Photo TR: Sprechen Sie Deutsch?

[MrSum1_55]

Hallo!

 

I was lucky enough to spend three weeks in Germany last summer! There was culture stuff, and obviously roller coasters too!

 

I began days 1-5 in Berlin. I am only uploading a fraction of the photos because there are no major parks near Berlin, and this is a coaster website. I imagine people will want to get to the coasters soon enough. (I swear, Hansa Park is coming soon!)

 

In Berlin. My first currywurst! (For those of you unfamiliar with this, a currywurst is a sausage with curry ketchup. It was actually pretty good!

Potsdamer Platz. That line was where the wall used to be.

 

(More coming soon, when I'm less lazy!)

That Gate Thingee

Synagogue

A Döner Kepab. This was bought at Mustafa's in Kreuzberg. It was amazing.

Edited November 10, 2017 by MrSum1_55

[robbalvey]

Great stuff! You started with a wonderful picture! Currywurst is one of my favorites!

[cfc]

More currywurst!

[alexinla]

Currywurst and Döner, there is nothing else you need in life. (ok, maybe Beer too)

[Dombot]

Currywurst looks so disgustingly awesome.

[Condor]

Great photos so far! Though I think a lot of us could benefit from more captions to let us know what we're seeing. I spent ten days in Germany this summer, but didn't make it to Berlin. Hope your trip was just as fun as mine.

[Philrad71]

Any trip report that starts with currywurst (and anything else German) is a win in my book.

 

Looking forward to more!

[Canobie Coaster]

Great photos! I didn't visit Berlin while in Germany, but the city looks beautiful. I particularly loved the cathedrals.

 

Also when I looked really quickly, I thought I was looking at a fatter version of the Statue of Liberty with the green color, book, and the leaves above the guy's head sort of looking like a tiara.

[MrSum1_55]

^It is a statue of Martin Luther. (However, to me it kind of looks like Jack Black).

 

More Berlin photos coming next. Then Hansa Park!

[MrSum1_55]

Update: More Berlin photos!

Checkpoint Charlie

Checkpoint Charlie Museum. The gas tank area of this car was used to sneak a person over.

Museum Island. While these museums are famous, I did not want to wait two hours to enter.

Reichtag

Back of Brandenburg Gate

Tiergarten

The Soviet Memorial. The Soviets built it themselves, but Germany has continued to maintain it.

Part of the Tiergarten. Pictures cannot do justice to how massive this thing is.

Part of the wall, with the Gestapo headquarters in the background.

Memorial to the Murdered Jews

Views from the dome on top of the Reichtag

[MrSum1_55]

Hansa Park!

 

My opinion of this park is difficult to describe. While it does have some big, well known coasters like Kärnan and Novogrod, These attractions are more the exception than the rule. What I mean is, the rest of the park mostly feels like a small, quaint German park. It seems to be that this park is mostly a small park trying to become a big park along the likes of something like Phantasialand. Kärnan and Novgorod are well-done theming wise, but the rest of the park could be better in terms of this. Granted, this park is far better themed than most Six Flags parks, but it still very much feels like a small park in transition.

 

Oh, and about Kärnan...

 

I had heard some very good things about this coaster before riding. First off, the queue was very well done for a non-Disney park. There were also many cool elements to it, like the bag dumbwaiter and the roulette room. (For those unfamiliar, the roulette room is a round room that you walk in and pick your row. However, you do not actually pick your row. The doors light up randomly to tell you which row you actually get!)

 

The presentation of this coaster was well done. Then the ride moves on to the vertical lift. Spoiler alert: The reverse drop was a fun element, but it did not do as much for me as I had hoped. However, I will say that it gave me a massive headrush, as I felt like I was in a horizontal position for far too long. While several of my favorite activities do involve being horizontal, that does not mean I want to be in that position on a roller coaster for too long.

 

Then the coaster goes over the lift and down the drop. To say that the vertical drop was great would be obvious, because vertical drops are always wonderful. However, I would probably prefer an uncovered drop over this covered one, as I would rather see how high I am.

 

Then the train goes into that weird non-inverting sea serpent. You do get some good pops of air at the two peaks of this element. They are not quite as intense as the non-inverting loop on Rip Ride Rockit, but I like this element for its uniqueness. A stengal dive follows it, which is quite abrupt and reminded me a bit of the similar element on Skyrush.

 

However, my overall opinion of Kárnan was that it was just okay. The coaster does a lot of things well. It has a good first drop and plenty of unique elements. However, these elements would be easier to enjoy if not for the fact that this coaster is very rough. In spite of a few great moments and a couple good airtime hills, I still did not love the layout. Maybe this coaster was built on a budget, but I feel like a hyper coaster should do more than spend a majority of its run doing low to the ground snap turns. The two straight airtime hills it has are good, and I like the ending. But overall, the biggest problem with this coaster is its roughless. (I actually gave me a headache both times!)

 

I am hoping to study in the Hamburg area in the summer of 2018. Will I be going back to ride Kärnan? Yes, I will, but Kärnan is nowhere near the top of my list of things I am most excited to do. If anything, I would compare it more to X2: fun in the sense of how unique it is, but rough to the point that it detracts from the enjoyment.

 

Now onto the pictures (My opinions on the other rides are also below)

Entrance! Looks nice so far.

Kärnan! This coaster will always hold a special place in my heart for being my first coaster not in the US. But not going to lie, it was pretty rough and actually a bit of a letdown. I would prefer if Gerstlauer stuck to smaller, compact coasters and left hypers to the hands of Intamin, B&M, or Mack.

Schwarzkopf!

You do get a pop of air here

Overall, I feel like Gerstlauer is the type of company that should stick to smaller compact rides. I did not really love the layout of this ride either (but it does have its moments). I just feel like Gerstaluer's design style is not the best fit for hyper coasters.

Stengal dive. This reminded me of the similar element on Skyrush. Both are intense.

You do get good air over this hill.

What's in the shed? (On Kärnan, it's actually something cool!)

Something just felt so right about riding a Schwarzkopf in Germany.

Novgorod! (This was the only picture I got of the track). I actually liked this coaster more than Kärnan! This is a smaller, more compact coaster, which is a much better fit for Gerstlauer's style than a hyper coaster. While Novgorod is also not perfectly smooth, it is fast, action-packed, and unpredictable. However (like Kärnan) this coaster also has low capacity. In addition, I could see some of the projectors on the dark ride section. But overall this is a very fun coaster, and it is my favorite Gerstlauer so far.

Reminds me of Texas...

Speaking of which...This park has Old West and Old Mexico Themed areas. It was interesting and kind of funny to see a small German park's take on this.

Still a better RCT game than RCT world.

You won't see this in America!

Yeah, I'm not going to comment on this.

Weird bell pendulum ride. It looked fun, but it had a pretty big line and the capacity seemed atrocious

Wild Maus with a wild west theme. This anamatromic band was singing old west songs. It was funny seeing this, as I grew up in a western state. I have gone to many theme parks, but it is strange seeing a foreign interpretation of the history of where I actually live.

No, this is not another picture of the gate of Hansa Park. This is the real life gate just a few minutes over by train in Lübeck

Random old street

Tip: In the North of Germany, it is easy to go on walking tours of cities by identifying big pointy things and walking toward them.

Bye to Lübeck! Now back to Hamburg.

Edited October 23, 2017 by MrSum1_55

[viking86]

I approve of this update simply because you started with a picture of Hansa Parks small-scale replica of buildings from my hometown..

 

I do agree with what you say about Hansa Park, it doesn't quite have that "big park" feel yet. But I liked the park very much and had no problems spending a whole day there.

 

As for Kärnan, I thought it was an awesome ride. It had a couple of weird jolts, but overall I didn't have any problems with roughness. Not gonna claim it's a smooth ride though. Like you said, that stengel dive was really intense! I was not fully sold on the backwards drop either. Yes, the drop itself was a lot of fun, but it took a lot of time for 2 seconds of fun. Not a huge fan of the roulette room either. If I want to wait for a specific row I want to have that option. However, we did get lucky and got front row on our first ride. But we were never able to score a backseat ride. I was also positively surprised by Fluch von Novgorod! Intense, fun and mostly a very smooth ride.

 

Really cool to see the real gates in Lübeck that the entrance gate at Hansa Park was modeled after. I had no idea about this.

 

Thanks for sharing this great trip report!

[Philrad71]

I love that photo of the old, quaint street (and Hansa looks good too)!

 

And what I love about that photo is the fact that you do not see ONE piece of litter on it. While I know that not every city in Europe isn't as clean (thinking Naples here), most seem to follow a standard of cleanliness that you simply don't see here in America. That speaks volumes for the people and the pride that they have in their towns and cities.

[Canobie Coaster]

Great report! While your report isn't the first I've heard of Karnan being somewhat rough, the ride's intensity and uniqueness has it near the top of my bucket list.

 

The rest of the park looks great as well.

[MrSum1_55]

I love that photo of the old, quaint street (and Hansa looks good too)!

 

And what I love about that photo is the fact that you do not see ONE piece of litter on it. While I know that not every city in Europe isn't as clean (thinking Naples here), most seem to follow a standard of cleanliness that you simply don't see here in America. That speaks volumes for the people and the pride that they have in their towns and cities.

 

Meanwhile, the courtyard to my own apartment is filled with litter and broken bottles. Meanwhile, in Germany people can take their dog into almost any restaurant, because German people are so much better that looking after their pets and basic upkeep. As an American, I will always love my country. But, I tend to like the culture of my country less the more I travel.

 

Hamburg and Miniatur Wunderland are next! (All you model train enthusiasts might need a box of tissues).

[MrSum1_55]

Hamburg and Miniatur Wunderland!

 

The first of these pictures are of Hamburg. While much of Germany's second largest city was destroyed during WWII, there are still many old historic areas and buildings, particularly in the harbor area. But this city is definitely worth visiting, and one of Europe's more underrated cities IMO. This city also has plenty of cool churches.

 

However, most pictures in this update are of Miniatur Wunderland! The world's largest model railway! (The pictures of this place should speak for themselves).

The Rathaus. Rathaus means "town hall" in German. I remember the word because politicians=rats

One of the oldest streets in the city

Harbor area

The tallest of the churches in the city. Most of the base was destroyed in WWII.

Ruins of the base of said church

Beautiful old building in the harbor area

Miniatur Wunderland!

Photos cannot do justice to how amazing this place is!

It is even set on a day/night cycle.

This is Las Vegas, a part of the "America" section.

The Midwest

The Old West

The Grand Canyon

Scandinavia

Amusement park. (With a working drop tower!)

They have model ICE trains. And they even move around the layout the fastest!

This weird spiral thing helps get trains up to the upper level.

Switzerland. (Yes, they built massive model mountains in this place).

Italy!

The big boy! Funnily enough, this was the only non-modern locomotive I saw in the entire place. I guess they had this on there because of how iconic it is. But I would love to see some more steam locomotives in the other exhibits (even if not the most consistent with our time).

Overall, Miniatur Wunderland was amazing. Go there if you can!

[Dombot]

Those models look amazing. Were you able to get the Wild Mouse credit?

[cfc]

Hansa is a park in transition--they theme it up a bit more each year. To me, Karnan (like Skyrush) in genuinely terrifying.

[viking86]

LOVE IT! I visited Miniatur Wunderland for the first time in March this year with friends who are also into model railroading. It's a truly amazing place! It's definitely a place that you don't need to be particularly interested in trains to enjoy, and I would recommend anyone to go if they are in the area.

[tinaalsgirl]

I am SO jealous right now. I've been obsessed with Miniatur Wunderland for several years now, ever since my German professor in college showed us a video from their youtube channel. I've been following that channel ever since. Miniatures are one of my Special Interests, as is airplanes/flying, so their videos about the airport are particularly awesome for me. Miniatur Wunderland is definitely on my bucket list of places to visit.

 

This is a great TR so far! I'm loving all the photos! Germany is such a beautiful country!

[MrSum1_55]

Hansa is a park in transition--they theme it up a bit more each year. To me, Karnan (like Skyrush) in genuinely terrifying.

 

Yes. It is certainly a Paarl in transition. Hansa can’t really be compared to any other park, but the closest US equivalent I can think of is Silverwood. Silverwood is a smaller park, but with some theming and some larger rides.

 

Lüneburg (quite possibly the cutest German town) coming up next. Then Phantasialand!

[MrSum1_55]

Before getting on to more parks, I have a short update from Lüneburg, quite possibly one of the cutest towns in Germany.

[Wasser]

Ja, ich spreche Deutsch

 

Stopping by in Lüneburg but passing Heide Park? I understand it may be lame compared to US (mostly unthemed coasters and way smaller) but you missed out on quite some counts there and the massive Colossos standing still

 

Let's see your opinion about Phantasialand.

[robbalvey]

Stopping by in Lüneburg but passing Heide Park? I understand it may be lame compared to US (mostly unthemed coasters and way smaller) but you missed out on quite some counts there and the massive Colossos standing still

I wouldn't have bothered with Heide Park without Colossos either. That park has gone downhill rapidly over the years and our visit last year was less than stellar. It's sad because I used to hold that park in VERY high regard and now, IMO, it's because the "Six Flags of Germany." WIthout Colossos it's an "average" park at best.

[MrSum1_55]

Yes! Heide Park was skipped on this trip. With Colossus down, the best rides left over are Damonen, Desert Race, and Krake. I have already ridden all the dive machines in the US, so I did not feel like Krake would offer anything new. Damonen is somewhat unique, but I really have yet to be blown away by a wing coaster. So the only coaster I even somewhat regret missing was Desert Race, but a park is going to need more than a 30 second Intamin to bring me to it. Granted, if Heide Park had that same coaster collection with a great atmosphere like Europa Park, I would certainly go there. But as it stands, I had little desire to take a precious day out of a trip to go to a park without any truly outstanding coasters or atmosphere.

 

As with any trip, there are things that I would have wanted to do that had to be cut out. And there are quite a few other things that I regret cutting out more than Heide Park.

 

Phantasialand (A much better park) coming soon!