Heide Park Discussion Thread

[mr.sugar]

Now, I´m rly curious what they plan

 

http://www.heide-park-world.de/index.php/baublog/blog/saison-2019-2010/saison-2016/269-neuheit-2016/2964-neuheit-2016-baustellenupdate-02-september-2015

[BDG]

new for 2016: kids area themed to Dreamworks' How to Train Your Dragon.

 

There will be a total of 4 rides, all aimed at kids "ages 3 to 10".

 

 

 

 

source: Heide-Park

[StealthFan]

There will be a total of 4 rides, all aimed at kids "ages 3 to 10".

 

Thats a shame because I am a huge fan off Toothless. This has the potential to look really awesome though and can't wait to see some concept art.

[SharkTums]

Is this the first "How to Train Your Dragon" themed area and/or rides out there?

[AusCoasterFan]

Hi there,

 

I just recently had a day trip from Berlin up to Heide Park with my sister and a friend from Australia, I thought I'd share my experience if anyone is interested.

 

Park is very clean and well looked after with excellent German-style theming. Food is reasonably priced, especially for theme park food. There is a good variety and good quality. I had the bacon burger and crepes for lunch and a snack respectively and both were very good.

 

Staff were very friendly, despite the fact I could not speak German. Not an issue! Almost every staff member I encountered spoke English very well. The only problem with the language barrier was all signs were in German only and the maps were German only too, but this was easy to overcome.

 

Major issue: Smoking. I honestly have no dramas with people smoking. I do however, feel that queue paths should be smoke-free purely because of the close vicinity of park patrons. It was rather uncomfortable queuing for 40 mins to ride Krake and people in front and behind me were smoking. I think smoking should be kept away from eating areas and queuing. Other than that, I'd have no complaints.

 

THE RIDES:

Colossos: Best ride at the park and my best woodie (sadly of only 4 that I have ridden though). Smooth, outrageous airtime, fast and intense. Back seat only made everything even better! (9.5/10)

Desert Storm: Just a smoothy and slightly better version of Rita at Alton Towers. Still, good intensity and ok airtime. Reasonably smooth. (8/10)

Flug der Damonen: Fast and very disorientating with its inversion. Better than Swarm in my opinion. Surprisingly intense for a wing-coaster. The theming is also very good. Unfortunately, it was a little rough for a B&M with some significant shaking towards the end. (9/10)

Bobbahn: Actually really fun. My first bobsled coaster. It was surprisingly long and fast. Theming was also very good. The park's surprise package! (7/10)

Krake: Better than Oblivion, purely for being a little longer, even if not as fast. Fast, smooth, solid theming and I love the freefall feeling down the first drop. (8/10)

Big Loop: Typical Vekoma looper I suppose. Pretty rough, but intense through the inversions. I didn't have high expectations and rightly so. Still, not too bad. I enjoyed it for what it was. (7.5/10)

Limit: An SLC, moving on... (6.5/10)

Grottenblitz: Not sure if I can count this as a credit, being a powered coaster, but it is a good family ride with good theming and a generous 2nd lap of the circuit. (6/10)

 

The 2 water rides were okay. Really nothing special. The rapids was better themed. Neither got the riders particularly wet either - both a good and a bad thing depending on your preference for water rides!

 

I didn't do any of the flat rides as they were all pretty similar to other carnival ride I have previously experienced. Instead I re-rode a couple of the coasters in different seats to compare front and back.

The drop tower was the only ride I noticed that was not running when I was there.

 

Operations: Germans... Need I say more? Very efficient and fast cycling through each roller coaster's circuit. All coasters except Grottenblitz had 2 trains running. Krake started with just 1, but they added a second from the storage track while I was queuing.

 

All in all, a very good day with some excellent coasters, efficient operations, good theming, friendly staff and decent affordable food.

[sodapop79]

Some nice views from above at the Halloweeks.

Octocopter starts at 0:22

[Nrthwnd]

Wow. I'm in love with that video.

 

And all that wonderful lighting. Amazing!

 

Looks great - and great fun, too.

[cookiex]

I've booked a trip to this park on April 16th. Would crowds be any issue? It's pretty early in the season.

[BDG]

Colossos has a new logo...

 

 

...a test seat...

 

 

...a new queue (new paths and lots of plants)...

 

 

 

...and there's a newly decorated station and train:

 

 

 

 

Still lots of work to do on the actual new rides though...

 

 

 

photos:Heide Park

Edited March 22, 2016 by BDG

[RyanTPM]

^Looks like there's quite a lot left to do in the new area, whens it supposed to be opening? I certainly like Colossos' new logo though!

[cookiex]

I hear Limit is closed until mid-April. Hope it's open by the 16th.

 

I'll ask again: how are the crowds on a Saturday mid-April? Should it be an issue?

[KBrylczyk]

The new queue for Colossos looks great! I remember it being pretty bare and boring back when I visited in 2012. The switchbacks next to the station were awful. Glad to see they completely redesigned that portion, too.

 

I hear Limit is closed until mid-April. Hope it's open by the 16th.

 

It's an SLC. A particularly mean SLC, at that. You're not missing anything.

[K1ngdaKa88]

I hear Limit is closed until mid-April. Hope it's open by the 16th.

I heard that the train is still somwhere in the maintenance hall for winter maintenance!

[cookiex]

It's an SLC. A particularly mean SLC, at that. You're not missing anything.

I want to give every coaster a chance, besides I haven't been on an SLC before (haven't been on a wing, dive, bob or Vekoma looper before either but they'll be operating when I get there so that's beside the issue).

[Nrthwnd]

The new queue for Colossos looks great! I remember it being pretty bare and boring back when I visited in 2012....

 

And the entire outdoor part of the queue was on an angle, too! I thought that was one of the strangest queues I'd ever been in.

Having it raining at the time, didn't make me feel any safer walking through it, as well. (TPR 2008 Tour)

 

So nice to see they finally did something with it. Even with all the steps and such, it looks a lot better than it did before.

Nice pattern - but it was still tilted!

[cookiex]

Anyone think it's worth paying extra for the Express Butler? I'm thinking of the Gold one (unlimited rides with 50% wait) but I wonder if it's worth it this time of year (Saturday mid-April).

[scottjenkins]

That video is beautiful. Upon seeing Limit all pretty and colourful it's solidified the fact that you can indeed, polish a turd!

 

 

N.B -- This was merely for comical purposes, I quite enjoy an SLC..... I believe you can control the roughness by how you sit and hold your body in the seat. I'm 6'4 and don't find SLC's any rougher than a B&M Invert.

[cookiex]

Progress on the How To Train Your Dragon-themed area:

 

 

[RyanTPM]

^Thanks for posting that, going to be an interesting area when it opens. Still looks like there's loads to do, so it seems they're probably aiming for a summer opening rather than before.

[BDG]

The area will open May 14... according to this new, amazing commercial:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HoXvAkPE5Y

[RyanTPM]

^Oh wow, didn't expect them to have it ready so soon judging from the construction images back in March, impressive if it happens.

[cookiex]

Can they get all this done in one month?

 

 

 

 

I'm assuming the Dragon cave interior is further along than the rest of the land otherwise meeting the May 14th target seems iffy.

[RyanTPM]

^Are those the latest pictures? looks like they'll have to work fast if they want to open it in a month!

[cookiex]

^Are those the latest pictures? looks like they'll have to work fast if they want to open it in a month!

They were posted to Coasterfriends.de yesterday so I believe they're the latest images. I'll be at Heide Park on Saturday so I can grab a few photos myself and post them here.

[cookiex]

So I couldn't snap any photos when I went yesterday (my phone got low on battery before I remembered to take pictures of the construction site), but from what I saw the cave ride's track is almost complete but they're still doing some digging work in the rest of the land so I'm not sure how they could get all that done in less than a month.

 

As for the rest of the park, I liked it overall, but it has some issues. The everything-and-the-kitchen-sink approach to themening makes the whole place look very messy and the attention to detail is greatly inconsistent. In some areas you can see they put a lot of effort into themening and it really works (up on the hill near Bobbahn and Scream and the Mayan-themed flat ride area come to mind), but in other places it just looks plastered on and clashes badly with its surroundings. Each "land" has at least three different themes going on at once and it makes the end result look kinda tacky.

 

Operations and upkeep were a bit inconsistent as well. Two coasters had one-train operation all day (Big Loop and Desert Race) but that wasn't much of an issue since the lines for both were generally short, but it took them forever to add the second train to Colossos and Bobbahn was closed until 1 P.M for weather-related reasons even though the weather was mixed all day. I bought the gold Express Butler (unlimited rides with 50% less wait) and some rides were unavailable until 12 A.M even though they opened along with the park, so I had to wait in the standby line for my first ride on Colossos because the employee handling the Express Butler line didn't even show up for another hour. While most of the park was generally clean, some of the rides could have used a bit of a fixer-upper, which is a bit unfortunate since it's so early in the season and they should be in the best possible shape after winter maintenance.

 

Colossos - Awesome airtime but man was it brutal. It's clear that the track hasn't aged well as the train kept jolting throughout most of the ride, particularly in the helix of doom. Compared to Balder at Liseberg which is only two years younger but has aged like fine wine and it's clear which park takes better care of its woodie. Since they put great emphasis on its 15th anniversary with a new queue and themening maybe some retracking could be made as well? Still I rode it like eight times so I got plenty of fun out of it.

Flug Der Dämonen - My first B&M wing coaster, and it was pretty good even if it got a bit bumpy towards the end. Probably had the smoothest operations out of all the rides in the park with two trains and speedy dispatches.

Krake - First B&M dive, and it's probably my favorite ride in the park. Even if it's short it's very smooth and the drop gives you one hell of a rush.

Desert Race - Another very fun coaster even if the restraints got a bit uncomfortable at times. As said before it was only one train but it was quick on dispatch.

Bobbahn - Second favorite after Krake in all honesty. It's my first bob coaster and it was tons of fun. Far more intense than you're led to believe, especially during the indoor helix.

Big Loop - Wasn't as uncomfortable as I had feared, but I wasn't keen on riding it more than once. It did it's job okay, I guess.

Gröttenblitz - Another coaster I only rode once. Was okay too.

 

Limit was still closed for maintenance (as expected) and the kiddie coaster I didn't bother with.