CharlieN

Taron looks like burnt spaghetti.
 

 
Taron, the biggest part of Phantasialand's newest development; Klugheim is one of the better coasters I've been on.
 

 
The parks biggest and baddest ride has little mercy, and throws you around the majority of the track relentlessly, curving and hopping in ways previously unmatched in steel tracks, comparable to renowned wooden coasters.
 

 
The ride is a very generous length, and meanders its way underneath, around, and above the gloriously themed village of Klugheim, which I wouldn't hesitate to call the most immersive themed area I have ever been in. 
 

 
The detail is uncanny. 
 

 
The ride is one of the most reridable attractions I have ever experienced.
 

 
It's refreshing to ride something that doesn't have any stand out elements. Yes, the track goes over itself loads, but it doesn't have the tallest drop, the most inversions, or groundbreaking technology. Its just a very fun ride, and an engineering master piece.
 

 
This isn't my favourite coaster. I'm not going to ride the hyper train here, but it's worth mentioning that the elements this ride features are astounding.
 

 
The lap bar is comfy, the lack of fans on the side of the seat give you a lot of freedom, and these mixed with some of the elements the ride throws at you create insane air time, powerful launches, and unique throw out elements that completely ace the likes of blue fire, and many wooden coasters.
 

 
This ride won't fade with time. All these record breakers with silly USPs fade. this won't. This is an amazing ride, with superb surroundings and elements that I'm already dying to ride again.
 

 
 
 

Two weeks after experiencing the wonders of Europa, I would be experiencing another new European park. This park was Liseberg, Sweden's largest amusement park located slap-bang in the middle of Gothenburg home to a fine number of flat rides and coasters. Prior to 2014 I knew nothing about this place until a certain ride helixed into the lineup making this park leapfrog onto my list of must do parks. 



After checking in and dropping our bags off at Gothia Towers we headed over to the park. This is a lovely hotel which is beautifully modern inside and conveniently located across the road from Liseberg and worth a stay. It's striking appearance almost makes it look like something from the Matrix. 

 Such a simple, but highly effective entrance.

New for 2016 is Aerospin, a Gerstlauer sky roller, which is similar to sky force but riders are positioned on a raising tower instead of an arm.

This ride is mixed bag for me. The views from the top of the ride are absolutely stunning offering some lovely views below but trying to spin on this is even more difficult than on the sky fly models. That said trying to freely spin over 200 ft in the air is terrifying enough. IMA score soundtrack for the winning though.

Also new at the park for 2016 is this traditional looking carousel and this lovely looking garden area.The park used to have two S&S drop towers and small wheel in this area but they were removed last year for Aerospin and these. Parks need quiet/green spaces aside from the rides IMHO. 

Another of the park's recent flats is Mechanica, a star shape which opened last year.

 


all this theming and attenton for a flat ride? Amazing! Mechanica has to be one of the most intense rides I've ever experienced too.

They also boast a decent afterburner, this time from Zamperla. Flamingo need one!

And a better and more scary version of Rush. This one goes over a cliff [ if you're looking the right way].
 
There's also a Jukebox themed polyp ride which is great fun and an automatically operated Waltzer which can do some crazy spinning if the timing is right.


They also have a log flume which features an impressively original name. What makes me even more happy is that at over 40, this is a working log flume. Good drops though.



The park also boasts a fun and wild set of rapids. Whilst Fjord is still my favourite, this is still better than Congo and wipes the floor with Rumba.



Liseberg is also home to Europe's largest drop tower once observation tower. Whilst the drop isn't the best, this is made up for this with the superb views at the top and atmosphere. The ride is actually called Atmosphere.

There is however only dark ride at the park, the Fairy Tale Castle. The best thing about this ride is that it's indoors and plays the dream flight soundtrack.
 
Their scare maze Hotel Gasten however is absolutely amazing and worth the paid extra [around £4].

 But there's another important aspect to Liseberg.


The coasters. The park is home to four major coasters, the first of these is Kanonen, an intamin launch coaster.





Considering how small this coaster's footprint is, the layout is remarkable. Unfortunately, the ride's setback is the restraints which are rather tight fitting and dig in during the ride. Well done Intamin. Still a good coaster, but probably not a great one due to the restraints alone. 

Liseberganen is the 2nd of the park's large coasters. A 1987 Schwartzkopf


Whilst at nearly 30 years this may be the park's oldest coaster, it packs one amazing punch and is an amazingly fun thrilling ride. Flying through twists and turns, hills and helixes on the park's hillface. The ride's only minor issue is the brakes, which hit you worse than absinthe. It literally feels like you've almost experienced a car accident each time they kick in. 

Then there's Balder, the park's intamin woodie which has apparently won a number of rewards since it's existence.

Which features  number of other coasters in it's queue. Nemesis, Grand National and Megabobia all feature here.




Which is a fantastic coaster. This features some brilliant moments of ejector airtime throughout the ride, although the corners are unfortunately a little dull honestly speaking. It doesn't beat Wodan but is still one of my favourite woodies. 


And now for the ride you've waited for. Helix














And what a spectacular diamond she is. Helix alone is worth travelling out to the park for. From it's modern airy sci-fi style queue line to it's amazing ride soundtrack. The ride starts as it means to go on, hurtling into a corkscrew immediately after leaving the station followed by a vast array of inversions, twists, turns, helixes [no pun intended] and hills delivering a significant amount of ejector airtime. This ride never shows any signs of slowing as it ascends into the second launch before the ride gets stale in anyform, launching round more exciting elements before entering a final corkscrew into the brake run. 
 
As a result of the ride's immense layout and superb styling amongst being one of the most photo friendly coasters around, makes it my new number one coaster even over taking Wodan. Never have I been on a ride so many times in one trip and still been wanting to go back for more. Once Blackpool gets one of these, it could well be a game changer. Throughputs on this were also very good, no faffing around at all. I would say most park-wide operations were on a par with Towers overall.







And it's in one of the most picturesque  parks out there amongst being my favourite amusement park [not theme park].

And Darkadder won a giant Toblerone!

KONG…
 
 
This has been an attraction I’ve been following for a very long time, I just knew that if the ride was going to be as good as the facade, then Universal have done it again. Boy oh boy have they done it again. They have well and truly hit it out of the park with this ride. From the moment you enter the queueline, to the moment you step out of the mammoth ride vehicles at exit, you are fully immersed in the world of Kong.
 
The story stars with myself and Amarghh regularly checking to see if Kong would soft  open each day for the past week. We had been past when construction walls were down but they were doing previews for team members whilst they ironed out any problems. Today, they were planning to do previews from 4-6PM, but the park shut at 8 so we knew there’d be a chance of soft opening for guests from 6-8PM. We were making our way through CityWalk at 17:55, half hoping and half waiting to be disappointed for softs, when we saw on Twitter that TM’s had told guests to start forming a line outside of Kong. We ran… and we are so glad we did because shortly after they closed the queue for it. Talking of the queue, it was proper scary.
 
So obviously you start at the entrance to the ride, with the large rock work Kong sculpture dawning down on you, the intimidation starts early. Weaving around the outside queue, with good views of the ride vehicle swooping past you, you slowly make your way into the ride building and the anticipation builds. There are multiple animatronics, scares and sounds in the queue line that help to make it a part of the attraction. 
 
You will be greeted by an animatronic of an old witch like lady who is summoning Kong, at the end of her speech comes a large roar from the gorilla himself (don’t worry, this one doesn’t get shot). There are fire effects going off around her, and you are making your way closer to her throughout this part of the queue. 
 
In the background you can also hear native chanting, which really helps build anticipation and makes it feel like you’re being watched at all times. This is where the HHN style queue line actors come into play, yes, queue line actors. There are obvious peep holes where the actors pop out from, but me being me was expecting them not to be around for this soft opening. I peeked my head into the hole to see where they’d be and a loud sound came from the hole followed by an actor jumping up. I crapped myself. Throughout the queue you can hear people screaming and actors jumping out, this really does make you feel immersed in the story with the natives watching you and making you feel uneasy. 
 
The carved rock work in the queue matches outside of the entrance, it’s fantastic. There are skeletons, demon body things etc carved into the walls to really make you feel like you’re in this old cave. 
 
There’s one amazing animatronic of the slug/snake/worm creature that is very freaky, every 30 seconds or so it’ll start moving and hissing at you, very cool stuff.
 
Gradually you make your way towards the station and a massive truck greets you, it carries around 72 people I think? So you’re batched into rows of 6 (I believe) and put into this truck. These trucks are so clever, they are all controlled wirelessly with no drivers. In the front of the truck is a tinted window with an animatronic driver sat there. There’s 5 drivers that you can get, each one has their own storyline that they give to you during the ride. 
 
Now onto the ride itself, it’s brilliant, it really is. You make your way out of the cave and round a winding track, until you’re faced level with the large Kong doors. They swing open and you head inside. On your left hand side is a large skeleton and on the right are some very cool large animatronic bats. You stop shortly after this to a screen portion of another vehicle being attacked by some bats, which carry one of the characters way and you give chase. One thing I want to say here, is this screen part and the next are very very brilliantly done. Some screen based rides I find disappointing and unrealistic, but not this. They blend in with the physical cave elements very nicely and give a lot of depth to the cave. 
 
So you speed off to the next scene which is also screen based, and has the characters being attacked by the large worm creatures (the ones like the animatronic in the queue). Your vehicle starts moving up and down slowly in this scene, I guess it’s some sort of muddy/quick sand area. The creatures attack the vehicle but the badass main lass in it shoots the crap out of them which sprays  you with ‘blood’. Unfortunately, one of them grabs her and takes her away and you never see her again. The whole time this is going on, your animatronic driver is narrating and pooping their pants (depending on which one you have). 
 
This is where you come up to the main 360 dome screen part, with dinosaurs and Kong himself wrestling all around you. There’s a lot of movement with the vehicle in this part as Kong throws you, climbs over you and catches you before you fall to your death. It’s done so well and you’re continuously looking from left tok right to left to right in your vehicle to catch all the action. It really is going on all around and on top of you! What I don’t like about this section, and what brings the whole attraction down a notch, is that if you are sitting on an end seat then you can very clearly see the bottom of the screen next to you. Whereas if you sit in the middle you can’t see the edge of the screen.
 
You zoom off to the final part, which for me is honestly the best part of any theme park attraction I have ever done. A three story high (you only see from the waist up, he’s huge) animatronic Kong. This animatronic might well be one of the best theme park attractions ones ever done, the facial expressions are perfect, the sound coming from him is crisp and you can smell his breath! The best part is you slowly crawl past right next to him for like 30 seconds, so it’s not a blink and you miss it (ayyyyeti). But yeah it’s a brilliant and massive animatronic that does look very realistic. I love it!
 
All in all this is a really good attraction from Universal. It’s not their best (doesn’t beat Harry Potter or Spiderman for me) but it’s a great ride. My only negatives from it are the ability to see the edge of the screens on the 360 dome bit if you sit on the end, and the fact it just seems quite short? It’s supposedly Universal’s longest ride, but it seems like it’s finished so soon? It might be that the excitement of the opening day of it has got to me, so I will try and ride it as much as I can over the next week. But I know this is going to be a very popular attraction for the park!
 
Final point, we broke down on this just as we were about to enter the cave, which sucked and killed the momentum of the great outside portion. But the staff were lovely and let us go on it again straight away! Another great thing which I love with this ride, if anyone tries to stand up in the vehicle the animatronic driver immediately tells them to sit down!
 
Enjoy some photos I took  

I'm not gonna drown you with words, or pictures either. I just want to demonstrate how I fell in love with Wodan.
 
From the entrance, Wodan sits on the far right hand side of the park. you have to walk through most areas to get there, and the pathways there are limited, but stunningly themed, however when you emerge in Iceland you are treated to this gem of a view.
 

 
The ride casts an intimidating shadow over the rest of Iceland, and it's thunderous roar is well reserved until you arrive in this area. 
 
It's 2 neighbours, Atlantica Super Splash and Blue Fire dance around the far ends of Wodan, creating some stunning pirouetting like synchronization if you're lucky. (I was not)
 

 

 
Wodan alone is a reason to visit Europa Park. Hel(l), it's queue alone is a reason to visit.

 

 

 

 
There was a certain, euphoric satisfaction I got from this ride that has only been achieved once before. As an experience, this is entirely complete. It submerges the rider, right from the entrance, in another world. The queue never stopped moving, the ride roared past you regularly building up a sense of enigmatic tension, and the sights you bare witness to in this queue are unmatched by anything I have ever experienced in a theme park. 
 

 
Wodan is a truly complete ride, with a perfect amount of theming, unique character and intensity. Whilst I feel like Europa as a whole was overhyped during my visit; this ride certainly wasn't. It sits timidly at the back of the park, enticing you in. 
 

 
And when you do come off of it, you just want to ride it again.
 
If you want to see more, I made a music video of our trip here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9_EaSXENjs
 

Germany trip - Part 1/3
From 19th May to 25th May 2016
With Loose Steele Bluth
Parks visited: Hansa Park, Heide Park, Phantasialand
**Photos to be added at a later date**
 
Edit:  SPOILER TAGS ARE NOT WORKING AT PRESENT, SO BEWARE THERE ARE MANY SPOILERS
 
We hopped on the plane at LHR being keen for the parks again, Got the metro from HAM woo! Am I getting airtime?  Jumped out the train it's Hamburg Central Station, checked in the hotel I can see the free mouthwash.  We are both so tired, everybody seems so gerrrman
 
Day 1 - Hansa Park
 
Woke up early to ensure we had time to buy train tickets and catch a train to get to the park on time:  After buying inter-rail passes (although just for Germany), we took two trains to get from Hamburg to Sierksdorf and had a short 10 minute walk to the park.  Scanned our online-purchased tickets and were in just before main ride opening.
 
General points about the park:
 
⁃              Open 9-6 with most rides opening at 10
⁃              Not a big park, mostly family orientated
⁃              All rides were walk-on during our visit as the park was empty
⁃              Did not see a broken down or SBNO ride all day
 
 
Der Schwur von Kärnan (The Oath of Kärnan) - Spoiler tags are being a bit temperamental on this post, so I am warning you below
 
This was the newest ride, opened last year.  It is a Gerstlauer infinity coaster and whilst not fully themed yet boasts many unique qualities
World's only hyper coaster with an inversion World's first and only freefall drop on a lift hill Europe's second tallest coaster after Shambhala  
Queue
 
You walk past the massive tower, around a castle-turret themed queue and down a set of stairs entering into the building.  On the stairs you wait to be batched into a room, and whilst waiting there are televisions playing a documentary-style TV show which explains that the King who built the Kärnan fortress may have used a spell in order to keep the fortress impenetrable (nonsense says the archeologist being questioned!).  16 people (one train) are then batched into an incredibly well-themed room where another video plays.  This video speaks of the unearthing of the inner workings of the castle and discovery of rooms etc which may lead us to believe the spell is real!  We are told it is too dangerous to bring belongings with us and a bookcase shelf opens for us to deposit items.  Following the depositing of items you are led through a tight winding corridor past some cogs into a room with 12 doors in a circle which meet in a spire above, and 4 rows of 4 crowns on the floor.  When everyone has stood on a crown, the lights get low and above the doors there are crests which illuminate one by one, first slowly, then quickly, and the music climaxes before ending when one row of crowns on the floor lights up.  The floor lights then correspond to a door crest and the door opens for your group of 4 to board the train.  The process repeats until every group of 4 is assigned a row on the train.  This process is completely random; even after 9 rides we could not spot a pattern to the choice at all.  We rode twice in the front, once at the back, and the rest row 2/3.
 
The whole pre-ride experience is just fab.  Having a story behind not being able to take bags on is so unneccesary it's brilliant, and the idea of the spell choosing your rows stops the squabbling/extra queue for the front and creates an extra bit of excitement/tension before the ride.
 
Ride experience - SPOILERS
 
You turn left and pass under a barrel roll before a gentle hill down in pitch black and back up, before a very sharp (why no banking?!) left onto the lift hill. 
 
The lift hill gets off to a slow start much like other vertical lift hills on Gerstlauer coasters, but makes it way up the lift very quickly to about 3/4 of the way up.  There is nothing to see except lights of sensors on the track, which may make the lift suspenseful for some but just boring for me personally.  There are sounds which get increasingly louder and louder until... You freefall drop 100ft down the tower.  In reality you freefall for a short time before brakes gradually slow you to a halt at 1/4 of the lift hill.  The drop is isn't forceful, and whilst it would shock a first time rider I think it's dull and not worth the engineering effort it probably took to make it.  Despite this, it isn't a bad thing and certainly adds to the theme of the spell but perhaps not adding a great deal to the ride experience overall.  If there was more going on in the lift than just darkness and noise then it may have been better, but in its current state is just misplaced somehow.  After the drop there is another long wait before you start moving to the top of the hill.  The whole lift from start to finish takes 2 minutes, meaning a maximum throughput of 480pph (?!); the ride was running two trains when we were there, and whilst could definitely run more, throughput is incredibly hindered by the lift sequence.
 
The train slows at the top of the 200+ft lift hill and down you go.  Down down down.  The layout is a bit of a blur but essentially you go incredibly quickly through very tight turns and elements; the train really flings you out at times during the non-inverting loop at the beginning, there are some tight turns and good airtime hills.  If the ride had OTSRs it doesn't bear thinking about how rough it may have been, so the clam-shell lap bars were welcome although incredibly tight by the end of the outside ride.  The ride does seem to lose a little momentum but the final few turns despite the 80mph start at the bottom of the first drop, however an airtime hill before a sharp brake run shows the train is still travelling at quite a speed.  Past the brakes, a door opens and you enter an un-themed black room with an unexpected, slow, and slightly painful due to the tightness of restraints at this point, barrel roll.  Sharp right into a brake run where your ORP is taken, then a right onto the offload past a lit up shield (lol theming again).  You step off the train on the left and collect your bags from the other side of the bookcase before walking out through a gift shop.
 
Put simply the actual coaster experience is crazy, travelling as fast as stealth through elements designed to fling you out of the train, tight turns, and airtime hills.  Impressive pre-show and batching procedure, and despite poor-pacing inside (potentially due to not being finished) the experience is on the whole incredible in all the right ways.
 
Fluch von Novgorod
 
A Gerstlauer Eurofighter opened in 2009 like our Saw - The Ride
 
The queue was very well themed, you snake through corridors before choosing row 1 or 2 closer to the station.  Boarding the train from the left, after a quick check and you're off.  Using a pepper's ghost illusion a figure appears to the right and has a little sing, the train progresses and on the left a hooded figure with projected-face speaks more german goodness before the train moves forwards once more.
 
A sharp drop into an unexpected forceful launch, sharp right outside into an airtime hill which I would build in NoLimits and say 'no that's unrealistic'.  Twists and turns before a barrel roll and brake run into a building.  In the building is the classic Eurofighter lift hill with the hooded figure from before speaking to you from the left, crows seemingly attacking you (air cannons), and  lights etc in the ceiling above.  You plummet into a 97° drop, through an over banked turn, and into a set of trims before a sharp hill into the main brakes. A scarecrow then flys from the ceiling towards the train, which is particularly scary as it is unexpected due to being on the final brake run; also most effective if you're on the front row.
 
Whilst there was a fair amount of movement/rattle on the cars, the ride was not rough and incomparable to Saw's roughness despite similar speeds and tight elements (Why Saw, why...)
 
The theming and story was brilliant, and the only negative would have to be how short the layout was after the inside drop, there is just so much momentum that it seems wasted to end the ride after one hill.  But it was really fun, the launch was surprising, and the ride was forceful too.
 
Other rides and attractions
 
The other inverting coaster was a Schwarzkopf coaster called 'Nessie - Superrollercoaster'.  I have ridden looping Schwarzkopf coasters before but from memory only ever shuttle-loops, so I wasn't sure what to expecting in terms of roughness, and was pleasantly surprised that it was incredibly smooth.  The ride was fun with a loop through a mine train ride, a helix, and a few airtime moments (best in the back).  The ride finale is a drop into the mouth of the happy Loch Ness Monster into a tunnel of flashing lights (also the train storage area).  In the station there was a speed counter which showed how quick the previous train had traveller through the loop (Highest spotted that day was just over 86kmph, lowest around 80kmph which shows the difference between a full and almost-empty train).  All in all it was an enjoyable coaster!
 
The aformentioned mine train which passed through the Nessie loop was a very tired-looking Vekoma junior coaster.  Fairly forceful and long considering it was a junior coaster with penty of interaction with Nessie and its own track
 
Die Schlange von Midgard (The Snake of Midgard) was another Gerstlauer, this time family coaster.  The ride enters into a well themed preshow area before acceding the lift hill and completing the ride's short but thrilling curcuit twice.  As has been mentioned before on the forums, it is truly ridiculous the level of theming and detail put into this small attraction which rivals that of Disney and certainly puts Legoland's Dragon Coaster to shame to be honest, despite the difference in length of pre-show section
 
Spinning boat ride that was incomparable to Storm Surge - There was no water in the boats, the boats spun very forcefully despite several changes in direction of the flume, the circuit was a lot longer and more interesting, and it had a great deal of theming in the station and lower half of the ride.  It was really good fun and you can see why Storm Surge might have been a good ride for Thorpe, but unfortunately it is just run terribly somehow.
 
Die Glöcke (The Bell) - So much wtf, it was fun but I'll keep a KMG afterburner or similar over it anyday.
 
Plenty of fun playgrounds and a free high ropes course which had the biggest queue of the day.  A train which made its way around the park, Depth Charge clone, inverted pirate ship, Rattlesnake clone, indoor space-themed bumper cars, Calgary Stampede clone, and much more!
 
In the Kärnan pre-show there is a plan on a wall for a Gerstlauer sky-fly, so this may be installed on the patch of land behind Kärnan between Schlange and Die Glocke where there is currently empty plot.
 
Overall veiw of Hansa was that it was a fairly well themed, well cared-for park.  You can see that the theme and implementation of newer rides is really important to the park and well thought out, not dis-similar to the shift of Paulton's from rides like the Edge to the current Lost Kingdom.

Germany trip - Part 3/3
From 19th May to 25th May 2016
With Loose Steele Bluth
Parks visited: Hansa Park, Heide Park, Phantasialand
**Photos to be added at a later date**
 
See parts 1 and 2 for Hansa Park and Heide Park

Days 4, 5, and beginning of 6 were spent at Phantasialand

 
General points

⁃              Park open 9-6 (Rides open either 9:30 or 10, and queues close at 17:45)

⁃              All rides were walk-on during the visit, so I won’t review rides in any particular order

⁃              Stayed in Hotel Ling Bao which was beautiful, although because it was quiet there was little dining choice (unless you love expensive buffets!) in either hotel after park close

⁃              The park was smaller than I expected, and incredibly themed to Disney standards (Better than DLRP probably ha!)

⁃              Good ride reliability!  Saw Chiapas down once and the Mine Train was closed in the afternoon due to wet weather on the first day, but otherwise I don't think I saw a ride down

 
Kulgheim

 
As I’ve stated in the Phantasialand topic, this area is beautiful and looks so incredibly ready to open, but there are many buildings hidden away that are in the process of being built.  The fact is the area is incomplete and having built two attractions which interplay with theming and landscaping so much, Phantasialand have been extremely clever to test that the actual rides work before completely closing up the area with restaurants etc.  Nothing worse than building an entire land and a rollercoaster needing to be ripped out of it to be repaired before opening.


 
Didn't take pictures of the area as a load of higher quality ones have been posted on the forums before.
 
Anyway onto the other rides - I will do a short review of rides as it seems to be a well-visited park
 
Black Mamba
 
It's like Phantasialand saw Nemesis and were like 'we want a terrain-y inverted B&M too'.  First ride on it, I was incredibly impressed by the theming and winding queue line through Africa, with plenty of views of the coaster itself.  The ride itself underwhelmed me a little, I think I expected something more from it, as I had heard such good things before riding.  A second ride later in the day on the back row showed that it maybe just needed some warm up time; being dragged round the first drop/turn and into the loop was incredible.  Whilst the helixes towards the end of the ride bored me on my first run, I was disorientated and felt a lot of force on them the second time.
 
Overall incredibly well themed, and a lovely B&M invert!
 
Wing's Fear and Force
 
So even after RCDBing these maurer spinning coasters a long time ago, I had luckily forgotten any of their surprises before riding them. First ride was on fear facing backwards
 
SPOILERS
 
Fear - Facing backwards was just incredible; the surprise of the elevator lift hill tilting before being released straight into an airtime hill just had me laughing from the get-go.  The visually stunning aspect of the ride is an interacting segment of wild-mouse sharp turns and circles around a ride in the middle of a central hall; this leaves you disorientated (spinning coaster eyyyyy) and too distracted to think what's coming next.  Brake-run into immelman and then onto a trick-track section.  Even when you think the ride is over there is a hinge-drop track.  It is just a ride that is full of elements which make it a truly interesting and disorientating experience without being overly gimmicky (because these are all hidden).  I am a massive fan of spinning coasters, so that probably makes me rate them a lot.
 
Force - Disappointing compared to its sister coaster, force does not seem as forceful or long, although I preferred the trick-track element on this side.  Once again it's a ride full of surprises during the first ride, and 
 
Not ashamed to say these were the most re-rided of any ride on our visit, I just fell in love
 
Temple of the Nighthawk
 
Having read about the past of this ride, it's just so difficult to see why it was ever turned into a jungle-themed ride which just meant the stripping of theming throughout.  The ride is just dull and long, but I'm sure for the younger among us is pretty terrifying flying through the dark.
 
Hollywood Boat Ride
 
Guilty pleasure of the trip - The first drop and Frankenstein scenes were particular highlights
 
Maus Au Chocolate
 
Having been on Toy Story Mania, I was interested to see how this would compare.  One thing which is welcome change was the amount of physical sets in between the 3D shooting show scenes, as TSM is mostly black space, although I understand they are stylised differently, it was nice that the ride had a backstory as to the need to shoot the mice who have run amuck in a bakery!  The guns were a little temperamental at times, but I did really enjoy this ride, and the chocolate smell which is pumped into it.
 
River Quest
 
Oh my god what is this ride, you literally get so wet and almost fall out of the boat.  I understand the need for the 1.4m height restriction...
 
Mystery Castle
 
Even though the park was dead, there were 2 actors roaming the queue line at most times and scared me always.  First time I thought they were animatronics as they repeated a small sequence of movements, then they would lunge at the un-expecting!
 
The ride was just hilarious, I was shocked at the sheer force of the ascent to the top, and the two cycles which were used almost at random were just as confusing.  It's kind of easy to see why there aren't any more Intamin Bungee drops in the world, but I did really enjoy it, and the first bounce is always quite forceful.
 
Talocan
 
Prime example of what theming a ride can accomplish.  Talocan is a top-spin, and yet the most incredible ride in the park.  Fire, water, music, and timing creates a visually stunning but also intense ride experience.  Loading soundtrack also got stuck in my head, another IMAScore success.
 
Chiapas!
 
Phantasialand was first on my radar since the construction of this beast of a log flume.  Intamin has basically redesigned the classic log flume with faster lift hills, quick forwards-backwards transitions, and steep coaster-like drops.  Not much I want to say except that the music was catchy and got stuck in my head as early as the second ride.  It is well-paced flume ride with good theming, music, drops, and a disco room.  Only negative would have to be the boats, as I managed to get some incredible leg cramp which made the ride hard to enjoy.  I also suffer problems getting in and out of the boats on Dudley-Do-Right's RipSaw Falls, so this may be a personal problem rather than anything else.
 
It was all the hype.
 
More
 
Went to the Ice Show, but as with Europa Park's entertainment I don't really 'get it'.  It wasn't even in german, but the whole story was about a girl who was hated in high school until she got a make-over from the popular kids - Are we not past this kind of awful storyline by now?
 
Mine train was great, Feng Ju Palace (Vekoma Madhouse) was terrible, The chinese-themed ghost train was hilarious, and I'm sure there's more to talk about...
 
The park was just incredibly well themed, the attractions were very re-ridable, and I hope Taron and Raik follow on from the park's other attractions.
 
 
 
 

Germany trip - Part 2/3
From 19th May to 25th May 2016
With Loose Steele Bluth
Parks visited: Hansa Park, Heide Park, Phantasialand
**Photos to be added at a later date**
 
Day 1 - Hansa Park is in the previous blog post
 
Day 2 - Heide Park
 
 
General points
⁃              Park open 10-6
⁃              It was a Saturday so the park was very busy (See queue-times to see the difference between Saturday and Sunday particularly!)
⁃              Difficult to access before 10 on a Saturday due to train timetabling
⁃              Fairly large park, especially compared to Hansa
⁃              Weekend following the opening of the 'How to Train Your Dragon' land
⁃              Good ride reliability!  A few times rides appeared as temporarily closed on queue time boards, but we were unaffected by/didn't see a break down all day (except Flug in the morning which I will talk about)
 
Public transport made it difficult to get to the park before opening - There is a bus from Hamburg to the park that arrives at 10:10am, but leaves to go back at 5 so we did not opt for this option and instead got trains.  Despite Heide offering a shuttle bus from Soltau station, the bus times did not coincide with our options for trains so we instead alighted at Wolterdingen at 10:17 (Train before arrived at 8:05 and we would have needed to be up at 6 or something ridiculous).  The park is then a 20-minute walk from the station on a road surrounded by trees.
 
On arrival it was obvious the park was going to be incredibly busy despite its size.  At 10:45 queue time boards showed Desert Race had an hour queue and Krake was on 45 minutes so we headed to Flug der Daemonen which was sporting a 10-minute queue.  We considered the Express Butler (Q-bot essentially) as it only costed €20 and you could use it similar to reserve and ride where you wait in a virtual queue for the wait time of the ride you wished to ride.  There were other pricing options such as €30 to wait half the queue time, and €70 for unlimited use on all rides all day too.  We however had faith in our ability to plan the day effectively and get on everything necessary without giving an extra €20 to Merlin for no reason.
 
Flug der Daemonen
 
Walking into the queue, I was pleasantly surprised at the theming,  The portion of the queue in the old log flume building was really atmospheric and also a good use of the historical existing structure, despite some unthemed cattle pens following that (and nets everywhere of course) the queue was very dealable, having views of the ride above and a noise when the train passed by an area of the queue similar to the Swarm.  Batching into the station was good as it kept everything organised (Germany ❤), however meant you could not opt for front row if someone else got their first!  So we got the back on the left hand side and admired the station and bag-drop turntable (No bag rooms made life so much better for all ❤) before setting off.
 
Halfway up the lift we came to a stop and after 5 minutes a member of staff came out to talk to someone two rows ahead of us (we presumed about camera usage on the ride?!) - Another 5 minutes and the ride started again.  At the end of the ride the person was spoken to by security and a park manager and trains were being sent empty, potentially indicating that he was tampering with the ride in some way?!   Unknown to us but we had lost a crucial 10 minutes early on in the day and went off to our next ride.
 
The experience itself was good!  I personally preferred that the transition from the lift to half loop was quicker than The Swarm, the airtime hill was good, the twists and turns were tight which led to a little bouncing of the trains but it didn't make the ride uncomfortable.  Sounds are played during times the train enters tunnels which was very effective and one of those small things which makes a big impact on the ride experience.  On the whole the length of the ride was welcome in comparison to The Swarm, but the Swarm is definitely more thrilling.  Flug may suffer potentially as every inversion feels the same, just another roll rather than a loop; even an inline would be a nice change.  All in all it was a fun ride with an interesting layout, theme, and effects.  The queue-line shop was hellish though...
 
We couldn't make sense of why Flug der Daemonen was shoehorned into the area its in as there is space elsewhere in the park, plus it makes the left corner of the park just a mash of coasters with Krake, Bobbhan, Flug, Big Loop, and Limit all there.  But it was impressively shoe-horned at least, leading to some tight elements and interaction with pathways, the queue, and itself.
 
Scream
 
An Intamin Gyrodrop tower.  This was fairly well themed as a pair of giant cogs moves as the ride is raised.  The queue moved quickly due to the high capacity, and it was nice to hear a very similar version of the detonator music!  Because it's a gyrodrop, it offered some good views of the resort from above as well as the local area (forestland).  A familiar top-spin gondola was spotted in the maintenance area, but more on that later!  The drop itself was more forceful than expected and caught us off guard - Really enjoyable ride.
 
Limit
 
An SLC which is the same as the rest... Awful.  I would love to see more parks invest in new trains for these like those on the SLC in WB Movie World, Gold Coast, Australia.  However I was a fan of the fact that the transfer track went over the queue line hilariously.
 
Land of the Huss flats
 
There is a Mayan-themed area with 7 flat rides all next to each other, all manufactured by Huss (The company is based in Bremen not too far from the park) The topspin and Rotor ride were closed, and we ignored the enterprise.  The topspin was closed for essentially maintenance, so the Ripsaw gondola may have been sent to Heide to have its parts cannibalised in order to get this one up and running again!
 
We enjoyed the breakdance although it was tamer than a recently enjoyed one in Tivoli Park.  A chair swing sits on a raised platform central in the land with the other flats surrounding it.  There was a moon dance which was surprisingly forceful, and a twister-type ride which was good fun too.
 
Desert Race
 
A quick look at queue times showed Desert Race at 20-30mins, so we headed there after all it had been 60 earlier on.  Walked past these wonderfully themed toilets on our way. **Photo to come soon**
 
Another rotating bag drop was used here ❤  The ride seemed very out of place and just plonked down, but the experience itself was pretty fun.  The layout is the same as rita with some more ground-hugging moments and a faster turn after the trims before the main brake run.  Better than Rita?  Yes, but potentially only due to the first turn not being the jolt we've grown to know and love of course.
 
The park's rapids were really good.  Long with two waterfall sections and loads of actual rapid sections.
 
The Mack Powered Mine Train has a similar (if not identical) layout to the one at Europa Park, and was therefore deemed a failure as the theming was lacking in comparison, especially when entering the big shed.
 
How to Train your Dragon Land
 
Land had opened two weeks prior and took advantage of the prevoius nordic-ish themed land
 
Had a boat ride like Charlie and the Chocolate factory which entered a cave and has screen-based Dragon entertainment.  There was a spinner ride with water similar to Solugden at Djurs Sommerland, Denmark.  There was a smaller spinner and finally a Zamperla Kite Flyer ride where you lie down and are spun like a chairswing.  It was painful on the neck if you didn't push upwards, but much fun was had.
 
The land was well themed and the IP is popular, so good news for Merlin, Dreamworks, and guests alike!
 
Lunch
 
We ate at the Dämonen Grill which was located next to Flug.  The ordering system was similar to Nando's athough there is a ordering form with both german and english to make it easier for everyone!
 
Restaurant was really well themed, with some nice cosy seating areas too!  Food was nice and like all the german food was in massive portions... 5? from me.
 
Krake
 
The queue reached 90+ minutes at a point so when it was down to 45-60 minutes we thought this would be the ideal time to ride.  The queue itself just had Dragon's Fury written all over it as you queue by the brake run with little view of anything.  After a bag drop (whyyyy) you enter the station where you have the choice of choosing front row or rows 2/3.  We opted for the front having waited a good 50 minutes outside already, an extra 10 minutes really wasn't an issue, however most other people felt the same and the other rows were not being filled.  People queuing assumed that row 3 wasn't a row and staff made no effort to correct this, even allowing people on the 3rd row to re-ride despite 15 + people waiting for row 2?!  This may have been due to staff shortage as they were running 2 trains (Not sure how many trains the ride can run, but there was a lot of stacking on 2...).  Two staff members checking bars and two in the bag room is just annoying to see when they run good bag shelves etc on their other rides.
 
The ride itself was really good; loved being eaten by the Octopus and coming out of a ship, nice floaty immelman and airtime hill too.  The ride is short but the main attraction of a dive machine is the drop which is delivered well here.
 
Big Loop
 
The park's oldest coaster with a train donation from Corkscrew at Alton Towers.  As rough as you expect a 1989 Arrow Sit-down to be, but it was still fun.
 
Bobbhan
 
Having ridden the Bobsled at Europa Park we didn't have high expectations, but felt like we should ride as we had the time towards the end of the day.
 
Surprise hit of the day!  It is long with loads of tight turns, and general hilarity which was so so much better than Europa's bobsled.
 
Colossos
 
The queue was listed at 90+ minutes all day so we decided to do this towards the end of the day.  Queue was incredibly unimaginative switchbacks despite plenty of room amongst this monster of a ride.  Managed two rides as we entered the queue a second time just before ride close at 6.
 
Both times we rode at the back as our experience with Intamin pre-fab wooden coasters (Balder at Leisberg) led us to believe this would give the best chance of airtime and fun.  The ride is just huge and incredible, debatably still the signature attraction of the park despite the much newer Krake and Flug pulling big queues and dominating the skyline on the left side of the park.  I don't have much to say except that it was as good as expected if not better, so much airtime and immense speed.  Whilst I would prefer the smooth-yet-exciting transitions of a GCI such as Wodan, it really was the most enjoyable ride in the park for me and I can see why it was so popular.
 
Overall it was an enjoyable day despite not having time for some of the smaller rides like the monorail, and whilst the coasters were good they lack a certain charm that Kärnan and Fluch had the day before, and none are stand-out rides except maybe Colossos!  Heide exuded the charm of a lot of European Parks which had their own mascots, and paid a lot of attention to detail etc with a quirkiness.  At present it does scream 'Merlin' quite a bit, but probably not noticeable unless you've been to a UK Merlin park.
 
Day 3 - Travelling
 
Train from Hamburg to Brühl before getting a taxi to Phantasialand (Were too late for the shuttle bus the park provides as our train was delayed).  I wrote days 1 and 2 on my phone during this time which may explain the difference in writing style or detail compared to Phantasialand days (part 3).

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.

Thought I'd start my blog with something light and jolly.
There is something so amazing about theme parks, the thrills and the adrenaline when your on the towering wonders of engineering. However there are only a few Theme parks where you can have fun without riding a single ride or visiting a single attraction.
Alton Towers breaks the mold. It is extremely calming and relaxing to take half of the day walking around the gardens or climbing the Towers rather than rushing from ride to ride.
Sure I understand that for those who travel long and far to get to the sleepy village of Alton just want to ride the rides but for those that have "been there" and "done that" it's really something that needs to be squeezed into your day.
The Towers are great to walk around and if you come on a day that they are actually open, they are worth a look.

For those photographers out there we have some fantastic photo opportunities, from the ground floor,

To the roof, you get some amazing photos of the rides in action or the lovely surrounding area.

Not to mention getting a look at future additions to the Towers

There really is a lot to see! It gives you a perfect vantage point of the surroundings (including a few behind the scenes car parks and the realisation that the cloud cuckoo land chimneys are fake!!)
Once your back on the ground you can also go and visit the majestic gardens!

From the initial view, this is where the magic of Towers still remains. There is no place like it!


From stepping stones to waterfalls, to greenhouses and statues the Gardens have it all and although it looks a little overgrown in areas the overall view is magical.

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!

 
 

Hey nerds,
I know I promised a part three of my disappearance blog AGES AGO but it's been a while so I'm just going to dump a load of Scarefest pictures and pictures from other stuff I've been up to since the end of last year here for anyone who's interested

The welcome posters were fabulous... Spot the mistake?
 
Compulsory trip Nemesis photos:


Spooky!

 
The Towers all lit up

 
No lights on the Smiler

 
Scarefest + scarecrows...

 
Morning welcome dance from the Alton Ancestors




 
Spotted!

 
Duel had an actual queue!

 
 
Shrek's Adventure... But I was more amazed by this!

 
Went to the Olympic Park, which is soon to get a slide so I hear down the side of this monster... 


 
Soho

 
Winter Wonderland



The sky above Winter Wonderland  (taken from the London Eye)
 






I love all the lights at Winter Wonderland 
 
Thanks for putting up with my dodgy photography, will have a few more photo dumps for you soon!