PTR: larrygator's 2010 European Travels

[ParkTrips]

holy hell not only is Larry doing photo TRs now, he's adding video!

[cfc]

^It's the end times, I tells ya! I think any flat ride with a six-minute cycle would probably kill me (or at least put me off eating forever, which would, of course, kill me).

[chadster]

looks like an oriental elvis painted on the right side of taganda's backboard, he is alive I tell you, he is!

[BeemerBoy]

This TR is gold.

[larrygator]

I'm glad people liked the video.

 

I took a 7:00 morning train from Salzburg to Vienna, left my belongings in a storagelocker at the Bahnhof and took the S-Bahn to Wiener Prater.

 

Even with the new 383 foot Prater Turm I could not see the park from the exit of the S-Bahn, and there was not clear signage directing me to the park. That's why it is good to be prepared and have maps with you.

 

I have been stressing about how to display this park to TPR because it is huge and jam packed with rides, so I'm going to write it in 3 installments: roller coasters, flat rides, dark rides. I will not be able to include all my pictures in this thread, but additional ride photos can be found in the Park Index. Wiener Prater Park Index Page

 

All day rides passes are not available, you have to pay by the ride. It appeared that they had a pass good for certain rides over a 2 hour period, but the ride offerings didn't appear worthwhile. The park had a similar feel as Bakken and Tivoli Gardens. Lots of plenty of eateries and places to drink. Most of the rides appear to be run by independent operators who lease their space as they all have separate ticket/token booths. Also, many rides have only one ride operator (probably the owner) and have non-published sporadic closings for up to two hours at a time. You need a full day to really explore the park if you want to ride a lot and you need quite a bit of cash. I don't think any of the ticket booths accepted credit cards (Thank you Lou and Cameron for selling for me extra Euros). Most rides costs between 2 - 4 Euros, but prices were much higher for the Extreme thrill rides. The coasters are not the most thrilling but the intensity and never ending ride cycles of flat rides cover the thrill quota.

 

Many of the rides are right on top of each other making it difficult to find good angles for the photos.

 

It costs me 28.3 Euros to ride 8 of the 9 coasters, and here they are:

Since it was a real early morning and I had a 3 hour train ride from Salzburg to Vienna, I decided to order breakfast on the train. Smoked Salmon and rolls.

Once my luggage was secured I headed to the S-Bahn (Subway).

Der Zug Des Manitu is the powered coaster and costs 1.8 Euros.

It's western themed, includes a tunnel and I got 4 laps. People laughed at me as I was riding it alone.

The first lap was backwards.

On the second lap, when the train went through the tunnel there was smoke.

On the third lap the tunnel had strobe lighting.

On the fourth lap, there were disco rope lights that flashed in the tunnel portion.

The park had a standard Wilde Maus, but I accidentally posted another picture of the powered coaster

The Wilde Maus beat me up and took 3.5 Euros of my lunch money.

Super 8er Bahn was a Pinfari that was not a death machine, quite enjoyable.

Sexy train on the Super 8er Bahn. Better be sexy for 4 Euros.

One last photo of the Pinfari.

Right next to the Pinfari was the Dizzy Mouse. Yay for spinning cars!

3.5 Euros to ride the Dizzy Mouse

Dizzy Mouse lifthill POV

This is MegaBlitz, The name scares me due to Coney Beach. However, this is a Vekoma, not a Pinfari.

See Vekoma, it ran quite well. I liked it even though it cost me 4 Euro. Sorry, I did not save any good pictures of the coaster structure.

I'm pretty sure I could have squeezed into the Auto Berg Bahn cars, but the ride op (probably the owner) denied me the attempt.

RCDB listed this as a wood coaster, I'm not so sure about that.

MILFs get to enter the ride area to meet their kids.

For 4 Euro you can ride the Volare. Headache is included in the price. This is rougher than the one's I have ridden at Rye Playland and Canada's Wonderland. OUCH!!!!!

PAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Boomerang was 5 Euros and the smoothest Boomerang I have ever ridden.

Awesome cars on this Boomerang, thanks Erik.

Front seat view

Bonus tunnel!

Last coaster at the park is one of the few remaining side friction coasters. This woodie costs 2.5 Euros.

They ran it at a very leisurely pace.

So even someone like me can take good pictures.

This infield of the coaster is very well themed.

and you have plenty of time to see everything.

I was led to believe that this Paintball stand replaced a kiddie coaster. The picture of Dschungelbahn (a junior steel coaster) still appears on the 2010 park map, but it must have only been there for a short time, as the coaster is not listed on rcdb.com

I found a better picture of the Boomerang (with tunnel) to post.

Even though you all know what a standard Wild Mouse looks like, I searched my photos again and found this picture.

Edited October 8, 2010 by larrygator

[Groteslurf]

Awesome tripreports Larry.

And wow, Wiener Prater holds a lot a coasters. Didn't know that.

And something else I didn't know, is what MILF stands for. Looked it up and now I know

 

BTW, I amazed by your planning skills. Doing all that by public transport, going to places I've never heard of before (I still can't believe you visited that saltmine), it must have been quite an adventure. Impressive !!

[sspaz1000]

Fantastic Trip Report so far I look forward to reading the rest.

 

Nicole

[thrillerman1]

WOW...another great update Larry! That surely looks like the best Boomerang in the world since it has the bonus tunnel and lapbar restraints. Can't wait for the rest of this Prater update to see if the park looks anything like it did when I was there in '90...not that I remember a whole lot besides riding the giant Ferris wheel and Condor. Thanks Larry!

[larrygator]

^^^Benny - I can't believe more TPR members from mainland Europe have not been to Wiener Prater.

 

^^thank you

 

^Mark - The Condor is no longer there, but as I said the operators appear to change out the flat rides on a regular basis if interest diminishes since there won't make money unless people pay for their ride. I bet many more of the dark rides will look more familiar to you versus the flats. Not many of the flats appeared to be 20 years old.

Edited July 27, 2010 by larrygator

[Erik_73]

Awesome cars on this Boomerang, thanks Erik.

 

Ehhhh... Larry, this boomerang train isn't made by Vekoma.

 

Trains: Single train with 7 cars. Riders are arranged 2 across in 2 rows for a total of 28 riders.

Built by: Schäfer Amusement Technology

Notes: The Boomerang originally came with trains from Vekoma. For the 2007 season they were replaced with new trains with tiered seating, no sides and only lapbar restraints.

[cfc]

That side-friction coaster looks like a roller coaster version of Storybookland--very nice.

[triggernel]

The restraints on that Boomerang look kind of interesting, with the metal restraints.

[Hercules]

holy hell not only is Larry doing photo TRs now, he's adding video!

 

The best part is that it truly has the essence of Larry, starting late in the ride cycle and then ending before the ride ends. It is kind of like one of his blurry pictures, or when he forgets to charge his camera and decides to fill in the rest of the trip report with photos of other people's visits. Some true Larry flare!

 

By the way, great report thus far Larry! I finally had the opportunity to catch up last night. I will have to get to a park with you soon as I am sure I will be absolutely floored by the sight of you holding any kind of electronic device.

[larrygator]

^Jay - sorry to tell you this but I made a last minute trip to Knoebels last Saturday and didn't PM you first. I fail.

 

Also, funny that you mention the video being the essence of me. I had two batteries with me at Wiener Prater but was on the last life bar of the second battery before I took that video of the Tagada. This was after taking hundreds of still photos of every other ride at the park. I started filming the video when I saw the girls standing up during the ride but the recorder shut off after 4 1/2 minutes due to the diminished battery before the ride cycle completed.

 

I'll start working on the Wiener Prater flat rides portion in 30 minutes, during my lunch today.

Edited July 27, 2010 by larrygator

[Hercules]

^Jay - sorry to tell you this but I made a last minute trip to Knoebels last Saturday and didn't PM you first. I fail.

 

It's alright. I am used to the fact that nobody likes me.

 

Also, funny that you mention the video being the essence of me. I had two batteries with me at Wiener Prater but was on the last life bar of the second battery before I took that video of the Tagada. This was after taking hundreds of still photos of every other ride at the park. I started filming the video when I saw the girls standing up during the ride but the recorder shut off after 4 1/2 minutes due to the diminished battery before the ride cycle completed.

 

I cannot express in words how hard I just laughed.

[Ledgy]

I started filming the video when I saw the girls standing up during the ride...

 

Isn´t that normal on this ride? I know it from my childhood and ride it as a young teenager. Always I´ve watched it and ride by myself, people were trying to stand up. Would like to have some attraction back on german fun fairs. Didn´t see them anymore.

 

Do I remember right, that there exists also a Standup version, where you can´t sit / you´ll stand on the wall?

 

- Have to go to Wien and the Prater in the next years; it´s a really beautiful town and the prater looks great. Like the sceninc railway -

[larrygator]

Ledgy - this is the first Tagada I have seen in person, we don't have them in the US (stupid lawyers). So, I don't know if standing is common.

 

As nice segue into my post covering the flat rides of Wiener Prater. First, let me mention that the park has a lot of driving attractions (bumper cars, go karts and even Segway rentals). I rode some of the flat rides, but not a lot. It would have cost over 200 Euros ($240) to ride everything at the park.

 

The most impressive rides being the Riesenrad (Ferris Wheel), Prater Turm (383 foot Star Flyer), and a flat ride called Tornado that I had never seen before.

The picturesque Riesenrad must be included in any Wiener Prater PTR. The costs is 8.5 Euros but I did not ride.

The new star attraction for 2010 is the 383 foot Prater Turm, towering over everything else in the area.

I was surprised that it was only 5 Euros to ride.

The other new ride for 2010 is the Octopus. Or as they say in the Netherlands, Oc-to-puuuuuuussssss.

For 3 Euro, it offers you up to the gods and then shakes you around a lot.

Grimas was the first bumper car track I encountered.

But there is also Turbo Autodrom

Grand Autodrom

Elite Autodrom

and finally Super Autodrom

Then you have the Go Karts, here are the KNY Go Karts

Bergrallye

Gran Prix Monza

and the Buggy Star

Enough of the adult car rides, yes there were more for kids. As I entered the park they were greasing up the Weiner Rutsch (1.5 Euros)

This is one of the typical rides that was included on the Fun Card, but since I wasn't going to ride stuff like this the card was not worthwhile. This ride was 2.5 Euros.

This appeared to be a pretty good Screamin Swing (4 Euros)

I had no desire to spend 3 Euros here.

4 Euros to ride the "Panther" friendly Liliputbahn.

Wiener Prater is KidTums approved.

This owner was inspired by theming at Movieland Studios when decorating his rotor.

People who paid 3 Euros to ride the rotor. I used to love rotors when they were run properly in the US

The Toboggan slide costs 3 Euros

Another operator still runs the original Star Flyer at Wiener Prater for 4 Euros.

15 Euros for the Ejection Seat is too rich for my blood.

It is pure coincidence that the 3 Euro Discovery

and the 5 Euro Space Shot are in close proximity to each other.

No comment, besides it costs 3 Euros! Now go back two pages and watch the video!

The Break Dance is a "cool" 3 Euros to ride.

I'll leave it to these people to answer the following question. Does the Top Spin offer an unacceptable level of wetness?

Apollo 12 ready for take-off (2 Euros)

Blumenrad is a smaller and cheaper ferris wheel option at 3 Euros.

The park's Falling Star: The Joker costs 2.5 Euros.

Luftikus is German for: this Wave Swinger costs 3 Euros to ride.

It's my PTR and I like the way the Octopus looks so here's another photo of the ride.

This was the best picture I could get of the ultra fast Extasy while the riders were upside down (3.5 Euros)

Wildalpenbahn is a well themed spinning raft ride with an elevator lift. A spin will cost you 3.5 Euros.

The park's other water ride, Donau Jump (log flume) will also cost you 3.5 Euros.

The person leasing this area seems to think he can make more money with vending machines than a Merry Go Round.

So this antique mini version is the only carousel in the park.

Unless you count the classic Wiener Ponny Carousel, where the horses look so authentic that they even poop.

OK, the last two rides are the most intense I rode. This is Turbo Boost.

You hand the ride op 8 Euros and he tries to kill you.

and my favorite was the Tornado which costs 5 Euros.

I wish I had taken video of this ride.

I can't really explain what the ride did.

So I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Thanks for viewing, I'll try to get the dark rides posted by the end of the day tomorrow, but no promises. Remember to check out Wiener Prater in the Park Index for additional photos.

Edited October 8, 2010 by larrygator

[ginzo]

Great stuff, Larry. This park looks amazing. I need to get there soon.

[larrygator]

Great stuff, Larry. This park looks amazing. I need to get there soon.

 

How the hell did you read it that fast? You were skimming! Go back and view it in a proper manner!

[Groteslurf]

Great update.

 

Why haven't I've been to Wiener Prater yet It's definitely on my to do list now.

From your pictures, it makes me think a lot of BPB.

 

I found a short Tornado off-ride on youtube. Never seen something like that before.

[chadster]

wow, this looks like a great place! Although, I might need to take out a second mortgage to ride everything The one thing I don't think would interest me is taking a lawn chair 383 feet up in the air and spinning around. Was it an uneasy feeling or did you feel secure?

[DerekRx]

And Six Flags says that amusement parks don't need bumper cars. Wiener Prater proves them wrong, over and over and over and over again!

[larrygator]

Benny - BPB is a good comparison in terms of how close the rides are to each other but Bakken is probably a better comparison.

 

Chad - I felt secure but I'm not afraid of heights. There is no way you are accidentally coming out of the chair (seat belt and locking mechanism). Now granted I didn't check the welds on every link of the chain attaching my seat to the arm, but I figured the chains would be strongest during the ride's first year.

 

Derek - I was laughing every time I came across another driving ride. I can't say that any of them were extremely busy but I guess they must be money makers for those leasing the space.

 

Actually none of the rides had lines and the only ones running more than half filled were: Space Shot, Prater Turm, Tornado, Turbo Booster and the Tagada. I never entered the Riesenrad queue but that also seemed popular. Many flats ran with only one or two riders.

Edited October 8, 2010 by larrygator

[Ledgy]

Larry, you have to write "Riesenrad", not "Reisenrad"

 

Translated, it´s called hughe (=riesig) wheel; you said travel wheel ... travel (=Reise), wheel (=Rad). So it would make also sense, cause on a "Riesenrad" you travel around

 

Again, nice Report!

[cfc]

 

This wheel was part of a important scene in Carol Reed's classic movie The Third Man starring Joseph Cotton and Orson Welles. Very cool to see how it appears now--doesn't seem to have changed much since the late 1940s. I'd post a You Tube link to the scene, but it would spoil the whole plot of the movie if you haven't seen it.

 

I think this park was featured in The Living Daylights, too (the first Timothy Dalton James Bond movie).

Edited July 28, 2010 by cfc