Photo TR: Holiday Park (June 6th)

I've heard multiple rave reviews about Expedition GeForce and its magical first drop, and now I finally got the time to visit Holiday Park. It was a quick weekend trip to Frankfurt via plane (2 and a half hour flight from Helsinki). I stayed in Hotel Bristol, only a couple of blocks away from the main railway station in Frankfurt. Though I was travelling alone, the room was cheap and clean, but what really blew me away was the awesome breakfast (which was served from 6.30am to 2pm!). I arrived on Friday evening and bought train tickets before hitting the bed to gather strength for the coming day. On Saturday I woke up early to stuff myself at the breakfast and took a train to Holiday Park.

 

I could not have picked a better day to visit: weather was super pretty (+33 Celsius) but crowds were extremely light! Maximum time I waited for any ride was the log flume (25min), all other were a one or two rides waiting time (yes, even GeForce!). The only downside was that Sky Scream had been closed all week and would continue to be closed a couple of days even after my visit, so that's one missed credit. But hey, what can you do? Everything else was so perfect that I don't actually mind. Staff was average with good and bad examples, but the scenery was beautiful! Most of the park is surrounded by tall trees that provide shade.

 

About Expedition GeForce: first ride in the front was good but didn't blow me away. It was only the second train of the day so I knew I must give a little slack. However, I immediately returned to the line and tried in the back... It was OMFG-level of airtime right from the end of the lift hill! The first drop was even better than I could have ever imagined and now I truly understand why it's considered as one of the best! Not only is it steep (83 deg) but the twist really throws you around in a good way. I knew the layout by hand before, but it's always fun to see the surroundings of the ride in place. In videos of GeForce you can't really see how it travels most of the time way above street level and the first airtime hill after first drop is actually pretty high! My day ended with a triple-bonus-round ride as the whole train was chanting for more!

 

In the end, I can't yet decide between GeForce and Helix about which is better... Both are long and tall, but GeForce has an awesome first drop that Helix lacks, but then Helix offers powerful inversions and an awesome soundtrack... I gotta try and squeeze a visit to Liseberg soon to make a fair comparison (This is probably the most fun I've ever had trying to decide anything! I love my hobby)

Good Morning Holiday Park! Notice the lack of crowds though it's only a few minutes before opening

Another shot of the entrance (taken when I was leaving the park)

I wonder what I should ride first.... just kidding! To the belly of the beast straight away!

But the real question is to ride in the front or in the back... welp, both of course!

Now THIS is a sight to see! Almost zero crowds to one of the best coasters!

Yep, it's tall

That first drop, though. My instant favourite

Intamin makes steel pretty

Gotta go fast!

These are all taken from the footpaths right below the track. I love how well it has integrated with the surroundings!

These are the magic buttons to press for major fun!

For those of us who are interested in what's hiding under the train

After the last ride of the day. You may now rest for you have done good.

For those of us who like lift hills (I like cable ones myself:) )

Next up, Anubis free fall tower

I've heard that Anubis is some sort of a famous TV show for teenagers. They played clips of it on the queue

Not my tallest tower, but delivers. Intamin sure knows how to make them good.

What struck me though is how silent it is. Kingi at Linnanmäki (Moser drop) makes such dramatic noises and has music playing, while this was just simple and brutal: up fast, down faster, next ones please!

They did have some sort of trouble which caused one car to descend very slowly. Local maintenance payed a visit and after two empty runs everything was back up and running again. My favourite thing about it though was the crowds' non-existent reaction; no-one questioned the safety of the ride or wanted to leave! Everyone was just okay about it, and I think it's awesome!

Here are some more magic buttons of joy!

Later on the day it was a walk-on!

Holly's Wilde Autofahrt was your everyday Mack Wild Mouse.

Good fun for the whole family, if a bit rough due to slipping seats and strong laterals.

This was all I saw about Sky Fly.

Nice location and it'll be the other one of the two rides in the park that invert.

I see two tracks, but neither have a moving train.

Looks good and I wish I could've gotten to experience the haunted queue

Bummer to the majorth degree, but like I said, everything else was perfect so it made up this loss.

Looks good though.

Star Flyer, it was surreal to see mountains in the horizon way above treeline (something I'm not used to)

HUSS Pirate.

Wait what's that on the lake? More on that later...

The log flume had a backwards drop which was actually tall and steep!

It was also nicely themed to Wickie the Viking

The drop left me dry though. One could even say it was "an acceptable amount of water"

Oh my GeForce you have beautiful curves

Through the trees!

This was my meal: Wienerschnitzel. The orange juice was a bit overpriced but in the heat it tasted godlike.

A random show I saw that had snakes, spiders, scorpions and a lady laying on shattered glass! It was much better than the other show with farm animals.

But this show really blew me away!

I had heard it's good but oh boy it was awesome! And to think it was included in the already cheap entrance price (29€)!

Zombie-übersetzer was my favourite character! Simply hilarious!

So yeah, it had multiple waterskiing zombies. And explosions. And pyros.

And other stunts.

But I never imagined I'd see a burning zombie riding a jetski! The show also had whacky and awesome humor, so if you are at the park GO SEE THIS! I'd say it's as good as GeForce as a reason to visit the park!

Donnerfluss the rapids ride was fast but left me dry as well.

The kids area was themed to Maja the Bee, another licensed character.

Didn't try the rides but the area was pretty!

As was other theming in the park as well.

Some final GeForce photos.

Because I know you like these as much as I do

These happy riders are ascending to heaven!

Finally, some photos from Frankfurt.

I could stay here. I like this.

And some people say Helsinki is hard to find yourself around (check Helsinki subway line if you don't believe me!)

Just so pretty. And European.

I could frame this shot on my wall.

Happy on the river Main

Skyscrapers, I will miss you (we have none in Finland).

Beautiful square

More beautifulness

Really though, do I have to go back home? Can't I stay here?

Here's final shot of Frankfurt. Thank you for reading

Awesome!

 

Holiday Park is really nice, and it has evolved a lot since my last visit in 2012.

Waterskiing zombie and burning zombie on a jetski? That is so amazingly awesome!!

 

Cool trip report! Good to hear that Expedition GeForce lived up to your expectations. I really have to get down to Germany some day...

Great TR!

 

Two little corrections though:

 

- the mouse is Maurer, not Mack

- Maya, Wickie and Anubis are not really licensed, as they're all owned by Studio 100, which also owns the park

I love this park so much great trip report!

 

Personally I wouldn't put Helix even close to the same league as Expedition Geforce. The park has changed so much since my first visit in 2008 and all for the better! Its a shame you didn't manage to go on the dark ride with boobs though. Unless that has been removed and I missed that.

- the mouse is Maurer, not Mack

Oops, my bad for not checking my facts It felt and looked like a Mack though excluding the restraints. This one uses shared lapbar for both riders but doesn't Mack (and Gerstlauer) use single lapbars for each rider?

 

Its a shame you didn't manage to go on the dark ride with boobs though.

Oh right, I did ride that! Just forgot it completely since I don't have any photos of it. Now that you mention, it was one of the most bizarre dark rides I've ridden, including the cars themselves. I had no idea what to expect but I don't think anything could prepare me for it But the boobs looked like they were censored, which is a bummer (I could be wrong though, I can't recall that clearly).

Thanks for the photos, I was curious about the progress of the Sky Fly, but it appears through Screamscape that the ride has now opened since your visit

Edited June 30, 2015 by larrygator

Personally I wouldn't put Helix even close to the same league as Expedition Geforce.

 

I would have an extremely hard time to decide between the two. The first drop on Geforce, and the first hills and over bank is really really good, but then it kinda dies down IMO. Helix is awesome, the two airtime hills is just as good as on Geforce and it maintains the variety and speed into the end, but it never really reaches the extreme. Man, that's a really tough choice..

 

Oh well, still prefer the megalite to them both by far

Aw, I miss Expedition GeForce--must go there again, someday. Thanks for the Frankfort photos, too.

Thanks for posting your report! I really look forward to experiencing Holiday Park and GeForce someday. I've been hearing and reading about it for years.

Wow I was just at the park as well! (Last Friday)

 

Sky Fly wasn't open when I went, not sure why. But I concur on your thoughts about Expedition GeForce! It was a ton of fun!