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day 7 (full day at Alton Towers) concluded: continuing our way around this side of the park, the next thing we came to was Smiler yeah. .this 14 (!) inversion coaster looked really intense. I was wary of it, but since we had the fast passes, we figured we'd try to ride everything. it broke down while we were in line tho, so denied (for the moment) it really is sensation overload. . even just in the queue - the blasting giggling over the loudspeakers gets into your head! the employees didn't look thrilled with their outfits, but one of them did confide in me that "at least they are warm" what a gigantic mess of track! with Smiler down, we went over to the world's first dive coaster, Oblivion. I'd heard about this one for ages. . but didn't realize it's really just a drop. there isn't much to this coaster, but being the first of it's kind meant that it was a must ride. and ya know what? it gives a hell of a thrill still. I quite enjoyed it. Smiler was still down, so we headed towards the forbidden forest area - the only part of the park we hadn't explored yet, and home to the last two coasters here. cutting thru the ruins at the center of the park along the way it was a shame that Hex was down - as I love madhouses, and I'd heard this was a good one. but hey, a reason to go back at some point! whoops. . we'd taken a wrong turn and totally missed the forbidden forest area, and ended up in the world of David Walliams. as a fan of Little Britain, I knew who he was, even if I wasn't familiar with his kid's books. But the Gangsta Granny ride sounded great - and it was a fun , stupid, dark ride, that I think I rode a 1/2 doezen times. so well worth the stop over in this section. it even had a photo op! why yes, I'm the Queen this was apparently a building they used for a show that was not running at the moment. but next to it was a sizzler . . and a small carousel. on site in the park, there was also an Alton Towers Dungeon - which one of the workers told us was about to shut down, so we made sure to do it the next day. glad we did too, as they seem to have removed it from the park, so I got to experience my first ever "Dungeon" (in talking to others on the trip, the Dungeon experience is very similar in different locations, but typically do include a ride of some sort - in this case, was a boat ride in the middle of it). we finally found our way over to where we had been headed earlier tho: home to Rita and 13 the last two coasters in the park we hadn't seen yet. I did enjoy Rita for what it is. . . but found it to be really rather short. Just when I thought we were gearing up for another launch, we pulled into the station. it was fun tho, and I believe i did ride it a couple of times. 13 (Thirteen) is 100% a family coaster, but I truly don't understand why some are disappointed in it. for what it does? it does very, very well. and I enjoyed it. but my favorite coaster in the park? Wicker Man. we had ERT on it tomorrow night. . but that didn't stop me from riding it several times during the 1st day. I absolutely loved the layout, the fire/smoke effects, and that double down / double up lift/drop. so, so good. even the station was kewl! and the exit thru the gift shop offered lots of great swag! making a face, but seriously, I loved this! and some Rita pics and the mine train. . . Nick had photo pass, and he must have shared them all with us at this point, since all are together in my pics Oh, I was incorrect. . we hadn't been to all the coasters yet. We had come back to this area earlier, but only rode sub-terra. . we hadn't actually gone into the main area, and ridden Nemesis or Galactica. . so we headed back over that way. Nemesis looks amazing. . and that giant eyeball in the center moves to follow the trains! and it blinks. . . really rather creepy. more characters out, patrolling the area (there were also a group of "freaks" out, protesting to protect the creature from government prodding). it's good! Galactica is a B&M flyer. . and yeah. . it knocked the wind out of me. a bit too intense! I liked it. . but yeah, 1 and done for me. way too intense. it was almost time to head back across the park for Smiler ERT. . . but we swung past Nemesis again for a few more pics (and another ride) to get back over to Smiler, we decided to cut thru the "Gardens" section of the park. it's hard to believe we're still in the middle of a theme park (tho to be fair, I think if the skyride had been operating, instead of in refurb mode - now back open I hear - it wouldn't have seemed so "forrest-ry" back at Smiler, which was now back up and running. Group pic before ERT. I'd be danged if I didn't ride it at least once. . even tho I KNEW I wasn't gonna like it. (and I didnt' care for it. . the 14 inversions were just a bit too much for me. . so I was one and done,and then took pics of others riding it). it's a great looking ride, just too much for me, but i know a lot of folks on this trip LOVED it. and they were yelling out inversion counts as it went. the photo must be early on, as I was still enjoying the ride at this point. not sure about how Colin felt tho. . LOL the track is so long, they can operate multiple trains. . . which with the twisted up track, really gives the impression they might hit each other! I did make it to the end of ERT, even tho only rode that one time, and then we headed back to the hotel to grab some food and crash after a long, exciting, and exhausting, day. I wasn't too hungry tho. . perhaps Galactica and Smiler back to back had my stomach in knots. . . so I stuck with a desert. and no, I didn't share and with that, it was off to shower, and bed. Tomorrow was another full day at the park, and there were a ton of things I wanted to ride, and re-ride.

The Smiler theme in the queue music is still an earworm in my and my wife's ears 7 years later.

I think this is why so many people are disappointed in it. It is a perfect 'first big' roller-coaster for younger kids wanting to try a bigger ride and should have been marketed as such. Instead for whatever reason the marketing went with 'World's scariest roller-coaster' and their viral stunts included a more adult trailer advertising it after 9 P.M. on TV, and news reports released by the park claiming it was so scary that only riders 16+ could ride and you'd have to sign a waiver before riding. So instead of getting excited families and their kids for what I agree is a great family ride, you got teenagers and thrill-seekers lining up for hours for something that wasn't what they expected.

Just in case you thought the colours of AlpenFury and Leviathan were the same, Canada's Wonderland recently clarified this on their social media. Source: Canada's Wonderland Facebook I do hope they begin to share more construction photos of AlpenFury soon!

I just hope they install this new Titan track in all the necessary places, not cheap out in other words. There are plenty of 'rough' spots which would benefit from this track. I am happy they choose to do this, looking forward to the final results.

I'm okay with there not being an RMC conversion if this fixes the severe rapid track wear problem AND they get new trains. Seriously those Gerstlauer trains on this intense of a ride aren't a good fit.

Kumba is now running again.

That's my impression too is that the new management believes they can make Great Adventure into a park with the quality of KI, CW, and Carowinds but it will take some work (and removing half the park). If that is a case then a B&M Giga would surely be in the plans I would think. This park has plenty of room to build a great one like Fury (then again so did KI...) so fingers crossed that we're headed down that road in the next 5-10 years. This park may take a few years longer to clean up at first than KI, etc did, so there will be growing pains. Especially considering a lot of the maintenance in this park has been jaw droppingly bad. Literally.

Finally remembering to come over here and read your wonderful report form an amazing trip! It's bringing back some great memories, and that trophy looks great up on my shelf

After an incredible week in and around Munich, it was time to move on to the theme park-focused portion of trip. Our travel day from Munich to Europa Park was spent mostly on the bus (with a brief rest stop visit along the way), but the payoff would come in the form of an early evening arrival at Europa Park. Robb and Elissa along with the team at Europa Park surprised us with a few hours of access to the park followed by an hour of exclusive ride time on the park's newest addition, Voltron Neverra. With two full days in the park ahead of us, it was a great first taste of just why Europa Park has earned world-class praise. Local soda flavors continue to be a travel passion of mine and Germany continued to impress. What happened to Germany's original Milky Way if they're already on Milky Way 2? On the way to Hotel Colosseo we got our first look at Rulantica, Europa's water park which we'd be visiting on the next day. In terms of themed hotel environments, this is one of the nicest I've experienced. Inside of the park for our few hours of access before our Voltron Neverra exclusive ride time, we enjoyed the sights of Europa Park. In a lot of ways, it feels like the park has found ways to utilize their land creatively, embedding multiple attractions in unique, intertwining spaces that look excellent. My jaw nearly hit the floor when we made it to this section of the park. Alpenexpress Enzian re-opened in 2024 after a fire in 2023 destroyed much of its layout along with several other parts of the Austrian section of the park. Europa Park goes out of its way to celebrate Halloween with a unique parade and a Halloween overlay to an existing attraction (we'll get back to that later). Hi Snorri! There's so much happening in this photo. It's almost too much to process as a theme park fan. Something I especially admire about Europa Park is its willingness to invest in animatronics for queues, scenic spaces and themed areas simply meant to pass by. I don't know that there's a wild mouse I've ever anticipated riding more than Matterhorn Blitz. The double-train elevator at the start of the ride is a neat touch. Matterhorn Blitz was a really fun coaster. Nothing earth-shattering but the layout was literal leaps-and-bounds ahead of standard wild mouse coasters. Familiar yet different. It was finally time to visit the park's new Croatia-themed area and its signature attraction... Long had I waited for this moment and even longer had I doubted that I'd ever have the chance for it to happen. This coaster is relentlessly intense and much longer than you'd expect. Each element of the coaster flows seamlessly from the previous and the train's unique seating allows you to be whipped around through inversions while being held in purely by a lap bar. Such a unique element and a great way to kick off the coaster's outside layout. Such a picturesque coaster. ERT was such a great surprise and Voltron more than lived up to the hype. This is quite easily one of the best rollercoasters I've ever been on, and having an hour to ride it repeatedly only solidified that notion. I could have kept going for hours more! Familiar yet different. Grand Prix of Europe is a new interactive dark ride that will open at the park in 2025. We passed through the grounds of the Hotel El Andaluz on our way back to the Hotel Colosseo... Absolutely beautiful. Dinner at Antica Roma kicked off with a wide selection of cheeses... Are you even in Germany if you're not having a beer each day? Antipasti for dinner! A new Cornetto Cone flavor for the books! After dinner we assembled for TPR's first ever competitive puzzling challenge. Joey and I participated. It was also the trip's designated time for the snack exchange and many treats were had. Here's a photo of a trophy I didn't come close to getting. After an evening of fun, it was time to get some rest, because tomorrow would be our first of two full days at Europa Park.