simon8899

Must be a unique chinese thing to have rides and coasters in zoos and botanical gardens - a very nice unique thing though....

As dark season starts in northern europe most parks are starting to close.....few have open with Halloween events but as those are mostly crowded with kids I don't go there.... Two more carnivals comming up: Bremen - Alpina-Bahn (Schwarzkopf portable speedracer coaster), Höllenblitz (indoor coaster), Euro-Coaster (a unique inverted wild mouse) and a classic wild mouse Hamburg - Olympia Looping (the one and only) and a wild mouse After the Weihnachtsmärkte - christmas markets - in december there comes the "dark time" with parks closed and no major carnivals up to late march....

I'm already looking forward to the Bremen Freimarkt starting next weekend - with the Schwarzkopf Alpina-Bahn, the indoor Höllenblitz and a Wild Mouse....hope weather is good..... And of course in one months time the Hamburg Winter-Dom with most likely - altough still not officially confirmed - the Olympia Looping. But it was big fun to ride the Wildcat again - single car coasters always have a differnet feel than train coasters.

Honestly I normally skip parks on a rainy day and visit a museum instead - there's nothing more depressing then a park on a rainy day....

Looks very promising.....the Star Trek world looks cool.....

Hannover autumn carnival A nice smaller carnival in northern germany. The major attractions are the two classic coasters by Hannover showman Vorlop: The Schwarzkopf Wildcat and the Zierer Flitzer. View down the the circular main walkway - most german carnivals are layed out circular. And some classic Schwarzkopf Wildcat in the back... This was one of the first large Wildcats ever built in 1964 and was twice completly restored so far. As Rock'N'Roller Coaster in the 1980s and lately as Die Wilden 50er - The Wild 50s. Wildcat car approaching the final break. The cars are nicely themed as 50s and 60s american cars. And as with later Schwarzkopf coasters the speed is kept to the final break. The transfer of the cars from unloading to loading station as well as the dispatch however are still manually. Also cool the basic lift chain - nothing special designed like later coasters but a chain like the ones you can get at home depot. Huss Flipper in full swing! Angelina Jolie painting on the Flipper. The name Flipper has nothing to do with the dolphin - its the german name for "Pinball Machine". The obligatory Break Dancer - there no german carnival without it. Even small village carnivals mostly have one - bigger ones like Oktoberfest or Dom even have two. Especially in the evening they get crowded and as poeple can enter the ride from all sides its sometimes hard to get a gondola - skilled poeple jump onto the plattform while its still slowly revolving. Log-Flume ride. Nicely maintained Musikexpress. And finally on to the Zierer Flitzer called High Explosive. The wonderfully themed cars have no restraints! More flitzen going on.... Flitzer car before the final break. On my second turn I noticed this sign with the Wildcat statistics. Finally a KMG Afterburner in a very swingy version.

Really like your PTRs from the Chinese parks! and always those coasters that somehow blend Arrow and Schwarzkopf design elements.... Are the vertical loops the same size or is the 2nd smaller? If they're the same I bet the ride is intense.....

I just rode a Huss Flipper last sunday at Hannover carnival. My last Magics were at Hamburg carnival and Walibi Holland. So I won't say they're "gone".... Maybe you just have to come over to europe...at the Bremen Freimarkt there'll be a Huss Troika starting on the 14th October - but rode my last Troika last Thrusday at Hansapark, together with a Huss Ranger....

I sometimes think you need a TUV - okay we also have accidents - but at least our rides are checked every time they are errected (carnival) or once a year (park). Check means the operator has to show proof for all maintenance acoording to the manufacturer plus a state-employed engineer personally checks all parteds of the rides - and only after his OK the ride is "cleared".

Die wilden 50er - Schwarzkopf Wildcat And High Explosive - Zierer Flitzer At Hannover Carnival

Fluch von Novgorod - Gerstelauer Eurofighter - again at Hansapark

Nessie - Schwarzkoppf Loopingracer - at Hansapark 5 minutes ago...

Nice photos.... On my netherlands trip I also looked at Drievliet beforehand - but choosed to visist Efteling instead. Most likely doing Drievliet next time....

I'd put my bets on 1st) the S&S Screaming Squirrel and 2nd) the Maurer-Söhne SkyLoop.

I've just bought my traintickets for Hannover this Sunday to ride the classics at their October carnival: A Schwarzkopf Wildcat from 1964 and a Zierer Flitzer.... And as weather is marvelous the next days I'll do an extra Hansapark on thrusday....

Now the final pics from my tour - some more of Efteling: The Old Carnival area of Efetling. All rides here were bought in 1956 and are operating here since then. I love how this place looks nearly unchanged. Classic Merry-Go-Round. Wonderfully themed monorail ride. Droomvlucht on the left - a Its A Small World kind of ride with suspended gondolas - and the new open air theatre Raveleijn in the middle. And to the right of the entry to Raveleijn is the prototype of the Vekoma mad-house called Villa Volta. These Vekoma rides are really fun! Oh my - its loopy! But not really: The room revolves around you while the passenger plattform is tilted up to 30 degrees to add to the illusion. Inside the Raveleijn theatre. You can't simply walk up for the shows - you've to get free tickets from vending machines outside the theatre beforehand. This way Efteling avoids having lines for this - and on the vending machines you immediatly see for which times there're still seats available. Raveleijn is a fantasy/fairy-tale show - with damsels in distress and trained birds... ...and a bad guy having a mechanical dragon... ...and of course heroes fighting the dragon and arresting the bad guy. After the show you can take your picture with the bad guy or hero free of charge. One of the many marvellous views in this park. The signature ATM inside a giant treasure-chest! How Pagode works... Landscaping from above. Efteling has lots and lots of greenery. The coasters loom out of the trees in the back. Construction going on for the new Realm Of Fantasy darkride - announced to open in 2013. Pagode in parking position. Entry Plaza of the huge darkride Fata Morgana. Loading station of Fata Morgana. Inside you travel through scenes from the middle east to india. And finally you'll see the Fata Morgana - made by lasers and water. Efteling also has one of the first River Rapids in europe. Nicely themed into the mexican area. From the mexican area there is a quite hidden small gravel walkway that leads you up to Vliegende Hollander were you can get up close to the coaster. Efteling mascot in front of the upcomming Realm Of Fantasy. The main Promenade in the evening. Note the funny lampposts... New watershow for 2012 - made by the guys who gave us the Fountains At Bellagio. It will be shown on the lake that is surrounded by the entry plaza, the musical theatre and the Fata Morgana darkride. And finally the 2011 park map: http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/850/eftelingmap.jpg/

Nice Photos.... Have never seen a Monster with new gondolas - plus always nice to see a Huss Take-Off, these are intense....

Interesting to know that Hollander won't operate this winter - I talked to a guy onride who said he was riding it the last winters when it wasn't freezing - but likely he didn't know about this year. Honestly on Robin Hood when I compare it to the Giant Dippers at Belmont Park and Santa Cruz Broadwalk and to the Colossos at Heide-Park this woodie can't compete in no way. Maybe I catched it on a bad day....

Part 3: De Efteling - Post 1 of 2 De Efteling is one of the most beautiful parks I've visited so far. In theming and atmosphere I count it among Disneyland and Tivoli Gardens. Efteling was founded before WWII as an Sport- and Relaxationpark but after the war in 1952 the fairy tale forest was opened, which are wonderfully done and a charm for smaller children. Next to the fairy tale forest a classic carnival was opened in 1956 and this way it stayed - with the addition of a new fairy tale to the forest up until the late 1970s. It was then decided to turn this family-park into a full amusement park. The first step was one of the first Vekoma MK-1200 featuring a double-loop and double-corkscrew. It was put on the other side of the Efteling lake to put the traditionalists a little at ease. Today Efteling has a good coaster collection for an european park but lacks a little in flatrides. But what it has are marvelous darkrides and the huge life-show theatre Raveleijn. In the upcomming months Efteling will add a musical- theatre (End of 09/11), a watershow made by WET the guys who made the Fountains At Bellagio (05/12) and a new Darkride called Realm Of Fantasy (2013). Prices are on the top end for an european park with €32 (USD 40) per adult and parking €10 (USD 13) but for me its worth it. Next to the park you'll find the Realm Of Doors And Portals - the Efteling hotel. The entry building is huge...looking like a kind of giant's lair. Housing the ticket-sales, restrooms and the souvenir shop. It's always worth to discover everything in this park. Above you see a pizza fast food joint themed like an underwater grotto named Octopus. The Spookslot - walk-trough ghost house - and on the right the walkway towards the Bobbaan... The Bobbaan entry. You hear the coaster rumbling around you in the woods, but as the woods are so tight you nearly can't get a clear view onto it. Bobaan station and a car for the Intamin Swiss-Bob. This was the second coaster built in 1985. I quite like this ride as the single cars deliver a very truthful resemblance to a real bob inside an ice-canal. Okay it bangs a little into the block-breaks but overall far better than the standard train-bobs. When many heavy poeple ride the car it can swing up very high inside the canal - thats why the cars have rollover bars in the front and back. Hard to photograph through the woods... Joris And The Draak - George And The Dragon - in the foreground with De Vliegnede Hollander - Flying Dutchman - in the back. Joris And The Draak is a marvelous duelling wooden coaster. You can choose to ride the Waterdargon or the Firedragon. The tracks are only mirrored for the first half of the coaster, then each train takes an individual course. At the end you've a racelike finish-sgin and a flag shows the winning train. Also there's a water fountain that sprays one train and its riders depending on the wind... View of De Vliegende Hollander from before the Joris station, a marvelously themed darkride/water-coaster. More on this later... Water (left) and Vuur (right) on the lift hill... The waterdragon has won! The winning train gets waving flags from above and a "Hooray!" over the speakers. The loosing train comes in a little later were the lights are dimmed and a "Boooooo!" is played over the speakers. A place with a view... Here you enter De Vliegende Hollander and sets the story: The queue starts inside the captain's house. The captain got greedy and you enter one of his smuggler tunnels that ends inside a shady tavern at nighttime in a 18th century dutch port town... My take on the station - or the harbour port. Well smartphone cameras have to be improved for dark environments... A better view from a youtube video: You decent the stairs from the tavern and enter the ride to search for the missing Vliegende Hollander. At first you enter the loading area were two huge sailers a loaded with water and barells. Then the ride enters the pitch-black. After explosions you meet the ghost-ship - a soaring animated holograph projected onto a mist of water - and then you're face to face with the devilish front figurine of the Hollander. Then down a small drop and the car latches onto the chainlift were you meet a medusa and finally hear the doomed captain: "Now you'll sail for all eternity!" (in dutch). The lift picks up speed and kind of propels you outside. Now starts the coaster seaction of the only KumbaK coaster so far. As you exit Hollander you can go straight to Phyton. The Vekoma looper features a very hard shock in the traverse between the loops and the corkscrews. Loopy.... Hollander doing the splash. The intensity of the splash can be adjusted for winter operation. Over the whole area lies the costum-composed classical musical theme of the Hollander recorded at the Prague Symphonic Orchestra - I had it in my ears for days... Park train station and huge fast-food area - inside. Station Oost from the outside... The prototype of the huge Intamin pirate ship. Even more swingy than the Huss variant. On the left the nicely themed station. The Efteling lake with the huge Intamin Pagode in the background. Classic teacup-ride here themed as huge boiling pots as Mister Cannibal. Huge entry-portal of Vogel Rok - a Vekoma MK-750 enclosed coaster. Vogel Rok station. The ride itself is quite short were you'll meet Rok and his family - in recent years it was updated with a few laser-effects. This is the first half of Efteling - more soon...

I always wonder why the Boomerangs (Standard, Invertigo) are at least acceptable while their "normal" rides (SLC, MK-1200) a far worse.... The only good Vekoma thing are their Mad Houses!

Thriller (carnival) Katapult (carnival) Seeschlange (Hansapark) - replaced by Rasender Roland Slangen (Tivoli Gardens) - replaced by Demonen

You really should to Rocket if you have the chance - thats one of the signature rides! Next to Olympia Looping you have to do Rocket, Das Hexenhaus - an old-style mad-house and Das Teufelsrad - a group of poeple on a polished always-faster spinning round plattform, who's last on the plattform wins.

Thanks for all those ocean-front park pictures! I loved them in california. But its still weird to see all the flats completly fenced in.....

Part 2: Walibi Holland (formerly known as Walibi World and Six Flags Holland) Upon entry you get into a retro-50s main street with many shops and stores. Over everything blares a quite not-so-nice rock'n'roll soundtrack. But that soon vanishes as you get behind the portal building - picture one in the back. Walibi Holland is devided into lands which are quite small if you compare than to for example Disneyland as each land is mostly arranged around a square. And not only in theming you can see the many different managements this park had over time - also in a quite unique combination in the rides and coasters. As it was most times under dutch management they bought four homemade Vekoma coasters while under the short Six Flags rule a Intamin Mega-Coaster was errected. Overall the park gives IMO a quite unbalanced feeling. Some parts are nicely done like the Medival land and the Mexico square while others look like some rides accidently standing together. Also a remainder of the Six Flags rule is the thumbs-up by the attendents and the "Dispatch!" over the speakers - which I haven't seen before in europe. Sadly the XPress was still out of service but at least cranes were around them and from Goliath you could see workers climbing on it. Also out of service for the day was the Sombrero - a unique Monster-based ride with four arms were one round gondola themed as a Sombrero hat is attached, as the arms go up and down and the whole thing turns each "hat" spins on its own. View down the American Street after the entry. The rides begin after the you passed the portal building in the back. Tugged quite hidden in the back is Goliath - Six Flags addition to this park, even still showing the original sign. Even if I'm more for looping coasters I've to admit that this is the best coaster of this park. As it's tugged in the back it's hard to photograph so I can only tell you of the Stengel-Dive: After the first camelback the coaster goes up again and at the peak the track tilts 90-95 degrees to the left! Also cool: Two long bayerncurves that have a high greyout potential - especially in the back. On the way to Goliath you find a Huss Enterprise. On the way to the Vekoma woody Robin Hood. What to expect...? Sadly not much as this coaster feels rougher than a 80+ years old Giant Dipper. In part attributed to the cars of the train which oscillate nearly all trough the ride. One ride clearly was enough. Nevertheless this was the most crowded coaster... After the Vekoma shaking I needed a good coaster. Goliath uses not a traditional chain-lift but the train is lifted by a caddy with latches onto a fast moving steel-wire - you're nearly propelled over the lifthill. Three bunnyhops with massive airtime finish the ride followed by a final overbanked turn. Tall poeple should keep the arms inside on the final turn as the bushes come really close. In the Medival area stands this Vekoma mad house named Merlin's Magic Castle. Honestly these are the best rides Vekoma produces. Nicely themed and with the theme of "The Princess Bride" the central room revolves around you while the passenger platform tilts up to 30 degrees to add to the illusion of looping around. This is the smaller version of the Vekoma mad house - more on this type of attraction with inside pics on my final part about De Efteling were the prototype stands. A canal traverses the park with a Vekoma ferris wheel in the back. This Huss TopSpin named Excalibur was often called to be on a boring program with no multi-spins. Well, someone obviously had read that! The program starts boring and the ride finally stops - but then it starts again and does a single 4-spin before the ride really is over! On to Wild West Land - with the obligatory log-flume. A quite old pirate ship with manual lapbars. A nicely made western saloon with showstage. Sadly in spring and autumn shows are only on the weekends - according to the pics they've an un-western Tribute To Charlies Angels show with sparsly clad girls. Damn! Western square with the Zierer Tivoli kiddie coaster Rattlesnake. A unique park-version of a Frisbee with the engine at the top. As it swings more powerful than the Huss Frisbee the swing-height is a little lower. A Huss Magic quite hidden as it was aqquired from another park with a roman theming on it. Entering WAB-Plaza and welcome back blaring rock music. One ride is a uniquely themed Zierer Waveswinger. The Speed Of Sound was one of the first Vekoma Boomerang installations. After it lay defunct for years it was nicely rethemed and got new trains with on-board music-system which plays a synchronous soundtrack. The new trains with their seatbelt-restaints are quite good IMO making this the second best coaster in the park. The SLC prototype Condor - this fact doesn't makes it better. Boy this coaster hurts! When you reach this point you have survived Condor - but sometimes kids stand under you with Soakers... As I had to drive on one final SWOOOSH with Speed Of Sound as it's close to the exit. A sneak peak of XPress from the parking lot. And finally again the 2011 park map: http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/7/walibimap.jpg/

I kinda like the Intamin Swiss-Bob far mor than the ordinary bob-trains - yes they bang a little into the blockbreaks but the single cars give a far more accurate bob feeling. Believe me I've ridden a real bob down an ice-canal at Winterberg - still unsure if real bobsled rides are a credit....