Mark9

I am empty.

I'm uneasy about the word over-hyped (or over-rated) in any context these days. It seems to imply a 'only I can see Nemesis for what it is' vibe whereas maybe its just a case that Nemesis just isn't for you.

Two fresh new parks this time, Hansa which I knew very little about and Heide, Merlins German endeavour. Travel to both is easy and both very accessible from Hamburg. I'll start with Hansa Park. Hansa Park is a delightful little park with big ambitions and a great working relationship with Gerstlauer. In it lies a euro fighter, an infinity coaster and a family coaster. All delightfully realised and with great stories. Our first ride though was a Maurer wild mouse, exactly the same as Rattlesnake. It was a little bit more heavily trimmed but looks good. Our next stop was Karnen. This thing is a beast. The only other ride that makes me this nervous is Stealth but at least that's over in two seconds. This prolongs the agony for a good two/three minutes and is an incredibly thrilling attraction. I don't want to spoiler for anyone but lets just say its one of the most thrilling first drops out there. Its outside ride section suffers a bit from being completely un-themed but the ride is thrilling enough and fast enough to overcome the lack of physical things around you. I wasn't a fan of the batching procedures though. I think taking away the choice of what row people can sit in is a bit of a waste of time. I had one ride in row three and three in row two. I wanted the back damn it. This thing is a beast though and genuinely scary. Next is the fan favourite Fluch Van Norogord. What an attraction this is. I loved the theming, the ride layout, the atmosphere and all the damn gimmicks that come from it. It's frankly hard to believe this was built in the same year as Saw and yet is 100 times better. It's not rough, it has a thrilling and engaging layout, excellent effects and a full on story. I preferred this to Karnan. The order in which was did everything else is a bit of a blur but suffice to say I think Hansa Park is a great place. It's clearly got some lofty ambitions, things like Karnan and Fluch prove they want to be big players and the amount of work going on around Karnan seems to indicate that they are investing heavily. The entrance way seemed to be having a lot of work too. Nessie Supercoaster was a fun Schwarzkopf which seems to be getting a bit of a change. It closed early to have part of its track repainted. It also seemed to speed check how fast you go through the loop too as there was a board on the control cabin indicating speeds after every cycle. So that was Hansa. Definitely get yourself there as its a park thats clearly going places. And then it was Heide. Somehow, this German Merlin park has evaded me for years even though it's thrown in an Intamin launch coaster and two B&M's. For some reason it just never got me interested, probably Europa Parks fault. Perhaps it was helped by it being my 30th birthday and so I was happy anyway but Heide was a bit of a surprise to the system. When I think of Towers, Gardaland, Thorpe, I always think corporate. Like behind the Merlin rubbish is a hand that wants to steal my money and doesn't care if I walk out the door happy or sad. Heide doesn't feel like that. And I think the big reason is that for anything built before Merlin owned the place, is absolutely gorgeous. The entrance way buildings, the care and love given to the rapids building or Grottenblitz's station, the amazing Schweizzer Bobbahn queue line and building. Theres real love and affection that has gone into the rides and so far its relatively un-ruined by Merlins talons. Ironically though, our first ride was Desert Race, a simple Rita clone dumped on some ground and themed with old jeeps, a helicopter and some sand. I really hate the trains, they are so basic Intamin with awful stickers stuck on the side proudly saying the words desert chase and some irrelevant numbers. Against all odds the ride is pretty good, far smoother then Rita and somehow, far more air time. Just a shame it looks like a dead dog and that you can't get anywhere near the ride because its all stuck behind a fence. Our next ride was Grottenblitz, a ridiculously slow mack powered coaster which was okay. We strolled past the closed Colossos which was having a bit of work but you can clearly see what needs replacing. Our aim at Heide was to do the rides in order of terrible to good, hence why we started with Desert Race. The next ride on the cycle though was Limit, a Vekoma SLC which was about as standard as they come and nowhere near as rough as Blue Tornado at Gardaland. Things were on the up now though as we hit Bobbahn, an absolutely sublime bobsleigh rollercoaster from Mack. This thing is genius and definitly the best of the ride type. The way it just keeps going, never losing speed and being genuinely thrilling and exciting. Bravo Mack. This area is Transylvania. It's like if the Chessington version was all placed on a hill. And the next ride was Flug Der Damonen. I'd heard quite a lot of negative things about Heides wing-rider over the years but in the last two months or so, that opinion seems to be slowly changing. Not as industrial as Raptor and not as destructive as the Swarm, this six rowed ring rider uses the remains of the old log flume for its queue line and is better for it. It creates a great opening atmosphere and gets you lower towards the bottom of the ride. One thing to notice about Flug is it heavily uses the natural terrain to build up the ride and I really liked it for that. The station is similar to Raptor in that you are batched to one side and there are little bag holders at each row for your belongings. Why oh why Thorpe didn't do this too, I never know as The Swarm is such a headache for getting on compared to its European brothers. Everything about Flug is more immediate and aggressive then the other European wing riders. It's 'Thorpe Park' inversion is fantastic and seems to create a far more swooping effect then Swarm. The air time hill is god tier. I loved it. You then fly into an immelmann turn which dives you further down into the pit before inlining over the area. The ride quickly adjusts itself to fly over the Transylvanian buildings to the left and swoops into a 'demon' knot, the first of its kind on a wing rider. The final turn is so much more impactful and immediate then the slow inline twist and feels like far more of a fitting ending. Simply put, this is easily one of the best rides in the park. Unlike Swarm and Raptor, this never feels like its lumbering or slowing down; I think having only six rows really helps Flug keep up the momentum. I liked how the ride feels like two halves and gets better and better throughout. It was just a winner for me. With that B&M goodness behind us it was time to visit an old friend, yes thats right, Big Limit and the old Corkscrew trains from Alton Towers. They still suck and this ride needs some new Vekoma restraints please. The final major ride is Krake, the worlds first mini B&M dive machine. Unlike Baron and Oblivion: The Black Hole which feel relatively long, Krake is way too short. There's just not enough ride to justify a 30/40/60 minute queue. It's a great ride but don't get me wrong but there just isn't enough substance. It's theming also needs a repaint desperately, the octopus mouth is now just white and nowhere near the pink it used to be. And so thats Heide. Please visit and give Merlin all your money so that they can rebuild in two areas where they've clearly shut for budgetary reasons, one the Aztec area which had two spaces completely vacant and two where the rides were SBNO. The other closed off area is right at the entrance and looks really bad. Like, really bad. Thanks for reading, Mark9 signing out.

Vampire is in a unique position where it's still the most popular ride at the park and hasn't been overtaken by any new rollercoasters. I think it will outlive the other four suspended rides that still exist. All Vampire really needs is a refurbishment as it looks terrible.

I’ve done 35 in total. I am a little B&M biased though. They’ve been my favourite manufacturer for years. Which 7 have you done?

All the European B&M's 1. Nemesis 2. Katun 3. Oz'Iris 4. Shambhala 5. Superman de Acero 6. Baron 1898 7. Monster 8. Flug Der Damonen 9. Black Mamba 10. Raptor 11. Oblivion 12. Oblivion the Black Hole 13. Dragon Khan 14. Nemesis Inferno 15. Silver Star 16. The Swarm 17. Krake 18. Galatica 19. Dæmonen 20. Batman La Fuga Bring on Fenix and Valykire!

Common sense isn't that common.

We live in a world where launch coasters have always been about reaching top speeds quickly. Icon is the first that I’ve seen which doesn’t rely on the speed element and I personally prefer this kind of rollercoaster. Mack have built exactly what Blackpool asked for.

So proud of Colossus for becoming a Great British icon.

Probably just highlighting Towers incompetence or whatever.

Just an incredible theme park, completely dedicated to all it’s guests and determined to open things as soon as it’s feesible. Europa has always been my favourite theme park and things like this which really show why.

At the weekend I attended the first ever FanDaze event at studio park. The idea behind this was to thank (get money out of) the fans for their love for DLP and to do this they threw out loads of rare characters like Llama Kuzco from Emperors new Groove or Quasimodo from Hunchback of Notre Dame, had loads of one night only parades and shows, had the worlds first introduction of Ortensia from the 1920's Oswald shorts, an imagineer talk and so forth. I think this may be one of the best Disney trips I've ever had with DLP looking the best it ever has and some of the best Disney shows I've ever seen. Max Live was an outstanding show and well worth a youtube search. We attended the imagineer talk where it was confirmed that Vincent Price's original narration for Phantom Manor will be returning in some form. He also spoke about the Studio Park expansion, how the place is basically boomerang shaped and lacks vital Disney DNA which they hope to add through Star Wars, Marvel and a new icon of the park, the castle from Frozen. It was an amazing event to be honest and we managed to meet the head of DLP Catherine Powell before she takes over her new role as head of Western Disney parks.

+ Nice colour + Really fast + That helix is going to be lovely and forceful - It's way too short.

Koffie Koppies has now reopened. ?

Top ten Uk rollercoasters. 1. Nemesis 2. Icon 3. The Smiler 4. Grand National 5. The Wicker Man 6. Dragons Fury 7. Nemesis Inferno 8. Big Dipper 9. Oblivion 10. The Swarm

They've tweeted that plans are already afoot for a new family ride where Pirates in Batavia stood.

Really, really, really enjoyed Icon. Like proper enjoyed it. Had eight rides on it yesterday in the gorgeous sunshine and I just wish we had new age Mack rides everywhere. They're right up my street. It's strange layout is one of its most endearing elements. Whilst Helix and Blue Fire feel quite refined in their layouts, this feels proper Blackpool with a layout that weaves in and out of Big One, Steeplechase and Big Dipper and I liked so many moments. There's three or four big air time moments and my legs feel a bit achey this morning from all the ejector air time. The front is definitely better then the back IMO, that first hill at the front of the train felt like you're being completely chucked out of the train. So good. The hang time from the second inversion or the odd banked turn, the cheetah hunt type moments under Steeplechase, the little hill into the mist that glides into the second launch which has so much air time. I may actually go back to Blackpool again this season just for Icon because I loved it that much. ? Was muchly impressed by their operations too. It was only on two trains but it was munching through that queue keeping it at a respectful fifteen minute wait all day. We saw one break down with a failed launch but it was back up and running after about five minutes. I hope this does wonderful things for Blackpool as its a really good ride. A really easy 10/10 from me.

As Pluk said its just a blown motor. It looks dramatic but thats about it.

Anywho, the park has opened as usual today with the affected areas the only parts of the park unavailable. Three firemen have suffered from mild smoke inhalation but thankfully, no other injuries.

I guess if your ride isn't running faster then expected it isn't going to have as many teething problems

Can't believe you say things like that frankly.

I feel so gutted for the Mack family, Europa Park is their pride and joy, a true work of art in a world full of race to the bottom attractions and sell outs. They will bounce back of course but the short term loss for the park cannot be under-estimated. I understood that Pirates of Batavia was one of the next rides to see a big retheme/refurbishment. Hopefully out of the ashes of this incident, something even greater can be born.

It's almost like they're a normal theme park again!

Yeah, stupid Cedar Point.