Photo TR: Canobie Coaster's 2017 Foreign Adventures

Awesome report! Europa is definitely a bucket list park us.

It was for me and it was even better than anticipated.

Fun fact - The "new for 2017" log flume that wasn't at Skyline was the one you loved at Oktoberfest!!!! They put it there to make more money! I think they had another ride at Oktoberfest from Skyline as well.

That's cool! In some ways I'm glad it was at Oktoberfest for the novelty of seeing a flume that big on the midway, but on the other hand it would have easily been Skyline's best ride and I would have saved some cash too.

Another great report, Michael!

I am still very happy that we rented a car one day out of Munich and made the drive to Europa. Yeah, it was a long day, but sooooo worth it - my only wish is that we would have had as much time to explore as you guys did!

We got to the park around noon and if I recall correctly, only got about five or six hours in before closing. But it was still enough time to hit up most of the major rides as well as just soak in the atmosphere while sipping on a few cold German beers. Everything that you said about amazing ride operations, food, theming, selection...all true!

The one thing that my Michael pointed out on Silver Star was that no one was checking the clam-shell restraints. That was when I told him that this wasn't the USA and people here actually realize that they're supposed to quickly go into their seats and pull down their restraint - dispatching was a breeze because of this!

Lovely report from some parks I visit regularly, some of my favourites, and some I really want to visit in the future! Can't wait for the day I'm able to get back to Europa Park.

Just one thing.

Europa didn’t rip off the Matterhorn ride, but of course they had to name something after the famous Swedish mountain.

You mean the Swiss mountain, right?

That is one very angry cob of corn!

That is one very angry cob of corn!

Many of us found all of the angry corns (there were a ton of them!) to be the best of the very amazing and expansive halloween decorations.

Another great report, Michael!

 

I am still very happy that we rented a car one day out of Munich and made the drive to Europa. Yeah, it was a long day, but sooooo worth it - my only wish is that we would have had as much time to explore as you guys did!

 

We got to the park around noon and if I recall correctly, only got about five or six hours in before closing. But it was still enough time to hit up most of the major rides as well as just soak in the atmosphere while sipping on a few cold German beers. Everything that you said about amazing ride operations, food, theming, selection...all true!

 

The one thing that my Michael pointed out on Silver Star was that no one was checking the clam-shell restraints. That was when I told him that this wasn't the USA and people here actually realize that they're supposed to quickly go into their seats and pull down their restraint - dispatching was a breeze because of this!

Thanks! It's a shame you didn't have more time, but there's incentive to go back! Not that you really needed it though. The park could go without adding anything for 10 years (they won't) and I'd still want to return anyway.

Europa was checking the restraints on everything, but I had a similar experience at Liseberg on Balder and many of the rides at Oktoberfest. It's definitely culture shock coming from the US.

Lovely report from some parks I visit regularly, some of my favourites, and some I really want to visit in the future! Can't wait for the day I'm able to get back to Europa Park.

 

Just one thing.

 

Europa didn’t rip off the Matterhorn ride, but of course they had to name something after the famous Swedish mountain.

 

You mean the Swiss mountain, right?

Thanks! Whoops. I kept telling myself not to right Sweden by mistake so of course I wrote Sweden. I'm aware of the Swiss Alps. Just a brain fart.

That is one very angry cob of corn!

 

Many of us found all of the angry corns (there were a ton of them!) to be the best of the very amazing and expansive halloween decorations.

That's probably my favorite Halloween decoration ever after Skeleboner at PortAventura.

That is one very angry cob of corn!

 

Many of us found all of the angry corns (there were a ton of them!) to be the best of the very amazing and expansive halloween decorations.

Angry Corn has a chance at unseating pumpkins as the major symbol of Halloween.

Not if David Pumpkins has anything to say about it.

I totally enjoyed every word and every picture in your Theme Report! Thanks for taking the time to be so thorough (and amusing!) Incredible park in every way.

(Plus I must remember the Angry Corns if I ever find myself needing a Halloween costume. Such droll little cobs!)

Alice

Ditto to everyone's comments so far. It was neat to read up about a significant number of the major attractions and also the quirky ones that make Europa special.

I totally enjoyed every word and every picture in your Theme Report! Thanks for taking the time to be so thorough (and amusing!) Incredible park in every way.

(Plus I must remember the Angry Corns if I ever find myself needing a Halloween costume. Such droll little cobs!)

 

Alice

Thanks! The lighting didn't make a lot of the pictures easy, but I was able to weed out the bad ones.

Ditto to everyone's comments so far. It was neat to read up about a significant number of the major attractions and also the quirky ones that make Europa special.

Thanks! I knew of all the big rides at Europa, but I had no clue all the quirky dark rides they had. It was definitely cool finding a new ride around every corner.

That is one very angry cob of corn!

 

Many of us found all of the angry corns (there were a ton of them!) to be the best of the very amazing and expansive halloween decorations.

 

Angry Corn has a chance at unseating pumpkins as the major symbol of Halloween.

Angry Corn + David S.Pumpkins = A omgWINWINomg combination!

Holiday Park

Most mega coasters are found at the parks you’d expect. Usually they’re at big corporate parks like Six Flags, Cedar Fair, SeaWorld, etc along with multiple other coasters. Holiday Park is an odd duck. It only has two coasters, but one of them just happens to be arguably the greatest coaster on the planet in Expedition GeForce.

We pulled into the parking lot on Friday evening. The park was closed. Were we reliving the ill-fated adventure of the Griswolds trip to Walley World? Would we have to kidnap a German version of John Candy and hold him at fake gunpoint to ride everything? It would have made a good story, but TPR had us covered.

The park was closed to the public, but we had a private ERT session on the park’s two coasters. The plan of attack was to get everyone on Sky Scream once and then spend the rest of the time on GeForce. Sky Scream was in the very back of the park. While it was a bit of a walk, I didn’t mind since it gave me an opportunity to scope out the rest of the park.

The park’s walkways were covered by a dense canopy of trees. The park reminded me of a larger version of Bayern Park in terms of the overall feel. Along the way we passed some pretty solid looking non-coasters such as the double drop flume, sky roller, and Intamin drop tower. I’ll have those to look forward to in an inevitable return visit down the road.

This park is as crowded as Clementon. Except here the park was closed to the public.

It's rare I'll just walk by a sky roller. But this was a rare circumstance.

I’ve ridden two other Sky Rocket IIs (Superman and Phobia), so from a ride perspective I knew what to expect. What I wasn’t expecting was the queue line which was essentially a haunt. There were several sudden jump scares along the way. I was shocked to find out the queue wasn’t just a seasonal thing either; it’s like that year-round which is extremely cool. I could very well seeing the queue scare more people than the ride itself.

The first launch is just ok, but the backwards and final forwards launch are pretty strong. My favorite part of the ride is what happens at the top of the tower though. The ascent and descent both provide powerful ejector air, and that super slow inline twist gives some terrifying lap-bar only hang-time.

Really my only issue with these Sky Rocket IIs is the shin guards. Rather than conforming around the shin like those on RMCs, these shin guards dig directly into you. Thankfully the ride is so short it doesn’t become a major problem. As I’ve said before, this is a coaster model I definitely don’t mind seeing cloned. 8 out of 10

I love how they re-purposed their old Vekoma. It looks much better as a lawn ornament.

Parks can keep cloning this coaster and I'll keep riding it. It's a great ride!

The most underrated part about this one was that haunt-esque queue line.

After we all got our ride on Sky Scream, we made our way to the legendary Expedition GeForce. This coaster has placed first several times on Mitch Hawker’s former steel coaster poll and I do not know a single enthusiast that has been disappointed by the coaster.

Prior to riding, Robb gave us a disclaimer that the ride hadn’t run in a few days. As a result, he cautioned it may run a bit slow initially. That’s why we were more than willing to help out by cycling the daylight out of the ride. With SFNE’s Superman at my home park, I’ve seen just how quickly these Intamin mega coasters can warm up, so I wasn’t too worried.

I was excited to see the simplistic T-bar restraints on Expedition GeForce for a change. I love them on Millennium Force and loved them on Superman until the Bizarro transformation transformed them into beefy U-bars. These lap bars are insanely comfortable and leave plenty of room for air-time. And saying there was a lot of airtime was an understatement.

I wouldn’t quite say the airtime was as strong as Skyrush, but it was darn close and far more comfortable. I’d say it was on par with El Toro’s camelbacks and SFNE’s Superman’s 4th hill. It’s common to have sustained floater air, but it’s extremely rare to have sustained ejector airtime like this and Expedition GeForce has that on basically every single hill.

But before those hills is the insanely steep, twisting first drop. I thought the twisting first drop on Blackpool’s Big One was pretty intense, but Expedition GeForce put that drop to shame. While the former failed to deliver any air (it just had some insane laterals), Expedition GeForce provides even stronger laterals along with a strong pop of ejector air. I can’t think of a more intense first drop. I was actually pretty nervous before each ride to throw my hands up because of how ferocious those laterals were while my butt was completely off the seat.

One of the other amazing aspects of Expedition GeForce is the ride’s setting. As I mentioned earlier, Holiday Park is heavily wooded. While Nitro and Diamondback pass through the woods, the trees never actually come too close to the track. On Expedition GeForce, I think the warning to keep your hands inside the train absolutely needs to be heeded. This setting elevated the otherwise decent overbanks to much more enjoyable elements.

In total, I believe we got 12 rides on this monster. But none was more memorable than the last. I was seated in the very back, a seat I hadn’t gotten to experience yet. I had been near the back, but not in the money seat. As we began the ascent up the cable lift, we heard a bang. Don’t tell me the Intamin cable did what I think it did… A few seconds later, we slid backwards into the station and came to a grinding halt.

I had a feeling we weren’t going to get ride number 12, but a few minutes later we started crawling up the lift. Ok crawling is an exaggeration. A crawling baby would have sped fast us. We climbed the lift in maintenance mode, so it took almost 7 minutes to reach the top! I’m not kidding, just watch Robb’s video. But the super slow lift built even more anticipation for this world-class coaster. It also gave us time to appreciate a stunning sunset off in the distance.

Finally we crested the lift hill and the ride was even more impressive in the back. Sure it didn’t have the rush of wind from the front seat, but the airtime was simply relentless. Expedition GeForce is up there with Iron Rattler and Fury 325 as my favorite steel coaster. The impeccable pacing, powerful airtime, and perfect setting is something few coasters can match. The whole ride takes your breath away and doesn’t give you a moment to get it back. 10 out of 10

The myth, the legend, my new number one coaster, Expedition GeForce!

The first drop is as insane as it looks.

To say the ride had a lot of airtime is an understatement. It had an ungodly amount.

Note how close the ride is to all those trees.

My good friend the Intamin cable gave us a surprise on our last ride.

The lone photo I have with a train. After our final rides, they needed to cycle the train one last time.

After all the coaster rides, the park also provided us dinner. We had the choice of spaghetti or schnitzel. I hadn’t eaten schnitzel yet so I felt obligated to try the German dish, but my American instincts kicked in and I went with the familiar pasta. It was good so I didn’t regret my choice one bit.

We probably spent a total of 2.5 hour in the park, but the visit was perfect. Yes we spent a majority of the time on GeForce and didn’t get to ride much else in the park, but I can’t complain about riding my new number one coaster that many times in a row. Holiday Park alone is worth visiting for GeForce, but they appeared to have quite a bit else to offer outside of that. Thanks again to Holiday Park for hosting TPR!

So this is where I will make an observation about your love of Ge Force AFTER riding Silver Star which you also loved...

On all previous TPR/RobbElissa/Enthusiast Tours you would go to Holiday Park and THEN Europa. No one ever was as impressed with Silver Star after riding Ge Force the day before. I do wonder if we had gone the 'normal' direction if you wouldn't have been as happy with Silver Star.

I think I would have still enjoyed Silver Star. It would have been like going from El Toro to Nitro at Great Adventure. At this point I basically know what I'm getting with a B&M hyper.

Every single word about EGF is so true. Those original-style Intamin trains/restraints track so well and the lap bars are so comfortable. Riding it last year made me yearn for the SFNE Superman of old, since the original trains tracked better and the original lap bars didn't try to keep you from getting the full effect of the airtime. Long live Expedition GeForce.

Skyrush might have "stronger" airtime and things like i305 or Maverick might have more insane/scary laterals, but you could literally ride EGF all day. And that's what makes it the perfect steel coaster.

It's hard to believe since they look so different, but the trains on SFNE's Superman are the same as they ran opening year. They've just been modified. My hope is that they someday get new trains since they got them for a 20 year old SLC.

Phantasialand

Few parks can match Europa in terms of theming. Our next park happened to be one that could in Phantasialand. But before we got to the park, we had the pleasure of staying in their superbly themed Hotel Ling Bao. The level of detail in the hallways, courtyards, and rooms blew me away. I felt like I was in China. Not just because of the theming, but because my phone for some reason said my current location was Taiwan where it was over 100 degrees.

This is as close as I'll get to being in China for a while.

While it wasn't 100 degrees, the weather was a downside. Simply put, the weather was cruddy. It was 60 degrees and non-stop rain all day. If we were in America, it’s likely the park would have been deserted or possibly even closed. Europeans don’t melt like the Wicked Witch of the West, so the park had all rides operational. Further, the park was decently crowded too. Enough so that the major coasters had half hour waits.

Our day began with ERT on Black Mamba. Prior to riding, it’s impossible to see the entirety of the ride’s layout. The coaster constantly weaves through rockwork and dives below ground level. The only other coaster with a layout quite like it is one that I rode the week before, Nemesis.

However, Nemesis was built in 1994. Black Mamba was built in 2006. Usually newer is better, but with B&Ms many enthusiasts know the older ones are considerably more forceful. I went in expecting Silver Bullet level forces and was pleasantly surprised.

My first ride was in the back and the drop felt like an old-school B&M. The subsequent loop had some good whip to it as well. Wait is this ride actually forceful? So far it seems the answer is yes! The next zero-G roll was nice and floaty. The next overbank was probably the tamest part of the ride, but it wrapped around a waterfall and some intricate rockwork, so I didn’t mind one bit.

After two snappy corkscrews, the return leg of Black Mamba is unlike any other invert I’ve been on. Usually the ride only has a helix or final turn after the last corkscrew. On Black Mamba, the final corkscrew dumps you off at the furthest point from the station. The result is a rapid fire succession of twists and turns. The final helix in particular pulled some strong Gs before you plunge into a dark cave holding the brake run.

I was able to get 12 rides during the ERT session. I made sure to try the front as well and Black Mamba was an anomaly. It was the first invert I have ever preferred in the back. The front had excellent visuals, but the forces were nowhere near what I experienced in the back. I was also able to dodge the rain in the back. I really liked Black Mamba. It’s one of the best inverts thanks to the weird layout, incredible theming, and forces (in the back). 9 out of 10

Black Mamba gave me flashbacks to Nemesis with how it was interwoven with the walkways.

The coaster is stunning to look at.

The amount of rockwork, trees, and buildings the coaster passes is truly spectacular.

And it even passes through a freaking hotel too.

Despite being a newer invert, I thought it was pretty forceful (if ridden in the back).

After ERT ended, we made sure to knock out Maus au Chocolat early. With the unrelenting rain, we wanted to ride the Toy Story Mania knockoff before it developed a line. Knockoff probably isn’t the right word. I think the ride system is identical to Toy Story Mania and the animation is high quality. This isn’t some Pigeon Forge ripoff. Operating the gun (or pastry shooter in this case) is one heck of an arm workout, but it’s addictive. The ride felt longer than Toy Story with 1-2 extra scenes.

My one complaint with the ride was how the targets respawned. Unless I’ve been oblivious on Toy Story, the spawning of high value targets seemed to either be more randomized or have more delay to them. On Maus, they kept reappearing in the same spot. I was faced with a moral dilemma to spam that spot or actually move around. Outside of that, it’s an incredible dark ride. I almost feel guilty for preferring this over a ride with practical sets. Almost. 9 out of 10

It looks like a Toy Story. It rides like a Toy Story. It just doesn't have Toy Story characters.

While we were assured by the park that Taron would operate uninhibited by the rain, we didn’t want to take any chances. It was an Intamin after all. Honestly, a mechanical breakdown was far more likely. For that reason, we made our way over to the incredibly themed Klugheim area. With the heavy rain, the dark Klugheim had a very eerie and mystical feel to it.

Taron was just finishing its morning testing and then we were sent off on the first two trains of the day. I was pleased to see the same comfortable lap bars on Taron as Red Force. I think Intamin has perfected their lap bar. Well I thought they already had with Millennium Force and El Toro, but then Skyrush came along.

Both launches were pretty powerful and had good kick to them. They were about on par with Maverick’s launch. When Taron was announced, all the coaster enthusiasts had an orgy. They expected a ride as intense as Maverick. Let me start by saying that it definitely is not. That being said, the highly detailed rockwork and theming more than makes up for it as the ride is simply pure fun.

Taron’s layout is impossible to follow, but it has a little of everything. For me, that’s the ride’s strength. There’s a mix of some airtime hills with rapid changes of direction (some of which provide air). There are some bits on the coaster that give you a breather from an intensity standpoint, but the whole area around the ride looks beautiful so it gives you a moment to appreciate that.

I really liked Taron. Most launch coasters are like a Billy Mays commercial. Intense but short. Taron has a full layout and is insanely reridable. Is it a top 10 coaster? No. Is it as good as Maverick? No. But would I take it over most B&M hypers? Probably. 9 out of 10

All of Klugheim looked amazing, but clearly our eyes were drawn to the Intamin.

Taron crosses over itself an asinine amount of times. And I loved it.

It also flies past this mystical looking rockwork.

And buildings.

It's not as intense as Maverick, but it's just pure fun.

The one ride we were warned could be adversely impacted by the rain was the park’s mine train, Colorado Adventure. Figures the ride themed to the US would have issues with the rain. It took us a bit to find the entrance because of Phantasialand’s ridiculously detailed level of theming. They were still testing the ride, but 5 minutes later we boarded.

We’re glad we rode it early since the rain impacted the ride’s capacity. They were only able to load the front 2/3 of the train. I also believe the coaster can run 4-5 trains, but they appeared to only be running 2. I’ll take that over a closed ride. We waited an extra train to get the front row.

I think Colorado Adventure had the potential to be the best mine train coaster out there. There were a few hills that I felt could have given some airtime had the train been fully loaded and the ride warmed up. As it was running, the ride was a super long (3 lifts), smooth mine train with had all the theming one could want (waterfalls, rockwork, tunnels, etc). The bit after the second lift in total darkness was the highlight for me. 7 out of 10

It's also known as the Michael Jackson Thrill Ride. Why is it called that?

Note the empty two back cars. If that's what it took to get it running in the rain, fine by me.

Adjacent to Colorado Adventure was the Geister Riksha dark ride. Usually the only dark rides I’m not a fan of are those cruddy carnival ones with props straight from Party City. Geister Riksha may have huge sprawling scenes, but I wasn’t a big fan of the ride. I honestly couldn’t tell you what was going on and couldn’t get invested in it. 3 out of 10

I really wanted to like this dark ride, but I just couldn't get into it.

One ride I could get invested in is Chiapas. I like a good log flume, so I really love an exceptional log flume. Like Phantasialand’s other major attractions, Chiapas of course is stunningly beautiful. One impact of the rain was that the water rides had virtually no wait. We were on Chiapas in less than 5 minutes, and all of that was spent navigating the queue line.

If Chiapas were a standard flume with its theming, I would have loved it anyway. But it has all sorts of quirky features. The lift hills are unnervingly fast for a flume and use a unique system with two chains on the side of the log. The ride also has a backwards section, which is cool in itself, but instead of the mainstream revolving platform, there’s this funky sideways switch track. Then there’s some indoor bits with character scenes and an infectious theme song sure to get stuck in your head.

The ride’s signature is the final plunge. It’s massive and I believe the park advertises it as the world’s steepest flume drop. Along with having impressive stats, the drop delivers the goods and even gives a pop of air. Surprisingly the little hump at the bottom of the drop doesn’t give any air. I don’t think Chiapas was a soaker, but it’s hard to say since I was already quite wet from the rain.

The only negative with Chiapas are its awkward lap bars. Those who have ridden Ripsaw Falls know just how awkward lap bars are on a flume. I can somewhat understand the awkwardness on Ripsaw Falls since the logs were retrofitted with them. But as a custom flume, I was disappointed. I felt like I had to do the limbo getting in and out of the logs, and I saw several people falling over.

Splash Mountain will forever be my favorite flume. The story on that ride combined with the fantastic drops makes it unbeatable. However, Chiapas isn’t far behind. It’s better than Ripsaw Falls. Further, it’s probably better than 85-90% of the coasters that I’ve been on, which is a pretty impressive statement. 10 out of 10

Chiapas is an amazing flume. It's better than most coasters in my opinion.

The final plunge was as good as Ripsaw's.

But thankfully you aren't soaked from head to toe. The rain did that for us instead.

The ride's looks are also jaw-dropping.

I was looking forward to trying the boomerang. That’s an unheard of statement in the enthusiast community, but Raik was different. It was a highly themed, junior boomerang. This actually had the longest posted wait of the day at 40 minutes, but we were able to get on in 5 with the single rider line.

The ride was markedly less intense than its big brothers, but trading the headbanging inversions for comfortable lap bars was an upgrade. The spikes weren’t very steep, but they had longer drops that expected. Flying through Klugheim, particularly in reverse, produced some cool visuals. 6 out of 10

Smiling riders? This must be a family boomerang.

Mystery Castle is considered one of the world’s quirkiest and best drop towers, so I was excited to try it (though I wasn’t as excited as the phallic looking castle). The ride takes a page out of Sky Scream’s playbook and has haunt-level theming in the queue line.

I don’t want to spoil the ride for those who haven’t ridden it. What I will say is this, the drops are fantastic and have that stomach-churning sensation a good drop tower provides. The ride is also unpredictable. I rode it twice and I received two different cycles. The ride’s theming is also well-integrated into the ride and induces a fitting feeling of chaos. 10 out of 10.

Penis the Ride.

River Quest was another water ride I was eager to try. I don’t want to call it a river rapids ride. Yes you ride in circular rafts like a river rapids ride, but there weren’t actually any rapids. If you don’t want any spoilers, please skip the next 3 paragraphs. Just know that River Quest is a soaking rapids ride with great drops. 10 out of 10

The ride begins with a well-themed vertical lift. I’m a sucker for vertical lifts, so as I was enjoying myself, I noticed the person across from me had a look of dread on my face. What surprise was coming? A big drop. I’ve experienced rapids drops on Kali River Rapids and Grizzy River Rapids, but the drops felt far more unnerving on River Quest. While drops on those two rapids are smooth and controlled, River Quest pinballs you off the side of the trough. And of course, whoever lands backwards gets drenched.

But the really terrifying drop is the second one. It begins with the trademark Hafema whirlpool. It’s a quirky and relaxing element reminiscent of those raft slides I rode at Bayern and Skyline. But up ahead, I couldn’t see the trough. At the end of the whirlpool, there’s an even steeper plunge. The splashdown is intense. The deceleration is so sudden that if you aren’t holding on, you can be flung across the boat. Like drop one, the victim going backwards is soaked from head to toe.

Still in shock over the ferocity of the second drop, I forgot about the third drop. This is the only one visible off-ride and it may be the steepest of all. It’s short, but it occurs immediately after the second drop. It’s definitely the tamest of the drops, but it’s the coolest visually because of the waterfalls on both sides of the boat.

What occurs after this tower makes RiverQuest the world's best rapids ride.

This may be the best restroom sign ever.

The two different tracks of Winjas are considered two of the best spinning coasters out there. Like River Quest, I don’t really want to give anything away. I knew Winjas had some tricks up its sleeve from reviews, but I intentionally didn’t spoil them. And I am glad I didn’t.

What I will say is that both sides interact very well with Wuze Town. The middle portion of both sides is that giant picturesque helix around the funky observation tower attraction. There are several drops and like all spinning coasters, they’re particularly great if you’re traveling in reverse and can’t see them coming. This one also maintains its spinning throughout. Then there are the tricks. I guarantee you that you will say “WTF” at least 3-4 times with a big smile plastered across your face.

I slightly preferred the Fear side since it had an extra drop than Force, but they’re both fantastic coasters. I definitely haven’t been on a better spinning coaster. While that could change with Time Traveler next year, Winjas completes the trifecta of great coasters at Phantasialand. 9 out of 10

Inside is the most messed up (in a good way) spinning coaster you'll ever find.

The way Winjas interacts with Wuze Town is impressive.

This drop is the main reason I preferred the Fear side.

Who doesn't love being eaten by a frog?

The odd observation tower has an equally as odd name, the Tittle Tattle Tree. The ride is the de-facto best way to observe and photograph Winjas since the coaster circles around this attraction. It’s a very rare and unique ride. Basically you ride in these little buckets and alternatively ascend and descend the tower. The ascents and descents are faster than you’d expect too. 6 out of 10

Are there any other rides like this out there?

Temple of the Night Hawk is affectionately called Temple of the No Hawk by coaster enthusiasts and I can understand why. The entrance and queue line has the same level of theming as Phantasialand’s other coasters. I boarded expecting much of the same on this indoor coaster. Instead I was treated to total darkness.

The ride was smooth and fun. It just wasn’t what I was expecting. There weren’t any drops, but pitch-black setting made the ride’s turns and helixes a surprise. I think the most impressive aspect was the ride’s length; it had 3 lifts. I’ll sign a petition to change the ride’s name to No Hawk, but it’s still a pretty fun family coaster. 7 out of 10

Temple of the No Hawk. You'd think with this station theming there'd be something during the ride. But there wasn't.

Hollywood Tour was an interesting dark ride. It was basically the Great Movie Ride without a guide on a boat. The ride began with a tiny drop a la Pirates of the Caribbean and the rest of the ride passed scenes from iconic American movies such as Jaws. It dragged for bits of the ride, but it was still a decent little dark ride. 6 out of 10

Hollywood Trip was the child of the Great Movie Ride and Pirates.

Hotel Tartuff was a very pleasant surprise. We saw it listed on the map and figured it was some sort of walkthrough. After a 5 minute wait, we boarded an elevator and were shown a video of some insane German guy screaming at us. We were baffled, we were confused, but we knew we were in for a treat.

It ended up being a classic fun house not too far off from Grona Lund’s Lustiga Huset! There were sliding stairs, spinners, barrels, rollers, and all sorts of classic fun house gags. There were a few that were out-of-order, but the attraction compensated with its excellent theming. Usually fun houses have a graffiti-style facade and no theming whatsoever on the inside. Hotel Tartuff looks like a hotel. You pass through lobbies, bathrooms, hallways, etc. It really adds quite a bit to the experience.

Then it ends with one of the best slides I’ve ever experienced. It was one of those classic wooden slides, but this one was nearly vertical. You gained some serious speed and there was a hump halfway down that gave some terrifying air. This is definitely one of the park’s most underrated attractions. 10 out of 10

This innocent looking building houses a classic-style fun house.

It has sliding stairs.

And an awesome slide at the end (among other things).

Talocan is considered the world’s best top spin by many. Add me to that group. Most top spins I’ve ridden only give 3-4 flips total. Talocan has 3 different points where it gives 4-5 consecutive flips. That alone makes it a pretty intense ride.

But what elevates Talocan is the theming. Talocan has the water, but it also adds fire (and lots of it). Then there’s also the weird, curved hieroglyphic wall. I thought it’d just make for a cool visual, but that wall also threw off my equilibrium and got me pretty disoriented. 10 out of 10

Talocan runs an amazing program.

And it has more fire than a pyrotechnic show.

We had evening ERT on Taron, but before that we had time for one last ride. We went with the mad house, Feng Ju Palace. The pre-show was an interesting ninja battle. I’m not quite sure how that carried over to the on-ride story, but the movement was excellent and the main room was very well-themed. 8 out of 10.

This reminded me of the hotel.

ERT on Taron started later than anticipated, but I was able to finish with three front seat rides. That’s by far the best seat on the coaster. You get the rush of wind from the launches, all the cool visuals of Klugheim, and the strongest air on the ride in my opinion.

Phantasialand is an amazing park. The incredible theming combined with the collection of unique thrill rides makes it one of my favorite parks. Pretty much every ride is unique thanks to the layout, theming, or ride system. I can say with 100% confidence I’ll be returning to Phantasialand sometime in the near future, especially since they’re adding one of the pipe dreams of the enthusiast community, a launched flyer.

The enthusiast pipe dream is finally coming true...

Except it's a Vekoma instead of a B&M, but their new stuff has looked awesome so I'm hopeful.

Great trip report And you are right about Colorado Adventure, it has great airtime in the back row, caught me off guard the first time I rode it

Trying the G-rated Michael Jackson Thrill Ride in the back is something I'm looking forward to in my next visit.

Chessington World of Adventures

All great trips must come to an end. Phantasialand concluded the TPR segment of the trip. My flight home routed me through London and I had a 10 hour layover between flights. Was I going to stay in Heathrow like a caged animal? Of course not. I had already visited London and Thorpe, so I decided to visit one of the other parks near London, Chessington World of Adventures.

I think I went in the back entrance by mistake. This was an oddly mundane entrance.

It's like a junior Tree of Life.

Merlin has a monopoly on the London theme park scene. They have Thorpe for thrills and Legoland for kids. Chessington falls somewhere in between. It was a dreary Sunday with a good chance of rain. At this point, I knew that wouldn’t keep crowds away and my guess was correct. After Thorpe, Chessington had the worst lines of any park on my trip.

I think the worst part about the lines was how inaccurate the estimates were. They were so bad, it was laughable. 0-5 minute waits meant half hour waits. 60 minute waits meant half hour waits. Basically everything was a half hour wait. I’d say I boarded the queue before the wait time was updated, but they always remained unchanged after I finished my ride as well.

Since I was coming from the airport, I wanted to rent an all-day locker. I packed surprisingly light for a 2 week trip to Europe (a single, very stuffed backpack), but lugging that around a theme park wasn’t ideal. The first set of lockers I went to were down. The second set of lockers I went to were also down.

Surely the third wouldn’t be down as well, would they? Sadly they were. Guess Chessington didn’t want to take my money for lockers. That made me miss Six Flags. Lockers are one of their strengths. So needless to say I wasn’t off to a great start at Chessington.

I heard Vampire and Gruffalo have the two worst waits in the park, so my plan was to head towards Transylvania first. My route took me past Rattlesnake, the park’s wild mouse, so I decided to knock that out while it was still a walk-on. And it ended up being my only walk-on of the day. As far as wild mice go, it was quite good. The top section was unbraked and the dips at the end passed through a series of tunnels/enclosures. 6 out of 10

My one walk-on of the day.

After my little detour, I reached Vampire. The wait was posted at 5 minutes, so I thought I beat the crowds. Nope. The queue was pretty far out in the garden and ended up being about a half hour. On the bright side, it gave me some time to take photos of Vampire. It’s a very photogenic coaster with how it interacts with the park’s walkways.

On the downside, I met one of the rudest guests I’ve ever encountered at a park. Someone kept nudging my back. I figured it was a young child. When I turned around, I saw it was just two young girls. One of them angrily said, “What are you looking at you dumb motherf*****?” I was absolutely stunned to hear that at a family park. Before I could respond, a concerned parent behind them started telling them off. But they simply just gave her the finger.

Fortunately I encountered them towards the end of my wait, so rather than make a scene I happily boarded the back row. Ultimately the coaster was just ok. It had the amazing setting and used it well, but the ride simply didn’t maintain its speed well. There were two solid drops, particularly the one after the second lift, but they were immediately followed by uphill bits that sapped the ride’s speed. The impact was minimal swinging, which was disappointing for a suspended coaster.

The other downside was that the coaster was surprisingly jerky. It felt like an Arrow. I was interested in a second ride. The queue still said 5 minutes so I naively thought it could have dissipated. Nope. It looked even longer than before, so I passed. Vampire was fun, but I couldn’t help thinking it could have been better. 6 out of 10

Was this the ride's old entrance?

Because it looked a whole lot better than this.

PS- That "5 minute" wait wasn't quite 5 minutes.

Most of the queue was outdoors, but the last bit was inside a castle with Dracula playing an organ!

Vampire swings through the woods.

Crawls over pathways.

And slowly meanders through this town. If the ride could actually maintain it's speed, it would be a really good coaster.

I was interested in hitting Gruffalo next, but it was temporarily closed. Unlike coasters when the test runs hint if the ride is about to reopen, I had no clue if this dark ride would reopen anytime soon, so I moved on to the park’s signature attraction, Dragon’s Fury.

The ride had a posted wait of 50 minutes. Fortunately I knew it had a single rider line. However, there was a gate in front of it saying to use the main queue. Today was just not my day. The queue didn’t look too long and fortunately it was only 20 minutes. Thankfully, I noticed that they opened the single rider line as I neared the station. That came in handy for rerides.

Unlike many of the other Maurer spinners, Dragon’s Fury has a large, sprawling layout. Most spinning coasters only have one large drop and then a series of twists and turns. Dragon’s Fury has three huge drops that are particularly awesome if you experience them in reverse. The ride of course has some helixes and s-curves too. The cars also spin non-stop during the ride, which is another plus.

It wasn’t as good as Winjas, but I’d be hard pressed to name a better spinner. It was on par with EuroMir and Turbulence, two rides I really enjoyed. Since the single rider line got me on in less than 5 minutes, Dragon’s Fury was the only ride at Chessington I rerode. It was also hands down the park’s best ride too. 8 out of 10

This Land of the Dragons has more than just a play area.

Dragon's Fury did a whole lot of spinning.

But what really stood out was the amount of larger drops on this spinner.

I also loved how spread out the layout was.

Chessington had one of those disko coasters. I hadn’t been on one in a few years and remember enjoying the one at California’s Great America, so I decided to give Kobra a ride. There was no posted wait time, but it ended up being about 15 minutes.

The ride had some fantastic spinning and I love how time seemingly stands still as you spin over the slow-mo hump in the center of the layout. The only downside is that I think I got a really unlucky seat. I never got a full trip up the spike. Still it’s markedly better than the standard diskos. 7 out of 10

First Rattlesnake. Now Kobra. Indiana Jones would hate this place.

I had planned to hit the park’s log flume next, but the ride was closed for the year. I hadn’t been paying attention to my Chessington news, but apparently it’s being rethemed for 2018. Based on the hints, I’m guessing it’ll be something tiger related.

I'm guessing this ride isn't going to be themed to a snake.

After a quick lunch at the fish and chips restaurant (it was quite good), I went back to check on the Gruffalo River Ride Adventure. It hadn’t opened yet, but there were two employees stationed by the entrance and a decent-sized line had formed. Since it looked close to opening, I joined the back. About 5 minutes later, they opened the queue and the wait time skyrocketed to 60 minutes.

Surely the capacity couldn’t be that bad? By this point, I suspected the wait time was skewed towards the high end and I was correct. The line moved slowly, but it only took a half hour. I was still shocked the line took that long considering that there weren’t too many people ahead of me and the ride had a continuous loading system.

Fans of Chessington were sad to see their original Bubbleworks ride replaced by Gruffalo. I had seen several videos and pictures of the ride on this site and it looked incredibly cool. I couldn’t believe they were removing it. Thankfully they retained the ride system, but it received a whole new story.

Going in, I hadn’t a clue who or what the Gruffalo was, but it looked like some cheap Cartoon Network ripoff of Chewbacca. A majority of the ride was composed of screens, which was a stark contrast to what I saw in videos of the old Bubbleworks ride. I have a very strong preference for practical sets on dark rides, but I still enjoyed the ride since the animation was crisp and the story was well-told.

There were some practical sets and they were easily the ride’s strength. There was one lone Gruffalo animatronic and it was quite impressive. I also liked the funky little drop midway through that was followed by a series of overhead jumping fountains.

Ultimately it was an enjoyable ride. While the prior attraction maybe was better, Gruffalo is a good attraction. Did I wish they used animatronics instead of screens? Of course. But when I looked past that, I did enjoy the ride for its unique ride system and story. 8 out of 10

It just reopened. That wait cannot possibly be 60 minutes...

The ride's reliance on screens and water would have made Universal proud. The best part was the ride system.

I had just over an hour before my bus left towards Heathrow and I had two rides left. First was the last credit, Scorpion Express. The wait was posted at 5 minutes, but it really took closer to 20-30 minutes due to painfully slow loading. This was yet another powered coaster and this time is was the familiar double helix layout.

But Chessington added some nice theming to an otherwise dull layout. There’s a fire burst on the first lap (I’ve never seen that one a kiddie coaster before) and a squirting scorpion. Ok that sounds kind of wrong, but it’s this giant mechanical scorpion that sprays riders with water. 4 out of 10

Fire makes every coaster better.

And giant scorpions.

The last ride I wanted to hit was Tomb Blaster. It was posted at 40 minutes, which was actually accurate. The queue was actually very cool. The outdoor bit was a series of swinging rope bridges and elevated tree-houses that looked more like a playground than a queue line. Then the indoor bit was exactly what you’d expect, a themed Egyptian tomb.

The ride system for this shooting dark ride was unlike any I had ever seen before. Instead of having an omnimover system or single cars, this one has a 6 car train almost like a roller coaster. For a well-traveled coaster enthusiast, it was quite the sight.

The ride itself was among the best shooters I’ve been on. The Egyptian theme was maintained throughout and there were a ton of different targets to hit. Many of the targets moved or reacted to being shot, which is a major plus I look for with these types of rides. 9 out of 10

The line felt more like a treehouse than a queue.

The ride vehicle was longer than most coaster trains.

I only had a little time before my bus arrived. I didn’t have time to try the park’s Zufari safari ride, but I did have time to stroll through a few of their animal areas. It wasn’t as large as a full zoo, but it was pretty impressive for a theme park.

Bummed that I ran out of time for this one. That made me 0/2 for safari rides this trip.

Animals!

Overall Chessington was a solid family park even though I had some warts during my visit. The lines were annoying, but understandable, but I had a few other random things stack-up like the rude guests in line for Vampire and the out-of-order lockers. With London, Thorpe, and two superior parks a train ride away, I can’t see myself returning to Chessington anytime soon. But for their targeted audience (kids, families), it’s a nice park.

Amazing! Glad you had a great time!

Thanks! It was interesting to experience the diversity of all these parks. I had resort parks, thrill parks, family parks, etc.

Just catching up on this incredible report. Oktoberfest, Europa, and Phantasialand are all bucket list parks for me. The more I see of them, the more I like them. Glad you had a good time there and in the other more obscure parks too.

Chessington looks really great! I was surprised that it looks so good. I don't hear much about that place, and what I do hear is largely negative. It looks to be really fun, especially that Vampire ride. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks!

Chessington somehow had the longest queues of my trip and several little things kept going wrong, but overall the park was a well-themed family park. Dragon's Fury is the real star; Vampire is the more photogenic ride though.