Hey man, great PTR. It was nice to meet all of you at the park and hang out with yall. We had some good laughs...can we say splash zone? woot!
As was already mentioned, the trims on Silver Star were noticable and that did slow the trains on the hills quite a bit. I would have to say the trims are the worst part of the ride and the ride experience would improve drasticly if the two trims were turned off. Although, on Sunday the first trim wasn't very strong so it was nice. The new train 'hood' and wheel covers are shiny-er and have a streak of red to them now. Looks much better than the original silver/grey/black.
Euro Sat was running rough both Saturday and Sunday however was running a little 'off' on Sunday. The MCBR was extremely forceful by the end of the day on Sunday which I had never experienced before so it was obvious something wasn't quite right. Oh and the legendary braking 'feature' leading into the station was as fantasticly excrutiating as always...lol.
Euro Mir was running great both days, nothing too notable to mention except that as always, the lift hill with the theme song playing is still the best part of the ride!
Now onto the main feature, Blue Fire. As he said, the ride is absolutely phenominal and deserves the 10/10 that he gave it. It is by far the smoothest, quietest, and yet still thrilling attraction I have ever been on. Although the launch as as fast or as forcefull as others out there, it gets the job done nicely and allows it to be more 'family friendly' I guess you could say. But with the mixture of elements that the ride possesses, it is sure to please every thrill ride fanatic. All of the element transitions were perfect and at some points, including the barrel-roll, provided some great negative-g's. Front row is by far the best seat in the house and allows great views of the interaction between the track and the rock formations.
The trains themselves I found to be very comfortable and don't feel restricting at all. One unique feature is also the added 'Pulse Monitor' that they built into the handles of the restrains. I'm not quite sure if they're real/accurate, but apparently when my hands are in the air it still says I have a pulse of 50-80 and then flatlining...lol. So, Blue Fire is intense enough to kill you...lol.
A few random note on Blue Fire...The video/photo system is not yet operational, however I was told by staff that it would be up within the next week. All the equipment is on site, they just need to install it into the photo building.
Now the part that intrigued me was the Blue Fire store. Visitors that go into to grab the latest t-shirts, hat's, and other Blue Fire gear will be dissapointed. At this time there are about 4 types of hats (granted they look great), but only one type of t-shirt with a plain design featuring only the logo. Now the reason for this is the interesting part, according to staff members as well as one of the park managers, the reason for this is because the name 'Blue Fire' was not actually selected as the official name until about a week and a half ago. We all knew Blue Fire as the project name, but the fact that it wasn't set to be the final name has me thinking what other options they were concidering.
Although Saturday was great, I have to say Sunday was the best day, save for the weather. About 30 members of TowersTimes came to the park for the weekend and they managed to scrounge up some ERT on Silver Star before the park opened...we got about 4 rides in due to all three trains being on the track and having to cycle.
At the end of the day we were on our way to Blue Fire for the last ride, when we happened to run into Roland Mack (minus the mustache). Had a nice little conversation with him, got a group photo, and were invited for a quick ERT session on Blue Fire after the park closed. We ended up with only 3 rides of ERT, but still it was amazing and I'd like to thank Roland for hooking us up.
All in all, Europa Park is set for an amazing season and Mack has hit a home run when it comes to Blue Fire. I would not be surprised if we start season more of these coasters from Mack popping up around the world as an alternative to Intamin launchers. Good job Roland and all of the Mack/Europa Park staff!