simon8899

Not some fancy joke but always cool to overhear some kids in line with their - mostly unlucky - father who has to ride along... "For some rides with smaller kids the train just skips the loops!" - in line for Olympia-Looping "You get my candy bar if I am allowed to re-ride!" - at Alpina-Bahn asked by 10yo girl to the attendant, and as it was slow midday she got the re-ride *unfair* "Again, father, again!!! Father, what are you doing there in the back???" - bouncy kid while father is getting lost of his dinner

The standard Schwarzkopf coasters like Silverarrow, Looping-Star or Double-Loop - can easily converted to portable rides as the whole ride is already portable. The only difference are that there are no portable footers and the loops are secured with screws and not only by loose bolts. Bigger park installations are a different kind of cake. ^I guess the Boomerang has more inversions.... German showmen Goetzke only travelled with it one or two years and it was re-located quite often so I guess most were not really happy with it. I think a smaller park like this one fits well as with only one train the capacity is limited. Seeing crowds for example at Oktoberfest I think why Goetzke opted to sell the coaster. I never really understood why so many big US parks got a Boomerang...

With such a long time commitment hope to see even more Zamperla rides popping up in the area soon...

Just looking at the parts that are already up one can say that this will at least be a good ride. And in 6 months I will check if its great....

Looking so good....

One would assume that a rich country like Kuwait would have their rides in operating order. On the positive due to the desert climate the coaster still looks quite good and might be restored to operation rather easily - honestly it looks better than some Chinese coasters that DO operate... And always nice to see were Evolution/Imperator end up. Thanks for the TR!

If you plan your holiday trips around cities were you find amusement parks and/or major carnivals....

^And I always wondered were I could book a vacation on a Skywheel - love the hangtime. Would be perfect with a LSM/LIM pickup to send the train multiple times around...

The official Kärnan website is online. So far only in German and I translate the few facts given so far: Known facts so far - Type: Hypercoaster - Construction: 1 1/2 years - Opening: 2015 - Biggest single investment in park history - Groundbreaking: Planned for 2013 Speculations - How about themed around a Time Machine Ride? - How about visiting the Templars? - How about putting the train onto a elevator-style lift system similar to Tower Of Terror? Next to that Hansa-Park owner Andreas Leicht did an interview with local radio station Radio Nora stating the following facts - A Hypercoaster should be 61-91 meters tall - It will bew a "Family Thrillride" - Theming might only be ready by 2016

I second that!

I think Forbidden Journey is fun and quite family friendly. At Legoland I've seen and felt what you can really do with those Kukas.

^^Guess you are hinting Vekoma tries to re-do as they did with licensing Arrow.... That would be a clever move indeed.

Will be interesting to see which projects will come up first. European parks seem to be content to have one wooden coaster so far - and most of those already have one. Other parks have so far decided against them like Hansa-Park - or simply do not have the space to built one like Phantasialand. At first glance I think Chinese parks could be first to get one.

Thanks for the TR! Like the xmas lights!

Teststrecke between showers last weekend. Yesterday I saw it in pieces on trucks on the highway while I was on my way home. No rides until March 2014....

Will be interesting to see how many trains they can put onto the circuit as each train has a quite low capacity with 12 riders. Nice how they re-used the Blue Fire restraint system. Legoland Billund Dragen reminds me a little of this ride with a darkride section first which is done at a low speed and then the train speeds up for the outdoor section.

^Looking great! Sadly a model I have not ridden so far....

Another thing I would think might be availability of support. Having seen the Huss Ranger at Hansa-Park break down one day a team from HUSS was onsite the same day - as Bremen is a 3-4 hour drive. So while most Euro parks will have next-day support - if they paid for it - it can take quite a long time overseas, specially if the spare part had to be shipped over the pond which takes weeks itself. It is no wonder that quite a number of German showmen operating HUSS rides come from Bremen... To keep repair times short it is a good idea to buy from a manufacturer on the same continent...

That was mostly due to the idea that the older Whirlwind models were also aimed at the portable market. They never set a foot there as another coaster manufacturer had this market cornered in the 60s to 80s... I personally do not care much if the coaster is made by Vekoma or Arrow - as long as they have the new Vekoma trains with those seatbelt-like rubber-OTSR running. These trains make the coasters quite enjoyable. Vekoma builds trains that make Arrow/Vekoma loopers fun

If EP would ever do a drop tower it will most likely be an Intamin like Scream (Heide-Park) or Atmosfear (Liseberg) mainly because of its capacity. S&S droptowers while fun have way too little capacity for big parks.

Most TopSpins I encountered at parks have a totally lame program - if you get ONE triple-spin you are lucky. Talocan is the seldom exception with one triple-spin and one 5-spin. Best to ride TopSpin at a carnival here. At Bremen Freimarkt there were 2x 7-spin, 2x 5-spin and 3x triple-spins - at night with full lights package!

Great pics - and reminder that my Orlando visit is now nearly a year gone by...

A funicular would fit great into Liseberg. Very much liked it at SFMM with its hilly areas - always moved up inside them and then got all the coasters on the left or right side always going down ending up at the base station to go up again...

Santa looks creepy cause its a booze shack.... Glühwein is hot spiced vine - mostly offered with a "Schuss": A shot of mostly rum to heat it up....

^and I hope SFGAm will have all their Schwarzkopf rides till 2015 when I will be coming to ride all of them...