Tayto Park photo TR

[rcjp]

Early this month I went with my parents on a trip to Ireland and, naturally, I felt quite happy when I remembered they were getting their first big coaster this summer.

 

The place is Tayto Park. It opened in 2010 and is still pretty small so this gravity group woody was quite an addition. My parents dropped me at around 11 a.m and I stayed until it closed (6 p.m). I had a great time, naturally there isn't that much to do when compared to the bigger parks I was used to going to but it's very fun nonetheless. The place has a nice atmosphere, is very clean and, given the amount of rides it has, they're not bad (although it's clear they're still growing).

 

If there is anything not so positive I have to say is the price: you pay 14 euros to get in (which is okay) but then you either pay for each ride (excluding a few smaller attractions included in the tickets) or you buy a wristband (15 euros) allowing you to get on any ride as many times as you want. Given that the coaster costs 5 and the two bigger flats 4 each you'll definitely buy the wristband and that means you'll end up paying 29 euros which, while not a massive amount, puts it close to parks like warner madrid (as there's always plenty of discounts you can get) and even though this place is very nice, it's still not quite on the same league as those parks. But it's no huge deal, anyway.

 

Now to the ride, Cú Chulainn: I had relatively high hopes for this coaster as I hadn't quite had the chance to ride a quality wooden before (or at least not may) and it didn't disappoint! The first drop is awesome in the back (the best car, in my opinion), the pacing is great as it maintains its speed very well all the way until the brakes, the airtime (although not too strong) is everywhere (I think it has 18 or 19 moments of air, if I'm not mistaken), the twists, turns and hills come very quickly and it's pretty smooth. Now, I have to say that in terms of smoothness I don't quite know what this means as I'd never been on a brand new woody and, therefore, I don't know how smooth these rides usually are when they open. It's perfectly fine now (although you get some weird jolts on the overbank) but I get the feeling that it could easily lose this level of smoothness due to the "intensity" of the ride and way it moves around the track but let's hope they take care of it nicely. Right now it's definitely my favorite wooden coaster.

 

 

 

Before this, though, we also went to Northern Ireland where I was able to find a credit in a small park. So that's where the first few pictures (I really don't have many) were taken. It's in a park called Barry's Amusements in Portrush located on the north shore of the country.

Hope you enjoy.

Sorry I begin straight away with the coaster but we had quite an odd experience. We arrived in Portrush and didn't quite know where to go so we asked a local where the park was and this lady didn't seem to have an idea the place existed so we started wondering if we were on the right place. Luckily, however, we drove a few extra yards and saw some rides which showed no signs of life at all. We got in this building where some of the attractions were and walked through it, towards the coaster. There was nobody there (no riders and no workers). In fact, there were like 3 guests on that entire area. Apparently it really was open, I said I wanted to ride and this guy basically came out of nowhere to operate the coaster, a bit odd.

The only time we saw it running was when me or my dad were riding so every picture you see with a train was taken by my mom.

Now to the ride: Barry's Big Dipper: it's a Pinfari Zyklon ZL42. It was the first time I rode suck interesting contraption and it was pretty much what I expected: fun, with some nice forces on the loop and fairly poor neck chopping transitions (especially the one right after the loop)

There I go

first drop. I wanted to check if there was air in the back but, for some reason, they didn't let me ride there.

the loop had soem nice forces

three train operation!

not that it was needed, though

a look at the layout

from the beach

there it is

this was taken outside the park

for the lift nerds

and the chain lift/motor nerds

loop-de-loop !

the mortal enemy of every enthusiast: a trim !! (I'm quite glad this ride had them in certain places, though)

* (next pics coming shortly)

[rcjp]

Tayto Park

The coaster is right next t the parking lot so this is the view you get when you arrive

from the queue

as you can see there weren't a lot of people. in fact, even though later in the day waiting times "increased" to 15-20 minutes, it seemed to have the shortest wait in the park (maybe because of capacity despite the one train operation)

looks brand new!

the overbank. as I've said earlier there were some odd jolts but nothing too uncomfortable. still, it was one of my least favourite bits of the ride as it's one of the few times where you go slower as opposed to the great pacing of the rest

you got pretty close to the track while in line

transfer mechanism

there they go

the first drop has great air in the back and some floater in the front

the length is pretty decent

going sort of upside down but not really!

it's fast! and also fairly loud from the queue which I always enjoy (and it intimidates most people a bit )

I didn't try this very funky side

but I did try the zip line

zip lines and the weird slide

the view from this area. that's the rotator and we'll get to that soon

it was fun but for some reason I ended up losing quite a bit of speed near the end and almost didn't reach the end. odd (since I have normal weight and size)

you'd then walk back to the tower where you left while younger kids (from what I understood) would do the opposite

kids area

rope course

another look at that funky slide

Mr Tayto himself!

Now the rotator: it's my first inverting flat ride and what can I say? It was a nice experience but nothing I'd ride more than once. Unlike normal non inverting pendulum rides (like frisbees) you have this counterweight to avoid excessive speeds near the bottom but, as a result, the swinging motion doesn't feel as "natural" as in a normal one. I don't know if you get what I'm saying but, for instance: on a giant frisbee, when the ride is speeding up and you're reaching 90 degrees you get weightlessness as you do so while here you felt yourself hanging from one side. You'd also get a fairly long upside down period while the ride didn't hit full speed and even though I love inversions on coasters I'm not a fan of extended hangtime moments. All in all, I did enjoy it but nowhere as much as "normal" pendulum rides.

here they go

don't know what to say here......

swinging ..... I guess

the star of the park

almost upside down

yup, fully inverted

It would be nice if this could be done without a counterweight but I guess that the Gs would be too high for both the ride and riders as they reached the bottom

perhaps a slightly lighter weight?

anyway, it was fun

they also got an air race this year and it was also my first one

like the rotator, I enjoyed it but don't feel like riding it more than once

I'd like to try a gerstlauer sky fly, though, as you can control your spinning

this has been said a lot but they really could have called it "rotaytor"

storage building

nice entrance

Cú Chulainn! I didn't know but it was an Irish mythological hero

brake run

for the transfer nerds

see? you do get close to the track. I love when parks let you do so.

here you got a rather violent turn to the right which was unexpected (although you felt it a lot more in the back)

airtime!

I have no idea why there is a "no parking" sign here

one ore ride

you can't see it really well but that's the chain. by the way, does anyone happen to know why on some rides (like this) the chain stops completely when there's no train on the lift while one others (like B&Ms) the chain keeps moving very slowly? (I'm just curious)

overbanking

speeding next to the station

and into the brakes

another look at the second train

station mechanical bits

I spy hairtime

sorry about the finger but that's the motor house

airtime and laterals!

this was later in the day as the queue increased to 15-20 minutes. thanks to shorter waiting times earlier I got a lot of rides

oh, they also have these. it's always a good warning

this was taken by my parents who were in the parking lot waiting while I was getting my last rides

that's a lot of wood

these wooden lifts always look great

under the lift

into the overbank

that's me in the third to last row

going down

I managed to get in line just before it closed at 5.30 p.m

one more train

one last ride in the very back

once again, airtime's great here

enjoying the last ride

but no! as we got back to the station the let us ride one more time making it 21 laps for me

the now empty station and train. my first ride with timberliners and they were great! very comfy (nice restraints too)

good bye

had a great day

oh, and they give you this as you leave

one last look at the drop

and the operators having some fun

this was the bonus, I guess. My parents found it while taking pictures. I assume it wasn't used during construction and it just stayed there next to the ride (in the parking lot), judging by how dirty it was but I don't know, really

Well, that was it. Hope you enjoyed

[Superbatboy]

Awesome pictures, Cú Chulainn looks great!!

[rcjp]

^Thanks. It really was great fun (the pacing is particularly good)

[viking86]

Great pictures of Cú Chulainn. Love the frame with the lost and broken articles, more parks should do that!

[_koppen]

I don't know if you get what I'm saying but

 

I know exactly what you are talking about, I feel the same about Zierer Star Shape's. The pendulum motion feels controlled or braked.

[rcjp]

^That's right. As I've said, it'd be really cool to see a counterweight free pendulum ride go upside down but given that the normal ones which reach 120 degrees or so already produce some serious Gs it would probably be too much for a normal guest.

[viking86]

I think the closest you will get is the Ultra Max made by Mondial Rides. While it does have a counterweight, the length of the arm is very short.

 

http://mondialrides.com/rides/parkrides/ultra-max

[rcjp]

^Looks more interesting. And 3.9 Gs doesn't sound too bad.

[LuminousAphid]

I don't know if you get what I'm saying but

 

I know exactly what you are talking about, I feel the same about Zierer Star Shape's. The pendulum motion feels controlled or braked.

Yeah I didn't like SpinCycle at Silverwood as much as I thought I would for that very reason. It's the same model as the one at Tayto and it was sort of disappointing that it was less forceful than you'd expect from such a huge ride. It's one of those rides that looks more impressive than it is, unfortunately.

 

At the fair this year I tried a Fabbri Evolution, it still has a counterweight but pulls more G's and feels a lot more natural

 

Anyway, great TR, it will be really interesting to see how this park grows and evolves through the years now that it's getting to be more of a destination with some top-class rides. I am hoping that the awesome coaster stays fast and smooth, but worry that it may get rough without proper upkeep.

[DJeXeL]

you can't see it really well but that's the chain. by the way, does anyone happen to know why on some rides (like this) the chain stops completely when there's no train on the lift while one others (like B&Ms) the chain keeps moving very slowly? (I'm just curious)

 

This really depends on the programmer of the ride's control system.

[gisco]

Thanks for sharing. This is a park that most of us will never get a chance to visit.

[rcjp]

you can't see it really well but that's the chain. by the way, does anyone happen to know why on some rides (like this) the chain stops completely when there's no train on the lift while one others (like B&Ms) the chain keeps moving very slowly? (I'm just curious)

 

This really depends on the programmer of the ride's control system.

I guess it's possible that some motors are more efficient if they never fully stop while others are the other way round.

[DJeXeL]

Definitely a possibility.

[canadianparkfan]

I think the closest you will get is the Ultra Max made by Mondial Rides. While it does have a counterweight, the length of the arm is very short.

 

http://mondialrides.com/rides/parkrides/ultra-max

What about the KMG inversion? It seems like it provides some pretty good G forces as well as quite a bit of hangtime.