rctneil Posted June 19, 2015 Share Posted June 19, 2015 Hello all!, Ever since I heard that Tayto Park in Ireland was building a wooden coaster I had obviously decided I should get over there and ride it shortly after it opened. This last Wednesday ended up being the day it happened! After an early start and a short 35 minute flight to Dublin from Manchester, we picked up a hire car and made our way to Tayto Park which is around 25-30 minutes from the airport. I was joined on this trip by mousch and medoman as well. We purchased our park entry tickets, an unlimited ride wristband and started our day! From the theme park enthusiast point of view, Tayto Park seemed to be pretty well unknown of before this year and then out of the blue they announced a huge expansion and decided to install a whole host of new attractions including a Zamperla Air Race, a 5D Cinema and the stand out Cú Chulainn Gravity Group woodie. These three join last years new ride, The Rotator. The park is situated directly opposite from the Tayto crisp factory (otherwise known as 'chips' for you guys across the pond) and the park provides a self guided tour of the factory to visitors but we will come back to that later. My first time flying Ryanair. The flight was ok but was pretty much a flying advert! I guess you can't complain for a £20 return trip! Oooh! What can I see from the car park? It's Cú Chulainn, Irelands biggest roller coaster! The Ropes Course. Unfortunately we didn't get to do this. Hey, It's Mr Tayto! They have a lot of zip lines, climbing walls and slides at Tayto Park The Air Race is another new for 2015 ride. It's just like the others. Good flippin' fun Wheee! Yes, the front of the train is extremely creepy. The amazing looking entrance to Cú Chulainn. We'll be back later for this as it didn't open until 12:00 Here's the "inverted" part of the ride. I wouldn't really call it a invert though but that's just me. The Rotator. Quite an unusual type of flat ride and one I had not experienced before. Pretty intense at times. Dinosaurs Alive! ROOOOOAR!!!!!!! The previously mentioned zipline Tayto Park also has a zoo with 'ard' to find animals like this wolf. It's a lovely place with all sorts of activities for every member of the family. Gardens, Flats, Coasters, Zip Lines. What more could you ask for? A fluffy fluffy bunny (not stuffed with medicine and goo though) Not sure if this travels around or if it's static but kids parties are held in it. The Tayto Factory. The tour consisted of several of these long, super colourful corridors explaining the history of the product and several viewing windows into the factory. The tour constantly played the Tayto Song: That's a lot of different packet designs! ARGH! Lunch At this point, it was nearing midday so we made our way over to Cú Chulainn. This is some of the theming inside the entrance building It's a big ride It's got a ton of pops of airtime thoughout and several double ups and double downs (Not the KFC kind) Yay, Timberliners Seeing the reactions of the park visitors to this ride who have not seen, let alone ridden a ride of this size and type was great fun. I saw lots of nervous people before the ride but nothing but amazing comments about it when they got off after it. It makes a great roar as it takes it's lap. Stats Great tp hear Cú Chulainn doesn;t permit Selfie Sticks! Nerd photos imminent For you control panel enthusiasts. Our "normal" on ride photo Many, MANY rides later This is what the station platform looked like for the majority of the day! Going up... This is the overbank just next to the station The first tunnel just after the first drop. Taken from the car park. INVERT! Thanks Tayto Park. We'll most certainly be back! After leaving it was off for a drink. Thanks for reading! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StealthFan Posted June 19, 2015 Share Posted June 19, 2015 Glad to see you enjoyed the park. I really think the park has so much potential and if the woodie is a success for them I'm sure the future will be very bright. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaellynn4 Posted June 19, 2015 Share Posted June 19, 2015 What a fun park! I really enjoy the atmosphere. Thanks for sharing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
viking86 Posted June 19, 2015 Share Posted June 19, 2015 Great report! With the exception of Cú Chulainn I knew absolutely nothing about this park before seeing your pictures. Always fun to see something new! Hope the new investments will be a success for the park! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rctneil Posted June 19, 2015 Author Share Posted June 19, 2015 Glad to see you enjoyed the park. I really think the park has so much potential and if the woodie is a success for them I'm sure the future will be very bright. Absolutely. ALL staff were beyond friendly and all amazing. The ride lineup seems to be expanding perfectly and if they keep investing like they did this year it'll keep turning into a a destination people will visit time and time again. The 5D Cinema was also of excellent quality. (Much nicer than Alton's wooden boxes!). Free crisps were also well received! Being able to a visit as a day trip from England is also perfect and for flights, car rental, admission and unlimited wristband for less than an adult pays on the gate at Alton Towers you honestly cannot go wrong by taking a day there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IrishCasual Posted June 19, 2015 Share Posted June 19, 2015 I remember going there when it first opened, It's so weird how literally everything's changed! Can't wait to be there next month. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nrthwnd Posted June 19, 2015 Share Posted June 19, 2015 That Wall of Bags reminded me, that maybe Divv is doing the exact same thing, with his Dorito Bags? Just a hunch. Unless of course, they're not open and eaten. Great looking park and coaster there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medoman Posted June 19, 2015 Share Posted June 19, 2015 This was a really fun trip, ryanair is based out of dublin so it would not surprise me if other people in europe can get a cheap flight there. I have to agree the staff were all very friendly and chatty, moreso than most parks I've been to. The drive from the airport is pretty simple if you have a sat nav and the coaster itself is well worth the trip. Best seat is at the back, theres only one nasty jolt on the overbank but the rest of the ride is so much fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pixelated85 Posted June 20, 2015 Share Posted June 20, 2015 Did it have that "new wood coaster" smell? They should make a Yankee Candle out of that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mousch Posted June 20, 2015 Share Posted June 20, 2015 Nice trip report Neil! It really was a great family park,nicely landscaped and as you touched on the staff all over the park were superb! Even better was the fact that the coaster was walk on the majority of the day and that the staff let us reride if there was no one waiting! And it was good to meet you medoman! I can definitely see this park having an annual visit from myself,and I look forward to seeing what else they have in store as the park expands and if the installations are of the same quality as Cu Chullain it will become a must visit park! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leqant Posted June 20, 2015 Share Posted June 20, 2015 You're not alone in considering the overbank turn not an inversion. RCDB stopped saying that the CuChulainn had an inversion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted June 20, 2015 Share Posted June 20, 2015 Looks like a very nice park for families, despite the creepiness of the figurehead on the coaster trains. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philrad71 Posted June 20, 2015 Share Posted June 20, 2015 Thanks for sharing, Neil...this park looks beautiful and with the addition of the new coaster, it is only going to draw more attendance. Glad to see Ireland finally on the coaster map! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrygator Posted June 20, 2015 Share Posted June 20, 2015 Ok, I just realized Tayto is a shortened form of Potato, which know only makes sense since the the company make Tayto Chips/Crisps. Thanks Neil, I added this to the Park Index Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattguyver Posted June 20, 2015 Share Posted June 20, 2015 Thanks for the awesome TR! Looks like a neat place, full of fun rides and starchy goodness! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medoman Posted June 20, 2015 Share Posted June 20, 2015 sadly the sun only came out at the end of the day, probably the most interesting shot I took tayto Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medoman Posted June 20, 2015 Share Posted June 20, 2015 the one thing I don't get though, is them calling it Europe's biggest wooden coaster colossos is longer (3582 vs 4409 ft) colossos is taller (105 vs 159ft) wodan has a longer duration (2:45 vs 3:25) I cant find a single stat where its greater than all the rest in europe. Pedantics aside, it is definitely one of the best coasters in europe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ernierocker Posted June 20, 2015 Share Posted June 20, 2015 The coaster and the park looks really nice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rcjp Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 Looks great! I'll be going to the park in September and I'm glad to know it's an enjoyable place. I didn't quite understand the tickets/wristband thing, though. Do you need both to be able to get on the rides? And is it just me or this slide looks pretty awkward? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rctneil Posted June 22, 2015 Author Share Posted June 22, 2015 You need an admission ticket and then either pay for rides by buying individual tokens or buy an unlimited wristband Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rcjp Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 ^Oh, ok. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPmillenia94 Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 How smooth was it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejot Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 ^^^^That slide actually looks pretty awesomely messed up to me. Great pics, really enjoyed this TR. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rctneil Posted June 25, 2015 Author Share Posted June 25, 2015 How smooth was it? It's just as smooth as you'd expect a modern woodie to be. The overbank has quite a shuffle to it though and is most definitely the roughest part but apparently it's being looked at to smooth it out. It must be relatively smooth as I have a really bad back at the moment and rode Cú Chulainn a lot during our visit and my back was fine. I actually think it helped in an odd sort of way! The plane journey to Dublin was worse for me on my back than multiple rides on the coaster! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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