cookiex
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Y'know, thinking about it a bit, I wonder what would have happened if they decided to replace it with a similar attraction like a more thrilling Vekoma suspended family coaster or a B&M flying coaster.
I remember seeing an RCDB page for a B&M Flyer that would replace Eagle Fortress for a long time but nothing came out of it.
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First bits of progress on Kärnan's themening:
Also found an image of how the main building will look when completed:
Sources: Kärnan Baublog / Coasterfriends.de
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Do you get very wet on the log ride? Maybe that is why people were staying away.
well I do remember getting a bit damp.
Heading over to Nessie. There was only one train operating for most of the day, but the line managed to stay below 15 minutes.
It's easy to get many re-rides on Nessie because of the short lines. It's not like you can go wrong with a good old Schwarzkopf anyway (now if they only did something about that awful noise in the brake tunnel).
Choo-choo!
Crazy Mine seems to have gotten a lot rougher these past few years. Maybe it's because I can barely fit into those cars. It's not like I'm an especially large person, and I can fit into most other Wild Mouse cars just fine. But those were Mack and this is Maurer...
This year they've added a single rider line (in case you don't see it, it's the wooden arch sticking out from the crowds in front of me). Saves you ten minutes or so, but like Fluch it's pretty late into the queue.
One thing that ticked me off is that they built a single rider line for Kärnan but it was closed, and apparently it hasn't been used since opening day. And it's placed fairly early in the queue too! I could've gotten so many re-rides if they actually decided to use it.
Maybe it'll be open when everything's finished next year.Rio Dorado usually gets long lines even in crappy weather, so always get to it before noon.
With the right weight combination you can get the raft to spin like mad which is really fun, otherwise it's just okay. At least the station is nicely themed.
It's actually possible to get stuck in the wide section before the last turn. Your only way out is if you get help from a passing raft or if another raft bumps you out and gets stuck in your place.
Fluch with Kärnan in the background.
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How was the queue time for Fluch, in comparison to Karnan?
I'm just curious. Great start to your trip report.
Hansa is a great park. I wish it was a lot closer to me.
Fluch's queue was 30-40 minutes all day. I think the weather had more of an impact than Kärnan though as I said the crowds were lighter than usual for that time of the year.
Moving on!
Here's what Fluch has that Kärnan doesn't: free Wifi!
As you enter the castle you're transported back to 16th century Russia. Fluch's indoor queue is actually one of the most immersive I've ever been in. The ambiance, lighting and cramped hallways do a fantastic job in building atmosphere and suspense.
A skeleton can be seen watching you from the ceiling. Now that's what I call spooky!
Fluch does have a single rider line, but it only appears just before the final hallway. It's good if you want to save a few minutes, but you still have to wait for most of the queue before you can use it.
The way the Fluch starts is awesome. The fake wooden door opens, the lights begin flashing and the rocking soundtrack starts playing as you're sent on your perilous journey.
Even if it's been surpassed by Kärnan, Fluch is still one of my favorites. It's gotten a bit jerkier with age, although it rode better this year.
Now here's the most bizarre part of the visit: despite decent crowds and being in the middle of summer, the nearby log flume was basically ignored.
This is what the line looked like almost all day. I was one of six people there! You might blame the weather, but I've been to Hansa Park in worse conditions (and today's weather only had the occasional rain spurt intermixed with sunlight) and the log flume had more people on it then. It's even right next to Fluch, one of Hansa Park's most popular rides, so it's not like it's hard to find or anything.
It's not that long of a ride and log flumes have plenty of capacity, but I expected more people to be on it because water rides usually attract decent crowds, but not this time. At least it made it easy for re-rides.
This year Hansa Park has put up TV screens across the park that show queue times for their most popular rides. This is a common sight in larger theme parks, but it's a welcome addition here, makes it easier to plan your next move. It's not without it's quirks, however. See that 35 minute wait time for Nessie? Yeah, that was way off. I've never had to wait more than 15 minutes.
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Every summer me and my parents take a boat trip from Sweden over to the German coastline. I've been in the region so many times I know most of it from the back of my hand. We usually visit the same places (Rostock, Kuhlingsborn, Grömitz, Neustadt im Holstein etc.) and the traditions that come with those places don't change all that much either. And of course one of those traditions that never change is the annual visit to Germany's only theme park by the sea (so they say in the ads!), Hansa Park! Not that I have any objections to such an awesome tradition.
This visit was different from earlier years. For starters, this the first time I've visited the park all on my own. My parents have had enough of theme parks for their lifetime, so they let me borrow one of their bikes and pedal from the Ancora marina in Neustadt out to the park. One thing you should know if you plan to bike to the park: the road to Sierksdorf from Neustadt is an exercise on it's own. The hilly terrain will tire you out before you even get there!
Second, this has been an important year for the park. If you've followed the news for the past year or so you've probably heard about Kärnan, a massively tall Gerstlauer Infinity coaster with the vertical lift hill entirely enclosed. It's basically Europe's answer to Cannibal at Lagoon. It's a coaster you wouldn't think the park would build in a million years. Not that Hansa Park didn't have impressive coasters like Fluch Von Novgorod already, but Kärnan is on a whole other level.
These pictures were taken on July 29th, so you may think I'm a little late in posting these, but I've been busy with college and all that so I haven't had time to compile a proper trip report. And apologies if the picture quality isn't the greatest, I took these photos from my Galaxy Young, which doesn't have the best camera.
This is Hansa Park from afar, about 20 minutes from opening. As you can see, Kärnan has made one heck of an impact on the skyline.
The park gates just a few minutes from opening. Crowds were a bit lighter than usual, probably because of the mixed weather, but the place got busy around noon. At opening there were only about a hundred people by the gates though.
I rushed over to Kärnan as soon as the gates opened. I have mixed feelings about this plan in hindsight: while I was one of the first few people to ride it, they didn't open Kärnan for another hour (the park opens at 9 and Kärnan opens at 10) so I had to do a lot of waiting even though I was first in line.
What's stranger is that they didn't even test the coaster before they opened the line. If you had an extra hour to prepare, shouldn't you take that time to test it so it's ready for opening? They need to iron out their procedures for next year.
After an hour of waiting the line finally opened and it was time to head in! It's a bit weird to go on a ride that technically isn't finished yet. This pathway may look very different next year.
Needless to say, Kärnan was awesome! The layout, the lift drop, the amazing soundtrack, all excellent. There were some rattle in the middle parts of the ride, but other than that it's an exhilarating experience!
The line was already over an hour minutes after I exited. It stayed like this for most of the day.
You can see Kärnan from almost every corner of the park! Here's the view from Fluch Von Novgorod's exit.
Speaking of Fluch, it was the day's next venture. As you enter the queue you're greeted by this sinister scarecrow animatronic.
You enter this ominous doorway and things take a turn for the spooky from here.
More to come in the next post!
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In chronological order:
X-treme Racers (Legoland Billund, 2002)
Rage (Adventure Island, 2007)
Tornado (Bakken, 2009)
Manta (SeaWorld Orlando, 2009)
Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rockit (Universal Studios Florida, 2009)
Vilde Mus (Bakken, 2012)
Schwur Des Kärnan (Hansa Park, 2015)
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Any rapids ride that doesn't have a drop like Kali River Rapids at DAK. They're just too dull for me without one (and rarely if ever get you the slightest bit of wet).
Also anything that spins violently especially at a tall height I try to stay as far away from as possible.
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I've been thinking of heading down to Spain and visit this beautiful park next year (too early for Ferrari Land but eh, I can live with it). I've been thinking of staying at one of the onsite hotels at a cheap time so I can take advantage of the perks given. Any tips about the hotels or the park itself before I start planning more?
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El Paso's demise has been a long time coming methinks. I think it was even supposed to be removed last year going by early versions of the 2015 park map where the ride was clearly missing.
As for Torre Del Mar, most of the available space to relocate it is already too close to Kärnan. The only other spot I could think of would be the grass field to the northwest beside Barracuda Slide, but it seems to be used as outdoor storage for now (they placed most of the pieces for Kärnan and Fluch there during construction).
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A newsletter from Hansa Park says that two new family rides are coming next year along with Kärnan's upgrade, but it comes at the expense of two rides leaving.
El Paso Express (the Schwarzkopf Superbob in the back of the Mexico area) is getting torn down due to lack of spare parts, while Torre Del Mar (the Starflyer) is leaving the park due to Kärnan's tower apparently causing issues with changing wind conditions. Speculation has it that Torre Del Mar is heading to Terra Mitica in Spain as that park has put up advertisement for an 80m tall ride coming next year. Details for the two new additions aren't known yet.
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Apparently there is no natural flow for people in that area, and that's the main reason for the makeover.
It's pretty awkward to navigate up on the mountain I give them that. The path going from the Helix/Atmosfear building behind the two coasters is all over the place. It's harder than it looks to find your way down from the south side of the mountain once you're there.
The two S&S towers going away at the same time is pretty disappointing. Let's hope the new replacements make up for it.
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I guess I should consider myself lucky that I've never had to wait more than 1 hour, which to my recollection has happened twice.
Space Mountain at WDW in 2003, sign said 45 minutes when we entered (this was just before closing) but it broke down for fifteen minutes halfway through. I seem to remember staff members walking through the queue and informing people that the ride would be down for a short while, which was nice.
Kärnan at Hansa Park this year, second time of the day. Line was always around 60 minutes and I couldn't wait until just before closing to ride it again so I decided to waste another hour in that queue. Worth it!
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Different make of ride, but seems like it'd be similar to this flat in the video below.
I rode one of those at a local fair last week. Didn't think it was going to be much going in but it was actually quite fun. The bumps give some decent air.
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^The most noticeable differences I can see is the new light package during the pre-launch sequence and more and brighter effects inside the dome, although some of them may have always been there and were just broken/switched off before the refurbishment.
It's nice to see the cannon itself back in full operation as well.
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I'll be going to Liseberg next week! I heard Kanonen has been closed for a while and according to Liseberg's facebook page they're still waiting for a specific part so that's a bit of a bummer, but it's not that big of a deal as I already have the credit and I'm going there mostly for Helix (my first Mack launched coaster so I'm super excited for it) and my favorite coaster of all time Balder!
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Heading to Liseberg either Tuesday or Wednesday. Go Helix!
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Schlange Von Midgard at Hansa Park last year. I only rode it because the line was short for once (the queue itself isn't that long but because of low capacity it moves very slowly, and a 40m+ wait for a kids' coaster just isn't worth it) and it was the only coaster at the park I hadn't gotten to yet, and it took me four visits to the park to do it.
This week I'm going back for Kärnan though. Super excited!
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Hansa Park either Wednesday or Thursday, then Liseberg in August. Kärnan/Helix here I come!
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They have stopped using the single rider line unfortunately The wait time was 60 minutes the entire day from opening to closing.
That's a shame, but the park tends to be very busy in the last week of July/first week of August. It would be put to good use if it's not too much of a hassle.
The park's website states that the rides open at 10 A.M, but I know for a fact that most of the rides at the front of the park open with the park itself, and the more popular ones in the back (Rio Dorado, the log flume, Crazy Mine, Fluch) open around 9:30. Do you know if that is true for Kärnan as well? I'd like to hit it as soon as the park opens.
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I'll be heading to Hansa Park next week, either Wednesday or Thursday. Super excited for Kärnan.
How are the lines for Kärnan so far? I heard it got up to as much as two hours on opening week, but with the single rider line you could skim through in 15 minutes. I'm going alone so I'm of course choosing single rider. I wish Fluch had its SR queue start much earlier instead of during the final ascent, would have made re-rides much easier.
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Zierer - Karavanen (Tivoli Gardens - Mid 90s?)
Vekoma - Big Thunder Mountain (Disneyland Paris - 1999)
Intamin - Mine Train Ulven (Bakken - 2002)
Mack - X-Treme Racers (Legoland Billund - 2002)
Maurer Söhne - Crazy Mine (Hansa Park - 2002)
Reverchon - Primeval Whirl (WDW Animal Kingdom - 2003)
WED - Space Mountain (WDW Magic Kingdom - 2003)
Gerstlauer - Rage (Adventure Island - 2007)
Schwarzkopf - Nessie (Hansa Park - 2007)
B&M - Deamonen (Tivoli Gardens - 2008)
Premier - Revenge of the Mummy (Universal Studios Florida - 2009)
Fabbri - Batman (Malmo Folkets Park - 2013)
Maybe it'll be open when everything's finished next year.
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Universal Orlando Resort (USF, IOA, Epic) Discussion Thread
in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
Posted
Beastly Kingdom was scrapped long before IoA became a thing.