After advice on Italys public transport & parks

[eBen]

^Like I said "Don't bother going to Italy!"

 

Katun is really good, but I was really underwhelmed by Italy as a whole, especially for coasters (and I'm Italian!).

 

Italy would be a good 'add on' type place

Noted! Yet sadly ignored. For I have a dream - to get on an Intamin 1st generation drop tower within a year before this dying breed loses another number. Out of the 5 available Movielands Hollywood Action Tower seams my best bet, which can be found in Italy.

 

While i'm there will be doing a bit of cultural stuff, but it will be mostly a coaster hunt. So I will also visit Gardaland, take a trek to Mirabilandia, and would like to make the totaly not worth it journey to the new park Terra Dei Giganti. All by public transport as I cant drive. I have seen the www.trenitalia.it/en/index.html web site mentioned but I would like to know the best stations to head towards, and what bus routes if any are available. Should I consider taxis? I will also use different airports for entering and leaving the country.

 

Oh and to be more akward I'll be treating my mum to the Citys so will do all that at once so she can avoid being board at the parks. Apart from Rome which apparently has 5 coasters around there somewhere.

 

Any suggestions / thoughts on doing this? I'm terrible at learning new languages so I want to know as much as possible of what i'm doing before hand.

 

 

One more very important thing - when is the best time of year to visit avoiding this melting I keep hearing about?

 

Thanks

[Pas]

Public transport in Italy is not really reliable, but with a bit of patience you can see almost everything you want to.

I’ll use the Italian name for cities/places as I think it’s gonna be more useful.

 

For Gardaland/Movieland you can take the Train that follows the line Milano – Venezia Santa Lucia and take off at the stop of Peschiera del Garda. Right out of the station you’ll find free shuttle for both Gardaland and Movieland Studios.

They usually leave every 30 minutes or so, starting from 9 – 9.30 until 19.30.

From the parks the last shuttle will leave half an hour after the closing time.

 

For Mirabilandia you can take off at the station of Ravenna Lido di Savio. It’s a stop you can reach from almost every big city of the Adriatic Coast in Emilia Romagna, and then take a shuttle out of the station, but probably you’ll have to pay a fee for this one.

They will operate as the ones above.

 

While there, if you’re in ‘Credit Mode’ you can find some at Fiabilandia which is found in Rimini (40km – 30 miles or so) from Ravenna/Mirabilandia.

From Rimini (easy to reach by train following the line Milano -> Bologna -> Rimini) it’s possible to reach Mirabilandia by bus, that leaves daily with a combo of return ticket + admission ticket for less than 30 €. Any travel agency of the city will promote this.

 

Terra dei Giganti it’s gonna be in Puglia. You’ll have to take a train till Bari or Foggia, and then move to Molfetta.

Since it’s still under construction I can’t add anything to this, but if you head to Bari, you’ll be closer to Fasanolandia, near the city of Fasano (they have an Eurofighter waiting to be built since 2007, but nobody knows when they’ll finally have it operates, plus some minor coasters).

 

Roma is getting a new park, for the moment without an official name (Terra Magica?), but this is another ‘only God knows when...’, and the park you’ve mentioned in your post (Luneur) is gone, at least for the moment.

 

I’ve never took a taxi in Italy in 20 years, but I would’t reccomend it.

I think it could costs as much as an intercontinental flight.

 

The best time to do this, is probably from mid May to mid June or September. The weather will be fine and you won't be lead to suicide by the crowds of the July-August period. The queue in those months may get really, really, long, and just ruin a day. Since this is probably you're first time (I'm guessing), you'd better avoid them.

 

 

Side note: Italy is a ‘not English-speaking country’ (you’ll notice this starting from my post, and I’m sorry) so you’ll have to learn something that may help you in the most common situation (buy water, ask directions, etc) and rely on the universal language of sign. Point whatever you’ll need and an answer will come!

[eBen]

This is excellent stuff, just what I was looking for. Shame about the Lunar park but now I wont head there for no reason! There is one a fair way out of town towards the coast? If you know this would you say its worth going there aside from numbers of coasters

 

I had seen the eurofighter on RCDB and assumed it was open. I guess Ill have to finalize the details closer to the time. There is a couple of other rides promised for 2009 I'm after as well. Whatever they turn out to be!

 

I hope to be able to grasp just a small amount of Italian compared to your English as well.

 

Thank you for coming on here and helping out

[Pas]

There is one a fair way out of town towards the coast? If you know this would you say its worth going there aside from numbers of coasters

 

You're still talking about Rome, right?

If yes, there are 2 parks you may reach from there. Near Napoli there's Magic World (the right town is Licola) while near Firenze there's Cavallino Matto (located in Livorno).

I've never been there so I can't give any advice about these ones, but

both are at least 100 miles away from Roma, so if you want to keep the city on you're trip, maybe you should just see the city and forget the hunt for a while.

The theme park that will be built near Roma won't see the light probably for at least a couple of years more.

 

If you weren't talking about this, then I didn't get what you were referring to.

 

Since you're planning this for 2009 I'd suggest you to hit Gardaland, Movieland, maybe Leolandia (10 miles from Milano) while staying north.

Since Gardaland is in Veneto you may keep going until Venezia, then move south along the Adriatic Coast to see Mirabilandia (2009 will bring us a new coaster!!!) and if you can Fiabilandia, as it's on the road, then keep going south till Bari for Terra dei Giganti (should open during next Spring) and Fasanolandia.

 

All together you should find 20something credits.

 

Unfortunately the Thyrrenic coast does not offer the same choice of parks, and so, unless you'll have a lot of money to spend, you'll have to choose wisely what you want.

 

You may always come back to Italy again when Terra Magica (Roma) and Mediapolis (Torino) will be open.

[eBen]

I was still talking about Roma, and know its a city, but used a common phrase rather than thinking. I had considered was Parcolido, not much of a park and only one ride (I remembered more) so the city must have much more on offer to make it not worth while.

 

I heard about this new Roma park before on Screamscape saying that its been an idea for ages but locals said no the first time it almost got somewhere.

 

As for the new ride in Mirabilandia, it is my impatience that makes it seam like its taking ages to be officially announced or is it normal to wait ages.

 

If I didn't want to do all the big TPR trips next year then I would go for anything & everything but I'll be selective for now and leave some to come back for one day perhaps

[Pas]

Here comes the truth. I've never been to Rome before, so I don't know well the area, thus the little park of the city are unknown to me.

 

The park that will be built is in stand-by, because it's from the same company of Terra dei Giganti, and they're focusing on only a task at the moment.

When the first park will be almost complete, they will switch to the other.

 

The ride in Mirabilandia has been announced too early, and so it looks like it has been ages since the first news.

They didn't want to disappoint guests taking down Sierra Tonante without a substitute, so they announced their plan for the 2009 season way too early.

The park is now giving out clues about the ride, which will be themed to the world of motors, with a color pattern lead by red.

In these day they are looking for a name.

In the italian board the most common opinion, since the theme, is that it will be an intamin accelerator, but this is still not confirmed.

[eBen]

the park you’ve mentioned in your post (Luneur) is gone, at least for the moment.

 

After a bit of research it appears this place started a refurbishment at the beginning of this year. However I cant find anything to indicate how long it will/might take, or if it has already been completed and back in operation. I have plenty of time to wait and see (now going at the end of the year to give the new stuff a chance to be there) but does anyone actually know whats going on here. Most sites (holiday advice type of things) that talk about this place have no mention that its not available.

 

 

http://www.intergameonline.com/interpark/news/807/luneur-park-set-for-relaunch/

[Pas]

At the moment there's nothing sure about the future of the park.

It may open again (I don't think so...), but it would take a lot of money to literally resurrect the park.

 

Local newspapers wrote about a 'new' park themed after the Ancient Rome, but no one mentioned Luneur anymore, so this is everything I know.

 

Probably Rome is not going to get a real theme park until the opening of Valmontone (and this is going to take forever...).