My Awesome Coaster Adventure!

[matteocrepaldi]

PAGE 1:

- Gardaland - Minitalia Leolandia - Heide Park

PAGE 2:

- Chessington World of Adventures - Thorpe Park - Alton Towers day one

PAGE 3:

- Alton Towers day two - Magic Halloween at Gardaland

PAGE 4:

- Parque de Attracciones de Madrid - Parque Warner

PAGE 5:

- Mirabilandia

PAGE 6:

- Europa Park DAY 1!

PAGE 7:

- Europa Park DAY 2! - Linnanmaki - Sarkanniemi

PAGE 8

- Gardaland

 

OTHER TRIP REPORTS:

- 2006 Mirabilandia

- 2006 Halloween at Movieland

- 2007 Europa Park

 

 

 

March 25th 2008: I went to Gardaland to get the new season pass and the new Vekoma Mine Train credit!E

I leave you with this shot of Mammut. If you look closely on the right you can see that the theming is still not completed.

 

Thanks for reading!!!

A never seen before shot of Blue Tornado taken from Mammut's brake run!!!

The last inversion!

A couple more shots for those Vekoma enthusiasts! This once was my favourit part of the ride.

Some happy riders going upside down!

Blue Tornado through the trees!

Some paople are having fun on the free fall tower. The one in the back isn't Mammut's theming but it's a real mountain covered with snow!

The final part of the ride! It was running ok today. I rode it once in the back.

Hey Derek!!! I hope you like the angle!

Hey Derek!

Finally it was time for Space Vertigo: the most intense free fall tower I've been on. I was lucky enough to ride it twice without getting out of the station.

Here you can see the first, the second and a small piece of the third drop.

A nice view of Mammut from above. You can see on the left that they are still working to pave the road and to finish the theming.

Somwhere in this picture you should see a red 1st generation Intamin free fall tower. It belongs to another park called Movieland and it has been built in 2006 but it was actually open in 2007.

This is a view of Lake Garda: it's the largest lake in Italy and it gives the name to the park.

Then I decided to ride the Flying Island to check the wait for the free fall tower and to take some areal shots of the park.

 

Here's a view of two other "awesome" credits: Magic Mountain: the Vekoma double looper and Sequoia Adventure: the Screaming Squirrel by S&S!

A different angle of the same helix.

The helix is so close to the ground that you can almost trim the bushes with yout teeth.

First drop with train in the middle!

First drop!

A close up of the second part of the first element. I wish it was as good as it looks like!

It was a great weather to take some nice shot to the most photogenic ride in the park: the SLC.

Is this an acceptable amount of water???

After some rides on Mammut and Blue Tornado it was time for some Intamin fun but the wait was too long so I just took a couple of pictures hoping to find a shorter line in one of my next visits.

A look at Mammut from the Blue Tornado queue line. I was lucky and I got the front seat. I hate the front seat but it's not easy to get that spot. I finished the ride with a headache.

That one is a real 1946 6 wheels truck. There are two of them. The other one is somewehre around the ride.

Another look at the theming of this cool ride.

This is a shot for all the transfer track enthusiasts!

A really cool thing about this ride is that it iteracts a lot with the queue line by passing above it at least 4 times.

The theming is really nice even if they are still working to complete the last few details.

Here you can see the wooden tunnels that hide the first and second lift hill.

A closer look at the third lift hill. The first and the second one are hidden in two wooden tunnels.

Finally the operator got the ok from the station and wolked us in. This is a shot from inside the Mammut station.

Many people decided that it wasn't worth waiting so they went to ride the Blue Tornado wich had a very short wait.

Unfortunately the ride was still closed beacuse I've heard that they were replacing some wheels on one of the trains.

As I got into the park I went straight for Mammut to be on the first train on the day.

Edited August 1, 2011 by matteocrepaldi

[RIP Psyclone]

Molto bene!

[Groteslurf]

Great pics.

 

Mammut is well themed as all the rest in Gardaland it seems.

I'm looking forward to my visit to Gardaland in 5 weeks.

[matteocrepaldi]

March 30th 2008: I spent a couple of hours with some friend in a small park called Minitalia Leolandia where everything is made by Zamperla.

I leave you with this shot of the crazy airtime Zamperla tower!

 

Thanks for reading.

Nice themed Zamperla spinning coaster cars.

Another POV shot! I liked this ride. It didn't spin too much.

After that we came back to where the newest ride are located to get the spinning credit!

This is another pretty cool kiddie flat ride. As you can see there are Zamperla labels everywhere on the ride.

This one was next. It a classic ride but it's always pretty fun.

A shot for those lift chain and anti roll-back enthusiasts.

Dirty chain close up!!! Wow!

Signature shot!!!

Extremely overbanked turn!!! OMG!

Just in case you forgot!

Is that a credit I see???

We all had lots of fun on those rides.

Next we went to the kiddie area of the park. It has lots of strange rides like this one.

A random view of a random ride by Zamperla!

Next to every ride you can find lots of Zamperla signs just like this one.

This is the new tower by Zamperla. It's a double shot tower and it has the most unpredictable ejector airtime ever!

Trying to get an artistic shot of this ride!

Zamperla upskirt!!!

The park was pretty much empty at this time of the day.

One of the new rides for this year is this Disk'O. It spin a little too much for me but it looks pretty cool.

This are my friends who were with me today!

This is me.

This is a picture I took last year. This park has a scale recreation of Italy with all the main cultural and geographical features. It's pretty nice but I didn't visit it today.

This crazy looking guy is Leomonster and he's the new main character of the park.

While I was waiting for my friends to arrive they were testing the rides.

Right next to main entrance you can see the two main reasons why I decided to visit this park: getting the credit and try this new tower.

This is the main entrance to the parking lot. The name Leolandia has been added this year; it used to be called Fantasy World.

[matteocrepaldi]

April 6th 2008: Heide Park with my friends from www.theparks.it!

This is the end of the first part... more pictures coming soon!

A little bit of airtime before hitting the brake.

 

Desert Race is a really good ride with a pretty interesting layout. The only problem is that it's too short.

0 to 60 mph in 2.4 seconds! It's short but it's pretty intense!!!

Finally it was time to ride Desert Race!

So we went on Grottenblitz; the powered coaster. It's pretty good but not as good as the one at Europa Park.

Vekomas signature shot!

Colossos signature shot!

It was still too cold for the Vekomas to open.

I guess that 35 degrees isn't exactly the best temperature to ride the log flume!

As you can see there are only two people on the whole ride!

Scream was running almost empty when we got there. We rode it twice.

After riding twice Colossos we went to check the other coasters but they were all closed due to the extreme cold weather. So we went to ride theawesome gyro drop tower!

Colossos is awesome even if I was expecting it to be more intense and less rough.

Desert Race operator told us that Colossos was operating so we went there. We were pretty much the only guests in the park.

We walked straight to Desert Race just to find out that it wasn't open because it was too cold.

This is us walking toward the park entrance.

And finally the day we were all waiting for arrived. We woke up with this light fog that covered the top of Scream!

This was the smallest one I could find!!!

A closer look at the turn around.

Before dinner we had a walk around the park to get a closer look to this Intamin monster.

Another random view from the camp.

This is me with the Holiday Camp in the background. It was really cold!

Welcome to Holiday Camp!

From Bremen airport we took a privat bus and we finally got to our destination. Here's a nice view from the Holiday Camp entrance which was where we spent the night.

This is us waiting to get on the plane!

This is our plane that will take us straight from Bergamo (Italy) to Bremen (Germany).

[matteocrepaldi]

Here comes the second part...

Ok... I leave you with this nice shot of Scream's empty seats!

 

Let me know you liked this photo trip report.

 

Thanks for reading!

Airtime!!!

Dirty Colossos upskirt shot!

A couple more shots of Colossos! In the afternoon it was running much better!

Can we ride it???

Another areal shot of Colossos.

A view from above of the Vekoma side of the park!

Construction update of the new kiddie area!

So we went on the observation tower to get some nice views of the park from above!

Random flower shot taken while waiting in the train station.

This could have been a nice shot if the monorail wasn't there.

Probably the best part of the ride!!! Cool!

Then it was time for the last credit left: Limit!

Random Vekoma close up!

Much better!

This monorail kept getting in the way!

When we all finished our ride on the bobsled coaster we saw that Big Loop was testing so we went there to get the credit.

From this picture you can have a pretty good idea about the weather we had. It's also a nice panoramic shot!

Everybody's having a great time on this ride!

After a couple of nice rides on Desert Race we had only three credits left: the Vekomas and the bobsled coaster. We went on the bobsled coaster first.

Lets start this second part with a classic Colossos signature shot! Nice!

[lil jimmy norton]

Very nice report. I love those mine rides, Mammut looks like a lot of fun.

[hansrubens]

Great pics.

 

Heidepark is a park I still have to visit.

[ginzo]

Thanks for the pictures of Heide Park. I'm really looking forward to getting my second Intamin woodie credit in this summer.

 

As for Desert Race's OTSRs even though there are no inversions:

 

FAIL FAIL FAIL

[Wood Dragon 1988]

^Yea, but so does Kingda Ka......and Rita........and Stealth.

 

On that note, I was looking at some pics of Zaturn (basically a Stealth clone) and I came across this pic: http://rcdb.com/ig3454.htm?picture=9 Are those some new sort of Intamin restraints that I haven't really heard about?

 

Heide park looks outstanding. Much better than the UK's Merlin parks. I think Colossos's layout is far more appealing than El Toro's-more airtime hills, less turns, a bit more "raw." But I do not doubt the overwhelming opinions that ET delivers more. Although, your comment about Colossos being a bit rough was the first I have EVER heard about the ride. In fact, the only complaints about it I usually hear are about it being too smooth and steel-like.

 

Man, I wish I could afford that TPR Euro trip!

 

And matteocrepaldi I want to give you props for a great PTR. You've really put a great deal of effort into this, and for whatever reason have gotten hardly any responces. I have really enjoyed reading it.

[ginzo]

^Yea, but so does Kingda Ka......and Rita........and Stealth.

 

And those three coasters get the same "F" that Desert Race does.

[sfotfreak]

^Thats not fair there are lots of good coasters without inversions!

[matteocrepaldi]

April 24th 2008: Chessington World of Adventures; I arrived in London early so I decided to spend a couple of hours in this little nice park and get a couple of credits.

I really like the theming of Vampire's station.

Then it was time for the other coaster I really was looking forward to ride; Vampire!

Just in case you forgot wich park you were in!

The 90 degrees turn from the queue line.

Easily the best coaster in the park!

I loved this turn. It gives some pretty awesome airtime.

First drop!

After Rattlesnake I decided to ride Dragon Fury. I don't like spinning ride but this one was really good!

Same coaster, different angle.

The first credit of the day was the wild mouse mine train coaster. It was nice but nothing special.

Finally I got to my destination!

Welcome in the UK.

I left Italy with this nice view of the Alps.

A sealion! The zoo looked pretty cool but I had no time to visit it.

 

 

Thanks for reading! Soon I'll post photos from Thorpe Park!

Some of the queue lines were filled with water.

The Top Spin had one of the lamest cycle I've ever seen but I didn't ride it!

Dragon's Fury crazy helix and the airtime hill in the back. I was expecting more airtime on that hill!

The last credit left was the powered mine train. This is the only photo I took of this ride.

The park was almost empty!

Random photo of me!

OMG! They are going to hit that tree!

[yankees15]

I'm really enjoying this trip report!

 

Every Intamin accelerator coaster has OTSR except Xcellerator and Top Thrill Dragster.

[matteocrepaldi]

April 25th 2008: Thorpe Park.

I didn't like it. I think 5 inline twist were a little bit too much.

Then it was time for some inversions!

3... 2... 1... GO GO GO!!! The launch was awesome!!! Also the airtime on both the top hat and the camelback was pretty good.

Finally, this was our train!

Waiting for Stealth!

We wolked to Stealth to ride the fron seat while the line was short!

We finally entered the park!

It was still a little bit early!

Me and the best coaster in the park: X:No Way Out!

While I was there I saw Nemesis Inferno testing and a worker climbing on Rush!

A nice view of Colossus with 9 of its ten inversions!

I arrived at the park at 9am and I had one hour to wait for the park to open so I took some pictures!

Probably the best park entrance ever!

Welcome to Thorpe Park!

After we rode Flying Fish my friends left to go to Chessington.

 

I decided to go to watch Time Voyagers but it wasn't operating.

 

I'll post more photos soon!

After Detonato we went to ride X:WTF; I mean X:No Way Out.

 

 

We also rode Flying Fish but I have no photos of that one!

From Detonator you can have a good idea about how twisted Nemesis Inferno is.

Tine to ride Detonator!

Here's the second train.

 

While waiting to ride, I've calculated that with only one train running the capacity was 486 guest per hour!

I wish this was real!!! I just put together two photos!

 

The line for Nemesis was pretty slow because they kept running only one train for the whole day!

A photo of some happy riders on Stealth teken while waiting in Nemesis Inferno queue line.

I love B&M!

Nemesis Inferno passes pretty close to the queue line!

 

Nemesis it's a great ride, really intense and very smooth!

After that it was finally time for Nemesis Inferno!

Maybe I'll ride it the next time.

Slammer sign looks pretty good!

My friends, after Colossus rode Slammer. I didn't ride it because I don't like this kind of flat rides.

Another POV shot!!!

POV shot from the famous Colossus support!

I had to take this picture!

[matteocrepaldi]

Stealth video! I hope you like it!

 

 

[matteocrepaldi]

August 4th and 5th 2008: ALTON TOWERS!

 

DAY ONE:

Ok... I'll leave you with this photo of Air in action.

 

I'll post photos of the second day including my visit to the caslte soon.

 

Thanks for reading.

Me and my friend Neno at the park entrance.

This is my friend Neno on the powered mine train.

So we went on Duel to shoot up some zombies

Lets move to the next ride which was Rita. IMO Rita is better than Desert Race.

 

After we rode Rita and the not so awesome Corkscrew we were done woth the credits so we went back to see what else we could ride.

Same drop different angle.

Some happy riders on oblivion are having lots of fun!!!

Signature shot with Oblivion in the back.

One goes up and one goes down.

These wheels are really BIG.

Me and Ago while waiting in line for Oblivion.

Oblivion's dark and wet hole!

It was finally time for my first dive machine!

After Spinball it was time to be a credit whore and ride the kiddie coaster.

Spinball's theming was also pretty nice.

More Spinball fun.

The first drop!

We went to ride Spinball.

 

IMO it wasn't good as Dragon's Fury.

This is my friend Ago.

After the second ride on Nemesis we took the Skyride to the park entrance.

Random photo of Nemesis while walking to the single riders entrance.

 

Nemesis is the only coaster where the single rider line works well.

After me and my friends rode Air once, my friends went to ride Ripsaw and I went back in Air's signle rider line. Unfortunately Air broke down so I went to ride Nemesis using the sinlge rider line.

Prepare for Air!

I really like this one. I hope you like it too!

Hot B&M action vs hot Alton Towers employee.

I think that Air is better than Superman because it has a more interesting layout and the fact you are really close to the ground makes you feel like you are going faster than what you really are.

After Nemesis it was time for some Air!

Me and Nemesis' theming. There's a train in the back.

A cool detail of Nemesis'theming.

I loved Nemesis.

When they let us inside we went straight to Nemesis to ride the front seat. It was ok. I was expecting more from it and when I rode it in the back I got what I was looking for.

There was a big crouwd.

One last look at Air from the hotel parking lot and it was time to go back to the main entrance.

 

We took the monorail to get a nice view of Nemesis and Air.

This is Air's final turn around. If you look closely you can see the rocks you almost hit while riding.

More Air through the trees!

Air's little pre drop through the trees!

We kept walking around the park and we found Air too.

Can you see it? It's Nemesis' first drop!

The castle from outside the park.

We arrived at Alton Towers at 8.30 am and the park was going to open at 10.00 so we decided to walk around and try to take some pics from outside.

[piers]

I saw you on monday, I was stood behind the zombie outside of duel!!

[Team Thriller]

I'm really enjoying this trip report!

 

Every Intamin accelerator coaster has OTSR except Xcellerator and Top Thrill Dragster.

 

Also Superman: The Escape and Tower of Terror. But those don't really count, do they?

 

I really like the look of Alton Towers. It's just so unique. Great Tr also, BTW.

 

--James

[matteocrepaldi]

I saw you on monday, I was stood behind the zombie outside of duel!!

Are you somewhere in this picture?

[piers]

Nope, but that EXACTLY where I was stood!

I'm very missable.

[Brandy524]

I love seeing pics of the parks over there, because I know I'll probably never make it over to visit any of them. They look great though!

[matteocrepaldi]

Here comes DAY TWO:

And with this one I close this trip report.

 

 

Thanks again for reading!!!

I should have waited one more second.

Signature shot with Air's train coming down the first drop.

I rode Rita twice: once from the regular line and once from the single rider line and I waited about the same time. I was really attempted to get a couple of fast tracks but with this kind of weather I didn't feel like it.

 

After the second ride I went back to the Forbidden Valley for more Air.

The weather was still pretty bad.

Here's a train waiting in the station for those happy riders to get in.

INTAMIN!!!

This is what they use when Corkscrew brakes down.

I love these supports.

Time for some Rita. I used the regular line because I wanted to take some photos and because the single riders line didn't really work well.

After I finished the visit to the castle I went back to Oblivion for another ride.

This window looks really good even if it's modern.

This is the chapel.

Nice photos like this one even if the weather didn't help.

Another reason I went to visit the castle was because I wanted to take some nice photos of Oblivion from there.

Another view from the castle. That's the garden you walk through after you ride Hex.

This is me with my coffee in front of a really nice fire place.

Some rooms have really beautiful windows.

One of the towers.

A view of the castle.

There isn't much inside but it's really nice to walk around those places so full of history.

After Nemesis I rode Oblivion once and I went to take a walk around the castle.

Nemesis'big gun. Looks pretty dangerous.

More vertical loop awesomeness!

Another train is flying out the zero-g roll and into the turn around.

Vertical loop awesomeness with Air in the back.

Yes, this is the first drop! It's small but it works just fine.

Some happy riders are about to go through the zero-g roll!

Time for some Nemesis action! The single rider line was closed so I waited in the regular one and I took some pics.

Here comes the train!

Another train climbing the lift hill.

Random people going up the lift hill.

First ride of the day was Air. I went there first because I wanted to ride the front expecting a different view but I found out that it was just about the same as the other seats.

I really wanted to go around the garden but with this kind of weather I felt like it wasn't a good idea.

So I was back to the park but today the weather wasn't as good as the first day.

I was sure it was going to get better later in the day but I was wrong.

[dragsterfan420]

Everything here looks so great! cI really need to go to Europe. Not just fro the great sites and scenery but for the beautiful, action packed, scenery filled amusement park. I love the Castle at Alton Towers. Great TR!!! Can't wait for the rest.

[window]

I've lived in the same house in Stoke on Trent (which is just under an hour from Alton Towers) for my whole life. I've been there at least once every year since I was 5, but never been inside the castle!!! What is that about???

 

After seeing your pics I've definetly got to do it this year!

 

Your pictures look great man!

 

Piers: Do you live in the UK (I thought you were American ) or were you just on 'vacation'?