viking86

After seeing how cheap I can get to Paris I'm seriously considering a trip to Disneyland Paris this year. Right now I'm looking at a 3-day visit on September 19-21st. From what I can tell from their website the only major ride scheduled to be closed during this time is Indiana Jones, and I can easily live without getting that credit. Is there anything else I'm missing that's happening this time of year which should make me reconsider my options?

Thanks! Going up the vertical lift on Kärnan is definitely a nerve-wracking moment. Although most of your weight is on the seatback, it feels like you're being held in by your legs only. Once we crested the top of the lift I was arms-up on every ride, but I was never able to force myself to let go of the lapbar on the lift. Pssst! You misspelled "Fluch von Novgorod" both here and on the front page...

Taking care of one of my parents cats. Or maybe that should be "one of my parents cats taking care of me"??

I haven't been following your trip report until now, but I just went back and ready your visits to Clementon, Hershey and Knoebels and I really enjoyed it. I like your writing style, it's well written and contains a good doze of humor. You also have a very good balance between text and pictures. I will definitely be keeping an eye on this thread from now on!

Warning! This trip report contains spoilers. If you don’t want to know what is happening on the indoor parts of the rollercoasters at Hansa Park then don’t read this trip report. Or just watch the pictures and the video, they don't contain any spoilers Unfortunately the video is blocked in Germany, Switzerland and Austria so apologies to those of you who are not able to watch the video. Okay, let's get the trip report started... Earlier this year me and a friend started talking about going to Denmark. Some years back we went every year, but our last trip was back in 2014 so now it was definitely time for another trip. As I knew we would be staying somewhere in southern mainland Denmark, I naturally had to check how far it was to the parks in northern Germany. When I saw that Hansa Park was only 2 1/2 hours from where we would be staying I naturally got very excited! My friend is not a coaster/park enthusiast like I am, however he does love riding rollercoasters so I didn’t excactly had to work to convince him to go. We left our place at 7:00 AM and we were parked at Hansa Park around 9:30 AM, which was excactly according to our schedule. First thing we noticed was the surprising amount of other Norwegian cars (and a a bus) there, but then we quickly realized how close we were to Kiel which has a direct ferry connection to Oslo. One interesting feature about the parking here is that you don’t pay driving into the parking lot, the gates are open and you just drive straight in. But before you leave you have to pay, however the parking is on the cheap side, only 4 euros. The parking lot is on the other side of the road from the park, but there is a pedestrian bridge to get across. Once you come down the stairs on the other side, you find a rather nicely themed park entrance. On the right side is a small replica of some buildings from Bergen, Norway, which I thought was quite nice, given that I live in Bergen. It even comes with a “fully equipped” unicorn, although not as “impressive” as the real thing. The pedestrian bridge across the road to the park It may be early on a Sunday morning, but we are super excited to be at Hansa Park A little piece of Bergen can be found in the corner of the park The front entrance to Hansa Park The park opened at 9:00, but according to their website the attractions didn’t open until 10:00. However they did have some rides open when we arrived, including Nessie, so that became our first ride of the day. As it was early in the day, the ride was close to a walk-on, which we didn’t mind at all. Nessie, or Nessie Superrollercoaster as the full name is, is a classic Schwarzkopf looping coaster that opened in 1980. I really like the classic Schwarzkopf coasters, from the lapbar-only trains to the smooth ride they provide, and Nessie was no exception. The loop is nice and intense, and the drop out of the second turnaround has some nice airtime in the backseat. Just remember to brace for the final brakerun, as is often the case on these old Schwarzkopfs. This ride must be super!! Love the classic Schwarzkopf loops. This drop had a surprising amount of airtime in the backseat! The parks train ride runs straight past Nessie. The park also has a customer Vekoma family coaster which runs through the loop of Nessie twice! After a great ride on Nessie we headed to Fluch von Novgorod to wait for the ride to open at 10. However the ride did not open as scheduled, and since we saw that Schwur des Kärnan was running we headed in that direction instead... I will start by saying that Schwur des Kärnan is a HUGE ride, and the tower can be seen from pretty much anywhere in the park. However after they added the bricks to the tower this year it doesn’t stand out like an eyesore any longer, it actually looks rather nice. The first element after the drop, which I have no idea what I should call, is also huge and rather imposing. That was also very obvious by the amount of people that gathered outside the entrance and just stood there watching the ride. We on the other hand went straight into the line... The line was about half an hour at this point, which wasn’t too bad. The outside part was empty, but the line started as soon as we got inside. While standing in line the story is explained on the screens in “History Channel documentary style”. It’s in Germany obviously, but it has English subtitles which is nice. You can actually watch the videos on their Youtube channel (https://www.youtube.com/user/schwurdeskaernan/videos). Once you get close to riding they let 16 people into a preshow room where all loose articles are placed in a cabinet. They have a very strict loose article policy, it includes EVERYTHING in your pockets (even if you have zippers) and you’re not allowed to wear glasses either. You then proceed into a room where the passengers split into four lines, one for each row. However it is completely random which row you will end up in, meaning you cannot wait for a specific row. Not sure if I like this setup, although it’s different for sure. We were lucky and got front row on our first ride! The tower on Kärnan is HUGE! Look at that twisted mess of steel! A little portion of the outdoor queue on Kärnan It doesn’t happen very often that I’m nervous before riding a coaster. With a ride count of roughly around 150 coasters I know pretty much what these things does. However in this case I was actually a bit nervous, mainly about the reverse drop inside the tower, as I had no idea what to expect. I quite enjoyed this feeling, as it’s something that rarely happens. As for the drop itself it wasn’t very intense, but it was definitely a fun experience, and I would probably be close to shitting my pants if I hadn't known about it beforehand. But given the amount of time it adds to the ride, I’m not 100% sure if it was really worth it given that capacity would probably be higher if it wasn’t for this drop, and the fact that the line moves rather slowly. But still I enjoyed it! After a short wait at the base of the lift, you once again pick up speed and head towards the top. As you start cresting the top, you see the light coming from the hole at the bottom of the tower. The drop itself is great, however it doesn’t really provide a sensation of being high up as it’s enclosed. I think it would provide a better sensation if the drop was outdoors, but it’s still an awesome experience. Exciting the tower at nearly 80 MPH, you immediately go into this giant heart-shape thing which provides a surprising amount of ejector airtime on the first hill. On my first ride I didn’t really notice how high up we were, but on later rides I managed to look around and the view is quite impressive. Diving back to ground level, you immediately head into an overbanked turn. The transition exciting this turn is very quick and borderline lethal, possibly the most intense moment on this ride. The remainder of the ride consists of a series of high-speed low-to-the-ground turns producing some nice positive G-forces, and a very good ejector airtime hill. There is also some decent airtime on the hill right before the brakerun. After the brakerun there is a slow heartline roll in the dark before the final brakes. I’m not a huge fan of slow hangtime so to be honest this didn’t really add much to the ride for me. You get some fantastic ejector airtime right here!! This transition is borderline lethal! The train zooms by at incredible speed at this point. More ejector airtime!! So what is my conclusion? Well, Schwur des Kärnan is one awesome rollercoaster! It’s fast, intense and mostly smooth. There are a couple of small jolts during the ride, but I didn’t feel that they detracted from the ride experience. I’m still not completely sure about the backwards drop. Would I trade it for a faster moving line? Probably, however I don’t really know how much of a gain there would be. But overall I absolutely loved this ride, it’s definitely a top-10 coaster for me! We then headed off to Fluch von Novgorod, which was now running. Like on Kärnan the queue is divided into an outdoor and indoor section. At the longest the line stretched just out of the building. About halfway through the indoor part of the queue, it splits into three lines. One for row 1, one for row 2, and one for single riders. I found it quite strange to have the split so close to the station, at least for single riders. It also meant that the queue time was about the same for both rows, so we rode in the front row for 2 of our 3 rides. I also think this has to be the narrowest line I’ve ever stood in. The cars have OTSR which are quite restrictive so no hands-up riding on this one, but at least both seats and restraints were comfortable. The entrance to Fluch von Novgorod Stuff happens inside this tower. A little bit of the theming in the queue line. The ride itself has a short darkride section before dropping into the launch. I must say the launch was a lot stronger than I had expected, which was a nice surprise. I guess with a single ride car it doesn’t take that much power to launch a train. At the end of the launch there is a right hand turn before you exit the building and head into a glorious airtime hill. This is followed by a banked hill and then a Magnum-style turnaround. Going into this turnaround the ride is a tad jerky, but again nothing that really causes any discomfort. This is also the only part of the ride which I would say is not perfectly smooth. After the turnaround you go through a heartline roll and into the brakes as you head back inside the building. The second half of the ride is very short. It consists of a vertical lift, a beyond vertical drop, a banked hill and a long straight section of track with some brakes before a small hop into the final brakes. This whole section is pretty much in complete darkness, so you cannot see anything of what’s going on. While this section is very fun, I still think it would be cool if you were able to see at least a little bit of what’s going on in the dark. For example I would never have known that the ride has a beyond vertical drop based on the ride experience alone. Exiting the ride you go through a maze, which was kinda strange. And when you finally find the exit, you find yourself in an area of the park with completely different theming, which was just bizarre. Still though I really liked Fluch von Novgorod, it’s a smooth, fun and intense ride. This hill provides some glorious airtime! Into the Magnum-style turnaround! The ride features a heartline roll as its only inversion. Hansa Park is not all about rollercoasters, and we did a couple of other rides as well. We rode their classic log flume, these rides are always a ton of fun. They also have a larger splashdown boat, which I have no idea who is the manufacturer of. I was a bit worried about getting really wet on this ride, as they have placed a wall on the left side of the splashdown. On several occasions we watched the wave hit the wall and come back into the boat, soaking the riders. Fortunately there were only the two of us in the six-passenger capacity boat, so without much weight we didn’t create that much of a wave. So in the end we only got a little wet, which I was rather pleased about, as the temperature was not that high. These classic log flumes are always a ton of fun! The parks larger splashdown boat. The person who suggested to build the wall right next to the splashdown is an evil person! Fortunately we were not affected much by this cruel plan! Our last new coaster of the day was Crazy Mine, a Maurer Wild Mouse coaster with mine theming. This was pretty much exactly like every other Wild Mouse coaster I’ve been on, except it had some of the most cramped coaster cars I’ve ever experienced. Getting into the seat was a serious challenge! We had fun though, just remember to brace for the final brakes! We also hit the observation tower, which provided some great views of the park and the nearby area! The observation tower provides some great views of the surrounding area! Here is Nessie from the observation tower. Fluch von Novgorod with Kärnan in the background. We are having a great day at Hansa Park!! Here’s a few pictures to show what else Hansa Park has to offer. I love that the park created a path featuring slippery rocks going through a small stream. Injury guaranteed!! You can't have a proper European park without featuring boobs! (even though they were covered in this case) We spent most of our day going back and forth between the parks three major rollercoasters. As it was a Sunday I was worried that the lines would be long, but that was never a problem. Nessie was 1-2 train wait the whole day, while the line for Kärnan and Novgorod was around half an hour all day. This allowed us to get a decent amount of rides in, our total ride count (for the coasters) was as follows: Nessie Superrollercoaster (x4) Schwur des Kärnan (x3) Fluch von Novgorod (x3) Crazy Mine (x1) Overall we had an awesome day at Hansa Park. The park is nicely themed, and it has some kick-ass rollercoasters! The atmosphere is nice, food is decent, staff is friendly and special added bonus points for having some of the cleanest themepark toilets I’ve seen! Let's end with a few more pictures of Kärnan shall we?? Thanks for reading!

The shaping of the cobra roll on the knock-off Boomerang is so messed up. It really makes me wonder how (terrible) it rides... anyone here been on it??

That's a good question... why do I still have the donkey title??

Driving in Germany is not an issue at all, you'll be fine. I can also second what Elissa said about considering adding Hansa Park to your list if you're in that area. I visited the park for the first time a couple of weeks ago (full trip report coming out very soon), and I had a great time. It's only about an hour and a half from Heide Park.

I think this pretty much covers it. In no particular order... Schwur des Kärnan Phoenix Rock'n Rollercoaster @ WDW Fluch von Novgorod Lisebergbanan Helix Space Mountain @ WDW Lost Gravity Expedition Everest Revenge of the Mummy @ USO

I swear everytime you post a video I go straight to the comment section to look for the "Dear stupid people of Facebook/Youtube..." comment! Ok if you say so.... but yeah, great video! While I haven't tried these trains, I rode the Boomerang at Walibi Holland last year which has the new west-restraints and I must say those did wonders for the ride. I actually had a decent ride experience! We need more Boomerangs with new trains! Fun fact: The Boomerang at Wiener Prater was actually my very first Boomerang! Rode it on a ECC tour back in 2005 (the only trip I've ever done with a coaster club), when it was featuring 1st generation Vekoma trains. Didn't enjoy it very much.

As of right now, nothing on my agenda! But I'm seriously considering a trip to Disneyland Paris in mid-September...

Well, I'll give it a go. For most of the chains the number of coasters I have ridden is rather limited, and several are from trips that date 8-12 years back, but there are definitely some "worthy" winners on my list. Six Flags: El Toro SeaWorld Entertainment: Kumba Merlin: Nemesis Inferno Universal: Dragon Challenge Fire Disney Parks: Rock'n Rollercoaster Parques Reunidos: Katun Compagnie des Alpes: Goliath - Walibi Holland Parks and Resorts: Wildfire - Kolmården Independent: Storm Runner

^I think there are quite a few of us with that plan!

Awesome report as usual! I had to check out the parking lot on google maps to see what you were talking about, and I can definitely imagine that thing being a clusterf*ck of epic proportions!

^Well, I'm sure it will all be gone again very soon...

^Lol it's online betting on football (soccer).

^Winning is always fun!

I posted in this thread back on page 2, but since we're now categorizing the different types of B&M's I figured I'd give it another go. Inverted - Batman la Fuga (2003) Floorless - Superman / la Atracción de Acero (2003) Hyper - Nitro (2008) Flying - Superman - Ultimate Flight SFGADV (2008) Sit-down - Kumba (2014) Dive - Sheikra (2014)

^LOL! I'll take this over the 5 PM darkness during winter.

I should be going to bed, but it's difficult to become tired when it's 11 PM and this is how it looks outside!

My frigde is a happy fridge at the moment!

Here is my list: Demolished/rebuilt: (removed and not listed as relocated on RCDB) Sierra Tonante – Mirabilandia Família Expressz – Vidampark Kukomotív – Vidampark Dragon – Tusenfryd High Speed Thrill Coaster – Knoebels Great American Scream Machine – Six Flags Great Adventure Rolling Thunder - Six Flags Great Adventure Kålormen - Tivoli Karolinelund Jet Star – Särkänniemi Timber Ride – Legoland Billund Incredible Hulk - Islands of Adventure (*new track/supports) Cyclone – Six Flags New England (*rebuilt into RMC) Coaster relocated after I rode them: Family Adventure - Mirabilandia Looping Star – Vidampark Kanonen – Liseberg (destination not yet known) Cirkusexpressen - Liseberg Korkkiruuvi – Särkänniemi SBNO: Magnus Colossus – Terra Mitica Gwazi – Busch Gardens Tampa

Crazy Mine @ Hansa Park last weekend. All the coasters at the park were new to me, but we rode them in the following order: Nessie Superrollercoaster Schwur des Kärnan Fluch von Novgorod Crazy Mine It had some of the most cramped ride vehicles I've ever encountered, getting in and out of the seat was a challenge.

I coolest one that i have seen in US is Beer Vending Machine , that machine provides beer. That's placed in front of my apartment and i won't have to go long to have beer. When I was in Hamburg in Germany a couple of months back, there was a beer vending machine in the hotel lobby. I think we used it every day...

Two weeks of vacation are done, and I'm going back to work tomorrow. I am sooooooooo not looking forward to go through hundreds of unread e-mails tomorrow morning...