RMCs & Poffertjes: Chuck & TPR 's 2019 Europe Trip

That viking..... And cake is a great way to end a trip report, especially yours, Chuck.

Looking forward to how Legendia "turned your theme park feels on"....or not.

Really great, honest report! The park has a LOT of potential, it's just soooo odd!

Great report! There are so many weird things at this park.

I particularly like the automatic dispatching dark ride and the Cars ripoff.

But I really think they should just swap this sign with the Vekoma test seats out front.

Awesome report and pictures Chuck! I got quite a few chuckles reading it. Seems like a park in search of an identity and I hope they get it together. Also looks like a very large drop in "quality" between the amazing heavy hitter roller coasters and the kids coasters. Did any of them qualify as "family" rides?

Awesome report and pictures Chuck! I got quite a few chuckles reading it. Seems like a park in search of an identity and I hope they get it together. Also looks like a very large drop in "quality" between the amazing heavy hitter roller coasters and the kids coasters. Did any of them qualify as "family" rides?

The bat-themed Boomerang is probably the best of the small coasters and could be called a "family" ride. The dragon-themed Vekoma suspended coaster was OK, too. I think I would have swapped a few of those kiddie coasters for a decently themed Vekoma mine train, if I were running the place.

Great report! Looks like you guys had a lot of fun! That Speed wave is unreal. How did you guys dry off after that? With the day as gloomy as it looks, it seems like air drying would be impossible after that.

Energylandia was the first park that I have been to in a while that I actively *DID NOT LIKE.* Which is a shame because it does have so much potential. I admit that I did not ride many of the coasters there outside of the "big three" because I just couldn't be bothered to ride a bunch of kiddie coasters or clones, especially considering that their operations left a lot to be desired. Had most of the rides that said "0 to 10 minutes" wait, actually had been that time, I probably would have ridden a bit more.

Everything just felt so "off" at this park.

I'm sure we'll get back here again in a couple of years and I hope that it will have improved, but when you've got a park with 16 roller coasters and your (arguably) 3rd or 4th best coaster is a Vekoma SLC or Junior Boomerang, that's a problem. And when you've got a park with a giant kick ass Intamin hyper (nearly giga) and the best coaster we rode in Poland was a Vekoma at another park.... also a problem!

Great report! Sums up a lot of my thoughts...

Welcome to Monster Attack! They should have Sally come in and install one of those “North Pole Adventure” rides in this building. It would be a 1,000% improvement.

Energylandia is exactly the type of park I wouldn't want to visit. Zadra, Formula, and Hyperion look awesome but when I go to a park I'm not trying to pay for a full price admission ticket to just ride 2 or 3 coasters.

Energylandia sounds a lot like Carowinds to me which was a park I actively don’t care for. The top few coasters are great but the rest of the park just falls off after that, and it’s the most generic of the Cedar Fair parks I’ve been to. At least the saving grace of some of the other parks is that they are very pretty or have a lot of charm (KBF tops my favorite theme park/amusement park list for just that) but I didn’t find that with Carowinds. I could also be biased because it was 100 deg and humid on the day I went and being outside was unbearable.

However, I still want to visit Energylandia someday for the same reason I ever wanted to visit Carowinds: for the top 3. I expected (correctly) that I wouldn’t care much for Carowinds as a whole by the lack of depth in their collection, but that didn’t mean I shouldn’t go just to ride Fury, Intimidator, and Copperhead Strike at least. Hyperion, Zadra, and Formula look awesome regardless; it’s only too bad they aren’t in a better park.

Energylandia sounds a lot like Carowinds to me which was a park I actively don’t care for. The top few coasters are great but the rest of the park just falls off after that, and it’s the most generic of the Cedar Fair parks I’ve been to.

I'll take "generic" over "frustrating" and "cheap-looking" any day of the week. I'm not sure I will ever be willing to make a trip all the way to Poland just for Energylandia after our visit, it would have to be a part of a larger trip. Based on the park's apparent local reception, my opinion is an unpopular one, and if I WERE to go there I'd give it another chance for sure. However, there are at least thirty other parks in Europe that I would rather experience for the first time than experience Energylandia again.

At least Carowinds has a decent shooting dark ride.

At least Carowinds has a decent shooting dark ride.

and Plants vs Zombies!!!!

The Trip’s Most Pleasant Surprise: Legendia

While I’d heard about Energylandia, especially when Hyperion opened, I knew very little about Legendia--except that its new Vekoma ride (Lech Coaster) was definitely better than average. Fortunately, we received a nice guided tour of the park and were filled in on some of its history.

Legendia started out as essentially a city park, which included a zoo and aquarium in addition to an amusement park. But a new company came in few years ago with the goal of converting the amusement park into more of a theme park. They decided to go with the myths and legends of Central Europe to pull the place together. You enter via the Magical Village, which leads to a lake. Other sections ringing the lake (clockwise) are:

Magical Forest (home of Bazylisek, an elaborate dark ride)

Valley of Dreams (home of DreamFlight Airlines, a very old ride similar to the Captive Flying Machines at Blackpool)

Magical Mountains (home of Lech Coaster)

Adventures Valley (home of Diabelska Petla, a double looping coaster)

What they’ve accomplished so far is impressive. For example, Lech Coaster is a great ride--packed with air time and very forceful (riders tend to gray out a bit after the first drop). I’m not entirely sure what the “legend” of Lech is, except that it involves a giant bird, but that’s OK. At least it spawned a great coaster and another win for Vekoma in Poland. This was the most pleasant surprise of the trip.

I wasn’t too sure about Diableska Petla (“Diabolic Loop”), the park’s double looping coaster. This ride, built by the French company Soquet, was a transplant from the UK, and it looked a bit, well, questionable. However, it turned out to be a pretty good coaster that didn’t try to beat us to death. It also offered the choice of riding backward in the rear car (I stuck with forward).

Legendia also sports a trackless shooting dark ride that any major theme park would be proud to call its own: Bazyliszek. The premise is that you’re defending your village from a Basilisk, a monster with a serpent’s body and the head of a bird, and its minions. The ride reminds me a bit of Knott’s Voyage to the Iron Reef, in that it uses a lot of video inside physical sets. It’s great fun, with plenty of targets to shoot at.

As I said earlier, Legendia is a work in progress. The remaining two coasters were Zyklons, one of which was closed for maintenance, while the other was having issues (I didn’t ride that one). But the park is on the right track and is worth a visit for Lech and Bazyliszek alone.

My thanks to the staff at Legendia for excellent guided tour during TPR’s filming sessions on Lech and Diableska Petla (not to mention a very good lunch)--and to Robb and Elissa for arranging such a fun day there.

Welcome to Legendia! The sun is shining, and it’s going to be a bit hot today. But the park’s entrance is colorful and welcoming.

The park map out front is an interesting mix of Polish and English.

Aw, cute little feller! He’d be a good minion for Angus McNasty.

Magical Village is the park’s version of “Main Street.” Unlike Energylandia, Legendia seems to have an actual plan. They didn’t just slap up random stuff.

Lech Coaster, the most-pleasant surprise of the trip, is across the lake. More on this ride later.

Like Casey Kasem, keep reaching for the stars!

This building is the home of another reason Legendia is better than Energylandia--a trackless, well-done shooting dark ride.

The queue is beautiful.

I guess it would help me understand the story a bit better if I could read Polish.

I think Jack Skellington is their interior decorator.

They put a lot of thought into theming the queue as some sort of monster museum.

This is the monster we need to worry about, but . . .

. . . there are also vampires!

Hey, they have ride ops and they wait until everyone has boarded safely before dispatching the ride vehicle! What a novel concept!

Legendia is a very pretty park. . . .

. . . with a bit of quirkiness . . . .

. . . and the best roller coaster in Poland (at least the day we were there).

Another nice queue.

Smiling on a Vekoma? This is unheard of!

Steve likes to stand around and hand people Gorilla Tape. It’s a curious hobby.

Their excitement is palpable.

If you love Lech Coaster and want to have it’s children, raise your hands. If you love it but not quite that much, keep your hands down.

Wait for it.

There it is! I love this station fly-through.

Watch out for the big bird!

Best coaster shirt ever. More to come.

Yep--there's still more Legendia.

I admit to feeling some trepidation when approaching this ride.

See? It’s diabolic!

Evil helices!

These restraints look like the work of Satan!

Note the backward-facing seat on the last car. Diableska, indeed!

Godspeed, you brave people!

But this ride wasn’t bad at all. The loops were fun.

Yep--another nice surprise.

Really? What sort of tricks does Boruta do?

Hey, that’s a good one. I can hire out as a stilt walker without stilts.

Here’s the daily gondola. Yes, they had a skyride with one gondola. I think they were just testing it.

How about some more Lech?

The first drop is that steep? Holy crap!

Welcome to Gray Out City.

We hope your butt enjoys this moment of not being sat on.

“Have fun stormin’ the castle.”

Vekoma, ya done good again.

Who’s up for a “Hawaii Party”?

Aloha!

Looks like a tent for a large flea circus.

Who’s ready for a nice, relaxing ride?

This ride is very old, but it looks great.

Whee!

The breeze from that propellor feels good on a hot day.

Larry is either feeling sick or showing off his killer Energylandia shades.

One last look at Lech because it’s so damn good.

No legend at Legendia is greater than that of Sir Larry the Mighty! That’s all for now.

Looking at this TR makes me want to go back to Legendia! I still can't believe how amazing Lech Coaster was. It *ALMOST* makes me forgive Vekoma for the 100's of SLC's and Boomerangs they've created. That's just how good it is. Plus the pierogis at the restaurant next to the coaster were soooooo delicious. I really hope they keep going in this direction as the park has so much potential. Ok, let's go back now!

I had a much better experience at Energylandia in my 2 days there, and that was before Zadra was a thing. By the end of that trip I had been to Energylandia, Phantasialand, and Europa Park, and while my favorite coaster of the trip was Blue Fire at EP, I overall preferred Energylandia, and I'm much more likely to head back there in the near future than back to Europa Park (but first I'm going back to Phantasialand next month (+Walibi Holland + Toverland).

Hyperion was amazing, Mayan was awesome (especially considering how low my expectations were for SLC's after reading and watching many different reviews of them, and I don't mean it was good just by those standards, but in general. I must've ridden it around 10 times), and Formula, and the RMF Dragon (not awesome enough to justify a trip, but definitely another great ride I enjoyed a lot while I was there), Energus (same), and I loved the Space Booster more than many of the other coastersr I've ridden to date, and morme than any other flat ride too. Oh, and Apocalipto is awesome too. Surprisingly I found it even more fun than Talocan.

I'd love to go back, and I think it's an awesome park. And in the summer time with the water slides active and included in the price it's probably even better.

^I think you are probably the only person on the planet that would choose Energylandia over Europa Park!!!!!! Wow.

Lech Coaster was absolutely my favorite coaster on the Poland leg. It's a travesty that the majority of Vekoma's new big coaster installations are going to China and (sic) Energylandia. Perhaps when Tripsdrill opens theirs in two years I'll tack it on to my next Europe trip somehow.

I had a much better experience at Energylandia in my 2 days there, and that was before Zadra was a thing. By the end of that trip I had been to Energylandia, Phantasialand, and Europa Park, and while my favorite coaster of the trip was Blue Fire at EP, I overall preferred Energylandia, and I'm much more likely to head back there in the near future than back to Europa Park (but first I'm going back to Phantasialand next month (+Walibi Holland + Toverland).

Hyperion was amazing, Mayan was awesome (especially considering how low my expectations were for SLC's after reading and watching many different reviews of them, and I don't mean it was good just by those standards, but in general. I must've ridden it around 10 times), and Formula, and the RMF Dragon (not awesome enough to justify a trip, but definitely another great ride I enjoyed a lot while I was there), Energus (same), and I loved the Space Booster more than many of the other coastersr I've ridden to date, and morme than any other flat ride too. Oh, and Apocalipto is awesome too. Surprisingly I found it even more fun than Talocan.

I'd love to go back, and I think it's an awesome park. And in the summer time with the water slides active and included in the price it's probably even better.

Well, different strokes for different folks, I guess. Personally, I think Europa is the best park in Europe, while Energylandia, er, isn't.

Such a great update today, Chuck. . . I've not heard of Legendia, but it looks like a lovely park.

What was up with that beach in a dome thing? (that you called Hawaii Party).

Is it just a resting area to go and chill with sand? or is there a show in there?

Great report!

Just curious, how forceful were the loops on that Soquet thing? They look sort of like the loops on a Schwarzkopf.

Such a great update today, Chuck. . . I've not heard of Legendia, but it looks like a lovely park.

 

What was up with that beach in a dome thing? (that you called Hawaii Party).

 

Is it just a resting area to go and chill with sand? or is there a show in there?

I think it was just a "festival" type event with Polynesian style food and drink.

I don't feel like I need to go back to Poland--except, Legendia was great.

I meant to investigate the skyride thing. I'm sure it was closed, but I just wanted to know what it was all about. Maybe it takes you out to some remote parking lot? It was definitely outside of the park.

Much to my surprise, Lech was the coaster of the trip for me.

Great report!

 

Just curious, how forceful were the loops on that Soquet thing? They look sort of like the loops on a Schwarzkopf.

I'd say not as forceful as Schwarzkopf loops, but still fun.

Much to my surprise, Lech was the coaster of the trip for me.

Although my favorite coaster on the trip was Untamed, Lech was the next one--and the most pleasant surprise.

Just catching up on this report after being gone for a while. Lots of great stuff here, Chuck!

These are fantastic pictures. Untamed was such a great ride for photography -- especially compared to something like Xpress Platform 13, which is really tough to get any good rider reactions on.

I’d love to see other parks build rides like Lost Gravity. I think we have enough Dive Machines and Wing Coasters, thank you.

This, please, a thousand times over.

Andy has found a more practical way to get across the water.

Hey, the raft was the quickest way to get to the best photo spot for the boat jumping! At least, it was once some Dutch kids decided to tow the thing back over to me.

Energylandia has the potential to be the greatest mini-golf course ever.

This is the most spot-on thing I've read about Energylandia. Perfect.

Your pictures really captured some of the little details that just make Energylandia what it is -- from the "Par 3" dragon, to the "celebrities" on the wall of the castle, to the tree with the tag still attached, to King's Arthur and the other poorly-translated signs ... wow. What a place.

But yes, the cake. It was fantastic.

My thanks to the staff at Legendia for excellent guided tour during TPR’s filming sessions on Lech and Diableska Petla (not to mention a very good lunch)

That was a really great lunch!

No legend at Legendia is greater than that of Sir Larry the Mighty!

He looks like he's set to take on the Basilisk all by himself.

Though, it wouldn't hurt to take this guy along for the ride.

Great write-ups, can't wait to see the rest.