Alex1337 Posted September 10, 2016 Share Posted September 10, 2016 (edited) Guess it's time for my first trip report! I've had a wonderful summer in Europe, with more than 40 new credits and 6 first time visits in some of the greatest European parks. I'll start this report with my only re-visit: Gardaland - It's been around 12 years since I last went there, so obviously a lot has happened to this great park. Great new additions, and an impressive amount of themeing everywhere. A lot of attention to detail in this Merlin park. We went there close to august, and thought we might catch a silent day in the park on a monday, but we were pretty wrong. It seemed like most of Europe had decided to go to the park this day, maybe due to absolutely perfect weather - 35-38degrees all day long. But the park is so enourmous that you actually don't quite feel the pressure from the massive crowds. The lines for the major rides were long, but we still had a great day, and I got the credits I came for! The ride-ops and staff in the park really handled the crowded day really well, and that really added to a great experience. The park is also really good at providing shade in the queuelines, so you avoided a massive sunburn - Yes I'm Scandinavian, and my skin was not made for 35 degrees !! Best ride to me was Oblivion. Wonderful addition to the area, and the theming is just wonderful! I especially love how the black hole sucks down theming from the western area as well. Just perfect! Raptor also provided a lot of fun, and since it was my first and only wingrider, I can't compare it to others. A bit short, but again wonderful theming. They have really improved A LOT since I went here last time. Impressive what can happen in 12 years The worst ride might of course be the Blue Tornado. The only thing that could make this ride better is some new theming, and with the level on the newest additions in Gardaland, why don't they consider doing it with this one as well?? It really just stands there all by it self, and looks like crap! The bonus helix and the brake run is the greatest parts of this ride, really! Enough with the talking, lets see some photo's, right?? In case you missed it... Fantasy Kingdom. Great area for the younger generations Maybe they should rename it LSD Kingdom tho... I mean.. If this isn't psychedelic, what is?? Fuga da Atlantide is such a beautiful ride! This guy looks pissed We skipped this ride due to a 60 minute line.. The wonderful Gardaland Plaza From the Flying Saucerer thing you get a wonderful view of the Garda Lake. Such a lovely place! The western part of the park looked great Nice midway here, right next to Oblivion The Jungle Rapids seen from above The rapids even has its own volcano I like this. On a hot day like this, it's nice that you can buy some icecold beverages in the queue Nice themed rapids! And there's Buddha, I guess? The Kung Fu Academy area is new for this season. Got me a pic with the Kung Fu Panda, and did some Kung Fu moves with him... A Kung Fu show was about to start. So we left... I skipped this credit, since it had a massive line - and it's a FABBRI SPINNER... I mean look.. 75minutes waiting for this.. Hell no. They only ran two trains, so the capacity was almost non-existing The Tea Cups also received a makeover for this season. Think it's a shame they removed the Top Spin. Could have looked great in this area IMO! You really get the feeling of Southern Europe in this park! So beautiful! Don't know why I tried this bad boy again. It's so painful and ugly to look at.. My brother thought it looked cool, so we tried it, but man does it hurt! Magic Mountain was slightly better than Blue Tornado, but still rough! The new paintjob looks great though! Do the corkscrew! The helix part is stunning. And when you sit to the right in the train, you risk getting soaked from the fountains. Nice on such a warm day! Mammut was also new to me. I like this open plaza Yet another heavily themed ride You get to see a lot of the ride in the massive queue line It says we are on the North Pole. I still feel like I'm smelting! The station for the Monorail ride is simply stunning! But hey, there's also really great coasters in this park! Oblivion was great - a bit short, but really great! Love the white tracks! This entire area is just so well done! They have a winner here! I love this detail. A windmill getting sucked into the black hole! Nice first drop! Such a smooth and pretty ride! The queue for this ride is also really well done! You get prepared for your astro-challenges They show this great movie in the queue, that explains the black hole. Really well done When you reach this, I guess there is no return! This might be the dumbest ride ever built! Looks terrifying - feels lame! Nice skyline - close-to-decent rides.. Orto Bruco Tour has to be the longest Wacky Worm ever built! Ramses is a pretty weird Egypt-Robo style dark ride! Gardaland opened this great restaurant this season - Think it was named Corsaro Nero Had a nice lasagne - Sorry for the Instagram-ish photo! Who doesn't love a heavily themed restaurant? Thumbs up Merlin! Yo-Ho-Yo-Ho ! You even get a great view of the entrance to the great pirate dark ride, I Corsari. Time for some Raptor snaps! The station even has it's own lasergun system, in case the Raptors goes nuts Really well-done area, this one! And a great ride aswell. The first inversion is pretty forceful! I love these trains. They are so photogenic! Twisty Raptor Fun! The first drop is pretty good aswell ! Nice details everywhere! I love that they've named the trains "creatures"! Raptor also has it's own video in the queue. Nice and entertaining! Raptors everywhere! The first drop seen from the observation tower Did I mention it was burning hot this day?? "Creature" approaching! Such a smooth and lovely ride, really! Raptor even has it's own Raptor! And Legolas controls it! What a baws! Time to say goodbye and arrivederci to Gardaland. Such a nice park! Next up is Phantasialand! Edited September 12, 2016 by Alex1337 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrygator Posted September 11, 2016 Share Posted September 11, 2016 A very nice start to your first Trip Report. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex1337 Posted September 11, 2016 Author Share Posted September 11, 2016 Thanks Larry, appreciate it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stonem Posted September 11, 2016 Share Posted September 11, 2016 Great "first chapter", I'm looking forward to read all the complete review. Gardaland is my homepark, in my opinion there isn't any very good coaster, but still a good themed park. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex1337 Posted September 11, 2016 Author Share Posted September 11, 2016 Thanks Stonem! Compared to my homepark, Bon Bon Land, I'd still say you have some pretty neat rides But yeah, I agree that it's not the greatest selection of rides in Europe. The GP still seemed to enjoy all of the coasters, and that's what matters the most Would like to see a Mack or Intamin launched coaster in this park in the future! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex1337 Posted September 12, 2016 Author Share Posted September 12, 2016 (edited) Phantasialand - This park is for real! Home to Taron, Raik, Black Mamba, Winjas, Talocan, Chiapas and lots of other wicked rides! I had really anticipated this one, and obviously the new Klugheim area didn't decrease my interest! We chose to stay at the Matamba hotel and get two full days in this wonderful park. We didn't regret that one bit! Phantasialand has really upped their game with their theming, and it is really mindblowing to see how much effort they put in this! Of course there are some random spots in the park, where you wonder what the heck went wrong - For example the Temple of the Nighthawk. What is the deal with that ride? Someone please tell me, because to me, it really ruins some of the charm in Wuze Town. This big, ugly container with a random ride inside of it, just doesn't make sense to me. The area behind the ride, with the Splash Battle and the paddleboats also seems kinda messy, and I hope they'll optimize this area in the future - they have a lot of space in this area, that seems kinda unused, and that's sad! Also, we didn't quite understand why we couldn't enter the park from the Matamba Hotel. It seemed kinda odd, when there's a bridge in the gardens going straight through the Black Mamba loop, and into the park. Instead we had to got through the Ling Bao Hotel, but hey, we survived Having said that, this is a completely mindblowing park! Black Mamba was our first ride, and I really enjoyed it a lot, and got a lot of re-rides. Definitely best in the front IMO! I guess it's like a mini edition of Nemesis - am I right or wrong? The high-speed inversions and the helix were really forceful, and the setting of this ride is just amazing! The brand new Klugheim area is simply amazing. Words do not describe how well done this area is! And oh yeah, Taron is a kick-ass ride. Best launched coaster I've ever been on, and one of the most intense rides as well! I liked it best in the last row, but didn't get to ride it in the front seat. Had a ride in the 2nd row, and it was great aswell. The transitions on this ride combined with the lap-bars just makes for a perfect ride, and all the near-hits really brings a lot of fear up in you! Raik was a pretty neat coaster as well, and it's just admirable how they fit this coaster in! What a job! The Wuze Town area was also pretty cool, and obviously the star of this area is Winjas - Fear & Force. I really enjoyed both of them, and the gimmicks is just mindblowing. I'm not gonna spoil anything, it really makes it a better ride when you don't know whats awaiting you! The biggest positive surprise to me was the Mystery Castle and Talocan. The castle was so well done, and I had no idea what was about to happen, when I entered the tower room. First time I really felt the adrenaline pumping through my veins, and boy is that a nice launch tower ride in there! Got to ride both programs, and the longest one was really intense, combined with the sounds in there and the lights at the top. Talocan is without a doubt the greatest flatride I've ever ridden. Yeah I know it's "just" a 2nd generation Top Spin, but the theming really makes this a world class ride, and it's fun to see how the guests in the park enjoys to watch this ride, either through the small windows in the back, or at the plateau in front of the ride. WOW! Aaaand I haven't even mentioned Maus-au-Chocolat, Chiapas and River Quest yet. Chiapas to me is tied with Valhalla in Blackpool as the greatest log-flume ever. It's so beautiful and full of details everywhere! Really well integrated in this area. River Quest is tied with Valhalla for being the ride that soaks you up the most! What a wet and nice ride! I miss some of the nice theming they put to this ride outside, on the inside. Mostly just yellow walls. But then again, a lot of nice elements in this one. Enough with the talking, lets get to the photos! Hope you enjoy them We arrived at the Matamba Hotel and had two days in this wonderland Such a nice view from the balcony View to the african garden Time to ride some B&M Inverted madness! Such a heavily themed ride! Black Bongo's Once again, we had wonderful weather. Such a lovely and warm European summer! Black Mamba doing the loop-de-loop The first drop is great! It just flies through the course It's pretty hard to find out what is up and down when you ride this bad boy Twisty! It's a pretty hard ride to get decent photos of Here we go again! I really enjoyed this ride! ChiapasTime! How beautiful is this?? *SKLOOSH* Boats approaching all the time. Not the wettest ride in the park. But really pretty! Iconic photo! How about some onride shots? Close to the big drop! Love this view. Mystery Castle and Taron out there Going up a last time Put your hands up if you love this drop! Details everywhere! So pretty This guy with a fish on his head likes to do a little squirt now and then.. Such an impressive project! LSD Maya Dance of Doom and Wetness! This guy is having a party - and of course you're invited Tried a little panoramic photo here Time for the giant Phallos ride What happens in the Mystery Castle, stays in the Mystery Castle What a view, right!? Inside the castle A lot of details in here as well! Love the lights in here! This ride doesn't make sense. But hey, it's a credit, right? Wonder what's in there? Yet another panoramic shot for y'all This ride is just nuts! Any ride that has brilliant theming, water AND fire, is perfect in my book! Ready to load Ready to go! Ready to get roasted And soaked! This ride really amazed me! Let's go to Wuze Town A lot of great rides for the kids here Also a great obstacle course here Great details everywhere! Good looking rides This frog ride has infiltrated Europe! The main dish in Wuze Town of course is Winjas Hard to get decent shots of this! Spinning and spinning! Both coasters has a lot of wow moments! And a frog spits out trains as well I hope they'll do something bigger and better with this area! Wakobato was closed the first day, but opened up the next day Still, didn't really feel like riding this one ! Night time in Phantasialand. The Ling Bao Hotel area is stunning at night, and the bar is great as well ! Feng Ju Palace is a pretty outdated Mad House. The pre-show reminded me of Mortal Combat Geister Rikscha is another kinda outdated ride. Scary and spooky as hell! I have no clue about what's going on here! Got me a ghost-selfie! Yay This guy had a fun day at the office. I guess.. Lovely views here in the midway. Love how you see Klugheim, Chinatown and Mexico, all in one picture The Berlin area is pretty, but feels kinda empty, compared to a lot of the other areas The Wellenflug is kinda neat, though! And here I thought we were in Brühl!? Welcome to Berlin, lads! Time for Michael Jackson: The Ride! This one actually really surprised me! Had a couple of rides in the backseat, and it provided some air and nice moments! And it's pretty, too! This drop disappointed me a bit Guess it's time to check out the new area! Stunning. Simply stunning! Again, so many details everywhere These volcano mountains just looks amazing! "When the luck knocks on your door, do not neglect to open it!" This small square is a great place to get a beer, some great food and a nice view of the two new rides in town! Sooooo pretty! Time for a refreshment-selfie! Let's go check out Raik! Going down Didn't get that many shots of this ride - it's pretty hard to get some decent shots, and I gotta admit, I'd rather take hundreds of shots of Taron! Loved this detail. It followed the train through the track Going backwards aaand going forwards Raik had some downtime, but I got my credit, and enjoyed it! I guess River Quest is somehow a part of Klugheim now?? "Mamma, what's in there!?" Only got one ride on River Quest, but it made me totally soaked ! And then we got stuck here for 30 minutes. Felt really sorry for the ones who had been waiting for 90 minutes to ride this one, as it stopped running! Really pretty on the outside - I still miss some on the inside. More photos to come - iiiiiit's Taron Time! Edited September 12, 2016 by Alex1337 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex1337 Posted September 12, 2016 Author Share Posted September 12, 2016 Taron Time - Let's check this bad boy out! River Quest and Raik meets right here! This castle is massive! Such a peaceful start to a wet and violent ride! You know what time it is! Iiiiit's Taron Time! Such a powerful and intense ride! Through the mill! When you sit to the left, you get a little love from the waterfalls I guess you go around 120km/h here! (72mph?) Flying through the course! Track everywhere! This part is absolutely nuts! Twisty and dirty. Like a salsa dance! Intamin and Phantasialand really have a winner here! Constant fear of hitting your surroundings. Do you dare to keep your hands up?? Let's go Taron! Such a photogenic coaster, really! I love this panoramic shot! Time to head back and get some sleep! Next up is Holiday Park and Expedition Ge-Force! Early morning shot - It's time to leave! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ytterbiumanalyst Posted September 12, 2016 Share Posted September 12, 2016 Phantasialand looks like an amazing park, and this is a very good trip report! Thanks for sharing; looking forward to more! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex1337 Posted September 12, 2016 Author Share Posted September 12, 2016 Thank you, that means a lot! And yes, Phantasialand is definitely a top10 park in Europe IMO! Such great rides and lovely atmosphere! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pear Posted September 12, 2016 Share Posted September 12, 2016 I must get out to this park! I love the amount of detail Phantasialand puts into their theming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stonem Posted September 12, 2016 Share Posted September 12, 2016 I visited this park last week and it literally impressed me. Every single attraction was a top class ride. And the detail.. wow. I was expecting a very good park with some decent rides, but every ride was the best of its kind. I liked Temple of the night hawk too, it's true that is just a mine train in the dark, but is such an old attraction. And in the complete dark you don't know what is going to happen next.. I had fun on that ride. It's obvious that Colorado is 1000 times better, it just has been the best mine train I have ever rode (in terms of intensity! It left me impressed how amazing that ride actually is.) And chiapas.. WOW! The last drop was such intense. I didn't expect that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexinla Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 To answer your question about the back of the park, Phantasialand can not do anything there as it is close to a residential area and the citizen complained extensively, hence why the ride is closed all day sunday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
funtime_arena Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 Of course there are some random spots in the park, where you wonder what the heck went wrong - For example the Temple of the Nighthawk. What is the deal with that ride? Someone please tell me, because to me, it really ruins some of the charm in Wuze Town. This big, ugly container with a random ride inside of it, just doesn't make sense to me. The area behind the ride, with the Splash Battle and the paddleboats also seems kinda messy, and I hope they'll optimize this area in the future - they have a lot of space in this area, that seems kinda unused, and that's sad! Awesome review! I see you enjoyed you trip Just for info: The building of Temple of the Nighthawk / Hollywoodtour (nice old water darkride) belongs not really to wuze town. In the past Temple of the Nighthawk was called Space Center. A enclosed roller coaster with an space theming. You saw aliens in the queueline and spaceships, planets, stars and laserlights on this ride. some day the theming move to... darkness. In the past it was really a nice ride.. The bulding was not painting in the colors like today. The "container" was silver colored. Here two pictures of the good old times The area with the lake and the Splash Battle will not optimize in the near future. The reason are the neighbors who live so close to the park / lake. some of this "nice guys" complain because of noise pollution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex1337 Posted September 13, 2016 Author Share Posted September 13, 2016 @funtime_arena & @alexinla thanks for the answers to my big question about this park! It's sad that they can't use the areas full potential, but hey, still a wonderful park, and this spot is nice to go to, if you need to relax a little and get away from the massive crowds! I know that Temple of the Nighthawk officially isn't a part of the Wuze Town, but I still feel like it's right there in the middle of it. The Space Center theming looks pretty cool, and I guess the ride was a lot better back then! I also know it's a classic ride in the park, and I guess that's why it's still there I totally missed the Hollywood Tour, and first realized that it was located in the same building a couple of days after our visit. Nice to have something to come back for I guess? Next up is Holiday Park! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex1337 Posted September 13, 2016 Author Share Posted September 13, 2016 Holiday Park - Home to the Airtime Monster Vikings, horrors, sunflowers and G-forces! After two days in Brühl, we were heading to Rust and Europa Park. On the way, we managed to get a full day in Holiday Park, and we almost had it to our self. What a massive park, and pretty too. But I gotta admit, when you started to get used to the amount of details everywhere in Phantasialand, this park really stood out as something completely different. The Plopsa Company has really improved this park, and the new Aviator area with Sky Fly and other rides looked really nice! So did the Majaland, which actually was the most crowded area throughout the day. I guess this tells a lot about the audience the park aims at! Sky Scream really surprised me in a positive way, and is a great addition to this park IMO! The level of theming on this ride was also more than decent, and the entire area looked nice! Only thing that got to my head was the theme song for Sky Scream. I think it was a "haunted edition" of the classic The Human League song "Don't You Want Me", and that seemed a little odd. Here's a link for the song, in case you don't know it!: Another ride that really surprised me was the Wickie Splash. A big log flume ride with a lot of details everywhere, themed to cartoonish vikings. I started to realize, that every German park might have a log flume, that goes backwards. Is that just a typical German thing or what??? Obviously, the wonder of this park is Expedition GeForce. I really liked it a lot, and got several rides in front and in the back (absolutely nuts in the backseat btw!), and it was basically a walk-on all day. It had some downtime during the day, but not more than half an hour or so. I know I might get unpopular with this statement, but to me it's not close to being the greatest steel coaster in Europe - I've never been to the US, or outside of Europe riding rollercoasters, so can't say anything about that - but I really enjoyed it. The airtime on the drop and especially at the first hill after the drop is completely insane, and feels like it will last forever. The force in the turns were - to me - pretty non-existing, and that disappointed me a bit. And then again, I have to say, when you come directly from Taron, which is a kick-ass ride with a worldclass themed area surrounding it, this ride just felt a bit tame. The station was uninspiring, playing shitty music from the FM radio that sponsors the ride, and that's it. The ride it self is great, but I can't help thinking how great this ride could have been, if the theming surrounding it had been on the same level as anything you'd see in Europa Park & Phantasialand. Well, enough with the talking, let's see what this park is all about! Welcome to Holiday Park! According to Holiday Park, this was the first drop tower ever built in Europe. Oldschool Intamin drop tower! First thing you see as you get in, is Haus der Anubis Let's go to Majaland! This ant looks pretty pissed! As I mentioned earlier, these Frog rides infiltrates Europe right now! This is a heavily themed, and really well done area! Seemed really popular! A lot of different rides here Sunflowers seem to grow well here! And the mushrooms too! Don't do bumber cars on shrooms though! Rides for all the children here! And sunflowers. Pretty sunflowers everywhere A lot of details in this area. Hurray for Plopsa! Only thing they need in this area is a family coaster. I'm thinking something in between a large Zierer custom (like the ones in Liseberg and Djurs) and Gerstlauers family launch coasters (Fire Express style). Would fit perfectly in here! The Crazy Log! Spin like you mean it, Crazy Log! Let's check out the new Air Show area! This is another really well done area! I like the details you see everywhere in this Aviation square! The nice plaza outside Anubis. The ride is themed to some random TV-show, and it's really vague and ugly! Don't know what happened there! Or take it Sky High with the Sky Fly (see what I did there?) This is a funny concept! Had to check it out myself. Thought I had it, but ended up with 3 spins at the most.. It's kinda hard! Nice looking flat ride! Nice addition Very well done You find posters like this everywhere .. when this is what you get instead! Such a funny ride! Both front and backseats were great! Impressive construction! I would love to see one of these in Tivoli Gardens! Go for a Balloon Race! Fly with the Red Baron Time to check this one out! It provided a surprising amount of air up here! Wickie Splash was also a positive surprise to me Great view here Fear them snacks! You get a nice view of this area from the Wickie Splash! Vikings everywhere! Hello Fellow Scandinavians! This guy gets splashed every once in awhile Guess it's better than being this guy! He took a shot to his ass! This guy looks satisfied! The last drop provides a lot of fun! You also go backwards down a drop here. And people get the chances to splash you with watercannons here I'm going in! Lets see what these Vikings have got to offer! Nice drop! A lot of dark sessions in this ride, with some nice animatronics! Going up! Big drop ahead! Lets go Vikings! Love this view! From the top you could see the Swinging ship and the speedboat show. That place really didn't get my attention this day I also skipped the Burg Falkenstein. Looked interesting, but I didn't really feel for it I had something else on my mind for sure! You know what time it is Lets start the expedition! This guy did 10 hours each day for 104 days in this ride. Unbelievable! Enough with the facts, lets ride that bad mothertucker! That first drop is really something! And this hill.. It's the airtimehill of Doom and Destruction! Going down! You literally get ejected from your seat on this hill! Everlasting airtime! This point ended up giving me a bruised thigh! It was so intense, and hurtful in a good way! Going back home! Airtime = Hairtime! Let that hair fly, ladies and gents! Such a massive ride! These turns disappointed me a bit. But it still has a nice transition in the middle of the ride, that pulls some G's! But this drop really makes this ride unique! When you sit in the back, you feel like you're falling out of the train right here! High speed action! These airtime bumps also gets you out of the seat! It flies through the course! Time to check out the rest of the park! Here, I pretend my name is Heidi, and I'm a little ballerina! The park is huge, and has a lot of nice and green areas. I saw a little boy slap that little figure of Heidi so bad. Wanted to slap him back for that move, but controlled myself This might have been the worst rollercoaster I've tried this year. SLC level of pain in this one! Auch! The Superwirbel really looks great like this! I'm totally okay with missing this credit ... Got some decent shots of it A boy stood up andalmost fell out of the boat, when it hitted the barrels. I saw it coming all the way, and thought to myself: "You had that coming, Boy!" This little guy enjoyed to shoot the boats passing by. He has a bright future, if you ask me! The River of Thunder looked nice, but I also skipped this one Another ride to skip. Really not a big fan of these Star Flyers! Time to say goodbye and thanks for all, Holiday Park. Lets go to Rust and Europa Park! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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