Heide Park Discussion Thread

[Norwegian coasterfan]

^ If I where you I would go to Hansa Park instead as it is about the same distance away from Hamburg and you will have a much better day there

I mean ideally I'll be going to both Haven't done either, just have no idea how busy either of them are really around this time of year, never been to Germany before.

 

Sounds good I don’t think it will be very busy during that time so you should be fine

[i305isdaddy]

Those trims where there before they closed it, you could not feel them at all

 

They actually added an additional trim and turned them all up, unfortunately. Compare the first POV's from 8 years ago to the new testing footage where the train crawls into that newly-themed airtime hill with no airtime potential.

 

At least she lives though.

[Rill'o'beily]

I don't think there was a lot of pre-announcement, it feels like it came out of nowhere because checking the website for a while it seemed there never was a date (I think the date came out on the 17th so the day before yesterday only) but anyway, Colossos opened today!

[Canobie Coaster]

^ I'm excited to hear how it's riding if it opened today.

[A.J.]

Check out this video ad for Colossos. It would appear that they've given it a new set of trains!

 

[Pedrinho]

^

True, the trains are new, but I didn't read anything about the manufacturer yet. Has anyone?

[A.J.]

^

True, the trains are new, but I didn't read anything about the manufacturer yet. Has anyone?

I think that they're Intamin, they look just like the ones on El Toro and T Express.

[Pedrinho]

^

True, the trains are new, but I didn't read anything about the manufacturer yet. Has anyone?

I think that they're Intamin, they look just like the ones on El Toro and T Express.

Okay.. Is it true that the old trains were from Gerstlauer? I have that memorized, but I can't find anything about that online, so I may be wrong.

[DoinItForTheFame]

The new theming looks AMAZING!!!

[A.J.]

Okay.. Is it true that the old trains were from Gerstlauer?

I don't think so, the old trains look pretty much exactly like what are currently running on Balder at Liseberg.

[coaster-mm]

After missing Colossus with our visit to the park last year, and the only time we rode it was in the opening month 18(!) years ago, we decided to drive the 300 miles to visit the park last friday, mainly just to ride Colossus.

 

Did 2 rides on it, with a 20-30 min wait time for each one. It was a little too chilly for our taste to do more.

 

The ride was good, speed is maintained very well throughout the whole ride and there is (still) plenty of airtime from beginning to end.

 

The only little thing ‘ negative’ for me personaly was that the ride is smooth.....very smooth. Really felt like a RMC , just without the crazy things they are famous for.

When i ride a wood coaster I wanna feel that i’m on a wood coaster, but Colossus is as smooth as a baby’s bottom.

 

Still liked the ride, but not completely my taste for a woodie.

 

 

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[SharkTums]

I'll take a very smooth colossus thanks!!!

[coaster-mm]

I'll take a very smooth colossus thanks!!!

[emoji2][emoji2]

Can’t really remember how smooth/shaky it was the only time I rode it before the closure(it was 18 years ago), but it is smooth now!

[Norwegian coasterfan]

^ Last time I rode it it gave me a headache, in the last couple of years you could feel every track connection Good to hear it is smooth again

[xVicesAndVirtues]

^^I rode it about a month or so before it went down for all this a couple years ago and it was an incredibly brutal ride. Like, brain stem slam at the bottom of every hill brutal. An amazing ride and all the airtime was there, but I could only bear to ride it 2 or 3 times.

 

I’ll also take smooth Colossos.

[cookiex]

I'll take a very smooth colossus thanks!!!

Especially compared to how it was in it's last year of operation as normal Colossos, I'd take glass smooth any day.

[Invertalon]

Anybody have an answer (or guesstimate) on why this ride aged so poorly compared to El Toro? Are they really replacing track pieces often on El Toro or doing that much better of maintenance compared to Heide? Or was there design changes from this first model to those following?

[Canobie Coaster]

Speaking to El Toro, I often see sections of track replaced even though they were never really rough. This year, I saw entire sections of the twister section replaced. Not sure if Heide was as vigilant there.

[gardyloo!]

Rode Colossos last week. It's (almost) as smooth as butter. The new theming looks good too and looking at the expressions of the guests adds some value to the ride as well.

 

I had not ridden before it's re-track but found the airtime to be plentiful (people have been saying it has gotten a lot weaker). Sustained ejector on every hill in the front, and ejector and some floater in the back (those last bunny hops are a lot better in the front). There are trims on the first two hills but you don't really notice them. All in all, the ride is (still) amazing, not my favorite woodie, but still pretty high up there.

[mr.sugar]

We are going to Heide Park this wednesday. Any idea about how busy the park could be? Is it worth getting express buttler? From what I remember, if the que is not long enough, you can´t even use it? Just wondering if it´s worth getting it, since park might be a bit more busy during week days too, since it´s Halloween?

[Canobie Coaster]

Check if it's available online before you visit. I bought mine in advance.

 

It basically got me right onto every ride so I thought it was worth every penny. I was there on a cold and miserable summer day and the park was still busy since that doesn't deter Europeans like us Americans.

[rcjp]

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 

 

[SharkTums]

The food locations at this park have always been weird operationally.  Like even during summer season they're not always open or only open like 12-3. Glad you had a good time, great report!

[rcjp]

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. 

[coasterBro]

Is Colossus the thing to rope drop now? Because I'm staying at the on-site hotel, so it'd make way more sense for me to start with Krake and Flug der Damonen. But I'm not sure.

I'll be there on a Monday, and it doesn't look like they're even offering Express Butler for sale that day, which I'm hoping means they're expecting minimal crowds, which would hopefully mean minimal waits on everything. But maybe y'all know more and can correct my misconceptions.

I'm expecting that the aforementioned B&M's, Colossus, and Desert Race will be my favorite 4 rides in the park in some order. I doubt I'll want to do more than 1 lap on any of the other coasters, but I have heard the bobsled is actually pretty good, so who knows. Ghostbusters 5D and the drop tower and maybe the water rides (if I'm in the mood to get wet that day) are on my list to do. Beyond that, just flats and mild stuff like the monorail, train, and gentle boat rides. Anything notable I'm missing that I should prioritize?

Their website says "attractions close at least 1 hour earlier" than the posted operating hours. How much more than an hour earlier? And why? Is this like where they cut off the line so everyone can go home at park close time? Or do they start shutting things down mid-afternoon if the park is slow that day?

Any other tips/advice I should keep in mind? I've heard that this isn't the best park in Germany, and that's fine. But I do want to try to make the most out of the day I'll have there.