rcjp
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Posts posted by rcjp
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Thanks!
Hmm, ok. Interesting to know
There was this sort of "street market" in the area by Krake (IDK if this is a temporary thing or not) which did sell a bunch of stuff, including food. So I did have some choice, it was just annoying that I initially walked to a few particular food places I had seen in the map and then had to go elsewhere.
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^ Interesting stuff you mentioned about Talocan. I had no idea these rides usually had to cool down after some spins. And, I as I said, I usually don't do these rides myself so I didn't have much to compare it to (intensity wise). I went on it mostly for the setting/theming, for sure.
And yes, the theming on Mystery Castle is an important feature but for me, as much I think good theming elevates the overall experience, the ride itself is the main thing and what I care about most. Still a pretty cool experience, though
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Trip Report
So the day after my Phantasialand visit (Tuesday, 19 October) I headed to Heide Park. It was gonna be tough be beat the previous day/park but then this one has a nice coaster collection and I was really looking forward to trying my first big intamin pre-fab (I had only been on Balder at Liseberg).
The park didn't have a lot of people but I wouldn't call it dead. Lines were fairly consistent with around 5-10 min for Desert Race, 10-20 for Krake 15-30 for Flug der Dämonen and 25-35 for Colossos. All these coasters were running the 2 trains. Weather looked terrible all day but I only started getting a drizzle from around 15-16h and by that time I had done all I wanted, so I just had a few more rides and left. Even though there were some people in the park, it felt a bit weird as a lot of food places were closed (don't know if it's normal or if it's Covid). Despite this, services and operations were, overall, pretty good (much better than Movie Park the following day
)
I did enjoy the park quite a lot. Not Phansatialand or Europa Park (although it has a better coaster collection than the latter) but my 3rd favorite park in Germany, now.
Now to a review of the main coasters:
- Desert Race: this was my first of these small, low to the ground intamin accelerators (I had been to Kanonen at Liseber but it's a very different ride style). And it was pretty much what I expected. Very fun forceful launch, some nice twists and pops of airtime and a good sensation of speed. It's just a little short and I find the placement of the brakes terrible as they ruin airtime on the last hill for those further back in the train. Since the line was pretty short I rode it a bunch of times (trying to get the front row but with no luck).
- Flug der Dämonen: I really enjoyed this coaster. It might actually be my favorite of the type, next to the one at Toverland. It's funny because I have been on Gatekeeper which is much bigger but these ones just rode better, for some reason. It felt like the layout really was meant to be a wing coaster (while Gatekeeper felt like a forceless sitting coaster layout with winged trains on it). Don't get me wrong, this is pretty forceless too
. And maybe the reason I liked it more was the fact that I have come to accept that B&M wing coasters will never be about intensity like their older sitting ones (Dragon Khan or Kumba). But this one had very fluid and nice transitions with a pretty original and unique layout. It was the first wing coaster that really gave me the flying feeling, as I was floating through the inversions with nothing above or below (especially when I got a front row ride). It was the coaster I rode the most that day (I would have done colossos more but it had the longest line).
- Krake: not much to say here. It was the first small scale dive coaster. It has a nice first drop, the splashdown is always a cool touch a standard inversion and an airtime hill with some very light floater air. Did it once in the back and once in the front.
- Colossos: this was by far the ride I wanted to try the most. Especially as I heard so much praise for these coasters and when I went to SFGAdv El Toro was down
. I had been to Balder but was a bit disappointed, to be honest. Sure, it had some pretty good airtime hills but overall didn't feel very fast and the turns between the hills kinda broke the pacing. This one was much better for sure. First of all, it was very smooth (something I can only say about balder too, when it comes to wooden coasters) and the height and speed made it much more fun, in my view. The airtime wasn't insane but very very good, it had a nice long layout and kept a good pacing. It might be my favorite woodie now. Or perhaps Phoenix Knoebels but that's a totally different ride (which gets all its points from the loose restraints which let you fly all over the place). But still, I have to say that, in my experience, no wooden coaster has ever come close to my steel top (and I know this is rare for many here). Maybe I have just been unlucky (I mentioned El Toro being down and I haven't been to any RMC woodies, only hybrids). And yes, maybe when this ride was built it was among the best (and don't get me wrong, it is still a very very good coaster) but after having experienced RMC hybrids and insane airtime on rides like shyrush and even Ride to Happiness at Plopsaland De Panne (this ride gave me some of the most aggressive airtime I've ever felt and it totally caught me off guard), the airtime here (which is what the ride is all about) doesn't feel so crazy anymore. Still a great ride and I hope they keep taking good care of it. Went on it twice (front and back). Maybe would have done more if the line was a bit shorter or if it wasn't raining when I left the park.
Now to the pictures
Approaching the entrance
Oh, here began my main (and only, really) issue with the park. IDK if I'm the only, but I found the park map (on paper or app) so confusing that I ended up almost getting lost
, or should I say, often taking much longer paths than would be needed.
Still, I did like the layout of the park.
Interesting looking ride..
The obligatory western section
Brings back childhood memories of the movie
First ride of the day
With its unique operator room
A bit of theming here and there.
I remember seeing these (or very similar ones at another park) on an old TPR vlog style video (my grandad would download these for me when I was like 6-8 as he was the first one in the family to have a PC and internet and of course I had no idea what TPR was
). They look so intense for kid slides that I wanted to try one but felt embarrassed as I only saw kids going in
I'll come back to you later
Really nice roller coaster landscape. Just a shame the weather wasn't at its prettiest
Oh no... here we go
This one was actually fine
Not this
The two vekomas with the same paint job make a nice pair (visually aha)
SLCs are very photogenic, I find. This one still had the old trains and it gave me a nice little beating. It was a complete walk on
Also the same color scheme, actually
This was my favorite bobsled as it was long and with some pretty fast turns throughout.
Overall, the park had some nice theming elements. I had just come from Phantasialand but I had to give it some credit.
This area was pretty nice looking
Also a walk on for the tower. I love these. Very simple but always deliver
This was a positive surprise for me since from POVs it looks kinda slow. And it wasn't fast and intense for sure, but a very enjoyable ride. May be my favorite wing coaster now.
The interaction with other rides/buildings and the terrain is awesome
Floating through the inversions
Very unique element, this one
Zero G roll really did give good zero G. Favorite seat was front right
Nice fast airtime hill after the drop
I'll get more pics of this one later. But not much to say. New trains make the ride comfortable but it is what it is. Just meh
Diving time!
Wait was pretty short for this. Shoutout to the park for running 2 trains on these rides with not much queue. Something that I could not say about Movie Park the day after...
A kiddie coaster with a strange looking train... You'll see what I mean in a bit
I love parks that have a lake in the middle. It makes for some cool shots and it's also a nice way to separate different areas
Really cool theming on the first drop
A very mild pop of air
I ran away like an idiot after taking this shot as the whole area would get drenched after
Big Loop looping
...aaand looping some more
Now I realize that all the coasters in this section do have the same color scheme aha
I love when you can get really close to rides. It means parks somewhat trust their guests.
Yeeess finally
The structure looks massive
Cool sign
First awesome airtime hill
Nice first drop (nothing like El Toro, though)
I didn't get many pictures of the ride, it wasn't very easy
Some brave souls who are not afraid to get wet in the cold
Good luck
Nice theming here too
Ahh, there is the weird front car
Me trying to get diabetes
Some more winged action. This was the ride I went on the most
Standard B&M wing coaster first drop
Station building for the bobsled looked really cool
No, not going there again
Here
These old style corkscrews look very photogenic
One last ride
And one last attempt to get diabetes
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Yeah, I only went on it once, so maybe I was unlucky....
The theming and anticipation (lighting, sound,...) really is amazing. But the ride itself was nothing special. I can tell you than on my sequence it immediately started with an upwards launch but nowhere near as strong as S&S ones (I also didn't get any air as it reached the top). Then it spent some time moving up and down (but very slowly, only to build up the anticipation) and it finally ended up a drop from the top but, once again, not forceful enough to leave my seat (so not even 0G, like a standard drop tower).To be fair, although I enjoy a good S&S tower, I prefer simple drop towers. Honestly those are, nowadays, the only rides that I'm never fully prepared for as when you get that sudden 0G you always get that funny feeling in your stomach.
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1 hour ago, DoinItForTheFame said:
WAIT!!! Do I spot that little Intamin Launched coaster from over seas?! Just repainted??? (Sorry for the, could be dumb, question haven’t followed this project that closely) but if it is that coaster…. Imma head to the park when it opens!
Yeah, it is the former coaster from Liseberg
It's a fun little ride with a surprisingly aggressive launch-
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Thanks
It was a great opportunity to test my new phone's photography capabilities aha
Yes, F.L.Y was an amazing ride! As I said, not the most extreme/insane coaster experience but I did not have a single negative thing to point out about it. Even the restraints were pretty nice. I forgot to mention that but basically these work a lot more like the ones on B&M flyers than the old vekoma flying Dutchman. You have a vest restraint (the vest part only locks as you actually start moving) and then the leg/shin holders that are also kinda like the ones B&M uses.
The trains are not the largest (20 riders, I think) but with the separate stations and efficient operations the line moved at a decent pace.
Now having been to the largest German parks, I think I can say Phantasialand has the best coaster line up with Taron F.L.Y and Black Mamba, in my view. And with all the awesome theming, it's definitely my favorite park in the country and among my favorites overall!
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Thanks for the great report! Now it's time for mine
Two weeks ago I did a car trip across a few parks in Germany that I hadn't been to. I took some pictures from the others too but this was my favorite and the one I have more stuff to show/talk about. I might eventually do a report on Heide Park as well. But for now, Phantasialand
I really loved this park, it has become one of my favorites. Amazing and immersive theming, great attention to detail, some nice food and, of course, a great selection of rides. None of them totally blew me away but the 3 main coasters are very solid and the theming only makes it better.
This report dates back to Monday, October 18. It was a nice, mostly sunny day but sadly, however, I wasn't as lucky with the queuing times as Satchboogie3. The lines for the main coasters were pretty consistent throughout the day with Taron's being between 30-50min, black mamba 20-30 and F.L.Y around 40. It's a shame that there is no unlimited skip the line pass (especially if you're just going for a day) but I won't complain as many/most German parks don't seem to have any pass at all. I got the thing and used my two rides on Taron (F.L.Y wasn't included). I ended up getting two rides on each of these 3 coasters and 1 on the remaining stuff that I went on.
Overall, operations were very efficient (especially after having come across with some awful ones this year) and everything worked nicely. The park was very beautiful and nicely put together. It was the only park of the trip where I stayed the full day and left wanting more.
Now to a review of some of the coasters (with some "spoilers" for less obvious stuff not everyone might know):
- Winja's: these were some very unique and fun spinning coasters! They would have made it to my favorite of the type if it hadn't been for Ride to Happiness earlier this year, although that should be on a category of its own. Overall, I preferred Fear, I think (the one which does not tilt sideways). I just got the impression it was longer and did more stuff. Or maybe it was the element of surprise as it was the first. The tilting elevator lifts were very fun and an unique way to start the ride. The other tilting sections were fun to and I was totally caught by surprise by the dropping/bouncing track on the final brake run. It was a weird feeling and as a coaster nerd and a mechanical engineer, I was really intrigued by how that worked as the train never stopped moving through the track as it would bounce down and then up. I was quite frustrated cause I wasn't able to see what was going on since it was dark
. But it amazes how many moving parts and track switches there are and it was running fine. Does anyone know how reliable these coasters are? I'm curious;
- F.L.Y: I was really excited about this one especially as lately I've been riding some of these new Vekomas and they have been really good. Also cause there are basically no POVs of the ride and I was intrigued by the boarding process (very different from any other flying coaster). I then found out why. They have a really fancy locker system with bracelets that you use to open the locker and you really have to put everything in there as after you go trough metal detectors (I guess this is because the coaster goes over a lot of walkways and there are no nets, which I quite like). So after this part there are no phones (so no pics of the station too). It has a separate loading and unloading station (interesting fact, this is probably the coaster I've been on where the trains move the fastest in and out of the station). The trains come sideways with the seats straight up and facing the queue. You board them and then go through this slightly uphill bit (the station is underground and the first launch is elevated) still sideways. I guess Vekoma realized that being in the flying position for very long isn't so comfortable as you only face down just before the launch. Basically the track twists to the inverted position at the same time as the seats rotate 90 degrees to be aligned with the track (all done in motion and very smoothly). The launch isn't really forceful but it's definitely fun to experience one in a flying coaster. I agree with Satchboogie3 in the sense that it wasn't so soft or forceless as I expected. It definitely has no insane moment like a pretzel loop but (like the inverted coaster Hals über Kopf at Tripsdrill) it keeps going without really having a slow moment and everything feels very fluid. The transitions, twists, dives underground and even the second launch/boost are very well put together and it really is a fun great experience. My front row ride on it was probably my best ride on a flying coaster as you really get the flying sensation (going over all the track mess and walkways). These new vekomas I've been on have this particular feeling to them: not very intense but never stop and feel very fluid, with great transitions between elements and no "dead" moments;
- Black Mamba: This was a pretty solid B&M invert. Not as intense as an old-school one (like batman) but after riding the super "new-school" invert at Grona Lund, it seemed quite forceful. The fact that you're flying around theming elements, trenches and with a bunch of near misses definitely adds to the experience. It also had a pretty good pacing, despite not being that intense. It was pretty much what I expected (in a good way). I was lucky to be put in the front row for my first ride;
- Taron: Pretty awesome ride. Not on my top 3 or 5 but definitely very good. I was expecting it to be all about twists and turns but it still delivered some nice airtime moments (the trim near the end is annoying, though). Pacing was better than I thought too (on the POVs it seems to kinda crawl to the second launch but it felt faster in real life). Once more, the whole scenery really adds to the experience too as well as the interaction with the vekoma family boomerang the the rest of the ride itself (you'd often see two trains on the track at the same time). The launches were pretty forceful too, for LSMs (especially compared to many recent Mack rides). I was just annoyed that you can't go for the front row if you use the quick pass. IDK why, really. Cause you merge with the regular queue before it splits into rows... So the extra time you'd wait would be the same.
I'm actually not quite sure if I prefer F.L.Y or Taron, overall. F.L.Y amazed me for its uniqueness and novelty, in a way. It's a very "satisfying" coaster to ride, IDK quite how to put it. You do get a very good flying sensation. But maybe, if I had to marathon one, it'd be Taron as it's, overall, a faster and more intense coaster.
I was sent to the China area entrance. A nice first impression
As with the rest of the park, theming was top notch
My first look at Taron as I was making my way to the center of the park to buy the quick pass.
First ride of the day was Maus au Chocolat as it was near the place I got the quick pass (or whatever the name is here) and it had a very small wait while the big coasters already had large queues by then (I drove 3h40 to get to the park, so I wasn't quite there for opening, but close)
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I had no idea what the ride was (didn't know it was a shooting ride) but the queue looked pretty cool. Fun ride too
I don't really know what's on the other side of this (maybe rookburgh, the layout of the park and how well the transitions between areas are sometimes made it difficult to get what was on the other side) but it looked really cool
First coaster(s) of the day was Winja's
Amazing setting and really fun rides! Even for me, who usually knows all the coaster layouts before riding, this was full of little surprises. One of the best spinners I've been on.
Queue and exit theming amazing too of course
I then headed to Crazy Bats, a Vekoma family coaster which appears to have changed theming a couple of times. Now it was supposed to have VR but cause of covid it doesn't, so the ride itself is practically just in the dark. Still fun, though. And supposedly the longest indoor family coaster in the world? I'm pretty sure I read it there, somewhere.
Queue and station looked pretty cool.
The transition to the center of the park
Which, of course, looks amazing
Was getting a Disney vibe here
I must say, this whole area looked awesome. I really like the theming and the steampunk vibe of the area.
First look at the long awaited F.L.Y
I'm a huge fan of the colors predominantly used here.
First launch (which you walk under)
The entire area is also full of trenches and tunnels where the coaster very often dives into.
The entrance
And the view from the queue.
I find all this track and theming mess really stunning to look at.
The final inversion before the brakes.
I must say that I initially had some trouble getting photos with the trains on the track because, since I didn't know the layout and there are so many tunnels and overlapping track, it is quite difficult to know where the train will pop up next.
Bit of the underground part of the queue
That is pretty much the last bit you can go still with your phone. The lockers were just after this bit of queue ended
More rookburgh awesomeness
And now heading to the other rides
View of the Mexican area
And of course, the visually stunning Talocan
With all the effects working, of course
Heading to the "newer nemesis"
I love when the queue has a lot of interactions with the actual coaster.
Scenery amazing too
It's amazing when parks put in the effort to add all these little details not everyone will notice
It's also great when parks have a lot of these interaction places with the rides
Pretty standard B&M invert first drop, but with a nice forceful pull into the loop
Mine train time!
This one was really long and with a lot of interaction with nearby buildings and rides too
Didn't realize you could smoke in the park. Or maybe you couldn't
Finally heading to Taron
The two coasters (Taron and Raik, the Vekoma family boomerang) blend in really nicely
IDK what else to say, this whole area looks awesome too
The rockwork was amazing too. It's funny that I clearly remember watching a video about the building of all these rocks and scenery like 6 years ago, when the ride was getting built. I didn't think I'd end up here now
Coming out of the second (and best) launch
You go by this waterfall with great speed
Some Raik action (this was just a standard junior boomerang but in an amazing setting)
Two coasters in one
Interesting....
I really wanted to try Chiapas for being such a special log flume (and to be able to sing "we're on a log flume", of course
) but it was just too cold for me (and the huge body driers had quite the queue )
Yup, I'll just watch
And of course, absolutely amazing theming
I generally don't do these as I'm not a fan of this type of ride, but I had to go on this one. Just after a nice full meal
As I said, I don't do many of these but this one had the most intense program of the ones I've tried (with the most flips)
Another great looking water ride which was too much for me
I then headed to Mystery Castle, an unique (one of a kind?) intamin compressed air tower
Does the park have noise restrictions? Cause none of the coasters are very tall and are all surrounded by walls and this one is also enclosed, so...
Looked amazing from the outside, but the biggest let down of the park. Anyone find the same? No forces at all (no great positives and I didn't leave the seat once). I feel like it spends a lot of time just building up and being intimidating and then doesn't really do much.
Some more Taron, cause why not?
This was my second (and final
) ride on it
Also a last ride on mamba
And, to end the day, a ride on F.L.Y. I realized I wasn't gonna have time to do anything else so I just waited for the front row (and I didn't regret it)
One final look at some Intamin awesomeness
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Expedition Geforce 2 weeks ago
It's always nice to finally get on a ride that you had been hearing about for years, and it surely did deliver
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22 hours ago, Pedrinho said:
Hey!
Glad you had such a good time. Yes, Wednesday last week was an awful night in Rhinelanp-Palatine. I live about 40 kilometers away from the park and I thought of your visit on thursday morning. I'm surprised you managed to get some rides in. Consider yourself lucky.Glad you liked it. It seems we share a detail of our coaster seasons with our last ride of the season being GeForce in the back.
aha cool!
Yeah, not bad at all. When, on Thursday, I was told the park would open on Friday, I wasn't so confident (especially as there was still some wind on Thursday) but all ended up working out pretty good! It was a shame to miss sky scream but it was more for the credit, really, as I have been on a clone of it
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On 10/19/2021 at 8:27 PM, Pedrinho said:
Just a quick update from today's tour to Holiday Park:
All major rides were open. Some rides at Majaland were not and seem down for the season. Expresspass is available again with the usual perks (nine points for 30,-- €).
Expedition GeForce was running great.
For the fellow who visits on thursday: I don't see anything preventing you from having a great day. You wont need Expresspass. Expedition GeForce was a maximum wait of two trains for any given row all day. All other major rides were merely walk-ons.
Sorry, was only able to have some time on my PC now. But thanks for all the tips!
And now to the big reveal...... I got to the park Thursday morning and it was closed
They had some bad weather during the previous night and didn't open from damage..... Luckily, it was my last park of the trip and I had already booked a hotel nearby. So I managed to spend 2/3h in the park on Friday, before having to drive back to Switzerland.
Expedition GeForce took 1h30 to open (due to cold) but then it was almost a walk on, so I still managed to get 5 rides that day. As expected, it was a really awesome ride (with a lot more positive Gs than I thought, actually!)
Sky Scream had a sign saying "closed for maintenance". There was also nobody near the entrance so I couldn't really ask what the matter was. Overall, it felt like they were still recovering from damage of Wednesday night since a lot of rides were closed or took a bit to open.
Overall, however, given this issue and the time limitation on that day, I was really happy with the visit and glad to close the "coaster year" with a back car ride on Expedition GeForce
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4 hours ago, indyv said:
Movie Park has 2 fast pass options available: Speedy Pass Single (valid for 1 ride) and Speedy Pass Gold (all rides once). More info can be found here. Since it is Halloween, the park can be really crowded, especially during the weekends. So, if it's a first-time visit, I would recommend a to buy a Speedy Pass Gold. Also, if you want to do some of the Halloween mazes, buy your maze tickets online in advance, because the capacity of the mazes is restricted due to covid measures.
Thanks for the tips
I guess I didn't see the pass cause it's not available in the English version of the website (these "issues" also seem to happen with other parks too)19 hours ago, Pedrinho said:Yes, it's definitely a German issue at the moment.
As far as I know Tripsdrill doesn't have a skip the line system. About the lastest COVID protocol, I know nothing for sure. Last time I have been to Tripsdrill, you were able to choose rows and lines were mediocre. Normally, in autum, you won't wait more that 30 minutes anywhere.
At Heide Park you will be at least able to choose your seats freely. As far as I know no skip the line system at the moment as well as no single rider lines.
At Holiday Park you may choose your seat at Expedition GeForce. Express Pass is available, but I suppose you won't need it if you go during the week. Please not that Expedition GeForce does not operate at 8°C or less. Some weeks ago we had walk-ons all day. Check my last trip report for more infos on Holiday Park. I plan on going to Holiday Park next week with my kids.
Quick Pass at Phantasialand is a skip the line system. You'll only get it at the welcome center at the main entrance. It lets you choose your seats on two coasters or for a party of two on one coaster. F.L.Y. is NOT included (see here: https://www.phantasialand.de/de/themenpark/informationen-und-anreise/#quickpass). With QP you will easily get everything done in one day. Maybe even without. Just check the crowds. Times in the app are normally pretty accurate.
About Movie Park, I know nothing, tbh.Thanks a lot for the extensive explanation!
I'll go to all parks during the week except Tripsdrill, next Sunday.I'll go to holiday park on Thursday, temperatures seem well above 8 but rainy. In fact, it looks like I'll get rain in most of these places. How are their "rain protocols"?
I've already downloaded the apps for all parks that have them, they seem to be in German only but I'll manage
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On 10/8/2021 at 7:29 PM, Pedrinho said:
Phantasialand is crowded at almost all days of the year. Expect 30-60 minute waits for Taron, Raik, Black Mamba, F.L.Y. and the Winjas as well as other major attractions and 20-40 minutes for things like Maus au Chocolat. As autumn holidays are starting now, your weekend will be the central weekend of them, so the weekend may be even busier. As Quick Pass is active again, consider spending some money and use it. I would please aou to go for at least two days to get the best out of it.
For Europa-Park and Heide-Park I would consider the very same minus the fast lane options.
At Holiday-Park crowds will be a little less.
I must say your post made me a little worried aha
I'll be going to the park next Monday (and I only have that day, I took a week off to go to a few parks in that area). I suppose this Quick Pass is a sort of skip the line pass, right? I couldn't find anything on their website, though.
Also, just to be sure: I'll also be going to Tripsdrill, Heide Park, Holiday Park and Movie park. None of these have any fast pass available (or at least in a visible/clear way) on their websites, do you know if they all don't have one?
I see this is a bit of a German trend. -
^ Now that I'm living in Switzerland I also think the same thing.
But I won't complain much cause I come from a worse place
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Vilda Musen at Grona Lund
A very unique and funky wild mouse built literally on top of other rides and walkways
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Hi there!
I'll be going to the park somewhen on the weekend of 18 and 19 (this month). We have to buy tickets in advance but we're just gonna wait a little to see how the weather looks.
Apparently each ticket comes with 2 "fast pass" entrances and it looked (from the park's website, which I can only see in Swedish) that you may have to pre select where you want to use them. Is this true? If so, does anyone have a recommendation on which rides I should use it on?
Also, if anyone has any other tips concerning the park, that'd be very appreciated
(like which day would be better. I always assume Saturday is the worst but Sunday will be the last operating day for the month)
Than you!
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On 8/23/2021 at 11:52 PM, Ozano305 said:
Ik what you mean, but couldnt you just make sure to not attack the bigger and famous rides prime time and do the high capacity rides that time frame ? Like, right when the park opens, you could rush to all the big main attractions and ride them one by one if youre fast enough. After that, let the prime time come in and go to the big capacity rides with not so high queue time. Somewhere to the ending times of the park, go to the bigger rides you have missed out in the morning again, this is the best way feel like to attack this.
I always try to do that, taking all into account (how popular each ride is, capacity, where in the park it is located,...) but it doesn't always work. I have been able to get really early into parks and ride 2 (maybe 3) rides with almost no wait. But recently, for example, I took a car trip across several parks (north of France, Belgium and Netherlands) and while I got to every single one a bit before opening (25/15 min) in many cases they would let people into the park before the rides would open which meant that while I stayed in line for the first one (waiting for it to open), people were already going to other queues and by the time I left the first ride all of the others would already have solid lines. So all I could get was 1 ride without/with little queueing time.
I think this year is also a special one since many parks are having horrible operations (due to the effects of covid, I guess). But the first time I went to Europa Park, for instance, I was running all over the place and only managed to get 1 ride on each of the coasters (and no other attraction). And when I had spent 10h on a bus (each way) to get to that single place, it is a bit frustrating.
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The idea that parks just add those to make more money sure is annoying but the truth is that parks that don't may be quite frustrating.
If I had a park near home which I could go to anytime, I probably wouldn't buy those passes often. But when you invest a lot of money (and time/effort) to go to a park which you might not visit anytime soon, it does feel good to have a way of getting on rides more quickly (even if you have to pay more)
I can tell you that I have made trips to parks which didn't have any pass and in many cases I'd spend the entire day running around and stressing. And sometimes I really was not able to get on everything that I wanted (even just once) and that is very frustrating when you travelled a lot for that single place.
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Alpina Blitz at Nigloland (AKA Mack Megalite)
Haven't been on an intamin megalite but this was a great little ride!
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I wouldn't exactly refuse to go there again, but I recently had a pretty bad good experience at Walygator (France) and no interest in going back anytime soon.
The park had some nice rides (such as "MCBRless" clone of raptor at CP which is probably my favourite coaster in the country) but the operations were literally the worst I have ever seen. The lines were only 2-3 trains wait but 30 mins long.
While running one train on the big coasters, the operators would wait for the train to be back to the station AND empty of riders to let guests on the station and they sure took their sweet time to distribute them across the different rows. It would be 2-3 mins since the trains stopped and restraints opened until the air-gates were open. Dispatches would be between 4 and 6 mins. I really thought that they were literally doing on purpose to slow the queues down and make the fast pass more appealing but then I stood in line (a big one) to get food for quite some minutes and it didn't move at all. Seriously, it was quite surreal. Has anyone had such an experience there before? Is this normal?
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Hi everyone!
Does anyone know what the park's rain policy is (if coasters stay open or not)?
Cause me and some friends have been trying to go there for quite a bit but the weather forecasts (although they might change very close to the day) are always terrible. Now one of them is leaving and we are thinking of going ahead anyway.
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That's a bit of a bummer but to be expected, I guess. I always feel sorry for parks that are heavily affected by something (like this or Covid) right after opening a major ride. At least they're not done for the season
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Well, that kind came out of the blue
But really excited to finally see B&M having a beyond vertical drop, considering they were among the first to have really steep/vertical drops with their dive machines.
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I wonder how the "recovery" is going, but indeed it sounds like there may be a lot of serious issues.
I went to the park's website (cause I was thinking of going there soon) and for now all ticket sales are suspended. The calendar also shows the park closed until August 16 but perhaps this is still very optimistic?
This also seems to be the only major park affected in Belgium as the other websites I went to show their respective parks up and running.
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I rode it last summer and it was in no way uncomfortable (even if the lap bars are exposed metal).
Just not the most exciting ride.
Parque Warner
in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
Posted
I actually can't believe they're finally building a new big coaster, since they haven't done so since opening, 20 years ago. Should be a great addition for a park that is more heavy on looping and non launched rides.
but I guess that won't happen anytime soon with these retracks.
Still wishing for a coaster express RMC conversion