Wildlands Emmen expanding to include rides

There is no discussion thread for that park yet, simply because this small park in the Netherlands was an animal park until now.

Yesterday however they announced they want to build an expansion for 2018 without animals but with new family attractions.

Thus they announced a Vekoma duelling family boomerang. It will have a capacity of 1100pph and will reach a height of aprox. 20 meters.

High quality art work:

Source: https://www.coevordenhuisaanhuis.nl/nieuws/regio/496502/wildlands-krijgt-in-2018-een-achtbaan.html

Nice to have a new (actually 2) rollercoaster(s) just 8 miles from my house.

It's also quite a nice park with lots of space for the animals, very nice theming, a Mack boat ride through a large greenhouse with all kinds of animals (monkeys and elephants included), and a 4d theater/ride (Arctic 1) that's really fun.

I'm probably going to purchase a season pass, so I might occasionally provide some updates about the coaster.

Construction of the Vekoma Dueling Family Boomerang is already well underway.

I visited Wildlands today and took some pictures of the coasters construction.

They were also working on it today.

Such a small park for.dueling coaster. I could see it as a way to increase capacity at larger parks

I think they did good in going for a dueling coaster in stead of just a single one, considering the park had about 1 million visitors in 2017.

I'm really liking these new family Vekomas...and (surprised face) maybe even new Vekomas in general.

I went back today and took a few pictures.

As you can see they're building some buildings/tunnels through which the coaster will go.

The 2 end-spikes have also been completed.

I'm really liking these new family Vekomas...and (surprised face) maybe even new Vekomas in general.

+1

I second that! Vekoma sure has come a long way.

^^ In the last pic that track looks to be pretty sideways for a family boomerang

^ Yes, it has some serious banking.

Though not that surprising considering how low to the ground it remains.

Plus, from where I was standing the turns look quite tight.

It looks like this could be quite an intense ride for a family boomerang.

Also, looking at the concept art in the start post, it seems that they are really sticking to that.

Name of new Dueling Family Boomerang announced: Tweestryd

Tweestryd (EN: conflict, duel, to be in two minds), that is the name of Wildlands Adventure Zoo's new attraction. The Family Boomerang is located in the Serenga themed area of the park, where the care for nature is central.

Tweestryd is a coal mine closed forty years ago. The area was then returned back to nature. In the meantime nature has recovered on this spot. From the spring of 2018, guests will be able to visit the old mine and race against each other. A charity is linked to both racers; the winning team will collect money for this charity. In short: a mine with a mission!

Source

Looks super good!

When you look closely at the picture, you will see new restraints!

That is one spiffy-looking new coaster.

On March 4th and 11th (from 11:00 till 16:00 local time) Wildlands will hold construction-site tours for pass-holders.

I've signed up for March 4th and I will take pictures if allowed. Pass-holders can sign up via: https://www.wildlands.nl/kijkje .

Last weekend I took some pictures of the construction-site. I will upload them later today or tomorrow.

As promised the construction pictures of last week.

The trains were not well visible, the view was quite obstructed.

Entrance to the new area:

Some pictures of the rest of the park:

Tweestryd was testing today.

Took some quick shots, but I didn't have much time and it was the end of the afternoon, so I didn't enter the park.

That looks like a very nice park/zoo, and a Vekoma Family Boomerang (well, two of them) seems like a great fit for this type of park!

Like I've said in an earlier post, I've visited the construction-site.

My first impression: very nicely themed.

I really like the entrance to the queue, where you walk through a mine shaft.

I also really like the other theme-objects in the area and queue, like the little train in the queue.

Also really nice: The exit of the coasters is in the middle of the station, between both tracks. You'll walk between and very close to both tracks and end up at the food stal/possible photo booth or souvenir shop.

What they told about the coaster(s):

Height: 20m

Length: 218m

Top speed: 60 km/h

Total ride time: 01:05 (mm:ss)

Minimum and maximum rider size: 95 cm - 205 cm

Trains use soft wheels to reduce noise.

The position of the lift and both spikes on one side and the low to the ground turns on the other side have been deliberately chosen to keep most of the noise away from the animals.

Both tracks will be connected to a (to be announced at ride opening) charity. Depending on the winner of the race, Wildlands will donate an X amount of money to the corresponding charity.

According to the park, the operators don't have any influence on the outcome of the race. Both trains will be released from the top simultaneously, gravity and friction will determine the outcome of the race.

Tweestryd will open at the end of march.

Here are the pictures, a video of the tests will follow later this week.

Both tracks will be connected to a (to be announced at ride opening) charity. Depending on the winner of the race, Wildlands will donate an X amount of money to the corresponding charity.

That's...pretty darn cool. I love when parks take racing (and winning!) seriously, like Hersheypark with Lightning Racer, and this park is taking an extra step to make it "mean something" in a small way. Awesome!

As promised here's the video of testing from last week.

So Tweestryd opened at the end of March. I took some rides on April 1st (no joke ) and this is what I think of it:

I've ridden both sides, front and back seat.

They're very nice, family friendly rides. Not really intense, but then again, it was quite cold (4 degrees celsius) and the ride is brand new. So it might run a bit faster on a hot summer day in a few months.

It's a very nice and flowing ride with good speed throughout the course and some nice floater airtime.

My favorite seat was the front seat of the right-side track (red side). That seat feels the most intense, with some nice force in the low left-hand turn through the tunnel/shed and some nice airtime on the biggest airtime hill (also nice "pull-down" airtime there on the return trip in front seat).

It's very re-ridable. The entire time I was there I saw people (children) go from the exit (which is between both tracks) go straight back to the entrance.

Also, the trains are quite comfortable. I'm 194cm (almost 6" 5'), so quite often I'm having difficulty with leg room, but not here. I could even close the lapbar while sitting down normally (usually I have to cross my lower legs in order to pull the lapbar over my knees).

Here are some pictures I took:

Love the theming!!

^^ Great photos of the coaster, and all the theming and landscaping around it. thanks for taking them.

How did it work out with the "racing style" of the ride?

Did both trains keep close to each other in speed?

^ Thanks!

The racing is quite good. There are some nice interactions throughout the ride.

I did notice that occasionally the right track would be released from the lift a bit earlier. But even then the finish would be quite close, with sometimes the left side still winning, despite the start disadvantage. I'm not sure why that is. Maybe the trains are being weighed in order to create a close race, or maybe one track is slightly slower than the other and they try to even it out. I thinks it's the latter, considering that the right track had significantly less race wins than the left track

Adding to that. A few weeks ago, when the ride was still testing, at one point they had been testing one side (right) several times already. Then they decided to run both tracks and the left track (which I hadn't seen running up until that moment) was quite a bit slower on the first run (this can be seen in my last testing video on the previous page, at about halfway). Then 1 or 2 laps later they where running at pretty much the same speed. I guess it had to warm up first.

Sounds like a hit! Reminds me of Rewind Racers (which I honestly forgot isn't Vekoma--was wondering why it wasn't on the list of Family Boomerangs), but probably an even better experience since it actually races.