Photo TR: Dutch Credding May 26-28

[Shockwave]

So earlier this year, I got out of debt for the first time in about 8 years, so I could afford to finally treat myself to some European cred visits. Because I work shifts, it's a bit of a logistical battle to find the time to go away, and go away somewhere when there are theme parks open. So after doing my research and nabbing some cheap flights, I booked a few trips. The first of which was a two night jaunt over to the Netherlands to visit some small Dutch parks I hadn't been to yet.

 

On Monday May 26, I flew out to Amsterdam, and the trip got off to a bad start. Despite doing loads of these trips before, Silly Bollocks here left the paper counterpart of his driving license at home, which normally would be game over. However, at the rental desk I got chatting to the cute girl behind the desk, and wooed my way around this potential balls-up. Note: this does not work for everyone, so the simple solution is DON'T LEAVE HALF YOUR LICENSE AT HOME.

 

After an hour or so's drive in the dark, I arrived at my hotel, picked up my keys and slept. After a good night's sleep I hit the breakfast bar and went to the first park of my trip, Avonturepark Hellendoorn. The park was a 1 minute drive from my hotel, which was this lovely place.

 

 

I got there just in time to see half of the primary schools in Holland pile out of the coach park.

 

One undignified run later, I got the ticket booth before the masses, paid in and hit the creds.

 

 

First one was Donderstenen. A Zierer Force 2, kinda their version of a Vekoma Rollerskater. I think it's themed to boulders.

 

 

Speaking of which, just round the corner was an actual Roller Skater. It's themed to a sewer rat like Lightwater Valley's Schwarzkopf used to be. Except the queue is a lot darker and smokier.

 

 

After some RCDBing I found out it replaced the old Flitzer ride of the same name that used to occupy the building, and is customised to fit the space.

 

It's mostly pitch black, apart from one outdoor bit that lasts about a second.

 

 

I forgot to take a picture of the train, so here's the Uitgang (that's Exit in Dutch) hole instead.

 

 

Near the first two creds, I saw this building. Had no idea what was in it so I had a look.

 

 

Turns out it was a shooting ride with nicely themed spinning cars, set around exploring tombs and Egypt and the like.

 

 

After failing miserably at shooting the LEDs, I walked over the Vekoma Tornado to try and survive it.

 

 

I love it when parks name their rides after the manufacturer's ride name.

 

 

It was much better than the awful, awful one of these at Tusenfryd.

 

 

By now the crowds were getting a bit obscene, so I did me some photo-taking. There's lots of cool things for 9 year olds (physical and mental age) to try.

 

 

Standard pirate ship.

 

 

Motorhome of love.

 

 

And a picture of the floor because I cover all angles.

 

 

At this point. the rapids was getting people through quick, so I obliged and joined the queue.

 

 

There's not much actual rapid action, but there is a waterfall.

 

 

And this amazing 'never in Britain or USA' queue line.

 

 

You can pretty much touch the boats as they go by. Not that you would, because that's how stupid people end up suing theme parks.

 

 

Station looks nice. As did the whole park.

 

 

There's also a fab rainbow tunnel of mist at the end, but you'll have to use your imagination with that one.

 

After not losing a limb or dying because I must have some sensible European blood in me, I went on the plastic animatronic boat ride. There's a hippo.

 

 

A snake.

 

 

A scorpion.

 

 

And a big mammoth in the tunnel. But since it was out of time, it didn't photo very well. So here's a plastic croc instead.

 

 

With most the school groups now going for lunch, I left the plastics to ride the log flume, with a much shorter queue than earlier in the day.

 

There's a drop. With a monorail going across it.

 

 

And a lift hill, naturally.

 

 

And then, near the front of the queue, one of the boats got stuck.

 

If this happened in a UK or US, the staff would read their ride manual, hand out hi-vis jackets and close the ride for the rest of the day while they evacuate it, investigate what went wrong and fill in 600 health and safety forms.

 

But because this is Holland, and people are intelligent, the ride op asks a few of the kids in queue to help free up the boat.

 

 

About a minute later, they had pushed the boats through. No one had to wear a hard hat or climbing gear to fix it.

 

 

After no-one died or got maimed, I went on the ride and got a bit wet.

 

 

After that, I was pretty much done, so headed to the shop to check out the souvenirs and head for the Uitgang (see above if you didn't get the translation first time).

 

 

Hellendoorn is a lovely little park with something for most of the family. Was pleasantly surprised to have spent a couple of hours there before Park 2 of the day.

 

PS - Apologies that the photos aren't hard uploaded to the site. The pictures are only cloud based, so I don't have a hard copy on my PC.

Edited June 12, 2014 by Shockwave

[terdferg]

Great looking park!

 

To be fair, I've seen plenty of ops push stuck boats/wild mouse cars/smaller ride vehicles that are stuck.

[Shockwave]

^Yeah, in reality it's not a country defined trait, it's all down to operators and management to make the call and decide what's appropriate.

 

Part 2 - De Waarbeek

 

After a few hours at Hellendoorn, I drove 30 minutes to the next park of the day. It's full name is Familiepretpark De Waarbeek.

 

 

Once in the park proper, the roller coaster is immediately on your right.

 

 

It looks home made because the park built it themselves many years ago. This might be Holland's oldest coaster.

 

 

It has lots of dips, a tiny amount of airtime and a fab stop at the end.

 

 

There's lots of old school flat rides like this in the main park area.

 

 

And this.

 

 

And a Caterpillar like Southport Pleasureland used to have.

 

 

And a duck ride that you operate yourself.

 

 

At this point I was quite peckish, so I got some chips, frikandel and a can of Pepsi with a footballer on it. His name is Robin Van Persie, and he sued to play for my team Arsenal. But now he's gone, so I don't like him. On the plus side, his new team Manchester United are now rubbish. So I laughed.

 

 

Nautic Jet was broken.

 

 

No Jeff Johnson action for me today.

 

 

Self-operated chairlift was also operating.

 

 

After about 45 minutes in the park, it started chucking it down with rain, and most of the rides without a roof on them closed.

 

De Waarbeek is a very quaint little park with some quirky rides. But not enough to keep you there more than an hour or so on a quiet day. And with the rain coming down, I left for the last park of the day.

[julioot]

According to wikipedia the roller coaster from the waarbeek is the oldest working steel roller coaster in the world (1930).

[crankydadchris]

Loving this report.

 

Chris.

[rcjp]

^I thought this was the oldest (1928)

[Shockwave]

Part 3: Plopsa Indoor Coevorden

 

As the rain got heavier, I was very grateful that my last park today would be indoors. On the way there, I turned the fans on to full to dry myself out, and listened to Dutch radio blasting out Roxette, Mr Mister, Katy Perry and adverts for Europa Park.

 

For those who don't know, the Plopsa theme parks are all themed to characters created by a Belgian production company called Studio 100, and all their big characters appear in some form at the park. By this time my iPhone and I were slightly damp, so that's why some of the pictures are fuzzy

 

Here is the entrance. It will set you free. (That's a 90's joke.)

 

 

This is Samson and Gert. A talking dog and his owner. The "Sa" from Samson forms the "sa" in Plopsa.

 

 

Wickiebahn (Pronounced Vickiebahn). It's about Vikings.

 

 

This picture shows some of the extent of the theming in the building. It is amazing.

 

 

And there's even a miniature version of your standard inverted spinning swinging pendulum thing.

 

 

The photos are blurry here because it moves really fast. REALLY fast. It's pretty sickly, but still really good fun.

 

 

There's also a stage near the back of the building for the daily shows.

 

 

Boatiful.

 

 

Restaurant was very well themed.

 

 

It's a big slide with a big mural next to it. Told you the theming was great!

 

 

The Indoor wave swinger was also pretty.

 

 

And so was the carousel.

 

 

Oh yeah, there is an outdoor bit, but it was too wet even for the Dutch.

 

 

The fountains get better than the photo suggests, but I was short on time and patience standing in the rain.

 

 

Mega Mindy is another character in the Studio 100 World. According to her Wikipedia page, "Mega Mindy has several superhero powers. she can breathe fire and has the ability to lift tents without touching anything."

 

 

Thanks Mindy, but I can lift my own tent. But if I can have your gym membership and you can have one of my chins, that'll do nicely.

 

 

Speaking of chins... this is Piet Piraat.

 

 

Behind Piet's ship is everyone's favourite floating boat rope park attraction.

 

 

Boot. Yes. Heels. No.

 

 

Plopsaland also have their own Ice Cream for sale. Not only is this a good business move for being able to charge loads for a Calippo or Cornetto, but you have an immature sense of humour (i.e. you read the TPR forums) you can say you licked Plop's ice pop.

 

 

There's a viking themed Rockin' Tug which also spins very fast.

 

 

And some angry characters. Haven't got a clue what they're called. But they seem pretty angry.

 

 

More anger.

 

 

Except for this one. He seems happy enough.

 

 

Plop came to have a dance before park closed.

 

 

As did Maya and Flik.

 

 

My first impressions of my first Plopsa park were very good. Even though this isn't their landmark attraction, the attention to detail is incredible and the staff are really friendly. I'm really looking forward to visiting the main park in Belgium in 10 days, but for now, it was time to go back to the hotel and get dry, in preparation for another wet day tomorrow.

[PKI Jizzman]

Great report! Those mini Frisbee rides look fun, I'd love to check one out. Nicely themed parks..glad you had a good time. Haven't seen you post in a while non German Tom! Good to hear you're doing well.

[Notturna]

Thank you for this TR. I've only been to the large parks but it looks like there's enough fun stuff that a visit to the smaller parks is in order

[Shockwave]

^Hellendoorn was really lovely, would recommend checking it out!

 

Great report! Those mini Frisbee rides look fun, I'd love to check one out. Nicely themed parks..glad you had a good time. Haven't seen you post in a while non German Tom! Good to hear you're doing well.

 

Thanks! I'm still knocking about, got a few little trips to Europe planned so I'll have a few more PTRs coming soon!

[Shockwave]

Part 4 - Slag whoring and cred whoring. And getting soaking wet.

 

Today was the last day of the trip before flying home. And it was wet. Really wet. So a lot of the photos are rubbish because I took them from under cover spots so as not to ruin my phone.

 

Slagharen is a big resort with a theme park and holiday homes. It reminds me a bit of Flamingoland, except with less rollercoasters, much nicer to look at, and completely themed to the Wild West.

 

I booked and printed my tickets online before I went, to save a few Euros, which as it turned out was well worth doing given how bad the weather was. The park was very quiet, not nearly as many school groups as yesterday.

 

First ride was the Vekoma Rollerskater.

 

 

There's a drop tower, but no way was I doing this in sideways rain.

 

 

SPITED. Stupid rain meant it wasn't open.

 

 

But the ride team soon started doing their inspections as the rain eased off a bit, so I lived in hope.

 

 

Whilst that was happening, I took this uninteresting picture of some parasols.

 

 

After getting a bit bored with parasols, I took a wander and found a few rides from the 80's.

 

There's a Huss Condor.

 

 

A Huss Pirate Ship.

 

 

And a Huss Troika, I think. (I'm rubbish with flat rides).

 

 

Or course, the piece de resistance of 80's nostalgia corner was the Schwarzkopf Looping Star.

 

 

And then it stopped being spiteful and opened!

 

 

It's not my favourite Schwarz ever, but it's still a piece of coaster history, so it was nice to be able to ride it.

 

 

After the nostalgia cred, I went for a walk down the main street.

 

 

It has an arcade where you can win things.

 

 

But I didn't wake up in a new Bugatti.

 

 

A shave is 50 cents. Men or women,

 

 

Some 90's nostalgia. Not only is the park themed to many years in the past, the merchandise is also dutifully retro.

 

 

Party waffels in the house tonight.

 

 

Oh I wish I was...

 

 

But it was shut. So I found something almost as wet as I was by this point.

 

 

Another classic flat ride. I think it's a Schwarz but correct me if I'm wrong.

 

 

There's a log flume that I didn't ride, as I was wet enough already.

 

 

You can just about make out it's called Ripsaw Falls. And with this being a nostalgia park, there's a big Schwarzkopf chairswing behind it.

 

 

After not riding the log flume, I went on the big wheel ride. Which is actually the observation tower. Not the big wheel. Go figure that one out.

 

 

And here's some awful photos just to demostrate that it was really wet by now. There's a Schwarzkopf Looping Star out there somewhere.

 

 

Lots of wet chalets.

 

 

The other (wet) side of the park.

 

 

I don't normally take selfies, but when I do, I'm soaked.

 

 

As this point I decided I was wet enough. So I left to turn the heat on in my car to full blast and go whore some more creds elsewhere.

 

 

I think this bus was lost.

 

 

Slagharen pretty much ticks the boxes for RCT ride types if you were to put one of each in a park. But there's nothing that really stands out there. It felt very dated, really lacked a couple of flagship rollercoasters which would make a lot of difference to the experience. 25 years ago, this would be a great theme park to come visit. But as times have moved on, this place hasn't. And after 2 and a bit hours of very wet nostalgia, it was time to go.

 

Next stop was Speelstad Oranje. A big kids play centre next to a canal in a field in Northern Holland. That really is the best way to describe it.

 

 

At the pay desk, I asked if the cred was open in my broken Dutch and with an RCDB picture of it on my iPhone. After they realised I was just there to ride the coaster and leave, they kindly said I could come in for free! it was very refreshing to see such a sensible attitude, especially in today's climate.

 

I should point out that I was more than prepared to pay, because I know that it's a business not a charity. But if you get offered a free lunch, take it! And with the hospitality already impressing, I swiftly made my way to the coaster.

 

 

This must be about my millionth Wacky Worm / Big Apple ride.

 

 

The rest of the park is really cool if you're about 9 years old (mental and physical age applies). They have bumper boats.

 

 

Electric kiddy car things.

 

 

A mini rockin' tug pirate ship thing.

 

 

And a suspended monorail! A suspended monorail in a kids play centre!

 

 

Overall, a really nice place for kids (it's got a suspended monorail for Pete's sake!) and some very understanding staff if you're a bit of a loser like I am.

 

Next stop was Duinen Zathe, a small park about 20 minutes away from the play centre in a field next to a canal. By now it was throwing it down, so that's why I'm standing in a shelter taking a terrible photo of the park sign as you get to the door.

 

 

And the for the second time in the space of an hour, the nice people who work there said I could come in, ride the roller coaster and leave! The people of Holland definitely understand the plight of the rollercoaster nerd.

 

It's quite a nice place, there's a massive Pirate Ship out the back through the main building.

 

 

And my millionth +1 Pinfari Big Apple! Which I got 5 laps on because the brakes wouldn't work as it was raining so hard!

 

 

The rest of the outdoor area of the park has some flat rides. Like this possibly Mondial Supernova thing, mabye? ...your help here is appreciated.

 

 

And this. I really should know this ride's name, I see them everywhere.

 

 

And a subliminal IKEA sponsored playground section.

 

 

The main building has some chandeliers, food court and a stage with a Magic show happening. Another flying visit due to the rain, but Duinen Zathe is another cheap way of having fun with your family. Unless it's raining. Then you just get wet. And with rain getting even worse, I headed on to my last park of the day.

 

 

By now, the wipers on the car were on the 100mph setting, and despite getting lost in a forest on the way to my last park, Drouwenerzand, I was expecting almost nothing to be open. And I was right. Luckily, the staff told me at the gate when I asked, and said I was OK to look around and get over the disappointment.

 

 

There are some other rides, but thanks to the rain I had pretty much become amphibious. And I needed to change clothes. So it was back to the car and full blast heating once again, and on to Amsterdam Airport for my flight home.

 

 

Because the traffic was so bad, I stopped off at a nice restaurant near Naarden and had some Satay and fries for dinner. I'd love to tell you what it's called but I was more interested in eating than almost anything else.

 

 

And after filling up the car, dropping it off with the lovely rental firm, it was time to head home.

 

 

I managed to have a really good time, even though the weather got really awful on the last day. It was really nice to be able to take a short break from the boring office job and visit some quirky parks.

 

The next installment of my cheap trips to Europe will commence in a few weeks with a little trip to Belgium and France for some more quirky parks. Until then, thanks for reading.

[thrillerman1]

Interesting PTR, Tom. I knew absolutely nothing about these parks, so it was good to see from your photos regardless of the rain on your last day. Thanks for sharing (and your sacrifice out in the torrential downpours) and looking forward to seeing your next hopefully much drier adventure!

[DoinItForTheFame]

What amazing photos!!! I don't know why.. But I really LOVED the photo below! It is awesome!! Thank's for sharing!!!

I don't know why I love this photo so much! But I just found a new back ground for my phone!

[Notturna]

I'm sorry that the Dutch weather was so terrible. Glad you had a fun trip regardless!

 

I think the plate you had would just be called saté met friet/patat (satay with fries). As far as I know there's no fancy name for it.