Energylandia

[JoshC.]

6 minutes ago, Benin said:

That's a nice blue.

@Mark9 will be pleased.

[JoshC.]

Another day, another photo:

 

 

[Matt 236]

I really like the colour of this. 
 

Cant wait until they announce their coaster either. A tilt is a strange choice though and reminds me of the one they had on RCT3.

[Mattgwise]

Really enjoying watching this fly up on social media with the daily pics and making me look more and more forward to visiting here later this year. 

[JoshC.]

Another look at that drop thing:

 

 

The trim is also on the standard Shockwave model, so presumably something Vekoma have taken into account when designing it. May also act as a way of creating a very slow, near-holding, drop akin to what we're seeing on the top hats of Pantheon and Asterix's 2022 Intamin..

[JoshC.]

Current progress:

 

And a couple of nice overview shots:

From centre(ish) of the park, looking towards the new developments

 

From near where Abyssus is, looking across what was the whole park in 2018.

 

All images from here: https://www.facebook.com/Drone-Vision-Marker-Grafik-102765977827368/

 

[Glitch]

It's good but it lacks a Nemesis Inferno.

[JoshC.]

The park clearly love that that thing after the second launch, as that's all they're posting...

 

 

 

[Matt 236]

Just a little update here.

Source- European Coaster Club.

 

 

 

 

[Mark9]

I'm bored of this ride now, I'll wait for the next one to open in August to reignite my interest.

[JoshC.]

Some pictures of Abyssus from Vekoma, showing it is almost complete still:

 

 

The post also confirms that the Vekoma Mine Train is due to start construction in a few weeks. 

 

And no doubt the next Vekoma will start in a few months.

And the next Vekoma in a few more.

And the next next year.

And the next....

 

[Matt 236]

Practically finished from the looks.

 

Just a matter of time before we see construction for that ‘planned’ Mine Train coaster now.

 

 

[JoshC.]

16 hours ago, JoshC. said:

The post also confirms that the Vekoma Mine Train is due to start construction in a few weeks. 

 

And no doubt the next Vekoma will start in a few months.

And the next Vekoma in a few more.

MASSIVE plot twist:

 

 

 

The hinted-at next coaster is NOT the mine train, but some unknown new coaster, that appears to be going in the Aqualantis area as well (concept art and the announcement didn't suggest another coaster). It appears to be some form of family / junior ride, but what exactly is unknown (even the Polish theme park community with links to Energylandia are surprised).

 

The Mine Train is still planned to be opening this year, but that'll be the next next coaster to open. Possibly.

 

When Abyssus, this unknown Vekoma and the Mine Train opens, that'll bring the park's coaster tally up to 18

[Matt 236]

This park is literally the definition of real life Roller Coaster Tycoon!

 

By next year (at the latest) I expect them to have more coaster than Magic Mountain, making them the park with the highest number of coasters in the world.

 

 

[JoshC.]

Some of the latest aerial shots of Aqualantis from FOMO Coaster suggest this could be clone of Saven, a Junior Boomerang opening at Farup Sommerland this year:

 

(credit for the layout: https://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?p=167075520)

 

The park already have a Junior Boomerang (it's a clone of the one at Paultons), so it does seem very unnecessary. But hey, whatever floats their boat.

 

Presumably once finished, this will have a different look and feel to it (with the possibility of a splashdown). And interestingly, the park have added extra theming to their current Boomerang. What a place..

[LK_]

I liked it when I visited in may 2019, but it still did feel a bit sparse and empty, hopefully when I return this year it'll feel a bit more filled out, and hopefully actually have 2 train ops on their big coasters... 

[Mattgwise]

Awesome looking boats, errr coaster cars (bar the vest restraints, although new it was having those)! Plan was to go out this year but who knows now 🤔

Somehow reminded me of Seastorm boats when I initially saw them on a small screen.

 

Image taken from Energylandia's FB page

 

 

 

 

[JoshC.]

The layout is done and theming is continuing. In this photo you can also see the completed Disko:

 

(photo by Mirek Stecyk)

[JoshC.]

Along with several other small rethemes and renovations of existing rides, Energylandia has done some work to their dark ride:

 

(image from their Facebook)

As a comparison, here's how the front of the ride looked before:

 

The dark ride was called Monster Attack, and you went round in cars of 4 and shot at monsters, with clunky guns. Frankly, it was bad and very cheap (much like a lot of the park's early investments in fairness).

 

For their Halloween event last year they transformed it to a more ghost train style ride inside, along with some actors, and it appears that this is what they've gone for for the retheme. It's not entirely clear how extensive a retheme it will be inside, or if the shooting element is returning, but it seems to be an improvement.

 

It's worth pointing out again that the Dragon Zone was meant to have an interactive trackless dark ride (early announcements suggested something similar to Bazyliszek at Legendia, which is incredibly good), but that was postponed. So it's possible that this could be the first step into introducing this new dark ride, which is much needed for the park imo.

[Matt 236]

Great improvement already from the above image. The old ride essentially looked like going through an abandoned Toys R Us with blasters on ride vehicles!

[Glitch]

It's amazing what the European Union can do to your theme park. Shame that we re no longer a part of it.

[JoshC.]

A clearer look of the façade for the attraction, which is renamed Domem Starchów (Starchów House):

 

 

[Mark9]

As we know, this park has had a massive amount of EU investment over the past five years and that development plan looks to not be slowing down. Or is it? 

 

Over the last two years Poland has become increasingly homophobic and bigoted with several regions in the country declaring themselves as LGBT free. The EU commission has threatened to cut off investment in the country as Polands increasing rhetoric towards the minority  is in breech of Article 2 of the treaty of the European Union. Now, Poland has been diverting funds towards anti LGBT and human rights rhetoric so its unclear whether infrastructure investments such as Energylandia would be effected.

 

 

[JoshC.]

Whilst Energylandia does benefit hugely from EU funds, they would not necessarily struggle if it was lost. 

 

The original grant was only for investments up to this year (including the Vekoma Mine Train, which is on site but hasn't started construction yet, and I personally doubt would open this year, especially with Covid). However, they did successfully apply for more funds, which is helping them "accelerate" plans they had for the next few years, which has included the building more accommodation, and further expansions. Should those EU funds no longer be made available, their investment would likely still be large, but just more spread out.

 

If the country's homophobia increases further, it would be interesting to see how badly tourism is hit, and how it would affect the park. I don't know how many of their visitors are international, but they certainly have got the attention of the enthusiast community, which no doubt helps in drawing more people in. This is particularly prevalent with Zator being just inside a region that's declared itself LGBT-free. A drop in visitors could hit the park harder than them not having access to EU funds.

 

Obviously what happens to Energylandia pales in comparison to LGBT rights in Poland. 

[JoshC.]

Aqualantis update, showing surprise Rockin Tug:

 

 

Be interesting to see when this area does open up.

 

The dark ride is also open after tis refurb; there's little changes inside apparently.