking chairswing!

Simple but so effective!

To find a hidden boat ride Hollywood Tour with Hitchcock.

Could tell it was old but was still great with all the different sets. This is Amity.

Kong

Can't remember

There's also a coaster up there called Temple of The Nighthawk. All enclosed, quite good but is a bit dragged out.

Now was to try Winjas

Now I won't spoil it but when riding it you think they're quite modern spinners with what they do. Surprisingly they open in 2002.

Fury and Spinball could have been special

Wooosh

They had one of these. We did the one at Plopsa and got the dirtiest looks ever. Plus they're not that good so no thanks.

Josh didn't want to walk under the bridge in the maze because it might get him wet.

There was also an interesting splash battle. Might have been good if the effects worked but yeah. No. It was at the back of the park hidden away, I can forgive them like it almost wasn't real...

It was time for the hyped up ride of okayness.

It looks great with its surroundings. And you can't work out the layout one bit.

But yeah. Even Jack points at it as a "oh I wanted that little bit more"

Definitely not a bad ride. Not at all. Just overhyped

So we had some Currywurst and watched a man through some ming vases around.

Was time for Mystery

With rapids

The drops are ridiculous. If you're unlucky in your seating you get soaked.

Again this looked amazing. Like sooo good!

It's the only imposing thing on park

It was just quite disappointing. Although we've now heard it has two settings and we caught the naf one.

Having done the park we hit up some rerides. Jack and Peaj did Talocan again so me and Josh watched the show

Bucky also enjoyed the show, shame it set his ears on fire

Yes, lower Peaj and Jack into the fire

We made sure we caught this.

So I've now seen the show in English with no effects and German with effects. Wish I'd just seen it at Thorpe jeez

I really like this ride sign! It's subtle, works with the theme and you get a great view of the ride in it!

We went and watched the ice skating show which was pretty good. Was nice to be able to see shows at a park, added a lot more to the day than just rides.

Their mine ride

Again very good. I liked here how everything interacted with something else basically.

More B&M

More Jack

Pretty

Woosh

Lovely view of China

And here is the cake we saved from those mice on Maus Au Chocolat!
This is the only park from the trip I really want to visit again. Was my favourite day, and the 11 hours were so easy to fill, we didn't even do that many rerides. We thought it would be our longest day, nope. Join me next time where we go to Toverland, and then dash off to Efteling to hit up Baron on its opening day

Causing a bit of a gap to the long speculated trip reports of certain members visiting several new major parks [surprisingly not Benin in this case], you may be wondering what the Creek will be able to provide to contend with this. If you were hoping for reports of new visited parks and the like, you may leave feeling rather disappointed [there are big plans in the works for the near'ish future though], however what I will offer instead will be in the shape and form of unique and different theme park activity.

Having been a big fan/enthusiast of parks and coasters for a long time, there is something I had always wanted to do at a park for a long time in my life; that was walking up to the top of roller coaster lift hill. Following the foreseeable cancellation of my Towers lift hill walk [due to the unfortunate accident of a certain ride], I instantly booked myself a coaster climb on one the coasters at Thorpe [whether it's a good idea to this the day after a heavy night clubbing and drinking is another story however]

Judging from the [poorly quality] picture above you can tell right away which ride I went for; Colossus
After having experienced my chosen ride at the end of the day before closing, I waited patiently outside the ride's exit [as instructed by the details on the email I'd received when I booked it], where I was soon approached by a member of Thorpe's stuff and when clarifying my name, I knew my experience was about to begin.

Being directed in to the Swarm's control booth with others taking the walk [a dad and his son], we were given an informative talk about the ride's generally statistics from basic things such as opening in 2012, being built by Bolliger & Mabillard and costing 20 million to more complex and interesting facts.
When it comes to dispatching the ride, the operator in the control booth must press both green buttons with his hands in-addion to the platform staff pressing the other four buttons. If one of these buttons isn't pressed the ride will not dispatch. Interestingly, there are four positions staff can be allocated to on this ride, control operator, baggage room, front and back of station, where are total number of seven staff are required on two trains operation and six on one train operation.
The ride's console is a lot smaller and advanced from the park's older consoles [inferno's apparently strikes similarities but is noticeably bigger]. Not only can individual rows of restraints be released individually [no need for the recheck all bars here] but the computer system can also calculate how many trains have been running on the system and give a general count of throughput. Speaking on throughputs, one train operation on Swarm allows for about 600 people per hour [pph] whilst two trains allows up to 1200 PPH.
As you can witness from the photo [and the giveaway on the booth] the ride was on just one train at the end of the day, however this was to ensure final checks on the ride's others train which would be checked up through the evening/night and then run on the circuit the next day whilst the existing train would then receive it's inspection. Interestingly whilst the work shop is located on the right to the station building, there is a giant cold fridge in there too [ I forget why though].
Other interesting things the console allows [pictured above] is to open/close gates, stop and start the ride and also stop and start on the lift hill too. The ride was naturally locked down when we were there which only the engineering crew would be able to open to stop any possibility of the ride operating whilst we were there. One of the other proceedures of loading aside from the buttons and thumbs up is all seats must be closed and locked for dispatched regardelss of them being with or without riders.

The second part of the console, this allows the operator to speak to through the tannoy systems, and press automated announcments such as weather closing and reopening. There's naturally a phone too for the operator to contact platform staff.

like all ride's alike, the ride uses CCTV throughout the surrounding area which is to used to ensure the ride is working correctly and that no one has trespassed in the surrounding area [which would result in an e-stop].

Before doing the actual part of the lift walk, everyone was instructed to put on safety harness vests, which involved putting the main part on your chest whilst adjusting and tightening the giant clip and then getting your legs through the holes then adjusting them. This was finalised by the ball hold which would connect to the coaster wire itself.

Then it was time for the walk itself to begin. This gaint bit of machinery operates the lift hill of the ride.
The harness I was wearing was connected to the chainwire at the side, which involved in the positioning of the clip. Every so often, you would need to push the clip through a check point area so to ensure maximum safety. If you folded the clip in, then it would stick you to position. The design of this safety figure has been designed to prevent slip backs, so if you accidentally trip up on the way up or down, the clip safely locks you in place preventing any major accidents from happening.

One of things talked about was the actual meaning of the ride's project name LC12. I naturally put it down as Lez Cougan, however the actual meaning of the acronym was infact Lost Cause. Mentions of other project names such as Project Odyssey [Colossus] and Project Dylan [saw] were also mentioned briefly there too.
And many steps later, we finally reached the top. It was a very nice day so I was able to get some pretty good views of the park and surrounding area whilst I was up there [including Heathrow].


Who Thought Thorpe was so beautiful


I learn't many interesting new facts on my climb which was great to hear whilst taking in the stunning views below. These included,
1/ Stealth & Rita were originally supposed to be one big coaster however due to some difficulties in planning it, this was split in half. So Thorpe got one half [the better half IMO] whilst Towers got Rita.
2/ The reason why Nemesis Inferno was themed like a volcano was because of the fire that took place on the site the ride replaced [Tropical Travels].
3/ If Thorpe were to build something massive on the empty island next to Swarm, they would need to remove something equivalent in size [my tour guide described the park's landscape as being like a Lilo.

I naturally had to ask/enquire about WC16 [Thorpe's new dark ride] during the climb. However unsurprisingly he wasn't able to provide much information except that it would be the first kind of ride to ever exist in the world and that it would be a top class ride. Even facts down to when it would open [spring or summer] could not be provided.
He did mention there would be more interesting in vestments on the way within the park and that Thorpe's target was now all age groups.


When it came to Fright Nights, he said that this years one would be bigger and better, however couldn't confirm completely if there would be any new attractions or face it alone returned [but hinted the former was likely].

On the operational front, the ride cannot operate below 5 degrees or in winds over 35 MPH, there's a wind tracking device at the top of the hill which is sort of in the form of a micro wind turbine.


The main Thorpe hotel is expected to open around 2018/2019. It was mentioned how a spruce up of the entrance would be liked [depecting a very RCT style appearance] and hinted that a redesign in the future would probably happen however the dome would remain for the foreseeable long term due to it's complex structure and helpful functions within the park.


One of the most eager questions I asked I did manage to get an answer for though was the future of the now closed Chief Rangers Caroulsel? When dismantled the ride was stored temporarily in the staff car park for a while, however unfortunately the ride will never be able to return to the park.
This is because it's going to a different park. Which though wasn't said however apparently it isn't close to any major European parks and the country of location is unknown [so tracking of the ride will likely be extremely difficult]. I am happy to confirm though that many prominent items from the old ride have been salvaged including the old ride centrepieces which are apparently now located in the education centre. The other horses on the ride are believed to have been kept to use on the ride's new home.


I asked on what the forseeable future for Mr Monkey might be and he reckons the ride is here to stay as a tribute and lone survivor of the Ranger area that once dominated the park.

When it came to potential rides going, the answer was generally that Thorpe like to keep their rides and that Samurai was closed so that they could give it out the attention it needed to work again as it was still a popular ride at the park.






When it came to Colossus's 'potential' repaint he was unsure on whether it would get fully done and did agree that ride presentations are an important aspect of rides. He did however hint towards the possible return of the railway in the future and the re-theme of Rumba though.

Proof this is real



A pic of me and my guide



I'm a long way up!

After this unique,interesting and insightful experience, I gradually made it down from this giant coaster back to the ground where I thanked my host before grabbing my belongings and making my way.
The Big Question
Was The Walk Worth £50?
Just about,
in this experience, not only do you get to go up and down your coaster of choice, but you are presented with stunning and amazing views of the surrounding area not just in the park but on for many miles throughout the landscape. You also learn a lot of new facts and information on different things in the park from the operational and management side to how the park works as a whole. Seeing the control cabin of one of my favourite coasters was another interesting sight and I enjoyed my time doing this experience where all the VIP team were extremely friendly and helpful and this was no rush or pushing ahead on the experience at any time.
I will probably do another lift walk here at somepoint in the future [not sure when though] on Colossus to see how it compares and look how different the ride works from an operational view, B&M were described as the creme de la creme of coasters when I was there. If you're in to different theme park experiences and wish to experience a lift hill walk, I would definitely recommend experiencing one on The Swarm!

Causing a bit of a gap to the long speculated trip reports of certain members visiting several new major parks [surprisingly not Benin in this case], you may be wondering what the Creek will be able to provide to contend with this. If you were hoping for reports of new visited parks and the like, you may leave feeling rather disappointed [there are big plans in the works for the near'ish future though], however what I will offer instead will be in the shape and form of unique and different theme park activity.

Having been a big fan/enthusiast of parks and coasters for a long time, there is something I had always wanted to do at a park for a long time in my life; that was walking up to the top of roller coaster lift hill. Following the foreseeable cancellation of my Towers lift hill walk [due to the unfortunate accident of a certain ride], I instantly booked myself a coaster climb on one the coasters at Thorpe [whether it's a good idea to this the day after a heavy night clubbing and drinking is another story however]

Judging from the [poorly quality] picture above you can tell right away which ride I went for; Colossus
After having experienced my chosen ride at the end of the day before closing, I waited patiently outside the ride's exit [as instructed by the details on the email I'd received when I booked it], where I was soon approached by a member of Thorpe's stuff and when clarifying my name, I knew my experience was about to begin.

Being directed in to the Swarm's control booth with others taking the walk [a dad and his son], we were given an informative talk about the ride's generally statistics from basic things such as opening in 2012, being built by Bolliger & Mabillard and costing 20 million to more complex and interesting facts.
When it comes to dispatching the ride, the operator in the control booth must press both green buttons with his hands in-addion to the platform staff pressing the other four buttons. If one of these buttons isn't pressed the ride will not dispatch. Interestingly, there are four positions staff can be allocated to on this ride, control operator, baggage room, front and back of station, where are total number of seven staff are required on two trains operation and six on one train operation.
The ride's console is a lot smaller and advanced from the park's older consoles [inferno's apparently strikes similarities but is noticeably bigger]. Not only can individual rows of restraints be released individually [no need for the recheck all bars here] but the computer system can also calculate how many trains have been running on the system and give a general count of throughput. Speaking on throughputs, one train operation on Swarm allows for about 600 people per hour [pph] whilst two trains allows up to 1200 PPH.
As you can witness from the photo [and the giveaway on the booth] the ride was on just one train at the end of the day, however this was to ensure final checks on the ride's others train which would be checked up through the evening/night and then run on the circuit the next day whilst the existing train would then receive it's inspection. Interestingly whilst the work shop is located on the right to the station building, there is a giant cold fridge in there too [ I forget why though].
Other interesting things the console allows [pictured above] is to open/close gates, stop and start the ride and also stop and start on the lift hill too. The ride was naturally locked down when we were there which only the engineering crew would be able to open to stop any possibility of the ride operating whilst we were there. One of the other proceedures of loading aside from the buttons and thumbs up is all seats must be closed and locked for dispatched regardelss of them being with or without riders.

The second part of the console, this allows the operator to speak to through the tannoy systems, and press automated announcments such as weather closing and reopening. There's naturally a phone too for the operator to contact platform staff.

like all ride's alike, the ride uses CCTV throughout the surrounding area which is to used to ensure the ride is working correctly and that no one has trespassed in the surrounding area [which would result in an e-stop].

Before doing the actual part of the lift walk, everyone was instructed to put on safety harness vests, which involved putting the main part on your chest whilst adjusting and tightening the giant clip and then getting your legs through the holes then adjusting them. This was finalised by the ball hold which would connect to the coaster wire itself.

Then it was time for the walk itself to begin. This gaint bit of machinery operates the lift hill of the ride.
The harness I was wearing was connected to the chainwire at the side, which involved in the positioning of the clip. Every so often, you would need to push the clip through a check point area so to ensure maximum safety. If you folded the clip in, then it would stick you to position. The design of this safety figure has been designed to prevent slip backs, so if you accidentally trip up on the way up or down, the clip safely locks you in place preventing any major accidents from happening.

One of things talked about was the actual meaning of the ride's project name LC12. I naturally put it down as Lez Cougan, however the actual meaning of the acronym was infact Lost Cause. Mentions of other project names such as Project Odyssey [Colossus] and Project Dylan [saw] were also mentioned briefly there too.
And many steps later, we finally reached the top. It was a very nice day so I was able to get some pretty good views of the park and surrounding area whilst I was up there [including Heathrow].


Who Thought Thorpe was so beautiful


I learn't many interesting new facts on my climb which was great to hear whilst taking in the stunning views below. These included,
1/ Stealth & Rita were originally supposed to be one big coaster however due to some difficulties in planning it, this was split in half. So Thorpe got one half [the better half IMO] whilst Towers got Rita.
2/ The reason why Nemesis Inferno was themed like a volcano was because of the fire that took place on the site the ride replaced [Tropical Travels].
3/ If Thorpe were to build something massive on the empty island next to Swarm, they would need to remove something equivalent in size [my tour guide described the park's landscape as being like a Lilo.

I naturally had to ask/enquire about WC16 [Thorpe's new dark ride] during the climb. However unsurprisingly he wasn't able to provide much information except that it would be the first kind of ride to ever exist in the world and that it would be a top class ride. Even facts down to when it would open [spring or summer] could not be provided.
He did mention there would be more interesting in vestments on the way within the park and that Thorpe's target was now all age groups.


When it came to Fright Nights, he said that this years one would be bigger and better, however couldn't confirm completely if there would be any new attractions or face it alone returned [but hinted the former was likely].

On the operational front, the ride cannot operate below 5 degrees or in winds over 35 MPH, there's a wind tracking device at the top of the hill which is sort of in the form of a micro wind turbine.


The main Thorpe hotel is expected to open around 2018/2019. It was mentioned how a spruce up of the entrance would be liked [depecting a very RCT style appearance] and hinted that a redesign in the future would probably happen however the dome would remain for the foreseeable long term due to it's complex structure and helpful functions within the park.


One of the most eager questions I asked I did manage to get an answer for though was the future of the now closed Chief Rangers Caroulsel? When dismantled the ride was stored temporarily in the staff car park for a while, however unfortunately the ride will never be able to return to the park.
This is because it's going to a different park. Which though wasn't said however apparently it isn't close to any major European parks and the country of location is unknown [so tracking of the ride will likely be extremely difficult]. I am happy to confirm though that many prominent items from the old ride have been salvaged including the old ride centrepieces which are apparently now located in the education centre. The other horses on the ride are believed to have been kept to use on the ride's new home.


I asked on what the forseeable future for Mr Monkey might be and he reckons the ride is here to stay as a tribute and lone survivor of the Ranger area that once dominated the park.

When it came to potential rides going, the answer was generally that Thorpe like to keep their rides and that Samurai was closed so that they could give it out the attention it needed to work again as it was still a popular ride at the park.






When it came to Colossus's 'potential' repaint he was unsure on whether it would get fully done and did agree that ride presentations are an important aspect of rides. He did however hint towards the possible return of the railway in the future and the re-theme of Rumba though.

Proof this is real



A pic of me and my guide



I'm a long way up!

After this unique,interesting and insightful experience, I gradually made it down from this giant coaster back to the ground where I thanked my host before grabbing my belongings and making my way.
The Big Question
Was The Walk Worth £50?
Just about,
in this experience, not only do you get to go up and down your coaster of choice, but you are presented with stunning and amazing views of the surrounding area not just in the park but on for many miles throughout the landscape. You also learn a lot of new facts and information on different things in the park from the operational and management side to how the park works as a whole. Seeing the control cabin of one of my favourite coasters was another interesting sight and I enjoyed my time doing this experience where all the VIP team were extremely friendly and helpful and this was no rush or pushing ahead on the experience at any time.
I will probably do another lift walk here at somepoint in the future [not sure when though] on Colossus to see how it compares and look how different the ride works from an operational view, B&M were described as the creme de la creme of coasters when I was there. If you're in to different theme park experiences and wish to experience a lift hill walk, I would definitely recommend experiencing one on The Swarm!

Causing a bit of a gap to the long speculated trip reports of certain members visiting several new major parks [surprisingly not Benin in this case], you may be wondering what the Creek will be able to provide to contend with this. If you were hoping for reports of new visited parks and the like, you may leave feeling rather disappointed [there are big plans in the works for the near'ish future though], however what I will offer instead will be in the shape and form of unique and different theme park activity.

Having been a big fan/enthusiast of parks and coasters for a long time, there is something I had always wanted to do at a park for a long time in my life; that was walking up to the top of roller coaster lift hill. Following the foreseeable cancellation of my Towers lift hill walk [due to the unfortunate accident of a certain ride], I instantly booked myself a coaster climb on one the coasters at Thorpe [whether it's a good idea to this the day after a heavy night clubbing and drinking is another story however]

Judging from the [poorly quality] picture above you can tell right away which ride I went for; Colossus
After having experienced my chosen ride at the end of the day before closing, I waited patiently outside the ride's exit [as instructed by the details on the email I'd received when I booked it], where I was soon approached by a member of Thorpe's stuff and when clarifying my name, I knew my experience was about to begin.

Being directed in to the Swarm's control booth with others taking the walk [a dad and his son], we were given an informative talk about the ride's generally statistics from basic things such as opening in 2012, being built by Bolliger & Mabillard and costing 20 million to more complex and interesting facts.
When it comes to dispatching the ride, the operator in the control booth must press both green buttons with his hands in-addion to the platform staff pressing the other four buttons. If one of these buttons isn't pressed the ride will not dispatch. Interestingly, there are four positions staff can be allocated to on this ride, control operator, baggage room, front and back of station, where are total number of seven staff are required on two trains operation and six on one train operation.
The ride's console is a lot smaller and advanced from the park's older consoles [inferno's apparently strikes similarities but is noticeably bigger]. Not only can individual rows of restraints be released individually [no need for the recheck all bars here] but the computer system can also calculate how many trains have been running on the system and give a general count of throughput. Speaking on throughputs, one train operation on Swarm allows for about 600 people per hour [pph] whilst two trains allows up to 1200 PPH.
As you can witness from the photo [and the giveaway on the booth] the ride was on just one train at the end of the day, however this was to ensure final checks on the ride's others train which would be checked up through the evening/night and then run on the circuit the next day whilst the existing train would then receive it's inspection. Interestingly whilst the work shop is located on the right to the station building, there is a giant cold fridge in there too [ I forget why though].
Other interesting things the console allows [pictured above] is to open/close gates, stop and start the ride and also stop and start on the lift hill too. The ride was naturally locked down when we were there which only the engineering crew would be able to open to stop any possibility of the ride operating whilst we were there. One of the other proceedures of loading aside from the buttons and thumbs up is all seats must be closed and locked for dispatched regardelss of them being with or without riders.

The second part of the console, this allows the operator to speak to through the tannoy systems, and press automated announcments such as weather closing and reopening. There's naturally a phone too for the operator to contact platform staff.

like all ride's alike, the ride uses CCTV throughout the surrounding area which is to used to ensure the ride is working correctly and that no one has trespassed in the surrounding area [which would result in an e-stop].

Before doing the actual part of the lift walk, everyone was instructed to put on safety harness vests, which involved putting the main part on your chest whilst adjusting and tightening the giant clip and then getting your legs through the holes then adjusting them. This was finalised by the ball hold which would connect to the coaster wire itself.

Then it was time for the walk itself to begin. This gaint bit of machinery operates the lift hill of the ride.
The harness I was wearing was connected to the chainwire at the side, which involved in the positioning of the clip. Every so often, you would need to push the clip through a check point area so to ensure maximum safety. If you folded the clip in, then it would stick you to position. The design of this safety figure has been designed to prevent slip backs, so if you accidentally trip up on the way up or down, the clip safely locks you in place preventing any major accidents from happening.

One of things talked about was the actual meaning of the ride's project name LC12. I naturally put it down as Lez Cougan, however the actual meaning of the acronym was infact Lost Cause. Mentions of other project names such as Project Odyssey [Colossus] and Project Dylan [saw] were also mentioned briefly there too.
And many steps later, we finally reached the top. It was a very nice day so I was able to get some pretty good views of the park and surrounding area whilst I was up there [including Heathrow].


Who Thought Thorpe was so beautiful


I learn't many interesting new facts on my climb which was great to hear whilst taking in the stunning views below. These included,
1/ Stealth & Rita were originally supposed to be one big coaster however due to some difficulties in planning it, this was split in half. So Thorpe got one half [the better half IMO] whilst Towers got Rita.
2/ The reason why Nemesis Inferno was themed like a volcano was because of the fire that took place on the site the ride replaced [Tropical Travels].
3/ If Thorpe were to build something massive on the empty island next to Swarm, they would need to remove something equivalent in size [my tour guide described the park's landscape as being like a Lilo.

I naturally had to ask/enquire about WC16 [Thorpe's new dark ride] during the climb. However unsurprisingly he wasn't able to provide much information except that it would be the first kind of ride to ever exist in the world and that it would be a top class ride. Even facts down to when it would open [spring or summer] could not be provided.
He did mention there would be more interesting in vestments on the way within the park and that Thorpe's target was now all age groups.


When it came to Fright Nights, he said that this years one would be bigger and better, however couldn't confirm completely if there would be any new attractions or face it alone returned [but hinted the former was likely].

On the operational front, the ride cannot operate below 5 degrees or in winds over 35 MPH, there's a wind tracking device at the top of the hill which is sort of in the form of a micro wind turbine.


The main Thorpe hotel is expected to open around 2018/2019. It was mentioned how a spruce up of the entrance would be liked [depecting a very RCT style appearance] and hinted that a redesign in the future would probably happen however the dome would remain for the foreseeable long term due to it's complex structure and helpful functions within the park.


One of the most eager questions I asked I did manage to get an answer for though was the future of the now closed Chief Rangers Caroulsel? When dismantled the ride was stored temporarily in the staff car park for a while, however unfortunately the ride will never be able to return to the park.
This is because it's going to a different park. Which though wasn't said however apparently it isn't close to any major European parks and the country of location is unknown [so tracking of the ride will likely be extremely difficult]. I am happy to confirm though that many prominent items from the old ride have been salvaged including the old ride centrepieces which are apparently now located in the education centre. The other horses on the ride are believed to have been kept to use on the ride's new home.


I asked on what the forseeable future for Mr Monkey might be and he reckons the ride is here to stay as a tribute and lone survivor of the Ranger area that once dominated the park.

When it came to potential rides going, the answer was generally that Thorpe like to keep their rides and that Samurai was closed so that they could give it out the attention it needed to work again as it was still a popular ride at the park.






When it came to Colossus's 'potential' repaint he was unsure on whether it would get fully done and did agree that ride presentations are an important aspect of rides. He did however hint towards the possible return of the railway in the future and the re-theme of Rumba though.

Proof this is real



A pic of me and my guide



I'm a long way up!

After this unique,interesting and insightful experience, I gradually made it down from this giant coaster back to the ground where I thanked my host before grabbing my belongings and making my way.
The Big Question
Was The Walk Worth £50?
Just about,
in this experience, not only do you get to go up and down your coaster of choice, but you are presented with stunning and amazing views of the surrounding area not just in the park but on for many miles throughout the landscape. You also learn a lot of new facts and information on different things in the park from the operational and management side to how the park works as a whole. Seeing the control cabin of one of my favourite coasters was another interesting sight and I enjoyed my time doing this experience where all the VIP team were extremely friendly and helpful and this was no rush or pushing ahead on the experience at any time.
I will probably do another lift walk here at somepoint in the future [not sure when though] on Colossus to see how it compares and look how different the ride works from an operational view, B&M were described as the creme de la creme of coasters when I was there. If you're in to different theme park experiences and wish to experience a lift hill walk, I would definitely recommend experiencing one on The Swarm!

Causing a bit of a gap to the long speculated trip reports of certain members visiting several new major parks [surprisingly not Benin in this case], you may be wondering what the Creek will be able to provide to contend with this. If you were hoping for reports of new visited parks and the like, you may leave feeling rather disappointed [there are big plans in the works for the near'ish future though], however what I will offer instead will be in the shape and form of unique and different theme park activity.

Having been a big fan/enthusiast of parks and coasters for a long time, there is something I had always wanted to do at a park for a long time in my life; that was walking up to the top of roller coaster lift hill. Following the foreseeable cancellation of my Towers lift hill walk [due to the unfortunate accident of a certain ride], I instantly booked myself a coaster climb on one the coasters at Thorpe [whether it's a good idea to this the day after a heavy night clubbing and drinking is another story however]

Judging from the [poorly quality] picture above you can tell right away which ride I went for; Colossus
After having experienced my chosen ride at the end of the day before closing, I waited patiently outside the ride's exit [as instructed by the details on the email I'd received when I booked it], where I was soon approached by a member of Thorpe's stuff and when clarifying my name, I knew my experience was about to begin.

Being directed in to the Swarm's control booth with others taking the walk [a dad and his son], we were given an informative talk about the ride's generally statistics from basic things such as opening in 2012, being built by Bolliger & Mabillard and costing 20 million to more complex and interesting facts.
When it comes to dispatching the ride, the operator in the control booth must press both green buttons with his hands in-addion to the platform staff pressing the other four buttons. If one of these buttons isn't pressed the ride will not dispatch. Interestingly, there are four positions staff can be allocated to on this ride, control operator, baggage room, front and back of station, where are total number of seven staff are required on two trains operation and six on one train operation.
The ride's console is a lot smaller and advanced from the park's older consoles [inferno's apparently strikes similarities but is noticeably bigger]. Not only can individual rows of restraints be released individually [no need for the recheck all bars here] but the computer system can also calculate how many trains have been running on the system and give a general count of throughput. Speaking on throughputs, one train operation on Swarm allows for about 600 people per hour [pph] whilst two trains allows up to 1200 PPH.
As you can witness from the photo [and the giveaway on the booth] the ride was on just one train at the end of the day, however this was to ensure final checks on the ride's others train which would be checked up through the evening/night and then run on the circuit the next day whilst the existing train would then receive it's inspection. Interestingly whilst the work shop is located on the right to the station building, there is a giant cold fridge in there too [ I forget why though].
Other interesting things the console allows [pictured above] is to open/close gates, stop and start the ride and also stop and start on the lift hill too. The ride was naturally locked down when we were there which only the engineering crew would be able to open to stop any possibility of the ride operating whilst we were there. One of the other proceedures of loading aside from the buttons and thumbs up is all seats must be closed and locked for dispatched regardelss of them being with or without riders.

The second part of the console, this allows the operator to speak to through the tannoy systems, and press automated announcments such as weather closing and reopening. There's naturally a phone too for the operator to contact platform staff.

like all ride's alike, the ride uses CCTV throughout the surrounding area which is to used to ensure the ride is working correctly and that no one has trespassed in the surrounding area [which would result in an e-stop].

Before doing the actual part of the lift walk, everyone was instructed to put on safety harness vests, which involved putting the main part on your chest whilst adjusting and tightening the giant clip and then getting your legs through the holes then adjusting them. This was finalised by the ball hold which would connect to the coaster wire itself.

Then it was time for the walk itself to begin. This gaint bit of machinery operates the lift hill of the ride.
The harness I was wearing was connected to the chainwire at the side, which involved in the positioning of the clip. Every so often, you would need to push the clip through a check point area so to ensure maximum safety. If you folded the clip in, then it would stick you to position. The design of this safety figure has been designed to prevent slip backs, so if you accidentally trip up on the way up or down, the clip safely locks you in place preventing any major accidents from happening.

One of things talked about was the actual meaning of the ride's project name LC12. I naturally put it down as Lez Cougan, however the actual meaning of the acronym was infact Lost Cause. Mentions of other project names such as Project Odyssey [Colossus] and Project Dylan [saw] were also mentioned briefly there too.
And many steps later, we finally reached the top. It was a very nice day so I was able to get some pretty good views of the park and surrounding area whilst I was up there [including Heathrow].


Who Thought Thorpe was so beautiful


I learn't many interesting new facts on my climb which was great to hear whilst taking in the stunning views below. These included,
1/ Stealth & Rita were originally supposed to be one big coaster however due to some difficulties in planning it, this was split in half. So Thorpe got one half [the better half IMO] whilst Towers got Rita.
2/ The reason why Nemesis Inferno was themed like a volcano was because of the fire that took place on the site the ride replaced [Tropical Travels].
3/ If Thorpe were to build something massive on the empty island next to Swarm, they would need to remove something equivalent in size [my tour guide described the park's landscape as being like a Lilo.

I naturally had to ask/enquire about WC16 [Thorpe's new dark ride] during the climb. However unsurprisingly he wasn't able to provide much information except that it would be the first kind of ride to ever exist in the world and that it would be a top class ride. Even facts down to when it would open [spring or summer] could not be provided.
He did mention there would be more interesting in vestments on the way within the park and that Thorpe's target was now all age groups.


When it came to Fright Nights, he said that this years one would be bigger and better, however couldn't confirm completely if there would be any new attractions or face it alone returned [but hinted the former was likely].

On the operational front, the ride cannot operate below 5 degrees or in winds over 35 MPH, there's a wind tracking device at the top of the hill which is sort of in the form of a micro wind turbine.


The main Thorpe hotel is expected to open around 2018/2019. It was mentioned how a spruce up of the entrance would be liked [depecting a very RCT style appearance] and hinted that a redesign in the future would probably happen however the dome would remain for the foreseeable long term due to it's complex structure and helpful functions within the park.


One of the most eager questions I asked I did manage to get an answer for though was the future of the now closed Chief Rangers Caroulsel? When dismantled the ride was stored temporarily in the staff car park for a while, however unfortunately the ride will never be able to return to the park.
This is because it's going to a different park. Which though wasn't said however apparently it isn't close to any major European parks and the country of location is unknown [so tracking of the ride will likely be extremely difficult]. I am happy to confirm though that many prominent items from the old ride have been salvaged including the old ride centrepieces which are apparently now located in the education centre. The other horses on the ride are believed to have been kept to use on the ride's new home.


I asked on what the forseeable future for Mr Monkey might be and he reckons the ride is here to stay as a tribute and lone survivor of the Ranger area that once dominated the park.

When it came to potential rides going, the answer was generally that Thorpe like to keep their rides and that Samurai was closed so that they could give it out the attention it needed to work again as it was still a popular ride at the park.






When it came to Colossus's 'potential' repaint he was unsure on whether it would get fully done and did agree that ride presentations are an important aspect of rides. He did however hint towards the possible return of the railway in the future and the re-theme of Rumba though.

Proof this is real



A pic of me and my guide



I'm a long way up!

After this unique,interesting and insightful experience, I gradually made it down from this giant coaster back to the ground where I thanked my host before grabbing my belongings and making my way.
The Big Question
Was The Walk Worth £50?
Just about,
in this experience, not only do you get to go up and down your coaster of choice, but you are presented with stunning and amazing views of the surrounding area not just in the park but on for many miles throughout the landscape. You also learn a lot of new facts and information on different things in the park from the operational and management side to how the park works as a whole. Seeing the control cabin of one of my favourite coasters was another interesting sight and I enjoyed my time doing this experience where all the VIP team were extremely friendly and helpful and this was no rush or pushing ahead on the experience at any time.
I will probably do another lift walk here at somepoint in the future [not sure when though] on Colossus to see how it compares and look how different the ride works from an operational view, B&M were described as the creme de la creme of coasters when I was there. If you're in to different theme park experiences and wish to experience a lift hill walk, I would definitely recommend experiencing one on The Swarm!