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It had been a long time since I last traveled with Theme Park Review... On land, I had been a part of the Behemoth/East Coast trip in 2008 and the Deep South trip in 2009. At sea I had sailed with TPR on the Freedom of the Seas in 2011. Oktoberfest had been a bucket-list experience for me for most of my life, and getting the chance to experience some of Germany's most notable parks had equally sat atop my list for as long as my fandom of theme parks and coasters has existed. For years, I watched Robb & Elissa's videos from the parks, thinking that I wouldn't get the chance to experience the beer tents or to have the chance to ride Olympia Looping, Euro-Mir or SilverStar... But when the 2024 Oktoberfest trip was announced, I knew I was going to do everything I could to attend (including ending up on a certain game show). As I've been preparing (read, paring down tens of thousands of photos) for this trip report, I'm already nostalgic for the experience of this trip. Robb and Elissa took great care to show us the best time possible at each stop. For those of us whose first time it was here, they made an extra effort to make sure we didn't miss out on the best parts. And as someone that has been a part of this site since the mid-2000's, it was an honor and a great gift to experience so many new things and places with friends I've known for 19 years. Diving into it... Did I walk all the way across the Chicago O'Hare airport to visit this particular corridor for a very particular reason? Sure did! My first half day in Germany was a success in that I had a chance to drop off my stuff at the hotel and hop on the train into the city... The architecture in and around Marienplatz was absolutely stunning. My main stop for the day was Hofbräuhaus München. I didn’t have a ton of time, but I did get my first taste of Bavaria, literally and figuratively… The interior of Hofbräuhaus München was so charming and unique. My first taste of authentic oompah music on this trip! While I'd been to the Biergarten Restaurant at EPCOT, I'd never been to an authentic beer garden before! But I immediately took advantage of the opportunity! My first German meal of the trip and it got me so hyped to eat more throughout the trip. And to drink more too! The next morning I hopped a train to Fussen from Munich... The train ride was beyond picturesque. I had an amazing spaetzle take on mac and cheese at the hotel in Fussen and called it an early night because the next day would be a very active one. Why Fussen? Well I had some castles to visit... Oh, and the Museum of the Bavarian Kings could not be missed. No photos allowed inside but the museum was well worth our time and helped to instill a greater understanding in us before we toured the castles in the area. Hohenschwangau Castle was the first of our stops. There's a strict policy of no photos inside except photos taken of or through windows, but the tour was absolutely incredible. Delicious and refreshing! It's like Coca-Cola... But with orange! The view from within Hohenschwangau Castle was incredible. And it only got better upon closer investigation. Neuschwanstein Castle was within direct view of the Hohenschwangau Castle at most times. Back near the Museum of the Bavarian Kings is a lake known for swans... A swan lake, if you will. Lots of roasted pork and sauerkraut was consumed on this trip. We hiked up the mountain after lunch to Marienbrücke for the best possible view of Neuschwanstein Castle. Just two Disney fans from both coasts experiencing a Disney fan's dream up close! Die Schlümpfe. My first Cornetto cone of the trip. but not my last! Neuschwanstein Castle is a landmark for Disney fans as it is known as the partial inspiration for the design of Sleeping Beauty Castle found at Disneyland Park in California (also previously found at Hong Kong Disneyland). Discerning fans can recognize the visual similarities. Again, no photos inside but the tour was fantastic and the reveals from room to room were cinematic and surprising! It was amazing to be here in person. Most people share photos of the castle from Marienbrücke, but not the other way around. After our fun in Fussen, we drove two hours to Dornbirn, Austria, for an authentic Austrian meal and a night in the city. Due to bad traffic and rain, our night was really just time at dinner, but Rotes Haus, which has a deep history going all the way back to 1639, was a delightful treat. And our meal did not disappoint! The rain cleared as our meal ended and we enjoyed the nearby sights briefly before heading to bed. The next day we found ourselves back in Munich for the formal kickoff to the Oktoberfest trip with TPR. The spread was bountiful! And the beer was flowing! Pork knuckle and roasted chicken were the main courses of the night and they did not disappoint! After dinner, several of us walked to the Oktoberfest grounds to scope out the festival... But when life puts Olympia Looping in front of you, it is simply the rule that you must ride at least once. As I mentioned earlier, Olympia Looping has been a bucket list coaster for some time. It is a white whale for many coaster fans, both because of its traveling nature and because of its famous size, number of inversions, its smoothness despite its age and its intensity. Schwarzkopf coasters continue to be removed from service year over year (several notable sibling coasters were taken out of operation in 2024) and it has always felt like the clock is ticking for Olympia Looping--at least for me to have a chance to ride it. But I can wholeheartedly say that the hype and the wait to experience this were both worth it. Olympia Looping is incredible. The layout, the speed, the smoothness, the intensity, and even the operations when kicked into high gear (five trains running at once!) were all mind-blowing. For a coaster that first operated in 1989, it is maintained and run like a modern coaster and even when compared to Alpina Bahn operating nearby at the festival, this was a significantly better experience and an absolute highlight of the trip. So great to be traveling once again with friends I've known for so long! I'd be back to try to conquer the Toboggan later... Robb was kind enough to record my first ever ride on Olympia Looping... And the results speak for themselves. Simply an incredible way to kick off the trip... And there was so much more ahead!

I mean if I went to guest services maybe they would give me a refund in that situation, but obviously not worth going to bitch over 2 dollars. But this very situation happened way too many times at Kingda Ka and is just a general annoyance. And in this case there's a much better B&M hyper 200 feet away that doesn't require you to get lockers, so sometimes I just say forget it and don't even bother.

I always had fun on the ride but would never wait more than 15-20 minutes for it. That being said Universal has no issues with getting rid of old rides and this ride is 16 years old now. Really curious to see what they end up doing with the whole area. They still need to get rid of the awful fast and the furious ride too, I'm amazed it's been open as long as it has at this point.

Happy New Year! Few closing day thoughts... The new train on Nitro (D train) runs noticably faster than the others. In the morning I rode A train and it was moving so slow that there was literally no airtime in the first half. The good thing was it was moving so slow that the mid course didn't engage at all, so it absolutely hauled through the bunny hills with excellent ejector all the way through. But then I rode D train and it literally felt like it was a hot summer day. Big airtime on every hill even in the middle of the train and you could really feel the bone crushing positives in the helix. And it just kept getting faster right up to closing even with temps in the 30s and a whipping wind. Easily the best rides I've ever had on it. Marathoned for the last hour and finished with 17 Nitro rides, a great edition of this New Year's Day tradition. Between the jaw dropping sunset rides and the pitch black night rides it just doesn't get any better. Got the last train of the year in the front row (I think this is the 3rd year in a row I've been on last train). Batman running slightly slow in the cold, but always fun riding many consecutive times without getting up. Row 7 had a bad wheel, but 6 and 8 were fine. Dark Knight is using the preshow again which I haven't seen used in years. Only problem is the preshow is so long that the folks that are let into the station are all cycled through and then they just run empties for a while even though there's a 10 minute wait outside. With Ka out of the picture, Devil might be the biggest piece of shit in the park maintenance wise. I did get two rides on it, but two other times I was on the train, it advanced to the end of the station, and then they never sent it and made everyone get off. It's really not the biggest problem ever when the ride is a walkon, but what pisses me off is they get $2 for a locker every time and then you don't get that money back when the breakdown occurs and you never end up riding it. It's a big reason why I rode Ka way less than I should have in it's lifetime and honestly there's a lot of times where I don't even bother with Devil and just ride Nitro more instead. Hopefully the free double sided lockers make their way over here. Park was very dead overall, flats were typically a walk on (and at times not being ridden at all with the ride ops just sitting around waiting, I got zen rides on Jolly Roger and Skyscreamer). But kudos to the park for having everything open on that side of the park (except Harley Quinn for obvious reasons). It was sad looking over at Ka knowing it seems to have officially been sentenced to death sometime in February, and that no one will ever see it from inside the park again. Sounds like opening day will likely be March 15th and employees seemed pretty confident that Flash will open with the park. If that is the case I hope to find myself down there opening weekend!

I'm still waiting for an actual implosion date. I'm not kidding, I'll drive to my mom's place in central Jersey, buy a drone and a gopro, and get footage of this beast dying.