Hyde Park Winter Wonderland

[Coaster]

Went on Olympia Looping for the first time today, got the back row and had a night ride.

 

It's certainly impressive to watch and looks superb at night.  It was running three trains during my visit which meant that there was some interaction between them, as well as a good throughput!

 

Onto the coaster itself, I thought it was "good," but not outstanding.  There was some good force at points, such as the second loop, and the exit from the third.  I didn't find it very intense aside from the odd forceful moment, however the ride duration was good.
The first drop looked a lot better than it was, as did the loop that followed, however the second and third loops were the highlight for me as well as some of the turns near the end, which packed a punch.
Unfortunately the ride was somewhat ruined by the restraints which tightened throughout to the point where they were very uncomfortable throughout the second half of the ride.

 

With that said, it's amazing that such a huge coaster can travel around, and I enjoyed it, but it's nowhere near my top 10!

 

 

 

 

 

Also went on Wilde Maus XXL which was good, and great that the trims were off!  Also, Chessington, THIS is how you should be operating Rattlesnake!

 

Haunted Mansion was good with lots of scares, and Ski Jump was pretty good as well.

[Mitchada04]

It's a marvelous feat of engineering and design. I'm not sure why everyone was hyped thinking the ride was going to be the best thing ever. The hype should have been justfor the fact this legend has finally made it to the UK. And that it's silky smooth, travels Europe, operates better than anything we have in this country and is 30 odd years old. It's crazy! 

 

The ride is just fun. Good speed throughout with some flicky twists and turns. Didn't have any issues with the restraints either. 

 

Really dislike how nowadays everything has to be a "it's in" or "it's not in my top 10." Stop trying to compare every ride to everything and just sit back and enjoy. It's so much more fun! 

[Mer]

Did this back row at the meet yesterday (and front row the first time I rode a few weeks ago). Both were great but back row for me made it much more intense! And it was on 7 car trains yesterday

 

I didn't quite get all the hype initially, and didn't want it to be overhyped when I went on and not enjoy it. So I just rode it with the mindset of "It's a travelling coaster with 5 rather intense loops"   For what it is, it's intense and surprisingly smooth. And the efficiency is just  

[Benin]

Sentiments sound similar to my reaction when riding it in Vienna earlier this year, it is overhyped, but I believe that is more so down to it being the biggest travelling cred around... It's world famous in coaster circles which in itself is no mean feat...

 

Saying that though it is a ride which I could happily sit on for ages due to the smoothness, and is just great fun... It's not a top 10 ride but I never expected it to be that in the first place so it never worried me... Like most Schwarzkopf rides there's also an air of legacy around them and tales of intensity, plus with this being a relatively rare cred there was probably a lot of "boasting" about it, which was really funny when last year was meant to be it's last Oktoberfest and now it's in London... Foolish smug goons...

 

One thing I have seen though is that it's location at Winter Wonderland is bloody awful... At Vienna it was right at the very back of the park with nothing really around it, akin to a Disney castle of all things... You saw it from afar and just kept getting closer and closer, in London it seems like it's been squeezed in at a detriment to the ride's look and draw, which are the most important factors for a fairground ride... A shame really as it was impressive to watch...

[Mark9]

9 hours ago, Mitchada04 said:

It's a marvelous feat of engineering and design. I'm not sure why everyone was hyped thinking the ride was going to be the best thing ever. The hype should have been justfor the fact this legend has finally made it to the UK. And that it's silky smooth, travels Europe, operates better than anything we have in this country and is 30 odd years old. It's crazy! 

 

The ride is just fun. Good speed throughout with some flicky twists and turns. Didn't have any issues with the restraints either. 

 

Really dislike how nowadays everything has to be a "it's in" or "it's not in my top 10." Stop trying to compare every ride to everything and just sit back and enjoy. It's so much more fun! 

 

My sentiments exactly; it suffers from the same problems that other huge reputation rides suffer from like Nemesis and Expedition Ge Force. I thought it was marvellous personally, I'm very glad that its finally made the journey over to the UK; I hope beyond hope that it isn't the only time it does so and that its successful enough this year to become a permanent fixture at Wonderland.

 

As for preferring a wild mouse. 

[Ian-S]

Just out of interest, how long was the queue for OL over the weekend?  roughly?

[Ryan]

5 minutes ago, Ian-S said:

Just out of interest, how long was the queue for OL over the weekend?  roughly?

 

We used the contactless payment queue on Saturday night and were on the ride within 5 mins. 

[Coaster]

15 minutes ago, Ian-S said:

Just out of interest, how long was the queue for OL over the weekend?  roughly?

Waiting from outside the pay booths, we were on within 25 minutes.

[JoshC.]

Walk on during the day; 20 odd minute wait to get into Winter Wonderland itself mind.

[Matt 236]

I think some people may have misinterpreted my post (assuming people are reffering to me).

 

Before,during and after riding Olympia Looping, I never thought about it being in the ratings, except of it looking and being a great coaster like this. It's contactless payments and fluent operations (that are fantastic) add plus marks to this great ride.

 

I never said it was a top ten ride, nor do I ever recall comparing it to something else. Lisebergbanen and Enigma could be sound comparisons being of the same manufacturer but they  are not  due to their different settings, Terran, styles and layout. I could go on for ever with how many rides I love that do not trump the top list but I won't!

 

I really don't get what this nitty gritty towards what top 10's is really about and I sometimes feel people deliberately headhunt me because they can. The top 10 was only a brief remark and not intended to bring down the ride. Everybody's list are different a reason. just because something is or is not a top 10 contender does not make it a bad ride!

 

Rant over! Olympia Looping is a solid coaster to Winter Wonderland and the UK. End of story!

 

 

[Mark9]

No you didn't say it was a top ten ride, the opposite in fact. I get the feeling people are critical of going on with the mindset of thinking of a ride in only the terms of ranking instead of just enjoying the experience for what it is.

 

Again, it shouldn't be understated how marvellous it is to have this ride on our shores. Out of interest, has Alpina Bahn ever been in the UK, funfair fans?

[Coaster]

I didn't go on expecting it to be a top 10 ride and I'm not saying it's any worse for not being in my top 10; as a coaster experience it's a lot of fun and when you consider that it's a portable coaster, the history behind it and that it has come to the UK for the first time, it really is amazing.

 

However, it has been overhyped a lot IMO, and whilst I understand how lucky we are to have it here, I used the "top 10" example to give a sense of how I liked it, but didn't find it "phenomenal."

[J.S217]

I've now ridden it woo was it fun yes would I ride it again yes, did I start to not enjoy it at points yes the loops felt out of the ordinary the last two that is. 

[Ian-S]

Thanks, considering going up Wednesday during the day to ride OL but don't want to be in a queue all afternoon with an impatient tit bending my ear (teenager in training).

[Benin]

I'd guess even a full queue would only take about 15 minutes with 5 trains on German efficiency...

 

Also omg contactless creds <3

[Luke_A]

Yeah I wouldn't worry about queues... this thing achieves approx 1680 pph on 4 trains and nears 2100 pph on 5 trains (only if a train enters the lift as soon as the one ahead leaves, this results in the black & yellow loops looping simultaneously).

 

As for Alpina Bahn, unfortunately we've never seen it over here but I wouldn't be so doubtful about seeing it in the future!

[pognoi]

full queue, 15 minutes...? You mad? The thing flew through it in 5 minutes on 2 trains. I'm fairly sure they don't even know what 15 minutes is.

[Ian-S]

How long is WW open for?

[ThemeParkCrafter]

Opening times are 10am-10pm and I think the event goes up to 2nd January

[David B]

Opening times are 10am-10pm and I think the event goes up to 2nd January

Correct 2nd January is the last day.

Sent by David B viq Tapatalk

[Ian-S]

Thanks, now just to work out when there are no train strikes, looks like Friday may be our best shot.

[Matt 236]

Went back to Winter Wonderland yesterday because I couldn't get enough last time.

 

Olympia Looping- Still an amazing ride and very enjoyable, although the shoulder restraints were a little on the rtght side. Still fantastic operations though and three train service is very exceptional. My previous statement remains.

 

Alpen Hotel- I've been wanting to do this for years and glad I finally did. This thing is crazy, and in a good way too. A mixture of traditional funhouse elements such as walking and spinning elements and even some walk through/dark sections too. Including a hotel bar with animatronics and even a mini tower of terror and mad house elements, which were just crazy. Worth the £6 certainly!

 

Haunted Mansion-I do like my dark rides as much as my coasters and this was something else I wanted to get done too, having never experienced it. From the aspect of a travelling ghost train, it's really good and amazing to think how this quality attraction is packed up on a trailer and taken from A-Z. Certainly better than many permanent dark rides too. Spooky 3D & The Haunted Hotel come to mind.

 

Certainly an acceptable end to 2016, at least on the themevpark front.

[Goosefrag]

Hi all! This is my first post here, but I must admit to being a shameful lurker for years now...

 

I made my way to Winter Wonderland yesterday, and had a fantastic time! Thanks all for posting so much information; I probably wouldn't have bothered with it, but hearing the hype about this year's offerings, I figured if I was ever going to go, this would be the year. Very glad I did, despite the long 22-hour day!! My opinions on the rides I got on are as follows:

• Munich Looping - Very impressive! Great fun and very smooth considering it's a travelling coaster. The restraints did tighten on my shoulders, but given the speedy operations it didn't really bother me as we were off again very quickly. It felt very busy at the park, and I got to it at about 5:00pm and it was still virtually walk-on = awesome
• Ice Mountain - I found this to be such a highlight, I had to do it twice! Can't believe how much they can pack into this one, it was so unexpected how it just got crazier and crazier as it went on. Loved it! If this was a permanent attraction at a UK park, I'd spend a lot of time on this!
• Christmas Coaster - This was a bit lacklustre... Certainly interesting, and very different to ride a wild mouse-like layout underneath the track, but very jolty and quite uncomfortable, in my opinion.
• The Haunted Mansion - Can't believe this travels, given the content! Impressive feat, but I didn't feel it was worth the same price to ride as the Ice Mountain coaster. Fun nonetheless!
• Xmas Maus XXL - Queued the longest for this one at around 2pm, maybe about 15 minutes? Very good, lasted much longer than I expected! Terrified me almost as much as BPB wild mouse, although this was more to do with the height of the sharp turns rather than the "Uh-oh I'm going to be thrown out of this car in a minute" kind of fear...
• Thriller Coaster - Good fun, but needed a really good lick of paint! Let's also say that given the force of the brakes at the end, and the small nubbin on the seats between your legs, I felt very glad to be a female!! Not sure why this was missing from the app, only noticed it existed when I was on Wild Maus XXL?
• The Hangover - I have a love/hate relationship with drop towers! Thought the half-way drop before the full-height drop would ease me into it, but I found the drops to be much more forceful than expected. It felt more akin to a double-height Detonator rather than a half-height Lex Luthor (which didn't make me feel like I couldn't breathe!) Not sure of the mechanics of how The Hangover works compared to Detty and LL, can anybody enlighten me?

Overall, I had a brilliant day! Weather was beautiful, and I managed to kill almost 9 hours in the park somehow! The ice skating was horrendously busy, but the ice bar and ice kingdom were definite highlights once I couldn't justify spending any more money on the rides! Ride operations were really good; considering how busy the park was, everything was very quick to get on really. Wasn't overly sold on the fast-track contactless queues - yes, you saved time not queuing to buy tokens, but it was awkward trying to merge with the main queue with no kind of batching going on. LOVED the fun house-like queue lines on a lot of the rides. We need this everywhere, please!!

[Benin]

Annual bump, seems like there's rumours abound that not only will Olympia Looping return (I guess they received ALL THE MONEY from UK enthusiasts) but it will be joined by another......

 

 

 

 

I'm sure the news will drag on this month...

[Mega-Lite]

Rode OL before they started running 7 cars, so I'd be excited to try that.

 

Now if Hollenblitz makes the trip, dreams come true and you can bet I'll stop screaming at Icon construction pics for a bit to get this legend in it's first week in London!

 

I'm already in the process of remortgaging my house so I should have enough funds left to mop up any other new creds, should they be kind enough to bring them.